Sunday, March 18, 2007
Going green
Spring has definitely sprung here in the big D. We had a few hot days a week or so ago, and I was worried that we were going to skip spring altogether and plunge headlong into the miserable Texas summer. But the last few days have been perfect - cool temperatures mixed with sun and clouds. The leaves are starting to come out on the trees, and there are a few flowering trees, like redbuds, livening up the park where I work (the theater and admin buildings are in a beautiful park in Dallas, complete with creek and hike/bike trail). I feel an urge to go to the Farmer's Market, to take a walk, to open the windows...
Between the beautiful temperatures and the homebuying compulsion I've had lately, I think I've officially got Spring Fever. I want to throw out about half of what we own and sell it off in a big yard sale. While we will hopefully be moving to a much bigger place in the summer, I don't want to continue to live with tons of stuff. I'm a packrat by nature, and I tend to cart around huge amounts of junk from home to home. Now, that doesn't mean that our apartment isn't nicely decorated and comfortable... it means that our closets are filled to bursting with old clothes, stuff we don't use anymore, that kind of thing. And I think there is a lot we could get rid of without really missing it.
Case in point: my bathroom shelves. Do I really need five kinds of face mask? Six mostly-empty shampoo bottles? Moisturizer I haven't used since 2003? I think that I could toss a lot of that stuff without giving myself dry skin, greasy hair, and horrible acne. I wonder if there is a women's shelter around here somewhere that would take some of it as a donation... we used to do that back home.
In a different type of "going green", our building just got a communal recycling bin. The city of Dallas is finally catching up with the rest of the civilized world with a good recycling program. I think we'll buy a new trash can to use for recycling. It will make me feel a bit better about my consumerism.
A third way of "going green" is a salad recipe I'd like to share with my loyal reader(s). You've probably seen this in some restaurant or cookbook; I don't claim to have invented it myself. But I've been making it for lunch for weeks now, and it's so good and easy to make. Here it is:
Spinach (I like to use baby spinach)
Blue cheese
Sliced red pear
Walnuts (optional)
Balsamic vinaigrette
Put the spinach in a bowl. Remember to tear it if you're using big leaves. Crumble some blue cheese (you can use Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzola or whatever) over the spinach. Add the pear slices and walnuts. Top with the balsamic vinaigrette. It's so good, and if you make enough of it, it's filling enough to eat as a main course.
Spring has definitely sprung here in the big D. We had a few hot days a week or so ago, and I was worried that we were going to skip spring altogether and plunge headlong into the miserable Texas summer. But the last few days have been perfect - cool temperatures mixed with sun and clouds. The leaves are starting to come out on the trees, and there are a few flowering trees, like redbuds, livening up the park where I work (the theater and admin buildings are in a beautiful park in Dallas, complete with creek and hike/bike trail). I feel an urge to go to the Farmer's Market, to take a walk, to open the windows...
Between the beautiful temperatures and the homebuying compulsion I've had lately, I think I've officially got Spring Fever. I want to throw out about half of what we own and sell it off in a big yard sale. While we will hopefully be moving to a much bigger place in the summer, I don't want to continue to live with tons of stuff. I'm a packrat by nature, and I tend to cart around huge amounts of junk from home to home. Now, that doesn't mean that our apartment isn't nicely decorated and comfortable... it means that our closets are filled to bursting with old clothes, stuff we don't use anymore, that kind of thing. And I think there is a lot we could get rid of without really missing it.
Case in point: my bathroom shelves. Do I really need five kinds of face mask? Six mostly-empty shampoo bottles? Moisturizer I haven't used since 2003? I think that I could toss a lot of that stuff without giving myself dry skin, greasy hair, and horrible acne. I wonder if there is a women's shelter around here somewhere that would take some of it as a donation... we used to do that back home.
In a different type of "going green", our building just got a communal recycling bin. The city of Dallas is finally catching up with the rest of the civilized world with a good recycling program. I think we'll buy a new trash can to use for recycling. It will make me feel a bit better about my consumerism.
A third way of "going green" is a salad recipe I'd like to share with my loyal reader(s). You've probably seen this in some restaurant or cookbook; I don't claim to have invented it myself. But I've been making it for lunch for weeks now, and it's so good and easy to make. Here it is:
Spinach (I like to use baby spinach)
Blue cheese
Sliced red pear
Walnuts (optional)
Balsamic vinaigrette
Put the spinach in a bowl. Remember to tear it if you're using big leaves. Crumble some blue cheese (you can use Roquefort, Stilton, Gorgonzola or whatever) over the spinach. Add the pear slices and walnuts. Top with the balsamic vinaigrette. It's so good, and if you make enough of it, it's filling enough to eat as a main course.
Labels: navelgazing
