Green Aisle Grocery

courtesy of Bodhi Coffee

Exciting news today! In a month’s time, we’ll be setting up a mini version of our Passyunk store in the back of Society Hill’s smashing coffeeshop, Bodhi. We’re psyched to be working with Bodhi boys Bobby and Tom, as we not only share a love of Stumptown, but also have a lot of the same business practices: composting, working with salvaged woods, sourcing from the local farmers at Headhouse. We feel our small indie ops go together like, well, coffee and cream. Over the next few weeks, Bobby will be building out some sweet custom shelves for us to stock with Brooklyn Brine pickles, Mast Bros. chocolate and more. Look for Green Aisle at Bodhi soon!

Photo: PennDesign

In terms of deadly intersections, few are dicier than the crossbones of Passyunk, 12th & Morris. For pedestrians, crossing in any direction is a perilous undertaking. For drivers, the un-synched lights can maroon cars in the middle of the intersection, blocking traffic and causing fender-benders. (And that doesn’t even factor in how distracting the fly threads displayed outside Today’s Man can be.) Seven PennDesign Planning alumni want to make Passyunk safer, and prettier, for all of us. They’re petitioning our votes for Pepsi’s Refresh Everything campaign, an initiative that will grant $50,000 to proposed projects that receive the most votes. Reclaim Concrete will put the cash towards creating a more clearly established intersection that will be beautified with cafe tables, bike racks, local art and greenery. Currently, we’re in 58th place and need to hit the top 10 by the 31st to get the grant. Vote early, vote often. Register here, or stop in Green Aisle and cast your vote on our computer. You can vote every single day through May. Let’s get it done.

Are you a student with an heirloom tomato garden? A rooftop beehive university officials don’t know about? A long RSVP list to your legendary-around-campus dinner parties? Then we want you to be our summer intern! We don’t care if you’re studying culinary arts or restaurant management, i-banking or atomic chemistry. If you have a passion for real, fresh food and improving access to it, give us a holler by emailing your resume and contact deets to greenaisle@gmail.com.

Tomorrow, one half of Green Aisle heads to Africa. Yup, Africa. You know what that means: subcontinental treasures smuggled back to the States in balled-up socks, secret suitcase compartments and tricked-out Barbasol shaving cream cans. The itinerary takes us off the coast of Tanzania to Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean island founded upon (and funded by) the Arab spice trade. Cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom, nutmeg and more thrive in Zanzibar’s tropical climate, and we plan to bring as much home as we can. After, we’ll jet to the Serengeti for safari–and to scoop some of legendary coffee traded in Arusha alongside fresh Nikes and glittering hunks of tanzanite. Don’t worry. We’ll share the spoils.