Best BC?

The kid sitting behind you on a red-eye flight, screaming, and kicking the back of your seat.

The worst?

The little chubby-cheeked, cherubic toddler (yes, probably the same kid, different day) waddling down the sidewalk, staring intently - and quite seriously - at puddles and leaves and broken concrete and birds...reminding us all that life is, quite simply, pretty rad.

-Heather - off to explain to the boyfriend why I don't really want to eat the babies I see, even if I describe that need to squeeze and nibble on them as "eating"...

Once I bought a “real silver bracelet” in a Tunisian market. I bargained, but got it for fair price…or so I thought. Two weeks later, the silver had almost completely worn away to reveal some sort of tin-like metal.

Silverwashing?

Been hung out to dry with supposedly “green” products? Tell us about it…

-Jenifer Morgan…off to recycle that bracelet…

Why was the fickle, shrill-voiced wife of Popeye called Olive Oyl? Who knows, but there's a better way to pair up spinach and olive oil: Tuck this little salad gem in your pocket for when strawberry season arrives at a farm near you:

¼ cup sugar or equivalent sugar alternative

2 tbsp sherry

2 tsp organic olive oil

1 tsp organic red onion, minced

¼ tsp paprika

8 tsp sea salt

6 cups organic spinach (not canned!)

2 cups organic strawberries, halved

2 tbsp organic almonds, slivered and toasted

-Jenifer Morgan...off to mouth "olive juice" to my olive oil...

A few weeks ago, I came down with the cold everyone in SF seems to have had. I did what I usually do when I get sick: pretend like I'm totally healthy.

I decided to check out a yoga class...and started hacking uncontrollably during my vinyasas, which is maybe worse than coughing through a movie, since rather than getting in the way of people's cinematic entertainment, I was getting in the way of people trying to find their innermost selves. So I left.

-Toshio...off to suck on some candy...

I have a vintage Wedgewood stove in my kitchen.  Since the griddle part of the stove has a pilot light that is so excited it will burn your hand if you don't wipe down the griddle carefully, and since the oven part is almost always warm to the touch, I'm quite sure that I am wasting more energy than I save by driving a Prius (which is in the shop, since it's only getting me 27 mpg these days. Grr.).

But I love love love that stove.  It is the centerpiece of my kitchen and was one of the things that made me fall head over heels for the house.  I can't get rid of it.

Maybe I should see about turning down those pilot lights, though.

-Heather... off to price out high-efficiency washers...

I don't think I've been in a stretch limo since prom, and though I see a lot of them while walking Bay Area streets, they never stop for me.

However, I have taken plenty of hybrid cabs and car services. I took one home from after-work drinks on Tuesday (it's Strong Beer Month in SF, btw). Having had two glasses of 11% alcohol-content beer, I was feeling friendly, so I asked the driver if he liked his Prius. He said he liked it, and then went off for the rest of the ride (which I swear he drove as slowly as possible) about Robert Redford buying up all the land in MT, and how that was not OK. I don't really have an opinion on Robert Redford, but if I'd been in a stretch limo I would've activated the tinted privacy window.

It seems like when celebrities speak up on issues like the environment, the public feels like those stars had better be morally righteous on every issue. Personally, I think it's great when famous people use their fame to bring attention to bigger issues. Nobody's perfect.

-Toshio...off to use my legs as transportation...

Why do I always get assigned the blog on the days when the tip topic is about sex lubes (don't use ‘em) or breastfeeding (no kids yet) or condoms (ahem) or fertility (see "breastfeeding") or  lingerie (OK, fine) or vibrators (buzz, please) or sleeping with your neighbor (how many blocks away is still considered eco)? 

Apparently, when it comes to bodily fluids, and fertility, and the nether regions, I'm your go-to girl.

So, I am sorry to report that I don't actually use the cups we tipped today (although we all did try them out).  Yes, it would be more eco.  Yes, I know a lot of you love them.  They just aren't for me.  I travel too much, I sleep at home too little, and there's just no way I'm washing it out in sinks that I don't clean myself.

-Heather... off to wait to get assigned to write a blog on how to avoid a UTI after sex...

I spend a lot of time in bars. While I'd venture that this has enhanced my social life, it has had a less positive effect on my wallet, and resulted in more than a few instances of morning-after regret.

So... I'm hereby instating a rule for myself - for every "unit" of alcohol (glass of wine, bottle of beer, shot of liquor) I drink, I'm drinking one glass of water. More cash and less chance for self-embarrassment  can't hurt my social life, right?

-Toshio...off to do something totally sober...

My favorite piece of furniture is an old 50s-style wooden bar that belonged to my grandparents. It was originally made from not-so-sustainable cherry wood, but someone along the way painted it pea green (of all colors). The design made it cool enough to keep, but it was only after I accidentally nicked it that some paint chipped off to reveal the richly colored wood beneath. Well, I promptly got out some sand paper. Then some varnish remover (anyone tried a soy-based varnish remover, by the way? If so, please tell us about it in today's comments!).

Many hours later, I had a stunning piece of antique furniture in front of me.

Just something to think about if you end up browsing used furniture - there are a lot of beauts out there, waiting for you to scratch their surface.

-Jenifer Morgan...off to mix myself a drink on the bar...

Whenever I'm mid-flight and in need of a laugh, or just a little reminder of how ridiculous the human race can be, I turn to SkyMall.

Over at Pandasmash, the editors pitted some of SkyMall's best-of-the-worst, next-to-useless gadgets against what-were-they-thinking gizmos and put them all to a vote. The Championship Round's resulting two worthless gadgets? The DayClock (a wall clock that doesn't tell you the time of day, just which day of the week it is) and the Solar-Powered Bible (a steal at $149.95). At least the latter is eco-friendly, I guess.

-Toshio...off to ask "why?"...

I just learned that everybody's favorite olive-based pasta sauce originated in the brothels of Naples. Literally, spaghetti puttanesca means "whore's spaghetti."

Its strong, spicy scent is supposed to have lured men off the streets into the bordellos of fair Italia, and while I've never (knowingly) been to a brothel, I have definitely been lured into the kitchen by the smell of good pasta sauce.

Below's the recipe for our delicious Slutty Puttanesca, which SF team members had the buona fortuna to sample at a recent office potluck. (Note: You might want to pick a more family-oriented sauce if the kids are coming to dinner.)

3 tablespoons organic, extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon anchovy paste

1 can organic diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato purée

2 handfuls black olives, finely chopped

2 tablespoons capers

1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

2 cloves garlic

Salt and black pepper to taste

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat, add garlic and sauté. Add tomatoes, tomato puree, olives, capers, anchovy paste, and red pepper.  Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 10 min. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

-Toshio...off to bait somebody into my kitchen...

Yes, the last time I had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day, he sent me a dodgy flower arrangement in a wicker basket - wilty red roses with a (god help me) scratchy white teddy bear attached to the basket by a wire that was tied around its neck.

Around its neck.  What the hell kind of message is that sending?

I have a feeling my current boyfriend is not going to give me anything resembling a teddy bear.  For one, it's just not in his nature.  For two, I know he reads our blog.  For once, exposing my life in print each week presents as a positive thing...

-Heather... off to brush up on my "meaning of flowers" knowledge...

Today's tip is the second in a series of monthly recycling tips intended to help us all figure out the nitty-gritty details of certain types of recycling and to answer some common questions.

Compared to a lot of materials, things made of metal tend to have a lot more potential for creative reuse. I love that more and more nonprofs take used vehicle donations - the cars are sold at auction to licensed car dealers or recyclers, and the majority of the sale price goes into the nonprof's bank account. Recently, I donated my old, giant, metal Power Mac to my favorite local theater company - I got more space in my house and a $500 tax deduction, the theater got a badly needed boost to its sound system. And while I normally return my hangers to the dry cleaner, I ended up bringing a few to my ballet school's dressing room so that my fellow dancers wouldn't have to pile their coats on the floor. I also just turned my beautiful old red tea kettle (which I replaced with an electric one) into a pot for a homeless plant.

Anything's better than sending things to a landfill, but recycling factories obviously use up a lot of energy and recycling pickup trucks obviously consume a lot of fuel.

All redistribution takes is a bit of thoughtfulness and creativity.

-Jenifer Morgan...off to scratch my head over what to do with that sardine can...

My family's amassed a mother lode of perfectly usable basketballs, surfboards, and ski wear over the years.

Sooner or later, it'll get donated to Goodwill - and I was thinking: If I ever need to buy sports equipment for future kids in my life, used gear makes sense - and not just because it's cheaper. It took me a while to break in those baseball mitts, and whoever gets to them first is one lucky son-of-a, because like a good deck of cards, most sports equipment is best when it's already played a few games.

-Toshio...off to score some points...

Studies are now showing that our intense commitment to multitasking is having adverse effects on all of us.  We have shorter attention spans, we have higher levels of stress, we (bizarrely) accomplish less.

I'm a ridiculous offender.  I write emails while filing my nails while muting my speakers during conference calls.  I plan dinner during yoga (a practice which - quite satisfyingly - helps me in my quest to accomplish being spiritual, kind, placid, fit and mentally stable all at the same time).

I text while driving.

We all need to stop the madness a bit.  The thing I like most about today's tip is that it lets us place the multitasking in the hands of our products.  Instead of thinking about shampoo and conditioner and shaving cream and soap and bathroom cleaner, I can just get some Dr. Bronner's peppermint castile soap, and knock it all out in one fell swoop.

This leaves me much more time to write blogs in my head while exfoliating in the shower.

-Heather... off to slow down...

As we established yesterday, a guy lathering up with a brush and shaving with a straight razor (especially if he exercises his right to vote afterwards) = hot. Conversely, a guy who cannot dress himself = antithesis of hot.

It's not about wearing designer duds, mind you...in fact, trying too hard to look good can be just as much of a turn off. I'm talking about things like pleated pants (you really want to accentuate the size of your bladder?), XXL shirts on not XXL bodies (we can still see the belly), sweatpants (unless you're doing something that actually makes you sweat), all-denim ensembles (why??), shiny "nightclub" shirts, mesh anything, muscle tees, long socks with shorts, any form of socks with sandals.

Seriously, no matter how nice or smart or innately handsome you might be, if you show up in a conventionally grown cotton Bon Jovi half-shirt for dinner out (or even in), ain't no one gonna swoon.

Stylish, organic clothes that actually fit on the other hand...

So the Personally Speaking in today's blog...we're not actually kidding. Even Quasimodo might attract a few ladies if he lathered up with a brush and shaved with a straight razor (well, and found a good Italian tailor).

The extra secret ingredient to this ritual, speaking of Italy? If you're ever in Florence, boys, get some lavender crema da barba from the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. The building itself is amazing, but all of its colognes, soaps, tinctures, and salves are hand-made from local ingredients according to centuries-old formulas.

I suppose to pull it off ourselves (on our legs), we females would need a feather-duster-sized brush and a bucket of shaving cream...hm...not so sexy.

-Jenifer Morgan...off to admire some lathering up...

When I was little, I was a huge fan of merry-go-rounds, rotating office chairs, and being swung by my dad around in a circle through the air (I'm not entirely joking). Quite naturally, my affinity for these things extended to revolving doors, and I'd use one whenever given the option. And now that I know they save energy over regular swing doors, don't be surprised to find me turning the revolving door again and again...and again...and again...

-Toshio...off to spin round like a record baby...