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Don't Bike for You, Bike for Good
"I quit doing things for myself years ago."
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Gluten Free? Piece of Cake! "I've been gluten free for 9 years - been there, done that, still wearing the t-shirt!"
(Read More) |
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Earth Source Gardens Classes
We'll help green your thumb with a great lineup of classes.
(Read More) |
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Tom's Top Ten for May/June '12!
"This is because we love you and want you to be happy."
(Read More) |
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May is Celiac Awareness Month
Come to our Wheat Free Field Day for free samples, solutions, presentations, and lots and lots of gluten free items on sale (!!)
Sunday, May 20, 10AM-3PM, Coralville New Pi
Don’t forget Mother’s Day
Sunday, May 13!
Bike to Work Week
May 14-18!
New Pi's Old Pi to New Pi Ride:
Wednesday, May 16 (rain date May 17), 5:30-7:30PM
Meet at Chauncey Swan Park with your bike, and enjoy fun & refreshments when the group arrives at the Coralville New Pi!
Free Live Music: 5PM – Eli Lueders, 6PM – Phil Ochs, 7PM – Brandon Ross, 8PM – Doug Nye, 9PM – TBA, 10PM – The Mayflies, 11PM – Snow Demon
Know someone that ought to be a member?
Our Member Drive starts June 1 – send them our way for a free joining gift!
ICARE & New Pi Pancake Breakfast
Sunday, June 3, 8AM - 1PM
Enjoy all-natural sausage, organic pancakes, strawberries, and juice. Gluten free pancake option!
Tickets sold at New Pi begining May 4, advance tickets $8, kids 4-12 half price, kids 0-3 free. Tickets day of $10.
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Don't Bike for You, Bike for Good
Eric Creach, Coralville New Pi Store Manager
I quit doing things for myself years ago.
Anything I do that appears to benefit me is actually reverse internal collateral support. It bores even me to hear me say, "Bike to Work Week? What about Bike to Work decade or Bike to Work century!?" Seriously, though, I am 47 years old and I do it (bike to work) year-round.
It is hard sometimes. But, you need a reason. I joke constantly about living to be 123 years old, but that’s not really my reason. I did negotiate a lower insurance premium and save tons of cash on gasoline, but that's not why either.
I want to increase my heart rate, circulation, and oxygen intake so I can think up beautiful thoughts, and deal with the stresses of modern-day Retail and Fatherhood, but that's not why either… that's all just icing on the biking cake.
I AM HERE TO DO GOOD! Or, at least, do as little harm as possible. I want to be less connected to harming people and more connected to helping.
Does that make any sense?
I am not perfect; I do sometimes drive a car. But if I can convince myself to hop on a bike six times a week, five miles back and forth to work or wherever I’m going, anyone can.
Do it for yourself if you must, but the greater good and the longevity of the planet is a better reason, I think.
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Gluten Free Diet? Piece of cake!
Doreen Edmundson, Coralville New Pi Customer Service
Occasionally someone will come to the customer service desk with a shocked look on their face, eyes big as saucers, and say, ”I’ve just come from the doctor and was told I have to follow a gluten free (GF) diet! They recommended that I come over here because you carry GF products and your staff would know how to guide me. Can you help? I don’t know where to begin!”
I enjoy these kinds of requests because I really can help. I’ve been gluten free for 9 years – been there, done that, still wearing the t-shirt!
The conversation (monolog?) usually goes something like this:
First of all, relax! It’s not the end of the world. There are so many companies turning out good alternatives, and they’re developing more products every day. Here’s our Specialty Foods Guide that lists the gluten free products we carry. In order to be certified GF, a company must have a dedicated facility where only products without gluten are made. Since New Pi doesn’t have a dedicated facility, we can only say that the products we make are “wheat free,” as they may contain trace amounts of wheat and may not be suitable for people with severe sensitivities. But for those of us who can, I highly recommend our “wheat free” products.
The first thing to realize is that most of the basic foods are naturally GF: meat, seafood, veggies, fruit, and dairy products. It’s when we get into the grains that we run into gluten. Sometimes gluten is hidden in the ingredients of some products, so please always read the labels!
Let’s go to the frozen foods section where we keep the GF breads. As you’ll notice, the GF products in New Pi are labeled with a peach GF tag on the shelf. That makes it easy to scan the shelves and hone in on the GF products.
We carry several types of GF breads in loaves, hot dog and hamburger buns, and even baguettes. My personal favorites are UDI’s Breads: they make great toast and sandwiches and taste like “real” bread. Actually, we use UDI’s breads in New Pi’s deli for GF sandwiches.
We also have GF muffins, waffles, and look over here! Gluten free pizza! Right here, close to the frozen foods in the Coralville store, is a rack dedicated to GF mixes and baking products. These are great fun, especially the mixes from Breads from Anna (these are local too!). With some adjustments, you can bake almost any of your favorites gluten free.
In the cracker, cookie, and cereal aisles, scan for those peach tags and you’ll find a nice selection. Some of the chips are even produced in GF facilities.
The best part, to me, are the “wheat free” products New Pi makes. Wheat free chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip peanut butter cookies, almond brownies, chocolate cake, just to name a few of them (the white cake with cream cheese frosting’s my personal favorite)!
New Pi’s creamy soups like Clam Chowder and Broccoli Cheddar are now thickened with Bob’s Red Mill GF Baking Mix so we can all enjoy them. Thank you kitchen chefs! The deli also carries two new pasta salads made with rice pasta. If you love Garlic Lovers’ and Fog City pasta salad, you’ll love our rice pasta versions. Yum!
Check out our magazines for the GF crowd – Gluten Free Living and Living Without, great guides to the gluten free world, with recipes, personal stories, and the latest research. There’s a growing number of GF cookbooks out there.
It’s not so bad! There’s a whole new world of delicious delights opening up for people who can’t have gluten. Like I said, it’s a piece of cake!
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Earth Source Gardens Classes!
We'll help you green your thumb with summer Garden Classes at Earth Source Gardens (ESG)!
ESG is on Harvest Lane at the NE Corner of N. Scott Blvd. and Rochester Ave., Iowa City. Please register and pay online by clicking on the date.
No-Till Gardening, with Roxane Mitten
$5/person
Is plowing or rototilling the best way to prepare soil for plant beds? Join permaculture designer Roxane Mitten as she explains the merits of allowing soil structure to remain intact while continually increasing soil fertility. Roxane will discuss sheet mulching and mulching in place, and the use of a garden fork. She will explore various ways to minimize soil compaction, as well as the role of worms and microorganisms in creating extraordinary garden soil.
Planning Your Successful Garden, with Joanne and Loren Leach
$5/person
Make your garden more successful with thoughtful planning. Join Master Gardeners Joanne and Loren Leach as they help you identify which vegetables your family enjoys most, and how much to grow of each. Other important questions include the season and difficulty of each crop, how much time you are able to devote to the garden, and whether you wish to can or freeze garden surplus. Beginners welcome!
Best Tomatoes Ever, with Joanne and Loren Leach
$5/person
Tomatoes may well be the most popular annual vegetable. Join Master Gardeners Joanne and Loren Leach to learn how to grow early, vigorous, and abundant tomatoes. From sturdy generous cherry tomatoes to colorful heirlooms, you can have fun growing (and eating!) lots of tomatoes.
Handmade Willow Trellises, with Roxane Mitten
$15/person
Fresh cut willow is strong and flexible, and it’s an abundant resource that decomposes into the earth. Join Roxane Mitten as she demonstrates how to create a graceful natural trellis of willow, tied with twine. Use your creativity to envision the trellis of your dreams. One dreamer sent blooming runner beans up her trellis and found hummingbirds at the flowers! Fresh willow will be provided. If possible please bring a pair of hand pruners and a pocket knife or scissors.
Where the Root Meets the Soil, with Scott Koepke
FREE and open to all!
Children welcome!
"Where the root meets the soil, food starts here!" says New Pi Soilmates organic garden educator Scott Koepke. Bring the family to this worm-loving, dirt-digging session designed to help you connect with the source of all food: fertile, well-balanced, biologically active soil. As Scott always says, "The food needs to eat first before we can eat the food."
Vermicomposting Basics, with Roxane Mitten
$15/person
Meet the helpful composting worms! Worms can eat your vegetable trimmings and make fertile castings for natural plant fertilizer. Learn how it is done, indoors and out. First 15 students get a free starter pack of worms!
Compost Management, with Loren Leach
$5/person
Turn pulled weeds, animal waste, and spent garden plants into fertile soil by making compost! Join Loren Leach and friends as they manage the ambitious compost program at Earth Source Gardens. Join the fun for a hands-on learning experience.
Natural Pest Control, with Joanne Leach
$5/person
It’s a bug-eat-bug world – if you manage things right! Create the appropriate conditions to reduce pests and disease. Learn about natural pest remedies, including the insect-eating insects, with Master Gardener Joanne Leach. We’ll also consider how to address concerns with rabbits, deer, raccoons, and crows.
Growing and Using Culinary Herbs, with Joanne Leach
$5/ person
Culinary herbs make good food taste great! Learn which herbs grow best in Iowa: how, when, and where to plant, how to gather and dry, and get useful recipes for butters, pestos, and vinegars.
Permaculture Orchard Guild, with Mary Crooks and Roxane Mitten
$5/person
Permaculture is founded on the idea that nature knows best. We look to existing plant relationships for inspiration in creating mutually beneficial communities called “guilds.” Backyard Abundance created the design for Sweet Gift Orchard, embedded in Earth Source Gardens. Join Mary Crooks and Roxane Mitten as they discuss the ‘food forest,’ and demonstrate how garden design, planting of mutually beneficial plants, and other aspects of ecological design can enhance orchard production.
Seed-Saving: How and Why, with Roxane Mitten
$5/person
Learn about the time honored tradition of saving seeds from year to year. It is an opportunity to preserve rare, favored strains, and be more secure in your seed sourcing. Roxane will lead a general discussion of seed saving, and then move to identifying plant parts, how pollination occurs, and how to keep the strains pure. In the “hands-on” part of the class we will examine and work with available plant material.
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Tom's Top Ten for May/June '12
Tom Caufield, Coralville Wine Buyer
10. Mystery wine
You shall dig it, and let me note… those of you who are paying close attention will see that many of the Top Ten wines this go-round could also double as Best Cellars wines, given the prices, and that even the higher priced wines are almost all on sale! This is because we love you and want you to be happy. Remember, life is too short to drink bad wine.
9. Boekenhoutskloof Wolftrap
We brought this wine into Iowa many years ago, after tasting its inaugural vintage. Over the years we've tasted it and thought it was nice but just didn’t quite make the cut. I recently spent an afternoon with our rep from Wolftrap's importer, who indicated that the current vintage was smoking hot, and would I like to taste it and maybe feature it, if we liked? Done, done, and most assuredly done. Bob Parker liked it and had this to say: "The palate is well balanced with chunky dark cherry fruit mixed with dried herbs and a touch of white fennel. With nice length and freshness on the finish, this is a very fine Rhône blend and an outstanding value." The blend is 65% Syrah, 32% Mourvèdre, and 3% Viognier and it really puts me in the mind of a really fine Côtes du Rhône Villages. Normally $13.99, on sale for just $9.99/bottle for May/June. Smart money is buying this one by the case.
8. Perrin and Fils Côtes du Rhône Villages
This has been a shelf staple at New Pi for a while but I’ve got to say that the 2009 has really taken it up a notch! Bob Parker in Wine Advocate agrees, saying it "exhibits a deep ruby/purple hue, black cherry, black currant, lavender, pepper, and Provencal herb characteristics, medium body, pure fruit, silky tannins, and no hard edges. This is exactly what I am talking about when I say a producer must 'over deliver.'" Suggested retail is $16.99, wait for it, wait for it… May and June… $11.99. That’s right – a Villages-level Côtes du Rhône for the price of a generic 'starter' Côtes du Rhône.
We've also got their equally lovely 'Nature,' made from organic grapes and equally delicious, if a bit more old-school in style. While there is plenty of fruit to go around there is also a bit more leather and pepper in the nose and a hint of cooked meats and violets in the mouth – altogether lovely. We're not pushing it hard because there’s not a ton of it to go 'round.
7. Valumba Winery “Y” Series
Two wines here: their Viognier and Riesling. Things you should know – Yalumba was THE pioneer of Viognier in Australia. We recently tasted all the current releases and were most taken with this, their entry level wine. The "Y" series Viognier has an intense nose of apricot, jasmine, and honey. The medium-bodied mouth brings in the apricot again and I also get some baking spice and apples. It finishes viscous and totally dry. It will age short term but is most delicious now.
The Riesling is a lovely pale straw-green in color. In the mouth I get grapefruit and slate with a really bright acidity and a strong mineral presence. This will be great for sipping poolside this summer or for filling up your sippy cup and strolling the neighborhood. These wines normally retail for $14, and though I do not have final pricing on them at the moment, I can guarantee you they will be at least 20% off.
6. Ch. Ste. Michelle Merlot
Oh yes, I can see the eye-rolls now. "Really, Merlot?" Well, guess what… pour this wine blind for your Merlot-hating friends and watch them roll over with amazement when you reveal what it is. The winery crafts this wine to be both complex and approachable, and I think they've succeeded in very fine fashion. The nose is black cherry, leather, and spice. In the mouth I got lots of both black and red fruit flavors. They add just a touch of Syrah, which brings the (oh so slightly) jammy fruit to the foreground. This normally sells for $18/bottle, for May/June: just $13.99/bottle. No fooling. This is a pretty amazing deal for a wine that routinely gets a really big "score" from those glossy wine and lifestyle magazines.
5. Poggio Anima
This is a brand new winery for us. Two wines: Sangiovese – medium ruby in the glass, nose of spice (sage nicely chimes in), and red fruit. It’s full-bodied in the mouth with just a hint of leather and both the spice and fruit repeat, reminding me of a top-notch Chianti Classico with more forward fruit.
Their Montepulciano is a very dark ruby – almost inky purple in the glass – grape jam should be this much fun! On the nose I get red and black fruits with just a hint of pepper and spice. In the mouth it’s fruit forward (again, both black and red berries vie for our attention), and also a savory element that adds complexity. Both of these are consummate food wines and will pair really well with any rustic tomato dishes, braised meats and fish, and also roasted vegetables. Both normally $15.99; take two bucks off for May/June – just $13.99.
4. Ricominciare
Every so often we taste a wine that causes us to pause, re-taste, and say something along the lines of "Damn. I mean DAMN is this good… and it costs what? Are you sure that price isn’t a misprint? How much do you have and can we buy it all?” These are those wines. Micro production (300-600 cases per bottling), all estate-grown fruit, all native yeasts, no fining – this is winemaking like it was practiced hundreds of years ago. We have three very distinct wines from them, all blends, and all really poised to blow your mind. In the Wine Advocate’s reviews of these wines, some of the phrases bandied about were "expressive aromas… dense, layered, lengthy wine… excellent balance… great value." I concur with all of the above. Let me say this: I routinely taste wines that are two to three times the price and nowhere near as good. No fooling. The suggested retail is $18, and that is laughably low for them. How about we cause you to laugh all the way to your cellar? $14.99/bottle for May/June.
3. Tikal "Nature" Malbec
How cool is this? It’s Malbec (which you all love). It’s organic (good for you, good for us, good for the planet). It’s on sale. Cripes, what more could you want? … How about a rave review from Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar? "Red-ruby. Pure, compelling nose offers blackberry, blueberry, violet, licorice, and a whiff of chocolaty oak. Ripe but juicy and firm, with harmonious acidity framing the dark berry, black cherry, and saline flavors and keeping the wine's sweetness under wraps. Finishes with chewy, ripe, palate-dusting tannins, and very good soil-driven length. Has the structure to age. A superb value." Normally $19.99 (and just slated to take a price increase to $21.99), we made a timely buy and are able to offer it to you for two dollars off. $17.99 while supplies last.
2. Chateau Steval Fronsac
At any given time we have at least two of owner/proprietor Sebastien Gaucher’s wines on our shelves and we consider them to be staples of New Pi's lineup. Sebastien represents everything we love about the wine business. His vineyards are literally right outside his house and everything is done by hand. We recently had a chance to buy all the U.S. stocks of his lovely 2007 Steval bottling. This is a classic Fronsac blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet. The Merlot leads with a plush and inviting palate and the Cabernet firms up the mouth-feel and the finish. This would be lovely with anything from roasted veggies to braised meats and mushrooms. Normally $20/bottle, until we run out… just $14.99/bottle!! Case discounts do apply.
1. Conn Creek Vineyards
This is a late breaking addition, but it was so good that we juggled some things around and made space for it. We have two wines to feature: the Cabernet is CLASSIC Napa Cab. The nose is coffee beans, black cherries, leather, and just a hint of earth. The palate is fresh sweet berries with a hint of (very mild) oak and chocolate. This vintage in Napa gave really great structure and the wine finishes with medium-weight tannins. I see this wine ageing really well and rewarding 5-7 years in your cellar. Suggested retail is $25… how about $19.99?
The other bottling we have from them is "Herricks" blend. It’s a Bordeaux-type blend finished with a splash of Syrah that really fattens the wine up. This is a very fruit-forward wine, with a lot of spice, plums, and chocolate swirling around in the mouth. This is a very ripe and seductive wine and will win a lot of friends. Suggested retail is $20, how about $14.99? Please note that we are selling both of these wines for FIVE DOLLARS below their suggested retail price points. You are welcome.
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