Out & About

Honest, tasty, and real. That's the claim Dorset Cereals makes on their website, and it's hard to refute. Dorset cereals, including the Berries and Cherries muesli I picked up at the Wedge a few weeks back, are made from whole, natural, terrific ingredients. Lots of dried fruits, all sorts of meusli and flakes.

Brasa, a self-described "premium rotisserie" in Northeast Minneapolis (just down the block from the Red Stag Supper Club), serves only three meats:

Great, pertinent article on slow food in today's Oregonian, specifically related to how the mission of Slow Food International is changing to better meet the needs of its members and of its times). Here's an excerpt:

According to Slow Food USA:

Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.

From Asheville's Citizen Times today comes a terrific article on the benefits of knowing where your food comes from as well as the cost of buying locally. Here's a quote:

“People are so disconnected from farms nowadays that they desperately want a relationship with a farm,” said Jamie Ager, who with his wife, Amy, runs Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview, where their meat operations have enjoyed annual growth rates of about 20 percent since they started eight years ago. “It's almost like an innate thing — you need to have this relationship with the land, and we help provide that relationship.”

Found this cool Himalasalt website the other day, all about Sustainable Sourcing and a cleverly named product called Himalasalt, described on the site like this:

HimalaSalt™ is the Purest Salt on Earth™. While there are many pink Himalayan sea salts on the market, HimalaSalt™ is the only Ethically Sourced, Artisan Made Himalayan Pink Sea Salt that is Kosher Certified, Green-e Certified (made by 100% renewable wind and solar energy), sustainably packaged, with 5% of profits going to the environment and back to the source community.

Although it's just over a year old, I finally had a chance to visit Northeast Minneapolis' Red Stag Supper Club. Sometime between the flatbread appetizer (local butter, farm raised pork, greens) and the special chocolate dessert (4 kinds of chocolate in the cake, house-made mint ice cream), Red Stag became my favorite restaurant in the city. Here's what came in between:

Madwoman Foods, an independently owned bakery in Southwest Minneapolis, serves up loads of gluten-free baked goods (including lots of treats). My father-in-law has been a celiac for nearly 15 years, and my mother-in-law makes loads of tasty gluten-free treats, and even THEY think that Madwoman makes many of the best gluten free flatbreads, cupcakes, pizzas, and tea cakes in town. Here's what the Madwoman site says about the place:

The French Meadow Cafe has long been one of Minneapolis' best stops for locally grown, organic food. Here's their "mission statement", from their website:

French Meadow Bakery & Café believes that meals prepared with the highest quality fresh, local & organic ingredients are the building blocks for a healthy & happy life.

An amazing bakery with a host of grocery store products to boot, the restaurant makes some of the best breakfasts in town. The pancakes (blueberry corn or strawberry almond) are a sure-fire hit, even with my kids, and my wife was especially liking the oatmeal last time we ate there, with apples, dried, fruit, and nuts.