Ideal Bite

Ok, it’s not pretty but in NYC sometimes you have unwanted roomies like bugs (see how to banish creepy crawlers) and mice. Thankfully, Carissa Potenza from Green Space NYC shows us how to give rodents an eviction notice with an easy DIY home remedy using peppermint oil. Mice and rats hate the smell and will bypass your home for the one next door - which is perfect revenge for that neighbor who won’t turn her heavy metal down. We joke, make some for yourself and if you’re feeling generous, your neighbors too.

Mice Ain’t Nice Repellents
Makes 10 repellent balls

What You Need:

• 1 bottle of peppermint oil – the real stuff not peppermint scented (avail at health food stores)
• 10 organic cotton balls

Directions:

1. Put 5 drops of peppermint oil on the cotton balls and spread them throughout the house, especially under the sink, behind the stove, and in other spaces where there are pipes, cracks, or other possible points of entry for rodents.
2. The scent will eventually wear out, so you should replenish every few weeks/months, depending on whether the rodent problem persists.

-NY City Editor Brianne…off to make peppermint repellents gifts for the neighbors…

From New York

I went to Electric Lodge - a solar-powered performing arts space on Electric Ave. in Venice Beach, CA - Monday night to see my friend and others from The Echo Theater Company in a lively reading of a new science fiction-y play Wirehead. (I'm not a stranger to that stage - I too have performed several dance pieces there.) Its founder/artistic director fosters experimental, nonlinear projects, and incidentally he's impassioned about the environment.

And last Friday, EL hosted the launch of Arts:Earth Partnerhship, a voluntary coalition of cultural facilities, theaters, museums, dance studios, art galleries, performing arts companies and individual artists collectively committed to achieving environmental sustainability. The City of LA already committed to green-ifying 28 of its arts facilities, and The City of Santa Monica is willing to pay half the membership fee for every arts org or artist wanting to join.

-LA Editor Molly…off to try to get that song outta her head (sorry if it's stuck in yours too)…

From LA

So after the somewhat dense reading for June's book club, I personally needed to mix it up with some lighter - though still eco - fare. And where did I land but the YA section at the library and onto the wonder that is Twilight.

"Twilight? Eco?" you ask. "You mean the one with the vampires?"

Yes, yes, I do. Sadly, the proposal to my editor for Twilight to be part of our Biter Book Club failed miserably. But I'd still like to share it with you in hopes that it can touch a few lives and hearts.

"Dear Mike,

I feel like we've missed a big segment of our readership by not covering the often-overlooked lives of the eco-minded undead. I mean, when people think of vampires, they're all like, 'Oh, they vant to suck my blood,' but that's not always the case. For instance, take this superhot environmentally friendly fellow Edward in Twilight - he and his fam are like the vegetarians of vampires with a strict no-human diet. Totally eco. Plus, they 'try not to impact the environment with injudicious hunting' and 'focus on areas with an overpopulation of predators.' This feels like it deserves its own Daily Tip, but I'm hoping we can at least make it a book club selection.

Some sample discussion questions:
• How do vampires contribute to the green-collar economy?
• Why are vampires so much hotter than werewolves?
• Is it OK for someone over the age of 16 to be so into this book?

That just gives you a basic idea.

Sincerely,
Jen"

-Seattle Editor Jen...off to put her new Robert Pattinson book cover on her copy of In Defense of Food...

From Seattle

Toss some rolled oats with nuts (we like almond slivers and walnuts), cinnamon, and a dash each of cardamom, honey, vanilla extract, and vegetable oil. Put the mix on a baking tray, stick it in the oven at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes, tossing every so often, and voilà: Erica's awesome homemade granola. Top it with fresh fruit for a little something extra.

Well, here: Platform21's Most Remarkable Repair Contest (based on its "Repair Manifesto"). I ran across this a few days ago - basically, you send in photos and a description of something you've repaired (instead of tossing and buying new), and the most amazing fix wins.

I'll be watching. Eager to enter, I started thinking about stuff I've repaired lately. Just this month, I've sewn a couple buttons, secured a pant hem, glued shiny little baubles back onto a hair stick, and performed surgery on my shredding machine. Remarkable? Not so much.

So I asked around the office - what's something you've repaired personally instead of throwing away?

Mike: I’ve kinda only fixed home stuff…fixed sink, fixed toilet, patched a hole in the wall…but you can’t really throw a wall away. I’ve had my mom patch my jeans.

Theresa: I'm big on glue, wood glue for loose chair legs, glue guns for broken xmas ornaments, crazy glue for cracked pottery.

Toshio: A bike flat. I just put together an IKEA-esque bookshelf, does that count?

Ah, well. Maybe one of us can enter next year.

-Jenifer…off to very unremarkably tighten a screw on her saucepan handle…

In lieu of my standard Midwest weather report, I've got a new fave brunch drink idea to share.

Last weekend I spent several dizzying hours preparing a fancy b-day brunch for my partner and some pals. Though I cooked the better part of brunch-ish items in our collection of Moosewood cookbooks and Vegetarian Times mags, the pièce de resistance was the beverage bar, and the popular highlight there was champagne with a seasonal twist. I'd planned to go the mimosa route - simple, failsafe, crowd-pleasing - but, since the local strawberry season is nearing its end, I went the farmers' market (and on sale) fruit route instead. The result? Refreshing, pink and gold spritzer-y goodness.

Just add 3 tablespoons of pureed strawberries to each flute, pour in the bubbly, and garnish with a sprig of mint. Wanna make it July 4th friendly? Garnish with 3 or 4 blueberries (which are just beginning to pop up) instead.

-City Editor Daisy…off to locate more champagne…

From Chicago

A few weeks ago, some of the SF editors spent an hour brainstorming new taglines for the Bite.

According to Web Marketing for Dummies, "taglines and slogans are short phrases that convey important ideas to [Biters]." See if you think we did just that, with 10 castoffs from the brainstorming sesh:

1. Walking the talk…with occasional detours.
   
2. A planet is a terrible thing to waste.
   
3. It's getting hotter. Chill out.
   
4. Less bark, more Bite.
   
5. Because everyone else is boring.
   
6. We don't send tips on Sundays. [Long story…]
   
7. Our Kool-Aid tastes better.
   
8. Baby got Bite.
   
9. Fast, cheap, and easy. That's us.
   
10. Manageable s*** you can do in real life.

In the end, it was decided that rather than going with one of these gems, it's better not to have a tagline at all.

Disagree? Give me your best shot at a Biter slogan (preferably one that doesn't include the word "sassy") to contest@idealbite.com, and our favorite gets a free copy of Worldchanging.

-Toshio…off to wonder "how?" and "why?"…

From DT

Do you like to eat? It's not as simple a question as it sounds. America's preoccupation with healthy eating means there can be a whole lot of guilt involved in the process - and we're not usually making the right choices anyway.

Or so says journalist and food activist Michael Pollan, who tackles our love-hate relationship with our pantries in his new book, In Defense of Food - which is the next installment in the Biter Book Club, starting July 6.

Alison (a self-described foodie) and I (a self-described gummy bear addict) are gonna pick your brains for thoughts, reactions, and suggestions on Pollan's claim that we got so wrapped up in nutrition we ended up making it way more complicated than it actually is.

So pick up a copy at your local book store or library, and join us. See you in July...

-Senior Editor Mike...off to ponder how low-fat diets made us fatter...

Powerball

Feeling lucky about your numbers? Probably not if we're talking the digits on your energy bill. Check out our tips to shrink your electricity payments and to keep both you and the planet rolling in green.

1. Raid your closet.

Rather than turning to the thermostat every time you catch a chill, grab a sweater instead. Dressing in layers is totally in: It'll keep you off those fashion makeover shows, save you about $250, and keep 1,000 pounds of CO2 outta the environment per Biter, per year. Get the full Bite.

2. Break the (drying) cycle.

Save $25 a year by turning off your dishwasher's drying cycle. It accounts for 15%-50% of dishwasher energy usage, and believe it or not, your dishes will indeed dry on their own. Get the full Bite.

3. Make your fridge chill.

Help your refrigerator run more efficiently by keeping it full, using glass storage containers, and cleaning the dust off the coils a couple times a year (if they're at the base; this alone saves up to $20 a year). Bonus: Replace your current fridge with an Energy Star one to save $55 a year. Get the full Bite, and watch our vid.

4. Shed some light bulbs.

Replacing your standard bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) can save the average household about $180 a year. Plus, traditional incandescents generate about 2-10 times more mercury than CFLs when you figure in emissions from the power plants that usually power them. Get the full Bite.

5. Get outta hot water.

Turn down the temp on your tank water heater to around 120 degrees (many installers set to 140 degrees) - that's hot enough to clean you and your dishes but still save you 6%-10% on water-heating costs. Plus, if every U.S. household did the same, we could prevent the amount of globe-warming CO2 emitted by the country of Kuwait. Get the full Bite.

6. Leave your clothes in the cold.

Doing your laundry in cold water instead of hot will save you $61 a year and will keep your clothes looking newer, longer - and it does the job on all but the worst cases of griminess. Households that wash only in cold water prevent 1,281 pounds of CO2 from mucking up the air every year. Get the full Bite.

7. Kick it old school with nonelectric appliances.

Burn a few calories and cut a few dollars off your energy bill by using a manual can opener rather than an electric one. If 10,000 people ditch their electric can openers, in a month we'll save enough electricity to power a lamp for about 11 years. Get the full Bite.

8. See how your energy use measures up.

Get a home energy monitor to gauge your home's power usage - down to the LCD TV you left plugged in and your kiddo's night-light. Seeing where all that energy's going will remind you to unplug and flip switches. Get the full Bite.

9. Exorcise your phantom loads.

A phantom load is the energy that's sapped by your appliances when they're plugged in but not on, and a whopping 40% of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while they're turned off. Curb the energy drain by plugging 'em into power strips that you switch off each night. Get the full Bite.

10. Let the sun shine in.

Installing solar panels is an up-front investment for sure, but it's a great way to cut energy costs (with the right system, you'll never have another energy bill again) and pollution. Just 1 hour's worth of the sunlight that hits the earth provides more energy than we use in a whole year. Get the full Bite.

One of the biggest Whole Foods stores in the world opened this spring in Chicago, where I live, and I’m afraid to go. 

My husband has breezed through a few times already and always returns with a glazed, content look on his face. “Can we move in?”  he asks, then turning into 30 Rock’s Liz Lemon, says with awkward longing, “I want to go to there.”

So why avoid it? First, markets are kinda my happy place, lame as that sounds, and a visit to this superduper Whole Pay Check could quickly turn into Whole Bank Account. All that beautiful produce? And amazing cheese and bread? And a wine bar to boot? Forget it. I’m bound to completely bliss out and wake up at home with a pallet of organic strawberries and pastured goat cheese smeared on my face.

But also, as a Biter, there’s the hyperconsciousness (some might say apoplexy) I now bring with me to the market that complicates everything. Is it local or organic or fair trade? Is it an agribusiness brand in hippie sheep’s clothing? Or worse, a corn or soy product that doesn’t exactly resemble food? (Yes, hello, Michael Pollan - and our next Book Club pick, peeps.) ‘Cause it’s not like Whole Foods has sorted that all out for the consumer, nor should they.

At least for the summer, though, I’m in good shape. (Yes, it's avoidance and no, I’m not proud of it.) Hooray for CSAs. The Midwest growing season is short but abundant, and our farmers are finally flush with local goodies.

As for the other stuff we can’t get around here and still want? I’ll send the hubby.

-Mama Bite Editor Alison...off to ogle the first garlic scapes...

From Mama Bite