>> A gene for creative alcoholics? Apparently the G-variant of the mu-opioid receptor “makes ethanol behave more like an opioid drug, such as morphine, with a stronger than normal effect on mood and behaviour.” People with this gene reported “stronger feelings of happiness and elation … usually followed by a longer state of relaxation, lasting several hours.” (via Utne)

This would explain why alcohol felt more like a stimulant to me, letting me get a lot more done if I drank while working. Unfortunately, “People with this gene variant also seem more prone to alcoholism, perhaps engaging in an increasingly vain pursuit of the highs they used to experience after the first drink or two.”

>> Local school lunches aren’t expensive, say the people who’re thinking outside the microwave. Baltimore public schools’ food service director Tony Geraci “found farmers who would sell him, and deliver, all the peaches they could grow—for less than he would pay for commodity peaches packed in syrup. Even commodity apples are more expensive than small ones from local farms.”

>> Organic ice creams for the lactose intolerant. Grist rates a bunch and the coconut milk-based ones win out, including Coconut Bliss.

Photo by Don LaVange

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>> Cinderella lives happily ever after by drowning her sorrows in drink. Dina Goldstein’s Fallen Princess series imagines what happens after fairy tales end. (via kottke)

>> Maybe Cinderella should’ve gotten divorced via Facebook instead. BTW, Facebook dethroned MySpace in the U.S.

>> Is moderate drinking really good for you? Or are moderate drinkers just good people? (via Lifehacker)

Moderate drinkers are healthier, wealthier and more educated, and they get better health care, even though they are more likely to smoke. They are even more likely to have all of their teeth, a marker of well-being.

“Moderate drinkers tend to be socially advantaged in ways that have nothing to do with their drinking,” Dr. Naimi said. “These two groups are apples and oranges.” And simply advising the nondrinkers to drink won’t change that, he said.

Image by Dina Goldstein / jpgmag.com

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Got a green business idea? What better way to refine it than to pitch it to fellow eco-thinkers — who’ve been drinking! Last night at V Lounge in Santa Monica, eco-social mixer Green Drinks teamed up with Bloblive, a weekly open mic event for entrepreneurs, for an eco-entrepreneurial social.

After a couple hours of mingling over organic drinks, would-be green-biz movers and shakers got on stage to make a 90-second pitch to a roomful of slightly buzzed Angelenos — who then asked questions and gave feedback. Unfortunately, the setting didn’t exactly work in the brave biz-pitchers’ favor; speakers had to compete not only against a Lakers’ game playing on TV screens all around the bar (and the fans watching and cheering them on), but also a distracting Twitter screen constantly updating on a screen right behind them.

But the venues for both Green Drinks and Bloblive change frequently. Hopefully future entrepreneurs will be able to make their pitch to a more captive audience. I’m not sure if Bloblive and Green Drinks will be teaming up again soon, but both events happen weekly in the L.A. area. Visit their sites to find out where they’re happening next.

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>> Plant trees by drinking cocktails, eating cupcakes. Caroline and Crack has the earth day food and drink dealios. The most impressive deal: Order an organic Tru2Gin cocktail at a number of restaurants around town, and the company will plant a tree for you. The more you drink, the more you plant!

>> Relatedly for your amusement: I’m so boring I’ve started drinking!

>> Send a free Earth Day e-card. My fave one’s this ninja card by mnn.com (which I write for) — even though I still don’t “get” Ask a Ninja.

>> Get eco-fashion deals. If you can’t make it to the 75% off everything deal at Vie tonight, then Green Gretchen’s got the coupon codes for a whole bunch of eco-friendly online boutiques selling Loyale, Edun, and much more.

>> Download free Go Green guides for L.A., courtesy of L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti. Three pamphlets — on greening the home, apartment, and office — are available in both English and Spanish.

>> Save money on pantry staples by making it yourself — sometimes. Jennifer Reese shows you why it’s cheaper to make your own bagels but not your cream cheese.

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No, I didn’t count them — but these collected wine corks were really starting to take up too much space in my apartment. I was collecting them in individual wine glasses — and running out of wine glasses –

So today they’ll be mailed off to the Terracycle Cork Brigade, to become mats and other upcycled products that’ll hopefully not be too fugly.

There are, of course, other ways to upcycle corks — covered in my Recycling for winos post. My sister’s way’s illustrated below. We are, as you may’ve guessed, very different people.

What do you do with your own corks?

Earlier:
>> Oh the things you can recycle
>> Revolution in a Bottle — Pot-inspired eco-capitalism

Photos top to bottom: Siel; Terracycle, yoelknits

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We had the Tierra Miguel CSA, we got the South Central Farmers’ Cooperative CSA last year which is now selling its produce at Whole Foods in Pasadena, and this summer we’re getting the Heart Beet Gardening CSA.

First, Heart Beet: Starting mid-June, you can get local, organic produce grown by the people behind Heart Beet Gardening, a cute local company that helps Angelenos create and maintain edible gardens. Weekly boxes will contain “a couple of tomatoes, lettuce (a head, or leaf) , bell peppers, basil, other herbs, a recipe and occasionally cut flowers,” according to Heart Beet Gardening.

To sign up, send in a $100 deposit to 1101 Palms Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90291, by May 1. Then you’ll pay $100 a month for a weekly box of produce — to be picked up at an as-of-yet undecided location. Your original deposit will cover your last month’s subscription. Questions? Call 310.460.9365 or email info@heartbeetgardening.com.

Now for the South Central Farmers’ Cooperative: You’ll no longer have to be a CSA subscriber to enjoy local, organic produce from these local farmers, now that Whole Foods in Pasadena’s going to offer their veggies every day.

And this Saturday, that Whole Foods is having a Locavore Launch party of sorts with the South Central farmers — including an organic cooking demonstration and a roundtable discussion about local food initiatives featuring the farmers and people from Path to Freedom, Fallen Fruit, and Cisco Home.

When: Sat., April 11 from noon - 3 pm. (roundtable at 1 pm)
Where: Whole Foods Market Arroyo Parkway, 465 S. Arroyo Pkwy., Pasadena.
Cost: Free!

After that, head over to Cisco Pasadena’s showroom next door for a free organic wine and food tasting, plus a screening of The Garden, a film about the South Central farmers. That starts at 3 pm at Cisco Pasadena, 474 S. Arroyo Pkwy., Pasadena.

Photo of Tierra Miguel CSA box by Jill Doughtie / Eye Level Pasadena

Earlier:
>> Organic meals, delivered in Los Angeles
>> Spud: Organic food delivery with a food mile calculator

Update, 4/24/09: South Central Farm documentary “The Garden” at Nuart 4/24

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I’m back on the wagon as of today — this time for a 3-month stint. This may be the last alcohol-related post for a while:

>> Cocktail Recipes for the Recession from The New Yorker. “Long Island Iced 401(k): Put hopes in shaker. Add dreams. Shake until dashed, then drink all the vodka, gin, tequila, and rum left in liquor cabinet.” (via kottke)

>> Binge drinking: Not sexy. Strangely, this study seems to assume that women drink to impress men. Writes Judy Berman in Broadsheet: “Pardon my sarcasm, but didn’t we learn, just a few months ago, that women’s binge drinking could be blamed on the excesses of feminism? And now we’re supposed to believe that ladies are overdoing it at the bar because they’re trying to impress their dates with unseemly levels of intoxication? Well, which is it? Are we drinking because we’re liberated or because we’re oppressed?”

>> A review of Bonterra Vineyards 2007 Zinfandel. “The strong taste of the blue cheese was exactly what this wine needed to bump it up to something noticeable. It ended being an excellent complement to my grilled blue cheese burger.”

>> Earlier: I drink because I’m tragically intelligent and well-educated.

Update: Blame it on the juleps. In the 1842 letter, Edgar Allen Poe apologizes to his publishers for drinking too much: “Wallace would insist upon the juleps, and I knew not what I was either doing or saying.” Earlier: My own private E. A. Poe

Photo by jeffsmallwood

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Until recently, fair trade wines were pretty tough to find. Now, these socio-economically conscious wines have even made their way into mainstream stores like Target and Sam’s Club. Plus, you no longer have to pick between enviro and social justice concerns! If you like their morning coffee double-certified organic AND fair trade, you can pick up a bottle of organic, fair trade wine at Whole Foods.

Pick from a number of different South African wines by Stellar Organics — all fair trade and organic certified (no sulfites added). I got a Cabernet Sauvignon at the Santa Monica Whole Foods for $10.99 — which I thought was a pretty tasty bargain.

Curious about what makes these wines fair trade? Basically, Stellar Organics’ workers receive competitive wages, have part ownership of the company (at least 25%, according to TransFair USA, which provides fair trade certification for products in the U.S.) — with a say in making larger community decisions. You can read more about Stellar Organics’ the fair trade policies on the company’s own website.

Also available at Whole Foods are Fairhills wines, fair trade certified wines from South Africa, Argentina, and Chile. According to Whole Foods’ Whole Story blog, the South African wines — that would be the chardonnay and the merlot — are working to go all organic in the next 2-3 years!

I didn’t know about this when I went shopping, though, and as luck would have it, went for the malbec and cabernet sauvignon — both from Argentina. These wines, at $13.99 a bottle, were just okay. I found the malbec too jammy for my taste — and both wines just had too much going on, IMHO. That said, people who like really big bold wines — Yellow Tail reds come to mind — will likely find these yummier. One reader of Bottoms Up really seems to like the malbec, though her description’s even more laconic than mine….

Whole Story has more notes on the Fairhills wines — as well as the fair trade details: “The Fairhills project is committee-driven, with 80% of the team farm workers, 10% importers and the remaining 10% winery owners. Together, they decide their fate in the wine business and, more importantly, the needs of their communities.”

As often comes up whenever I write about wine: Drinking organic Californian wine’s great too! Local is not diametrically opposed to fair trade — especially if you buy fair trade wine at a local wine store. But if you’ve got the hankering for a malbec, or are curious about what South African wine tastes like, fair trade wines can be a nice treat. Anyone else tasted these wines a try?

Earlier: Sunday solutions: Fair trade wine

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If you like to make your fair trade coffee Irish, I’m guessing you’ll like your beer made fair trade too! Peak Organic Brewing in Portland, Maine, has made the first fair trade certified beer: Peak Organic Brewing Company’s Espresso Amber Ale.

No, the beer itself wasn’t made in a far-off country. The fair trade ingredient in the beer’s the espresso, a dark Sumatran coffee blend roasted locally by a Maine company called Coffee by Design. That local roast was then combined with local beer to create the Espresso Amber Ale.

Unfortunately, I haven’t yet been able to taste this beer because it’s only available in stores in the Northeast. I guess they’re keeping it local! Next time I’m in Maine — which would be the first time I’m in Maine — I look forward to trying this local, organic, and fair trade brew — and enjoying its caffeinated buzz.

Earlier: Fermenting Revolution

Image via Peak Organic

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Environmentalists are de-fridging, reports The New York Times. More people are deciding to get rid of the kitchen’s biggest energy hog in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint — though quite a few greenies, including myself, still rely on their refrigerators — EnergyStar model refrigerators, that is.

De-fridgers cope by getting coolers, storing perishables outside in the winter, and when desperate, getting a mini-fridge. Many, as you can imagine, have had to change their cooking and eating habits to adabt — though these new habits, like cooking from scratch more often, sound like healthy ones for the most part.

That New York Times article reminded me of an older Wall Street Journal article about Manhattanites getting rid of their kitchens altogether. WSJ didn’t have an eco-angle — the article was published in 2001, before going green went mainstream — and instead focused on people who just wanted more space and didn’t care to cook. My favorite quote from one de-kitchened New Yorker: “How much room does it take to store a bottle of vodka?”

Quite a lot, actually, if you live in an eco-mansion like the Wired LivingHome, below. The top shelf’s lined with bottles of eco-friendly 360 Vodka –

Top photo by alexmuse

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