I caught up on my RSS feed this week, so there’s lots here. Enjoy!

• How to make Smart Growth affordable – Grist. Taking the fact that public transit is cheaper than driving into consideration when calculating income requirements for mortgages sounds like a good idea to me.
• Canola, Pushed by Genetics, Moves Into Uncharted Territories – New York Times. It seems like you’re asking for this if you make plants resistant to herbicides.
• Mowing with a Reel Mower – Sense of Home. I’ve never used one of these, but I think they’re cool.
• The 6 Most Horrifying Ingredients in Everyday Cosmetics – Cracked. It should really be the 6 Most Disgusting Ingredients—and they’re almost all from animals. (Thanks, Ali!)
• Coming to Terms with my Neti Pot – It’s Not Easy Being Green. I can’t imagine ever using one of these, but a friend of mine loves hers.
• What’s So Bad About Non-Organic Cotton? – The Good Human. I have such a hard time finding organic cotton clothes. REI, Patagonia, EMS, mostly.
• 3 Tips to Start Growing Your Own Food – Change.org. I’m paying attention to this, because I’ve put my name on a waiting list for a community garden spot. So exciting!
• Charles River Conservancy chosen as finalist to receive $20K for riverbank project – Wicked Local Cambridge. Vote now—the Charles River Conservancy could get $20,000 from Tom’s of Maine.
• Farmers Lean to Truce on Animals’ Close Quarters – New York Times. Good news!
• Escalators vs. Elevators – Slate. Elevators are always better than escalators, but if they do exist, riding them down saves a little bit of energy.
• Nature’s Air Conditioner – Slate. General rule: roll the windows down in the city, up on the highway.
• Whole Foods Compostable Packaging Really Is…Compostable! – Earth 911. I didn’t think it would compost in a backyard compost bin—nice!
• Watch out, It’s Everywhere – Boston Globe. Higher temperatures and more carbon dioxide make a great environment for poison ivy.

Wow—that was a lot to catch up on. As usual, if you see anything interesting this week, send it along.

My officemate, Lesley, brought this into work on Tuesday, and it smelled delicious, so I had her send me the recipe from Epicurious. I’ve never cooked with quinoa before, but it’s super easy—a lot like couscous, except you have to rinse it beforehand in order to wash off the saponin coating. We don’t have a fine mesh strainer, so it was a little difficult, but we made it work.

mmm...

Quinoa’s especially good for vegetarians because it’s a seed, not a grain, and is a complete protein. (And gluten-free, for all you celiacs.) The recipe from Epicurious included (optional) feta cheese, but I left it out to make it completely vegan. Lesley also spritzed it with lemon juice, and said that corn might be a good addition. She ate it warm, but it makes a great cold lunch, too. I’m so glad I discovered this!

One year ago: Recycled Toilet Paper.

My dislike of root vegetables is well known. But I know that I have to learn to like them if I want to eat in season. So I’ve been trying. My newest attempt: turnip custard. I had a really good version at the ONCE vegetarian dinner I went to last month. It was lemony and lightly turnipy with a really creamy consistency. I was amazed—I think it was the first time I ever liked turnips.

When I got a bunch of turnips in our CSA last week, I immediately looked for a custard recipe. I found one at the Fresh Dish. It’s a Boston blog, but I’d never read it before.

It looks like food porn!

My version didn’t come out quite as well as theirs. The top puffed up and looked more like cake than custard, but underneath it was still smooth and creamy. It had a heavier turnipy flavor than J. J.’s, so I’m not sure I would make it again, but Jason loved it. The sweetness of the ice cream, vanilla, and cinnamon mingled in an interesting way with the savoryness of the turnip. It reminded me a little of the pumpkin pudding we made earlier this year.

Any cooks out there have an idea of what we did wrong? Or any more good turnip recipes? We’re girding ourselves for the fall.

One year ago: Baby Worms!

This week’s been seriously busy, because my niece is visiting. But here’s what I’ve had the time to read.

• Bottle Bill, RIP – Boston Globe. Does it make sense to only have a deposit for soda bottles? Why don’t people support the bottle bill?
• Mosquito Spraying Targets Southeast – Boston Globe. Eastern equine encephalitis prompts pesticide spraying in Massachusetts.
• A common sight in night skies, bat now faces extinction in N.E. – Boston Globe. Because of white-nose syndrome, the little brown bat may be extinct within 20 years.
• House Cats, Be Warned—Fishers Are Back on Prowl – Boston Globe. Fishers suck, but house cats should be kept indoors anyway.
• Ask Umbra on avoiding ‘pink slime’ in ground beef and flushing kitty litter – Grist. Wow—indoor-only cats probably don’t have toxoplasmis, so flushing litter is okay. I think I’d have my cat tested before actually doing it, though.

I promise more non–Boston Globe links next week. If you see any, send them my way.

My hairdresser, Michelle, despairs of me. She regularly jokes that she gives me my “quarterly blowdry” and begs me to change my cut. But I really prefer something that can just wash and go.

One concession I have made is conditioner. Michelle has told me that if you’re going to spend a little more money on one or the other—shampoo or conditioner—spring for a good conditioner. She actually recommends Rusk, but they test on animals. (She swears that most things don’t anymore, but Rusk specifically says on their label, “Final product not tested on animals”—a mealy mouthed method of saying that the ingredients are.)

So I use Pureology conditioner, which I think is a good substitute. It doesn’t contain any animal products and it’s not tested on animals. I’ve got really fine hair, so I need a light conditioner that doesn’t weigh it down too much, and Pureology does the trick.

For shampoo, I just use Kiss My Face Whenever. It’s vegan and not tested on animals, with a light scent. I tried using their conditioner, too, but I didn’t like it as much as Pureology.

I know there are people who make their own shampoo and conditioner, and I plan to try that out this winter break (when no one but Jason has to see me). But I’m happy with my choices for now. What do you use?

One year ago: Composting at Whole Foods.