denver cupcake truck: mobile sugar fix

Praise the sugar Lord, there is a sugar fix on wheels and its name is The Denver Cupcake Truck! With Flavors like Vanilla Party, Chocolate Overload, Pistachio, Denver Snowball, Zippy Lemon, Mile-Hi Mocha & Rockin’ Red Velvet--I'm gonna be following their Twitter and Facebook to locate the super truck! Cupcakes are $2.75 a piece or four for $10.
It is so nice to see that street food is alive and well in Denver!

frederik roije: breed retreat: henhouse

Frederik Roije's new 'Breed Retreat' architectural wooden hen house, Netherlands. This makes me want backyard urban chickens!

aqua pod: floating fish farm

Ocean Farm Tech
The Aquapod® farmed fish cage is an unmoored, maneuverable container with its own built-in thrusters. Designed by a team led by Cliff Goudey, the director of the MIT Sea Grant's Offshore Aquaculture Engineering Center, a prototype was constructed for a technical feasibility test this summer in the waters off of Puerto Rico. This method is both healthier and less polluting.

The project is funded by NOAA’s Marine Aquaculture Program, aimed at demonstrating the technology needed to raise fish in the vast portions of the U.S. that are too deep for conventional anchored fish cages. There are many locations both in U.S. waters and around the world where oceanic currents and gyres offer useful frameworks for such mobile operations. Though futuristic compared to today’s near-shore fish farming practices, the concept avoids the user conflicts and compromised water quality of coastal waters.

The concentrated nature of aquaculture often leads to higher than normal levels of fish waste in the water. Fish waste is organic and composed of nutrients necessary in all components of aquatic food webs. In some instances such as nearshore, high-intensity operations, increased waste can adversely affect the environment by decreasing dissolved oxygen levels in the water column. Not only is the quality of the water affected but that of the food as well. Many hatcheries can be found near urban areas and sometimes get exposed to stormwater and industrial runoffs.

Off-shore aquaculture, as envisioned by Goudey and others, would resolve these problems, as this approach would 1) take the operation away from the foul waters of the coasts and 2) utilize strong ocean currents to flush away fish wastes. Should the cages enter a less than pristine area, it would simply move again. And if the currents aren't moving fast enough, the propellers would create the necessary turbulence.

denver urban homesteading: year round farmers market

I only recently became aware that Denver has a year round indoor farmers market. They sell only organic or other high-quality foods from local farmers and food producers. Some of the wares that you will find at the Denver Urban Homesteading Market are: goat cheese and milk, raw honey, dried apples, applesauce, jams, high-quality beef, granola, energy bars, lamb & goat meat, goat milk, sauerkraut, pickles, juices and ciders, organic chicken feed & additives, free-range heritage turkeys, chickens, natural botanical skin care products, farmed tilapia and trout, knife & tool sharpening, vegetables, all natural milk, all natural ice cream & gelato, goat soaps, wool for knitting, eggs, cheese, raw cow milk, pies with local fruit fillings, eggs, grass-fed buffalo meat, bread, glutin-free sweetbreads, organic spices, home made pasta and ravioli, organic pancake & biscuit mixes, organic baby food, dried soups, dips and mixes and biodynamic wine!!! Click on the link and get yourself down there!

lunch skin: reusable bags

What a great way to reduce waste by packing snacks and sandwiches in Lunch Skins.

kids konserve: waste free lunch kit

Kids Konserve offers this fun waste-free lunch kits, each with stainless steel drink bottle, two stainless food containers, a food kozy (replacing plastic bags or saran) and a cloth napkin. The recycled cotton bag has name tag. Kids Konserve is out of Australia, lets do lunch mate. Every item is BPA, lead and Phthalate-free. Available here.

yule log: buche de noel

For a few years I have been dying to make a Yule Log cake for the holidays, but this year I think I am gonna jump and just do it! I think I may go for the birch bark version.....More recipes for Buche de Noel here.
Images at GFC, BS & AT.

rishi tea: giveaway winner!

Congratulations to Alyssa, for her winning HAIKU entry for this tea set.

haute nature local favorite maps: denver boulder

View Haute Nature's Favorite Places in Denver. in a larger map


View Haute Nature's Favorite Places in Boulder. in a larger map

rishi tea: holiday giveaway set

As cold weather moves in, few things rival the act of warming up with a hot pot of tea. This fabulous giveaway for Rishi's new Tastes of Origin gift sets (1st Flush Green & White Set) is Fair Trade and includes a guidebook about the geography of this particular tea and its history, culture and tradition. The sets are now also available online and at select Whole Foods Stores or shop directly at Rishi Tea.

To win this set, please write a HAIKU about tea! As always, leave your email for prize notification in non-hyperlink style ex: poet(at)gmail(dot)com. Ganbatte Kudasai or Good Luck!

haute gingerbread ideas: moomin house

There is nothing more quintessentially holiday than gingerbread. Nothing more quintessentially Swedish/Finnish than Moomin, so this year I will give this Moomin lighthouse a go. For those of you unfamiliar with Moomin, they are hippo-like troll creatures from a series of books and a comic strip by Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson (born part of the Swedish speaking minority in Finland). originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. The family of trolls are white and roundish, a carefree and adventurous family who live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland. Moomin residences include a lighthouse and a theatre.

Gingerbread has an interesting history as well, originally brought to Europe by the Crusaders. There are written Swedish references showing nuns were baking gingerbread to ease digestion in the year 1444. The first documented trade of ginger bread cookies is dated to 1500's where they were sold in monastery pharmacies and town square farmers markets. Gingerbread became widely available in the 1700s. Originally, the term gingerbread referred to preserved ginger, then to a confection made with honey and spices.
To make your own Moomin Lighthouse follow the PDF tutorial on AOA!

More gingerbread house ideas here & here.

teahouse symbolism: a1 architects

For many lucky enough to possess one, their backyard is a place of solace. This Tea House by David Maštálka of A1 Architects in Prague, was built as all tea houses are for the slow appreciation of the mundane aspects and beauty of life. Built from oak & burnt larch facing, it was constructed in a mere 35 days.

The Teahouse as a typological kind follows the Japanese tradition of minimizing space and is intended as place the meet with guest at a cup of tea for a spiritual release. The tea house meant for ideals of harmony, closeness, ritual, hospitality, etc. are aspects of life we often forget with our busy schedules, but which we should all incorporate into our lives daily.

Many people possess a backyard studio or shed, but few build such a glorious tea room.

From Wiki: According to the Nihon Kōki (Latter Chronical of Japan), drinking of tea was introduced to Japan in the 9th century, by the Buddhist monk Eichū, who had returned to Japan from China. This is the first documented evidence of tea in Japan.The ideogram for word tea house translates into three different definitions — all metaphysical. First, 'Abode of the Void' obviously refers to the Buddhist concept of nothingness, of the vacuum, and the aesthetic principle that the pavilion must exist for itself alone. When not used for tea rites it stands empty and idle. 'Abode of the Fancy' implies a personal relationship between the tea room and its designer. It is not built for permanency or posterity, but to express the Buddhist teaching that just as the body is a temporary temple, so the 'hut' is fleeting, a temporary thing, a resting place. The thatched roof suggests perishability; the slender pillars the fragility of life; the bamboo supports suggest lightness; the use of ordinary materials testifies to non-attachment. 'Abode of the A-Symmetrical' is also basically Zen, which is the philosophy of Becoming — a dynamic, endless process. Symmetry suggests completeness and the 'aping of an abstract and artificial perfection.' In the tea room or the Japanese house the decorations are always off-center, the balance occult; sets come in threes and fives; one never finds the artistic representation of a person on display...

Photographs: Ester Havlová

happy birthday: eva ziesel turns 103!

World-renowned Hungarian industrial designer Eva Zeisel turned 103 on Friday. Though she is best known for her decorative art ceramics, Zeisel has designed furniture and other housewares. Zeisel's work is in the collections of the MoMa, the MET & the V&A. She was awarded with the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York in 2005 at the age of 99. She continues to create new works and her repetoire of design is still fresh and very current today thanks to her signature organic shapes. New York magazine named Zeisel as one of nine living Design Revolutionaries back in '07 as well. You can pick up some of her tableware at Unica Home & Crate & Barrel or shop for vintage pieces too. Learn more about her and her work on the Eva Zeisel collectors forum and don't miss her TED talk below!

the cake walk: a halloween carnival activity

In many Elementary Schools around the US, a cake walk coinciding with a school carnival is organized for the Halloween holiday. For any elementary schools that do not do this activity I have a word of advice, Start!
This celebration can also be done with the entire neighborhood or other community facility or group. The Cake Walk can be turned into a fundraiser for a worthy cause as well. It is very similar to musical chairs. Each cake comes from parents or group members who volunteer to bake or buy a cake and donate it to the game.

To organize one, put numbers on the floor or carpet with masking tape, forming a circle. Maybe 20 perhaps more if it is a big school. Participants purchase tickets and when they want to play, hand in their tickets, they each choose a number/position, and when all the spots are pretty much filled, you begin. Using a tape recorder or record player, put some fun dance music on, and encourage the walkers to move around the circle, in rhythm to the music. After several rounds of this, the Leader stops the music, and everyone claims the spot nearest his/her feet. The leader pulls a number out of a fishbowl (there is a number in the bowl for every number in the circle). That chosen number wins the cake for that round, choosing from all the cakes available, donated by participating families. The others are given some sort of small door prize, and a "thanks for playing!"...and may, of course, try again with another ticket. Repeat until all cakes have new homes.

Bakers or Buyers of cakes will need advance notification of the event and the need, so you'll be distributing flyers and/or making phone calls. You need a chairperson/Leader to be responsible for set-up, and ideally one or two enthusiastic Helpers to keep it running smoothly. Someone has to be available to Receive the cakes as they are brought in, store them safely, set up, clean up...etc..

For the love of German Chocolate cake, please bring this activity back people!!!

I was completely unaware as to the true history of the Cake Walk, that you can read about here. I guess the cake walk is as good as Jazz baby-it sure tastes like it.
photo source

flat pack prototype chicken coop

The University of Colorado, Boulder has created an Urban Chicken Coop Project to focus on the current backyard chicken raising trend happening in Boulder County. The city has seen an upsurge in its community garden project and 360,000 visitors to the Boulder County Farmers' Market each year. Many local restaurants incorporate the locavore movement so the local food movement and production is a huge priority. The citizens of Boulder are propelled to natural living, outdoor activities such as, biking, hiking, skiing and now gardening and farming have become the latest path to follow. A nationwide dialogue has begun proving that a chicken coop can be maintained in a backyard urban environment.

Two University of Colorado professors-Richard Saxton in the Art and Art History department and Rob Pyatt in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning have challenged their students to revisit the age old debate; can urban exist in the rural and can the rural exist in the urban. The "Chicken Shack Village" installation explores rural aesthetics and farming in an urban environment.

College of Architecture and Urban Planning instructor Rob Pyatt's design and build class to complete the first model for the easy-to-build chicken coop kit for homeowners. The most successful seems to be Jeff Troutman's flat pack chicken coop design (in black). Jeff's affordable design is an easy to assemble coop utilizing digital fabrication methods to cut FSC certified plywood sheeting with minimal hardware into 4'X4' sections, ultimately housing up to 6 chickens when constructed. The design includes a chicken run and is meant to be set up next to a backyard fence, still allowing for easy access to collect eggs.

Currently, in Boulder, there is an exhibit of Troutman and others designs for the chicken coops at the BMOCA Museum.

In addition to "Chicken Shack Village," symposiums have been set up to allow speakers such as the Urban Hens organization to address topics of collaborative art, raising chickens in the urban setting, environmental responsibility, healthy living, building and maintaining coops, as well as local farming and gardening.

More information available on this project at CO &
AB.

haute ideas for children's lunches

Keeping kids interested is simple its just like fancy garnishing. Tikes are usually a trendy bunch, their interest will be kept if the food is styled in new and unusual ways. Its hard to stay consistently creative in this department unless you prepare ahead.

Make Sunday your prep day by filling small plastic reusable containers with yogurt for dipping or berries. Put them in the freezer and take one out each day-at lunchtime they will be nice and cool.
Fill enough containers on Sunday to pop into lunches each day.
Try trail mix or organic popcorn a super low calorie snack.
Vegetables should be bite size and have a dunking dip or dressing: hummus, salsa or yogurt.
Make fruit bite size & put on skewers.
Cut sandwiches smaller or use cookie cutter. my fave PB, banana & honey!
Tiny portions of spaghetti with sauce can be placed into cupcake papers and frozen in tupperware for a quick grab.
Don't forget fun items like quesidillas, hard boiled eggs, bagels, cubed watermelon, tube style yogurt or cold mini pancakes (delicious)
Pack crackers with cheese that you shape with cookie cutters: dinos, gnomes, etc..
You really cannot go wrong if you style food in the shape of animals or characters.
More ideas at Flickr Bentos, Kids Eats & Vegetarian Bento

Goodbyn
Bento

eat your vegetables

The idea that freezing peas will get your children to eat them is more intriguing than say flavor of pea poscicle!

best reuse.....ever! mushroom tunnel

I might be slightly bias in saying that this is the best abandoned architectural reuse I have ever seen, since I adore mushrooms...but I challenge anyone to find a better use of space. Dr. Noel Arrold is founder of Li-Sun Exotic Mushrooms which houses itself in an abandoned railway tunnel originally built in 1886. Although the tunnel is still Australian state property, Dr. Arrold secured himself a five year lease and re-fashioned it into a lovely mycological growing facility. Dr. Arrold has actually been growing mushrooms in the Mittagong tunnel for more than twenty years--varieties such as Shimeji, Wood-ear, Shiitake, and Oyster thrive there. The tunnel is 650 metres long, 30 metres deep and remains at a constant 15 degrees Celsius, fluorescent lights illuminate the space for 12 hours.
more info here.

too haute: designer watermelons

Not eco in any way--except maybe saving room in your refrigerator, its just that a $500 watermelon is so haute it deserves a look see/mention.
via Food Fashionista

babycakes: healthier desserts

Baby Cakes, a cupcake shop in the East Village caters to the picky eater or allergen aware diet creating scrumptious cakes that are gluten-free, dairy free, egg and soy free. To top it off, they are sweetened with agave nectar. I need to get my hands on some ASAP.