The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Okay, so I am sitting in the Fireroast Mountain Cafe, 3800 37th Ave. S. blogging while Carol is standing in line in the freezing cold five blocks away at the Riverview Theater, waiting for the doors to open so we can watch the inaugurationon the big screen. Turns out they have Obama blend as one of their featured coffees. Can you guess? It's half Hawaiian and half Kenyan. Light and smooth. And then my friend Lisa, who owns the place with her husband Dave, mentions that they also have a special stew to honor the occasion - a vegan African peanut stew - $4 a cup, $5 for a generous bowl.

Trying to eat a sustainable diet? One big reason the whole Eating Locally trend has caught on is that a lot of environmentally conscious consumers have started thinking about their carbon footprint. Now a group of Minneapolis restaurants has taken the next big step - composting kitchen wastes to cut down on landfill.

Restaurants produce a lot of trash, and most of it winds up in landfills, where they produce methane, which contributes to global warming. Composting, by contrast, turns the waste into nutrient-rich soil.

I've been hanging out lately at a great little place called Fireroast Mountain Cafe, which besides having wonderful soups, sandwiches, and pastries, serves a perfectly brewed cup of Puerh, which is a rare and wonderful thing.