Use your Blue Sky Guide to save 50% on a cup of organic fair trade coffee and a grilled panini sandwich (made with organic ingredients) at Ginkgo Cofeehouses. Good at Snelling (721 N Snelling Ave, St Paul) and Garden View Medical Building (347 N Smith Ave, St Paul) locations.  More...

Honest Eats is our newest seasonal recipe blog by Eric Robertson of Souped Up Cafe.

Heirloom winter squash are to autumn what Rainier cherries are to summer. They are an emblem of October and we’re lucky here in Seattle to have access to so many varieties. Getting a hold of some locally grown pumpkins and cooking them up to highlight their natural, earthy sweetness will really bring a seasonal flair to your kitchen everyone can appreciate, not to mention a chance to show off your culinary prowess. More...

Honest Eats is our newest seasonal recipe blog by Eric Robertson of Souped Up Cafe in Seattle, Washington.

Heirloom winter squash are to autumn what Rainier cherries are to summer. They are an emblem of October and we’re lucky here in Seattle to have access to so many varieties. Getting a hold of some locally grown pumpkins and cooking them up to highlight their natural, earthy sweetness will really bring a seasonal flair to your kitchen everyone can appreciate, not to mention a chance to show off your culinary prowess. More...

Greetings, dear readers, from the other side of the pond.  Three days into my one-month stay in Holland, I’ve had a fair bit of culture shock.  I’m not able to understand much of what I hear, I can’t ride a bike because every Dutch person is at least 6 feet tall, and traveling on the back of a bicycle so close to moving traffic can be somewhat unnerving.  Undoubtedly, however, one of the most exciting (and shocking) things about my trip has been the attention paid to Election Day here in the Low Countries. More...

Dear reader, this is my last green bite written States-side for the next month.  Starting now and through November I’ll be on a miniature tour of Europe, visiting Holland, France, Belgium, and Scotland.  Never fear, though -- I’ll stay in touch with plenty of recipes and lore from my travels.  For this week, though, my article will focus on preservation of American things, specifically fruits and vegetables. More...

Corn is the subject of quite a bit of controversy, of late.  Though we’ve long enjoyed this vegetable in a culinary sense, we’ve recently discovered we can make fuel from it, as well.  This is both a blessing and a curse to Zea mays. 

A staple in a number of diets, corn has been used to sustain Native American populations, been ground into flour for the ubiquitous Mexican tortilla, and been eaten off the cob by any  number of barbecuing Americans.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, we’ve started using this food crop to create ethanol fuel, making it more expensive to feed hungry mouths.  Some prominent researchers, most notably (at least to me, as I saw him lecture at my alma mater) David Pimentel, also claim that not only is ethanol not going to solve our fuel crisis, it’s going to exacerbate it. More...

Love is a strange beast.  Feelings of indifference can mutate into full-fledged ardor at a moment’s notice, only to fade in the sterile light of morning.  Desire can become obsession, leaving us feeling insecure and exposed.  And of course, it can simply be frightening as hell.  Though this column thus far might lead you to believe I’ve been kidnapped and replaced by some kind of foodie Carrie Bradshaw, that’s not the case.  It’s simply that I’ve had my world completely turned upside down.  By beets. More...

Around the end of summertime, gardeners start playing jokes on one another.  Neighbors donate apples to each other, and receive their produce back in the shapes of homemade pies or crumbles.  Baskets of free tomatoes grace office tables, and Craigslist posts about excess pears abound.  The best way to get rid of extra fruit and veg that I’ve heard of, though, involves zucchini:  put them on your neighbor’s porch, ring the doorbell, and run.  For the record, if anyone out there would like to play this joke on me, just email me and we’ll work something out. More...

I firmly believe it’s nearly impossible to divorce a thing from the context you experience it in.  Sixteen means drivers’ licenses,  early morning cartoons are for Saturdays, and cake and ice cream spells birthday party.  That being the case, few things are as synonymous with sultry summer days as watermelon.  The sweet, juicy, messiness of this gourd is embedded in most of us as common picnic or dessert fare, and there’s little that can do as much to cool you off as much as sinking your teeth into a ripe slice on a sweltering day. More...

While walking to work this morning, I heard one my favorite sounds – bees buzzing away while collecting their tax of pollen.  Even better, they were buzzing away on one of my personal favorite plants – the lovely lavender.

Lavender, like the roses we discussed not so long ago, has also been cultivated for ages.  Part of the mint genus (which explains its square stems and poignant fragrance), lavender is native to the Mediterranean region.  This makes it a perfect match for Oregon’s modified Mediterranean climate.  Growing your own lavender plants is relatively simple, too – you can purchase plants from a nursery, or simply look for a friendly neighbor with a plant.  Often, lavender plants will send up their own tiny shoots, which can be dug up and transplanted.  If there aren’t any shoots, you can usually just divide the plant in half (carefully, of course). More...