Category — Product Review

Many of my friends have started to use Sigg bottles. From Switzerland and made to last, these bottles exceed FDA requirements on preventing harmful chemicals from getting through and have been thoroughly tested to ensure 0.0% leaching.

They are also recyclable, made of alunimum, and trendy, a great combination. But most importantly, Sigg alunimum bottles provide an alternative to the toxic Lexan plastics that Nalgene is made out of. A Canadian outdoor gear company, Mountain Equipment Co-op has pulled all of its Nalgene bottles off its shelves for that reason. The claim is that Nalgene bottles have the chemical, Bisphenol A in the plastic behind it is made out of. I think I’ll start putting my Nalgene bottles away.

One of my colleagues, Rohit, pointed out a very good resource on choosing cars and car seats. It looks like there are a lot of toxic chemicals in cars . Especially for children or babies, toxins emitted from cars or car seats can be dangerous. Check out healthycar.org, a consumer guide to toxic cars created by a nonprofit environmental group, The Ecology Center. Interestingly enough, very few car seats make the final list as being safe from chemicals. You can download the full report for car seats here and the safety of vehicles in general here.

Few people seem to know about this place, but a wonderful little shop called Mission Pie, has been open in the Mission in San Francisco since January. Mission Pie sells pies made from an organic nonprofit farm (Pie Ranch) that are made by local Mission High school students. It’s a great double bottom line company that exposes sustainable agriculture and urban youth empowerment. I believe they have some great reviews from Yelp and Chowhound. Mission Pie is located at 25th and Mission St. in San Francisco.

I’ve been hanging out in LA this weekend going to another wedding. (I have gone to over 15 in the last year and a half!). This time, I wanted to check out the pinkberry craze. Does it live up to the hype? If you live in the LA or NYC area, apprently people have been raving about it.

I stood outside the Marina Del Rey Pinkberry in Los Angeles, where there was a 10 person line out the tiny store. My friends and I were thinking in our heads that this place must be making a fortune charging $5 per froyo. You can add things like fresh fruit, carob chips, nuts and choose between two core flavors: plain and green tea. The green tea yogurt tasted a bit weird (because if you had green tea ice cream in the past, it doesn’t taste like that at all, in fact a bit sour). The decor inside is hip, simple and fun, very similar to a Papa Beard.

I opted for the plain flavor with fresh kiwis, strawberries and carob chips (instead of chocolate chips to make it healthy). I took my first bite….mmmm did it taste good! The yogurt was more tart than the typical frozen yogurt. Although I did notice they didn’t fill up the entire cup with yogurt, and was pretty sneaky with an air gap in the middle of the yogurt. I don’t know what’s in it, but it was addicting and my two friends and I ate all of our frozen yogurt within 5 minutes. It was crazy how we ate it all because I usually don’t get stuff like this.

And then, after 10 minutes, we felt pretty ill. All three of us felt a little queasy. We knew Pinkberry touted themselves as “healthy”, but when we went home, we Googled for the ingredients in Pinkberry because they were not posted in the store. Apparently someone is suing Pinkberry for not disclosing its ingredients, and questioning its claim of even being a true yogurt byproduct. The California Department of Food and Agriculture is also now investigating. Personally, I wouldn’t touch this again, because all three of us felt so sick afterwards and ate the Pinkberry so quickly, that I’m betting these something addicting and unhealthy that Pinkberry doesn’t want to share. Check out more about its controversy here…

Celebrating another big 30th birthday, my friend Laura rented a shuttle to Napa valley and checked out some of the wineries. Our first stop was Constantino, a family run winery. To be honest, I’m not really a wine person, more of a foodie, but I thought the atmosphere of the winery was very relaxed and intimate. It apparently is my friend Laura’s favorite winery in Napa and she bought a wine membership from them.

Our next stop was V. Sattui, another family run winery near St. Helena. Despite its beautfiul grounds with oak trees and picnic tables, the place was a mad house! We did arrive Saturday at noon, but once I walked inside the tasting room and deli, it felt like going into a squished Trader Joe’s during rush hour, with people running around everywhere. The picture above shows a very nice deli and cheese selection.
They also carried Frog Hollow Farms’ organic and locally made jams. Even better is their fresh produce (especially peaches) if you find them in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. I don’t think I would go back to V. Sattui, it was way too crowded and ruined any notion of being in Napa.
I used to live in New York, walking distance to the Dean and Deluca shop in SOHO. I was delighted to see even a larger Dean and Deluca in Napa. Above is a picture of locally sourced organic fruits. They had a wide assortment of farms nearby.

Dean and Deluca wasn’t as packed as V. Sattui, and the food options were way better, with fresh pastries, exotic teas, spices and wines. The only thing I wish Dean and Deluca could do better is to put benches or tables outside their patio so people can actually eat their food properly.

Warning! This is unfortunate news, but a local San Francisco yogurt company, Whole Soy, is recalling its products after some customers had allergic reactions to its products. Specifically, they are recalling all Blueberry Soy Yogurt with UPC code 664372600086 and all Mixed Berry Soy Yogurt with UPC code 664372600222 in six-ounce containers with “best by” dates of June 22 and June 29. They are recalling the products because of they may contain trace amounts of milk, casein or dairy derivatives. Whole Soy has posted a phone number if you have any questions: (877) 569-6376.

One of my friends, Ted Ko, joined a startup called GreenDimes, which is a cool new way for people to stop junk mail. I interviewed GreenDimes’ marketing head, Kendra Ott, for details.

One of my friends from high school started a great food company, Hodo Soy Beanery. It’s an all organic, fresh, locally produced soy product company–from tofu, to soy milk, and special textures of soy that you typically can’t find at a market. They sell at farmers markets such as the Ferry Building in San Francisco, the Berkeley Farmers market, the Marin Farmers market and recently in Oakland and San Mateo. I’ve tried their tofu, soy milk and other products and it all tastes very fresh and light.

I recently started to watch KQED’s new series, QUEST. I love this show–it’s all about the Bay Area and how we are dealing with different environmental and science issues. It’s in high definition and you can download free videos of previous episodes on their website. Some of the ones that I like include: plug-in modified hybrid cars that carry 100mpg, a biodiesel road trip from LA to San Francisco, Earth Day in the Bay Area, green building, and Silicon Valley’s investments in green technology. If you have high definition, definitely check this out. Disclaimer: I am a KQED member, but this is still an interesting show to watch.