Annie’s been bringing colorful shopping bags to the market for years. I knew it was the right, smart, green thing to do. Even Uncle George told me how much he saves each year by supplying reusable bags. But it wasn’t until Dori gave me some as a hostess gift a couple of weeks ago that I “got” the convenience and pleasure of it. … Continue reading
Don’t Judge a Book by It’s Cover The following is a video about one French Super Market’s radical and brilliant strategy to eliminate waste and make good produce affordable. Intermarche took this idea to the bank with their brainchild: Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables. They figured out how to sell millions of pounds of produce that would be otherwise trashed each year. … Continue reading
“Our Bees, Ourselves” by Mark Winston, author of forthcoming “BeeTime: Lessons from the Hive”, is a frighteningly convincing essay about the parallels between Honeybee collapse and human environmental degradation and subsequent challenges to golbal health and habitat. Read it, bee-ware, bee-warned, and bee-inspired. 1. There is a noticeable reduction in the number of bees in our garden. Luring birds … Continue reading
More good news for people who eat a GF diet (or love someone who does) and live around Greater Portland: Jill Miller started The Maine Pie Company. Gus didn’t like pie as much as the rest of the family, so creating a successful fool proof GF crust wasn’t an early priority. Still, since his diagnosis in 1998 … Continue reading
Bakers Chef Professional Plastic Food wrap is efficient, effective, and easy to use. Loved it. Had boxes in several widths. But plastic isn’t good for the environment. Glass food storage systems are an alternative, however sometimes left-overs need to be just covered. Julia brought Bee’s Wrap as a hostess gift to a gathering at which I was a guest. … Continue reading
Baking is essentially science. While it’s possible to make the occasional substitution or omission to accommodate dietary or pantry constraints the (muffins) may be a little different than originally conceived. Oven temperature, humidity, salted or unsalted butter, white or brown sugar, GF or conventional flour, egg size and freshness are among factors that will determine the quality … Continue reading
More and more nice bakeries and pastry shops are using attractive paper baking molds. They are especially good for cup cakes one takes to a pot-luck gathering, or a coffee cake one might take with a bag of coffee as a hostess gift for the morning after a dinner party. And since we’re not going to reinvent … Continue reading
