Tag Archives: organic valley

322/365. sleepless in seattle, looking at sets.

322/365. sleepless in seattle, looking at sets.

i moved on with this guy from olympia to seattle to check out retail sets. a low level cold is starting to get less low level and it’s messing with my sleep. BUT. I. WILL. LOOK. AT. SETS! in case you were wondering, this is a great set.

seattle has been very good to organic valley over the years and sets like this are one reason why. and, of course, you get a great looking set like this when you have lots of consumers who love coop and the milk 🙂

321/365. time is a flat circle: the olympia, washington edition.

321/365. time is a flat circle: the olympia, washington edition. I.

i’ve been working with this guy, jack lee, at organic valley for almost 10 years and at some point we realized we were in close orbit with each other 20 years ago in olympia, washington when i was attending the evergreen state college and he was a food broker. we’ve been joking for years that someday we’d have beer at the spar and today was that day.

321/365. time is a flat circle: the olympia, washington edition. II.

just down the street from the spar is the bayview thriftway. 20 years ago, i’d run into the store while waiting for the city bus back to evergreen. jack would visit the store as a food broker. it’s entirely possible we visited the store on the store on the same day, if not the same week back then. but tonight, we were there at the same time!

321/365. time is a flat circle: the olympia, washington edition. III.

20 years ago, neither of us worked for organic valley but what’s amusing is that around that time the cooperative was growing and the first farmers from the pacific northwest joined the cooperative and we started packaging local milk. soon thereafter jack would start working for the cooperative and his team was instrumental in getting milk on shelves in stores in the area. and now there’s a nice ov set in the the bayview thriftway!

321/365. time is a flat circle: the olympia, washington edition. IV.

we also got a chance to visit the olympia food coop which was the first food coop i ever joined. i was starting to think about where my food came from and i’m pretty sure the first time i bought organic valley milk was at the oly food coop. so it was extra fun to check out the range of ov products they now carry and talk with some of the folks working the store. i think they were amused that a “greener” was now the milk marketing person for ov.

to add to the “it’s a small world vibe” one of employees was from madison, wisconsin and worked at the venerable willy street coop. as i bought an oly food coop t-shirt she said, “it’s interesting how many people from wisconsin there are in the area,” which is amusing because there are good number of evergreen and oly alumni at organic valley.

time is truly a flat circle.

310/365. recipe: maple eggnog with freshly grated nutmeg.

310/365. recipe: maple eggnog with freshly grated nutmeg.

since we’re getting into the swing of eggnog season, i thought it’d be fun to do a semi-occasional series on some of my favorite eggnog drink recipes. some will probably contain alcohol, but not this one. it’s super simple to make and really tasty. resist the temptation to overdo the maple syrup. the ratios provided give the eggnog just the right amount of maple flavor without overpowering it.

ingredients
1/2 C organic valley eggnog
1T maple syrup
freshly grated nutmeg

directions
combine eggnog and maple syrup and chill. top with grated nutmeg and enjoy!

262/365. We Got The Beet! (TM).

262/365. We Got The Beet! (TM). I.

i am so loving the spicy beets with grassmilk yogurt and caraway sauce i made yesterday. i took it to work and got generally positive reviews and quite a few usage suggestions.

it totally works as a topping for a burger ( in this case, an olive and swiss ). and yes, you can also dunk it in fries.

although it can be eaten and enjoyed all by itself as a savory yogurt, it’s really a multifunctional, vaguely mediterranean, spicy sauce analogous to sriracha sauce.

as a brand manager, i think it needs an identity more interesting than “spicy beets with grassmilk yogurt and caraway sauce”, befitting of its festive red color and spicy attitude. how about “We Got The Beet!”? i guess i should look into what it would take 262/365. We Got The Beet! (TM). II.

the possibilities are endless. cut it with some olive oil for a spicy beet yogurt vinaigrette. it was lovely on a roasted beet salad with feta cheese and toasted walnuts.