Things That I'm Into: Coffee & Tea Exchange

Since we've been back in Chicago I've been trying to buy our spices in bulk. They are way cheaper and that way you don't have the waste a glass or plastic container each time you get new spices.

It helps that we have this really cute spice/tea/coffee store right in our hood called the "Coffee & Tea Exchange." It smells amazing and the people who work there are really nice about crawling up to the top shelves to get you a spice.

Buying spices in bulk is also awesome because you can buy a small amount. You aren't supposed to keep spices for that long (< year), so if you are like me and know you will never use an entire jar of "mace" in a year, you can just get a little.

I have this sinking feeling that maybe the people at the shop don't follow the less than a year spice rule, but I'm  just going to live in a happy oblivion about that...

Anyway, into it.

Things That I'm into: Upton's Naturals

We randomly came across this brand at whole foods the other day, and since I am quite the fake meat expert, I decided to try it out. I felt affirmed in this choice when the check out dude at whole foods was raving about it and told us that once we tried it we'd never go back to other types of soy products..

First of all, it's not soy, which is kind of great because I've been reading some scary things about soy lately. Not any scarier than scary stuff about other things I still indulge in (alcohol, dairy, etc.), but scary enough to want to limit my consumption. So yeah- it's seitan- which is a wheat gluten.  High in protein, low in fat, and less processed than most soy.

Second of all, it's local, which is great. Made in Skokie.

Third of all, it's really really delicious. We used the chorizo in a pretty basic "burrito bowl" (seitan + black beans + lettuce + cheddar + salsa + jalapenos) and it was seriously one of the best I've ever had.

Fourth of all, it's cheap. Two packages for five dollars at whole foods right now! I bought both the chorizo AND the italian sausage when I went back the other day.

Fifth of all, look at their mustaches! Love their mustaches.

Things That I'm Into: Vermiculture

We have worms!

About 500 of them, living in our house, in two sweet rubbermaid containers. They are going to eat all of our fruit and vegetable trimmings and poop out wonderful nutrient rich soil for us to put on our balcony container garden.

The highlight of getting our worms was getting an ilicit tour of Rick Bayless's super sweet backyard garden/kitchen/generalfoodtopialand. We gave the money, his gardener gave us a large yogurt container full of worms. Awesomest weird exchange ever.

After one escape attempt, they seem to have settled into their new home in the corner of our sunroom well.

We keep our veggie and fruit scraps in this (bottom right) interim home that has a filter to keep any smells out, and move it to the compost once a week.

So far so good in worm land. Will have an update after we actually harvest some compost.

Things That I'm Into: WEDNESDAYS at the Green City Market

I know, I know, Saturdays at the Green City Market are pretty much the most awesome thing ever. But you know what? Wednesdays are even better.

Less crowded. Chef's demonstration has available seats. Less dog fights.

It's really optimal. Today I picked up three starters, some asparagus and some mushrooms. SPRING.

(image via chicagoist).