Ever since, oh, January 2nd I’ve been on an organization and cleaning binge. Perhaps the rest of you find yourself in this new-year-cleaning mode as well? If you don’t have the itch to clean, don’t feel bad—I don’t mean to say our place is in perfect order. Given the de-decoration that occurred on January 6 and the distance and darkness of our storage area where holiday décor is stored year round, I’ve yet to deal with a certain number of boxes of ornaments and lights. As they say, no one is perfect. On the other hand, our linen closet is pristine, as is the office area and every surface including windowsills and (!) kitchen cabinets. With all this in mind, I’ve been thinking back to some organization aids found on our visit to one of the fall craft fairs at the Midtown Global Market. There we found St. Paul-based online retailers Olive and Myrtle who carry, among other things, Beehive SoftBowls by MIO. Exploring MIO’s own web site today, I found some other fun treasures. Here are a couple of highlights, including the bowls themselves, which are definitely on my wish list.

Incidentally, Olive and Myrtle also carries one of my favorite gifts from Tom, a game called Pandabo made entirely of bamboo. It’s a bit like Jenga, a bit like Pick up Sticks, and a lot of fun. Tom picked up the game here in Linden Hills at Wonderment, but it’s good to know it’s also available online.

Images: MIOculture.com, Olive and Myrtle

After following a link in a tweet from SimpleScott to the Post Family’s home page, I found a link to the website of Kennedy Prints, self titled “A Letterpress Printery.” Here are a few of my favorites. In explanation of the first which bears the quotation, “It is the duty of children to wait on elders, and not the elders on children,” Kennedy says, “…by know you should know that we have a thing for proverbs.” I like. As for the third pictured below, I might just have to try and buy one as a means of motivation.

The following series is best seen all at once. I’m missing the last two (they were on a different page) that say “Buy Art,” appropriately with black text on a green square, and “Art Saves Lives!”

If you’re interested in buying, see the note about purchases on their site. Happy browsing!

I’m pretty sure one could get vertigo by scanning over this for too long with a scrolling trackpad or mouse. But I love it! It’s fun to see so many bright, classic (and new) objects together at once. I’d like to post about the changes in our office soon. We too have a rather small nook, and since I rearranged the bedroom/office much has improved.

I just LOVE Valentine’s day! What better time to show your sweetie how much you care about them! I spent most of the day decorating the apartment with pink and red crepe paper and singing along to my favorite love songs, but I also took time to make dinner. Earlier in the week I planned to use some small heart-shaped cake pans that we never use to make cupcakes, but as usually happens with my plans to make sweets when the time came around I just didn’t have the heart. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t use the pans:

Butternut squash kibbeh, from Ana Sortun’s Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean, is highly moldable for all your holiday novelty-dish needs. It’s also a great way to use butternut squash in the winter that is (Minneapolis restauranteurs take note) NOT butternut squash ravioli/pasta. For those not familiar, kibbeh is a Levantine/Middle Eastern dish of bulghur wheat mixed with meat (usually lamb) that is eaten raw, baked, or fried. I think it is best fried, but I have never eaten it raw. For this version, butternut squash takes the place of lamb as the principle binder of the bulghur. And while you can’t see it in the picture, this heart is stuffed with spiced feta. I am not a big fan of butternut squash because I think it is too sweet and too smooth-textured, but here the cracked wheat helps with both of those issues by giving the mixture a more grainy texture and diluting the sweetness of the squash.

Here’s the recipe:

Stuffed Butternut Squash Kibbeh

Kibbeh:

• 3# Squash
• 4 T beurre noisette
• 1 onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1/4 c olive oil
• 2 t paprika
• 1 t Middle Eastern five spice
• 1 1/2 c bulghur or cracked wheat

Filling:

• 1/2# Feta
• 1/2 t Middle Eastern five spice
• 1/2 t sumac (or more – the more sumac the better!)
• 1/2 t Aleppo pepper
• 2 T chopped parsley

Roast the squash until it’s soft, then puree it in the food processor until it is smooth and creamy. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Cook the onion and pepper in olive oil until softened and starting to brown, then stir in the paprika and five spice. Cook for a minute. Add the squash puree and warm through. Stir in the bulghur, cover, and turn off the heat. Let sit 15 minutes while the bulghur softens up.

For the filling, mix the (crumbled) feta with all the other ingredients.

To assemble, pack the kibbeh mixture into your desired vessel (for example, a heart-shaped cake pan). Hollow out an indentation and fill it with the feta mixture, then cover with more kibbeh as needed. Bake in 375° oven for 15 minutes. Turn kibbeh out on to a plate (I hope you remembered to grease those vessels, because I sure didn’t remind you!). Garnish with a bit of the feta mixture and maybe some chopped parsley.

We had this with muhammara (it’s red like hearts GET IT?) and pita. Not bad for a Valentine’s day.