Blog

Announcing SGT's July Local Food Event: Dinner on the Deck at The Marsh

Posted in Out & About on Fri, 06/11/2010 - 7:51am by lee -

I live in Minneapolis, and I'll admit that sometimes I can be a snob about it. When my in-laws tell me about some "fantastic" Italian restaurant they've discovered in the northern suburbs, for example, my first instinct isn't to jump in the car and drive to Anoka, but to rattle off the places in Minneapolis that are -- obviously, I assume -- both closer and tastier. As a rule, if I'm going to drive more than 20 miles from my house, it's going to be to visit a farm, enjoy a weekend away, or visit a family member I really, really love. Like I said, I'm a snob.

Living with Livestock, Part One: Food In, Poop (or is it Compost?) Out

Posted in Farms & Gardens on Thu, 06/10/2010 - 7:09am by Angelique Chao -

When I walked into my first of a series of four livestock workshops at the University of Minnesota’s St. Paul campus, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the curriculum, but I was pretty sure what to expect of the students: a bunch of new-age, backyard chicken growers, to be sure.

How Growing a Few Backyard Tomato Plants Led to My Life as a Farmer

Posted in Farms & Gardens on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 6:56am by Debbie Morrison -

As I’m planting my crop of tomatoes this year, I couldn’t help but ponder about how much I’ve benefited from this one item of produce. In her recent Simple Good & Tasty post, Rhena Tantisunthorn described the history of tomatoes, so I reflected on my own history and realized how my love for tomatoes has been a catalyst of growth for me in so many ways. Here are just a few of them:

Great Reasons to be a Minnesota Local Food Lover

Posted in Out & About on Tue, 06/08/2010 - 7:14am by lee -

Simple, Good, and Tasty's Local Food Lover program has been getting a lot of good press.

In January of this year, Rachel Hutton from the City Pages wrote:

"It's 25 days into 2010 and you've already taken up a kettlebells routine and finished that novel--but what have you done to incorporate more sustainable eats into your diet? Simple, Good, and Tasty can get you started with its new Local Food Lover card, which offers discounts on local food and beverage from restaurants and retailers around the metro."

In February, Alexis McKinnis from the terrific Girl Friday blog wrote:

To Raise Intrepid Eaters, Skip the Children's Menu

Posted in Family & Home on Mon, 06/07/2010 - 7:13am by Rachel Walker -

One spring weekend, during a college semester abroad in Paris, I found myself the houseguest of a large French family at their home on the coast in Brittany. I didn't know them, but my friend Jenny's French aunt, Katherine, did, and she had insisted they would be thrilled to host Jenny and me for a long weekend.

Instead they had no idea who we were when we arrived with only Katherine's phone call as an introduction. Still, they opened their doors and offered us the guest room. Even though I was a couch-surfing, poor college kid, our brazen arrival still managed to embarrass me.

But that was nothing compared to the self-consciousness I felt the next day when the family's traditional Sunday brunch evolved into a five-course gastronomic feast featuring, among other things, oysters. I had never seen an oyster, much less tasted or manhandled one. I felt so provincial.

The Connection Between Meg Ryan Films and Locally Grown Strawberries

Posted in Farms & Gardens, Out & About on Sun, 06/06/2010 - 7:02am by Laurie Mann -

I don’t just love strawberries; I love them, love them, LOVE THEM! Never, until recently, did I think I would feel this way about this ubiquitous berry. Never, until recently, had I eaten a strawberry for any other reason than their nutritional value. (I’d throw them in a smoothie and suck them down in liquid form to simply get it over with.) Never, until recently, did I eagerly accept a strawberry when it was offered to me with an enthusiastic “Have one!” Never, until recently, did strawberries invoke any passion in me, only obligation in the name of my own heath and well being, and in the desire to be polite and not offend anyone.

But recently my luke-warm feelings about strawberries changed during an impromptu date with a strawberry from a very different place. This strawberry was sort of a distant cousin to the strawberry I had had a unfulfilling relationship with over the years – a nature-vs.-nurture-debate sort of strawberry.

Renegade Lunch Lady Ann Cooper Takes On Another School-Lunch Makeover

Posted in Family & Home, Out & About on Sat, 06/05/2010 - 7:30am by Alicia Jabbar -

Last week, I stepped back in time to have lunch in a high school cafeteria. Only this time, it was with Renegade Lunch Lady, Ann Cooper. Ann built a national reputation from her work with the School Lunch Initiative to bring healthy, whole foods into school lunchrooms throughout the Berkeley, California, school district. Now she was in Boulder, Colorado, to do the same thing. As I pulled together research for my visit, I became convinced that California’s loss was Colorado’s coup. You can have Jamie Oliver, West Virginia. We’ll take Ann Cooper.

Minnesota's Pastureland Butter Is on the Verge of a Comeback

Posted in Farms & Gardens on Fri, 06/04/2010 - 7:01am by Angelique Chao -

Fans of the deep-yellow, grass-fed butter from Pastureland dairy co-op have had a tough spring. At several of the Twin Cities dairy cases where it’s usually found – from Seward Co-op to Whole Foods – a big gaping hole has replaced its one-pound packages for the past month. Who knows how many plans for fettuccine alfredo and pound cake and rent-a-movie-night popcorn have had to be shelved for lack of their star ingredient.