Food and restaurants

Recently I've enjoyed finding new ethnic markets in the Twin Cities suburbs—but with the price of gasoline spiking, I needed to find an ethnic grocery a little closer to home. I headed up Chicago Avenue toward the Lake Street, then turned east keeping my eyes open for some place interesting. That’s how I ended up at La Alborada Market at the corner of Lake and 19th, a mostly Mexican grocery owned by the Cruz family.

Eat For Equity is a wonderful volunteer-led organization that organizes fundraising dinners. Every month, they pick a different worthy cause to support, and for this month, they chose the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. (The Twin Cities Media Alliance had its turn last year.)  Eat for Equity events draw a fun group of people, mostly in their 20s.

Lots of food fun this weekend. Weather permitting, I'm going to jump on my bike on Saturday and do a gastronomic circuit, starting with the Mill City Farmers' Market, where May 18 has been proclaimed Backyard Bee Keeping Day. Lots of spring produce and bedding plants for sale, plus a cooking demo by market chef Heather Hartman, using honey from Beez Kneez, a local non-profit that delivers fresh local honey by bike. Beez Kneez will also be on hand at the Community Booth, providing information about the vital role that bees play in our food system. Music by the Cactus Blossoms, a terrific local country-western trio.