We are sooo lucky!

Berwyn friends--I'm sure you already know about the awesome restaurant that is coming to Roosevelt Road, Autre Monde. If you don't, you need to look them up on Facebook or the interwebs.

They will be using local, organic ingredients whenever possible. To make it even more possible, they're trying to raise a little money to build their own green house on site. Just imagine how cool it would be to order a salad that was harvested out back the same day (maybe even hour)! Click on the title of this post to donate some cash to help bring this dream to reality. Then they will be writing a book about their adventure. There are some great give-aways for donors, too. Please check them out--I know the owners personally, and I promise this will be a HUGE boon for our little up and coming town. They have years of combined restaurant experience and they know what they're doing. I can't wait to have my first glass of organic wine at the bar of Autre Monde!

Best. Lunchbox. Ever.

Introducing Goodbyn. This handy little lunchbox is made in the USA from the very best food-safe recyclable plastic. It comes with 275 stickers so you can personalize it any way you want! It's dishwasher safe (the stickers too!) and will save you $190/year per kid if you are used to using plastic bags and juice boxes for school lunches. It comes with 5 sealing compartments and an 8 ounce reusable bottle for your beverage of choice--there's even room for a little ice! All the styles feature a sturdy handle at the top.

These are the kids' version and are great for kids 5 and over. They come in green, orange, pink and blue. The "ears" make the lids easy for small fingers to remove.

These two below are the more "grown up" ones. Just because their colors are more subdued, and they don't have "ears". This series is called "Too cool for ears" and is suggested for adults and kids over 9 years old. Whatever. I'd do the ears ones--they're cuter! Both styles come with 275 stickers to use to personalize your goodbyn. The colors for the earless ones are white, charcoal, plum, and navy.

These are great for school/work lunches, picnics, road trips, and for bringing your lunch to places that charge too much to buy lunch (museums, zoos, etc.) We have all the colors in stock now, and can order more if we run out.

Surprising Finds at Aldi

For those of you who know me well, it will come as no surprise that I am an Aldi shopper. It's cheap and it's near my house. And Aldi is one of the greenest stores I can think of--they don't throw away their boxes, they give them to customers to carry their food in. They encourage the reusing of their bags (or the bringing of your own) by charging you for them (they're quite high quality, too, so you would definitely not throw them out). They don't spend money on trendy displays or energy-hogging light fixtures.

Their food is very high quality, and they have a double guarantee--if you're not satisfied, they will refund your money, and replace your product. They have organic blue corn tortilla chips (the Fit and Active brand) that are low fat and delicious. Their higher-end pasta sauces have no weird ingredients or high fructose corn syrup. They have recently started carrying green tea in tea bags that have no metal--so you can just throw them on the compost pile without stabbing yourself trying to pry open the staples. They have whole grain breads. Their butter is cheap, and its ingredients are cream and salt. The cheese isn't bad either--they have a delightful Dill Havarti. It's really not that hard to find almost everything you need there, and they've recently increased their produce section to include a lot more fresh vegetables and fruits (mostly conventionally grown).

Other things to love:
Your car (or bike)is safe from wayward carts, because you "rent" a cart for a quarter, ensuring that people will return their carts to get their two bits back. It really is a model of a well-run store. They don't have nearly as many employees as most grocery stores, because they don't need them to wrangle carts, break down boxes, or straighten the displays. It takes a little getting used to, but the money you can save makes up for having to bag your own groceries--and let's face it. Sometimes it's better that way.