urbanfoodie

*20-something, filipina american urbanite
(Minneapolis via NYC, SF, & the Chicagoland area)
*creator, consumer, and all-around enthusiast of food
Dec 21
Perhaps budgetary concerns are forcing you to be a little bit more resourceful over the holidays. Maybe you hate to throw away food magazines because one day you might make that paella recipe. Either way, you can take advantage of the lush photography in food mags by recycling the pages as wrapping paper for small gifts. Here, I’ve wrapped bars of chocolate in the colorful pages of Food and Wine. It’s cheap! It’s green! It’s non-denominational! Use yarn, ribbon, twine, or whatever you have laying around to jazz it up.

Perhaps budgetary concerns are forcing you to be a little bit more resourceful over the holidays. Maybe you hate to throw away food magazines because one day you might make that paella recipe. Either way, you can take advantage of the lush photography in food mags by recycling the pages as wrapping paper for small gifts. Here, I’ve wrapped bars of chocolate in the colorful pages of Food and Wine.

It’s cheap! It’s green! It’s non-denominational! Use yarn, ribbon, twine, or whatever you have laying around to jazz it up.

thrifty | gifts | holidays | green | Comments (View)
Feb 10

Project Macaron: Take 2 (Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Macarons with Chocolate Ganache)

With the Big-Red-Heart-Shaped-Holiday this weekend, it feels appropriate to blog about my latest foray into Macaronland via Pierre Hermé’s chocolate macarons.

Fancy French sweets? Check!

Chocolate? Check! and check! (base and filling)

A fussy recipe that will cause just enough cognitive dissonance to convince yourself, “Wow, I must really, really like this person/these people to go through all this trouble for these damn things”? Check!

Read More


macarons | French | V-day | chocolate | desserts | gifts | Comments (View)
Dec 15
The Gift of Local Flavor - Æbleskiver If you’re a devotee of the Mill City Farmer’s Market, you may have come across Aunt Else’s Æbleskiver (I had my first delightful taste of a savory sausage aebleskiver with ginger simple syrup during the last weekend of the market). Did you know that these unique spherical donut-pancake-popover-ish pastries of Danish origin are traditionally popular around Advent and Christmas-time? Well, how appropriate for Aunt Else to offer a little package ($52.99) that would make a great holiday gift - one cast iron pan, a package of their organic batter mix, and a stainless steel chopstick for turning the little guys. You could also just get someone one of the unique pans ($39.99) specially forged for Aunt Else. Super cool: the local, family-owned Aunt Else got some press on New York Magazine’s website!

The Gift of Local Flavor - Æbleskiver

If you’re a devotee of the Mill City Farmer’s Market, you may have come across Aunt Else’s Æbleskiver (I had my first delightful taste of a savory sausage aebleskiver with ginger simple syrup during the last weekend of the market). Did you know that these unique spherical donut-pancake-popover-ish pastries of Danish origin are traditionally popular around Advent and Christmas-time? Well, how appropriate for Aunt Else to offer a little package ($52.99) that would make a great holiday gift - one cast iron pan, a package of their organic batter mix, and a stainless steel chopstick for turning the little guys. You could also just get someone one of the unique pans ($39.99) specially forged for Aunt Else. Super cool: the local, family-owned Aunt Else got some press on New York Magazine’s website!

holidays | gifts | aebleskiver | Minnesota | local | Comments (View)
Dec 10

Are you a Minnesotan Local Food Lover?

Today, Simple, Good and Tasty launches their Local Food Lover program - a partnership with several local, sustainable, organic, and fair trade businesses in the Twin Cities. The program allows you to support these folks, save some $$$ with the designated participants, and benefit the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Pollicy (IATP). Here’s a sample of what the $29 price can save you over the next year:

  • Buy one get one free entrées at Common Roots and Brasa Premium Rotisserie
  • $10 off 2 entrees at Spoonriver
  • Free desserts with the purchase of an entree at the Birchwood Cafe, Restaurant Alma, and Sen Yai Sen Lek
  • 10% off all purchases at Galactic Pizza, Grassroots Gourmet, and Local D’lish
  • $8 off a cake at Salty Tart
  • $5 off your $25 purchase at Clancey’s Meat and Fish Market
  • $5 off your $40 purchase at Linden Hills Co-op
  • 2 free items with a $20 purchase from Sweet Cheeks Baby Food
  • A free glass of wine with the purchase of an entree at the Craftsman
  • A buy one get one free sandwich at Golden’s Deli
  • Buy 1 get 1 free ice cream cones at Pumphouse Creamery every month for a year
  • $2 off every $10 purchase at Fireroast Mountain Cafe
  • 20% off all of your purchases at Peacecoffee.com
  • More!

Purchase your Local Food Lover card at the SG&T event tonight at the Craftsman or at the Birchwood Cafe, Brasa, Local D’lish, Grassroots Gourmet at the Midtown Global Market, or online at the SG&T website. This would also make a thoughtful gift for your favorite Minnesotan local food lover (ahem)!

(via simplegoodandtasty)


SGT | local | Minnesota | gifts | Comments (View)
Dec 2
When I came across The Kitchn’s Holiday Gift Guide: 15 Small Luxuries for Home Cooks, I immediately thought of this gift of truffle salt I received on my recent trip to San Francisco. We were at the Far West Fungi shop in the Ferry Building, and I tasted my first sample of truffle salt. C later surprised me with the salt, saying that she had to buy it for me after seeing the look on my face. I would have never bought this for myself, which makes it my favorite kind of gift. By the way, truffle salt is AWESOME. In scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, french fries, plain popcorn, pasta, and many more yet to be tried or discovered. If you have some suggestions, drop me a line.

When I came across The Kitchn’s Holiday Gift Guide: 15 Small Luxuries for Home Cooks, I immediately thought of this gift of truffle salt I received on my recent trip to San Francisco. We were at the Far West Fungi shop in the Ferry Building, and I tasted my first sample of truffle salt. C later surprised me with the salt, saying that she had to buy it for me after seeing the look on my face. I would have never bought this for myself, which makes it my favorite kind of gift.

By the way, truffle salt is AWESOME. In scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, french fries, plain popcorn, pasta, and many more yet to be tried or discovered. If you have some suggestions, drop me a line.

truffles | salt | condiments | gifts | holidays | Comments (View)
Jun 9

Father’s Day Gift: Something sharp.

So I want to get my dad a chef’s knife for Father’s Day/his birthday. It would get A LOT of use. Something high quality but not ridiculously priced.

Any suggestions? 


help me! | family | gifts | Comments (View)
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