Posted on

Earth Day – Zero Waste Kitchen Guide

zero waste kitchen guide

We love Earth Day! If there is one day a year to stop. think. and strategize. about improving your impact on our planet, this day is it. Earth Day is about joining the environmental movement to protect endangered species, end plastic pollution, and solve climate change. 

With that in mind, we put together some tips and tricks for a Zero-Waste Kitchen Routine. 

1. Shop with reusable bags 

If you are like me, you have an entire pile of old shirts pulled out of the closet for Spring Cleaning this month. Here is a super cute No Sew T-Shirt Tote Bag that you can create in lieu of plastic or paper grocery bags. Or if you have some old pillowcases, give this DIY bag a try.

No time for DIY? No problem! Aplat has some amazing produce bag and tote bag options. Aplat creates modern zero waste design products for sharing and transporting food. Baggu bags are also super stylish and offer their original and best-selling item: the ripstop nylon shopping bag. The standard Baggu can hold 2-3 times more than the traditional grocery bag. 

zero waste reusable bags

2. Store food in reusable containers 

This is your Pinterest for cabinets moment! Store your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, nuts, popcorn, etc.) in glass jars and containers. Buy in bulk so you have less containers to throw away and can simply refill as needed. Works in the fridge too!

zero waste food containers

3. Make Your Own Cleaning Products

This is the time to shine for baking soda and vinegar! Find recipes online for everything, including this Dishwasher Detergent and Disinfectant Wipes.

Try Etta + Billie’s Citrus All-Purpose Natural Cleaner

zero waste natural cleaner

4. Don’t buy disposables

This might be a given, but don’t buy disposable plates, silverware, plastic wraps, foil, zip bags, and whatever else that will just be thrown away. Use glass containers to store and transport. 

Beeswax Wraps

Reusable Snack Bags

Silicon Storage Wrap

5. Compost 

Composting doesn’t have to be hard. Start out with a 5 gallon bucket and build from there. Or, if you are ready to go a bit larger, here is a 10 Minute DIY Pallet Compost that you do not have to nail and hammer. 

Composting reduces household wastes by converting organic material (spoiled food, leftover food, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc.) into fertilizer for gardening. Layer dry ingredients from the yard (grass clippings, leaves) with kitchen waste in a bin and it breaks down surprisingly fast. Here’s a video.

zero waste compost pile

6. Recycle

And finally, if you do have any containers left over, recycle! Keep in mind that glass and metal can be recycled over and over – so if you have a choice, use those. Plastic always ends up in a landfill eventually. 

Posted on

Etta + Billie Crew: Josiah

Etta + Billie crew members are the heart of our company. Since the company’s launch in 2009, our employees have helped us along the road of creating purposeful, sustainable, natural body care products and without them, we wouldn’t be the company we are today!

Want to know more about the Etta + Billie team? Here is a closer look at one of our crew members: Josiah!

How long have you been at Etta + Billie?

Officially, for a year! Unofficially, 4 years. Before my position as Studio Manager, I helped Alana with photoshoots, videos, craft shows, and production.

What five things couldn’t you live without? 

My library card, peanuts, headphones, my record collection, and my guitar

What’s one nice thing you could do for somebody in your life today? 

Buy a friend a cup of coffee

My favorite quote is: 

“Poetry, like bread, is for everyone.” Roque Dalton

My favorite scent is: 

Evergreen Tangerine

What is your favorite Etta + Billie product? 

Evergreen Beard+Face oil

Posted on

Fancy Easter Brunch Recipes

There are many things to celebrate on Easter, but one of my all-time favorite parts of the day is the incredible holiday brunch gathering. The kind of brunch you don’t see on a normal day. The kind that makes your eyes wide, mouth water, and sets your stomach growling!

Ready to be hailed brunch royalty? Here are some scrumptious recipes to put you on that pedestal: 

French Toast Casserole 

Flavorful and delicious, this french toast baketakes 15 minutes of prep the night before. Impressive dish, without the stress. 

Brioche with Prosciutto, Gruyere, and Egg

Fancy will be your name after you serve your guests this open-faced fried egg sandwichon toasted, buttery bread. Top with your favorites like frisee salad, prosciutto, and add some pretty garnish. 

The World’s Easiest (VEGAN) Sticky Buns

Soft, tender, and fluffy! These sticky bunsare perfectly spiced and loaded with pecans! This delectable treat gets better with each bite. 

Apricot-Bourbon Glazed Ham

This tangly glaze by the one and only Martha Stewartcarmelizes into a gorgeous amber coat for a bone-in presentation that is sure to impress. Sweet, tart, and smoky, this ham is a stunning centerpiece. 

Easter Brunch Cocktail: Lavender & Grapefruit

You can’t leave brunch without an impressive (but simple) Easter Brunch Cocktail. This drink is hard to mess up with only TWO ingredients! Lavender-infused vodka and grapefruit juice! Okay three ingredients – you do have to infuse the vodka with dried lavender prior to the day. But totally worth it! 

Posted on

Where to Eat? What to do? in San Francisco with Legion

This week, we asked Legion San Francisco owner Sydney Pfaff the local hotspots in her neighborhood.

LEGION is a shop and art gallery located in San Francisco. The shop features artful goods for your home and body, from candles to ceramics, art & design goods. Art shows hosted at the shop feature both up-and-coming and established artists. 

What do you love most about your area and how long have you been located there? 

Legion has been in Lower Nob Hill now for almost a year, prior to which we were in Chinatown for four and a half years. Sutter Street, our current street, is wonderful — lots of great neighboring businesses, particularly art galleries and amazing restaurants. I lived a block away from the space when I first moved here in 2003, so I have a soft spot for the area.

Is your area known for anything in particular?  

Our block is probably most notable for Liholiho! It’s one of the best (in my opinion) and most popular restaurants in the city. But we’re also super close to Union Square, so the area is constantly filled with both tourists and residents. 

Describe your favorite sights and activities in your area:

PHOTO FROM FLICKR

We’re in such a central location, so close to many different neighborhoods, and I’m fortunate enough to get to walk to and from work every day! There are a few galleries nearby that I love: Hashimoto Contemporary, Spoke Art, and Chandran Gallery. Huntington Parkis a great neighborhood park. I bring my two dogs to work every day, so we usually stop through their on our walk home.

What are your favorite places for food/drinks in your area?

Photo from Del Popolo

Del Popolois another one of my favorite restaurants — best pizza — and Royaleis one of my favorite little local bars. Other good spots that I frequent are Gen Gen Room(the downstairs bar at Liholiho), Hogwash, PCH, and Stookey’s Club Moderne.

Posted on

Behind the Counter: Creation of E+B Body Scrubs

You may know that Etta + Billie makes all their skincare products with natural ingredients. (No weird stuff like artificial colors and scents.) But did you know that we also use sustainable practices and recyclable packaging? 

For example, take our amazing line of body scrubs: 100% natural ingredients, gentle on skin and the environment, made in the USA, and made using local goods, all which leaves your skin glowing, hydrated, and smells delectable.  

Mixing up the oils and scent for sea salt body scrub
Etta + Billie Behind the Scenes Mint Coffee Sea Salt Body Scrub
Etta + Billie Sea Salt Body Scrubs

Here’s how we do it:

  1. Start with the most delicious natural ingredients.
  2. Carefully weigh and melt our butters and sea salt.
  3. After butters are melted, we had our essential oils and additives (like coffee!). 
  4. SO MUCH MIXING. Each batch is mixed by hand. You get some serious muscles after a few weeks!
  6. Once thoroughly blended, we ladle our mixture into molds.
  7. The scrubs sit for at least 20 hours so they will harden up.
  8. Unmold, wrap in beautiful gold foil (also happens to be recyclable!).
  9. Handwrite our batch numbers on our boxes, pop the scrubs in and voila!
Posted on

Tips + Tricks: Spring Cleaning with the KonMari Method

The countdown for Spring Cleaning has begun. There is nothing that can make you feel as comfortable and joyful in your home as a little refreshment after a long winter inside. Maybe you have even experienced a warm day to open the windows and let some new air inside.

Speaking of joy, Marie Kondo of KonMarie.comis currently leading the charge in the effort to revitalize the home. If you haven’t heard of her, Marie Kondo is the best-selling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.

The KonMari Method teaches you to ask a simple question when tidying up your house: Does this item spark joy? If not, get rid of it. 

Here is what we have learned from the KonMari Method:

  1. Visualize Your Idea Life:What does your ideal lifestyle and living environment look like? Imagine how you would be living your life if money, time and resources were not an issue. List the goals that come to mind. Describe in detail how you envision your home to look after the end of your tidying journey.  
  2. Tidy by Category:Rather than going room-by-room, tidy by category – beginning with clothes, then moving on to books, papers, miscellaneous items, and finally, sentimental items. Keep only those items that spark joy.
  3. Say Thank You:It is difficult to get rid of your possessions, but KonMari teaches that these possessions are stripped of their dignity when they go unused in a home. If it doesn’t speak to the heart, Marie Kondo teaches us to thank the item for its service, and then let it go. 

Marie Kondo’s focus on joy has been a novelty and eye-opener to many people. She also has her own hit Netflix show: Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. So, if you don’t have the time/energy/concentration for the book, you can check it out there. 

Happy tidying! 

Posted on

In the Kitchen: International Women’s Day edition!

At a time when we have more mompreneurs, boss women, and female leaders than ever!,we are celebrating the women who broke social conventions and the blazed the way for us. 

This month is Women’s History month, a time to honor the past and present women who inspire the future. Today, we are honoring women who are influencing the kitchen. Here we spotlight a few amazing female chefs. 

1. Christina Tosi, author of “Momofuku Milk Bar” cookbook

Christina Tosi is the chef, founder and owner of Milk Bar. After working in the kitchens of fine dining restaurants, Christina founded the dessert program at Momofuku, where she later created the concept for Milk Bar, resulting in a culinary empire of her own.

Milk Bar is known for its familiar yet unexpected desserts including Crack Pie®, the Compost Cookie®, “naked” layer cakes with unfrosted sides, and Cereal Milk Soft Serve, among other playful and craveable treats.

Christina is also a judge on the hit cooking competition series Masterchef and Masterchef Junior (on FOX), and was recently the subject of an episode of Chef’s Table, the Emmy-nominated docu-series on Netflix. She’s made headlines in New York Times, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Forbes, The Today Show, among others, and she’s graced the covers of Adweek and Cherry Bombe. 

2. Belinda Leong, chef & co-owner of B Patisserie

Belinda Leong began her career as a pastry chef at Restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco in 1999. After eight successful years, she left the restaurant for Europe to stage at some of the most esteemed restaurants and patisseries in Paris, Barcelona, and Copenhagen. After two years in Europe, Belinda returned to the Bay Area and became pastry chef at Manresa Restaurant, a two star Michelin Restaurant, in Los Gatos, California before opening b.Patisserie.

At her new bakery, which is co-owned by San Francisco Baking Institute co-founder Michel Suas, Leong offers everything from elegant layer cakes to a 10-hour apple tart to rustic butter cakes. Her signature item is the Breton pastry kougin amann—and if some New Yorkers notice a familiarity in the undulating top and flaky layers, it’s because Dominique Ansel also staged at Fouchon, though at the Paris location. 

3. Pim Techamuanvivit, chef & proprieter of Kin Khao

In Thailand, to eat is to eat rice. So, colloquially, when we say “kin khao” we mean “to eat” or “let’s eat,” – kinkhao.com

Born and raised in Bangkok, Pim took a circuitous route through the world of food–from writing, teaching, to jam making [ahem, award-winning jam making]–before finding her way back home to the food she grew up with. Longing for Thai food of richer quality and variety in the U.S. Pim is now on a mission to liberate her beloved Thai cuisine from the tyranny of peanut sauce. Kin Khao is her first (and hopefully not last) restaurant project.

4. Jessica Koslow, chef at Sqirl

Jessica Koslow started her daytime-only restaurant, Sqirl in 2011 and its been at the top of of the Best-of-LA lists ever since. She started with jams and has expanded to breakfast and lunch, including her popular rice bowls. 

5. Marianne Despres, chef & owner of El Sur 

El Sur was started in 2012, by Marianne Despres, a classically trained chef with roots in Argentina and France. Upon graduating from the Cordon Bleu in Paris, she continued her culinary training in some of the world’s best kitchens including Potel et Chabot and the French Laundry.

After running a successful catering business in the Bay Area specializing in fine French cuisine, Marianne realized she most enjoyed cooking and sharing the food she grew up with, specifically the empanadas from her childhood. Marianne developed the recipes for El Sur’s empanadas using old-fashioned techniques and the finest local ingredients.

Posted on

In the Kitchen: Best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER!

From Craftsman and Wolves

These are the best chocolate chip cookies EVER! Seriously. I know there are a ton of blog articles out there claiming to be the real deal, but none of them have ever made me feel the way about a cookie like I do when I’m waiting on the Craftsman and Wolves to get out of the oven. 

Think ooey gooey hot Valrhona chocolate wrapped in a salty-sweet cookie batter with REAL vanilla and sea salt. I mean oh.my.goodness! Take it to the next level with a dip in some almond milk and I’m done for the day!

Have I convinced you? 

Get the Recipe: Valrhona Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on

Ingredient Spotlight: Cocoa Butter!

Heath and chocolate! What else do you need? 

Most of our products have the delectable cocoa butter in it, loved for its smooth texture, sweet fragrance, moisturizing properties, and (of course) its well-known role in making CHOCOLATE! 

Cocoa butter, like cocoa powder, comes from the bean of the cacao tree. When the beans are extracted from the cocoa fruit or pods, the beans are cleaned and roasted. The beans are then pressed, pushing out the cocoa butter. After the cocoa butter is extracted, the remaining solids are processed into cocoa powder. Cocoa butter + cocoa powder + sugar and milk = chocolate!

Benefits of Cocoa Butter

In soap, cocoa butter creates the smooth lather and moisturizing effect that everyone loves. Its also amazing for chapped skin, eczema, and stretch marks during pregnancy. 

Why is cocoa butter so good for your skin? 

1. Hydrates and nourishes skin

2. Improves skin elasticity

3. Holds in moisture by forming a protective barrier

4. Slows skin aging by protecting against the sun’s harmful UV rays

5. Smooths scars, wrinkles, and stretch marks

6. Heals rashes from conditions like eczema and dermatitis

How to use Cocoa Butter

You can rub one of our cocoa butter products on your skin or lips every day as part of your skin care regimen. Our cocoa butter products, combined with various essential oils and vitamins take your bathing experience from basic to spa-quality.

Our Geranium Patchouli products use cocoa butter + cocoa powder for double the chocolate! The luxurious satin texture in this soap makes it a crowd favorite. 

Floral, sweet rose geranium + grounding earthy patchouli oils are an intoxicating pair. Geranium Patchouli Soap cleanses + detoxifies, prepping skin for exfoliation with Geranium Patchouli Body Scrub. Finally, massage luxurious hydrating Geranium Patchouli Body Lotion onto skin. Emerge from the bathroom glowing. 

Try it today. 

Posted on

Last-Minute V-Day Gift Ideas

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Giant stuffed bears line the grocery store, candied hearts are making eyes at would-be dieters, and love is simply in the air. 

Valentine’s Day is a chance to show someone special that they’re always on your mind. You could go with the expected gift: a two-layer box of mystery chocolates (not knocking it.) Or you could choose to go head over heels with these amazing, albeit non-traditional gifts for Valentine’s Day. 

1. Realistic heart jewelry 

Can an anatomic heart be more pretty in this rose gold setting? This Etsy seller even pairs it with a custom printed gift note. 

2. Cooking Class

This Valentine’s Day, make a 3-course meal with your special one. Many cooking classesfeature specialty chefs from your local area, cocktails, and guided sessions on knife skills and plating. Then enjoy a candle lit dinner. 

3. Citrus Scents

Totally a favorite on a normal day, grapefruit is known to boost confidence and … ahem performance. Wink. Wink. This grapefruit + cardamomscent will also enhance mood and decrease stress so you are kept in the moment.

4. Shadow Box

  Swoon! Fill a shadow box with tokens from your relationship: photos, tickets, notes.

5. Chocolate!!!

Yes! Chocolate! But you can take it beyond sweets, like these fancy hot chocolatecanisters sourced from South America or the Dominican Republic. 

And yes! Etta+Billie has you covered in the chocolate realm too. Every one of our main products has cocoa butter in it (aka the main ingredient in Chocolate). We also use cocoa powder in our Geranium Patchouli Soap (double the chocolate).

Want more information on this chocolatey goodness? Check back next week for our ingredient spotlight on cocoa butter.