Impossible is a typoRunning my pants off and loving myself along the way

I don’t know what I did to deserve such love.

Every now and again, a little package of love shows up from Larabar. This one is full of their new ALT Bars.

They’re made from Pea Protein. The debate about soy still rages on so it’s nice there are protein alternatives now. And of course, it’s Larabar so there’s no funky ingredients. Just dates, nuts, pea protein, natural flavors, you know the drill.

Yeah, yeah, I know, you want to know if they’re delicious? I had the Apple Cinnamon crisp for breakfast. Yup, tastes like apple crisp (with out the ice cream). The texture is a bit dry and crumbly when compared to the traditional Larabar. Not in an unpleasant way, but just different. You don’t get that chewy stick-to-your-teeth feel.

FitGirl: What are you doing?

FatGirl: Eating cake! Look, it’s zero points

FitGirl: No cake is zero points.

FatGirl: Look. Pinterest says it’s ZERO points. It’s a Zero Point Cake.  You make it in a MUG. In the MICROWAVE. In 1 MINUTE. I could eat a dozen of these suckers.

FitGirl: (looking at three cake crusted mugs on the counter) Um, even if it is zero points, which it’s not, having three of them is not zero points.

FatGirl: OMG can’t you do math? ZERO times THREE is ZERO. It’s ZERO point cake. Pinterest said so.

So maybe you’ve seen this pin floating around on Pinterest for the ZERO point mug cake.

Don’t believe everything you pin.

I hate to break the news, it’s not zero points. How do I know? I got a little funky with a spreadsheet.

The info on the pin says:

IT’S 0 POINTS PLUS!! Genius! 1-2-3 Cake. You need 2 boxes of cake mix. 1 can be any flavor you prefer, but the other MUST be Angel Food cake mix. Mix them together (shake them in a big ziploc bag or stir them together in a big bowl). Then simply store the mixture in an airtight container until you get the urge for dessert. Then just put 3 tablespoons of the dry mixture in a big coffee mug and stir in 2 tablespoons of water. Microwave it for one minute

So that’s what I did, I mixed a Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake Mix with a Betty Crocker Devil Food Cake Mix and carefully weighed out three tablespoons in grams. It came out to 30 grams per serving.

Then since a serving of each cake did not match the servings in the Mug Cake, I totaled up the boxes, added them together and divided it into 30 gram servings to figure out the total nutritional values.

Then I put those into the Points calculator, and shaazam – 3 Points Plus.

So, this is a good lesson in not believing what you pin.

Now, I’m not knocking this cake. It’s simple, tasty, and hits the spot if you need just a little chocolate to get you though the night. I totally recommend having it on hand because it’s not like a bag of cookies, that remain open and just seem to talk to you late at night. Since you actually have to cook it, you’re lest apt to have say 4 than you might with an open bag of cookies.

TIP: only cook it for 45 seconds. 1 minute is WAY too long. Your microwave may vary, but keep an eye on it, once the top stops bubbling and it looks dry and just begins to pull away from the edge of the mug, it’s done, get it out of there. Also, for one more point, add a teaspoon of peanut butter, it makes it ever so rich.

OH and I’ve also used left over coffee instead of water, that will boost the chocolate flavor just a bit.

Do you ever feel like your Crazy Inner FatGirl is using any means possible to get her message through?

Toast is just a delivery system for Butter

Yes, I actually had this conversation with myself last night. Butter did not win.

I have always had odd food hangups. Texture threw me off as a kid and if the texture or temperature of a food was wrong, I was just not going to eat it. This included steak (squishy), Spaghetti-ohs (mushy), and god forbid different food groups touched! My mom finally broke down and got “divider dishes” so that my peas and mashed potatoes would remain segregated. Some of these food phobias have lasted, some have faded, others have transmuted.

Oh hello Little Radish? Would you like to step in this bath?

Pickles are one food group I have battled since childhood. I just couldn’t my wee little brain wrapped around the idea that you put a vegetable in a liquid and it STAYS CRUNCHY. It was some sort of food magic that I just didn’t understand so I generally ran screaming. And woe on to you, if vinegary pickle juice got within a three foot radius of anything I was attempting to eat. (Yeah, sorry about that Mom).

Living in Japan changed the way I looked at pickles and I’ve been delicately exploring even since. See, in Japan, there’s rich pickled vegetable tradition and I sort of got hooked.

I’m still hesitant and picky about the pickles I’ll eat. But when Lil Sis gave me 6 HUGE watermelon radishes from her CSA basket, you bet’cha I pickled them right quick.

Whipping up quick pickles gives ordinary veggies a little piazza. And it’s dead simple. Just thinly chop your radishes. Get  a container that’s big enough to hold ‘em (a sandwich baggie even works). Put in about a teaspoon of sugar, a good pinch of salt, some pepper or red pepper flakes if you’re feeling spicy (dill works great too!), and then cover them with vinegar. Shake ‘em up. Set them in the fridge until it’s dinner time and you are good to go.

I ate all six radishes in about 4 days. Yeah, I know, I got problems.

Meal planning made simple. Bring your family back to the dinner table with meal plans that offer delicious, healthy recipes that your whole family can enjoy.

I saw this ad for eMeals.com the other day and  I’m totally intrigued by the idea. I’m finding planning for healthy means to be a serious pain the the tuckus lately. I adore cooking and can spend HOURS in supermarkets, but lately I just can’t seem to get my life working such that things like dinner gets planned (and forget about lunch and holy cow I haven’t eaten breakfast in about a month). Then of course you know what happens… a can of frosting becomes a perfectly reasonable dinner option.

A service like eMeals where you get your shopping list mailed right to you with the recipes of what to cook and when would work towards solving that problem. But here’s the catch – I’m single and even the plan for 1-2 people is way too much food for me.

I would subscribe in a heartbeat if they had a lunch option for busy professionals. I am always running out of lunch ideas and while I make tasty treats (ahem, if I’m not having frosting for dinner), I don’t enjoy leftovers every damn day.

So, have you tired eMeals? Would that be something that makes your life easier?

The past three weeks have kind of been like this…

Pump water, haul trash, FEMA guy, still pumping, plumber, clean, spill bleach, haul trash, plumber, plumber, roof guy, more bleach, waiting for insurance guy, more trash and then more trash, wait for gas, still waiting for insurance guy, wait for groceries, wait some more for gas, FEMA girl this time, plumber again and again, YAY hot water! debate the need of an electrician, more never-ending bleach, still waiting for insurance guy, trash again, all while trying to work, help the neighbors and you know, like survive living through SuperStorm Sandy’s 3 feet of water in the house, no power for 6 days and no heat for, gosh I lost count… 3 weeks?

So when offered a little retail therapy at one of my favorite shopping spots, I jumped, double time, and dragged Lil Sis along for the ride.

My un-ending love for Duane Reade is pretty legendary. Lil Sis would undoubtedly agree with me. You really can’t be a NYer and NOT shop Duane Reade at least once a week. They are literally on every block after all.

Now, I shop Duane Reade in one of two modes: 1. Leisurely strolling down the aisles, reading every product description, slipping completely frivolous items in my basket; or 2. Super Duper Power Shopping with lists, alternatives lists, price comparisons and coupons.

See, I’m not really a power shopper. I don’t usually flip through circulars and price match and compare and drive all over town to save 6 cents on frozen broccoli. Duane Reade is a little different for me because of the Balance Rewards points. It’s kind of like a game – How many points can you get in one trip?? You can get most of what you need and want at Duane Reade so why not take advantage of offers when you can? I’m in there so often, that I can wait for certain items to go on sale or have extra bonus points associated with the purchase.

So, to prepare, off to DuaneReade.com I went and scanned the online version of the Happy and Healthy circular.

DuaneReade’s Happy and Healthy Circular is a must-read

I immediately zeroed in on a few things…

What? A new line of eco-friendly green production including conditioner??

I’m not really a power shopper, and I’m not really a green, eco-product fan either. But let me tell you, after cleaning out a flooded basement with bleachy chemical nonsense leaving my hands cracked and bleeding, yeah, I think it’s about time to look at less chemically chemicals. This new Ology line looks really promising.

And then… I stumbled upon this…

A new sulfate-free, silicone-free, paraben-free hair care product. THANK YOU Duane Reade!. #DuaneReade #DRHappyandHealthy #CBias @FatGirlsCanRun

Holy Curling Iron Batman. I’m a little (nutty, obsessed, crazed) particular about my hair care products. I’ll cut to the chase because I could go for HOURS about this… but… most commercial shampoo and conditioner are terrible for naturally curly hair because of silicone and sulfates. Silicone is in most conditioners and is great for silky smooth hair, but it is TERRIBLE for curly hair. Basically, silicone coats your hair in plastic depriving it of the extra moisture curly hair needs. And since it’s basically a plastic, you need a detergent to remove the silicone from your hair. Yup, that’s right, I said DETERGENT. Go compare your favorite shampoo to your dish washing soap and the ingredients are alarmingly similar. And detergents strip everything from your hair, dirt, silicone, natural oils and hair color. Silicone and sulfates are bad bad things for your hair. ANYHOO, I get all gleeful anytime I find a new healthy shampoo to try out.

The handy-dandy shopping list feature!

DuaneReade.com has this super handy feature where you can create a shopping list as you browse and print it before you go. So I had my list, my Balance Reward card and a game plan – The game is purchase at least $20 of private name brands at Duane Reade and get an extra 3,000 points. BOOYAY!

A Duane Reade on Every Block

I met Lil Sis at the Duane Reade at 52nd and Broadway.

A shy Lil Sis browsing the Happy and Healthy flyer

I was strategic, she strolled.

Right off the bat, I met a few obstacles. No, I’m not talking about the items on my list, like Hershey’s Kisses to try out the cookie recipe in the Health and Happy flyer, that were no where to be found (One tiny problem with urban shopping, stock isn’t endless, so things do sell out). Nope, I found myself in a battle of NEED vs. Want.

Battling NEED vs Want at Duane Reade.

You see, I NEED conditioner and tea and tissues. 3 weeks with dealing with post-Sandy nonsense meant I didn’t do a lot of shopping and my essential supplies were low. But I WANTED nail polish and fancy makeup. STICK TO THE LIST.

I NEED conditioner but I WANT pretty beauty things.

One thing that was not on the list that did make it’s way into the cart was pudding. Yeah, I know, I have a weakness for Pudding. Duane Reade carries several private label brands of super tasty treats like Delish and Nice and it takes everything I have not to walk out with a bag of chocolate covered almonds every.time.I.shop. Lil Sis and I had never seen the pudding before so we snapped that up quick.

Awfully hard to get out of Duane Reade with out tasty treats.

I also discovered the Delish line of teas (Which were the Happy and Healthy Special of the week!). I think I used every last tea bag in the house. With no heat, curling up before bed with a “cuppa” after cleaning up all day was a nice reward.

Hello Tea!

One of the things I adore about the new, redone, super spiffy Duane Reads is how roomy they feel. Most shopping experiences in NYC are crowded and oddly dark.

The New Duane Reade is pretty, airy and comfy

So what did I end up with? Not a bad shopping trip, eh?

Not a bad day shopping at Duane Reade

And I totally won the Balance Reward Point Game!

Balance Reward BONUS

Duane Reade is doing some pretty fun social media stuff too. They have FourSquare QR Codes that you can use to check in and get special offers. The only codes I saw were in the basement and they didn’t work for me while I was in the store, but I’d be very interested to try it out the next time I’m in the store.

Go find Duane Reade on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will ya?

To see more pics of my shopping adventure, check out my Google+ story!

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™. #CBias #SocialFabric and #cbBigapple. All opinions are my own.

Don't hate me because I don't like it

CrazyInnerFatGirl: Nibble, nibble, grimace. Sip, slurp, blech.

VoiceOfReasonFitGirl: What are you doing?

FatGirl: Enjoying a Pumpkin Spice Latte and pumpkin spiced muffin.

Grimace, blech

FitGirl: Um, you don’t actually seem to be “enjoying” it. Air quotes.

FatGirl: What are you insane? Of course I’m enjoying it. It’s Fall. This is the only time you can get Pumpkin Spice stuff. If you don’t enjoy it now, it goes away and you can never never ever have it again.

Grimice, blech

FatGirl: Besides all the cool kids are doing it.

FitGirl: Do you actually like pumpkin Spice?

FatGirl: What are you insane? Of course I like it. It’s Fall. This is the only time you can get Pumpkin Spice stuff. If you don’t enjoy it now, it goes away and you can never never EVER have it again.

Grimice, blech

FitGirl: Just smile and nod.

See, here’s the thing. I don’t really like “Pumpkin Spice”, especially in my coffee. For all that is good and holy, please stop putting weird things in coffee, like Blueberry flavor. Seriously, that breaks laws of physics. I’m sure of it! And yet, I feel compelled to jump on the pumpkin spice bandwagon every fall hoping that this is the year I’ll fall in love with it.

And Pinterest is not helping. I found a pin somewhere about combining a package of sugar-free pudding, a can of pumpkin, cinnamon, and a tub of Cool-whip and Tadaaaaa “Best dessert eva!” “Only 2 WW points” and 740,733 pins later, it has to be good. So I tried it…

Simple to make…

Pumpkin Spiced Fluff

Just mix pudding with the pumpkin… fold in the Cool-Whip (Yeah, OK, hush, I know that stuff is the devil and barely qualifies as “food” but ya can’t fault a girl for liking a big ole spoonful now and again)

Pudding + Pumpkin + Cool Whip is meh

Graham cracker added flair…

Fluff + graham cracker still meh

and meh.

It was OK, I guess, if you actually LIKE pumpkin spice stuff. It was creamy, dense, just sweet enough. And I don’t, I just don’t like pumpkin spice. And I keep forgetting that I don’t like it and  eat it anyway. I know it’s a food fad with heavy marketing around it and boy does the marketing work. I feel like I’m somehow left out because I just don’t love pumpkin spice.

In a former lifetime, I aspired to be a chef. See, I love cooking and at one of those pivot points of life, I swiveled towards professional cooking. But then, well, life stepped in and well, that didn’t happen (translation – I broke my arm making hauling around 40lb bags of potatoes a thing of the past.) Anyhoo….

I’ve been in a food funk. I’m just not interested in cooking. Oh believe me, I’m interested in the eating and boy, is my crazy inner FatGirl LOVING the fact that I eating like a stoner. FatGirl agrees that a perfectly acceptable dinner could be a spoon, a jar of peanut butter and a bag of chocolate chips. Yeah, I had that for dinner last week, don’t hate.

But I actually whipped out the pots and pans (three to be exact) and I didn’t even have to use my Fancy Knife Skills. Or should I say “skillz” ‘cuz I gots me some mad knife skillz… pause for laughter… wait, the only one who might even chuckle at that is Lil Sis because of that Secret Sister Twin Language thing which her husband likes to point out is meaningless considering we are not twins… but I digress… again…

Anyway, I got to cooking up a restaurant quality meal and you can too, in about 20 minutes life a pro, or almost a pro, or sort-of-wanted-to-be-once pro!

Seared Tuna Steaks with Brown Rice and Sauteed Baby Squash

Hey look! I can cook!

You’ll need:

• some quick cook brown rice (I don’t remember the kind I used but it boiled for 10 minutes)
• a pot to cook the rice in.
• a tuna steak (on sale at Trader Joes!)
• a fry pan for the tuna
• baby zucchinni squash
• some olive oil, salt and pepper
• a bit more olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe some butter if you’re feeling indulgent
• a fry pan for the squash

Now go!

Get the rice ready to go, measure the water and what not and get it on the stove. Now, put the fry pan you want to cook the tuna in on the stove on HIGH heat. You want it SCREAMING HOT.

Now your tuna pan should be nice and hot. How do you know if its hot enough? Hold you hand about 2 inches over the pan, if you snatch it away quick, its hot enough.

Put your tuna steak in the pan and for the love of all that is good and delicious, don’t move it! If the pan is SUPER hot it will sear and not stick. Set the timer for 2 minutes. Yup its just 2 minutes a side. It can be rare in the middle… This is a quality tuna steak not a can of tuna fish. When the timer beeps, flip it. If it sticks to the pan, don’t force it, count to 10 and try again, and 10 again. Flip and set the timer for 2 more minutes.

You are shaking the pan with the baby squash right?

Just keep shaking the pan!

Right now, if you’re feeling indulgent, toss it about a teaspoon of butter to the squash for richness. Now, if you notice, your rice should be just about done. And the tuna should be just about done, and well gosh, the baby squash is just about done too!

And that’s how a chef gets everything on the plate at the same time!

I am shocked to say this, but the most awesome sample from a FitBloggin’12 sponsor was the Calcium Gummy Vitamins from Nature Made.

Nature Made Gummy Yummy

Nature Made was crazy generous. They made yoga mats and carriers for us and gave each of us a sample of the new gummy and melt vitamins. And when I say “sample” I mean a life sized jar, as if you went to Walgreens and picked it up off the shelf.

Here’s a secret frustrating thing about me. I hate taking pills. I just can’t seem to manage taking pills every day. And I have tried everything. I’ve done charts to give myself gold stars for taking them, heck I’ve even tried paying myself. Take your vitamins, get a dollar! Weight Watcher’s has a easy-peasy-just-click-here feature too and bupkis, I never click it.

WW makes it easy to click... and I don't

And this is not limited to vitamins. I can’t even take prescriptions the way I’m supposed. Yes, I’m one of those horrible human beings that never finishes out an antibiotic course and will be responsible for the super bug that kills humanity. My bad.

I was kid of dubious of the gummy vitamin concept. It’s medicine, you should not treat it as candy. But since I’ve had this whole jar of calcium gummies, I can’t let it go to waste.

Holy Healthy Batman. I have taken two calcium gummies every day since Fitbloggin. Now, that’s a record for me. Two straight weeks of being a good girl with my vitamins!

Here’s another interesting factoid about me… right after dinner, I need a sweet treat. Maybe it’s just a bad habit, but I’m stuck in dessert mode. There’s something about a little something-something sweet right after dinner that I crave. Now, usually I’m rumbling in the kitchen to find a doughnut or a Weight Watcher’s ice cream bar, but for the past two weeks, my post-dinner treat has been the calcium gummies.

How freakin’ weird is that? That a you can consider a vitamin a desert worthy treat?

The only problem is that it’s hard to stop at two. But I have a tricky solution! I’m headed over to Walgreens to pick up Multi Gummies and B Gummies. I’m so very tricky!

FitGirl: What should we have for dinner?

FatGirl: Bareburger.

FitGirl: Quinoa pilaf? Brown rice?

FatGirl: Bareburger.

FitGirl: No seriously. What are we having for dinner?

FatGirl: Bareburger.

FitGirl: C’mon, we can’t have burgers for dinner again. Salmon? Protein shake?

FatGirl: Bareburger.

FitGirl: For goodness sa….

FatGirl: Bareburger.

FitGirl: If you say “Bareburger” one more time…

FatGirl: Bareburger.

FitGirl: Look, I know Bareburger is tasty and organic, but..

FatGirl: I’ll buy you a milkshake.

FitGirl: Bareburger it is.

May I introduce Bareburger

Bareburger - Just your friendly neighborhood Burger joint, just bike on up!

A friend dragged me to Bareburger about a month ago. OK, fine. “Dragged” is a wee bit forceful.  Let’s go with “enthusiastically suggested and I capitulated”. Look at me with the SAT words! I’m not a big burger fan, not because I don’t like burgers but because when I want a good burger, 9 times out of 10 I’m totally disappointed in what arrives on my plate. She added “They’re organic by the way” to entice me further. And I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at that. As a marketeer, I see “organic” tossed around with little care and used mostly to justify a price mark up. Yeah, I’m a bit biased, but more on that in a second…

So, we go to Bareburger on 31st Ave in Astoria. All the employees were so nice, it was almost uncomfortable. In New York, you sort of get used to pleasant but brisk and efficient service. Our server chatted with us like we were real human beings, like folks from the neighborhood, while also providing pleasant and efficient service. We had a 10 minute conversation about burlesque hair styles while we waited for our dinner. I began to feel there was something a little bit different about Bareburger.

"Bare-y nice to meet you!" Get it? Very... Bare-y... yuk yuk

It was all over the moment my burger and onion rings arrived.

Remember when I said that 9 out of 10 times I’m totally disappointed in my burger experience because it never lives up to my expectations? All burgers will now have to live up to the standard Bareburger created for me.

Picture... 1,000 words... you get the drift.

So, the service and vibe in Bareburger is exceptional and the food will make you an instant fan. But there was still something nagging at me.

Good vibes at Bareburger, cool and cozy

The whole “organic” thing. It’s hard for me to get past seeing it as anything but a marketing gimmick. Like my favorite coffee place features “organic” coffee. OK great, that’s awesome right? But the milk they serve for your organic coffee is not organic. So what’s the point of having one and only one element of your meal being organic when it’s overwhelmed by all the non-organic ingredients? It’s like what’s the point of having a diet Coke with your 3,000 calorie Blooming Onion? Sorry, I’m a bit soap-boxy about all this.

See, I WANT to fall madly, head-over-heels in love with Bareburger. I WANT to believe that its NOT a gimmick, and cheerlead the cause.

Keepin' an eye on things

So, I went to the source – Owner, founder, creator Euripides Pelekanos.

EP, as he signs his emails, shared that the ideas behind Bareburger started almost by accident. In 2001, EP opened Sputnik, a live music and art venue in Brooklyn. They served food, but food, while not quite an afterthought, wasn’t what Sputnik was about. Until they put an organic burger on the menu. Now, this was before burgers became the new cupcake, before Five Guys and Shake Shack showed up in NY, before burgers were cool and trendy. People started hitting up Sputnik just for the burgers and the music and art started to come second. In that moment, Bareburger began to take shape.

“But there was one thing that didn’t make @#$%’ing sense”, (Sidenote – Hanging out with EP is like hanging out with that kid you grew up in the neighborhood with, straight forward and very personable, relaxed but really passionate. He kept apologizing for cussing. It was cute). “It just doesn’t make sense to have an organic burger and then pile it with non-organic toppings.”

Hello Mind Reader!

“Organic isn’t just a trend, it’s where the food industry is going”. EP had me consider that all the processed, mass produced, factory food we grew up on was driven by big business in the 50s. World War II ended, the Baby Boom was on. We changed how we lived and what was important to us. We stopped shopping at local markets and started going for convenience and speed. Organic is now becoming big business and will (heck, already is) change the way food is produced and consumed. Now hold that thought…

Bareburger opened in 2009 in a TINY 1000 square foot former bakery that had been closed “forever”, EP says. And he would know as he, and the other owners of Bareburger, all grew up in Astoria. Back in those days, (yeah I know, “3 years ago” is not an eon but things can change really rapidly in NYC neighborhoods) Astoria didn’t have a lot of “fancy” food. You had your typical local restaurants, heavy on the Greek flavors, being an old immigrant neighborhood, but you wouldn’t find many foodie blog write ups about Astoria. Doing a fancy hamburger in a working class neighborhood was risky enough, adding the organic element was nail-biting. EP says they did ZERO advertising except for an 8 1/2 X 11 printout in the window saying “Bareburger. Organic Burgers. Opening June 12, 2pm”. On opening day, with EP in the kitchen, they expected 5 or 6 people at the door. About 60 showed up at 2pm. After a bit of a bumpy start, they knew they hit a nerve. Three years later, the 11th Bareburger will open very very soon in an undisclosed location (Yup, I know where it is, and Nope I’m not telling), and EP joked that they’ve probably served over a million burgers.

And now back to Big Business… EP said that sourcing ingredients and staying profitable can be a challenge when you’re talking organic and all natural ingredients. It’s a challenge on both the farmer’s side of things and the buyer’s side. Licenses and certifications are expensive, then there’s shipping, storage, and probably a bazillion things I’m not even thinking about. “Once you start dealing in volume, costs come down and you have greater control over the product”. Then we talked bacon. Ah, bacon, it always comes back to bacon. EP shared how, because of the volume Bareburger deals in with soon-to-be 11 shops, he can get suppliers to craft products just for Bareburger like special cut, cured and smoked bacon.

At Bareburger it's all about the ingredients

Bareburger wants to have that one-on-one relationship with their suppliers so they know exactly what they are buying. Why? Because they want YOU to know it too. Each table has an FAQ that gives you, in almost overwhelming details, the fat percentages, origin, chemical usage, certification of pretty much everything on the menu. It’s rather impressive.

Guardians of the FAQ

That little FAQ sheet will also tell you that Bareburger is about as green as you can get without building from the ground up. They use recycled vinyl for their booths, reclaimed wood for the tables, and recycled and re-purposed furnishings wherever they can. Again, EP noted how absurd it is to serve organic food on petro-chemical plastics. Bareburger has seen some crazy growth, but you probably won’t see Bareburgers popping up in your local mall. It’s a Main Street, neighborhood kind of joint. Manager Steve told me that one of the things he loves about working on 31st Ave is that it is a neighborhood, all the shop owners are buddies rather than competitors. “Its like you can go next door and borrow a cup of sugar if you need to”.

Green, sustainable and organic are not gimmicks

Yeah, I know your thinking “hey, this is weird, Amy isn’t talking about how delicious the food is”. Just trust it’s crazy pants delicious, but for god sakes, what ever you do, do not have a milkshake. That’s right, step away from the milkshake. Just back off, alright. I will go all Mr. Blonde on you if they are out of vanilla ice cream because you ordered the last vanilla milkshake. Just sayin’ – alls fair in love and war and milk shakes.

I'm not sure they have enough ice cream

OK, so you know the food is beyond good, the service is top notch, and they are organic as part of the fabric of the company. But this is what sealed the deal for me:

No, you can't have a bite.

I asked EP about the logo – what the heck is up with a bear riding a unicycle with a beer and a burger in its hands. He smiled and said “Why not a bear riding a unicycle with a beer and a burger in its hands? Look, after a couple drinks, it seemed like a good idea and it just stuck.”

Sold.

Why not indeed