Ideal Bite

Whether washing your hands in a public bathroom actually gets rid of germs or attaches more to you probably depends on the place, but for my part, I don't really see the point in scrubbing up, only to then put my freshly cleaned mitts on a faucet and door handle that strangers-who-have-touched-god-knows-what have wielded. So if I need to wash hands before, say, eating out at a restaurant, my choices are to a) use a liquid hand-sanitizer or b) wash my hands in the bathroom, then use my forearm and/or elbow to turn on the faucet and turn the door handle on my way out.

I recommend that latter, if you can bust the moves, since it means one less thing to carry around and one less plastic bottle to recycle. If you use a paper towel to dry, you can even use it as a kind of mitten until you've opened the door, then hold the door with your body, crumple the mitten, and shoot for the trash can. It's fun. Try it, and see.

-Jenifer Morgan...off to make a basket...