On to greener pastures!

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I’ve blogged before about my ladies’ group which meets one Sunday a month to catch up and do girly-type stuff. We’ve done all sorts of great things, but the last Salon was – by far – the tastiest.

For Valentine’s Day, someone had the genius idea to make chocolate truffles. When I first heard we were making this confection, I got a little nervous because making chocolate truffles would just never happen on my own – which is why I’m glad we did and now I can share with you.

Preparing the truffle fixins'

This was a great project - fun and delicious

These treats turned out more decadent and delicious than I ever dreamed. I’m not normally a fan of white chocolate, but even the white chocolate truffles were scrumptious. This is a great Sunday project for at least two people because, unless you are a master chocolatier, you will need some extra hands.

I don’t yet have the recipe from our get-together, but I’ve included a very close recipe from the infamous Alton Brown. Feel free to add in some liqueurs and mix up the toppings to create some unique confections.

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

• 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder, finely chopped nuts, and/or toasted coconut, for coating truffles
• 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine

Directions

This is so cruel and a total embarrassment

Doesn’t looking at this photo of a bird trapped in a plastic bag just make you feel like shit?

Birds don’t have opposable thumbs to help them remove a piece of plastic they’re trapped in. They can’t ask their friends, “hey, can you please get this plastic off me?” They don’t know not to eat non-natural discarded plastic because, out in nature, everything is supposed to be edible for them.

But yet, countless numbers of wildlife die because we humans (assholes of the planet) don’t care about what happens to trash after we throw it out.

You’ll have to forgive my ranty tone, but I just attended a workshop series last night about “Zero Waste.” I definitely feel a little bit like Alice down the rabbit hole – I’m overwhelmed by all I learned. There are so many ways I create waste, and here I thought I was living a reasonably sustainable lifestyle.

I’m sure you’ve heard “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” but the folks on the Costa Mesa Green Team Task Force have added “Refuse” to the list – as in, refuse if you don’t need it or refuse to purchase something in harmful packaging.

The first thing I plan to do is start separating my recycling. In Costa Mesa, our trash is sorted and recyclable materials are reclaimed, but all that effort is wasted if recyclables are mixed with compostables and other green waste. So, if you’re not sorting your own trash, only a tiny fraction is actually being recycled.

So I found a recycling center (the one at Orange Coast College here in Costa Mesa) and, starting this week, we’re sorting our recycling and taking it there. That should assuage my green guilt for a few weeks at least.

Next: breaking my addiction to paper towels and Ziploc bags.

I have a dirty little secret I’ve been hiding from you, dear readers.

Although I love my townhouse in quaint, Eastside Costa Mesa, the interior is looking a bit shabby. Well, a lot shabby. This is kind of embarrassing given that I completed 4 years of design school, work as an interior designer and have several friends who are also bona fide interior designers.

However, dirty little secret #2 is that I am quite lazy and if it weren’t for all my friends totally kicking my butt in the fun-and-stylish home decor department, I might never have a home suitable for proper living and entertaining.

I could explain – I’m busy, stuff is expensive, I don’t want to commit to the time and effort it takes; but there is no need for excuses. So instead of consoling myself with a list of home design woulda-coulda-shoulda’s, I am embarking on a home makeover.

Sounds fun, right? At least, I hope reading about my home makeover adventures will be fun. For me, however, it will be quite the challenge because I intend on nesting responsibly.

So what is nesting responsibly? Quite simply, I intend to find or purchase items which are already in circulation – like from flea markets, consignment stores, maybe some thrift shops and my local Craigslist. Finding softgoods, like pillows and throws might be tough, so I am also going to include Etsy.com to my list of approved vendors.

I will not be buying from any place like Target, Pier 1, Ikea or any of those retailers.

Why? Let me count the ways: 1.) they all mass-produce or purchase mass-produced goods for which the raw materials are 2.) unsustainably harvested and are 3.) usually produced in ways which harm the production force, mostly in developing nations where there are no agencies to protect workers’ rights. Read: sweatshops.

Big Box Retail is simply bad for us, as we learned from Annie Leonard in The Story of Stuff. Despite the happy lifestyle posters hanging in the entryway of places like Target, there’s no happiness behind their supply chain.

So – in the next week, I will be making an inventory of what I need for the house in terms of furniture and accessories. Every other week or so, I will give you an update on my adventures in shopping responsibly – and the deals I find along the way. Who knows how long this makeover could take, so expect to get updates, challenges, cries for help and photos for at least the next several months.

Last, but not least, the conceptual theme for the makeover will be “foreign correspondent” which will give me a lot of easy, eclectic liberty since I’ll be shopping at mostly flea markets. It also will work perfectly with my existing furniture and artwork. I even made my very own inspiration board, see below.

So what about you? Is your home in major need of a makeover? How do you avoid Big Box, mass-produced home decor?

I wasn’t always in love with love.

Once upon a time, relationships for me were considered practical vehicles toward security. I had boyfriends and lovers, but was never really struck by love and I certainly wasn’t in the habit of of planning anything for anyone other than myself. It wasn’t that I was intensely selfish – I just hadn’t felt true love yet.

So when I went to meet a couple of guy friends to watch the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007, I had no idea it would be the day I found true love. He was tall and lanky, loud and obnoxious (although, endearingly so). He was Italian and from ‘Jersey (but not like “Jersey Shore” ‘Jersey); sarcastic like Vince Vaughn doing an impression of Andrew Dice Clay. I liked him – it was just that we worked together, rather closely. And I didn’t want to be that girl.

But cupid had other plans for me. We drank as we watched the Anaheim Ducks win the game and (in our inebriated states) our true personalities came to the surface and it was true love from that night on.

And, boy, are we in love. We look after one another, give each other pep talks and sometimes a good dose of tough love. We’ve bestowed upon each other pet names from Quentin Tarantino movies. We both constantly worry about the welfare and comfort of the other. And we put up with each other, because it’s so worth it.

So, on this day reserved for lovers, I’m making my Valentine something that will surely show how much I am crazy, madly in-love with him – Italian food. But not just any Italian food; waiting for him when he gets home will be homemade lasagna.

In this day and age of Facebook, Twitter and blogging, if this is way the way to shout from the rooftops that you’re in love with someone so special, then here we go:

I LOVE YOU, HUNNYBUNNY! YOU’RE THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO ME AND I CHERISH EVERY DAY WITH YOU! AMUAH!

Baked Love Lasagna (adapted from Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentis)

Ingredients:

Salt

2 TBS vegetable oil

lasagna noodles (the kind which can cook as the lasagna bakes)

3 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

1 package Boca crumbles

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 cup Bechamel sauce (see below)

1 cup cashew ricotta (see below)

1 cups jarred marinara sauce (I don’t have all week for this, okay)

1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the crumbles, salt and pepper. Saute until browned, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, mix bechamel and marinara to blend. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread butter over a 9×9 inch baking dish. Arrange lasagna noodles in the bottom, overlapping and covering pan completely. Spread ricotta mixture evenly over noodles, top with spinach. Arrange more noodles over spinach, top with crumbles. Spoon one third of the remaining bechamel/marinara sauce over, then sprinkle with 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese. Top with the remaining lasagna noodles, spoon remaining bechamel/marinara over noodles, then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Place baking dish full of lasagna on baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is bubbling and cheese is beginning to brown slightly.

Serve. Feed each other 9 1/2 Weeks style.

Bechamel Sauce (adapted from Everyday Italian by Giada de Laurentis)

2TBS unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups warm soy milk (or almond milk)

salt, to tast

pinch white pepper

Melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Gradually add warm milk, whisking constantly. Simmer over medium heat, whisking until sauce is thick and creamy (do not boil). Remove from heat and season.

Cashew Ricotta (adapted from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero)

1/2 cup raw cashew pieces

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 TBS olive oil

8 oz firm tofu, drained and crumbled

1 1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, blend together cashews, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic until creamy. Add crumbled tofu to the food processor, working in batches if necessary, until mixture is thick and well blended. Blend with spices

Recently, I started a neighborhood sharing network. The purpose is to encourage people in my community of Costa Mesa to reduce their consumption by sharing goods and resources – like household items, power tools, sports equipment and other stuff. The group recently went on a field trip to the SOCO Farmers Market where we found a little bit of green inspiration.

“You can be a little green, or a lot green,” was the mantra of Cate Baird, designer and owner of Mixed Greens – a home decor shop. Her boutique at the SOCO Market was filled with a menagerie of rugs, furniture and vintage objects; refashioned into stylish home decor.

Kermit was right, it’s not easy being green, but every little bit helps. Below are a few highlights from our first Field Trip to the SOCO Farmers Market.

Some candles and papier mache bird statue from Mixed Greens at SOCO

This smelled glorious - lemon herbed salt mix from Mangi Con Amore

Such a welcome break from pushing a cart around a grocery store

It started simple enough.

On Tuesday, a staunch pro-life friend from high school shared on Facebook a recent story about a recent Planned Parenthood scandal. Supposedly, this clinic in Roanoke, Virginia was abetting pimps and underage prostitutes with birth-control counsel.

You should know, these weren’t real prostitutes or pimps, but another “gotcha” sting organized by a right-wing group, Live Action. You can read about the so-called scandal here.

Of course, Planned Parenthood’s mission is not to “exploit” underage girls as suggested, but to provide reproductive health services and counsel to all women who seek it. However, conservatives love to bash Planned Parenthood because they do provide abortions.

Then, later in the day, another friend posted a few pro-life musings to which someone replied (I’m paraphrasing here), “Why, all of a sudden, is everyone talking about abortion?”

I’ll tell you why. Regardless of your stand on abortion, you should know that it is a subject which is called a “wedge issue.” These wedge issues are a very convenient tool for politicians and lobby groups because they take the focus away from important things and put it onto things which spark controversy, creating a distraction.

Whenever there is some dirty work to do – like taking away programs which benefit the public – this old argument is revived to distract us.

Abortion is a serious issue; pro-lifers want to see it just go away because they feel it takes a life, meanwhile pro-choice people want to see a women’s reproductive rights protected. The unfortunate thing is that there will never be a compromise to this.

So, if you’ve been lured into the trap of discussing a circular argument in which two opposed sides will never, ever agree – you have probably been distracted from something important which you need to know about – like, the issue of tax cuts for the top two percent, cuts to your social security and other important program, the MASSIVE deficit, and so on.

And, sadly, none other than yours truly falls for it every time. So – have you fallen for this distraction tactic?

If you’re like me, the more you learn about how most clothing is manufactured, the less you want to support the industry. It’s difficult to know for certain, but the true cost of our clothing includes horrendous pollution and a big human rights problem. A great alternative to shopping that weighs on your conscience is to buy used at places like consignment and resale shops. However, if you want to fill some serious holes in your wardrobe, you need to learn how to navigate a good thrift shop.

Now, I know that spending an afternoon in a thrift shop doesn’t sound like a great time. You’re pawing through people’s old clothing, there is zero merchandising and the aisles are usually teeny-tiny narrow. Places like Goodwill are non-profit so they won’t be able to provide much of a shopping experience. But, if you’re willing to invest some planning and patience, shopping at thrift stores is an excellent way to express some conscious style without sacrificing a ton of money.

Be forewarned, thrift store aisles can be very narrow. This aisle was just wide enough to push a cart through.

The first thing you want to do before you even plan to shop is to find a good thrift store. The secret to finding a good thrift store is to find one which is affluent-neighborhood adjacent, so do some internet searching to find these places. Then, go check them out; what you’re looking for is thrift shop which is at maximum capacity with regard to clothing. If your thrift shop is bursting at the seams with clothing and it’s in an affluent neighborhood, chances are you’re going to find some good stuff in there.

Next, take a look at your existing wardrobe to find any holes. Are you low on professional blouses? Could your casual wardrobe need some sprucing up? Make a list of what you need to fill in these holes. Also, find a good tape measure and take your body’s measurements (here is a good article on how to do this). Add these figures to your list of wardrobe holes and take the tape measure with you when you go.

Once you’ve prepared and scoped out your ideal thrift shop, you’re ready to shop – so grab a cart. Trust me, you’re going to need both hands for this. You will need the cart to hold your purse and your notebook in which you wrote down your wardrobe holes and measurement. Plus, if you’re shopping at Goodwill where every garment is $5.49, you want to be very liberal about what you’re putting into your cart. Does it have a good label and is it in good condition? Does it look to be your size? Does it fill a wardrobe hole? If you answered yes, throw it in the cart.

(Thrift store dressing rooms are often sketchy. If you find, say, a pair pants but are not comfortable trying them on, get out your tape measure. Measure the waist and hip and double the number. If the numbers are higher than your measurement number, it’s a good bet that item will fit you. Same with tops, just use your bust number.)

You will want to think of shopping at a thrift store the same way you do a grocery store. Start in the sections you need items from and work your way through. Nothing will frustrate you faster than jumping around from section to section, so be patient and methodical. Don’t forget shoes which are usually on top of the clothing racks if not in their own section (this is where knowing a good cobbler comes in handy).

My size - check. Designer - check (Prada). Did they look good on my feet - no. Editing is an important step in thrift store shopping.

Finally, once you’ve combed the store, find the return rack (usually near the dressing room), pull your cart over and start editing what you’ve put in your cart. Inspect the condition of each item and look carefully for stains, holes or other defects. Also, carefully consider whether each item is something you will actually wear, but don’t talk yourself out of buying a unique piece which you will genuinely enjoy.

Start on one side of the shop and work your way through methodically.

To recap, here are the steps to crafting a first class, thrift store wardrobe:

1.) Find a thrift store in an affluent neighborhood

2.) Identify wardrobe holes and take body measurements

3.) Grab a cart and work through the store methodically

4.) Edit; put back what you don’t need

With these tips, you are on your way to being a thrift store shopping master. Keep visiting the same thrift shop if possible so you can 1.) stay on top of merchandise turnover and 2.) get a feel for their selection.

My last thrift shop jaunt netted me a heavy cardigan, cap-sleeve blouse, brand new tank donated from a local boutique, layered circle skirt and a pair of dress pants from an upscale name brand – all in excellent condition. Total: less than $30.

Thrift store booty, found for less than $30.

Today’s post comes from fellow S.W.A.P. Team blogger, DIY pioneer and expat (living in gorgeous Amsterdam!) Allison Gryski. When I wrote a post a while back about asking local markets to lower prices if they were too high, Allison was quick to point out tactics like that can backfire. Below are her fun and creative suggestions for shopping ethically and affordably.

With so many competing messages for how we should choose to spend our hard-earned pennies, it can seem daunting when you actually need to go out and buy something. Should you shop Local? Organic? Free-range? Eco-friendly? Fair-trade? Recycled? Re-purposed? Secondhand? Sustainable? Handmade?

The problem shoppers often face is that the ethical choices are often the expensive choices. Not only are businesses trying to profit from people’s concerns about food safety, working conditions in other countries, the environment and so forth, but addressing these concerns often literally costs more money.

Shopping at farmers markets is ethical, affordable and fun!

For example, you can’t expect a farmer who is raising chickens free-range to ever match the price of a farmer who is selling intensively raised chickens. The free-range chickens simply require more space and time to raise than factory-farmed chickens, so they cost the producer more. The same types of increased costs due to time and materials will affect the producer of a hand-knit organic wool sweater or a table made from sustainably harvested wood. Increasing demand for these types of products can obviously make the up-front investment safer for the producer, but there will always be the fixed costs for their time and materials. So if you want to shop more ethically, here are a few strategies that make it more affordable:

1. Buy less. Before you rush to the mall, ask yourself if you actually need the item in question. We have such an abundance available that it’s easy to get caught up in wanting something new or trendy or convenient, without there being any true need. First see if you can borrow it, repair it, repurpose something else, or do without. When you trim unnecessary expenses, you can save up to purchase higher quality, more ethically-produced items. In many cases, choosing better quality stuff will mean savings in the long term because you don’t have to repeatedly replace cheap things that break or wear out easily.

2. Buy local. The fewer people in the chain between producer and consumer, the lower the price can be. If you can buy directly from a farmer or artisan, then the price doesn’t have to include paying for other in-between businesses (and often there’s no need for the price to cover costs like shipping or paying for a store-front). With locally-produced items it’s usually much easier to find out exactly what you’re getting for your money and why it costs what it does.

3. Buy secondhand. While “vintage” has become trendy and sometimes expensive, there are still many secondhand options that are inexpensive. Check out thrift stores (the ones run by charities are always the cheapest), church bazaars, flea markets, clothing swaps, and local listings such as freecycle or craigslist. If you can take the time to look and maybe wait for the perfect item, you might even find it for free.

4. Get to know the shopkeepers. There’s lots of tips you can learn just by being friendly with the people working in a store. They have all sorts of useful knowledge that can save you money. Your local butcher can direct you towards delicious, but cheaper cuts of meat (and tell you how to prepare them). Your farmer’s market stall keepers can help you choose the freshest, in-season produce (so it’s tasty and lasts well). Your thrift store personnel can tell you when new items get put out (so you can get first pick). And in many other stores, you can find out when there are special discounts or sales on the items you’re interested in.

5. Make it, Grow it, or Build it yourself. If you have skills like sewing, gardening, or carpentry, you can usually produce the things you need at a fraction of the retail cost. If you don’t know how to do something, your local library, the internet, and your friends are good resources for learning new skills. You might discover that it’s not only cheaper, but also more satisfying and fun to produce things for yourself!

Next time you face the dilemma of buying what’s cheap versus what’s ethical, I hope some of these tips can help you find room in your budget to support a business model that matches your ideals!

Very good advice, Allison! Now run on over to www.allison.gryski.com and check out my tutorial on how to make a new classic, The Plain White T-Shirt Necklace.

Hi everyone. I recently wrote a guest post for The S.W.A.P. Team blog about swapping etiquette. Clothing swaps are a great way to get new clothes and make new friends – but be careful of what you bring with you …

Hmm ... what to swap?

Of course we know that clothing swap events are great. They provide the perfect opportunity to build community by exchanging good clothing with your friends and neighbors. A swap event also empowers us by opening up a range of options for how we acquire our latest fashions because it does not limit us to styles that are currently being offered in generic department stores.

What clothing swaps do not provide is an opportunity to dump clothing no one wants.

Read the rest here …