Cute veggie handler is always in season.

If you ask any environmentalist what you should eat to go green, they almost always will mention in-season produce.  I, like most of us, love the idea of eating fresh vegetables that haven’t been genetically modified to grow year round.

The only problem with eating in-season vegetables?  I have no freakin’ idea which vegetables are in season!  This holds especially during the colder months, when I, a California native, just assume that everything everywhere else is buried underneath a good 5 feet of snow.  In case you, like me, are utterly clueless when it comes to veggies, I have compiled a handy little guide to make the most educated choices when you’re at your neighborhood farmers market (because that’s obvi where you’re shopping, right??).

Why should I care? In season fruits and vegetables cure cancer.  Okay, not really, but they are still better for your health because they’re less likely to be doused in chemicals.  In-season crops are meant to grow during that time, meaning that they need less manmade help in order to thrive.  They’re also better for the environment because they’re less likely to be shipped from a faraway place that has the perfect growing climate for that crop.  Plus, they just taste better without all of that icky stuff all over it. Read More »

Last Tuesday I saw the documentary Food, Inc. and it changed my life.  Although it had a relatively minimal environmental focus, it still reminded me how important we are as consumers and how much our food purchasing decisions actually make a difference.

Think about it – 10 years ago you couldn’t really find any substantial amount of organic produce in mainstream supermarkets.  Now, due to the demand for healthier and more sustainable products, the supermarkets are flooded with organic products from Oreos to macaroni and cheese.  And for those of you who think you can’t afford eco-friendly foods on a college budget, think again.  I will show you where, how, and what to buy to decrease your carbon “foodprint” while increasing the size of your wallet. Read More »

When budgeting, I have two primary concerns that I think many college students share:

1) Pay rent to keep a roof of some sort over my recently highlighted head.

2) Social spending, as in, how many nights a week do the remaining funds allow for.

Please note that these are not necessarily considered in that order, which can cause trouble.

Depending on whether your college town is ridiculously expensive (see: going to college in a major city) or suuuper cheap (see: anyplace where drinks are less than $4.00 each or has promotions like “dollar long island night”), your bank account is going to take a very different sort of beating by means of your social budget.

But food is an essential, and when takeout can cost more than your bar tab, grocery shopping to save some green is a great habit to have. Read More »

“Prince Charming” continues to say stupid sh*t

Plus size summer fashion, baby!

Um, don’t eat the tomatoes

Wicked famous sports stars going broke? They’re not stupid, they’re just too trusting

Jessica Simpson gets inpsired by her own boobs

Is your summer fling already dead in the water?

I’ve figured it out. Puff Daddy wants to be Sybile. You know, the woman who had 13 personalities?

Know your in season fruit, mamas!

You might be dating a criminal if: you’re Anne Hathaway

[photo of R. Everett from abc.net]

My future and I collided last night at the grocery store.

It wasn’t one of those gentle brushes with fate, like when you see someone who kind of resembles the person you think you might age into, someone who’s thinner and more fashionable than you’d imagined a fifty-year-old self to be. There was no pleasant “Huh. Could be worse,” moment. This was more like getting backed into by a cement truck, with my past changing lanes to rear-end me just as I got out to check the damage.

Just before getting in line to pay for my groceries, I popped back over to the produce aisle on an organic avocado search. There were two left — how ironic for an emporium of food — two little green rocks which probably were made fun of by all the other avocados before they were sold. Disappointed, I turned back on my heels, fruitless, only forced to bob and weave around a disgustingly happy twenty-something couple who had just come in off the street.

They were hanging all over each other in front of the fresh strawberries and grapes, kissing and laughing when they weren’t content with just hanging. It was too perfect, the sex in their near future, the fruit… it was like Freud had set the scene up himself. I threw my shoulders back and carried my groceries for one to the checkout and got in line, and there she was. Read More »

I know, I know, I should eat more fruits and vegetables.

It’s not like I don’t want to be the healthiest person alive…it’s just that produce tends to be expensive in this city, and if I don’t eat all of it quickly, it goes bad and then I feel bad because I wasted money on perfectly good produce. Also, my fridge smells for days and that’s gross.

In my never ending-search to make myself healthier and waste less money, I stumbled across this little gem of a website not too long ago. NutriFruit was started in 1931 in the lovely little state of Oregon, and for years these people have been shipping quality freeze dried fruit to costumers all over the United States.

Freeze dried fruit?, you say, that sounds weird.

Well, yes, it is a little weird, but it’s also pretty healthy. Since NutriFruit takes out only the water from their berries, a canister of the stuff has almost all of the nutrients of fresh fruit — but you get a lot more bang for your buck. Sprinkle it over cereal or yogurt, add it to salads or smoothies, or simply sweeten up a slice of bread and butter! With all the options; banana, black raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, marion blackberry, red raspberry, and strawberry, you can fill your pantry with a virtual fruit salad — for a fraction of the cost. Plus, freeze dried stuff can’t go bad!

If you’ve ever wanted to get more viatims and minerals in your diet without stuffing yourself full of supliments, NutriFruit might just be your ticket to a healtheir bod. Just in time for summer!