don't knock it till you try it: working in the suburbs

Despite my greatest efforts to find a job in Minneapolis--the city in which I live--I seem destined to always end up working in the suburbs. I've had a few brief assignments in the city, and they were great. I could ride my bike to work in 10 minutes and walk a block to meet my friend Katie for lunch. Unfortunately, the honeymoon can't go on forever--my $11/hour temp job would end when the regular admin came back from maternity leave, for example, and then it was back to reading 5th graders' essays in Eden Prairie.

My first real job after college was as an "associate project manager" at an educational testing company in Maple Grove. The first time I went out there it felt like I'd driven far enough to end up in St. Cloud. "This is how far I have to drive--every day?" I asked myself with disbelief. But I slogged on.

After that, I worked for about two years in Plymouth, and then I left that job for another one in White Bear Lake. Then I worked for about a year in Minneapolis, until I got laid off. And now I'm back in Plymouth, within driving distance of a Jimmy John's, a Solo's Pizza and a Subway.

At first when I started working in the suburbs, I felt oppressed. It didn't make sense to me that I--someone who lives in a city--should be forced to rise at 6 a.m. to cobble together a "business casual" outfit and then drive half an hour to 45 minutes to some office park many miles away, just so I could pay rent on a barely heated apartment and replace the bottle of vodka.

But after several years in the suburbs, I began to accept my fate, and decided I would attempt to embrace my lot in life. During long lunches I would fill the void with shopping trips to TJ Maxx or Target Ridgedale. I would go for long walks around the residential neighborhoods with matching houses that all have garages poking out in front. I would meet my other friends with suburban jobs at Chili's.

And then when I started working in White Bear Lake, I realized that I had developed opinions about various suburbs. Whereas in the past I basically thought all suburbs sucked, I realized after experience that this was not the case. For example, when I started working in White Bear Lake, I realized that I missed the "scene" in Plymouth. The chain restaurants and retail stores in Plymouth were clearly so much better!

Of course, White Bear Lake had a few special things to offer (but they cannot be found at the Thai restaurant downtown). The bars, for instance. White Bear Lake has a great assortment of dive bars! The restaurant scene was pretty sad, but my co-editor and I solved that problem by frequently making the half-hour drive in downtown St. Paul for lunch.

Verdict:

Best overall suburb in which to work: Plymouth

Best suburban bars: White Bear Lake

Best prefabricated "downtown": Maple Grove

don't knock it till you try it: dinner at ecopolitan

I recently visited the Ecopolitan restaurant on Lyndale for the first time. I went there with my very healthy friend, "Ellen," who I hadn't seen in weeks.

The Ecopolitan is an all raw, all vegan establishment. And although I've been interesting in checking it out for awhile, I was a bit dismayed, because the night we had chosen was cold and damp. Raw, vegan food generally sounds more appealing to me in the excessive heat of summer. But I didn't dare suggest that we relocate our date to Jakeeno's Pizza.

So we arrived, and were seated at a cute little table in the corner of the dining room. I asked Ellen what she liked (she's a bit of regular), and she gave me a couple suggestions. I decided on the flaxseed tostadas, and Ellen got the taco salad.

The tostadas arrived, and I was pleasantly surprised. They were substantial! And served with generous portions of salsa and guacamole. I guess I assumed that anything vegan would by tiny.

And they were much tastier than I'd suspected. I had been skeptical about the raw factor--how could anything quasi-Mexican even be edible without cooked beans or proper tortillas? But I was wrong. I mean, okay--they did taste "healthy", but in a good way!

And since we didn't swill a bunch of organic wine (just some beet juice), the bill seemed really cheap, too.

Verdict: Hey, it was good! I would definitely go back. I don't think they're going to convert me to their all-raw lifestyle--it clashes with my Chinese medicine diet of "lightly cooked vegatables." I've already chosen my particular food cult. However, I will definitely go back to sit in the infrared sauna.