The Green touch

Just because I don't post anything doesn't mean I don't do environmental stuff. Most of the time I must say I'm just lazy: I have an article to write about homemade yogurt for example and I know this one will take time to write... So today I decided to write about small, easy, random (and short to write about) tricks I do all the time. Trick n°1: use reusable shopping bags France is terribly ahead of Norway in that matter. 10 years ago you could also get (free) plastic bags at the supermarkets. Non biodegradable bags were forbidden in 2005, but I discover now that only the law was voted in 2005, and the deadline was fixed in 2010. Free plastic bags actually disappeared from the great majority of supermarkets as early as 2006 it seems. Instead you could buy very solid plastic bags for 0,50 cts (right one on the picture). From then on people got used to carry their own bags when going shopping. But I remember a friend who kept forgetting in the beginning and who ha...

Lately I decided to stop buying one of the three things I eat most often and make them myself. The idea was to reduce the amount of waste. One of them is garlic croûton. I like to eat "light" in the evening, especially when I have to get up early (eating beaf doesn't help falling asleep for exemple). I often have a corn and cumcumber salad which I like to eat with croûtons, otherwise it's boring :) But as I eat this dish quite often, I used to buy a lot of croûtons. I had to choose between croûtons emported from the US and overpacked european croûtons, which were, on the top of that, not particularly tasty. Now I make them myself, every two or three weeks. That's very easy, that's cheap, and they're delicious :) The first recipe I tried requested half a baguette, 6 garlic cloves, herbs and 50 cl olive oil, which is waaaaaay too much. The idea was to squeeze the garlic to bring out the taste as much as possible and mix it with oil. Quite a lot of ...

Ever since I got a job, I don't make as many cosmetic products as before. But this one is very simple to make and so pleasant to use. Smells delicious and you'll understand why. It's a body peeling with only kitchen-ingredients. - 4 table spoons sugar - 2 table spoons honey - 2 table spoons oil Mix everything and...it's ready! --> The more liquid the honey, the better. Mine is slightly hard but is just mix everything with the finger before use. --> Use preferably organic ingredients --> Use any oil, but if you don't have antioxydant, don't use a fragile oil. I chose olive and apricot oil. It leaves the skin really soft but I think sugar would be a bit harsh for a facial peeling. Recipe found on http://www.faitesmaison.com

I know it's a bit late for a Christmas article but I just wanted to tell you about the present for my 9 year old goddaughter. Same principles as last year , homemade, second hand presents or "personal vouchers", except this year I didn't have time at all for homemade. So I went for personal vouchers and it's not too late for you today. It's a great way to find a gift that will truly please your beloved, instead of rushing to the mall and buying whatever you find because you have to. This kind of gifts tend to stay in a drawer, or ends up on ebay... I sent my goddaughter a nice postcard, wrapped in gift paper. The card was saying: this year for Christmas, I take you to the movies! I saw her yesterday, she's really excited :)!

We have had a lot of snow lately in Tromsø and since we are kind of in a twin season, that snow does not behave as it should: that is to say, not melt before a few months! After waiting (a lot - bus chaos!) and walking (a lot too) in that 10 centimeter melting snow slightly solid water, my feet, socks, inside of shoes were really really wet. This is what to do to make your shoes dry (I didn't want to try the hair dryer because I don't think it's good for the leather/it consumes electricity/it's not very efficient): - put crumpled newspaper in the shoes; it definitely absorbs the water. - replace the paper as often as necessary. I thought it was OK after three times but the paper was still slightly wet after 5-6 times.

Not that it makes them more environmental-friendly, not at all, but it's healthier. New clothes contain a lot of chemical, toxic substances. Whether they are pesticides used to grow cotton or  used later as pigments or to give the cloth some properties (make them wrinkle free or prevent mildew during shipping for example), these substances can be responsible for allergies, irritations, nausea. In the worst case it can even affect reproductive systems. This is why you should always wash new clothes, especially children's, underwears and bed sheets. This is also the reason why second hand clothes are definitely safer and cleaner : because they have been washed so many times that chemicals are gone. Definitely a good option, at least for children.  Another one is to buy organic clothes, also because their carbon footprint is far less important than clothes made with conventionnally-grown cotton. I guess I will have to write an entire article about that too. By the way good...

When you live alone, buying food tends to be more expensive - than when you're two or more - because you have to buy smaller format of everything. Not only the price is higher for an equivalent quantity of food but especially it produces more waste. On the other hand, if you buy larger amount, there is a risk that the food will go bad before you have time to eat it. One option is to buy - rather - large amount and to freeze what you're not going to eat right away. I do that especially for grated cheese: I saved 2-3 bags so I can divide my 500 g cheese and can eat it little by little. Same thing with bread, not that I don't know when i'm going to eat it (every morning, toasted) but it would get dry before I even have time to finish the whole loaf. This trick works pretty with anything you need to warm up anyway, and you don't even need to use the micro wave. One onion if often too much for me for one meal (but, hey, you can't buy smaller amou...