Ideal Bite

If you liked today's tip, may I suggest some additional, racy faves? (Warning: They're all a bit R-rated, but come on, it's Friday of our Birthday Best of the Bite Week...)

Find eco versions of your favorite smutty activities here:

• Sex Lubes
• Condoms
• Sex Toys
• Booty Calls

Happy Biting, all!

-Heather... off for a night of playing in NYC...

Read the full post... 

When my dad taught me to drive, he drew out a full diagram of the engine to show me why pressing the accelerator made the car go. He also showed me how to change the oil, change a tire, check fluids, and of course test tire pressure (oh, and how to call AAA when I forgot how to change a tire). His thoroughness later helped me kick ass on a flight-school mechanical test, but at the time, the reason for teaching me all this maintenance stuff was so I could help my $800 Dodge Colt trot along until another summer's wages rolled in (alas, no Mercedes Benz for Christmas for this little pioneer girl...)

Anyway, it never occurred to me - or I was in snooze mode when he told me - that inflated tires also meant saving gas money (not to mention gas). But I did hear rumors (albeit from incredibly unreliable sources) that playing the radio and driving a dirty car lowered Read the full post... 

Like Jen, I have a really broad definition for what constitutes cooking. For example: sticking fishsticks in the oven? Counts. Toasting a bagel? Counts.

The first time I ordered a bag of CSA produce, because you don't get to choose exactly what you're gonna get, I was forced to find ways to use vegetables that were completely foreign to my diet. They delivered potatoes that weren't in French fry form. Radishes sans ranch dressing. And kale. Just...kale.

I'd never heard of kale, much less knowingly consumed it. But now it's one of my top-5, desert-island, must-have, favorite vegetables. Braise it in a little olive oil and when you're done, sprinkle nutritional yeast on top. So, so good. Point is, CSAs are great for all the reasons we listed in the tip, but expanding your culinary horizons is a definite benefit, too.

-Toshio...off to make a sandwich Read the full post... 

Yesterday, I walked into the office, and Sara and Tosh said, "You look really good today! Sort of refreshed and rested."

The sad truth is that for the first time in ages I just didn't look pasty and white. I spent all of Sunday working outside in my garden and got the tiniest bit sunkissed. I hate to admit it, but I just look better with a touch of sun. I know it's bad for my skin (sarcoma, wrinkles...). I often wish I were one of those Nicole Kidman types (minus the freaky frozen botox) who look great when lily white, but I just don't.

So, it's lovely Lavera sunscreen and some outdoor time for me... apparently, it keeps me looking "refreshed and rested" instead of "Hey - you look lobstered and blistery!" (which you just know they wouldn't hesitate to say).

-Heather... off to pack for Montana next

Read the full post... 

Yesterday, I walked into the office, and Sara and Tosh said, "You look really good today! Sort of refreshed and rested."

The sad truth is that for the first time in ages I just didn't look pasty and white. I spent all of Sunday working outside in my garden and got the tiniest bit sunkissed. I hate to admit it, but I just look better with a touch of sun. I know it's bad for my skin (sarcoma, wrinkles...). I often wish I were one of those Nicole Kidman types (minus the freaky frozen botox) who look great when lily white, but I just don't.

So, it's lovely Lavera sunscreen and some outdoor time for me... apparently, it keeps me looking "refreshed and rested" instead of "Hey - you look lobstered and blistery!" (which you just know they wouldn't hesitate to say).

-Heather... off to pack for Montana next week... Read the full post... 

I'm always surprised at how efficiently mail I don't want arrives, while getting mail I actually do want (or really need) involves endless follow-up with the post office or my elusive building manager. Before my flurry of no-call, no-send, no-freaking-way-are-you-allowed-to-solicit-me signups, I'd get a host of catalogs from affiliates of a store where I'd bought something only two days before. Meanwhile, it once took three weeks of fruitless inquiries before a two-day certified-mail package I was expecting found it's way to the top of my mailbox for anyone to nab (without the required signature, mind you).

I just finished the book Entre Nous: A Guide to Finding Your Inner French Girl, and it contained two particularly useful insights: 1) If you feel like taking a nap, take a nap (bien sur!), and 2) make friends with whoever delivers your mail, so they'll be Read the full post... 

One of my friends in college did her biology thesis on the Asian gene - the gene that makes Asians turn red in the face, and become achy and naseous after just a drink or two. She tested people who were Asian, white, and half-Asian/half-white. I'm in this last category.

Going into the lab, I expected a cocktail party. Wearing labcoats, she and her assistant would serve drinks, and then she'd break out her tape recorder and ask each of us how we were doing after drink one, drink two, drink three, and so on. Later, she'd take out her magnifying glass to inspect our complexions. Was our skin as it was when we arrived, or were we redder than red?

Tragically, she just swabbed the inside of my cheek and that was that. I never got my results, but I'm pretty sure I have the gene. I mean, I can binge drink with the best of them, but unlike my white roommate back at school, I can't

Read the full post... 

I've had canvas bags hanging around for longer than I've lived in San Francisco - almost a year. I even kept a couple in my Corolla before I got rid of it, but every time I'd go to Trader Joe's I'd get up to the check stand and feel like slapping myself in the face - of course I'd left my totes back in the trunk of my car for yet another shopping trip.

When I started walking to the grocery store, I put the bags in a really visible place in my kitchen. I'd forget at first, but eventually was able to make it into a habit since I couldn't avoid looking at the bags every time I went for ice cream or a pickle or whatever.

Anybody have good mnemonics for those who still can't seem to remember the damn things? Maybe put a dollar in a jar each time you forget? Wear a rubber band around your wrist on days you're going shopping?

-Toshio...off to put a Read the full post... 

They shouldn't have assigned the blog to me today, because I'm going to bag on the tip. Oooh, the drama of an unregulated blog...

Here's the deal - I am NEVER going to bake one of those cake mixes. Never. Oh, don't get me wrong - our editorial team has deemed them good, and they are. I just don't believe in boxed cakes. They rank up there with fat free cheese (??) or fake sugars. Why bother? My equation? Eat less of the real thing, and bake fewer, but better cakes.

Now in this case, at least, the Daily Tip lists organic alternatives to other boxed cakes, so it's a step in the right direction. And as my mom tells me all the time - boxed cakes make mom's lives easier, because damn it - kids don't really care.

Well, I don't have kids yet. So I promise you - if you get a cake from me, I made it from scratch.

-Heather... off to figure out what cake to make for

Read the full post... 

They shouldn't have assigned the blog to me today, because I'm going to bag on the tip. Oooh, the drama of an unregulated blog...

Here's the deal - I am NEVER going to bake one of those cake mixes. Never. Oh, don't get me wrong - our editorial team has deemed them good, and they are. I just don't believe in boxed cakes. They rank up there with fat free cheese (??) or fake sugars. Why bother? My equation? Eat less of the real thing, and bake fewer, but better cakes.

Now in this case, at least, the Daily Tip lists organic alternatives to other boxed cakes, so it's a step in the right direction. And as my mom tells me all the time - boxed cakes make mom's lives easier, because damn it - kids don't really care.

Well, I don't have kids yet. So I promise you - if you get a cake from me, I made it from scratch.

-Heather... off to figure out what cake to make for

Read the full post...