Ideal Bite

My parents would never have fed me fish sticks as a kid. We actually went fishing, caught fish, cleaned them, and cooked them. In summer, our garage smelled like smoked trout; we packed it for lunches and brought some out for parties. It got a bit old, to tell the truth.

Years later, like a kid who was never allowed to eat the odd bowl of sugary Captain Crunch - like, not even at a friends' house on Sunday (poor sots) - I spied some pre-caught, pre-cleaned, pre-cooked, and pre-battered sustainable cod fish in the store, and oh the crispy deliciousness!

Don't tell my mom, OK?

-Jenifer Morgan...off to add whip up some special tartar sauce... Read the full post... 

Toshio's playing AC/DC in the office while I type this, so it seems only too appropriate to harken back to my 80s roots.

In past years, I've just tossed up my hair on top of my head before heading out to yoga or into my home office, so I've had little use for hairspray. But for those occasions when I want to look decent, hair comes down, hairspray comes out. Since my hair is curly, it really doesn't take much attention to make it big.  I mean BIG.

Not QUITE the spectacular effect that I used to be able to conjure in the 80s, but hey - Halloween is tomorrow...maybe I'll break out the banana clips and tease some bangs.

-Heather...off to headbang to "Back in Black"... Read the full post... 

Toshio's playing AC/DC in the office while I type this, so it seems only too appropriate to harken back to my 80s roots.

In past years, I've just tossed up my hair on top of my head before heading out to yoga or into my home office, so I've had little use for hairspray. But for those occasions when I want to look decent, hair comes down, hairspray comes out. Since my hair is curly, it really doesn't take much attention to make it big.  I mean BIG.

Not QUITE the spectacular effect that I used to be able to conjure in the 80s, but hey - Halloween is tomorrow...maybe I'll break out the banana clips and tease some bangs.

-Heather...off to headbang to "Back in Black"... Read the full post... 

In April, I became a homeowner for the first time. But did I get a nice little studio flat? A one bedroom in an old Victorian? A charming condo?

Oh no. Like most things I do in my "play big or go home" life, I bought a whole house.

And it's 100 years old. (As I said to my mom: "I feel like I just learned to run, and now I have to do a sprint in the Olympics.")

In an effort to "green" the place up, I'm doing a remodel next year. In addition to putting in radiant flooring, on-demand water heating and solar panels, I'm going to be putting Solatubes in - incredibly cool "tubing" that brings sunlight from your roof anywhere in the house - even a really dark basement like the one I've got.

I'll report back once they are installed, but for now, check them out at: Read the full post... 

In April, I became a homeowner for the first time. But did I get a nice little studio flat? A one bedroom in an old Victorian? A charming condo?

Oh no. Like most things I do in my "play big or go home" life, I bought a whole house.

And it's 100 years old. (As I said to my mom: "I feel like I just learned to run, and now I have to do a sprint in the Olympics.")

In an effort to "green" the place up, I'm doing a remodel next year. In addition to putting in radiant flooring, on-demand water heating and solar panels, I'm going to be putting Solatubes in - incredibly cool "tubing" that brings sunlight from your roof anywhere in the house - even a really dark basement like the one I've got.

I'll report back once they are installed, but for now, check them out at: Read the full post... 

Little known fact: Jenifer M - our Senior Editor (and assigner of blog topics) here at the Bite - was my best friend when I was eight years old.  She moved away while we were in our early teens (drama, tears, lots of letters), and we lost touch a bit throughout high school and college.  Years later, we lived together for a couple of years in our early 20s, clumsily attempting to make a tinderbox San Francisco flat into something livable and charming and (long shot) cool.  Because of this early familiarity, we have keen insights into what makes the other person tick.

Some people consider this long-term knowledge to be an asset in the workplace. 

Others simply think of it as blackmail fodder.

Instead of using that fact as an excuse to throw Jeni-who-wore-unicorn-tee-shirts-her-entire-childhood under a bus for making me write a blog about yarn, of all Read the full post... 

Beth
Elisa
Kay
Hilary
Brett
Hannah
Jenifer
Jen
Heather
Who's got the creepiest virtual representation of them all?

-Toshio...off to get over the flu before the weekend comes... Read the full post... 

A few months ago, I took part in a “cleansing” program that involved drinking blended raw foods for five days. It was very difficult, and I realized that liquid lunches aren’t quite enough to fuel my busy life.

But I did happen upon the most wonderful thing in the process: fresh coconut water. Wonderful flavor and texture, chock-full of electrolytes…and remarkably difficult to come by.

Here’s hoping that someday we can get it – and every other fresh, raw, delicious good thing - from a vending machine…or at least at a few more grocery stores and restaurants.

If you’ve got a favorite source in your home town, share it with us in the blog!

-Jenifer Morgan…off to eat dinner before I go coconuts… Read the full post... 

When we first moved into our SF office, some guy offered us some free office furniture if we moved it ourselves. Reuse, recycle. Seemed swell...until we took stock of our brute strength. Sparse. There were also severe logistical complications: no dolly, tiny elevator. There was also no parking outside the building (as downtown as SF gets), so Sara had to drive the truck around the block in circles, waiting for the rest of us to appear with half a desk or a random assortment of desk and filing-cab drawers. At one point, we had a desk, a desk chair, and no Sara. There we stood on the sidewalk, with swarms of people weaving around us, traffic streaming by...

Toshio parked his posy and made like he was at the office, calmly sitting Read the full post... 

If you've been reading us for a while, you might know that I grew up in a small little town called Libby, tucked away in the Rocky Mountains of northwestern Montana.

Libby's in beautiful country - all peaks and streams and evergreens - and when I was growing up, one of the town's main industries was mining. What did we mine? A pretty little substance called vermiculite - a golden-streaked shale stone that got puffy when it was heated. A stone that was soft and smooshy?  Sounds like awesome insulation to me.

It sounded like awesome insulation to big business, too, and by the time I was born and living in Libby, W.R. Grace had bought the operations and was using the branded Zonolite vermiculite in housing insulation. And as a company Read the full post...