Scrabble Junior edition Cheez-Its! I don’t buy a lot of boxed or bagged snacks aside from tortilla chips. Tom, of course, loves to make his own crackers. So why the draw? They’re not local, they’re not good for you… blah blah blah. Please! SCRABBLE crackers don’t come along every day. As expected, they taste just like […]

I would make sure she had one of these (via Design Milk).

Martha and I celebrated our anniversary at Restaurant Alma last month. Alma is well-liked in Minneapolis and I’m not going to add my voice to the chorus by writing a review; suffice it to say that its reputation is deserved. Instead, I’ll just document our meal for your vicarious pleasure. Course One: Parmesan Flan and Bison […]

We started the day with a big breakfast of toast, sausages, coffee, and strawberry banana smoothies. Yum. Tom and I don’t eat enough fruit… we talk about this a lot without doing much about it. On my last trip to the grocery store, I decided to take action. Bananas and frozen strawberries make a great […]

The sight of the Midtown Farmers’ Market yesterday morning was a little disappointing; it seemed like there were even fewer vendors than the past two weeks and nary a fresh vegetable to be seen. At least there are always tamales. And then suddenly, as we were settling down with our coffee and tamales to listen to […]

Saturday morning I headed to the Midtown Farmer’s Market for the second time of the year. Unfortunately, last week’s prayers for asparagus went unanswered; still no fresh fruits or veggies anywhere to be seen. According to their website, I shouldn’t expect fresh vegetables until the end of May.  But just because there aren’t any vegetables […]

If you live in the Minneapolis area, you may have noticed Common Roots Café is starting a garden behind (and around) two houses just behind the café. Much work has already been done: the two homes are undergoing major renovations, plenty of asphalt and contaminated soil were removed, and new topsoil and compost were brought in. A pile […]

I’m not usually one to make cookies (much to Martha’s dismay), but when Cook’s Illustrated claims to have created “Perfect” chocolate chip cookies, the boast could not be ignored. Cook’s is based on perfecting recipes, but their claims are not usually quite so bold; more along the lines of ‘Ultimate Coq au Vin’, ‘Perfecting Berry […]

The first weekend in May marks the opening of my farmers’ market of choice in Minneapolis, the Midtown Farmers’ Market. Because our national food media is so dominated by California and New York, I had all kinds of high expectations for tender asparagus, fresh peas and other spring goodies. As it turns out, that is […]

I’ve read a lot about “IKEA hacks” online but I’ve never attempted one myself. In fact, it’s probably still true that I still haven’t. I had help (the hands you see in the pictures below are my friend Rod’s), and it was more of a careful edit than a hack. Last month I came home with […]