VELVEETA & TATER TOTS...

(Photo: Cindy and son, Kyle, at at Wild game.)

Triathlete/Physical Therapist and future MTN contributor Cindy Schlafmann is originally from Canby, Minnesota.

Ever heard of it? It's "The Gateway to the Prairie," you know. (Do prairie's need gateways?)

We didn't think so. Heck, most folks in St. Leo have never heard of Canby and these communities are only about ten miles apart.

Actually, Canby is not without a modicum of notoriety. It is one of Minnesota's 2,832 bergs that claim to be the birthplace of Tater Tot Hotdish. Cindy Schlafmann, like all loyal Canbians, adamantly defends her community's claim to the TTHD title. (Not surprisingly, 74% of Canby's adult residents are on statins, and the other

26% probably should be.)

Though she left Canby twenty five years ago, Cindy still pays tribute to her ancestral hometown once a year by serving Tater Tot Hotdish to her teenage son, Kyle, and whomever she is dating at the time. (As a health industry professional, Ms. Schlafmann understands that it is inhumane, if not downright homicidal, to foist this kind of stuff on others more than once per annum.) And she enjoys washing this gunk down with the yummy wine that comes from a box in the fridge.

Though Cindy is unwilling to share (for obvious health and liability reasons) her delicious, but deadly TTHD recipe, we do know that each serving contains at least 1200 grams of saturated fat and 34,000 mgs of sodium. We also suspect that the "Canby Version" substitutes Velveeta for cheddar cheese soup and Spam for ground beef. (Yum! That's good eatin'!)

Here's some non-made-up stuff about this great mom, wonderful friend, consummate professional and total workaholic:

Occupation:

-Physical Therapist, Manager of PT at TRIA Orthopaedic Center. Athletic Trainer at DeLaSalle high school for 20 years.

Colleges:

Education: BS degree South Dakota State University 1988

-PT School at Mayo Physical Therapy School 1990

-Currently in my doctorate (DPT) for Physical Therapy through Regis University in Denver finishing up in about 1 more year( goal is graduation May 2011)

Family: I grew up in Canby MN a small town in SW Minnesota and my parents still live there. I have one son Kyle, who is 14, a Freshman in HS at Champlin High School. He loves soccer, as well as downhill skiing, snowboarding and wakeboarding. I have just one sister who lives in Willmar with her husband and 2 sons.

Favorites:

Books? I don't really ever read books again due to time. Right now I am just reading tons of PT research articles :)

Movies? August Rush, Titanic, recently saw Up in the Air and thought it was a really good movie

TV Shows? Right now the Olympics!! I don't really watch any tv.

Alcoholic Beverages? Red wine especially Pinot Noir

Junk Food? Chips and Salsa, dark chocolate and treating myself to a Mocha after a good workout..

Restaurants? Buena Sera ( great Italian restaurant in Champlin)

Meal? Chicken enchiladas that I like to make since Kyle loves them also

Ice Cream Flavor? Chocolate chip cookie dough

Vacation Destination? Going on vacation to the Dominican Republic this March with my friend Melissa. Other than that the entire year of 2003 was great there was Brazil in February, Cruise to the Caribbean in September and New Zealand for Worlds in December. That was a great year.

Dream Job? I love being a PT and my current job is close to a dream job. Maybe being able to live half the year in MN and half someplace warm so I could continue to bike and run outside year round..