Why is it that you always seem to end up with one or two things that got pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about, and by the time you find them, you find yourself wondering what they actually were before they grew five types of mould. Well there is absolutely no excuse any more, now there is Love Food Hate Waste.

LoveFoodHateWaste is an excellent website dedicated to sharing ways to waste less food. In the UK on average we throw away around a third of the food we buy, and that then rots in landfill and emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, as well as producing a toxic liquid that seeps into the ground. Composting food leftovers is one option, but only really suitable for raw veg and fruit waste. A far better thing would be to use up what you have and waste less altogether. Enter LFHW: they offer some great ideas, such as recipes by chefs to use up leftovers, and a clever measuring tool to work out how much of a certain food to cook for a given number of people.  There’s a meal planner, tips on ways to save money and store food, food dates explained and case studies of people who have learned ways to waste less and use more.

I am not a great cook by any standards, or even much of a fan, but I love the look of this recipe, sent in by Jo Lazzari in Manchester:

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 450g mixed vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms
• garlic
• 1 lemon, quartered
• A good drizzle of olive oil
• Ground Black peppercorns
• 160g Feta cheese

     Preheat the oven to 200° (400°F) mark 6.

Realistically quick and easy, and sounds so good I’m off to see what I can find in the fridge…..

I am so obsessed with this right now. I’m a total beach lover anyway, so when I happened upon this, I had to share!

The World Beach Project was started by artist Sue Lawty in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Most of us have made things at the beach with what we find there, and Sue’s focus is patterns in stones. The project is open to anyone, of any age, anywhere in the world, so it links us all together in being creative and draws attention to the beautiful natural world we share. To join the environment and creativity is a dream come true for me!

I’m lucky enough to have ready access to a very stony beach, so will hopefully find time to make my own contribution sometime soon, which I will post at a later date. You can add your own projects to the map on the V & A site, and see all the stunning and imaginative ideas of others from around the world. Go and have a look, it’s gorgeous.

We are running a fantastic competition on Giftchooser to win a Balance Me Super Oil gift set, worth £25.

The set includes three fantastic skin products from Balance Me, a superb range of aromatherapy skincare that only contains pure, natural essential oils, and is free from animal testing, petroleum and mineral oil, artificial fragrances and colours.

The set includes:

Super Wash 250ml
This invigorating body wash consists of Juniper to cleanse and refresh, Geranium to balance and Lavender and Bergamot to stimulate your skin. This sulphate detergent free wash is designed to tone skin and uplift your mind.

Super Oil 200ml
Jojoba, Sweet Almond Oil and Wheatgerm are combined with Bergamot, Geranium, Lavender and Juniper to tone, improve circulation and energise your skin. This oil is the perfect complement to the Super Body Wash. For best results massage into the skin after washing with Super Wash or exfoliating.

Rose Salve 15ml
A delicious lip salve containing Rose Otto and Shea Butter to rehydrate and moisturise your lips. Makes lips soft, glossy and utterly kissable.

It’s free to enter so go ahead, you have nothing to lose!

I have to confess I haven’t watched any of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s programmes about the treatment of chickens in this country, but I have heard more than enough, and when a Kate from Only Fair sent me this link to a petition to sign, I felt it was worth spreading around. It’s very quick and easy to do, and they don’t keep or use your details so nothing to worry about there, and if you can save some chickens in the long run, what’s not to like? I will never be a veggie, but I know I’d feel a lot more comfortable knowing the roast chicken I tuck into on a Sunday had a good life.

…is coming! June 5th to be precise. It was started in 1972 (which I like because it’s obviously not a bandwagon day, like so many seem to be now - National Donut Week anyone?) by the United Nations General Assembly, and each year the main celebrations are held in a different country. This year it’s New Zealand, but there will be celebrations going on around the world. The idea is to ’stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and action’. This year the theme is ‘CO2, Kick the Habit!’, with the emphasis on taking action towards reducing greenhouse gases.

In our house there is much debate about how big a part us humans are really playing in the whole global warming phenomenon, but I don’t think anyone can argue that taking steps to protect our precious (and only) planet can never be a bad thing. And as my friend Katy and I were discussing only yesterday, recycling is now second nature; where once we had to be reminded, we now don’t think twice about it, like brushing your teeth. (Although I hear some people still need a kick in the rear end to do it….. tut tut. AND to recycle…) I’ve said this before but I think the key is that whatever people are going to do, it’s human nature to want it to be as effort free as possible. Recycling falls into this category, whereas growing your own veg - not so much. It also needs to be FUN. Hence ’street rallies, bicycle parades, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools, tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more’.

So here are some easy, and possibly fun, things to do to help reduce YOUR carbon emissions:

***Recycle! ***Swap your light bulbs for nice eco friendly ones (and, I am told, waiting til yours pop so as not to waste them is in fact more wasteful than just changing them right now)! ***Compost your leafy waste! ***Change your energy supplier! ***Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth! ***Turn the light off when you leave a room! ***Cycle or walk to work, or at least take public transport! ***Only boil as much water in the kettle as you need!***

(Do you see how an exclamation mark makes anything sound fun?!) (!!)

For more info, check out www.unep.org, where you can see what your country is doing for WED, and add your own activity. 

Boutiko will be attending various fairs around the UK this summer, so if you’re in any of the following areas on these dates, come and say hello!

June 21st, Arundel, West Sussex: St Nicholas’ Church Fair, from 12 noon

July 20th, Horsham, West Sussex: Horsham Eco Fair, 10.30 - 5pm

September 20th, Balham, London: Balham Eco Fair, times tba

Kim at Gift Chooser has written some lovely things about us!

“I have recently discovered Boutiko, a beautiful looking site with some gorgeous gifts on offer.

All of their stock is ethical in some way or other. Whether it be fairly traded, organic, made from recycled products or locally made.

They are just as passionate about shopping for nice, ethical things as you are which means you’re in for a treat.

It’s like wandering into a huge chest full of treasure, so crammed full of good stuff, it’s hard to know how I will be able to load up my arms and carry everything out. Then I realise it’s an online shop and I relax - they’ll post it all to me!”

She goes on to choose her favourite gifts, among them the silver Chiming Heart Necklace and the Leather Photo Keyring. To see all Kim’s lovely comments, click here.

We are soon to be launching a competition on Giftchooser, so keep an eye out for that!

Boutiko is now on Myspace! For some reason it wouldn’t work for ages but I have now mastered it and you may find us here: http://www.myspace.com/boutiko. Please feel free to become a friend!

That’s all!

So today my mum and I walked 20km (or 12.5 miles) across the beautiful Sussex Downs with ‘Just Walk’ for the charities of our choice. In my case, it was of course the World Land Trust, for whom my walk has so far saved 6 acres of rainforest! Hooray!

I really want to say an enormous thank you to everyone who has supported me and sponsored me; it’s been hugely encouraging and really spurred me on. Even though I didn’t get in as much training as I’d planned, it went very well and what with the stunning countryside, beautiful sunshine and free food, not to mention the free t shirt at the end it really was a fabulous day!

I definitely plan to do more walking now; apart from everything else, it’s made me appreciate my body and what it can do in a new way. I totally recommend a good cross country walk!

There’s a cryptic title! I am a huge fan of art and crafts of all kinds, and recently opened a shop on Etsy to sell my own work.

Etsy is a craft site, a bit like Ebay in the sense that you can open up a shop under its ‘umbrella’ and sell the things you make. There are some truly fabulous things on there; paintings, jewellery, clothes, baby items, accessories, the list goes on and on. It’s a US based site but there are plenty of UK based artists, and in fact shop owners from around the world. All prices are in dollars but are converted to your currency, and it’s very reasonable to list items.

So anyway, I make a lot of pieces at home in the moments between running Boutiko, and Maisie and Munch is where you’ll find them! The shop is named after my sister’s two Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and currently stocks cards, paintings and multimedia collage. There are many more items in the pipeline and my inspiration changes frequently so there will always be something different to see. I also only tend to make one of anything, so everything is handmade, UK made, often made with recycled materials, and unique!