What’s the old saying, never say never? For years I’ve said I’d never go to Las Vegas. Okay, I might swing through on my way to the Grand Canyon. But I doubt I’d ever spend time in a casino or go to a show – they just don’t interest me. To date, I’ve never been. On the other hand, I used to say I could not see myself composting because I live in a Manhattan apartment. I’m a devoted recycler, but was uninformed about composting. I automatically assumed food scraps would attract bugs or other critters. For this same reason, I never understood why theRead More →

There are a few things in life that drive me bonkers. Like when someone walking in front of me discards a paper on the sidewalk instead of holding it until she sees a trash can. Or the person who lets the lobby door close in my face — blissfully unaware that I’m behind intent on slowing him down a few precious seconds. Catch me in a cantankerous mood and I might make a snide remark to register my extreme annoyance. And then there are noisy restaurants — these take the cake in the category of “things-we-could-do-to-increase-customer-satisfaction-but-just-won’t.” I’m not talking about the cavernous spaces with sound-reflectingRead More →

Yoga is a robust and still-growing sector of the health and wellness industry. Its popularity is being driven in no small part by boomers and healthcare providers who see it as an eminently accessible way to increase flexibility and muscle strength. Yoga is also known to improve cardio and circulatory health, reduce stress, shed pounds, shore up mental health, and more. Here is a rundown of some of the yoga trends catching on in 2018. Yoga with Small Animals I’d be surprised if we ever see the day when lions and tigers and bears arrive on the yoga scene. But animals of the small, sweetRead More →

Our Seattle Fine Diners Over 40™ (FDO40) are always eager to experience the chef’s creativity at each successive venue. On Saturday, August 25th, we headed to Capitol Hill and Marjorie, Donna Moodie’s tribute to her beloved mom — a welcoming hostess and inspired home cook. Donna Moodie has been turning foodie heads since 1993 when she opened her first restaurant, Marco’s Supperclub, to widespread acclaim. A few years later she branched out to regional Italian with Lush Life, in Belltown. In 2003 Lush Life morphed into Marjorie, which relocated to Capitol Hill in 2010. Joining Leslie, our Seattle host, at dinner were seven members andRead More →

On June 26-27 I attended the 2018 U.S. Food Waste Summit, hosted by ReFED and the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic. In talking with Barbara Bronstein, founder of Second Servings of Houston, I referred to all the effort and energy around reducing food waste as a “movement.” Barbara has been working in food rescue for several years and said she had not heard the term used in this context before, but thought it was an apt descriptor, indeed. I first learned about the topic of food waste reduction two years ago. After doing some research I was compelled to blog about it because –Read More →

On June 26-27 I was in Cambridge, Mass., at the 2018 U.S. Food Waste Summit, a joint program of ReFED and the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic. Barbara Bronstein was the first person I met after registration on Tuesday morning — she graciously introduced herself and we ended up having breakfast together. As it turns out, her story of founding Second Servings of Houston straddles my favorite themes: reducing food waste, food recovery, and professional reinvention and purpose after age 50. I was all ears. It turns out that when Barbara retired from her marketing career with Fortune 500 companies (Mars, Unilever, Coca-Cola), sheRead More →