Ruth is having a contest – leave her a comment by Friday with your best guess as to why she knows that Lamb’s Pride Worsted (color “coffee bean”) burns with green flame in the fireplace – you could win some sock yarn.
Check out the Yarn Life 2007 Crafting Challenge! By declaring your fiber-related goals for the year, you can be part of the support forum (y’know we all need support!) and eligible for prizes throughout the year.
So I might’ve mentioned that I’m a celiac and follow a gluten-free diet. Living life without wheat, rye, barley, spelt, and oats is definitely a bit of an adjustment. When I was diagnosed over 10 years ago, gluten-free products were only available over the internet or in limited selections at co-ops. Now? Wow. The times, they are a-changin’ and it’s good. One sign of this is that the Twin Cities now has a gluten-free coffeeshop and bakery!
Cooqi is located at 2186 Marshall Avenue in St. Paul – basically on the southwest corned of Marshall and Cretin – and has been open a week.
I visited them right before closing on their first day and they were a bit shellshocked (but happy!) about the response they’d received, as evident from the empty bakery case!
I’ll definitely be back to try some of their bread, have some more muffins and a mocha, and sit and knit. Cooqi is extremely warm and cozy and I wish they had more seating for knitters! 🙂
They also appear to be extremely kid friendly.
That looks great! My town is oh so lacking in the good coffee house area…even for gluten eaters! I’m just a LITTLE jealous! 🙂
How wonderful to find a perfect place for you to hang and knit!
That is SOOOO cool, you’re so lucky! I’m not aware of any gluten-free bakeries around, but I know that my local health food shop has an excellent gluten-free section. Come to think of it, my grocery store does to. There’s definitely a lot out there.
How cool would that be to hang out and knit in a gluten-free bakery!
That looks wonderful! It’s so difficult to find a place that caters to grown ups and still think about children.
Really tough to figure out where one cat stops and the other cat starts.
Chaos looks massive in that picture!
I’m glad you found a great shop for all your gluten free needs! (Hmm… maybe I should go into writing slogans…)
Holy crap. I’m not sure what’s cooler — the fact that you have a place that caters to your specific diet needs, that it’s kid-friendly or the way the place looks, in general. Looks like SUCH a cool place!
How fantastic to have such a coffee house! I’m glad you are having more options for tasty goodies.
My mother has celiac too, she was diagnosed about 15 years ago. There’s a lot of places popping up that are either gluten-free or have gluten-free menus. (Like PF Changs of all places!)
There’s also a web site called Simply Recipes (http://www.elise.com/recipes/) that has a ton of gluten-free recipes too. And they’re quite tasty too.
Chris- I must admit, I knew next to nothing about Celiacs, but I’m learning.
And a bakery, who knew? It’s just shows you’re not alone.
They seem to missing a knitter’s corner.
What a warm and wonderful place!
I’ve learned so much this year about celiac disease and gluten-free diets. So many of the kids at my sons’ school have special dietary needs for gluten and casein-free foods (not to mention nut-free). Anyway, it sounds like eating this way can benefit anybody.
(I love that photo of Big Kitty & Little Kitty!)
I love the sound of that coffee shop 🙂
I agree – more knitting seats!
Sounds like the ideal location for Celiac support group meetings. It’s awesome that such a place exists. I had an old neighbor with a gluten allergy and it was nearly impossible to cook for him. I can’t imagine how you do it.
That looks like an awesome little coffee shop!
What a cool coffeeshop! It has a nice friendly look to it too. I love the picture of Chaos and May wrestling.
Our local supermarkets have finally started stocking a few gluten free products ( about time). Is it me or has May really got hold of Chaos’s ear? – bet that hurt!
Wow, looks like a cool place. If only it was kitty friendly instead of kiddy friendly.
Oh well, I guess you have to take kids somehwere 🙂
Hey, let me know if you want some company when you’re over there on this side of the river.
How cool is that! That makes me very happy for you :o) !!
That is awesome that there is a gluten free coffee shop! Yeah!
That’s great! It looks like a fun quirky place to be in, too. I like the colour scheme and the retro furniture. But, yeah, they need a cosy knitting corner. Maybe if you go in and knit and look really, really uncomfortable.
O wow! It looks awesome. How were the delicacies?
Have you ever thought about giving NAET a try for your allergy??
How wonderful to have a whole ‘cafe’ with stuff you can enjoy!! Kudos to Cooqi, and best wished for their success!
Cooqi looks like a great place, I bet you’ll be spending alot of time there. I can only imagine what those 2 cats get up to when Mom is at work.
Thanks for the plug! And that coffee shop looks great…
Right down the street from my alma mater, too! I love that area of St. Paul.
What a great spot – and I love the Kitchsy atmosphere! May…”bite, kick, bite, kick” Chaos…”Do you really think you’re hurting me, little girl?”
Great place, great gluten-free treats for our favorite gluten-free people. Enjoy!
Wow! Maybe I need to move house – er.. country… Good for them, and I’m delighted it’s doing so well.
That’s a cute shop and gluten free? Niice!
Your scarf is really pretty! And good grief, Chaos is huge.
Ripping all the magazine thingabobs is not weird. Is it? I do that too. And all the scented junk.
What a cute idea for the kids! That picture of the kitties looks like how my puppies wrestle. 🙂
We used to have a cool coffee bar like that. Then they started changing admission fees and calling it a VIP coffee lounge. I’m not kidding. My town blows in the way of coffee. But bars? We have one on each corner.
Wow – really cool place and glad to see they are doing well! Gotta love the kitty fights – until you yell ‘be nice to each other’ and they look at you angelically like: ‘What? We were busy here!’
I’m so impressed! Way to go Cooqi! As far as coffee shops–I’m fairly certain we are up there in the most-per-capita– but I haven’t found a single one that offers everything gluten-free. Excellent.
Oh, and HI! Hope you are well!
How cool! I didn’t know about the new gluten-free shop in town. Looks like they’re off to a great start! Your cats are awesome. 🙂
Looks like a great shop.
Mayhem looks pretty vicious in that photo!
What a great little shop! I love the kitty corner! Man, May is really whippin’ up on C. She’s feisty!
So happy for you to have a gluten-free shop nearby. Keep us posted on the reviews!
Happy holidays to you and your kittehs.
That is a really cool bakery. It will be a great place to hang out.
Interesting! I’ll have to remember next time I’m in the area. 🙂
yay for cooqi! that is so cool
at my office holiday party people were talking about gluten free diets
Hey everyone!
Thanks so much Chris for the great publicity and photos, and thank you posters for all the wonderful compliments on my bakery! It’s great to get (unsolicited) feedback. As you can see, I have pretty limited seating space, but I will work on some cushy chair action for maximum knitting enjoyment 🙂
Judy/Cooqi