Plastic or Cloth?

This morning, while shopping at the Park Slope Food Co-op, I noticed this contraption:


What a great idea! Simply wash your old plastic bags, hang 'em on the wooden prongs and reuse them after they dry. Brilliant, eh? I'm not so sure...
Ten minutes earlier, I was picking through the red skinned potatoes when the woman next to me said "That is so neat, where do you get those?" She was referring to my cloth bag, which, incidentally, was a shopping bag from a dress I had purchased in SoHo two years before. I explained that the co-op sells drawstring bags, and my brilliant friend Kris had also made me some out of an old sheet. This is one of many, MANY incidents that have occurred since we switched from plastic to cloth. It mesmerizes me how many people are mesmerized by the use of cloth bags to put produce in, when it is, in fact, much easier than reusing plastic bags, wooden contraption or not.

Ou est le jardin?

Ahhh...summer is here-- or it certainly feels like it. The hot days of sun mixed with some rain in the evenings has been great for our garden. After a few sad weeks of all our plants being eaten (it turned out to be rats, but a neighborhood cat now patrols) we were able to turn our little plot into a small but thriving oasis. When I miss a day or two of visiting the garden, it always amazes me how much everything has grown in my absence. We've been eating the basil, sage, rosemary and lettuce so far-- and looking forward to the beets and tomatoes down the road. There's a mulberry tree producing tons of fruit right now, although most of it is out of reach. I had a grand idea of making jam from the berries, but I only seem to be able to pick enough to eat five minutes later....so jam might have to wait until berries are super cheap at the co-op.
Our garden is a true blessing; we've been barbecuing like mad ever since the first nice day hit. Despite the roar of traffic and a siren or three, it feels peaceful in the garden and it has become a small escape for us. I've been reading Alice Water's Chez Panisse Vegetables and Chez Panisse Fruits (from la biblioteque), and I think I would be perfectly happy eating berry cobbler and grilled asparagus in our garden all summer long...

Spring is here, Bliss is near

Enjoying homemade Kombucha (which is delicious) and BBQ in the spring sunshine of our community garden has been our recent excitement. We planted our very first garden last saturday (which also marked our 2 year anniversary!), which seemed very successful at the time. Who knew that the birds would be so interested in out tomato plants. We planted 12 little starters, and now we're down to 2.

I bought 4 more tomato starters and we're going to let them grow bigger before we let them grow buck wild in Mama Dee's Community Garden. At least our lettuce and beets seem to be thriving...

Watch out Synergy, poppa's got a brand new batch!

Since settling into our Brooklyn lifestyle, we've bought fewer and fewer bottles of kombucha. Which is funny, because I was so excited when I discovered that a bottle of Synergy and Brooklyn brand kombucha only costs $2.60 at the Park Slope Coop. I guess we found that it was an unnecessary cost, as well as one more bottle to add to our recycling. But now that we're making our own yogurt and pickling our own beets, why not brew our own kombucha?

Luckily our friend Kris, who has inspired us a great deal, posted step by step directions on how to brew kombucha (and make yogurt) on her own blog-http://roomtogrowpdx.blogspot.com

So I found a mother/pet kombucha on craigslist, and got busy. I just bottled it today, with high hopes of some tasty bidness in just a few days time. More news on our home brewed kombucha is yet to come...

Snow Day

I don't eat breakfast during the week, but the weekend is a different manner. For the longest time, Colin and I would make ambitious brunches- usually 8-ingredient scrambles with a bagel and bacon. However, I've had to stop that after a blood test came back with the news that my cholesterol was high. Thus, we have discovered the miracle of steel cut oatmeal! While not nearly as complex in flavor as our fattening egg/meat brunches, oatmeal is a remarkably sustainable and healthy choice. Our first experience was John McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal in a tin, but then we discovered it in bulk at the co-op. The recipe is simple: Boil 4 cups of water, add 1 cup of oats and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Yes, it takes a little while, but in comparison to our old meals, it's quite low-maintenance. I like to eat mine with dried blueberries and a banana (or other fruit), while Colin eats his with brown sugar.

General goings-on

Bread update: my first sourdough that I made only from my starter turned out very small, but probably because I didn't use much flour. Not very sourdough tasting; overall, kind of disappointing. I'm looking forward to continuing the experiment...

Also- I'm very excited to report that milk in glass bottles is located a mere mile away at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket, right by Prospect Park. Milk costs $3.75, which includes a $1.50 bottle deposit. Not exactly cheap, but I think it's worth it to avoid the cardboard carton waste. We have officially said goodbye to soy milk, as well. We are making a little less yogurt these days, as Colin has started a day-time job, and no longer eats an 11am meal.

Been cooking up a general storm and straying from the cookbooks that I'm normally attached to. Made a very tasty risotto with butternut squash, prosciutto, onions and parmesan cheese. Ran out of chicken stock, so I used beef bouillon cubes instead. We simply broiled the squash, cooked up the onions, made the rice part and added the mashed squash, prosciutto and cheese at the end. Sometimes leaving the cookbook on the shelf produces the best results...!

No other news, but I might have a project involving a LES co-op coming up soon...

The Next Step...

The way that Colin and I have been living a more sustainable lifestyle is piece by piece. I'm the kind of person that becomes very passionate about something, tries to make drastic changes, and then loses heart quickly. However, by taking things one step at a time, our lifestyle has become quite different from a year ago (when we moved in together). While Portland is certainly a more earth-friendly city, we have not had to change too much in our lives when we moved to Brooklyn. In a way, this city has forced us to think about being sustainable even more because it is so easy to see the people who just don't care.
Currently, my new step is baking bread. Although Colin and I don't buy all that much bread, we buy the occasional baguette or bagel for soup or brunch. However, I've found that it is incredibly easy and better tasting to make my own (not exactly a surprise). I'm working on a sourdough starter which I think might be a long process as I figure it out. I'm trying out my first sourdough bread as I type this.
My other step, which isn't really a step at all, is winter biking! I must admit I was afraid of it at first, and wanted to have my car in Brooklyn. However, I'm quite glad I didn't end up doing that. So far, we've been lucky with the lack of snow, and the weather has been beautifully sunny, if unbeautifully 20 degrees. Still, with long underwear, two pairs of gloves, a face mask and a hat, it is bearable to bike. Last winter in Portland we didn't bike nearly as much, because we had two cars at our disposal. Without that luxury, however, biking is the only way to go. So...I very much hope it doesn't snow too much this winter.
By the way, any suggestions on what we can do to take our sustainable living even further are much, much appreciated.