Posts Tagged walking

Mastering the Art of Loving French Pressing

french_pressThe subject of my—admittedly expensive—coffee habit has been the cause of much ado lately. While I’d like to say it’s much ado about nothing, the simple fact is that I was spending approximately $112 dollars a month on coffee alone—which, on one hand, is ridiculous.

On the other hand, however, it was money I was more than happy to spend. Walking half a mile each way for a four-dollar skim latte added exercise to my newly-sedentary Midwestern life. Plus, it was an extra mile of walking (plus doggie socializing) for my mutt Jack. Best of all, though, it was a chance for a work recluse like myself to get out and interact with friendly baristas and—if I was lucky—bearded coffee connoisseurs. And because I patronized a local, independent coffee shop I was not only supporting fair trade, I was stimulating the local economy, which is an issue very close to my heart.

But when we started this project, I knew it was time to dust off (and wash out, don’t worry) the old Bodum. Read the rest of this entry »

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Conflicting priorities

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I’ll admit it. I have a big crush on New Seasons. That’s where we do all of our non-farmer’s market shopping. They’ve got absolutely gorgeous, mostly organic produce. The shelf tags are color-coded so you can tell what’s local at a glance, and the local options are many. It’s not at all hard to shop entirely local there. And they do stuff like this. And the staff, well, Portlanders, let’s just admit it. The percentage of beautiful people staffing the New Seasons locations? Pretty damn high. (If I get brave enough, I’ll get a photo of my Produce crush one of these days to show you. He’s something. All the produce employees wear fishing-style knives in sheaths on their belts for opening boxes, and for slicing into apples to give you a taste of the goods, etc. Most of them wear their knives on their hips. My guy wears his at the small of his back. The appeal of this is inexplicable, but undeniable. You have to see it for yourself… Swoon…)

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