Remember Blu Dot’s Real Good Chair experiment? They’ve teamed up with Mono again with another real good idea: a Blu Dot Swap Meet. The basic premise is, if you love great design, but don’t have a real good money supply, Blu Dot will consider your offer of talents/treasures/etc. for a single piece from their collection. You won’t be getting a set of chairs: you can only ask for one of anything. But, you might just get the couch of your dreams or a new dining table. The project has been going all week, and I’ve been thinking about it since the very earliest announcements came from Blu Dot on Twitter and Facebook.

Tom suggested we offer Blu Dot a picnic and a leisurely ride through the city of Minneapolis upon our folding tandem (seen here), given that Blu Dot is a Minneapolis-based company. He left it to me to choose the piece of furniture we’d ask for in return. I thought and I thought and I thought and I thought.

Heading into the Walker Tuesday night to see Michael Hart speak as a part of the Insights 2011 Design Lecture Series, I couldn’t help but mention the Swap Meet to Julia as we walked past the Shop with several new Blu Dot pieces on display. And, what do you know, one of the projects Hart shared that evening was the Swap Meet itself.

Today, thinking the project was over at noon… I was delighted to see it’s actually on until midnight. And, I have finally decided on the Strut Square Coffee Table in watermelon. Those of you who know of our recent jigsaw puzzling adventures are already aware of our need for a larger table space in our place to further develop our jigsaw puzzling abilities. At 40 by 40 inches, this table is surely up to the task.

So, we’ve offered up a picnic for 2–6 Blu Dotters preceded by a bike ride on a sunny Minneapolis day in June. You know we are no strangers to winter picnics, but we thought for everyone involved it would be best to hold off hosting the picnic until early summer.

Here’s hoping our friends at Blu Dot deem this a reasonable, and desirable, trade. If you agree, vote for our swap at the Blu Dot Swap Meet!

Interested in proposing a swap of your own? You have until midnight to make an offer. Get the details from Har Mar Superstar and get swapping! Wondering where such a phenomenal idea came from? See Michael Hart of Minneapolis’ Mono discuss the Swap Meet and other recent projects from the firm on the Walker Channel.

Top photo: Kate Sommers Photography … who is trying to swap eggs for a new sectional.

Last Wednesday night I hustled from a meeting near the Mississippi to Cooks of Crocus Hill in Edina before their 9 o’clock closure, refusing the freeway. Our tropical jewel fruit share had arrived. I had called the shop earlier to find out exactly how long I had to drop in and pick up the fruit and after explaining their lack of refrigeration, etc. etc. it became apparent I really ought to come that night, so I made it work. From the original agreement from Cooks:

Nature can be fickle. We have tried to be as precise as possible when listing delivery dates of our crop shares to you [ours was advertised as mid-January, so these will definitely wobble a bit]. We will be notifying you as soon as possible regarding your pick up date and time. Please make arrangements to stop by for your share no later than 24 hours after the confirmed delivery time.

This all seemed like a bit of a pain until I arrived at Cooks to find my glorious, giant box of fruit. All is forgiven. “This is all for us?!” I blathered. I smiled! I was the only one picking up at the Edina location, so yes, it was all ours. This was no small box—it’s a good thing I had found a nearby parking spot.

I arrived at home still grinning from ear to ear with our little bounty from the non-frozen world. Thus began the bigger question: what are we going to do with all of these lemons and limes? So far they’ve brought a great deal of inspiration and cheer to this Minnesota-kitchen-in-February. Naturally, our plans around them are fueled by a lurking anxiety that we’ll fail to use our new citrus friends until they’re past their prime.

Lemon curd, tacos with lime, lime sorbet, lemon vinaigrettes, lemon chicken, limeade, pies, cakes, lemon-in-your-tea (or water!). It’s all on the table. The best part? You’re all invited over for cocktails.

Cooks of Crocus Hill offers crop shares (some of which are fruit shares) throughout the year. Unlike a traditional risk-oriented CSA, they promise refunds on deposits in the event that shares aren’t delivered. Find out what’s available now: http://www.cooksofcrocushill.com/cropshare/shares

For our fruit share, Cooks worked with the always certified organic FruitShare. We’re thinking of ordering directly from fruitshare in the future. Here’s what’s in season at the moment: http://www.fruitshare.com/Featured-Product

Eating local food when it is in season — elitist though it may be — is a good trend for food in America, one that I hope has more staying power than most foodie fads. To that end, I try my best to try to promote that style of eating, on this blog and in my life. Farmers markets, winter squash recipes, pickling — all are inspired by the desire to enjoy the unique fruits of Minnesota. But sometimes I worry that this parochial focus threatens to cut us off from one of the greatest joys of eating: food’s ability to transport us to a place far away from home — for a fraction of the cost of air-fare.

Yesterday in Minneapolis was one of those days when one might have wanted to be somewhere else. Seventeen inches of snow in the space of a day can make you question your choice of the latitude you inhabit. Actually, the snow was pretty enough to watch if you didn’t have to drive anywhere — a situation Martha and I thought we were in until we realized our car was parked on the wrong side of the street. An hour, many shovel-loads of snow, and several good samaritans later we had the car parked safely out of the way of plows and were back inside for the rest of the day, hanging our clothes up to dry and thinking about the joys and challenges of living in the Great White North.

But as we had breakfast in the morning, leisurely eating arepas individually buttered, salted, and topped with cheese, we might as well have been in Cali, Colombia, enjoying the morning hours before the day’s heat and afternoon rains arrived. Martha’s Aunt Stella would wake us each morning with these freshly-grilled corn cakes as well as orange juice and coffee. After taking our time over breakfast it was just a short walk to Uncle Joaquín’s café — attached to the house — for a tinto and conversation with the regulars. In Minnesota yesterday morning our orange juice didn’t taste quite as fresh, and the coffee could be better (we love our Peace Coffee but you can’t beat coffee right from the source) but the taste of lightly fried arepas made the snow seem remote, something we were reading about in El Tiempo rather than something rapidly burying our car in a small white mountain.

We make arepas with Masarepa blanca that we hand-imported from Colombia but that is also available in all the Hispanic grocery stores in Minneapolis and can be ordered online. I just follow the package instructions: mix a cup of masarepa with one and a quarter cups of water and salt to taste, let the mix rest a few minutes, and then form ping-pong ball-sized balls into flat patties with very wet hands to prevent sticking (I use a side bowl of water to keep my hands hydrated). Tradition calls for these to be cooked on a parilla, a device for cooking them directly over a gas flame, but I have better luck using a non-stick skillet instead — the arepas stay together, brown more evenly, and can be cooked more than one at a time.

After spending our morning in Cali and much of our afternoon in the harsh reality of Minnesota, by evening we were ready to take another trip. Black beans and white rice is a dish enjoyed throughout the world, especially in Latin America, but for me it’s something I associate most with Cuba. Since the snow shut down most of the grocery stores early we had to rely on the supplies already in the house. Delving deep into the freezer produced a ham hock, which when combined with dried black beans, a bay leaf, half an onion, salt and water and left to cook for a few hours before being spooned over white rice makes a satisfying meal whether you’re at 45 or 23 degrees north. It never snows in Havana, so how could it be snowing when you’re enjoying soupy black beans and rice?

Do it Green! Annual Green Gifts Fair

• Saturday, November 20, 2010 (10am to 5pm)
• Midtown Global Exchange building (2901 Chicago Avenue S)
• FREE entrance and a free transportation offer (see below!)

Do It Green! Minnesota’s one-day Green Gifts Fair takes place tomorrow. Again this year, more than 70 vendors will offer their wares and those who bike, bus, or carpool will receive a free gift at the event. Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own bags and coffee mugs as well as silverware and reusable napkins to reduce waste while dining in the Midtown Global Market. As an added incentive, Do it Green! has teamed up with MetroTransit this year to offer a Go Greener Pass guaranteeing a free bus fare (both ways!!) to anyone attending.

Holiday Shop & Stroll 20% Off Sale at 50th & Xerxes

• Saturday, November 20, 2010 (10 am to 5 pm)
• Sunday, November 21, 2010 (12 to 5 pm)
• Loft Antiques and Hunt&Gather (W 50th Street and Xerxes Avenue S in Minneapolis)

As Loft Antiques announced (appropriately in all caps) in their most recent email, “THE ENTIRE CORNER OF 50TH & XERXES WILL BE ON SALE!!!” this coming weekend. Loft and Hunt&Gather, and the staff of shops along the entire corner team up throughout the year to offer 20% off weekends. The frame shop, City Chic, Gallery 360, and others will also be offering the discount. If you miss this weekend’s sale, know that Hunt&Gather will be offering another “holiday super sale” Friday, December 3 through Sunday, December 5 (the weekend of No Coast, below).

No Coast Craft-o-rama

• Friday, December 3, 2010 (3 pm to 8 pm)
• Saturday, December 4, 2010 (9 am to 5 pm)
• Midtown Global Exchange building (2901 Chicago Avenue S)

The NoCoast Craft-o-rama features a variety of designers, artists, crafters and other talented creators of unique handmade goods. This will be my third year attending the No Coast’s December craft show and I’m excited to see a number of vendors returning: Studio Mela, Too Many Suitors, Fennel Studio, and Midtown Farmers Market‘s own Utile Mud will all be there, in addition to many other MPLS favorites. A complete list of vendors is available at the Crafter’s Local 612 website.

Member Double-Discount Shopping Days at the Walker

• Friday, December 3, 2010 (11am to 9pm)
• Saturday, December 4, 2010 (10am to 9pm)
• Sunday, December 5, 2010 (11am to 6pm)
• Members receive free parking with purchase

It seems there’s a lot going on the first weekend of December in Minneapolis! Walker members save 20% (rather than the usual 10) on all purchases December 3–5 at the Walker—making it a perfect stop to get your holiday shopping going. Details at walkerart.org.

I recently learned that Walker volunteers enjoy a 20% discount year-round, so if you’ve been looking for volunteer opportunities and tend to drool over the shop’s offerings, you might consider a 2011 resolution to give more of your time and save while you’re at it.

Whether or not you plan to buy, if you haven’t been to the shop in a while, consider stopping in soon. In the past month they’ve revamped the shop’s lighting and rearranged the space, adding or removing tables, and things are looking great.