4 Ways to Green Up Your Easter Weekend

From top-left, clockwise:

1. Ensure your Easter brunch is full of lots vegetables and fruits. Especially dried fruits and nuts instead of the chocolate (or as much chocolate). Asparagus is in season now! 
2. Cut the plastic - make homemade baskets, use natural egg dyes, newspaper painted green paper. We love these decorated berry baskets!
3. If Easter is not your thing, why don't you enjoy this early spring whether by taking a hike a your local state/national park. If you are in Milwaukee, we recommend Lakeshore State Park. In Chicago, take the trip to Starved Rock, and if you are in Charlottesville, take a short hike at Shenandoah National Park.
4. Whether your Easter Weekend is full of forced family fun or not, you are probably going to need a beer, so go local. We absolutely love this website to find local breweries. 

Local Feature: Gethsemane Garden Center

Famous to most resident north-siders, Gethsemane Garden Center is the place you need to go to purchase your plants. As a person with a history of killing house plants (my ivy plant during my first year at Smith, several plants in previous apartments, and countless other experiences), I can't kill the plants I purchased at Gethesmane Garden Center. I've had 7 plants for over a year, and I haven't even killed them yet. In fact, they've grown tremendously. 

As mentioned before, to be more sustainable, I've chosen plants over flowers. If you by them from a great retailer, you are committing to the greenery, and not getting the flexibility of changing flowers each week. But plants, as a non-pet owner, are my little pets that I nurture, and I've learn to love my commitment to them in the effort of being more sustainable. 

Gethsemane Garden Center | 5739 N. Clark St. | Chicago, IL 60660 | (773) 878-5915

This is not a sponsored post.

They make a plunger look good, Kontextür.

Minimal material, clean lines… this NYC based company makes high design accessible to the everyday consumer. 

Below is a picture taken from their blog of a showcase display from their complete WC line.

If plungers look like this, I’d have them all over my apartment.

All images are from the Kontextür Website. You can check them out here!

Curried Pork & Vegetable Stir-fry

Vegetables, anyone? If you missed your New Year’s resolutions this year to denounce refined foods and add more appeal to your plate, this dish is a surefire kick in the right direction! I made sure this entree was chockfull of vegetables. While you can serve it over rice, I opted for more vegetables – sautéed cabbage strips. Vegetarian or avoiding mea? Try tofu instead of pork tenderloin.

Winter does not want to depart Milwaukee this year. To take a little gloom out of the weather I sautéed this colorful stir-fry. With all Irish festivities last weekend, most local grocery stores are practically giving away cabbage. This dish seemed like the perfect accompaniment! And, if curry as a staple in your spice cabinet draws weariness, this plate will tame the uneasy consumer.

Curried Pork & Vegetable Stir-Fry (serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips
• 1 ½ cups Onions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp Garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp Fresh ginger, chopped
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 3 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 cup carrots, grated
• 1 ½ cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Optional: 3 cups cabbage stripes, sautéed or 2 cups brown rice

Directions:

1. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and sauté until meat is browned. Set aside.
2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add chopped onion, and cook until starting to brown. Add garlic and fresh ginger. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until aromatics emerge. 
3. Stir in turmeric, curry powder, cumin, and coriander.
4. Add diced red pepper, shredded cabbage, carrots, and vegetable broth. Allow mixture to simmer 5-10 minutes or until vegetables begin to cook down.
5. Place pork in vegetable mixture. Stir-fry meat and vegetable mixture until meat is cooked through.
6. Toss in fresh cilantro, and serve over sautéed shredded cabbage or cooked brown rice.

Enjoy! - K

Local Feature: Julia Bergen of Do Rei Mi Jewels

 This is not a sponsored post.

Jewelry is one of the things that it is so easy for most of us not to think about in a sustainable way. When putting together an outfit, the quick and cheap fix is to your local online boutique or down-the-street-store for extremely cheap prices. Quality and uniqueness is usually sacrificed for accessibility. I'm guilty of it, but I'm really trying to change. Lately, the changes have been overwhelming satisfying. As I'm slowly adding more jewelry by local designers into by arsenal, I've been so pleased with the quality of the pieces. When buying local jewelry, it is definitely not as easy as mass-produced alternatives. I think I think we all run into two issues - price and quality. You don't want to buy something that looks like it came from a craft fair, and let's face it, most of us don't have high price points. Nonetheless, the jewelry designers, though more difficulty to find, are just extremely appealing to you and me; Julia Bergen of Do Rei Mi Jewels is one of those designers.

I've been fortunate to meet the lovely Julia through a digital art class I took at Lill Street Art Center last month. Julia makes contemporary cross-stitch jewelry - beautify pendants with modern art and patterns. Once I checked out her website, Etsy site, and Of A Kind sale, I immediately bought a piece for myself, and started planning my future gifts! 

You can find Do Rei Mi Jewels here, here, and here! All images in this post are from Do Rei Mi Jewels.

A Lesson on British Silver: Determining the Hallmarks

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Scrapping silver. Driving gold and silver prices in the last year has attracted ambitious investors. And, why not? Silver is currently priced 1.7% to $28.97. In recent weeks, I have come across several consignments of silver and silverplated objects. With its current value in today’s market, it is crucial to accurately describe and distinguish between the two. Shameful to admit, prior to this recent exposure I had known very little about the distinction between the two; therefore, I decided to do more research. Throughout my research, I came across an incredibly useful and reputable site, of which the following has been referenced - 925-1000.com: An all-inclusive resource for various silver makers, hallmarks, articles, and other resources

There are 5 simple steps to determining British Silver Hallmarks: 

1. Determine if it has a Silver Standard Mark. This is important, as it determines the purity of the silver. If a Silver Standard Mark is not present, the piece is likely silverplate or has a different country of origin.
2. Decipher the city mark. There are quite a few, but with a quick look-up – it becomes simply a matching game.
3. Check for a duty mark. This will be pre-1890, as the use of this mark was abolished thereafter. It will be a profile of a monarch’s head.
4. Date letter. This will be of varying format and is represented by a single letter.
5. Maker’s mark. This is the maker’s signature; a stamp to ensure that forgery will likely be avoided. 

I am relaying this information not merely for the potential financial rewards it may yield, but for my continued fascination of the material culture that we live in and the everlasting imprint these objects leave for future generations.

So, next time Grandpa offers you that silver tankard you previously rejected, take it and do the research!

-E

Other resources: Silver Makers Marks // Silver Collection // Silver Mine