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The 5 Spot was hands-down my favorite restaurant we’ve eaten at so far on our trip and one of my favorite restaurants of all time. The place itself was cool, hip without trying, filled with interesting people and great servers. The menu was inventive without being too foodie (I can be a little under-adventurous sometimes). The food was great, tasty and fresh and the prices reasonable. They use grass-fed beef of which I’m a big proponent and that’s something hard to find in a restaurant. To sum it up: The 5 Spot rocked!
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The first half of the Woodland Park Zoo was amazing. I’ve never been to a zoo that didn’t make me feel at least a little sorry for the animals, but these guys are living it up at a 5 star hotel. The experience for the visitor was stunning as well. The whole place was heavily wooded with a trickle of a path running through. The path wound round and round and brought you to viewing spots where you had to think for a moment how it was that the animals were staying in their environment while you stayed in yours. The boundaries were non-conventional and effective in making you feeling like you happened upon the animals in the wild. They had a giraffe feeding experience that was top notch. Mazie and a bunch of other kids got to feed a giraffe a bunch of branches, leaves and lettuce. It was natural and unstructured and a big hit. Also, whereas most zoos have crap all about, the first half of the Woodland Park Zoo had no beverage carts, food stands, vending machines or souvenirs for sale. It was all cool zoo, all of the time. And if that’s not enough, their newest building is Gold LEED Certified; not an easy task. The second half of the zoo lost the magic and turned into a regular zoo. It was still nice, but nothing like the first half.
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My third favorite spot was Top Pot Doughnuts. The building had amazing architecture, with a mix of classic modern and deco. The facade was all windows and very unique. It had a metal structure jutting out which made me think vintage airport for some reason. The interior was great too. The ceiling was high, high, high with a loft up top for grand sitting and viewing of the downstairs. The sides of the place were bookcases, climbing all the way to the top. There were tons of old books lining all of the shelves. And the doughnuts…the doughnuts were top-notch!
It's A Wrap
October is over and done. The vegan challenge is over and done. So far I’m still eating vegan. I’m not sure why, I’m not sure what I’m doing going forward…I’m feeling very unsure.
I had a plan in place and felt really good about it, 2 vegetarian meals a week and 2 non-vegan sweets a week. This new plan was motivated by both my health (the vegan part) and my desires for cheese and milk chocolate (the non-vegan part). I had planned to keep that up until I felt some reason to not keep it up. I guess that’s still what I’m going to do, but a bunch of doubt has entered my mind as to what I should eat if I am eating for “health” and nothing else.
There are lots of different opinions about diet, health and nutrition out there, many of them backed up by research. I’m beginning to wonder if a strict vegan diet is truly the most healthy diet you can eat or if allowing some small bit of animal stuff into the diet from time to time might be beneficial. Jamie is convinced that a vegan diet is the best and healthiest way to eat and I thought I was convinced as well, but I’m just not sure anymore. I plan to read more and try to come to my own conclusion, but in the meantime I feel my bets are hedged. If vegan is the way to be, I’m mainly eating vegan and the downside to a couple of meals a week that are non-vegan shouldn’t be a big deal. And if it really is beneficial to get some calories from animal products, I’m doing that as well.
I question why I don’t feel any different or better after eating vegan for 33 1/2 days and why I don’t feel supercharged by “plant power” the way that so many vegans describe their state of being. I really don’t feel any better physically. I have more gas and I visit the number two toilet more often; that is the extent of how I feel different.
Psychologically I feel 100% better. My mind is still consumed with food, but in a good way. I’m eager to try new, chocked-full-of-nutrient recipes and I spend a lot more time cooking. I think about what I eat to make sure that I’m eating nutrient-dense food, whereas in the past I was mainly concerned with not gaining weight. I still wear leather, use glue and otherwise participate in animal stuff, but I’m not eating animals and that feels really good. I feel lighter and more at peace with my food choices.
My cholesterol has always been on the high side from the first time I had it tested at 17 until the last time it was tested a few years ago. My HDL levels have always been great and my LDL levels are low, so it hasn’t been a big concern, but I plan to have my cholesterol checked in about a month and I’m hoping to find that it has gone down considerably.
So I guess that’s it. It’s a wrap as they say in show biz. The challenge was so much fun and sparked lots of good conversation with many different people. The challenge also brought about a real change in my perception of food and how and why I eat. Hopefully the change will stick with me…
Now I just need to find a new challenge. Does anyone have any good ideas?
Veg Party!
Okay, not really, but today is day 19 of the 30 day vegan challenge and I’m proud to report that both Jamie and I are still going strong. My stomach issues haven’t abated, which I find frustrating, and those cheesy, cheese thoughts are still creeping in, but I’m feeling good. I’ve lost 6 pounds and still feel psychologically lighter than I did before. I haven’t noticed any other physical changes beyond the weight loss and the constant hunger and bloated cycle I seem to spin through, but once again the challenge is still proving challenging and fun.
The grocery store and I have become really good friends. I seem to visit it three or four times a week, and even with that frequency I always feel like I’m missing something. I think a big part of this is learning how much and what to buy when I’m at the store and the other part is it takes some time to stock up a vegan kitchen.
When the month is over Jamie and I plan to do a comparison of what our family spends on average per week to eat vegan versus what we spend on our regular diet to feed ourselves. I feel pretty certain that we are spending more now and I also feel that if we were on a tight budget, we could eat vegan for way less than we are spending now. It will be curious to look at the numbers and see what they have to say.
So far the best thing I’ve eaten this month wasn’t good for me, but it was good and that is Mama Peas Dough Balls. They remind me a lot of the peanut butter cookies that have a Hersey’s Kiss in the middle. I’ve tried a mushroom (I still don’t like them, but I’m going to try them at least 10 more times before I really make up my mind. I’m growing.), eaten lots of brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, hummus, pita bread, granola bars, english muffins, Triscuits and fruit and veggie smoothies. That list seems much better than my old list and the only similarity is the granola bars. The worst thing I’ve eaten was the mushroom, but like I said I haven’t given up on them.
If nothing else these last few weeks have gotten me out of my comfort zone and into trying different things than I would normally eat. For someone like me who would be happy to eat the same thing each day for weeks on end this is a big step in the right direction.
If you would like to check out my other vegan posts, follow the links below!
Mill Valley Kitchen
The latest in a long line of new restaurants to hit the Minneapolis dining scene is Mill Valley Kitchen on the corner of Excelsior and France Avenue in St. Louis Park. They’ve been open just over a month and I’ve tried the place out twice. It’s a very nice restaurant and there are three things that I really appreciate about the place: they list the calories and nutritional breakdown of their menu items including designations for vegan and gluten-free, they use local/sustainable ingredients in most of their food, and contrary to most restaurants, when you look around the room everyone seems to have nutritious, “real” food on their plates.
This is not a place for people who like large portions and the feeling of getting good value for their money. I think you do get very good value for your buck here, but it’s more in the way of eating nutrient dense food that tastes good in the right sized portion than in the traditional there is a crap-load of food on my plate and it only cost me $9.95.
They have a kid menu and I was impressed with the food they serve the kiddies. The mac and cheese was homemade and yummy. The chicken fingers were real, moist pieces of chicken breast, panko-breaded and baked. The real test is the kids and they both chowed down. Kid’s meals are served with edamame and fruit; what’s not to love.
Prices are reasonable with most menu items around $10 and most entrees between $15-$20. This is a place where you can enjoy your meal and feel good about enjoying your meal. Both times I left pleasantly full, enjoyed my food, and didn’t feel guilty about indulging with either portion size or food selection.
Speaking of indulging, dessert is another nice twist, with desserts served in a shot glass. Perfect for an individual and at $2.50, not a big ding on the pocket book. I found service both times to be warm, knowledgeable, attentive, and not over-bearing.
My only complaint about this place isn’t really fair, but it’s my complaint so I’m going to lodge it. The place is just too perfect. Everything is pretty and safe and nice and all of the people are the same way; it’s missing an edge. It feels very suburban, which isn’t inherently bad, but it’s not a place I could fall in love with. So, I’m very much in like with the Mill Valley Kitchen and I’ll be back, but until things aren’t so pretty and perfect I won’t be able to give it my heart.
Smaller Than A Large Vegetarian
Welcome to installment 2 of my Let’s-Eat-Better-Plan. Installment 1 was the first step, admitting the problem. With step 2 I want to start work on the solution. I’ve been thinking about how I want to eat and how I want to feed my family, and I feel a general philosophy beginning to form. I’ve read a few books on vegetarian and vegan lifestyles and about the respective nutrition of both. I’ve read many books about general nutrition, animal welfare, farming, and the well-being of this planet we all share. My reading has left me to conclude that in a perfect world I would be vegan. Alas, this is not a perfect world and it’s not a choice I’m willing to make.
Vegetarianism would be a much easier switch to make and maintain, but if I’m honest with myself, it’s not a change that I’m willing to make either, at least not at this point. For me the main focus of this new eating philosophy will be limiting dairy and eggs, and severely limiting meat. My secondary focus will be to rid our house of over-processed food, reduce the amount of refined grain and sugar that we consume, and increase the variety of whole grains, veggies, fruit and beans. No one food or food group will be off limits, but I want most of what enters our house to be whole food with its nutrients intact.
Finally, I don’t want anyone of us becoming so consumed with eating “right” that we lose sight of the big picture. We can still have cake, candy, cheeseburgers, pizza and stuff like that now and then. It’s more about reforming the everyday than limiting the once in a while. Judging by the lot of us, I don’t foresee this being a problem, but sometimes funny things happen.
That’s the gist of what I’m thinking, now it’s time to put the plan into action. Stay tuned for the next installment…
Smaller Than A Grass-Fed Cow
I’ve thought a lot about what I put in my mouth over the last 20 years, but all of that thinking hasn’t resulted in much change. I’ve read a few books over the years that have altered certain aspects of my eating, but I still eat the same basic diet that I’ve been eating since I was a kid.
I’m picky, don’t care much for fruit and veggies, and have a general love of dairy and white flour. Add to that my near sugar addiction that started when I was pregnant with Mazie, and the result is an unhealthy diet.
I’m also overweight. Not scary, life threatening overweight, more the annoying 10-20 pounds overweight that is a constant monkey on my back. Part of my I’m forty now and I’m ready to take charge of my life plan is to get a handle on what I put in my mouth both for the sake of my health and waist line, and also for the sake of everyone else. The better I eat, the better off the planet is. Be the change you want to see in the world and all of that.
I have certain things going for me. I like water and exercise. I’ve read a crap-load of books on nutrition and food, and I know what I should be doing. I am fortunate to have access to local farms and farmer’s markets, co-ops and neighborhood grocery stores, and the means to pay for the true cost of food when it is sold without subsidy and grown in a responsible manner.
I’m starting a journey and making it public so that I have more incentive to stick it out. I want to change how and what I eat and why I eat and I don’t want my primary motivation to be those 10-20 pounds. Instead I want to focus on how I should be eating and hope that the excess weight leaves in it’s own good time. So, here goes…
The Curious Garden
Last year I bought Mazie a book called The Curious Garden. It’s about a boy who starts a garden on an old abandoned railroad that is elevated above the city. We’ve read the story many times and I’ve always thought it was a cool idea to turn an old railway into a linear garden.
I subscribe to a blog/website, I’m not sure which it really is, called Web Urbanist and every day in my e-mail box I get their daily post. It’s a hodge-podge of cutting edge, modern design. One day it might have twenty pictures of crazy, whacked-out cars and the next day it’s innovative iphone covers or mind-blowing hotels. I usually glance at the e-mail, but every once in a while the e-mail really grabs my attention, just like it did today.
Today the post is all about The High Line. The High Line is an elevated city park in NYC built on an old abandoned railway. Sound familiar? The visual images of the park instantly reminded me of The Curious Garden book. I grabbed the book off of the shelf and read the author’s note. Turns out his book is inspired by the High Line and the wild garden that sprouted there when the railway was left unused.
Cool.
If you live in NYC have you checked this park out? What do you think? Is it as cool as it looks and reads? I spent some time on The High Line’s website learning more about the project and park and I think it’s really inspiring. I’m planning to visit the next time I’m in NYC.
Lowbrow
The name conjures up all type of images, but probably not a hip new eatery in South Minneapolis. Two women who met in the kitchen of Birchwood a decade ago and have since been involved in the local, sustainable food scene decided to open a place where you can get bar food and not feel bad about where it came from. I love the idea of farm-to-table food moving past the fine dining experience and settling in to the regular restaurant scene.
I’ve eaten at the restaurant twice. I enjoyed my first meal a lot and while I had the same exact thing the second time around, it wasn’t as good. I had a grass-fed burger and fries both times, yes I know I am a vision of healthy eating. My first burger was juicy and flavorful, and cooked just right. The bun and cheese were both a nice accompaniment to the burger, and the fries were the skinny kind and quite good. The burger is a nice size at a 1/3 pound. The second time everything was about the same, but the burger was overcooked which took away the juiciness and zapped some of the flavor.
My first meal was consumed with two hard ciders and there were no children in attendance. My second visit I had no adult beverage and my two kids at the table keeping me company. I’m sure that has something to do with my impressions of the two meals, but I do believe my first cheeseburger and french fries were far superior to the second.
Keeping with my nutritious dinner choices, I also opted in for dessert on both occasions. Lowbrow does dessert to a T. They have an excellent dessert lady named Nancy and she makes some killer delights. I’ve tried the Chocolate Oatmeal Stout cake and the Peanut Butter Pie and both were delicious.
Prices are very reasonable. My burger/fry combo was under 10 bucks. The room can get loud quick as there are no soft surfaces to absorb noise and the space is all one, big room. Despite being disappointed by cheeseburger #2, I am eager to go back and dine again. I’ve heard that the chili and pulled pork sandwich are both very good and they have other options that I’d like to try. I say, welcome to the neighborhood Lowbrow!
Sun Street Breads
My new favorite spot for breakfast or lunch is Sun Street Breads. It’s owned and run by Solveig Tofte who baked for Turtle Bread for many years and was a sensation at the Kingfield Farmer’s Market last summer.
The menu is simple, made up of biscuit sandwiches, a few pastries, these awesome fried potato balls called Gordas (not sure of spelling), a couple of breakfast staples and a smattering of sandwiches. The food is simple as well, nothing fancy or highfalutin, but everything made with high-quality ingredients and with the hand of a talented baker. The result is delicious, every-day food. My three favorites so far are the gordas, the biscuit sandwich with scrambled eggs, cheese and sausage, and the raspberry cream scone.
The space is light, bright and airy. They serve dogwood coffee and I guess they have a full liquor license and intend to open for dinner some time in the future. For now they are open from 6:30an-2:30pm daily. They are on the corner of 46th and Nicollet in South Minneapolis. Check them out if you have a chance.
The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side
I walk Mazie to and from school most days. It’s a short walk, not more than five blocks, and we both really enjoy it. When we moved to Minneapolis a little over a year ago from the suburbs, I thought of Minneapolis as a more eco-conscious city than any of the suburbs. My experience is that that’s not necessarily the case.
My latest complaint is the number of houses we pass on our walk to school that have those small signs in the yard to keep kids and pets off the lawn until the chemicals dry. I had always thought that only people in the suburbs used these types of lawn services. My experience walking to and from school has shown me otherwise.
Why do people put nasty chemicals on their yard? I have a hard time understanding the thought process. It costs money and smells bad. A sign is placed in your yard warning pets and kids to stay away. This nasty crap runs off of our lawns and into our waterways and sinks into the soil and is one of the millions of chemicals that are making our world not safe. We all know that there are chemicals everywhere and that can’t be a good thing. But so much of it seems like things out of our control, done to us. But the lawn thing is a conscious choice and it’s a choice that requires money.
If you want your lawn to be all pretty and you can’t see not having a lawn service, please consider a natural lawn service. We used NaturaLawn when we lived in the suburbs, but since we’ve moved I’ve convinced Jamie that our small city lot requires no weed control that we can’t handle with a couple of gardening tools. There are lots of companies out there that offer more natural types of lawn care and they don’t cost much more than the traditional pesticide route. It’s such a small and easy thing to change, why not do it!
Small Can Build An Empire - The Third Installment Of Small
In my continuing homage to small, we take a look next at Scot Pampuch. The man is a small force to be reckoned with. He owns a small restaurant, The Corner Table, and has for several years.
He’s a local food guru who’s always shouting it out to whomever will listen. I’ve usually got my ears tuned to the local food scene and my head on a swivel and I’ve never seen or heard another foodie shout so often and from so many vantage points. Wherever you turn, there he is. It would be creepy if he was creepy, but he’s not, so it’s cool.
This will be his third summer heading up Tour De Farm, a fully sanctioned copy-cat version of Outstanding in the Field, where dinners are held at local farms, out in the field with local chefs and local food.
I just discovered his latest project, the Corner Table Community Supported Kitchen and it’s sheer genius. It’s like a CSA, but from a restaurant. If you don’t know what a CSA is, it’s short for Community Supported Agriculture and it’s basically a box of veggies, fruits, herbs and other random things that you get from a farm. Shares are available to purchase from many local farms and you pick a farm, buy a share, and pick up your box from a pre-determined location each week. The shares can last all year if you are located somewhere South of here, but in our frozen tundra most shares run 18 weeks or so. The CSK or Community Supported Kitchen that The Corner Table has started is a box that you pick up from their restaurant full of local meats, cheeses and the like, all prepped and ready to cook. He is also offering cooking classes bi-weekly at the restaurant in conjunction with the boxes and interesting, but gross classes where you can break down a whole hog with him. Ick, but probably a good thing to do if you eat meat. According to his website there is also talk of a CSK box for vegetarians. The dude is awesome and is living large the small way.
Three cheers for Scot Pampuch!
The New Resolution
Almost every hotel you visit now-a-days features a little sign in the bathroom about saving the environment. If you want to use your towels again and forgo new towels thereby helping out the planet, leave your towels on the rack. If you want your towels replaced, throw them on the floor. So, what do I do every time I’m in a hotel, I put my towels on the rack. And what does the hotel do every time my towels are on the rack, they take them away and leave me fresh towels! Drives me nuts, but my apathetic and scared of conflict self has yet to mention this to any of the hotels in which I’ve stayed.
Well, no more. I’m a little late getting to the party, but better late than never. My New Year’s Resolution for 2009 is to take a little control of the situation and try and end this maddening practice. I’ll be back with updates throughout the year. Stay tuned, I’m sure the updates will be riveting. 
Would you like some plastic with that - Update!
I’ve come across three more instances of biodegradable, starch-made plastic on our drive down the coast and I thought I should share. The West Coast is definitely far ahead of the Midwest on this front and it’s been exciting to come across these products. The proof is in the crappy iPhone pictures. [gallery]
Thoughts on Portland
Best thing about Portland: FOOD! The place is chalk full of interesting, unique, locally owned, eco-conscious, yummy eating establishments. Ken’s Artisan Bakery was hands-down my favorite spot, it was yummy after delicious after tummy-rubbing goodness. We sampled the morning bun, brioche cinnamon roll, eclair and chocolate croissant. We partook in many other tasty meals, including the best falafel sandwich Jamie or I have ever tasted at Karam. Deciding where to eat each day was a practice in fun.
The next best thing about Portland: Bishops Barbershop. We happened by the barber shop this morning and I felt compelled to cut my hair. I’ve never in my life gotten my haircut on the fly, just cause, but I guess greatness can inspire rash action. Imagine a big, open space with ceilings at least 20 feet tall. The walls are covered with posters and pictures, the floors are cement, and a couple of long, wood benches adorn the middle of the floor. Old-fashioned barber chairs sit in front of 8 or 9 stations and the stage for cool is set. The barbers are all young, hip, friendly and tattooed or pierced. Jamie sat down for a quick buzz while I enjoyed a more leisurely wash, cut and blow-dry. Bishops is to a haircut place what the Kennedy School is to a hotel, sheer genius.
Other highlights included a pretty cool children’s museum, an independent bookstore that occupies a full city block on multiple levels, beautiful Japanese gardens and having our friends, Kent, Maril, Simon and Caroline around for a few days. We are on the move now, heading down the coast toward San Francisco. We stay in Eugene, Oregon tonight and then tomorrow Redwood Forest here we come!
Omnivore's Dilemma
Omnivore’s Dilemma is one of my favorite books that I’ve read in the recent past. I heard a couple of talks on the radio with the author Michael Pollan and the subject sounded interesting. I bought the book and I distinctly remember reading it in the parking lots of various big-box retailers in the New Jersey wasteland, where we lived for three weeks during the summer of ‘06, while Mazie napped in the backseat due to regular nap failure.
The book helped shape and change some of my ideas about the production of food, but what I most enjoyed about the book was the simple pleasure of reading it. The book is divided into four sections. Section I is a short history of corn (which I found to be really mind-blowing), Section II is a look at big organic and what that means and entails, Section III is all about one small farm in Virginia called Polyface and the move toward beyond organic or sustainable food-raising and Section IV is an interesting look at building a meal from things grown, foraged or killed by the author.
If you haven’t read it yet, I highly suggest a read. If you have read it, let me know what you think!
These are a few of my favorite things...Seattle
I’d never been to Seattle before; now I have. We, me and the family had lots of fun traversing the city, mainly on foot. We checked out Folklife, Seattle Center, The Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, The Children’s Museum, The Space Needle, Pike Place Market, the flagship REI store and lots of cool restaurants and shops littered throughout downtown. I’ve come away with a few favorites that I’m dying to share.
Would you like some plastic with that?
I think plastic is evil, but wondrous. It doesn’t break, it’s cheap, light-weight and can be fashioned into most anything. Think what you may of the stuff, if you have yourself a look around this America, it’s everywhere. I’ve spent the better part of a year trying to rid myself of the stuff, but everywhere I look, there it is again. Until I decided to do battle with plastic, I never noticed just how pervasive it had become. The marketing tag “Plastic makes it possible” has been taken to the extreme and it seems that plastic is the only material that makes anything possible…my last car was made of plastic. All this from a material that never completely breaks down, is difficult to recycle and cites petroleum and natural gas as the primary sources of its key ingredients. Obviously, the great benefits of using plastic outweigh the downside to most people. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve done the best that I can as a consumer and now it’s up to the manufacturers to stop using petroleum plastic. For example, when I shop at my local co-op and I buy a loaf of the yummiest sourdough bread ever, it comes in a plastic bag. The co-op is a locally owned, eco-conscious type of business and even they package a lot of their product in plastic. I expect soon to see businesses like this begin to take on the plastics challenge. While in Seattle, I’ve noticed two occasions where companies are beginning to adopt a greener plastic. Teva flip-flops hang on plastic hangers wherever they are sold. The plastic they use for this is now a plastic made from starch. We were at a folk festival yesterday and Brown Cow yogurt was handing out samples using plastic spoons made from starch. Hopefully in a few years time this will be the norm instead of the exception.
Aqua
Here’s the deal: I’m a water snob. If bottled water wasn’t bad for you, me and the planet, I’d happily sip, sip, sip bottles of the stuff any time I was away from home. But, being that it is bad for you, me and the planet, I’ve been trying to mend my ways and avoid bottled water at all costs. I used to buy the occasional bottle of water at the movies or if I was out and about and really thirsty and I’ve done a good job of breaking that habit. The harder habit for me to break is buying water while on vacation. I always have good intentions and I start out well every time. I bring my Sigg bottle and fill it from whatever tap is available. What inevitably happens after a short period of time is that I’m scared of the water, it tastes funny, and I’m at the store buying gallon jugs of bottled water. I’ve been bound and determined this trip to once and for all rid myself of this stupid habit. I’m doing pretty well so far. I’m drinking far less water than I normally do at home, but no bottles of Dasani or Crystal Springs or whatever has passed my lips. The kind people at Glacier National Park have water that is impeccable and so far Seattle isn’t too bad either. There have been a couple of rough patches, Glendive isn’t going to win any water awards, but I’m really hoping to ditch my snobbery and turn over a new leaf.
So, I know this is a long, relatively boring post, but I just have to add one more thing about water before I finish. A few years ago, Jamie and I went on a kayaking trip in the Apostle Islands just outside of Bayfield, Wisconsin. We kayaked and camped for three nights on various islands and retrieved our water from the islands where we beached. The water was visibly brown with little bits of this and that floating in it. Gross! I drank enough to stay alive, but not one drop more. Me: water snob.