PaTcHwOrK arts & crafts fair 5 is coming to town-November 15th!

i just finished having a meeting with Harveys Seatbelt Bags for what will be another exciting Patchwork Craft show. In case you haven't heard of it, Patchwork is the brainchild of my niece Nicole of Random Nicole and myself. Back when we lived in Irvine, after a few glasses of wine, Nicole mentioned how she always wanted to have a craft fair...i realized that Orange County really didnt have a decent one, so we joined forces to create a hip-contemporary and community-based festival. What started out as a 30 vendor operation is now over 90 vendors large, with awesome community supporters, music and demos and even a mention on NPR!
So far, our scheduled date for the holiday show is NOVEMBER 15th, 2009 from 11-5 PM. I will send out more info on the event but for right now:

*If you are an interested vendor, please see our website for information on an application. NOTE: they are due October 1st (no exceptions).

* WE ARE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS: if you and/or friends would like to help, please send me an email (via facebook or store site). We will have one mandatory volunteer meeting a few weeks before the event. Shifts for the event are based on your availability and are 3-4 hours long.

affordable art: Sharon Montrose

i love etsy, it really is an addiction when you are on the computer too much.
Every week or so, they have a Featured Seller on the bottom of their homepage. There is an interview about what inspires them, who else to they like on etsy, how they ended up doing what they do, etc...
Last week, they featured Los Angeles photographer Sharon Montrose who does these pretty kick-a** photographs of animals against a white background...very natural but minimalist at the same time, i love them!


These photographs are so reasonable-she even has bookmarks and notepads-what a great and original gift!

Here is a link to her etsy store if you couldn't find it from the interview.

word for the day: Industrial Organic

Last week i mentioned something about the Opportunity Green Conference and one of the readers commented how some of the natural products companies are being bought by major/big-time corporations. This automatically triggered a diagram i saw while reading Cool Cuisine: Taking a Bite Out of Global Warming last year (PS if you want a copy, we should be getting them in next month) of SOME of the "who owns who" in the organic food industry. A quick search lead me to Phil Howard of Michigan State University's work..get ready!

Now note: this was created in Jan 2008, well over a year ago AND we both know this does not include every "organic/green" product out there, JUST FOOD (and probably not all of that either).
This is another big debate in the green industry-some say that having small, start-ups bought by big business is a good thing: more marketing dollars. Others however, say that the integrity of the original mission-statement, ingredients, operation, sourcing of raw goods, and manufacturing might be compromised with a buy-out.
my opinion: if you wanted "green", why not do it yourself, or better yet, change what you are doing now.
i would love to hear more comments on this chart or the debate!

CSA cooking: pesto and bruschetta

basket inventory: BIG time basil, carrots, curly kale, dandelion greens, avocados, cantaloupe, various citrus, eggplant...and some other items. to be honest, i gave more than 1/2 of my basket away to a gentleman in our neighborhood who hard been having a hard time looking for work and was really struggling. The best that i could do was give him some of my food so that he could help his family..times are tough!
The great thing about CSA food is that it lasts a lot longer than "conventional"/store bought produce, i still have items from even 2 weeks ago! so i have been using what i have to get us through to next week.

EASY PESTO:
big handful of basil leaves
cup or so of Parmesan cheese (which i will call "parm" from now on)
salt, or spicy salt in our case!
cup of nuts (usually people use pine nuts, but i have seen walnuts, you want "buttery" flavored nuts) this time i used a mix of pine nuts and pepitas (pumkin seeds) for mexi-flair
olive oil



combine everything but the oil in a food processor until well chopped. then little by little, add the oil until it is the consistency that you like. taste; add more basil if you like more basil, nuts if you like more nuts, salt/season...you get it. store in the fridge for a week.
pesto is great on pasta, toasted bread, on top on an Italian-themed egg dish, it is just plain good. add more peppers or cilantro for variation. we used ours on spaghetti squash i bought at the Irvine Farmers Market.

EASY BRUSCHETTA:
* my internship at Avanti Cafe (which i will be talking about later) has taught me even more that simple food is incredible when using great ingredients, this recipe was derived from watching Chef Tanya make a family meal a few weeks ago. This is a wonderful recipe to get rid of tomatoes that are getting soft or if you don't want the trouble of making a sauce.

tomatoes (at least a cup, but more is better), diced in irregular pieces
dash or 2 of salt (to taste)
pepper, italian spice mix (to your liking, start with small amounts- 1 tsp), Avnati makes a good one called Tuscan Kiss
olive oil about 1-2 tbsp
finely chopped basil (have 5 leaves and add more after tasting, we like a lot)
1 shallot or small red onion sliced fine

mix everything in a bowl except oil. taste; add oil slowly until it is where you like it. let it sit on the counter for a little bit and then chill for 30 min. mix again. add to crusty bread or we added scoops to our squash and pesto!

the beekeepers are coming!

I am so excited about my friends Kelly and Janet of the Backyard Beekeepers coming in to do their seasonal lecture on local/renegade beekeeping!! This Sunday, from 3-5 the ladies will talk about basic beekeeping, the bee crisis and what it takes to raise your own hive (which allows you to yield INCREDIBLE crops like never before. These ladies produce some amazing honey that doesn't stay in the store too long...yes it's that good!
Not only do they make honey and rescue bees throughout Southern California, they also make lip balm and natural lotion from it! Both Janet and Kelly have amazing homes filled with chickens, produce, hives and even a horse (Janet that is)!

affordable art: Virginia Kraljevic

I just recently found these whimsical prints from artist Virginia Kraljevic. I think that these would look adorable in a children's room or small hallway (even framed on your office desk). Most of the prints can be found on Virigina's etsy store.


For under $25 a pop you can have these works or some adorable pins and cards like the ones below:

ending the debate of SIGG vs. Klean Kanteen

Over the past month we have an above average request for Klean Kanteens and i recently found out why.

Going back over the past few years of this store, there has been a debate over the 2 popular drinking container companies SIGG and Klean Kanteen. Klean Kanteen, what our store has been carrying, is a stainless steel canteen while SIGG is an aluminum one with an interior "epoxy". The core of the debate has concerned on what exactly is in SIGG's epoxy and is it safe.
For as long as i have been following, SIGG has defended their bottles saying that they are safe and nontoxic.
Personally, we as a business have always sold and supported Klean Kanteen. I have never rationalized having a coating to cover aluminum when there was no need to have aluminum (which is toxic) and an additional coating when stainless steel was safe to use for drinks. also, I was against SIGG's narrow mouth which made it difficult to clean (leading you to buy an additional special cleaning brush) only adding to more purchases and work when it wasn't necessary.
So going back to the original debate and the recent rush in demand of Klean Kanteens: it was stated recently that:

Swiss sports and children's bottle maker SIGG has admitted what many consumer advocates have suspected for years, but never proven: That the epoxy lining used for years in SIGG bottles - which they secretly swapped out for a new liner last summer - contained the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A.

In the past year, SIGG has created a new "eco-liner". Why do that when they were safe to begin with?
Steve Waskik, CEO of SIGG made a public apology for the recent findings. Some people accept it, while a number of consumers are enraged. As far as we are concerned:

OUR NEW SHIPMENT OF KLEAN KANTEEN BOTTLES WILL ARRIVE ON SEPTEMBER 14TH.