Category Archives: Green Saturdays

Posts about car-free life, sustainability, environmental issues, frugality, general tree-hugging stuff

Driver of Porsche gets 90 days in jail for hit-and-run involving bicyclist

Link to: Driver gets 90 days in jail for hit-and-run involving bicyclist – latimes.com.

Yay for bicycle rights!

One small step in the fight to get motorists to even acknowledge there are bicycles on the streets of L.A.

Honestly, it would be a great place for a bicycle renaissance. The topography is perfect for bicycles – largely flat, largely spread out, wide streets, all currently clogged with cars.

L.A. also has weather that supports a bike culture. Why can’t we do something radical like close off a lane for bikes only on major streets? You say, but where would the cars go? Exactly, answer that question. They would go away.

Until that happy day comes – and it will come, especially if we don’t find some solution to oil addiction quick – I like seeing enforcement of existing laws that protect bicyclists. There really is no contest between a 3-ton SUV and a 150 lb. bicycle rider. I’m glad the guy in this story (Ed Magos) survived and apparently will recover.

Maybe some good will come of the jail time, too, and the driver (Angelina Everett) can ponder the merits of selling her SUV and buying a nice bike.

Eating On $20 For One Week – woman proves it’s possible

Link to: Eating On $20 For One Week – Houston Restaurants and Dining – Eating Our Words.

OK, so I’m not excoriating Republican candidates today. I’m building my arsenal, it’s going to be like hitting the side of a barn.

Gimme some black beans

In the meantime, I’m back on frugality, especially regarding one of my favorite subjects, food. I happened upon Katharine Shilcutt’s piece in the Houston Press blog. She figured out how to Eat on $20 a week. I found it interesting (and helpful!) in particular because it focused on her own household of one.

My grocery bills normally run probably around $50 – $60 a week if I’m honest, and that doesn’t include meals out – which in Palm Springs comes to only one or two a week. Large parts of my food budget go to things I’m always trying to get off of: diet rootbeer soda, for instance – I buy 6-packs for around $2.50 at Fresh ‘n Easy or TJ’s and they go in a day or so depending on how hot it is.

I also like “artisan” bread and buy the La Brea Bakery brand whenever I can find it here. Typically that does cost more, but it’s SOOO much better than anything else. I do buy a lot of fresh and frozen berries (depending on season) that I use in smoothie concoctions along with yogurt and (sometimes) milk.

Lately, I’ve been trying to eat more locally and sustainably so haunt the Farmer’s Markets in Palm Springs – one at the Thursday night Street Fair (Villagefest), the other on Saturdays outside the Camelot Theater. Typically, I will buy greens for salads at those and whatever fresh vegetable they have in season that I can figure out how to cook. Some things fare better with me: yams, for instance, are much easier to deal with than leeks, which I didn’t really know what to do with.

The best value I see in Katharine’s weekly haul is the oatmeal. It is amazingly cheap, and I’m lucky because I like it a lot. I wouldn’t buy the chicken, as I really don’t like meat or poultry all that much. Instead, I add black beans to lots of things, getting my protein there. I also make batches of brown rice and freeze individual portions since it goes bad so fast.

But one thing I have noticed is that Farmers Market fresh vegetables last longer. Maybe because they don’t have to travel from New Zealand or Chile to reach us?

I’d love to hear other stories on how people save on food.

Frugal Living: Some Top Ways We Waste Money in 2010

Link to: 9 Top Ways We Waste Money 2010.

Brown-baggin' lunch

I’m so guilty of spending my almost non-existent income on some of these things: big targets for me include those energy drinks – somehow and for some reason I almost always have to have a low-carb Monster when I go to the gym ($3 at the gym, $1.50 at Ralph’s or Fresh ‘n Easy on the way there). I totally do not need these. Of course, I like the buzz.

I’m also guilty guilty guilty on the coffee – though I will say, I’ve never fallen prey to all the stupid high fat high calorie extra special super duper Starbucks drinks, and rarely have anything there other than a medium sized coffee (I REFUSE to adopt their lexicon for small, medium and large – go to hell).

What else – I WAS a good brown-bagger, except when I got lazy. Funny, now that I work at home every day, going out for the occasional lunch is such a treat. Luckily, Palm Springs is full of restaurants barely holding on to business so they all have specials. But usually I eat at home anyway, as it’s so much healthier.

Never fear – I’ll be back with anti-conservative screeds tomorrow, I’m sure.