Decluttering: Holiday Shopping

With Halloween behind us, it's time to start thinking about the holidays (especially for families that exchange gifts with extended groups over Thanksgiving). I don't know about you, but once I started to work toward a more minimal lifestyle, I realized that I didn't want to contribute to clutter for anyone else. And as a person who LOVES to give presents, that's been a challenge for me. Here are a couple of strategies I've found to reduce the likelihood of giving someone something that will just end up taking up space:

Time: Give yourself time to plan what each person gets so that it can be really tailored to their interests. I like to make a list of everyone we're giving gifts to, and put my ideas down next to them to make sure I've thought it all through. If they're young, ask a parent what they'd really love (or what the parent would love them to get). If they're middle-aged or older, consider offering to give them actual time to help with whatever project they want around the house. We've given gardening help and painting help, and both have been very well recieved.

Be strategic with presents: Give the gift of experiences or consumables! Neither will end up as clutter, and studies show that people get more joy out of experiences than they do out of things. Feel like it's less exciting without a "thing" to unwrap? Package the tickets with a small, consumable article that references the gift (chocolate is always a good bet). Need ideas? All of the following take up minimal physical space but can be fantastic gifts:

    Classes. Music, cooking, dance, art. Check out your local cooking stores or community education postings for creative ideas.
    Memberships. Zoo, science museum, art museum, history museum, children’s museum, etc.
    Subscriptions. It's fun to get things in the mail- just make sure it's something they're interested in, so that you're not creating more clutter.
    Events. Tickets to a movie, art exhibit, play, concert or sports event.
    Activities. Mini golf, apple picking, bowling, wine tasting, skating rink, etc.
    Gift Cards. The ultimate in consumable, choose a store that they love and can access easily (or has a strong web-presence).
    E-reader. Are they a voracious reader? Get them the e-reader they've been requesting and help them set up an account with their local library.
    Snacks or Food. Something special that they wouldn't buy for themselves. We've done specialty cheeses, fancy spice sets (Penzey's spice sets are fantastic) and lots of interesting chocolates.

Wrapping Supplies: Most of us have a stockpile of lightly used gift bags. Put them to use! Don't worry about running out, or if the bag is pretty enough. If it's not good enough to use now, it should get tossed.

If you've managed to sort your way through the assortment, buy neutral colored wrapping paper or bags, and colorful ribbon. You can use the same white, silver or kraft colored paper or bags for weddings, baby showers, birthdays and holidays- just change out your accent ribbon and they're appropriate. No need to keep an assortment of papers and bags around- a box of ribbons will take up much less space!

Chinook Book: Making Sustainability Easy

Making the transition to local, organic, sustainable, happy, etc. food, clothing, and entertainment options can be fairly overwhelming. Do you buy the local, the organic, the free-range, the used? How do you evaluate which to buy, and when it's worth the price difference? This is one of the reasons I'm such a big fan of the Chinook Book (and no, I'm not being compensated in any way for saying that, other than the value of the coupons in the book I purchased for myself). Available in Minneapolis & St. Paul, Portland, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Seattle & Puget Sound, Willamette Valley, OR, and Denver & Boulder, the Chinook Book is a coupon book focused on sustainable local businesses.

It has 7 categories:
    * Grocery Products
    * Dining
    * Entertainment & Family
    * Wellness
    * Fashion & Gifts
    * Travel & Recreation
    * Home & Garden

Each of the categories has its own criteria for inclusion, which are detailed in the book, but I like that choosing each business means that at least some minimal criteria has been met for sustainability and locality. Since I am trying to support both, I try to tailor my dinners out, activities, and business choices to the featured businesses if I can. I find that I usually save the $20 purchase price within a month or two, and have 10 months where any savings are a bonus. It's a great way to find good new restaurants, and to motivate me to use some of the theaters, museums, and outdoor attractions in my area.

If you're looking for an easy way to tweak your spending in a more sustainable, local direction, this might be it. What are the easy steps you take to live a more sustainable, local life?

Seattle/Tacoma Highlights

I've had kind of an unusual introduction to the Seattle/Tacoma area: my sister went to school in Tacoma, and one of my best friend's from Japan was from Seattle. I've never had a typical touristy trip to Seattle, but here are the highlights from my previous trips.

Dinner on the Puget Sound. Seattle boasts a vibrant restaurant scene, with some top-notch seafood. One of the most enjoyable ways to take advantage of this is to find a restaurant with a view of the Puget Sound for dinner and watching the sunset. I haven't done this for several years, so I won't make a recommendation for what is still a good place to eat. I recommend you check Yelp! or TripAdvisor to see what places are getting good reviews. Note: like any other city, a view with dinner will increase the cost of your meal. On a sunny day, it's totally worth it.

Fremont. Fremont is an artsy neighborhood in Seattle, most commonly known for the Fremont Troll (above). The troll lives under a highway bridge, and is a really unique and interesting piece of Seattle culture. Freemont is also a great neighborhood to wander, shop, or find a coffeeshop or bakery.

Theo Chocolate Factory Tour. My absolute favorite thing to do in Fremont is visit the Theo Chocolate Factory for a tour and tasting. Tours currently cost $10, and walk you through the whole chocolate making process. Plus, you hear about how they chose flavors, it smells amazing, and you get to sample a ton of the flavors afterward. It really inspires an appreciation of the work that goes into making high quality chocolate. Space and tour times are limited, so I suggest calling ahead to reserve a spot.

Pike's Place Market. Probably one of the only nationally known farmers' markets in the country, Pike's is perched above the water in downtown Seattle. They have fishmongers who throw the day's catch, the first Starbucks, and tons of stalls and stores selling produce, grocery items, art, and all sorts of other crafts. I highly recommend a stroll through just to take in the atmosphere, and to grab a muffin from one of the bakeries across the street (my favorite is the vegan poppyseed- worth a try even for a non-vegan!).

Tacoma Glass Museum. Dale Chihuly seems to have spent time all over the country- I've seen at least 2 universities claiming him as a student, and his artwork is in museums and displays all over (check out my post here for a picture of his work at the Denver Botanic Gardens). That said, Tacoma really seems to have claimed his glasswork in a unique way. The Tacoma Glass Museum focuses on his glasswork and that of others, his artwork is on public display in the area around (including the courthouse, pictured above), and there is a glass-blowing studio in the museum. If you like glasswork of any sort, this is a really fun, well-done museum that is worth a visit. If you're not getting away from central Seattle, the Chihuli Garden & Glass near the Space Needle is a good option.

Space Needle. If anything typifies Seattle more than Pike's Place Market, it's the Space Needle. There are all sorts of options for going up the Needle, but I haven't gotten around to them. For me, it's just really fun being able to pick out the Needle in the skyline, and say with certainty "I'm in Seattle!"

Last, but certainly not least, try the fish. Any fish. Seafood is always better on the coast, and Seattle is no exception. The salmon is always fantastic.

Travel Resources: TripAdvisor

Trip Advisor is a giant in the travel world. It has reviews, rankings, forums, and lots of other resources to help you decide where to go, and what to do once you're there. I like to use Trip Advisor to vet trip locations: once I have an idea where we might go, I look at pictures of local attractions to see how interesting they look, and I'll check hotel reviews to decide where to stay.

A couple of tips:

    * Rather that use the someone tricky navigation to find your location, put "XX tripadvisor" into your browser as a search. It'll pull up the main page for that location much faster. This also works if you are looking for reviews of a specific hotel.
    * Don't get stuck just looking at hotels- check the vacation rentals and special accomodations too.

    * On that note, don't forget to look at restaurants and attractions in the area, where the reviews can be really helpful to determine if an attraction is worth the time, and what food options might be worth exploring. We really enjoyed the Denver Botanic Gardens, and Playa Flamenco.
    * Read the reviews and look at pictures: we often double check deals available through Groupon or Livingsocial against reviews on Trip Advisor. It may actually be too good to be true- I don't want to risk bedbugs, food poisoning, and really awful service. Better to get a heads up, so that we can decide where you can be flexible and where you're not willing to possibly compromise.

    * Search each location multiple times, using different filters, including the navigation bar (even if it is slow). We never would have found Casa Flamboyant in Puerto Rico if we hadn't done this, and it was one of the highlights of our trip.

Travel Resources: WikiTravel

WikiTravel is a crowd-sourced website that provides travel advice: the information is provided by users and publically editable. Each entry covers understanding the area, getting to the area, transportation within the area, attractions to see, activities to do, and places to shop, eat, drink, and sleep. Generally, the postings provide a little information about the quality of each place listed, and often tips to make the trip smoother or more interesting.

Other than the Naval History Museum in Hong Kong (which was well done, but not a "must see"), WikiTravel has never steered me wrong. It covers all major metropolitan areas that I have searched, and has brought smaller but interesting attractions, like the the Toronto Islands, to my attention. I highly recommend it when determining which attractions to visit.

I have never used it for restaurant or hotel recommendations, so I cannot speak to those. It can also be somewhat unweildy in very large cities because it breaks each city into districts which are in different entries. The main city entry does contain minimal information regarding the districts but it is helpful to know a bit about which areas you are interested in prior to researching large cities. As with all crowd-sourced websites, the quality of each entry varies with the poster providing the information.

A Brooklyn Based Itinerary: Day Two

Prospect Park is a gorgeous green space in the heart of Brooklyn. Many of Brooklyn's major attractions are on its edges (the Brooklyn Library, Brooklyn Museum, and Grand Army Plaza, to name a few). We started our second day in Brooklyn with a run around the "exercise highway" loop of the park (seen above, although our trip was not in autumn). It's a pretty perfect escape from the city- you can't hear any cars or see any buildings, and the paved exercise path is wide enough for a fair bit of traffic. The loop is about 3.5 miles, and you can see some of the "jewels" of the park, including the lake, and some of the older park buildings.

After our run, we went to Rose Water Restaurant for brunch. If you are in search of a perfect brunch in Brooklyn, this is it. $16 for the price fixe brunch menu, which includes a non-alcoholic beverage, and just amazing food. We had the baked polenta, frittata, and the daily special of corn cakes. All were delicious, but the polenta was just amazing. I also highly recommend the bread basket- the challah and muffins really started the meal out on a high note. I was highly tempted by the Plum Ginger Bellini, and regret that I didn't order it. We did have to wait a little while to get a table for our party of five, but never felt rushed or crowded once we were in the restaurant. They have indoor and outdoor seating, and serve brunch from 9:30 to 3:00 on Saturdays and Sundays.

We split our afternoon between two attractions, the Brooklyn Flea and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. The Brooklyn Flea has multiple locations- we visited the Fort Greene one, which is held in what looks like a school parking lot. The lot was full of vendors, with a pretty large focus on food, jewelry, and vintage clothing. If you're looking for antiques or glassware, there isn't much to look at. If you've never been to a flea market, it'd be fun for a browse. If you've been to established flea markets I wouldn't say this was so amazing that you have to make the trip.

Now, I'm a sucker for botanic gardens, and I'll visit basically any garden that my companions are willing to go to, so take my review with that in mind. The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens are just around the corner from the Brooklyn Museum. We did not stop at the museum, but have heard that it has a fabulous art collection, and collection of mummies. If you're looking for an easy pairing of activities, these two might be it. I'd suggest the botanic gardens for a leisurely wander, and possibly a picnic lunch, ideally in spring, when the cherry trees are blooming. The gardens are very well established, and spread out- we spent over an hour here, and could have easily spent double without eating or dawdling. Don't expect the dense plantings of newer botanic gardens- this is really more like a park with themed areas (some greenhouses, rose gardens, Japanese garden, cherry trees, etc.).

We finished the day by wandering through Grand Army Plaza to dinner at Sheep Station, and drinks at Koelner BierHalle (KBH). Sheep Station is an Australian bar, and had a very serviceable bar menu- we ordered burgers and vegetable curry pies. Both were tasty, and could come with a salad or sides (fries with the burgers, and mashed potatoes with gravy and peas for the pies). I would go there again, but probably wouldn't seek it out.

I've never been to Germany, but KBH is exactly what I'd expect to find in a typical German beer hall- long trestle tables, good beer in large glasses, and minimal staff keeping everyone happy. It's a fun experience, but I recommend ordering the 1/2 L for your drink (regardless of how much you think you'll eventually get)- the L comes in a glass mug, and is a serious workout to lift.

A Brooklyn Based Itinerary: Day One

I spent Labor Day weekend in Brooklyn, New York for a wedding. I hadn't been to New York since I was in high school, and we decided to make a long weekend out of it. On my previous trip, I'd seen a fair bit of Manhattan, so we also decided to mainly focus on Brooklyn. I thought I'd give you a rundown of what we did each of our three days, and the things worth their time (and not).

We stayed at an AirBnB house in Park Slope. For those of you who don't know, AirBnB is a website based housing service, where people post rooms, suites, or full houses/apartments for rent. It allows owners to generate some income from their unused space, and it allows renters to find what amounts to a bed and breakfast in areas that may not have any of the traditional sort (although not all postings offer breakfast). I've stayed at an AirBnB listing four times now, in Puerto Rico twice, in Denver, Colorado, and in Brooklyn. I would highly recommend the service, but also recommend that you read listings and reviews carefully- they've always been accurate for me, but sometimes point out some quirks of the listing. I'm happy to refer you to any of the listings I've stayed at, if you're interested.

* AirBnB has no idea who I am, or that I'm posting this review. I was not compensated for this opinion, and all thoughts are my own. *

We predominantly used the subway to get around, and found that to be a great option if you're comfortable with walking. The few times that we were with people who weren't, it was easy and fairly economical to catch one of the green "borough" cabs (which do not travel in to Manhattan).

Our first day was the only day that we went into Manhattan. We did this for two reasons: a friend had recommended a sushi restaurant, and we wanted to see the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

The sushi restaurant on our list was Karumazushi, a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant. Located in Midtown East, it's on the second floor of a building, above a Chinese restaurant. The space is small, but very serene. You will likely want to call for a reservation, and we recommend arriving toward the beginning of service to grab a spot at the sushi bar.

A quick note: I lived in Japan, and ate a lot of sushi while I was there. It's still one of my favorite foods, and while I'm not a snob, I do know a quality piece of fish, and a quality cut. I also consider Japanese sushi (predominately nigiri, and very minimal and traditional sauces) to be a different type of food from American sushi (predominantely rolls, often with creative suaces or toppings). Both can be good, but I go to different restaurants for each.

A quick preusal of reviews online will find you two opinions on Karumazushi: (1) it's amazing and very traditional; and (2) it's astoundingly overpriced. The friend who recommended this restaurant put it this way: it's not for amateurs. I think this friend is right. You can get a very good, very reasonably priced meal here, if you stick to the lunch special, or deluxe special. BUT, if you order without looking at price, or omakase ("chef's choice"), the bill is going to stack up quickly. This is really, really high quality seafood, and food of this quality is going to cost, especially when prepared so skillfully. Bottom line: this is the best Japanese style sushi I've had in the U.S., and would have been competing for the top of the list in Japan. I highly recommend a trip if you like sushi.

* Note: consuming raw or undercooked animal products does contain some risk. Use common sense. *

The second part of our day in Manhattan was visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I don't think I need to tell you what happened on 9/11, but suffice it to say, I didn't feel ok about visiting Manhattan without paying my respects at the Memorial.

 

I was really impressed with the Memorial. The picture above is one of two features- they cover the footprint of the twin towers, and are surrounded by the names of all those who lost their lives on that day. It's very well done, and a touching tribute. I highly recommend a visit if you are in the vicinity.

 

We followed our visit to the Memorial with a visit to the Museum. The Museum is very well put together, and includes a lot of detailed information about 9/11 itself, and the fallout after the attack. By far the most touching part for me was the audio sections, where recorded experiences were interspersed with audio from the towers and Pentagon. The Museum is wonderfully done, and I think it will be a good educational tool for people who are too young to remember what happened, and for the rest of us as we age. That said, as someone who vividly remembers watching the second tower get hit, and the coverage afterward, it was a bit overwhelming. We spent over 3 hours in the Museum, and I don't feel like we saw everything there was to see. It took a while to come back to a normal mental state after viewing the Memorial and Museum, and I recommend you build time into your trip to accommodate this if you decide to go.

 

We finished the day with a lovely Peruvian meal in Brooklyn, at Surfish Bistro. We chose it based on whim, but the food was delicious, and the patio out back was charming. I can recommend the pineapple tuna ceviche, mango salad, paella, tacu tacu, brussels sprouts, and tincho, which were all very good, and very distinct flavors. The paella is especially delicious, and rather large for one person. The red sangria and avocado salad weren't quite as good, though they weren't bad.