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Organic Restaurants In NYC – The List

November 29 09 | Comments (2)

When I look for a place to eat, most of the time, I start by going through the organic places, see if there is anything close to where I will be. I have ran the search for organic restaurants a million times. I am creating this list mostly for my self-centered self. Great if you like it too.

I haven’t gone to all these places, so unless I add a note to it, I cannot speak for the quality of the cuisine. If you know a place that is not here, let me know. This is a raw draft, I will enhance this as time goes by.

Enjoy!

Places in Manhattan:

Angelica Kitchen‎ (angelicakitchen.com)
300 E 12th St

Blossom Vegan Restaurant & Cafe‎ (blossomnyc.com)
187 9th Ave

Candle 79‎ (candlecafe.com)
154 E 79th St # 3R
I love this place. The food is delicious. The service is great. I am now bored by this place a bit. Last time the food was really not exceptional and way over-priced. Added to this, we had a debutant server…

Candle Cafe‎ (candlecafe.com)
1307 3rd Ave

Not a fan…

Caravan of Dreams‎ (caravanofdreams.net)
405 E 6th St

Chennai Garden‎ (Chennai Garden‎ on nymag)
129 E 27th St

COUNTER Vegetable Bistro & Organic Bar‎ (counternyc.com)
105 First Avenue
I have been to this place a couple of times. For some reason, I never remember what I think of this place. Next time, I will write it down… We recently went with a few friends and now I remember: each time we go there, one of us feels sick right after. Oh. And this time I took Mushroom slider. I should have paid attention to the missing “s”! I was not happy when the plate was presented to me. Overall, weird atmosphere and bad karma. Their drinks have fun names.

Gobo (goborestaurant.com)
1426 3rd Ave
Food is not original but good. Service is ok.

GustOrganics‎ (gustorganics.com)
519 Avenue of the americas

Maoz Vegetarian Restaurant‎ (maozusa.com)
38 Union Sq E

Organic Avenue‎ (organicavenue.com)
101 Stanton Street

Pure Food & Wine‎ (purefoodandwine.com)
54 Irving Pl
This was too long ago…

Souen Restaurant Union Square (souen.net)
28 East 13th street

Spring St Natural Restaurant‎ (springstreetnatural.com)
62 Spring St

Teany‎ (teany.com)
90 Rivington St

The Organic Grill (theorganicgrill.com‎)
123 First Ave

Places in Brooklyn (not shown on map):

Bliss (just a cafe/bakery)
76 Henry Street, Brooklyn

Siggy’s Good Food‎ (siggysgoodfood.com)
76 Henry Street, Brooklyn

Urban Spring (urbanspring.net)
185 DeKalb Ave, Brooklyn

Budget That! Free Simple Budget Planner

November 28 09 | Comments (0)

Budget That is a free simple excel application that allows you to budget and plan for things.

Before I created this excel application, I was not too good at visualizing my income and spending. I felt powerless against money and I was completely stressed out. I started looking at some free cash management tools. None of them were simple enough that I would use them every few days and stick to them. I was never a heavy spender but I also needed a way to set goals to myself. For instance, purchasing bikes needed to be planned in advance as a bi-weekly salary was not enough.
I had to create an application that would be simple, like I needed. I started with a blank excel document, refined it over the months and used it for 2 years before offering it to the world! Budget That has allowed me to free-up my mind from worries, plan great vacations and annihilate frustrating bank fees!

I hope you will enjoy it too. I look forward to creating a great web application out of it at some point. I would love to hear your feedback! You can email me at i at marineboudeau dot com.

Download Budget That.

My New Pair Of Recycled Leather Shoes – Maplow By Terra Plana

November 25 09 | Comments (0)

Maplow by Terra Plana on Marine Boudeau

Few weeks ago I found out about this Eco-Friendly shoe brand: Terra Plana. They design and produce shoes using recycled materials, stitching techniques (instead of using glue), local suppliers, etc. They look at the entire shoe making process and try to make it as energy efficient as they can. And the shoes look amazing and feel ultra soft and comfortable.

Pictured above is the Maplow, a woman shoe. Isn’t it so rare to find women shoes that look like this? It is. Other shoes I like: the Aqua, the Lucy and the Hadea, although this last one would look a little too feminine on my feet.

According to their twitter feed (@terra_plana), they are offering a 25% sale this week for Thanksgiving. If you’d like to try the shoes before, check out their store in Soho (254 Elizabeth Street, between Houston and Prince). They’re nice there.

+ I recently bought Ethletic shoes. You might want to check these out as well. They are organic, recycled, fair trade and comfortable too.

Happy Holiday and Responsible Shopping!

Wataah’re They Thinking?

November 25 09 | Comments (2)

Wataah

I just discovered this New York brand through the inner web: Wataah. The company produces “premium bottle water” for kids. Why? Wataah is the solution for parents who have no control over their children and need help making water look cool. It would be so much simpler to teach children that water is fun, is and tastes good and that the best things on earth don’t come in a colorful bottle. ;)

Update: My point was why not use glass or metal bottles (with fun and cute designs) and refill them with filtered water, instead of wasting more plastic? (Sigg for instance has cute bottles for children)

My Playground By Kaspar Astrup Schröder

November 24 09 | Comments (3)

Here is the preview of a documentary launching in January 2010, about the making of a parkour playground. It looks so beautiful and I look forward to watching it. Learn more at Kaspar Astrup Schröder’s.

Changing People’s Behavior Through Design // Contest

November 14 09 | Comments (0)

This video shows how we can make things that are usually not fun, fun, through simple design. I do wonder if people would get bored at some point and I think this one action is a little expensive for pushing people to move themselves. This is a great inspiration for creating useful products and services. Watch the makeof.

The Fun Theory is a website that offers a series of videos, among this one, and a contest: submit an idea, including description and design/prototype, that will change people’s behaviors. Contest ends December 15th, 2009.

The goal is to prove that “fun is the best way to change behaviour for the better”. Fresh!

Beautiful Masks

October 24 09 | Comments (0)

Norse God Headdress Mask

Shouldn’t Volunteer Work Be Tax Deductible?

August 24 09 | Comments (0)

volunteer

Why are donations tax deductible while volunteer work for non-profit organizations isn’t? Volunteer work is time, therefore money spent towards an organization. Volunteer time should equals to monetary donations and be tax deductible.

The U.S. Department of The Treasury disagree. You can only get deductions on costs that are related to the volunteer work, like a cab, food, etc. See here.

There is a need to upgrade the law.

Tesla Motors – Electric Roadster Cars And More

August 22 09 | Comments (0)

I just introduced Cara to a new show, Leverage. It is a TNT show starring Oscar winner Timothy Hutton. It is about a team that sets up “elaborate scams designed to exact revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize people”. A great show from the two episodes I have seen; you should check it out on play it now on Netflix. Leverage has done some positive product placement for the Tesla Roadster, an electric car.

Tesla Motors, based out of California, designs and manufactures electric cars that look sexy and seemingly deliver a great performance. The Roadster series (see red car on photo above) is already in production and available for you to purchase for around $109,000. They are also coming out with some new models (see white car) for 2011 starting at around $49,000 (you can pre-order).

A few things about these cars:

They partner up with Lotus for the manufacturing and engineering processes
They can reach speeds up to 125 mph
The Roadster series goes from 0 to 60mph in less than 4 seconds (3.7 sec)
You have the option to get carbon fiber seats (better than leather since not harmful to animals)
It takes only 3.5 hours to charge the battery
Tesla estimates the car will cost you about 1 cent a mile to drive. So if my calculations are correct, if you drive 300 miles, it will cost you about $3. Isn’t that ridiculous? :)
When the battery dies, you can get a new one for $12,000 and recycle the old one at a Tesla dealership. They say the battery should last about 100,000 miles or 5 years, whichever comes first. If you break down the $12,000 battery replacement cost over a 5 year length, it is about $200 a month, then add energy consumption, for an $50 extra dollars a month- total is around $250 a month. As a comparison, driving a non-electric car for 100,000 miles would cost you around $10,000 to $12,000 in gas only.
The beauty is you can charge your battery with any energy you want: solar, wind, etc!

So check out the Roadster or pre-order your Model S (and its 7 seats!). Hopefully Cara and I can motivate ourselves to go take a test drive tomorrow in the city.

Update: Just called the dealership in Chelsea. They opened a month ago, only have one car to test drive and priorities are for Roadster owners or future owners. They took my info and will let me know when I can test drive…

B Corporations – Hope For The Future

August 14 09 | Comments (0)

Have you heard about B Corporations?

So what is it? It is a certification that allows consumers to know what companies are attempting to be more responsible. B Labs rate companies on 5 points: accountability, community, environment, consumers and employees. See here an example of a rating detail. Companies gain by becoming a B Corp as they will get tax reductions. It is a positive circle.

We envision a new sector of the economy which harnesses the power of private enterprise to create public benefit. This sector is comprised of a new type of corporation the B Corporation which is purpose-driven and creates benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

As members of this emerging sector and as entrepreneurs and investors in B Corporations, we hold these truths to be self-evident:
- That we must be the change we seek in the world.
- That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.
- That, through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.
- To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another
and thus responsible for each other and future generations.

You can see here the 81 founding corporations and just learn more about everything on the B Labs website.