Light Green

Internet Round-up

2012-02-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

Hello!

I'm in the throes of either a burgeoning sinus infection or an allergy event, but whatever ... it's resulted in me spending most of Saturday on my couch. And couch means lots of internet time.

What has struck my fancy on the internet?

Fab!
Like most folks, I get daily coupon and sales emails from a variety of sites. But the only one that I always open? My daily update from Fab.com. Fab is a sales site like MyHabit or Plum District, but it's the site for design-minded folk. Every day, I feel inspired by the creations that are presented on Fab.com. However, I am REALLY good at not buying stuff. After all, consumption makes Mama Earth sad.

I've been needing some new reusable shopping bags, however, so I was super psyched to see that the makers of my favorite reusable bags, Envirosax, was having a Fab.com sale. I bought two bags from the Nomad collection. I can't wait for that gorgeous bag to arrive!

Envirosax bags are awesome! They roll up into a cylinder that fits in your purse, and they are durable and washable. The bags hold up to 40 pounds. I have several, and I absolutely love them. Plus, they have tons of great prints.

Roots
I'm loving the blog Back to Her Roots. It's full of the things I love: recipes for clean eating, generosity of spirit, and a concern with health and happiness.

Great Job!
If you're a busy person, the AVClub feature Great Job, Internet! is your one-stop shop for all that's awesome and weird on the internet. If you don't have time to troll YouTube or Facebook for things that are funny, you can just leave that to people who get paid (I hope!) to do that for you.

My recent favorite? This mash-up of Lana del Rey's "Video Games" and the Hunger Games:

Little Talks
One thing I love about the internet era is that music videos have made a comeback (since MTV doesn't show them any more). This video for the song "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men, is just beautiful and basically contains most of my aesthetic loves: owls, monsters, fairy tales, and steampunk-circus imagery. I recommend watching it in full screen for maximum awesome.

Junk mail comes to a good end

2012-02-10T11:51:00.000-08:00

Shredded junk mail used as packing material!

Some Pictures and Some Words

2012-02-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

A few random pictures and words from my week:

I tried out the "headband no-heat curl" method from the PaperMama's blog. Because it's heat free and uses little or no product, it's a more earth-friendly way to have pretty curls. You go to sleep like this:

And you wake up with nice curls, like this.

Here's my kitty hiding under a blankie:

Here's what I eat for breakfast every morning:

It's my own little breakfast sandwich with a Morningstar veggie sausage. My nephew likes them to.

And those are some pictures and words about my life!

Musings on the Way Home

2012-01-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

OK, so, I have boldly declared that 2012 will be the year I find a home. Of course, I have a place that I live, but I want to find a more permanent place that meets my vision of the home I want. My vision:

I live in a house in the woods. It's near water. There's a garden for vegetables. Maybe it's a cabin. No dogs, but 1-2 cats. Chickens. There's a porch with a swing and room for nieces and nephews to come visit. They can stay all summer. In the morning, drinking coffee on the porch every day (it NEVER gets cold in this place). Friends live nearby (or on the property). We have a little community.

My vision includes:

Family and/or friends are nearby
I can gradually increase the amount of food that I will produce on my own (just gardening and chickens in the beginning, but maybe moving up to goats -- my mom calls this dream "the farm")
My house is small and so I have a minimal footprint
I can work from home comfortably
Although I'm in the country, I am near enough to a city that I can enjoy the cultural events that I like

I'm not exactly a pro/con list type of girl. I'm more of a "be still and listen for the voice of the universe," kind of girl. Nevertheless, there are a few locations that I'm considering, and they each have definite pros and cons.

Eastern Washington/North Idaho/possibly Western Montana

Pros:

My sister and nephew live here! (worth about ten bullet points in my mind!)
This is the country where I spent my formative years and I often find that my heart yearns for it.
It's some of the most beautiful country you will ever see.
Real estate = mostly cheap
Many wonderful friends live here
Nothing could be better than sitting on your porch with a beer on a September evening in this country

Cons:

The politics are mostly conservative.
In both winter and summer, I don't like the weather; the dry air makes one prematurely old.
Did I mention, it gets COLD?
The population isn't diverse, and the arts are not as readily available as where I currently live.
The economy is weak.

Houston, TX

Pros:

I have a great family of friends here.
The weather is awesome for several months of the year.
Arts and culture? You got it.
The ed reform movement is lively, which means more options for my future employment
The population is diverse
In the city, the politics tend to be more liberal than in the rest of the state.
The economy is relatively vital.
I already live here, so it's less effort!

Cons:

For 5 months of the year, the weather is like the mouth of hell.
Most of the state has very conservative politics.
The city tends toward sprawl, so if I was to establish a little garden paradise on the outskirts, it's possible it would be swallowed up by gross real estate developments.

Other options:

My friend Sara, from Feeding the Soil, is trying to start a pocket neighborhood in Austin. A pocket neighborhood is a small neighborhood with open space for all and a sense of shared stewardship (Click here to read more about Sara's concept). In many ways, this idea meets my vision. Yet I have lots of questions: is Austin the place for me? (I'm not necessarily a booster like most of the Hipster Nation). What would it be like to form a new community? Am I financially stable enough to make this happen?

There's also California -- my family lives there; North Carolina -- I have a random affinity for the place and know lots of people there; and Utah -- the place where I feel the most connected to the universe.

It's hard, when you love the world, to try to stake your claim to one part of it.

Sustainable Seafood: Smoked Salmon Pizzettes

2012-01-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

Friday night I wanted a little end-of-week treat, but I've been eating healthy and sustainable food since the new year, so I didn't want to break my stride.

I decided to make a lightened-up version of a smoked salmon pizza that I've had at restaurants and at a few friends' homes. This mini-pizza is elegant and yet healthy and easy to prepare -- it would make a wonderful Valentine's dinner for you and an ecologically-minded sweetie, or you could slice it up for appetizers for your Quirkyalone Day party.

When I've had this type of pizza before, it usually has a cream cheese topping. To lighten it up, I mixed 1/3-less-fat cream cheese with skyr. Skyr is a very soft cheese that can be eaten like yogurt; the most common brand is called Siggi's. If you can't find skyr, you could just use cream cheese or Greek yogurt.

One last note: to ensure that you're using sustainable salmon, look for Alaskan, rather than Atlantic salmon. I like to use my Seafood Watch app when I'm shopping to make sure I'm making a sustainable choice.

Ingredients:
1 piece of naan or lavash for each pizzette (you could also use a grilled flour tortilla, a mini pre-cooked pizza shell like Boboli, a pita, or any kind of cracker bread -- this also makes an awesome snack when the ingredients are piled on a rye crisp)
Smoked salmon, crumbled into smaller pieces, with a little extra for your cat
Tomato
Capers

For the cream cheese topping, mix the following:
1/4 c. 1/3-less-fat cream cheese (or neufchatel)
1/4 c. skyr
1 heaping tablespoon chopped dill
1 heaping tablespoon chopped chives
salt and pepper to taste

To assemble pizzas:
Heat your naan or other bread product according to package instructions. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese topping on the bread, then heap the salmon, tomato, and capers in amounts to your liking.

Couldn't be easier, and it's so delicious!

February Lady Sweater

2012-01-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

I just finished a major knitting project - it's a gift to my sister. The pattern is the "February Lady Sweater" which you can get for free! It looks complicated, but actually it was fairly simple, since it's knit as all one piece.

Here's a detail of the lacework:

Good thing I finished in time, so my sister can wear her "February Lady" sweater in February.

Meatless Monday* - The Spice Rack

2012-01-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

The other week I caught some of The Splendid Table on public radio. A caller was asking the host, Lynne Rossetto Kasper, how to cook fresh food that was still economical.

Lynne's answer was dear to a green foodie's heart: try the cuisines of other countries, and stick to the "peasant food." If you look up peasant food on Wikipedia, you'll find this definition: dishes specific to a particular culture made from accessible and inexpensive ingredients and usually prepared and spiced to make them more palatable.

Peasant food is usually, in today's parlance, "plant-strong." i.e., if I'm a peasant, I'm not going to be able to afford filet mignon, so I'm going to eat some veg.

Happily, this style of eating is not only easy on the pocketbook, but also easy on the Earth. Diets low in large mammals put less of a strain on the land. And, as the wikipedia article points out, if the spice is right, this kind of eating is also delicious.

But wait, you might be thinking. Spices seem mighty expensive.

That's true. There's an investment in spices, but one jar can last a long time. Here are a few tips for buying spices that will help your wallet and the planet:

To find cheaper spices, try ethnic markets. For example, cumin is cheaper if you buy it in a packet labeled comino (which is the Spanish word for cumin.) Why? It probably has to do with racism and imperialism. Or something.
"Healthy" markets like Whole Foods usually have spices in bulk. This allows you to buy spices in small amounts. So even if you normally eschew the prices at these stores, they are worth a trip for spices that you don't use often. (This vocabulary moment was brought to you by the letter E and words that rhyme with "bless you".)
Organic spices are becoming more available. If you can, buy these. Remember, spices are an investment.
When it's an option, buy spices in glass jars rather than plastic. Plastic is a chemical stew that includes petroleum products. Glass takes more energy to produce initially, but I find that glass items find more uses in my home, and I can feel sure that glass is not leeching chemicals into my life. Archer Farms spices (the Target "fancy" brand) come in glass bottles that are super-cute and make adorable bud vases or additions to your next Joseph Cornell rip-off.

So now, I'm sure you're totally convinced that peasant food, deliciously-spiced, is the way to go. But if your typical cuisine is American, with a side of Italian and the occasional taco, what should you buy?

I have three staples in my cooking: Mexican -- which, as Kasper pointed out on The Splendid Table -- is much more vibrant than the Tex-Mex most of us are familiar with -- Indian, and Mediterranean (Italian, Greek, and Middle Eastern). I arrange my spices by these cuisines, rather than alphabetically (or, you know, the alternative, which is NOT organized. NO... that would never be me.) I also tend to cook a lot of Asian food, but those spices tend to be in the fridge, rather than the spice rack. Another post...

Indian
Quick curries are one of the staples of my house. There's nothing easier than whipping up a spur-of-the-moment curry, vegetarian or not, and pouring it over some rice. Nothing easier.

Spices in the Indian cupboard:
Curry powder: Really a blend of several spices, including turmeric and pepper.
Garam masala: Another spice blend. This one is peppery and cinnamony. I basically put it in everything.
Turmeric: Turmeric makes things YELLOW! So be careful with it; it can stain. It's also believed to be a magic health herb -- when I'm sick, I sometimes put a teaspoon of turmeric in hot water with a little lemon for a drink that soothes a sore throat and a sicky sad-face.
Other spices: Paprika, ginger, coriander, and saffron (saffron is quite expensive, so if you can't afford it, you can usually go without. But you only use a few threads at a time, so a single jar can go a long way.

Click here to find Indian vegetarian recipes.

Mexican
I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD.

No, I don't mean Taco Bell or Taco Time. I mean Mexican food. Most "Mexican" food that Americans are familiar with is actually Tex-Mex. Tex-Mex is delicious in it's own right, but nothing compares with actual Mexican food.

Spices for Mexican cooking:
Cumin (or comino): My friend Kelly says, "you can never have too much comino", and she's from South Texas, so she knows what she's talking about. Lots of people have a strong reaction to comino -- some people say it smells like feet. But have no fear. Cumin tends to be at the heart of a lot of Mexican dishes. It's also featured in Indian cuisine, so it's a good purchase to begin your spice rack. AND it's delicious.
Peppers: I like to have many different pepper-based spices on hand. Cayenne is extremely spicy. Ancho is dried poblano, and it has almost a floral note. Crushed Red Pepper includes some seeds, the hottest part of the pepper. It's especially good in chili and also features in some Italian cooking.

Click here for vegetarian Mexican recipes, and here for one of my all time favorites: Ancho Lentil Tacos from the Post-Punk Kitchen a fusion recipe, as you might imagine.

Mediterranean
"Mediterranean" encompasses many cuisines: Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern. And all of them promise wonders for your Meatless Monday.

Spices for your Mediterranean Feast:
Oregano: A staple of Italian cooking
Bay Leaves: Put one or two in your soups or stews to add flavor - but don't eat them. They're sharp!
Rosemary: Yep. They are basically pine needles. Crush them up to add a fragrant bite to your cooking. Delicious when paired with lemon.
Fennel seed: Fennel has a sort of licoricey taste to it, but it's often the "secret" ingredient to Italian favorites
Thyme: Thyme is often used in meats, but for your meatless dishes, it is superb with fresh tomatoes and olive oil.
Other Herbs to have on hand: Garlic and basil are best when fresh, and they are a critical addition to your Mediterranean delights.

Click here for vegetarian Mediterranean recipes.

With a well-stocked spice rack, "eating like a peasant" doesn't have to be a negative.

*Meatless Monday is a movement to spread awareness of the health and environmental benefits plant-strong eating, by encouraging people to eat meatless meals on Mondays.

Waste not, want not - Household Tip

2012-01-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

Ugh. Sometimes when I see the words "tomato paste" in a recipe, I definitely get annoyed. Recipes always seem to call for amounts like 2 tbsp. and then you're left with half a can that you put in the fridge, thinking: I'll use that next week, and then 6 months later when you clean the fridge you're wondering what sort of fuzz has been given life in the old can.

Some companies are now packaging tomato paste in tubes. This is a good idea, but:
a) many stores don't carry them
b) tubes are usually not recyclable, containing a mix of polyethylene and aluminum.

So, instead of wasting paste from a can or buying a tube, I just freeze any unused paste in an ice cube tray, and bust out a cube or two when I need some.

If you try this yourself: be forewarned that the paste doesn't get the consistency of ice -- it will remain sort of soft even when frozen.

When you want the paste, just microwave it or put it in a glass and put the glass in some warm water to soften the paste.

Do you have any great household tips to reduce waste?

Re-purposed Style Part 2: DIY

2012-01-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

The other day I featured some of the cool vintage and thrifted decor my sister has around her house.

Today I wanted to show off some of the items that she has DIYed or altered. She saves money and saves the planet by creating her own decorations from items that she has re-purposed.

The top picture is just a framed postcard with a mat made out of craft paper.

My sister created these decorative plates herself. You could use plates from a thrift store or dollar store.

She simply made color photocopies (using her printer) of images from an old children's book that we had, The Caretakers of Wonder. That way, she didn't have to destroy our heirloom.

She then cut out and decoupaged the images on the plates. The alphabet letters spell out ...

DREAM

This one is a favorite of mine; I actually created the artwork years ago. I've been trying to get it back from my sister for a long time, but somehow she manages to keep hold of it.

I freehanded the outline of the tree onto a sheet of paper - it's been a long time but I think I copied an image from a catalogue. Then I looked through magazines to find images that had brown or green; I snipped tiny pieces from them. I glued the pieces onto the outline like a mosaic.

My sister used craft paper for a mat. Having a nice supply of craft paper around always makes DIY easier.

I wish that I had my sister's taste and crafty skills!

Re-Purposed Style

2012-01-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

My sister has an amazing eye for finding treasures among the junk at thrift and antique stores. Not only does she manage to make everything she touches look adorable, her focus on decorating with vintage items is better for the planet and the pocket book.

Here are a few of her best finds:

This is a dress form on a vintage plant stand. My sister just wrapped it in some cool fabric.

Repurposed style is all about going with the flow: you can't PLAN to find a vintage bird cage this cute. You just have to be ready to pounce when you see it.

I just love this unique religious statue. My sister keeps it in her doorway. It perfectly matches the coloring of the rental house where she is now living.

It's easy to see something like this and think: gee, that's sort of cool, but it's also weird.

You have to have an eye for the possibilities and a sense of whimsy.

These antique skates are part of my sister's holiday decor.

Aren't they handsome?

I wish I had a better picture of this one.

The painting at the bottom is vintage. My sister's had it for years and it just looks cool.

The one on top is a painting that my sister did of her beagle. I love the way the folk art style of the vintage painting matches the simple artwork my sister did. It just proves you don't have to be an artist to make art.

Coming up: I'm going to feature some of my sister's crafty decor that showcases recycled and repurposed items.

Do you have favorite vintage or thrifted pieces in your home?

Home is wherever I'm with you!

2012-01-09T15:36:00.000-08:00

2012 is the year I find a home.

Sooo... there's this meme going around about reflecting on 2011 and determining your theme for 2012. And that's my theme: 2012 is the year I find a home.

In 2011, I wrote out a list of intentions I called "Learn-Go-Do." I didn't get to all of them, but I did get a great start on them - I went to Spain, visited three American cities I to which I'd never been, finished the first Rosetta Stone module to improve my Spanish, learned how to knit lace and how to needle felt ... I was busy. And I'm resolved to keep the list going as a living document of intention.

On the bottom of the list, however, was a one-word item.

It said:
"Move"

As in, move into a new house. For the first five months of 2011, I was pretty sure I was going to pick up and move from Houston to Seattle during the summer. But then a whole bunch of stuff happened that turned everything upside down. So I waited. And waited. And the waiting became a holding pattern.

Now, I don't know where I want to move. I have a heart divided.

Here's what my heart wants:

The Pacific Northwest. Trees! Family! Huckleberries and coffee stands! Lakes!
Texas: Sun! Friends that have become family! An economy that has stayed relatively stable!! Did I mention - sun!?

HOW COULD ANYONE DECIDE?

A holding pattern is no good. I'm not into that. I need to get serious about this decision, and so:
2012 is the year I find a home.

In the place where I work, when a big change needs to happen, we establish a vision, and then we determine the steps to getting there. So I'm going to outline the vision here, and then the steps will come in other posts (as I think of them...).

THE VISION

A year or so ago, I took a course called Mondo Beyondo: An Online Course in Dreaming Big. In the course, you create a list of the big dreams you have for your life. In my list, I wrote this:

I live in a house in the woods. It's near water. There's a garden for vegetables. Maybe it's a cabin. No dogs, but 1-2 cats. Chickens. There's a porch with a swing and room for nieces and nephews to come visit. They can stay all summer. In the morning, drinking coffee on the porch every day (it NEVER gets cold in this place). Friends live nearby (or on the property). We have a little community.

I think my vision today is similar. Here's what my heart desires in a home:

Family and/or friends are nearby
I can gradually increase the amount of food that I will produce on my own (just gardening and chickens in the beginning, but maybe moving up to goats -- my mom calls this dream "the farm")
My house is small and so I have a minimal footprint
I can work from home comfortably
Although I'm in the country, I am near enough to a city that I can enjoy the cultural events that I like

I realize this is a big dream.

But I took a course. I'm certified in dreaming big.

20+11 Things I Liked in 2011: Part 3

2012-01-03T17:11:00.000-08:00

And so... we come to the end of the list of 31 things I liked in 2011. Even though I put these in no particular order, I find that many of my absolute favorites are ending up on this last segment, which seems fitting.

This weekend, you can expect my post about New Year's intentions for 2012. Maybe I should resolve to be more timely with my posts in 2012!

As always, if there's stuff you liked in 2011, leave a comment!

George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones, Dance with Dragons)
Geeks, rejoice! Geekery went mainstream this year, as Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series made headlines as an HBO series (of course, many geeks don't rejoice when their hidden gems become mainstream, but this geek is OK with it, because popularity begets the longevity that most of my geek favorites never receive). The TV series --beautifully acted, bloody; and of course, nakeddy, being on HBO -- inspired many, including me, to pick up the books that it is based on. All just in time for the arrival of the fifth book in the series, Dance with Dragons, which left readers with impossible cliffhangers. Here's hoping that Martin doesn't take six years to write book six, as he did with Dance.

Supernatural Saturday: BBCA
To continue with the geekery ... nothing is geekier than Doctor Who. Let's just face up to it, Whovians. Yes, that's what we call ourselves, we who love the Doctor. It was a great year for the Doctor, with a twisty-turny ongoing plot about a stolen baby, melting doppelgangers, and headless (literally) monks. When the Doctor wasn't visiting Earth, BBC America ran its other sci-fi/fantasy offerings on Saturday nights; my favorite was Primeval. Best episodes: "A Good Man Goes to War" (Doctor Who); "Episode Three" (Primeval) -- which was about spring-heeled Jack!

Katy Perry and Floria Sigismondi
I'm sure that you know who Katy Perry is. You know, that busty gal with candy-apple-red lips? You may not know Sigismondi's name, but she's the director responsible for two of Perry's gorgeous videos: "E.T." and "The One That Got Away." I love these lush, story-telling videos because they hark back to the days when music videos seemed deeply profound, or at least deeply crazy (see: Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer, A-Ha's "Take on Me"). I find the video for "E.T." to be especially beautiful. Props to Perry for allowing herself to go weird in this one. (But no props to Kanye West for phoning in his "feat." role. Really, Yeezy? "Imma disrobe you/ Then Imma probe you"? A dirty-minded twelve-year-old could have written that).

Neville!!! (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)

Cardigan. Clumsiness. Heck... his name is Neville. But the alternate "boy who lived" kicked it in the final installment of Harry Potter, proving to be the most loyal, most effective member of Dubledore's Army.

The Magician King, by Lev Grossman

Grossman continued his meditation on children's fantasy novels (like Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia) with The Magician King. Like in his previous novel, The Magicians, Grossman went beyond simple satire to give us a portrait of what it might look like if the guy down the street ended up in a fantasy world. The results are devastating. And ever since I read it, I can't think about foxes without cringing (actually, Grossman seems to have a thing about fox sex ... shudder)

Melanie Moore (So You Think You Can Dance)

This summer I went to a wedding, and a good friend brought his girlfriend, who's a dancer. The two of us discovered that we were both fans of SYTYCD and proceeded to annoy the other passengers in our car with our rhapsodizing about Melanie Moore, the eventual winner of Dance's 2011 season. My new friend said, "she has such energy, even in her stillness." And that is exactly right. To any of you who have taken a dance or a yoga class, you know that stillness and small, slow movements are incredibly difficult. Moore made every moment a joy, whether standing still or launching herself fearlessly into the air.

Justified (FX)
As a child of rural America, sometimes when I'm watching Justified, I get really depressed. It's so spot-on in its depiction of the edge of American society that I can't help but get a little chill. There but for the grace... and all that. In 2011, Justified took its portrait of backwoods America to new heights with the introduction of Margo Martindale as a villain who was truly a match for the super-cool Raylan, played by Timothy Olyphant. Even as I cringes, I couldn't look away. To me, it's a portrait of law and disorder that hits closer than the much-lauded Breaking Bad... but that might be the difference between growing up scared of bears and growing up scared of Volvos.

HitRecord Hits Publish (hitrecord.org)
HitRecord is the brainchild (such a weird term) of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (yes, that kid from Third Rock from the Sun, but if that's your picture of him, I recommend you watch Brick, Mysterious Skin, or The Lookout). HitRecord is an online collaborative art space, where artists post media and freely allow others to take their work and remix it. This year, HitRecord released two "mainstream" collections of work: Recollection, Vol. 1 and The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1. Make no mistake. HitRecord is the future of art: a collaborative, royalty-free zone of equality. With really cute illustrations.

The Deschanel sisters (Bones, The New Girl)
Zooey and Emily. Wow. What a pair. In The New Girl, Zooey took her cute quirkiness to a new high. And should anyone say her quirk is unrealistic ... well, you obviously haven't met my sister and me. On Bones, Emily Deschanel navigated a tricky high-wire act as she played out the results of her show's lengthy "will-they-won't-they" dance. They did. And Emily remained true to her character, even as the character went through life-changing events.

Homeland (Showtime)
Full disclosure: I watched the entire first season of Homeland in two days. And I really don't know what to say. Watch it. Just watch it. Homeland is about the way that war ravages us; in a world where we're taught to believe that war bestows glory upon us, no one comes out clean. Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, and Mandy Patinkin (squee! says my Broadway fangirl) are the standouts in this meditation on honor, duty, religion, and madness. Did I mention that you should watch it?

20+11 Things I Liked in 2011: Part 2

2012-01-01T16:19:00.000-08:00

The second annualLight Green pop culture round-up! If you liked stuff too, share in thecomments!

Bromances: Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, CrazyStupid Love, A Dangerous Method

I actually hate the term bromance, but it does evoke what Imean: complicated, loving friendships between men. In the past year, it’s as ifHollywood finally realized that men’s friendships can be as deep and rich aswomen’s; and are not only forged through war, sports, or when a black cop and awhite cop are paired together. In the second Sherlock Holmes film, RobertDowney, Jr. and Jude Law re-kindled the crazy chemistry they displayed in thefirst one. Crazy Stupid Love was alittle lame when it came to boy-girl stuff, but the friendship between RyanGosling and Steve Carrell was the heart of the film. And in A Dangerous Method’s advertisingcampaign, they featured Keira Knightley, but the movie was really a love story about Freud andJung.

“Civilian”, byWye Oak

I haven’t fallen this hard for a song since I was a teenagerand songs meant everything. “Holy Holy” from the same album is pretty damngreat as well.

Rooney Mara andDaniel Craig, in The Girl With theDragon Tattoo

Let me just be honest, I think Stieg Larsson wroteawkwardly, and plotted clunkily. I got so bored reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest that I just quit reading it. Buthe did create one of the greatest modern literary characters in LisbethSalander. Rooney Mara, playing Salander in the American film based on the book,is a revelation, completely inhabiting the hunch-shouldered hacker punk. Andwith Daniel Craig playing Mikael Blomkvist, the character finally seems like he’sa match for Lisbeth. The two duet perfectly, giving performances that aremarvels of interiority. As an added bonus, the movie’s soundtrack kicks ass.

Camp, by Childish Gambino

For a while, hip-hop has felt a little stale to me. I mean,I don’t get all of the end-of-the-year praise for Jay-Z and Kanye’s Watch the Throne, when it seemed likefolks weren’t too blown away by it when it first came out. And Drake, c’mon…speed it up a little bit, friend. Then along came Camp, by Childish Gambino (the alter ego of comedian and actorDonald Glover). And suddenly, rap felt fresh again. The rhymes are clever andreward close listening; Glover’s flow is smooth as needed and pleasantly chunkyat other times; the music is awesome. Thesubject matter of Camp feels new too.It’s about insecurity, forming your identity, and coping by turning toperformance. Best tracks: The firstfive songs are great, and I particularly like the fifth, “Heartbeat.”

The Night Circus, byErin Morgenstern

I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t want a magic circus tosuddenly appear in his or her town. A circus with labyrinths and ice gardens,wishing trees and glass bottles holding scents that tell stories. A circuswhere magicians duel and fall in love. Where kittens do tricks, and the airsmells of caramel. The night circus isn’t coming to your town, so you’ll haveto sink into the world of Morgenstern’s lovely book. I’m sure it will be madeinto a movie, but I’m just as sure that when committed to the screen, thecircus will lose some of the magic it has in our imaginations.

Charlize Theron andPatton Oswalt, Young Adult

I’m not gonna lie, I have a huge crush on Patton Oswalt, soI was pretty excited to see him in YoungAdult. I knew he was going to be good. What surprised me, however, was howgood Charlize Theron was opposite him. I know she’s a good actress, but hertaste in projects doesn’t seem to ever line up with my taste in movie-going. Playinga high school mean girl who never moved past the binge drinking or theentitlement of senior year, Theron goes all in to create a character who isn’tsaved and doesn’t learn lessons. She and Oswalt are pure, cringe-inducingpleasure every time they’re on screen together.

Drive

If Ryan Gosling’s character, Driver, ever met LisbethSalander, we’d probably have an incredibly violent silent film on our hands. Drivertakes taciturnity to a new high. He’s a stunt driver for the movies whomoonlights as a getaway driver. Drive issuper-cool, hearkening back to those L.A.movies where the city’s pavement plays a supporting role. Other cool things about the movie: AlbertBrooks, playing a pure badass; Gosling’s satin scorpion jacket; the movie’ssoundtrack. Warning, however: this is not a film for the squeamish.

Moves Like Jagger, byMaroon 5

Granted, if there weren’t actual moves by Jagger in this video, it would just be Adam Levinewithout a shirt (again… seriously, Adam, there are children in the Philippines whoare trying to feed their families. Buy some shirts, man). But there are movesby Jagger.

Bad Lip-Reading, the internet

Because those Republican candidates deserve it. Specialbonus points for the bad lip-reading of Michael Buble’s song, “Haven’t Met YouYet”, transforming it into the hilarious “Russian Unicorn.”

Vampire Diaries, theCW

You know how most shows save their big plot twists forsweeps months? Well, the producers and writers of The Vampire Diaries have totally thrown out that playbook. Instead,they have the confidence to give us major plot developments every week –sometimes two or three per episode (they usually have a big reveal aroundminute 48, and you’re sure the episode will end, then they give you 5 or 6 moreminutes). Sure, this strategy is risky. You could jump the shark. But so far,there’s no sign of water skis in sight, as the excellent cast races right alongwith the breathless plotting.

Seeing Stars: Visionary Drawing from the Collection, The MenilCollection, Houston, TX

I got to see my first, real Henry Darger drawing. I think my heart might have stopped. Collectingworks by folk, naïve, and outsider artists, this exhibit is both one of theloveliest and one of the saddest things I have ever seen.

20+11 Things I Liked in 2011: Part 1

2011-12-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

Another year is coming to a close, and it’s time for the second annual 20+… Things I Liked, a year-end pop culture round-up.

I’m no critic, I’m just a pop culture fan. I like network television and young adult novels. There are lots of well-reviewed movies of 2011 that I have yet to see. I don’t watch Louie, for no other reason than that I have no idea what channel it’s on. But I like stuff. And here are some of the things I liked in 2011.

If you have favorites from 2011, feel free to share them in the comments!

Optimism: sitcoms, various channels

The economy sucks. The environment is in trouble. A bunch of douchebags are running for president. But goldarnnit, we’re Americans and Americans try to look on the bright side. That’s probably why there are so many sitcoms these days about people who find joy wherever they can: in a cobbled-together family (Community) or a real one (Modern Family); in local government (Parks & Recreation); in suburbia (Suburgatory), or in small towns (Raising Hope). The half-hour comedy has come back in a big way, shaking off the overly-ironic P.O.V. that dogged humor during the early aughties, and turning to holy fools who are just trying to do the best they can. (See also: How I Met Your Mother, The Middle, Up All Night, The New Girl)

Lonely Boy: song by the Black Keys

Yeah. My dad dances like this guy.

Let England Shake, by PJ Harvey

Back in the days when Sassy was still a magazine, any self-respecting riotgrrrl had PJ Harvey in the tape deck of her beat-up Hyundai (that was my sister. I was not cool). Polly Jean is still cranking out throaty primal yells and haunted melodies. This year, Let England Shake shook up “Best of” lists and iPods with its musical meditations on war and peace. I read one review that claimed the album was like “homework.” I don’t know what school that guy went to; if I’d gone there I might not have felt the need to repeatedly ask my teachers: “Why are we learning this again?” In a year of revolt, PJ schooled us in the need to keep the consequences of our government’s actions at the forefront of our minds. Best tracks: “On Battlefield Hill”, “In the Dark Places.”

Speaking of tape decks and riotgrrls…

Women Who Rock (and rap), various artists

In the same decade that my sis was rocking out to PJ Harvey, we were also sitting in the grass at the Columbia Gorge Ampitheatre, “rocking” out to the Indigo Girls and Natalie Merchant at Lilith Fair. The attempted resurrection of Lilith Fair this summer might have been a bust, but you can create your own substitute on your iPod, because women have put out some of the best music of the year (and some of the most profitable). While Adele’s 21 and Florence + the Machine’s Ceremonials racked up the radio play, 2011 also saw major new music from St. Vincent, Feist, Lykke Li, Nicki Minaj, and female-fronted outfits like Cults and Wye Oak. I’m sure that my friend Andy is glad to receive a reprieve from the annual drubbing he gets when his year-end compilation CD doesn’t contain any female artists. I’m betting he’s not the only one whose “Best of” list will be looking a little friendlier toward the XX chromosome combo.

Michael Fassbender

Any one of the five people who saw Michael Fassbender in last year’s Fish Tank knew that he was about to tear up the movies. When Jane Eyre came out earlier this year, a comment of, “Michael Fassbender is great,” would have received blank stares, and in X-Men: First Class, he was the less famous guy in a lead role. It wasn’t long though, before Fassbender began to get the acclaim he should have gotten for earlier roles, and there’s even talk of Oscar for his role in Shame (which I haven’t seen yet, because: bummer). Fassbender brings an adult gravity and masculinity to his roles that many American actors just don’t seem to have; plus, you know, he’s easy on the eyes.

English Country Houses (Jane Eyre, Downtown Abbey, The Hours)

Michael Fassbender might have been stomping around one of the most famous fictional English Country houses when he encountered Jane Eyre in the corridors of Thornfield Hall, but 2011 was a big year for other drawing rooms as well. On PBS, Downtown Abbey brought new vigor to the upstairs-downstairs drama, while on BBCA’s The Hours, a key episode made great use of the immature frivolity that accompanies the “weekend at the country house” plotline. Why are these once-musty tropes being spruced up? Maybe it’s because in our sour economy, open acknowledgement of class in these dramas seems refreshing. Or maybe we just love a good waltz. (Or the Grizzly Bear… you DA fans know where I’m comin’ from, yo!)

The Beginning and the End (The Tree of Life and Melancholia)

Serious spiritual concerns are often absent from the movies, but this year two major directors turned their lenses on the metaphysical, illustrating the beginning of our world and its end. Terrence Malick showed us the evolution of life on earth, connecting the macro to the micro as he linked the life of a Texas family to the motions of the universe. Malick’s movies always explore our inner conversations with God, and the Tree of Life had the same whispered monologues that are a hallmark of his work (despite all the praise for this movie, I still don’t like it as much as Malick’s The New World, which is probably my favorite movie). Lars von Trier, in Melancholia, ventured into another territory: the terrible silence of God in our modern world, and the ferocious pull of depression, which can be as inexorable as gravity. Both films, however, gave us transcendental cosmic images that had the massive scale of the best action movies but the moral heft of two of cinema’s deepest thinkers.

This Party Just Took a Turn For the Douche, Garfunkel & Oates

You know who else gets metaphysical? Effin’ John Donne, as the adorable Kate Micucci points out in this hilarious, allusion-filled video. You probably recognize Micucci and her partner in comedy, Riki Lindhome, from their many TV roles, but if you don’t know their comedic song stylings, however, get thee to YouTube immediately!

Bridesmaids

Yeah, yeah. Cute girls, like Garfunkel & Oates, can be funny. Pretty women can be funny too. Big women and little women. Old and young. All can be funny. The press seemed to be totally surprised by this fact, as evidenced by the rapturous essays that were produced in reaction to the movie Bridesmaids, heralding a transformation in America’s taste in funny. But seriously, what is there to be awestruck about? People like good movies with funny people in them. They like stories about people, rather than stock characters. The pundits should just shut up and laugh along with the rest of us.

Robyn’s Body Talk Tour, Houston Warehouse, February 19, 2011

I don’t think I’ve ever danced so much in my life. But none of the dancing from the energetic audience could compare with the hyperkinetic moves of the Swedish chanteuse herself.

You Say You Want a Resolution

2011-12-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

Just think, if everyone made a green resolution this year, we actually would be able to change the world.

It's the end of the year as we know it (the end of the world is apparently 12 short months away). But let's just assume that the world isn't going to end next December. If that's the case, and we're going to be around a little while longer, then it probably would behoove us to take better care of the planet. So why not ignore that perennially-failed weight loss resolution and try out a green (yet simple) resolution this year?

In fact, this very blog was started as part of my New Year's resolution to be greener, and it's spawned several other green resolutions - such as a resolution to shift to greener beauty products and a resolution to eat more sustainably.

I started small, however. It seems as though one big reason that New Year's resolutions fail is that folks aim to make a complete lifestyle change in the split-second between December 31 and January 1st. To make resolutions stick, it can be helpful to scaffold. Start with a small green resolution, and then, if you conquer it by March, you can make a new one. There's no reason that January is the only time one can set goals.

So here are some suggestions for some green resolutions in various shades from light green to dark (I'm not there yet).

Light Green:

These light green resolutions won't require much effort on your part, and are a great place to start if you haven't thought much about greening your life, or have thought yourself too busy to make greener choices. Some small reminders, like a sticky note next to your faucet telling you to turn off the water, will make these even easier.

Turn off the water while brushing your teeth, saving up to 8 gallons of water per day.
Start carrying a reusable, BPA-free water bottle instead of a single-use water bottle. Those single-use bottles will cruddy up our planet for up to 1,000 years!
Switch to compact-fluorescent lightbulbs - those are the swirly-looking ones. They are 75-80% more efficient than regular lightbulbs.
Switch to reusable shopping bags. Not only will this switch save marine animals and cut back on waste in our landfills, but reusable shopping bags are easier to carry and hold more without tearing.

Medium Green

So, perhaps you're ready for more of a challenge. You want to make a resolution that has the potential to make you feel much more virtuous than your next-door neighbors who throw out a giant bag of beer bottles every Monday morning. These medium green resolutions should give you enough green cred to allow you to glare disapprovingly at those around you for at least five minutes per day.

Observe Meatless Monday. Or Tuesday. Or Friday. But one day a week, go meatless. The benefits of a vegetarian diet are plentiful, but you don't have to go full veg to help yourself and the planet. The production of meat places a huge burden on the earth, and the U.N. recommends that all of us cut back. The Meatless Monday site can help you with tips and recipes for this resolution.
Try out No-Buy Month. For the month of January (or a different month), don't buy anything. Lower consumption is always green! You can decide how restrictive you'd like this month to be: maybe you try not to spend anything. Or maybe you just stop buying non-consumables. If no-buy January works out, you might want to set a goal for other no-buy months throughout the year. I've found that no-buy month brings a sense of peace and calm to life that is an even better reward than the money you save.
Tele-commute one or two days a week. If your job will allow you, work from home when you can (and many employers will consider it if you lay out the energy savings that they'll have as well as the ones that you will). Click here for some tips on making this work.
Give up paper towels. You might want to keep one roll around for really gross messes, or for cleaning the toilet. But really, paper towels are mostly unnecessary. Just cut up some old T-shirts or towels and you've got enough rags to do almost any cleaning job.

Dark Green

Ready to go big? (And let me just tell you, I'm not there yet. I'm still medium green). Here are a few ideas:

Stop (or greatly reduce) your driving. You can ride a bike, take public transport, or walk. Of course, the feasibility of this depends on where you live and where you work. But most of us can do better than we do when it comes to using fossil fuels.
Start producing your own food. Even city dwellers can make this work; you can be part of the growing trend of urban farms.
Make your own cleaners and beauty products. There are tons of websites and books that can tell you how to make green products that are healthier for you and for the earth.

So dark green, these resolutions are almost black

If you're really looking to change your life:

Give up air travel
Become a zero-waste family
Move to a smaller dwelling
Buy all of your clothes at thrift stores

Do you have a green resolution this year?

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:52:00.000-08:00

Musical Bonus: Interfaith Holiday Fun!

2011-12-21T15:35:00.001-08:00

So, yesterday I featured three songs about the Christmas story, so I wanted to share the love with my folks who jam for Hanukkah or Yule, or like their Christmas secular.

For Hanukkah

Miracle: by Matisyahu

I LOVE THIS SONG. When it comes on my iPod in the middle of the summer, I let it play. If you're not familiar with Matisyahu, he's the world's most famous Hasidic reggae star. And I mean that completely seriously. I especially like this lyric:

"Eight is the number of infinity; one more than what you know how to be

And this is the light of festivity, when your broken heart yearns to be free."

For Yule

The Christians and The Pagans: by Dar Williams

A young pagan woman visits her Christian relatives over the holidays. Cross-cultural sharing ensues. This is a story song, and it's full of warmth and humor, and the truth that the holidays bring families together, even if they know those days by different names.

For your secular celebration

Christmas in Hollis: by Run-DMC

It's a hip-hop holiday classic.

Merry Monday - My Favorite Holiday Music

2011-12-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

(OK, yes... it's actually Tuesday. I was busy.)

Today's Theme: The Christmas story!

OK, OK. I know that many of my friends and readers are not religious at all. But whether you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, or whether you believe that the Christmas is a reinterpretation of pagan stories of winter rebirth; some of the best Christmas songs are related to the central nativity narrative.

I tend to gravitate toward the more human side of the story - the combination of confusion and wonder that the players must have felt - rather than the choirs of angels and prophecies of old.

Tomorrow: Interfaith Bonus Music for my friends of different (or no) faiths!

Part 1: The Annunciation
Gabriel's Message: by Sting
In 1996, various artists got together for a Christmas compilation to benefit the Special Olympics. While there have been many iterations of A Very Special Christmas since, the original is, well... special. It popularized this song, a weird and wonderful tale of the annunciation. The original is a Basque carol, but this modern take heightens the sense of alienation one would feel if an angel really did come down from heaven and declare to your teenage self that you were having God's baby.

Part 2: Telling Joseph
Joseph, Who Understood: by the New Pornographers
I'm sure there are folks who would consider this song sacrilegious, because: a) it's by a band with the word "pornographers" in their band name, and; b) it portrays Joseph's existential crisis as he tries to deal with the fact that his intended is having someone else's baby. He's really not cool with the scandal that Mary's unplanned pregnancy is causing in Galilee. Ultimately, though, he comes to accept the situation, even declaring of the baby: "Mary, he is mine." I feel like this message of acceptance and forgiveness is what the holidays are all about.

Part 3: Mary Ponders
Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song): by Sara Groves
This song is the opposite of the one above, in terms of audience. Most of the folks who know this one have heard it in church or on a Christian radio station (it was written by Amy Grant). But I just think it's a beautiful melody and a beautiful sentiment. Gladys Knight does a really nice version, but I think this one is my favorite because it's small, the way I imagine Mary really would have felt.

One Bag: Eco-Gift Idea #3... For the Literati

2011-12-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

This week, I've been sharing some ideas for how to take one super-cute Whole Foods reusable grocery bag, and fill it with goodies that are ecologically-responsible, readily-available at common stores or websites, and reasonably-priced.

Today: gifts for those literary types in your life.

Stationery and office supplies have always been one of my biggest weaknesses when it comes to impulse purchases. I've really been trying to curb this until I use up what I already own. So, buying fun tools for writers and readers is one way for me to satisfy that craving for the perfect notebook.

Greenroom Recycled Notebooks

Available at Target

$3.99-$7.99

A great notebook is a must for any aspiring writer. Greenroom produces a variety of eco-friendly notepads in cute designs, in a variety of sizes.

Refillable Fountain Pen

Available at most office supply stores

$5.00 to exorbitantly expensive

Writing with a fountain pen just makes you feel cooler. Plus, they aren't disposable, like other pens .

Eco-Tools Pencil Case

Available from Drugstore.com

$7.99

Give this, and your grateful friends will never have to search for their fountain pens again! Plus ... cute!

Off-set your reading habits by planting trees!

Available at the eco-libris website

$5.00 balances 5 books by planting 5 trees - plus you get stickers for your books to show your eco-pride!

Eco-libris offsets the trees we destroy to create books by planting trees. And trees are awesome.

One Bag: Eco-Gift Idea #2 ... Beauty!

2011-12-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

So, you take one cute Whole Foods reusable bag...

The other day I suggested how you could fill this bag with cheap eco-gifts that are easy to find -- gifts that a foodie friend might like.

So here's our day #2 gift bag, with ideas for how you might create a themed bag of goodies for a friend who loves her (or his) beauty regimen.

Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer

Available at Target, Whole Foods, and Walgreen's

Around $5.00

"I love this stuff," said a friend when I gave her some Lip Shimmer. Perfect for parties, this sparkly, moisturizing lip gloss is just what the doctor ordered for those dry winter days.

Bass Bamboo Hairbrush

Available at Whole Foods and Amazon.com

Between $7.00 and $20.00 depending on size and style

"I love my new brush. I just want to keep brushing my hair,"said another friend who received a Bass bamboo brush. It's a little like having strong manly fingers massage your head... without the dirty socks around your apartment.

Yes to Cucumbers! On-the-Go Facial Towelettes

Available at Target

Around $4.00

During this season of travel, who doesn't need to freshen up once in awhile?

Do It Gorgeously, by Sophie Ulliano

Available at Amazon.com and various bookstores

$15.00-20.00

Green guru Sophie Ulliano teaches you how to make your own green beauty products.

Speaking of making your own beauty products, you can make your friends a...

Salt Scrub

Click here for instructions.

The ingredients are cheap and available anywhere. This is on of the easiest DIY gifts out there, and it's a great project to do with kids.

Merry Monday: My Favorite Holiday Music

2011-12-12T09:30:00.000-08:00

Today's Theme: Christmas Bummers

When I was little, I was pretty familiar with every single children's book that our local library offered. And every year, starting around August, I repeatedly checked out "The Book of Christmas." It was from a Time-Life series (remember those?) about the supernatural world, and it was filled with stories of trolls and ghosts and talking animals. It was about the dark of winter, and how Christmas represents hope for light in the darkness.

When I told people that this was one of my favorites, saying, "It's about the dark parts of Christmas," they would cock their heads and say, "Christmas has a dark side?" And they'd laugh.

But at a very young age, I understood that Christmas isn't all "Santa Claus and ho-ho-ho, mistletoe and presents to pretty girls" as Lucy van Pelt put it.

Or, as Todd van der Werff (my pop culture soulmate and critic at the AV Club) put it:

...there's a kind of melancholy that bubbles up around the holidays, a melancholy that unites all of the greatest Christmas stories, from A Charlie Brown Christmas to It's a Wonderful Life to A Christmas Carol. I realize this is such a snobby thing to say, but the people who think Christmas is about unalloyed joy, about smiling until you're gritting your teeth, I don't think they GET IT, not really. Christmas is about another year coming to a close and drawing the people you love closer to you because you don't know what you'd be without them. It's about what you don't have as much as what you do have, about the realization that loneliness is the flip-side of love and happiness only comes easily after you've been through some pain. To me, Christmas and New Year's are all wrapped up in sadness and melancholy and loneliness, and that's what makes the happiness feel that much more earned, that much more essential.

And so I offer four songs that "get it."

"Fairytale of New York," by the Pogues with Kirsty McColl

For many folks, this is the ultimate Christmas song. There are many others who have no idea why any Christmas song would include the words, "You're an old slut on junk." But this is the magic of Christmas... you might be in the drunk tank. But a new year is still right around the corner.

"Christmas Day," by Dido

This story song, like many a Dido ditty, begins with a sweetness, and finishes with devastation.

"I Remember," from Evening Primrose, sung by Theresa McCarthey

In 1966, a teleplay called Evening Primrose aired. The composer for the songs was a young Stephen Sondheim. The play aired only once, and only Sondheim fans know of it - it aired in color, but the color masters have been lost. However, one of the songs "I Remember" (sung, in the play, by a young woman who has been living in a department store for years... don't ask) is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. There are few good recordings of it (Barbra Streisand did it on one of her Christmas albums, but I don't like that version). The one below is my favorite. I love the tune, but the lyrics are true standouts. "And ice, like vinyl, on the streets" is one of my favorite lines. The song reminds me of a lost New York winter, like those described in Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, and the sadness of it's final lines ("and at times I think/I would gladly die/for one day of sky") never seems to lessen for me.

"Calling and Not Calling My Ex" by Okkervil River

Your ex might not be a superstar, but everyone can relate to wondering if you should call old friends or exes over the holidays.

One Bag: Eco-Gift Idea #1 ... Foodie!

2011-12-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

My good friend Kelly has a tradition that she calls the "Basket (or Bag, depending upon the case) of Crap." I'm not exactly why she calls it this, but basically the Bag of Crap is a gift you want to get. It's a lot like Oprah's favorite things, without the screaming suburban moms.

Basically, Kelly saves up her favorite items when she can get them on sale throughout the year, and then fills a bag (or basket) with them for holiday gifts. She also looks for little items that she knows certain friends will like.

When I saw these very cute (one might even say adorable) holiday bags at Whole Foods, I started thinking about how these would be the perfect vessel for a bag full of small eco-treasures - kind of like the Bag of Crap.

Don't worry if you're not ahead of the game like Kelly, and haven't started stocking up. This week, I'm going to feature some ideas for eco-themed ways you could turn said bag into a treasure trove for friends. I'm also going to feature items that are available in commonly-found stores - so you won't have to stress if you want to try one of these out. Because what's the point of a gift guide if you can't find any of the featured gifts?

Bag #1: The Foodie Bag

Ideas for that environmentally-conscious gourmand in your life.

O Organics Hot Cocoa Mix

Available at Safeway and Randalls

Price not available

This cocoa is so delicious, it's easy to forget it's not a pricier brand

Charity Mug (NRDC Design)

Available at West Elm

$10.00

Fifty percent of the price of the West Elm Charity mugs go to great organizations like the NRDC and Teach For America!

Green & Black's Organic Chocolate (Peanut and Sea Salt shown)

available at Target and Whole Foods

Around $3.99

These organic, fair-trade chocolates are absolutely delectable.

Peanut and Sea Salt is my no-holds-barred fave, but they also offer yummy flavors such as Hazelnut and Currant, Toffee, and Ginger.

Bamboo Cooking Tools (Rachael Ray set shown)

Available at a variety of cooking stores and at Target

Sets by different brands range from $8-$30

Bamboo is a renewable resource, and when I'm in the kitchen, I always find my wooden tools get more use than anything more "modern."

Spiced Cashews

Click here and scroll down for the recipe.

I make these treats every year. They're always a hit, but you might want to make a few extras for yourself!

Holiday DIY - Yarn Wreaths

2011-12-09T13:46:00.001-08:00

I've been making these yarn wreaths this holiday season, and I have to say, I've loved the way they've turned out.

Plus - they're a great way to repurpose random yarn from your stash that you're not sure what to do with (you know the balls of yarn that aretoo big to discard, but aren't big enough to make much of anything?), as well as random craft supplies and ribbon.

If you want to make your own yarn wreaths (or the felt flowers), you can click here for a tutorial... but I bet that some of you crafty types canfigure out how it's done just from the picture.

Now, when I was teaching, one of my rules when we were doing any kind of project was: "simpler is better." You see, when kids are faced with baubles and beads, they want to use ALL of them.

Of course, "simpler is better" is not true all the time, but in crafting, it quite often is. Just Google Image search "yarn wreaths." You'll find lots of inspiration. You'll also find some wreaths made by people who never had a teacher who told them:"simpler is better." When designing your wreath, remember this simple axiom.

One way to green this craft: If you can find old wreaths at a thrift store, you could take off the decorations and use the form as a base for your wreath. My thrift store didn't have

anything appropriate, so I had to buy the wreath forms, which are very ungreen. Also, some craft stores (though not mine!) have straw wreath forms, that will be better for the environment than floral foam. If you try this craft, hopefully you can find greener craft supplies than I did!

Merry Monday: My Favorite Holiday Music

2011-12-04T16:43:00.001-08:00

Today's Theme: Winter Songs!

These songs are part of my holiday playlist. Although they aren't officially "holiday" songs, they all put me in the winter spirit.

Winter Song: by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

I love this song's message of hope, love and light in the winter... and if you have lived in northern climes, you know that message is needed in the darkest days of winter. Plus, this video is adorable.

River, by Joni Mitchell. Version by Robert Downey, Jr.

This song could definitely fit into the "Christmas bummer" category as well as the Winter category. It's a beautiful song, but super-depressing. There are also a lot of great versions, but for some reason I particularly like this version by Robert Downey Jr. from Ally McBeal.

Swingset Chain, by Loquat

Again, kind of a bummer. (Seriously. If you've lived in a snowy place -- winter can be a huge, dark, bummer). This one is about looking back to winters' past - in particular, the frozen playgrounds of childhood, and how those loves and friendships have been lost.

Walking in the Air, from The Snowman

Watching The Snowman during the holiday season is a tradition in my family. It's a sweet story, but the most magical sequence is this one, where a boy and his snowman fly through the arctic skies. Beautiful. (You might want to view this one full-screen).

Do you have a favorite winter song?

Q&A: O Christmas Tree!

2011-12-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you, Christmas trees are magical.

When I was a kid (and still to this day) one of my favorite Christmas moments is when you come downstairs on any December morning and you see the tree, unlit, with the ornaments sort of glowing softly in the dim light.

But there are lots of strident environmentalists who will tell you that any Christmas tree is wasteful and that you shouldn't have a tree. Well, bah humbug to you too!

Some of us, however, love our trees (that's why we're light green and not dark green eco-warriors). But, as my friend Shelley pointed out the other day, it can be hard to make a good choice about what tree is the greenest. Shelley asked, via Facebook:

What is more sustainable - a real Christmas tree or a fake? My fake is probably made of all kinds of nasties - but I can use it year on year. Real trees - though? I just don't know. I think I made a good choice, but something about this question feels slightly complicated - and I can't put my finger on it. As we approach the holiday season - how can we make sustainable choices with our Christmas trees? What do you think?

Shelley has definitely hit the nail on the head: This feels complicated. Like Shelley, I have an artificial tree. It's a small table-top tree that I've had for years.

The simple answer is: real trees are better for the earth. However, there's a bit more to know. Here's the run-down:

Artificial Trees: Despite the fact that artificial trees are long-lasting, they are, as Shelley said, "made of all kinds of nasties." In this case, the nastiest nasty is PVC. As we learned during my adventure in CD-consolidation, PVC is hard to recycle. It's also full of chemicals.

If you have an artificial tree, though, don't despair and chuck it out the window. Sure, you don't want to chew on your tree or eat the needles or anything (you may want to spray some bitter apple on it to keep pets from chewing on it), but if you have one tree, I'm of the very unscientific opinion that you should use it as long as you can. (I know that some people advocate getting rid of all plastics in your home, but for most of us that's not a practical option. Reducing plastic consumption over time feels a lot more do-able).

What you really don't want to do, however, is buy lots of different artificial trees, or continually upgrade. As with most things green, the key is to moderate your consumption. You want to think about: do you really need a new tree? If so, then it may be time to transition to real trees (this may not be a good financial option for some who live far from where the trees grow). Do you really need a tree in every room? And of course, a small artificial tree is going to be better than a large one.

Cut Trees: Cut Christmas trees have all of the problems attendant on our factory agriculture system. They are a better option than artificial, in general. However the tree you buy outside of the grocery store usually isn't a very green bet. If you can, of course, buy organic.

The best option, however, is to cut your own tree in a forest. You know, if you have a forest nearby. For example, if you live in the Rocky Mountains, you can actually get a permit from the US Forest Service to cut a tree in the national forests. This helps to thin and maintain the forests over time.

If, like many of us, you don't have a pine forest right outside your door, and you decide to buy a cut tree, then make sure it's healthy with soft, bouncy bristles. The supermarket near my house had a whole bunch of dead-looking trees. Yuck! You might want to check a few different nurseries or lots to find the healthiest trees you can.

Live trees: At first blush, it seems like a live tree is the best option. You use it at Christmas and then you re-plant it, right?

Except winter is not the best time to plant a tree. And in many places, pine trees are not a match for the environment.

Many live Christmas trees end up dying.

What does that all mean?

Well, if you're starting from scratch (i.e., you don't have a tree now), then your best bet is to go with a cut tree.

If you're replacing an artificial tree because it's old and bedraggled and just can't be used any more, then switch to a cut tree.

If you have an artificial tree already, go ahead and stick with it, but don't buy more artificial trees or constantly buy bigger artificial trees.

When it comes to being green at Christmas, in the end, it's best to remember that Christmas isn't about buying more and bigger stuff. That's a good way to be greener all year round.

November Pop Culture Round-up!

2011-11-30T14:25:00.000-08:00

(now featuring -- part of October!)

I haven't done a full round-up for awhile, so November will have a little pumpkin spice mixed in.

The Darkest Timeline (Community, NBC)

WHY DON'T YOU WATCH THIS SHOW? America! What is wrong with you? A couple of days after my last pop culture round-up, Community once again proved that it is both one of the cleverest, and one of the most emotionally-rich shows on television. In the episode "Remedial Chaos Theory", the show explored multiple possible timelines all hinging on the roll of a die. And it did it in 22 minutes. I know some people consider that such episodes of Community are gimmicky, but Community always has their "gimmick" episodes mean something in the emotional lives of their characters. And that is why our darkest timeline seems to be the one we're now trapped in, as NBC announced they will temporarily pull Community from their line-up.

Just don't call it Doctor Who with dinos. (Primeval, BBCA)

I discovered this show because there was an ad for it on BBCA and I saw that it stars Alexander Siddig, who was one of my teen crushes back when he was called Siddig el Fadil and was on Deep Space Nine. So I watched an episode, but then realized there was a lot of backstory. I paused watching new eps, which premiered this month, and caught up with the past few years. There's a lot about the premise that feels like a kids' show (it's about creatures that come through tears in space time and the team that hunts them down. So really it's more like Torchwood with dinos). But the characters sucked me in right away; it's one of the only shows on TV where I feel like all of the female characters in the core group are people I'd want to hang out with. Unfortunately, that's pretty rare anywhere on TV these days, and especially in the world of sci-fi. Plus, there was a plotline about Spring-Heeled Jack. Love.

Must-See TV (The Middle, Suburgatory, Modern Family, Happy Endings, ABC)

Remember must-see TV? It started the same year that I started college. And for several glorious years, NBC was the home of a hilarious block of sit-coms that really said something about America, man. (I mean, it still is, but nobody's watching, ahem -- see above). With its Wednesday night programming, ABC has "revived the family sit-com". And what do these shows say about America? There are gay people here. But ... apparently only one black person, so we haven't come that far yet.

Movies

Movies kinda sucked last month. I heard this movie came out about glittering vampires ...

Actually, there are several small movies that came out last month (Melancholia, The Descendents) that I'm really excited about, but I haven't seen them yet.

Books

30 Days. 50,000 words. (nanowrimo.org)

You know how suddenly, everyone was doing marathons? Like, all of a sudden everyone you knew was doing Team in Training, and they were traveling to San Diego and Nashville to run? Marathoning is an interesting phenomenon, because it's really hard, but most people can do it if they practice and stick to it. But there are some of us (shall we call us... nerds?) who believe that running might be good for you but just don't see the damn point. And for us, there is National Novel Writing Month. Marathoning for nerds. Because it turns out that anyone can write a novel if they stick to it. During NaNoWriMo, people all over the world write 50,000 words in 30 days. And that is cool.

Music

From Ceremonials, by Florence + the Machine

From Camp, by Childish Gambino (Warning: Explicit)

Recipe - White Bean and Tomato Stew with Sausage

2011-11-29T15:58:00.000-08:00

I've been making variations of this stew for years. It's a winter staple for me.

Usually, I've used Italian sausage in this stew. However, I recently found a chicken andouille that took this to the HNL (that's a 'Hole. Notha. Level.) It's made by Applegate Organics. Since I realized that even most poultry sausages have pork casings, it's been harder to find a great sausage for my stew. But this sausage is insanely good. It's also quite spicy, so if you don't like spice, you may want to try the Applegate Farms Chicken and Apple Sausage. I found both at Whole Foods.

Don't let the word "sausage" deter those of you who are making sustainable eating choices to reduce your meat consumption. If you're strictly veg, this delicious stew can be made with veggie sausage. Field Roast Italian Sausage is a winner, and the flavors go well with this stew.

A couple of other notes on ingredients:

- Greens: I think chard is the ideal green for this stew. It just adds such a richness. But if it's not available, spinach can work in a pinch.

- Beans: I always use great Northern beans for this stew. There are other white beans (navy, cannellini) but the great Northern are just the right size and consistency. However, if you can't find them, another white bean is a good choice.

- Spices: I never keep track of the spices I use. Basically, I look in the cupboard, and then throw stuff into the pot until it tastes the way I want. Salt and pepper are a good place to start. Don't be frightened to experiment a bit, particularly with amounts. I've listed approximate amounts and spices below, but don't be afraid to do more or less. In particular, I like my food spicy. If you don't, definitely ease up on the chili (and don't choose the andouille sausage!)

Final note: I'm organizing the ingredients "mis-en-place" style. I've found that this recipe is easiest when you create a bowl for all the ingredients that go into the pot together. So I'm going to list them as "Bowl 1" "Bowl 2" etc. Clever, eh?

White Bean and Tomato Stew with Sausage

Ingredients:

1 package (4-5 links) Italian or Andouille chicken, turkey, or vegetarian sausage

In Bowl 1, put:

1 onion, chopped

3-4 cloves minced garlic

1 red, orange, or green pepper, chopped

In Bowl 2, put:

4-5 chopped mushrooms

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 zuchini, chopped

Any other veggies (carrots, celery, etc.) that you liked

In Bowl 3, put:

approx. 2 cups chopped chard, spinach, or other greens

chopped basil (optional)

Additional Ingredients:

Olive oil

1 can of great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (I recommend the Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Organic Diced Tomatoes)

Approx. 2 cups vegetable broth

A lemon

Spices:

Salt (1/2 - 1 tsp or 3-4 turns of grinder)

Pepper (1 tsp or 5-6 turns of grinder)

Oregano (1-2 tsp or 3-4 shakes)

Chili powder (1 tsp or 2 shakes)

Red chili flakes (only if using Italian sausage or if you like your food very spicy)

Remember - rather than measuring all your spices, I recommend using your taste buds to determine how much you want! But don't forget, you can't take spice out once it's in the pot!

Instructions:

Step 1: put a little olive oil in the bottom of a large stewpot and heat over medium-high heat. Add the sausages. Cook, turning occasionally, until the outsides are browned.

Step 2: using a spatula, scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pot, because those will be delicious. Add the contents of Bowl 1, and cook until the onions start to turn translucent.

Step 3: Add the contents of Bowl 2 to the pot with the tomatoes. Mix everything up. If the juice from the tomatoes doesn't cover the veggies, add broth just to cover. At this point, the sausage should be cool enough to handle, so cut it on the diagonal into pieces of about a half-inch. Simmer while you're cutting the sausage.

Step 4: Add and the beans, sausage, and the rest of the broth. Add the spices, tasting as you go. Don't burn your tongue! (Note - don't put in too much spice at this point, because the heat from the sausages won't yet have been infused into the broth.) Bring the stew up to a boil again, reduce heat and simmer for about 25 min.

Step 5: Stir in the contents of Bowl 3. Add a squeeze of lemon juice from a half of a lemon. Stir and taste. Does it need more chili? More salt? Add spices to taste. Simmer for about 10-15 more minutes.

Step 6: Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes or so.

I always like to serve this with a baguette or some Sister Schubert yeast rolls. It tastes even better as leftovers, when the flavors have had time to meld together.

Merry Monday: My Favorite Holiday Music

2011-11-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

I REALLY like the holidays. One of the things I like most is the opportunity to listen to holiday music on constant repeat. So I wanted to share some of my favorites with you. Warning: my tastes are a little eclectic. I have so many songs in the "Christmas Bummers" category that it might take two posts.

For the next several Mondays, I'm going to be sharing my holiday listening playlist. Many of the songs aren't traditional Christmas songs, but to me, they exemplify the spirit of the season. We'll start with something pretty traditional, however:

Today's Theme: Classic Carol Remix

There's something about those old carols - the melodies are sweet, the lyrics full of archaic language. I love those songs, but I often like the modern versions more than the old standards. Let's face it: I'm a modern gal.

"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - Barenaked Ladies with Sarah McLachlan

Seriously? Who doesn't love this one?

O Come O Come, Emmanuel - by Rebecca St. James

When I was a little kiddo, I listened to the Joan Baez album "Noel" from September until the New Year. It was pretty much my favorite record. O Come O Come, was the song that transfixed me more than any other.

O Come O Come, Emmanuel is a carol that's right on the edge of being one of the majors. It's no Silent Night or Away in a Manger. But everyone's heard it. It's probably the most overtly Biblical of any of the carols, but it has a modern edge all the same.

Rebecca St. James capitalized on those features in her version for her Christmas album. Sorry the video is a bit lame - it's all I could find. You should check out the original.

Holly, Ivy and Rose - by Tori Amos

The Holly and the Ivy is an awesome carol. It's definitely under the radar, but I like its medieval sounding tune and woodsy imagery. Unfortunately, most recorded versions seem to be on the Christmas albums released by random civic choirs in mid-sized cities.

On her album, "Midwinter Graces", Tori Amos took the bones of several traditional carols and built new songs upon them. Holly, Ivy and Rose is the sweet song that sprung from The Holly and the Ivy. It features vocals by Tori's daughter, which add to the sweetness. (I realized I used "sweet" twice to describe this one, but I mean sweet in a good way. Not in a gross, saccharine way).

Product-Free Party Hair

2011-11-27T19:24:00.000-08:00

New Year's 2010: I made a resolution to transition to sustainable beauty products. Since then, I've given up almost all hair products (except hair color: I don't think it's right to try to color your hair without cancer-causing chemicals, and ever since someone called me a "redhead" I've been committed to the fun of coloring my hair).

During the holiday party season, doing cute hair without product can be challenging. I absolutely love parties - especially Christmas parties! - and dressing up is one of my favorite parts. I have very fine hair. Until recently, I thought that Aquanet was the only possible way for me to have cute, upswept hair.

But now ... I have devised a party hairstyle that keeps my fine hair in place, gets lots of compliments, and takes less than five minutes to accomplish. Basically, it's the holy grail of hairstyles.

Want to learn how to do the messy updo that has transformed my party life?

Step 1:

Take a handful of hair from right behind your ear.

(Optional) Step 2:

French braid the hair from behind the ear. I do a little French braid pulling my hair from the neck line. Don't work too hard. Just stop braiding whenever you feel like it. Put a clip on the end of the French braid to hold it in place.

Step 3:

Pull back the hair from behind the other ear. Braid it if you're going to.

Step 4:

So, now you should have two hanks of hair or two braids. Gather the ends together and put a ponytail holder around them. See how messy it is in the picture? Don't worry about it. This is a messy updo - so relax.

Step 5:

So here's the tricky part. Have you ever seen those ads for the Topsy Tail? It's a device that turns your ponytail inside out. That's basically what you're going to do here. Take the ends of the ponytail that you just created, lift it, and flip it through the gap you created when you brought the two braids/ponytails together.

Step 6:

So here's the part that might seem tricky, but isn't. You just take the ends of your hair and roll it up like a burrito. Tuck any stray ends into your Topsy Tail. Again, it SHOULD be messy.

Step 7:

Your hair is now in kind of a jelly roll. Take a bobby pin and stick it in one end. Do the same on the other end. Then take a couple of bobby pins and stick them into the top of the roll. I usually use 4-5 bobby pins. They hold your hair very firmly, so don't go overboard.

And that's it: product-free party hair!

You can see up above how my hair looked from the front when I was at a wedding this summer. I always get asked how I do this style, and now you know the secret.

Thankful - 2011

2011-11-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

"The best way to thank God is to love one another." - 'Abdu'l-Baha

I stole this quote from my friend Annie's facebook page. (Annie is also the wonderful writer behind Motherhood and More; you should check it out).

As I was chopping sweet potatoes this morning, I was composing a whole essay on this theme, but I think I'll just stick with this: whether you are thankful to God, the universe, or physics, I hope you have the chance to act on it today by loving those near and far and loving the earth. Yes, grace may be undeserved, but we don't have to act like we don't deserve it. We can show our thanks by giving the world our best selves.

Blessings to you and yours. I'm thankful to all of you who spend a little of your time here on this blog.

End of An Era

2011-11-22T12:11:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the first CD you bought? Of course you do.

For me, it was Arrested Development's 3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the Life of. I got it at Osco Drugs. Don't remember it? It was the album upon which you could find the lovely "Tennessee" which has the chorus, "Take me to another place, take me to another land ..." Thus began my journey as a white girl who says things like "upon which" and "thus" and loves hip-hop.

But the CD era is coming to an end. At least, I think it is. Sure, CDs, like LPs, will probably have some place in our hearts for years to come.

But they don't need to take up a whole bookshelf in my house anymore.

Recently, I realized that my house is full and I need more space. I choose to live small, which means consumerism is not my friend. But I have a weakness for books, music and movies. Now, I can get those things on electronic devices. It's time to consolidate.

I decided to sift through all of my CDs and DVDs and put them into those binder-type cases, giving those I no longer wanted to Goodwill. I put them all over the floor, turned on the TV, and started opening those dastardly jewel cases.

Jewel cases. Remember when those 90's rockers protested the use of jewel cases for their CDs? And everyone was like: don't you have more important things to worry about? Like the fact that you're still wearing the flannel shirt you put on a week ago? Well, that protest, and the paper packaging it engendered, seem to have gone the way of Captain Planet, because CDs are still sold in jewel cases.

Which is a TERRIBLE idea it turns out. Jewel cases contain PVC, which is not recyclable in most places, including Houston where I live.

After I'd already thrown them out I found out that you can send them away to be recycled. However, this seems like an option more suited to large companies getting rid of a lot tech trash (and who have disposable cash - it costs for the service and the shipping). I'm not sure if the energy and packaging used in shipping would make it worth it - these equations are always hard to fathom.

DVD cases, on the other hand, are usually a Code 5 plastic, which we can recycle here. They were easy to disassemble - the inserts went into the paper recycling and the boxes went into the regular recycling.

So, my re-organization project was a half-green success. And I was able to free up a whole shelf's worth of space for my cookbooks, which were previously jammed into a much smaller shelf.

And it was a trip down memory lane. I saved the Arrested Development CD. Paula Cole ("Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?"), however, went into the Goodwill box. Apparently, my hip-hop loving side has remained strong while my inner angsty girl who wore a periodic table T-shirt tucked into my jeans has really shrunk.

Do you remember your first CD? How many jewel cases do you have?

For old time's sake:

Interweb Round-up: Menagerie Edition!

2011-11-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

RHINOS!

This photo* is of a black rhino in South Africa being airlifted to a poacher-free life. There are only 5,000 black rhinos left in Africa, and poachers kill them because their horns are ground into a powder and sold as possessing healing powers.

Apparently, this is the safest and easiest way for rhinos to travel! It's estimated that up to 400 rhinos will be killed this year, but the South African government has managed to fly 120 to safety. Slow but steady progress is being made.

OWLS!

I love owls, as you might know.

That's why I love the FREE MAKE MY OWN OWL CALENDAR!!! It's over at My Owl Barn, a blog that I love because it is all about owls.

The calendar is customizable, downloadable, and filled with beautiful artwork of -- yes, owls.

I've already printed mine, and I'm hoping to put it together over the Thanksgiving holiday. When I do, I'll of course post some pics of how I decided to make it. Just click the picture to get your own!

CATS!

This is my cat, Wily, and this is what he looks like when I'm packing my suitcase.

He doesn't like me to leave, so I'm happy to be staying home for a few weeks. I'm also happy because it will allow me to complete some home organizing, which I will tell you about soon.

As I've organized, I've learned some things about what you can recycle and what you can't.

TURKEYS!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner for us Americans (holla! to my Canadians and friends around the globe!). It's a little weird that we celebrate our gratefulness with a whole bunch of consuming. And of course there's that really weird "holiday" called Black Friday (which you can protest by taking part in Buy Nothing Day).

But if you want a little greener Thanksgiving, here are a couple of articles on cutting down the excess:
NPR reminds us that we should eschew the paper plates, among other tips. Eco-fabulous has some ideas on greening your meal, as well as some ideas for gifts for your eco-fantastic host or hostess.

*Photo courtesy of Zoe.

Sustainable Seafood: Buyer Beware!

2011-11-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was at the store and I saw this sign.

I thought it was a little funny, because I'd been standing there on my phone, checking Seafood Watch to see if I should buy any of the fish in the bin.

No. No I should not. Not a single package in the bin was recommended as a "Best Choice" or "Good Alternative" by Seafood Watch. It was all listed as "Avoid."

Now I realize that the sign doesn't say, "Hey! In this bin here! Seafood that won't make you wake up in the middle of the night wracked with guilt!" It says that somewhere in the store is some sustainable seafood. Maybe not even in this store. Just in the chain of stores.

However, I think many people would assume, since the sign was next to a big freezer full of fish, that it was indicating THOSE fish. And most people probably don't know that you can't just look at the name of the fish on a package to see if it's sustainable. You also have to check where it was farmed. There are several kinds of fish that are sustainable if farmed in the US, not as sustainable if farmed in Asia.

And while we're talking fish, let's talk about "wild-caught." Wild-caught implies a happy little fish frolicking in a stream until your Uncle Ben, wearing hip waders, catches it with the fly he tied while sitting on the porch after church. However, wild-caught also does not mean sustainable. You've just gotta know for sure.

So what can you do? Well, the Seafood Watch app is now available for the iPhone and Android, or you can simply visit the website and download a printable pocket guide. And don't forget to read those labels carefully before you buy.

Or better yet, just get Uncle Ben to bring over some of the fish he caught ... after you check to make sure that it wasn't living in contaminated waters... .

"I like your shoes, miss..."

2011-11-10T15:07:00.000-08:00

Right now, these are on my feet.

Yes, TOMS red, rope-sole slip-ons.

You know a shoe is popular when there's a backlash that says they're ugly (Crocs, I'm sorry, but you actually are ugly.)

My mom once mentioned a cool company where the founder was inspired by the children of the developing world, many of whom don't have shoes (wearing shoes is actually an important way to protect against disease), to start a company that would sell shoes and give shoes to children who need them.

I forgot about it until a friend of mine rhapsodized about her incredibly comfortable shoes - they were TOMS. So the next time I saw some TOMS, I tried them on.

I was hooked.

TOMS has a 1-to-1 giving policy. Every time someone buys shoes, they give a pair to a child. That seems so much more open-hearted than giving pennies or having a yearly charity drive. This quote about the importance of shoes really touched my heart, because the child I sponsor*, Barley, lives in Zambia:

“Shoes simply mean everything to a Zambian child. I am called a doctor today because of the shoes my father bought, which motivated me to keep going to school and to work hard. Shoes were and are still a luxury in this country…” – Dr. Fwasa Singogo, Zambia

Plus, OMFG (to quote the CW advertising department) they are seriously the most comfortable shoes on earth. I wish I could wear them all the time.

And they are NOT ugly. At least, seven-year-olds don't think so. Whenever I walk into a classroom - part of my job - and I'm wearing my TOMS, the kids say, "I like your shoes, miss!"

I can't even imagine the excitement that would ensue if I came in wearing these:

If you're stumped on Christmas ideas for someone, I highly recommend a pair of TOMS. One gift, happy feet around the world. What could be better?

*Another great gift: Sponsor a child through World Vision. They rate 4 stars on Charity Navigator, and are currently working intensely to relieve suffering in the Horn of Africa.

The Most Creative Reuse for Butter Tubs

2011-11-09T07:55:00.001-08:00

This is one of my favorite songs, and this video is truly beautiful and amazing.

As the Shakers once sang, "'tis a gift to be simple."

Homemade, Made Better

2011-11-07T17:53:00.001-08:00

With a recipe for homemade enchilada sauce!

This is my nephew.

If you don't spend a lot of time around kids, you might not know that Halloween is VERY IMPORTANT and has to be done just right. When I was a kid, my mom made or cobbled together almost all of our costumes. Most costumes these days come from the store.

So my nephew was not too excited that, when my sister and I couldn't find him a Mariners shirt to wear (because the second baseball is over all the stores must switch to FOOTBALL ONLY, apparently) we would make him a shirt.

But he had to be Ichiro and no other sports figure for the big night, or he WAS NOT going to trick or treat. And so we just made the shirt and hoped for the best (it was an iron-on that we made in the printer). Pretty good, huh? And much more meaningful, at least to my sister and I, than it would have been if we bought it. All of the other bits of the costume are my nephew's baseball gear from summer ball - yay for reusing and not filling a landfill with another nylon costume made in China!

Since that homemade experiment had a happy ending, I decided to try another one. I had this idea that I would make enchilada sauce. But I had no recipe and I've never made sauce before except for the famous Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter from Smitten Kitchen.

And you know what? It was awesome, and I don't really ever want the storebought kind again, especially because, as always true with homemade, I get more control over whether the ingredients are good for me and the planet.

So here it is:

Tomato Curry Enchilada Sauce

(this is a little bit of an Indian-Mexican fusion)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil

One medium onion, diced

Ginger, about an inch long, minced

One large (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes

Curry powder

Garlic powder or minced garlic

Pepper

Ancho chili powder (or regular)

Cumin

One regular-sized (14 oz) can of light coconut milk

Note: You will also need a blender or something similar

Step 1: Heat the olive oil in a sauce pot. (Hey, I just got why it's called a sauce pot! You make sauce in it!). Add onion and ginger. When the onion starts to get translucent, add 1 tsp. of curry powder and garlic or garlic powder according to your taste.

Step 2: Put the canned tomatoes in the blender. Add the onion mixture. Puree away!

Step 3: Here's the part that's sort of up to your taste. Add about 1 tsp. of curry, chili, pepper and cumin, and 1/3 c. of the coconut milk. Stir, and then taste - don't burn your tongue! Want it spicier? Add more chili. More "Mexican-style" - add more cumin. Want it creamier? Add more coconut milk. Keep adding until it tastes just right to you. (I added about half the can of coconut milk, 2 tsp. more of curry and about 2 tsp. more of chili, plus a bit of cayenne).

Step 4: Bring to a boil and then cover. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 min.

Step 5: Remove from heat and let stand at least 15 minutes to thicken.

You can use the sauce on your favorite enchiladas!

These are butternut squash ans spinach filled, with some cilantro and some chopped cashews on top.

This is what a tomato should look like

2011-11-06T08:55:00.001-08:00

Heirloom tomato

Kid Activists = The Next Generation Goes Green

2011-11-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

I love this video!

As I've written about before, my love of the Vampire Diaries led me to discover the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, which enlists kids in environmental activism. I love that Ian uses his heartthrob status for good, and I love these kids who are speaking out against the Keystone XL Pipeline. (Click here to read in-depth about this project, which is meant to bring oil from Canadian tar sands to the Gulf)

A lot of people (read: politicians) in Houston - where I live - are pro-pipeline, since it is proposed that it run all the way to our fair city, which will theoretically result in jobs at some point in the future. However, tar sands oil weighs heavily on the environment. Some folks argue that the pipeline will reduce our dependence on foreign oil... because what? Canada's a state or something? Really, I think we're just saying that it reduces dependence on oil from Muslim countries. Would you like a little racism with your environmental destruction?

If thinking about the pipeline makes you feel gross inside, then watch these kids:

(and yes, a teen wrote the song in the background)

Check out the National Resource Defense Council for more information on how you can add your voice to those speaking up against the pipeline.

Seen in Seattle

2011-11-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Why can't this be seen everywhere?

A Chicken in Every Pot

2011-11-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

With the economy the way it is, maybe one of the Republican candidates could stand out from the crowd by reviving that old 1920's campaign slogan "A Chicken in Every Pot."

Actually, cooking a whole chicken is an economical and less-wasteful way to feed a family (or yourself, if you want to cook once and eat for days). However, that might not seem self-evident. My sister asked me the other day: Why would you cook a chicken when you can buy a rotisserie chicken for $4.99?

4.99 is the reason why you should cook your own chicken. We're used to super-cheap food. Factory farmers and food processors take advantage of that, mass producing animals and cooking food with ingredients you can't name.

But cook a chicken yourself - you can select a bird that was farmed in a sustainable way and use ingredients that you recognize.

So here's how to roast a chicken:
Ingredients:
One whole chicken
Butter
A lemon
2-3 cloves of garlic
3-4 sprigs of rosemary and sage
Salt
Pepper
You'll also need:
A roasting pan
Kitchen twine
A meat thermometer

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Unwrap the chicken and reach your hand in the cavity (what some might call "the butt".) Take out anything that's in there (the neck, the giblets). Rinse the chicken under cold water inside and out. Pat dry.

Step 2: Chop up some of the rosemary and sage and mix with a couple of tablespoons of butter. Then cut the lemon into quarters. Stick it into the cavity (otherwise known as "the butt."). Put the garlic and herb sprigs into the cavity.

Step 3: Using your hands, rub (or massage) the butter all over the chicken's skin.

Step 4: Truss the chicken. There's probably a fancy way to do this, but I just take a piece of twine and tie the wings close to the body, then tie the drumsticks together.

Step 5: Put the chicken in the roasting pan. Stick it in the oven. Stick your meat thermometer into the deepest part of the chicken.

Step 6: Cook until the internal thermometer reads at least 165 degrees. Take it out of the oven and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

And that's it! It looks fancy when you serve it on a platter, and you can use the leftovers for all sorts of cooking adventures.

Halloween Choco-Pops!

2011-10-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

Aren't these little guys cute? And delicious looking?

They are also super-easy to make, and if you make your own Halloween treats, you have more control over what you're putting in your body. Because let's face it - candy isn't good for you. But it doesn't have to be a soup of chemicals.

For example, that Halloween staple, candy corn, has these ingredients:

Sugar, Corn Syrup, Confectioner's Glaze, Salt, Honey, Dextrose, Artificial Flavor, Gelatin, Titanium Dioxide Color, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 3, Blue 1, Sesame Oil.

Mmm... I remember back on the farm when grandma used to pick fresh titanium dioxide for breakfast...

So, if you want to fill up your Owl Treat Bags with homemade treats, here's how you do it:

Ingredients:

Chocolate chips or baking chocolate (don't use chocolate-flavored bark ... it doesn't contain cocoa butter. You can find organic chips at most grocery stores these days.)

Other stuff that you like: cayenne pepper, sea salt, etc.

You can get holiday molds at craft stores like Michael's, and the sticks to make the pops. The sticks are bamboo - hooray for renewable resources. You're also going to need a paint brush. The directions will say to use a special food brush, but you know, I just used a regular kid's paintbrush and it worked fine.

Step 1: Melt the chocolate.

Put your chocolate into a ceramic bowl and put it into the microwave for about 45 seconds (I did half a bag of chips at a time). Stir. It won't be melted yet, so keep melting for about 15 seconds at a time until when you stir it, there are no lumps. If you're going to add spice, you can do it now. I added 1 tsp. of cayenne to the half-bag of chips. It made a pretty kicky pepper experience. You might want to start with a half-teaspoon or less of spice and taste test.

Step 2: Paint

If your mold has any fine details (like the pumpkin's eyes, nose, and mouth), you want to be sure that those are going to show up - you've got to get chocolate into all the little grooves. So take your paint brush, load it up with chocolate, and paint a layer of chocolate into all those little spaces.

Step 3: Fill

Now, using a small spoon, fill the mold up about half-way. Put the lollipop sticks into the mold and kind of push them down so that they are actually in the chocolate. Then cover them up, fill them all the way to the top.

Step 4: Wait and then eat!

That's pretty much it - you stick them in the fridge and then carefully remove them once they've hardened. It doesn't take long, just a couple of hours.

DIY: Hallooooween Owl Treat Bag Tutorial

2011-10-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

I'll tell you a secret. I don't really like Halloween.

Why not? Halloween has a bunch of things that I like: chocolate, taking on new identities, wigs, scary stories. Yet, when these things are added together to become the holiday we call Halloween, I start getting annoyed.

I think it's because much of the lore of Halloween has been overturned by the American desire to drink too much and coerce women into dressing like sluts ("But you can win a thousand dollars at PJ McDrinky's Pub if you come as the sluttiest medical professional!")

However, I love Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead. It's a celebration that holds a lot of the mystery of the druidic Samhain, which was then co-opted by Catholicism and brought to the new world by Spain, which then blended with the indigenous holidays. Rather than simply being a cash cow for the makers of uber-short plastic skirts and high-fructose corn syrup, it's a day to remember the dead not only with sadness, but with joy.

Whew. That's a lot of ruminating to get to my point: when I went to a Halloween-themed brunch this weekend, I wanted to make some favors that had the beautiful colors and folk art feeling of Dia de los Muertos-inspired art. I know that seems kind of silly, but I think we should put care and a bit of ourselves into everything we create. Hence, I came up with the following treats:

I made my friends some little gifts in wrapping inspired by papel picado, the brightly-colored cut-paper art that adorns altars for Day of the Dead. And because I like owls, I used an owl motif. Here's how I did it, and how you can too:

You need:

Paper sacks - you could use regular grocery sacks; I used black ones from the craft store. This would be a great way to reuse any small paper sacks you have.
Astrobright cardstock - real papel picado is made of tissue paper or thin plastic, but you'll find tissue paper is really hard to manipulate. You could use regular construction paper, but I find the colors of Astrobright to be similar to those of authentic papel picado. (Thanks to my blog friend, Sara of Feeding the Soil, for providing me with paper when I couldn't find some - meaning I didn't have to buy more stuff for my project!)
an Xacto or craft knife
a glue stick
Optional: a skull sticker or stamp

Step 1: Create a template. I freehanded mine after looking at a whole bunch of pictures of owls. If you're not a big fan of the free hand method, just right click this picture and click "Copy Image." Then just paste it into a word document. You can make it as big or small as you want, then print it and cut it out.

Step 2: Trace your template onto the Astrobright cardstock.

Step 3: Using the craft knife, cut out the owl that you traced. You should put a cutting board under your work - and of course, be careful not to cut yourself. Make sure your knife is quite sharp, or you'll have lots of little random feathery bits of paper in the edges of your cuts.

Step 4: I gave my owls a skull eye. I had a stamp of a skeleton, and I stamped it onto black paper. Then I cut it out and glued it behind the eye of the owl.

Step 5: Glue the owl to your bag!

Then you're done - easy peasy. I used the bag for treats, but you could also cut through the bag, so that there are actual holes in the paper sack. Then you could stick a battery-powered tealight inside to create a luminaria.

Coming up: How to make gourmet Halloween candies to put inside your treat bag!

Eco-Shop 'Til You Drop

2011-10-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I made my first holiday-related purchase this weekend - stocking stuffers for friends, and yes they are eco-friendly.

We all want to avoid needless consumerism (what better way to be green than to buy less stuff?). Even so, I LOVE giving gifts. I want to give things that I can feel good about and that I know friends will like. I also like to save money

I know lots of people who are big fans of the proliferation of sales and coupon subscription sites. Some, like Groupon, allow you to buy what are basically gift certificates at a reduced price. Others, like MyHabit, offer special sales on limited-edition items.

As these sites grow in popularity, eco-friendly versions are springing up.

LovingEco ("Style for Change") offers daily deals on a variety of eco-items - they have a key indicating whether goods are organic, recycled, vegan, etc. They have a limited number of deals each day, but it's sort of refreshing that it's not overwhelming. Deals tend to focus on beauty products and jewelry.

Open Sky has curated collections of sale items. While they aren't all eco, you can subscribe to certain curators and some of them are focused on eco-friendly products. Alicia Silverstone (author of The Kind Diet) and Sophie Uliano (author of Gorgeously Green) both curate collections of beauty, home, and food products with a green slant.

Uncommon Goods is an old-school e-tailer - no gimmicks, no sales, no coupons. You just buy stuff. But they have lots of handmade and recycled goods, as well as special artist lines. Did you want mittens made from re-purposed sweaters? Uncommon Goods has them. Recycled wedding rings? Yep, they've got those too.

Ten Thousand Villages is also a traditional e-tailer. Well - not that traditional, because their goods are all fair trade. They have lots of cool jewelry, household items made from recycled materials, and around the holidays they have amazing ornaments. I especially love the one pictured above - it's an olive wood Nativity scene carved in the West Bank. Mine is the centerpiece of my tiny tree.

Do you have a favorite green-tailer?

October in Houston

2011-10-15T09:33:00.001-07:00

Occupy Your Life

2011-10-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

Early on in my blog career, I promised I would try not to get too ranty. This post might break the promise a bit. But I need to say these things for my own peace of mind, and I hope that you'll come along for the ride.

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change.
Wikipedia.org

Intend (verb)
- to have in mind as something to be done or brought about; plan
- to design to express or indicate, as by one's words
- (archaic) to direct (the eyes, mind, etc.)
Dictionary.com

I do a lot of thinking.

I was almost a philosophy major, but didn't think I had enough black turtlenecks to make a go of it. Still, I try to live a life that's aligned with my beliefs, and that means thinking - sometimes a little too much.

When I'm thinking deeply about a concept, I often go to the dictionary to find out exactly how that concept is defined. When I do this, it seems like a lot of the fuzz in my thoughts simply drifts away, and I get clear on how my actions and my beliefs should come into harmony.

I've been doing a lot of that thinking lately as the Occupy Wall Street movement turns into Occupy Main Streets All Over. I've been doing this thinking because even though the occupiers should be my people, my heart doesn't resonate to this movement.

You see, I try to live an activist life.

If my life was a diorama in the natural history museum of the future, the guide might say: here we have a post-hippie progressive ca. 2011. You see that she's eating organic lentils and petting a cat; on her smartphone, she is Tweeting; there was once a time when Tweets were not automatically uploaded from your brains to the thought-net. The diorama of my life wouldn't look very activist. I don't march unless I'm doing aerobics, and most of the signs I've created in my life are related to selling Girl Scout cookies.

But when I look at the definition of activist above, I feel a sort of calm. I feel like my actions and my beliefs are in harmony.

"Intentional efforts to bring about ... change."

That's what I've been trying to do. I don't succeed all the time, especially in the "intentional" part. But I love the archaic meaning of intend - to direct one's eyes, one's mind.

I intend my eyes, my heart, and my mind on a simple phrase: Good for people, good for the planet.

There's a lot more to my life philosophy (a large part of which is derived from the St. Francis Prayer) but in making decisions, I try to zero in on that simplified phrase: Good for people, good for the planet.

This means I have to really think: is this purchase good for people? is it good for the planet?
Is the job I work at every day good for people and the planet?
Are the candidates I vote for ... the car I drive ... the TV shows I watch... is every decision that I make good for people and the planet?

As you might imagine, I fail a lot. And I have a ton of questions. I mean, I love Eminem. As a truth-teller, I think he's good for people and the planet, but as a potential role model for kids who hear "Love the Way You Lie" 15 times a day on the radio? Probably not. There's no yes, no in the realm of making intentional decisions. It's all maybe so.

So when I think about what comes next, when Zuccotti Park is empty once again, I hope the message that lingers is this: activism isn't holding a sign for a day or a month. Activism is intending your heart and mind and action to something larger, to a set of beliefs (whatever they are) that bring about change.

Occupy your life. Every moment. And I have to believe that change will come.

Photos courtesy of buzzfeed.

Daisy-Related Existential Crisis

2011-10-11T18:02:00.000-07:00

I'm going to admit something very un-green right now: I do not like to garden.

I hate dirt.
I hate worms.
I hate mud.

I like to be clean and let someone else dig in the dirt. However, I know that the best way to get flowers is to grow them yourself.

Next best: buy them seasonally from a local farm whose practices you trust.

But the farmer's market has been a sea of squash lately (which is really weird - all my neighbors have beautiful flowers growing, so I know that flowers can grow in Houston right now - why don't they have any at the market?)

So I bought these daisies at Whole Foods, grown in Colombia. The flower industry in Colombia provides 800,000 jobs. You may think that flowers from Colombia would have a higher footprint than those grown in the states, but actually, it can be hard to know.

A few years ago, they did a study in the UK comparing roses grown in Holland to those grown in Kenya. You'd think that the Dutch roses would have a lower footprint, but those grown in Kenya were actually MUCH better for the environment, even with the travel. That's because the growing practices in Kenya, where the flowers could nod and smile under the sun, were so much greener.

I like the idea of supporting Colombian workers (the flowers were part of some "whole trade" program that supports both workers and the environment; I know you can't trust all of those types of things, but we do the best we can). I just wish there was some easy way to compare carbon footprints on items.

Two side notes:
1) Yes, those adorable vases are reusables! The tall one is a 360 Vodka bottle (the bottles can be recycled, and the company recycle the caps, through their "close the loop" program, but the bottles are really handy so I usually keep them); the small vase is a bottle that contained sea salt.
2) Las flores son amarillas. That means: the flowers are yellow. I can say that now because of my Spanish lessons! I used to just point and say "Flores... amarillo". But now I can make sentences!

September Round-Up

2011-10-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

First up: What do you think of this new template? I like some things about it and others I'm not sure about - let me know in the comments if you think it should stick around.

Now... September Round-up!

Yes, yes, I know, we're well into October now. However, this week marked the completion of the massive work project that has been eating up all of my time and mindspace (it was a big success, FYI), and so I thought I'd just put a cap on September by just rounding up where I am with my 2011 intentions and pop culture all at once.

2011 Learn-Go-Do (see the link above for more info)

Hollow Victory: So, I technically met my goal of visiting three American cities to which I'd never been before, as I visited Newark, New Jersey. Those of you who are familiar with geography may be thinking to yourself: Hey, Newark is right near Manhattan. Why didn't you go to Manhattan? That's a good question. Well, I was busy with that work project (which was a conference. Held in Newark). In fact, I only left the Newark Airport Sheraton ONE time during the week. Grr. I did have a lovely Amtrak trip from Newark to DC, however, and got to see more of the East Coast than I'd ever experienced before.And I did get to learn a lot about the ed reform movement in Newark.
¡Hola! So in my work, we think a lot about identity (yes, if you're not a touchy-feely type - which I'm not either - feel free to gag). My good friend Elizabeth and I have been talking a lot about identity and she's done lots of work to come to terms with parts of her identity that had been diminished by the assimilating factors of life in America. The crux of this is that I've been thinking about how my family is really good at honoring the Russian part of our heritage, but the Spanish part - because in the 20's and 30's that was looked down upon even moreso than today - is much less prominent in our family history. Doing all this thinking has led me to get serious about learning Spanish, which will also help me at work as well. I've started taking online lessons, and even though I knew a lot of disconnected words before, and could even read quite a bit, having a formal structure has already given me a lot of a-has about the structure of the language. Of course, right now I can mostly say things like, "She's drinking" and "The man is running" but being able to put together a sentence, rather than just using random words and pointing, is a big step forward for me.
Kitchen Connection: I've been trying to renew my commitment to sustainable eating. If you've read the blog for awhile, you'll know that I'm a "near-vegetarian." In the past, I've cooked poultry or fish once a week and been veg the rest of the week. Unfortunately, I was found to be on the verge of anemia (the lab report literally said "Alert" on it). Since I haven't eaten red meat for 17 or 18 years (want to be more sustainable? Eat less red meat!) I've known I was low in iron - this was just more extreme. Don't worry, I didn't start chowing down on steaks. However, I have upped my intake of non-mammal meats a bit, along with starting an iron regimen. If you want to know which foods are high in iron, check out this list. Your body doesn't absorb much iron from plant sources, so if you're strictly veg, you might want to talk to your doctor and make sure your iron is adequate. Seafood sources are good, but make sure you're making sustainable choices by checking out the Seafood Watch list.

September Pop Culture

Watch: September brought back our favorite TV shows. Yay! I could probably write a lengthy post about the return of each of my faves (that musical number on Community! Stefan killed Andi on Vampire Diaries! Um... whoa, is that allowed on network television? on The Good Wife) and what I'm thinking about the new ones (The New Girl, 2 Broke Girls... apparently women in their 20's are still considered girls, even at this late day and age. Discuss.) Suffice it to say that it's a good time to curl up with your best friend DVR.
Listen: Even though it came out in February, I've been listening to Let England Shake, by PJ Harvey quite a bit lately. PJ always reminds me of my Sassy-magazine-reading days, and this album has a lot of the power and menace of her old stuff. I've also been mourning the end of R.E.M. by listening to my favorite songs of theirs: "Country Feedback", "Leave", and "E-bow the Letter." Plus there's that Scotty McCreery CD... oh wait, no... no there isn't, although iTunes SURE wants me to buy one. It's time for iTunes to get better at personalizing your home screen.
Read: This month the movie Drive came out, which is a great one if you're a fan of existential quiet men protecting ethereal dames. I'd highly recommend the novella it's based on, also called Drive, by James Sallis. It's a disjointed series of memories, deeply grounded in the earthiness of food, cars, and geography.

Recycling on the Edge

2011-10-03T14:32:00.000-07:00

The other day I loaded up several months worth of glass bottles into the car (I've recently become obsessed with Pellegrino, so there were a lot of bottles). On the way to the recycling center, one of those Houston late-afternoon thunderstorms shook up the sky (the kinds we usually get when we're not in the middle of a drought, but really there's no climate change - Rick Perry said so). It wasn't really raining, so I continued on to the recycling center.

As I was throwing the bottles into the giant metal containers in the middle of an empty parking lot, and lightning started streaking through the air, I thought:

this isn't really a good idea.

Note: September Pop-Culture Round-Up and Learn-Go-Do Reflection will be coming next weekend.

Ewww! Germs!

2011-09-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

Reusable bags!

Awesome, right?

That's right, they are awesome. I'm so excited that I see more and more people out shopping with their reusable bags.

There's one little thing that people sometimes don't know about their reusable bags, however: you have to wash them.

I'm hoping that seems obvious to you, but a study found that 97% of people don't wash their green bags. The study was awhile ago, but I suspect that there are lots of people out there who haven't started washing their reusable bags, given the number of folks I've seen who keep them in their trunks most of the time.

You have to wash the bags because they can be hosts to food-borne pathogens. Most reusable bags carry more than plastic bags, and so baggers put all kinds of things together in the bags - meat and veggies and cleaners, all in one bag.

The study was funded by the chemical industry - I guess in hopes that they would turn people off from carrying green bags. But really? Just wash the bags in the laundry with your clothes or linens. I'd rather do more laundry than kill sea turtles.

Recipe: Sheltering Sky Chicken (Moroccan-Style Chicken with Prunes)

2011-09-25T15:52:00.000-07:00

Or: In which I am a culinary genius. Trust me. TRY THIS RECIPE.
(Vegetarian and gluten-free options are suggested below)

The September issue of Esquire had a cooking feature entitled "Eat Like a Man." It had several recipes, lots of great cooking tips, and essays on cooking - because apparently home cooking is now hip for men. I'll ignore the fact that when I was growing up my dad did all of the cooking and when he was out of town we got to eat McDonald's or creamed tuna on rice. The point of this feature, if I can sum it up, is "manly cooking is risky, because men don't like to follow directions. They're men!"

That's kind of a stupid point, as all those Top Cheftestants who went to culinary school will tell you, but if that's true, then I cook like a man. Of course, I did learn to cook from my dad, who was all about getting an inspiration and then testing variations until he reached perfection. Recipes to my dad were like melodies are to jazz musicians - just something to riff on.

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, it's to share the backstory of this recipe, which I have named Sheltering Sky Chicken after Paul Bowles' drug-hazy novel about Morocco. This recipe is a riff, just like my father's used to riff on things like spaghetti with meat sauce and Thai peanut chicken. It's my homage to a dish we used to eat at the only Moroccan restaurant in my town. Here's how it came to be:

Last Sunday I woke up and I thought, I would like chicken with prunes tonight. That was literally my first thought upon waking.
So I thought for a bit - what's a cuisine where you might eat chicken with prunes and what would that be like? Moroccan was my first thought.
So then I Googled "Moroccan chicken" and read a whole bunch of recipes. I often start a recipe this way, by doing some random internet research. If you're not quite comfortable with the idea of cooking on the fly, but want to try it, this is a good way to check yourself and make sure that the flavors you're thinking about go together.
I looked at the spices in my cupboard, thought for awhile, and then went to the store.
At the store, I let the produce choices guide me a bit. A lot of Americans choose their recipes for the week, then go to the store with a pre-made list. If you're concerned about greening your kitchen, however, it's good to have some flexibility when it comes to produce - so you get what's more local and in-season (and if you've got a farmer's market, that's best of all). For example, I was sort of envisioning celery in this dish, but they only had organic celery in a huge bundle that I knew I would end up wasting, so I didn't buy it. But I saw a giant potato that looked great, so I amended my mental image to contain potato.
I went home and started cooking.

A couple of notes:

This recipe uses a blend of spices that I suggest you mix up ahead of time. It's similar to the mix that's known as "Ras al hanout". In general, I like my food less-sweet/more-savory, so I tilted the mixture in that direction. Take that into account as you're creating it - for example, if you don't like spicy, omit the cayenne. Just dip your finger in and lick it to see if you're getting a mix you like - remember that the uncooked spices will be more bitter than the final, cooked product.

This recipe is also similar to a tagine, or a Moroccan stew that's made in a big earthenware pot (also known as a tagine). If you have a tagine, you can use it to cook this, but I just used a ceramic baking dish.

Finally, I used a technique to cook the chicken that I learned from my dad. Sear it first in a saute pan and then bake it. This holds in the moisture, and I'd recommend trying it for other chicken dishes you might make as well.

So now - the recipe!

Sheltering Sky Chicken

Ingredients:

Spice Blend

1/4 tsp. cayenne

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. coriander

1/4 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/4 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground cumin

1/2-1 tsp. toasted cumin seeds (heat a small pan over high heat - don't use any oil - and add the seeds. Cook 1-2 minutes, shaking the pan frequently, until the seeds become fragrant.)

Mix all of the spices together in a small dish and divide in half.

Everything else:

Around 1.5 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, preferably organic (it's hard to find these organic, sometimes, so it's helpful if you have a butcher at your grocery store who can help you - plus, you use less packaging if you buy from the butcher counter)

1 large baking potato, cut into 1-inch cubes

3 small carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 yellow onion, cut into large pieces

About half a bag of prunes, chopped into halves and quarters, or more if you really like prunes. Which I do.

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can rinsed chickpeas

1-2 c. vegetable broth

Olive oil

Cous cous

Cilantro and toasted slivered almonds

Pre-heat oven to around 425 degrees.

Step 1: Add half the spice mix to a gallon zipper bag. Add the chicken and shake to coat evenly with spices (I know that plastic bags are the devil, and you could also do this by mixing in a bowl - but this method works really well and I think since I gave up paper towels, occasionally using a zipper bag that I don't reuse is fair).

Step 2: Heat about 1 tbsp. olive oil in a saute pan. Add the chicken and sear, cooking for 1-2 minutes on each side, until the skin is no longer translucent. Arrange the seared chicken evenly in a large ceramic or glass baking dish coated with olive oil.

Step 3: Add the chopped potato, carrots, onion, and prunes to the baking dish, arranging them around the chicken.

Step 4: In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, chick peas, and the remainder of the spices. Add about one cup of broth. Pour this mixture evenly over the ingredients in the baking dish. It should almost cover the chicken, but not quite. If you need to, add a little more broth.

Step 5: Put in the oven and cook until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are soft. Serve over cous cous, garnished with almonds and cilantro.

Vegetarian option: I wouldn't use "fake meat" with this meal - it's so fresh tasting, I would add more veg instead. Butternut squash is the option I would go with. Cube it, and skip steps 1-2. Butternut squash stands up well to Middle Eastern spices, and it's hearty, so you won't feel deprived.

Gluten-free option: Instead of cous cous, which is pasta, serve over brown rice. Be sure to check the broth and spices to make sure they don't have any added flour.

My Journey to the Dark Side

2011-09-24T07:15:00.000-07:00

a.k.a. Whole Foods

In Texas, you're encouraged to choose sides.

UT (Hook 'em!) vs. A&M.

Rick Perry vs. Everyone Else

Texans vs. Cowboys

And one thing Texans like to take a stand on is which Texas-based grocery chain is best: Whole Foods or HEB. Each has a different image. You're probably familiar with Whole Foods, which is "lovingly" known as "Whole Paycheck" by many fiscally-minded shoppers - it's seen as the grocer-of-choice for hipsters who wear knit hats in summer and boho-chic mamas who name their kiddos things like Lotus or Tangerine. If you don't live in Texas, you might not be familiar with HEB (with its slogan: Here Everything's Better), but it's the suburban mom's palace, mecca for the modern family. They also have a Whole-Foods-like sub-brand, called Central Market.

I've never really thrown my loyalty in with either, since my neighborhood didn't have either store. I usually go to Randall's, which is the name that Safeway stores have around here. And I still do, for my weekly shopping. However, I'd consider myself more of an HEB-type person, someone who likes to save money and do one-stop-shopping.

But about two months ago, a Whole Foods opened just down the street from my house. It's now the closest grocery store to my house. Even though I know that there are lots of problems with Whole Foods' green stance, and particularly with its Ayn-Randian founder John Mackey, I find that I'm now going to Whole Foods for almost all of my mid-week shopping.

Whoa. That is a big pumpkin outside the Whole Foods.

Here are a few reasons I've been sucked in:

The store already has a neighborhood feel, even though it's part of a giant chain. The employees are so friendly and kind (unlike those at my other neighborhood store, which rhymes with "go-girl" if you take off the L). They thank me for bringing my own bags instead of glaring at me. They even recognize me, unlike the employees at the Go-Girl market I've been frequenting for SEVEN YEARS.
This particular location serves a diverse clientele, because it's in a diverse neighborhood. Yes, there are a lot of hipsters and yupsters, but they don't rule the store.
They have the best selection of vegetarian options of any grocery store in the neighborhood.
The coffee is really good.

I like school gardens. I'm less happy that the ads for this program only feature white children.

No, it's not the Farmer's Market, where I'm going to go in a few minutes here. But if this is the dark side, I don't want to go to the light.

Everything's Perfect

2011-09-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

I like simple things that do perfectly whatever they are designed to do.

Let's take scissors as an example.

Scissors are my sonic screwdriver. In my house, car, and office, it's rare that I won't have scissors to hand. Scissors in my glove compartment? Check! I need scissors for when Starbucks runs out of the small straws so I can cut the large ones down. Scissors next to the bed? Yes! When I'm knitting I need them to snip some yarn. Scissors in the bathroom? OK! Sometimes a wayward thread needs to be clipped from a sleeve.

Scissors. Small. Inexpensive. Perfect.

A few other little things make my list of perfect inventions: the 2 oz. angled measuring cup, tape, measuring prep bowls. Bobby pins have been climbing the ranks these days.

Add to that list: Everything Clips. My mom got me some for Christmas, and I think that everyone who is trying to be greener should have some on hand, because they make many other products unnecessary, thereby reducing consumption. They can also replace a lot of non-permanent adhesives. Everything Clips are sturdy clips that can clip all kinds of things, and they're good for big or small jobs.

For example, you open a bag. Then you want it closed. Of course, they have special "Chip Clips" for that, but why do you need a special item for that one task of closing a chip bag? And the Chip Clip is too big for closing smaller things. Then people buy small Chip Clips. Instead, Everything Clip can do the job.

Or, let's say you need a clipboard. But you don't have one. So you look in your backpack - and you have the piece of cardboard from the front of a crossword puzzle book, and an Everything Clip. Voila! They become a clipboard... and yes, of course that happened to me.

An Everything Clip can even hold back your hair when you're trying to create a style with your bobby pins.

I know, they might seem just like other clips (paper, binder, hair, Chip) but Everything Clips are all those clips rolled into one.

Say it Ain't So-bama! 2

2011-09-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ben: Wow, the sky is really beautiful.
Leslie: It's pollution from the Sweetums factory. It's gorgeous. But is it worth the asthma?
Ben: No.
- Parks and Recreation, "Camping"

Right now, President Obama reminds me a lot of Leslie Knope in the above dialogue. In TV's Pawnee, Indiana, the Sweetums factory produces delicious candy while polluting the air and making the citizens fat. Yet they sponsor fun parks activities like the Harvest Festival. They create beautiful pink and blue sunsets with their pollution. And did I mention their candy is delicious?

So let's imagine that instead of candy, Sweetums is promising jobs for all of America (Sweetums is representing industry in this analogy, FYI).

The EPA says: Let's reduce pollution.It's the law.
Sweetums: But it will cost jobs.
The President: Hmm... OK... we won't reduce pollution. It's probably worth the asthma.

Like Ben, we should all answer a resounding NO to this idea.

In case you're not familiar with what's going on, Obama's office quietly announced on Friday that they will delay stronger smog standards (these were planned well in advance and impact ozone emissions specifically). According to the National Resource Defense Council:

The stronger smog standards would have saved up to 4,300 lives and avoid as many as 2,200 heart attacks every year. They would have made breathing easier for the 24 million Americans living with asthma. And they also would have created up to $37 billion in health benefits annually.

The official rationale for this move is that the regulations would cause an "undue regulatory burden" on industry, which would cost jobs.

I am SO SICK of this false dichotimizing between the environment and jobs. It makes me want to scream (and I did, in all-caps at the beginning of this paragraph). There's a whole world of new green jobs that we are not opening up because we're protecting traditional industry from the tech revolution that is racing on ahead of it -- it's the worst kind of cronyism. Because exactly the kind of 21st Century industry and tech that would help us to get out of the recession is the kind we're not developing in the name of getting out of the recession. It's frakkin' Ouroboros devouring his own tail.

Like many environmental problems, the burden of this will be unduly borne by the poorest Americans. Asthma is more prevalent among those who live in poverty. The same with heart disease. And that means that we will all bear the health care burdens caused by this supposedly economic decision.

So it seems like the economic argument is a win for Mama Earth's side. Again, the NRDC:

The smog standards would generate $37 billion in value for a cost of about $20 billion by 2020.

Which means this is not truly a matter of the economy. It's about politics. If we don't act now, the smog standards are due to be re-evaluated in 2013 ... after the election.

But we shouldn't need to make a political argument or an economic one. This is about justice. How many jobs equal a fair trade for the lives that will be saved by a reduction in ozone emissions?

So what can you do? Here are three Light (that means low-effort on your part) Green things you can do:

1. Email the White House. Follow this link and there's a simple form you can use to tell the President that you are NOT OK with this decision.

2. Or, if you'd rather, use your phone to make a difference. Join the NRDC's phone campaign.

2. Donate to the NRDC. They are planning a legal challenge to this decision. It's simple and you can donate whatever you can spare.

It's fun to be an activist! Voting is important, but all of us who were re-invigorated by the last presidential election can expand our influence by adding a voice (and dollars if we have them - even though we probably won't be able to compete with industry when it comes to greenbacks - at least we've got right on our side).

*Photo courtesy of fanpop

August Pop-Culture Round-up

2011-09-04T16:50:00.000-07:00

I gave some of my August faves a tribute earlier this month, but luckily, August has been a great month for pop. August pop culture is all about the winding down of summer: it's twilight on the beach and the fun has gotten a little tawdry and dark. Michael Bay is not the hero of August.The hero of August is that movie or song that makes you feel, just for a moment, that you are a kid but have all of the understanding of an adult.

So here is my late August playlist...

"That is a terrible vampire name. Jerry?"
Fright Night, 2011

Do you remember when the movies used to be fun? Remember when summer movies were the funnest movies of all? In the Transformers era, fun is sorely lacking from summer movies, although naps are abundant. Fright Night, despite being a remake of an earlier film (such remakes being one of the Four Horsemen of Hollywood's Apocalypse) retains the DNA of its earlier incarnation - FUN, sexy, scary, and did I mention... fun? It's an old school vampire movie, if you're not familiar with the original (that means the vampires aren't sparkly). Colin Farrell has torn up summer 2011 in supporting roles (see: Horrible Bosses), but the show stopper is David Tennant as a past-his-prime (if he had a prime) Vegas magician with a rash, a Midori addiction, and a horrible past. I'm guessing from Fright Night's awful box office that you haven't seen it yet. This is the last holiday of the summer. GO IMMEDIATELY.

"All the other kids with the pumped up kicks you'd better run, better run, outrun my gun"
Pumped Up Kicks, Foster the People
Yes, it is the song you can't get out of your head that's also about a potential school shooting. I heard some music critic on NPR talking about how it's one of the "songs of the summer" because the darkness hidden behind the jaunty tune somehow represents our national mindset. Actually, I think it's the song of the summer because of the hook. And the whistling.

“You’ve got a time machine and I’ve got a gun. What the hell? Let’s kill Hitler.”
"Let's Kill Hitler", Doctor Who
After a mid-summer hiatus that had Who fans squirming, the Doctor returned with a bang at the end of August. The mid-season finale revealed that River Song (played by Alex Kingston - really?!? Ralph Fiennes, you gave up River frakking Song?) is the daughter - spoilers - of Amy and Rory. "Let's Kill Hitler" tore into her backstory with a vengeance, while giving us all the funny bits we love from The Doctor. Matt Smith continues a brilliant run as the 11th ("bowties are cool") Doctor, and the supporting cast just keep digging deeper into their characters.

"You screwed up your romantic life in front of fifth-graders?"
Sports Night, available on Netflix streaming
For many years, I've heard about the mythical Sports Night: the two seasons in which Aaron Sorkin incubated the core stylistic quirks and the humanist concerns that would drive The West Wing (a.k.a. the White House as liberals wish it was). Now that Sports Night is available on Netflix streaming, we-who-are-too-lazy-to-pop-in-a-DVD can catch a glimpse of the crucible that led to Jed Bartlet. The "walk-and-talk", the rapid-fire dialogue, the Constitutional questions - they are all there in a show that's nominally about a Sports Center-like news hour hosted by Peter Krause and Josh Charles, and produced by Felicity Huffman. And yes, sometimes the seams show in Sports Night, but how often do you get a glimpse of a television auteur finding his feet?

"Hector, you've just missed a wonderful game of sardines!"
The Hour, BBCA
Sardines. It's a child's game of reverse-hide-and-seek, where everyone hides together until only one person is left. Except in BBC's The Hour (and yes, I know I already mentioned it, but it's that good), sardines is much more: it's a metaphor for the infantilization of the British aristocracy, the setting for a sexy game of cat-and-mouse, and an opportunity to ratchet up the tension in the spy story that has been unfurling. And that's why The Hour is so good. It's willing to give us the Briticissims we love - the country house weekend, the confrontations hidden behind pleasantries, the beds-under-garrets - but it layers these so that they have an immediacy and tautness that's unusual in staid British drama. The MVP award goes to Dominic West, who - perhaps because we know him so well as McNutty on The Wire - manages to be debonair while we believe he might be on the edge of unraveling.

"Maybe this was the only way it could have gone. You didn't get the quest you wanted, you got the one you could do."
The Magician King, Lev Grossman
Last night, I woke up, my brain reeling with thoughts of wild strange magic - magic I can't get into without spoiling the story of Quentin Coldwater, the Magician King. Grossman's book is the sequel to The Magicians, which answers the question: what would happen if Harry Potter and those Narnia kids were filled with ennui and really liked to get drunk? At least, on the surface that's what it seems to be about. In The Magician King, Grossman riffs on C.S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (my favorite Narnia book). As in The Magicians, Grossman starts the tale with winks and nods, but ends in that wild, strange place that will wake you up in the middle of the night and won't let you drift back to sleep.

"You could have had it any other way."
What the Water Gave Me, Florence + the Machine
Some of us have been waiting a long time for new Florence! Even though she's only been everywhere since late last year, those of us who are super-cool (or just happened, once, by extreme chance rather than any hipness whatsoever, to catch her on a blog radio program and became obsessed to listening to her MySpace page, in the days when you did that) have been waiting a long time!

Felted Friend

2011-09-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

Before anyone in Portland "put a bird on it", owls were one of my favorite motifs. (I'm just cool and fashion-forward like that). When I saw a tutorial to make a needle felted owl, it looked so easy that I thought I would try it.

Needle felting is a craft where you take a lump of wool and poke it with a needle a whole bunch of times until it becomes a firm shape. Yep, that's pretty much it. My friend (and the blogger behind one girl one camera), Darci, had shown my mom and I the needle felting basics a few months ago, and when I saw the tools for sale at Michael's, I knew that I was ready to give it a whirl.

These are the things you need:

- Wool roving (it's a clump of wool and comes in lots of different colors)

- A big needle

- Something to set the wool on when you poke I used that comb thing that you see in the picture. It's called a felting mat. You can see that I'm not exactly a stickler for a super-tidy work area.

Lots of people use a tool that has a bunch of needles inside it, so the poking goes faster, but they were all out of those at the craft store.

When it comes to crafting - or most things really - I'm not much for following directions. I read through the tutorial and then just thought I'd try it.

At right, you can see the little guy about half-way through. The hardest part was getting the head to be round. It ended up a little flat - I think I was poking too hard. The more you stab the wool with the needle, the fewer little fuzzies you get. I left a lot of fuzzies because it looked more owlish - plus I'm kind of lazy.

Here's the owlie with his owl friends!
This was definitely fun, EASY, and the initial outlay of money was small (about 15 bucks for the tools and each package of wool was around $2.50). I'm already thinking about how to make a needle felted squid.

Coming soon: The August Pop Culture Round-up