Back from the Florida festivities (traveling with two kids is not so fun) and proud of my ever expanding extended family. We were about 35 people this year in Boca Raton to surround the matriarch 97 year old grandma and instead of the annual t-shirt (we have 15 of them now), we gave everyone camelback nalgene bottles with a sticker that says, “Levenbergs Go Green, Boca Raton 2007″. We did not purchase flats of bottled water to get through the week together poolside and we hopefully will keep using our bottles and influence our kids to do the same. (Did this stop the hotel from delivering 4 bottles of water daily to our rooms? Hmmm. 4 bottles per room X 10 rooms x 7 days=280 bottles for our little family).
Archive for December, 2007
Blame it on the rain… (or global warming)
Ah the Pineapple Express… Here in Seattle, it snowed on Saturday and we all danced in the flakes, made snowmen and giggled with delight. On Sunday and Monday, we got 5.3 inches of rain in a 48 hour period. Are you joking? Our recently finished basement (my office, my daughter’s play space, our guest room) is no longer finished- carpet, carpet pads ruined and we’re waiting to see if the dry wall stayed dry. In response to the rain and flooding, everyone I know in my hood simply muttered, “Damn global warming!”.
Eco cooking with a pressure cooker
I had dinner with dear friends this weekend and learned about the efficiencies of the pressure cooker. My friend told me that you can cook beans in there for 30 mins rather than on the stove for 3 hours, a whole chicken takes 25 minutes– according to the EcoChick, “On an average pressure cookers cook food about 70% faster than conventional cooking.” Do the math and you could save some serious energy by pressure cooking as much as possible…does this mean crock pots are the opposite of the spectrum? Either way, Chanukkah is coming and I might just have to try to pressure cook a brisket or two.
