Archive for October, 2007
The Vinegar Cleaning Solution
Vinegar is a wonder substance. It’s true. You can use it to dress up a salad, give a little tang to spaghetti sauce, it’s an all-natural weed killer, and it even does windows.
But some people, including myself, don’t really like the smell and will often opt for a more fragrant, expensive, and probably toxic alternative. To these people I plead: don’t give up on vinegar.
Here’s my recipe for a home-made cleaning solution that I cook up sometimes for cleaning my apartment. It works on floors and bathroom tile and surfaces – so let’s call it an “all-natural, all-purpose cleaner” – and it will leave your home smelling like fresh lemon and herbs. (more…)
Simple Ways to Avoid Death while Biking
Last Friday I rode my bike to work for the first time in months. It was a beautiful fall day – sunny, breezy and perfect for biking, and it made me wonder why it’s been so long since I’ve ridden. Then I remembered why:
1. I’m lazy and it’s been hot out.
2. I got hit by a car a couple months ago and my bike was totaled. Look:
To the lay eye, this bike probably doesn’t seem that bad off. If you look closely, however, you’ll notice that the front wheel is a wavy as a potato chip, and it’s jammed back against the (bent) bike frame. Apparently this is what happens to bikes when they’re hit head-on by a black Chevy SUV.
The frame was damaged beyond repair, which was a sad realization for me because this bike belonged to my mom when she was my age. Sniff. So I finally got around to buying a new bike last week. It’s a 1973 Schwinn Varsity with brand new breaks and new grip tape (thanks, boyfriend), as well as the seat from my old bike which is plush and comfy. Check it out:
It’s not fancy, but it’s certainly yellow, and it gets me where I need to go.
Riding bikes is the most efficient way for a human to travel, because on a bike it takes very little energy to cover a large distance at a fairly fast pace. Bikes are amazing machines, and it makes me happy to see that more and more New Yorkers are using them for their commutes. But in New York, and everywhere else, it’s important for bikers to protect themselves. Here are some tips that help us stay alive: (more…)
Veggie Medley
We’re experiencing our first real week of fall weather in New York, which to me signals an alarm to get to the farmers’ market. The last of the summer vegetables are selling out, and soon it will be a winter of breads, cheeses, meats, potatoes and maybe some greens if we’re lucky. In celebration of a summer of colorful food, and as a sort of “see you till next year”, I made a simple yet veg-tastic meal the other night.
It doesn’t look like much, and to be honest I’ve never really been a big fan of vegetable stir fry, but you really can’t go wrong when you’ve got fresh, local, heirloom ingredients to work with.
Start with some veggies. I used yellow tomatoes, red peppers, a perfectly purple eggplant, half a zucchini and a bunch of spinach. You can really put anything in there though (carrots, peas, beans, let your imagination run wild). The key to making the veggies work is cutting them up. Slice some, chop others – a variation in texture really helps people to pick out different flavors and boosts the overall quality and experience of the meal. (more…)
Toxic Nails (part deux)
As you may recall from one of my recent posts, I’ve been exploring the notion of nail polish as a tool of the devil. In an effort to keep my nails looking pretty without contributing to the ultimate doom of the planet, I ordered a bottle of nail polish from a company called Mad River Science, the producers of Go Natural Nail Polish.
The result:
Plastic Bottle for a Plastic Bottle
Buying bottled water is one of the most blatant eco-atrocities in which Americans democratically participate, but according to Advertising Age our collective conscience is starting to kick in, and bottled water is on its way out.
The bottled water industry is worth about $16 billion, and most of the market is in the hands of Nestle, Coke and Pepsi, who are currently shaking in their boots over the prospect of losing this delicious and lucrative plastic pie. They’ve already responded to consumers’ bottle woes by making their bottles thinner and lighter – presumably to cut back on the amount of plastic that ends up in land fills after we’ve finished drinking our 38 billionth bottle at the end of the year. Coke has pledged $60 billion to build recycling plants, but that doesn’t do much to address the reality that most Americans don’t recycle their plastic waste. There’s also a rumor that these beverage giants will turn to biodegradable, paper-based bottles to distribute their water in, banking on the assumption that Americans don’t realize that nothing really biodegrades in landfills anyways.
Let’s stop for a moment to visualize what we’re talking about here:
(more…)
Friends Don’t Let Friends Pollute
There’s a fine line between being a good, green friend, and being an annoying eco-freak. Lately I’ve been trying my best not to cross it, and in usually it’s not that hard to stay in the safe zone because my friends are generally sympathetic to environmental issues. But not entirely.
The other night, for example, I was having beers with a friend and at one point I emptied my bottle and looked around for a recycling bin to toss it into. I soon noticed the absence of a recycling bin, so I crept up to the trash can much like one approaches a gallows. I peered inside, and unfortunately I don’t have a photo of it, but it basically looked like this: (more…)
Best Bag Ever!
I LOVE my re-usable shopping bag. I love it so much that I plan on buying one for each of my family members for Christmas this year (that’s my subtle way of forcing family members to go green – last year I gave them wind-up flashlights).
The bag is made by Reisenthel, which has lots of different models, but mine looks like this:
Except mine is black, and I usually don’t dress like a space-age mime when I go shopping.
Beauty Hurts (my soul)
You know that feeling when you realize you’ve done something selfish and wrong, and you shake your head and sigh in self-judgement? That’s how I’ve felt for the last two days, as I’ve looked down at my keyboard and seen this:
Another Brooklyn Garden
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to take a moment and introduce you to my garden:
The truth: that’s what my garden was like back in July. Here’s what it looks like these days: (more…)
