Useful How-tos for Cooking Bacon & Eggs

My how-to articles are among my most popular posts on this blog. I don’t write nearly enough of them, because it’s tough to write a good how-to, especially for tasks I might do all the time and consider second nature.
That’s why I wanted to highlight some great how-tos that I’ve run across recently on my [...]

More Encouragement to Get Gardening

The ever-eloquent Michael Pollan strikes again. Check out the interview with him on Yale Environment 360: “Michael Pollan on What’s Wrong With Environmentalism.” There are a lot of good take-home messages here, including more encouragement to get out in the garden:
I don’t know exactly what percentage of greenhouse gas we would reduce if everybody planted [...]

Good News: Americans Return to the Garden

We’ve been having a lot of fun in our garden this year, which occupies two vegetable boxes in our side front yard and a large herb circle in our front yard. We have gotten all our plants either at the farmers market or our local nursery, since this year we are boycotting Home Depot. Why? [...]

Fight Indoor Air Pollution! Air Out Your House

Here’s another thing to add to our list of things to worry about: indoor air pollution. Apparently, all sorts of things emit dangerous fumes called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including paint, cleaners, vinyl shower curtains and materials used in building wood furniture. You can recognize VOCs by their smell — that chemically “new car” smell. [...]

More Foods to Avoid and How to Do It

Only a couple of weeks after I wrote about fish and shellfish I’m no longer eating, I find this compelling op-ed in the New York Times (via CookThink) about why we should add salmon to that list. It seems that only wild Alaskan salmon is not endangered this season, but since it’s selling at record [...]

Everything You Do Is Bad for You, Your Kids & the Planet

As I read around the Interwebs, it seems I discover more and more aspects of everyday modern American life that we think is necessary and good for us but actually is unhealthy for us and hurting our environment. It all seems to tie into the disconnect we have created from the simplest and most natural [...]

Mark Bittman Shows Us How to Make Crustless Quiche

Here’s a great little video from Mark Bittman showing how to make quiche without making the time-consuming pie crust. I personally don’t make pie crust, but I love quiche, so this is an attractive idea for me. (I also love pie, but that is an example of where I appreciate it more when someone else [...]

How to Make Rice Pilaf

Did you know that some parts of the world are currently experiencing food crises? A perfect storm of high energy prices, drought (possibly caused by climate change), increasing demand in countries like China and India, and usage of grains for biofuels instead of food is contributing to shortages of key staples like wheat, corn and [...]

Warning! New Baby Danger Identified

I recently learned about a new source of mortal danger for my baby: the wind. Apparently, according to a family member who will not be named, the wind will steal my baby’s breath away. I learned this while we were sitting outside enjoying a beautiful spring day, and the family member holding the baby was [...]

BPA-Related News

There is a lot of news about BPA going around the Interwebs this week. What is BPA? It is a chemical found in certain types of plastic, including baby bottles, that has been found to mimic the hormone estrogen and is possibly linked to some cancers, birth defects and developmental problems. This should concern anyone [...]