clean food.

mav posted about a great-looking new cookbook out there. i guess i will just have to wait until the fall before i can snag my own copy. she mentions that these are easy, straightforward recipes, perfect for the single girl who likes to prepare her own food, but doesn't like to take too much time to do so each evening. amazon pre-order, here i come!

hoo-rah, it's the weekend!

what are you doing this weekend? i have tickets to see m. ward (he is so amazing and beautiful--definitely at the top of my celebrity crush list), the minneapolis farmers' market makes its return, and i desperately want to hit the art crawl in st. paul at some point.
oh, and don't forget that i like you just opened in its new location! it's right around the corner from my house, and i am so excited to have a fabulous handmade boutique in my neighborhood. they are having a grand opening on saturday. treats at 4!
i am so happy that spring is here!

box lunch.

i haven't been eating a lot of interesting food in my cube lately, but here are a few little items that i have been enjoying.

some high (and low) lights.

i was told today in my "informal" (read: surprise!) quarterly review that i am perceived to be "unapproachable" by some of my co-workers. it's hard not to let stuff like that get to me, even when i don't give two shakes what my co-workers think of me, and especially when the news is delivered by a condescending robot-boss. but still, somehow it is really hard to shake it off.
must. get. out.
in the process of doing research, i came across a press much like the one i bought, only bigger, more local, and cheaper than the press i bought. sigh. i need to be happy with what i've got. i am happy with what i've got! it's hard not to let stuff like that lead to me second-guessing myself and my plan for my life/career/getting out of my miserable unapproachable existence.
i enjoyed a great night of art show and dinner with kelly, which ended with complimentary cupcakes at the bulldog, apparently for telling the host how much we like it there. loke it, is more like it (i am trying to get used to that word as a possible like/love combo i am seeking. i am not sure yet). but seriously, i loke the bulldog! those burgers are the best burgers! and the cupcakes? i have not ever had a bad experience there. ever. except maybe the one time when the music got really, really loud at nine o'clock, but even that is understandable.
and now, because i worked out in about four different ways and times today, i am exhausted. and i know i will sleep like a champ tonight. a definite highlight.
and! i get to have coffee in the morning!

P. just posted about this guy yesterday, and i am totally taken with his blog. he makes food and photographs it. his voice is so calm and real, it is a great escape from my dreary workday.
oh my gosh! i am going to stop talking about how dreary my workdays are. i think it is established that i don't like my job, and that i am dying to get out of it, to work for myself, to do something meaningful. so i can stop talking about it, stop obsessing about it, stop giving it any more attention than it deserves.
so i can stop whining!
i hate whining.
and the cure to whining is gratitude, so i am going to be grateful for the things i do enjoy, my friends at work, and friends on the interwebs, two legs that get me to work and home every day, and my eyes that let me take in all the beauty the world has to offer. blah, blah, blah.
i mean it, i really do.

box lunch.

although the weather has been nothing but gray this week, i have had a bit of color in my food this week-some natural, some not.
i do love a good breakfast sandwich, and of course surdyk's does not disappoint. let's talk about surdyk's for a second. it is becoming increasingly apparent for many reasons that i either need to a) stop going there or b) start working there. i am there at least once a day, often twice. i never walk away without something, even if it their 75c coffee--which is really good, by the way. also, my job is getting to me. it really, really drains my soul. and my brain. i have spent this whole week working on feeling positive about it, but i am coming to the conclusion (which i had a hunch about before) that i am just not cut out for boring office jobs. or office jobs at all, probably. so it has crossed my mind to check on the employment opportunities there.
anyway, the food. . . .
we also have for your enjoyment, an orange, cut just the way i like it. and left-over red velvet goodness.

i still don't take pictures of people.

i made a batch of amy butler's red velvet cupcakes for the party on saturday. mini ones.and then, at the party, ended up taking about a million pictures of the lights through the window. i can't decide yet if they look like they are actually great or really not great at all. i got a big kick out of taking them, and my impulse says i like looking at them, so that's going to be enough for me.

what do i call it?

in an effort to create interest and continuity, i have decided to implement the regularity of featured blogging content (wow, that was a stuffy sentence!). so let us commence with the inaugural installment of cube food* (a temporary name, i am terrible at names. i did name my business after myself, after all. any good suggestions would be greatly appreciated).
i have chosen thursday as the day for cube food, because thursday is my favorite day of the week and this is a favorite thing i am doing here. so, without any further ado, i give you. . . what i have been eating at work lately!
ooh, maybe a little further ado: the cheese is yummy, yummy driftless sheep cheese. i usually go for the donnay dairy goat cheese at surdyk's, but apparently all the donnay goats are about to have some kids and aren't milking. the driftless is really good, although i do crave that perfect, tangy chevre (it's the best in the world). i topped it with the greens and curry chicken.
the chocolate is some amazing thing with cocoa nibs and nutmeg.






*also, almost immediately after i so carefully and proudly scheduled this post to publish, i was informed that no one gives a you-know-what about what i had for lunch. incidentally, this also comes from the same people who suggested i create interest and continuity through regular blog content. apparently, i am easily influenced? easily intimidated? i guess we'll see how this all goes. tell me what you think, but say it nicely, i'm a little sensitive at the moment.

st. stomach's day.

do you ever wish that maybe you didn't have such an agreeable appetite? that maybe that loving mother of yours had not instilled in you the value of eating whatever is put in front of you? for example, it might sometimes be helpful to not really find everything appealing. and by everything i mean the samosas, the chicken fingers, the french fries, and the blue moon. not everyone is adventurous with food. but you, you are indiscriminating. you'll try anything at least once! you will take what others turn down! oh, yes. and you will regret it.
you will also regret the decision to follow your happy hour experience with a trip to the gym (after all, you picked the pub that is next door to the y for exactly this convenient reason!), where you will bounce up and down for thirty minutes and consume copious amounts of water--brilliant!
and of course, after all this, you must get yourself home. how convenient (the theme of the evening) that you chose today as your inaugural bike riding day of the season! there is nothing like a two-mile bike ride in the chilly minnesota night, that's for sure (these are the experiences that, if she read your blog, would make your dear mother shudder with fear for you). about halfway home, you realize that stopping is not an option. somehow the inertia of pedaling keeps all the food inside you. you contemplate which would be worse: barfing on a random street corner, or on the steps of your own house. you imagine what it would be like to throw up while in motion. would it throw you off balance and cause you to crash? would you be able to strategically miss yourself and your bike in the process?
thankfully, you make it home without any actual vomiting (it's a miracle!) and recover slowly on the couch. you swear this is not happening again.
you resolve to be more picky next time. and to follow your pickiness with something besides a trip to the gym, no matter how convenient it may be.

more cube food.

this is starting to be a fun little game (i'm thinking of making this a regular blog feature. this is really only the beginning of the pictures, which is only the beginning of what i actually eat in my cube. which is perhaps why i need a diet?) i'm thinking i should become a spokeswoman for surdyk's, the home of many a delicious thing, particularly the yummy sandwich-baby. i'm pretty sure most of my workday meals [that i don't make myself] come from there. oh, and i do love girl scout cookie time. . . .


in other news, i think my press is fixed!! thanks to a fresh pair of eyes and a level. so we'll see if the tighter screws hold. all plans for tomorrow are scratched, i am spending every moment i can with that press-baby.
kim came to visit today and saw the press and the studio and we walked all over northeast and it felt great to be in the sunshine and smell like outside again for once. i cannot cannot wait for spring and summer.
today is amy's birthday, so we are going out for fancy-schmancy dinner, which we never do. but i've been sitting on a big fat gift card for awhile now, so why not? i need to scrounge up something appropriate to wear, and i discover once again that i have no fancy clothes, let alone fancy clothes that are seasonally appropriate.
regardless, i am looking forward to a little dinner, some wine. . . a movie to follow, perhaps?

this is how i entertain myself at work.

but only sometimes! turns out the direct florescent light in my cube is not horrible for styling my snacks. it gives me the chance to practice my photography skills, too. i'm starting to get the hang of the macro setting. the granola i actually made myself (i think most of the food i post about is totally store-bought and often way processed), the palmier and coffee are my new favorite cheap treat from surdyk's, and the donut. . . oh, the friday donut. officially on the 'no' list as amy and i have begun serious diet change as of today (an incentive-rich program designed to motivate and inspire us to healthy eating and plenty of exercise), but a visual marvel nonetheless.

a case of the tuesdays?

ugh. i do not want to go to work today (or any day, really). it is dark and windy outside and i mostly just feel like staying home with some music, coffee, and research. it is time to get serious about this working for myself thing, and it is all i can think about. also, i want to make these cookies. oh, and i want to read the tenth muse, because it looks amazing (is it one of those things i have just not paid attention to before?) a lot of my thoughts lately are about what i want out of life, what i want to do, and what i want to surround myself with--not in a hopeless, depressing way, but in a "let's make it happen" sort of way:
i want to read more.
i want to cook more.
i want to take more photographs.
those are just three, i am holding back a little, because being on the internet is like being in public, and it's good to not let it all hang out all the time.
however, it is off to work for me.
i am always ten minutes late and i hardly ever care. i think that is not such a good sign.

one reason i love valentine's day.

these are the most amazing february treat and only available at cub foods (i have been known to take long bus rides in search for these gems). don't be fooled by impostors! just because brach's makes "cinnamon jelly hearts" does not mean that they taste like this: hot and spicy, a little sweet, and perfectly chewy. yum, yum, yum! the winter light has been a little temperamental lately--either too little or too much. but it seems appropriate that these babies glow a little. that's how tasty they are.

happy new year!

a lot has happened in the last two weeks! my sister made it safely into town and we headed to wisconsin. we saw beloved family members and ate some great food. i celebrated a birthday and saw beloved friends. here are a few highlights, the rest can be found here.
the end of the year is always an awkward time, it usually seems to drag out a little bit, in a delightful, lazy way. i am excited about the new year--additions i have planned for my etsy shop, getting ready for art fairs. from other blogs i have read, there is a great spirit of optimism out there about the new year. i am excited to see what the year holds!