COMMUNITY VOICES | Highway to Bell: How Taco Bell’s Breakfast Menu is destroying my life already, and why I don’t care

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Being a relatively recent graduate of college life, some lifestyle habits of mine from that era of my life have yet to entirely dissipate despite my current responsibilities as a young professional and a well-balanced adult. I still go to bed incredibly late. My spare time usually consists of Netflix binges and karaoke outings. A regular laundry schedule? Not in a million years (okay, I have grown up on that a little).But if there’s ever been a constant that will never die, it’s the fuel of the gods known as fast food. As an overworked undergrad, junk food was what got me through all those late night cram sessions, essay writings, school lab shifts and academia-induced nervous breakdowns. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | You really don’t want to meet the Dicks at Dick’s Resort in the Mall of America

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I’m not one to cry. Truth is, I rarely cry, but during a visit to Dick’s Resort in the Mall of America I was literally reduced to tears! The bartender was abusive, abrasive, and mean as HELL. I wasn’t sure why he was in a bad mood, but later found out that it is their “niche” to be mean as spitfire. Were they really trained to treat people like this, to the point of harassment? Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES| Juggling life’s choices from the kitchen

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When most of us shudder at the thought of feeding 100 people, Lachelle Cunningham’s wheels start turning. She’s thinking: What’s fresh and available? What ethnic cuisine should I explore? Which dish should I prepare that’s tried and true and where can I be completely creative?The entrepreneur chef, owner of Chelles’ Kitchen LLC, has rented space at Kitchen in the Market at Midtown Global Market. Despite juggling a staggering number of balls, including two young children, culinary school, teaching after school classes at Twin Cities’ high schools and junior highs and regular catering jobs, she is focused, energized and with the assistance of Neighborhood Development Center’s training program, ready to take on that meal of 100 – or ten times that.Lachelle has been preparing for all the aspects of life as a professional chef since she was a girl. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Sharing a meal: Great turnout for Eastside Meals on Wheels’ Mission Nutrition Dining Edition

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Eastside Meals on Wheels’ first restaurant night fundraiser, Mission Nutrition Dining Edition, had a wonderful turnout! Local restaurants Anchor Fish & Chips, The Bulldog N.E., Emily’s Lebanese Deli, Hazel’s Northeast, Moose on Monroe, Kramarczuk’s, and Red Stag Supperclub all donated a portion of the proceeds made on Thursday, September 19th to ensure that homebound folks in the area continue to receive warm nutritious meals.Preliminary calculations estimate that the total intake of the event at over $2,444. “Since it was percentage based, we really had no idea what to expect,” said Executive Director of Eastside Meals on Wheels Eileen Hafften. “It was a bit nerve wracking! But we couldn’t be more pleased with how it’s turned out.” The nonprofit, which serves Northeast and Southeast Minneapolis and St. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Mississippi Mushrooms: Where Mushrooms, social justice and economics meet

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What do mushrooms, social justice, and economics have in common? The connection might not seem apparent at first, but Ian Silver-Ramp is happy to connect the dots with some creative thinking and a healthy appetite for entrepreneurship.Ian, who studied agriculture at the University of Minnesota, farmed on a cocoa plantation in Costa Rica, and worked with a major pesticide company for a stint, started off Mississippi Mushrooms with little more than the seed of an idea.Despite ample farming experience, Ian didn’t know mushrooms or the ins and outs of starting a small business. He simply knew he wanted the work he did to be consistent his values. “When I first decided I was going to open Mississippi Mushrooms and make a company, I didn’t know anything. I hadn’t even ever successfully fruited a mushroom,” remembers Ian.So, in the spring of 2012, when he heard about Neighborhood Development Center’s Plan it! Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | That was a cloudy day?

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The sky is clouded unlike my mind which is clear and focused. Peeking blue sky taunts the six others joining me on this third evening in June, a Monday. As cold as Minnesota can get, the briskness in the air is abnormal for this late in the spring. Nevertheless each person in our group, a friend or family member, is too excited to notice the cold. None but one has ever been stand up paddle boarding and none but one has ever asked the woman of their dreams for her hand in marriage. Continue Reading