reviews

Review: Mama O’s kimchi paste

2020-05-26 by laura

Last time I made sauerkraut on Fermenting Friday I decided to try out Mama O’s super spicy kimchi paste to create an easy kimchi. I let my batch ferment about two weeks and finally tasted it today.

OMFG!!! It tastes sooooooo good. And wow! It was plenty spicy for me and I love hot and spicy things.

I was conservative and only added a teaspoon to my quart jar of kraut. When it comes to spiciness, one can always add more spice but one can not remove the heat if it’s too much. This variety says “super spicy” right on the Mama O’s kimchi label so I thought it best to keep the amount minimal until I could taste for myself

I’m glad I held back. I found 1 teaspoon of Mamo O’s super spicy kimchi paste to be about right for my taste. I may decide to do a batch with 2 teaspoons because I love that endorphin rush of peppers. I eat kraut/kimchi every day though I don’t need a side veg that overpowers the rest of my meal. I think the extra hot batch will be good as a condiment. I’ll let you know how I decide to use it when I take on the extra kimchi paste.

Solid product. I give Mama O’s super spicy kimchi paste 10/10 both on taste and on the absolute ease of simply adding it to the sauerkraut you’re already fermenting. I would most definitely buy it again and try Mama O’s other sauces.

Bonus: their web site is super cute and they have kits where you can make A HALF GALLON of kimchi plus they give you detailed instructions on how to make it

Things I love: Outlaw Soaps

2020-04-21 by laura

Outlaw Soaps is rapidly growing to become the “Soaprah” of sundries. Run by dear friends Danielle & Russ since 2013. I’ve been a bad friend because I took forever to actually try their products.

Outlaw is different from other scent-based toiletry companies. They’re out to evoke memories and provide an experience that brings a smile to your face.

They aim to make you part of a community rather than a customer. It’s not just a product. It’s a way of life. Danielle blogs extensively about the company’s origin story and ongoing community building in The Outlaw Journal.

I recently remembered they had two products that included sandalwood. My absolute favorite scent. Grandpa burned sandalwood incense and I horde my original “Dark Sandalwood” oil from the Body Shop.

Yup. Scents and senses memories are a thing. Outlaw has sandalwood in Blazing Saddles and Lust in the Dust. I started with Blazing Saddles. Obviously because it’s a great name. Fell in love with it.

Outlaw Soaps I can’t legit call the following a review because of they’re-my-friends bias. I can share what I think about it. My experience is with the intro 3-pack of milled soaps.

Pros

Non toxic product
Amazing scents from real life, really unique
Passionate company, treats their employees as valuable humans
Entertaining marketing copy
Product education – know the difference between hand-poured and milled soap! Understand why hand-made products can occasionally be unavailable (clue: 30 day curing period)
Responsive web, kept up to date
They prioritize “Made in the U.S.A.” . Employees are paid competitively and the primary company ethos is kindness. I love a value-based company.
Longevity of bars – not really under their control. It’s all in how you store it (let it drain people, let it drain!) and I did as instructed. I’m one person with daily usage. It’s lasted almost 8 weeks and still have about 1/8th of a bar left.

Cons that’s aren’t really cons

Mostly mail-order. This is my personal con. I realize many of you would consider it a pro. I could set up a subscription and get it conveniently to my door. I’d prefer to purchase it physically and get some of the scent to help make my choice. Outlaw is available in some select Whole Foods markets, but not near me AFAIK.
Price – Affordability. Their pricing reflects the time, money, and overhead inherent in selling hand-made goods. Margins are small. I absolutely think the product is well worth the price. It’s simply my financial situation which makes it an occasional splurge vs. ongoing purchase.

One needs soap now more than ever. Using Outlaw gave me a scent based comforting memory as well as COVID-19 protection.

Review: How to Eat

2020-03-12 by laura

Mark Bittman, the former New York times celebrated columnist renowned for his books on “How to cook everything,” “How to cook everything vegetarian,” and his much publicized weight loss and promotion of eating vegan till dinner for health, has authored a new book with David L. Katz. Katz is an expert on nutrition and the founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.

I give “How to eat: All your food and diet questions answered” an 9.5 /10. It’s short (222 pages of content), well researched with proper citations and a bibliography, and written in an informal engaging style. It’s accessible to newbies without a background in science, incorporating discussion of the research within a question and answer format.

The authors have scientific credibility so the content is trustworthy. It covers popular diets and eating styles as well as giving no-nonsense advice on how to eat, as promised by the title. It also provides an overview of macros, the basic building blocks of nutrition. Best of all, IMHO, it gives advice on how to evaluate nutrition research. There’s a lot of hype and commercial proselytizing in nutrition.

Dieting is big business. “How to Eat” advocates for a balanced approach to food consumption with “dietary patterns” vs. strict eating rules. I give it kudos because it fulfills its purpose as a basic myth-busting overview of diet. It’s reassuring to know that we all already know what to do by applying common sense to our food intake. Keep it real, keep it whole and unprocessed, focus on plants regardless of whether or not you include meat or animal products in your diet.

My one – very minor – quibble is that I would have liked some pointers — beyond the bibliography — of where to go for more in-depth yet written for the lay person information or a link to a web site which provides up to the minute information on some of the topics covered. This wasn’t the point of the book, so it’s not really fair of me to expect that. There are plenty of good resources available for that type of nutrition news coverage. Why reinvent the wheel?

This is a very good start for anybody wanting a good overview of nutrition, a review of diet(s) you’re likely to choose, and solid advice on how to eat that applies across the board whatever type of diet you decide to implement.

Fermenting Friday: Sandor Katz

2020-03-06 by laura

One of my favorite recipe books is “Wild fermentation: the flavor, nutrition, and craft of live-culture foods” by Sandor Katz. I was a fan of home fermenting before probiotics became trendy. Fermented foods are good functional nutrition. I try (but often fail) to put up some cultured food every Friday. So far, I’ve only fermented saurkraut, yogurt, and rejuvelac. Successfully. Plus I’ve read a few books about other types of home-fermenting.

Book. Sandor Katz. Wild Fermentation 1st ed The gut microbiome is integral to health and initial exploratory research is associating with a variety of conditions such as IBS, and depression. At it’s most basic, the bacteria in your gut are a requirement for optimal digestion. Making probiotic rich foods at home is both easy and fun and doesn’t require a big outlay of money.

This book by Katz is the best I’ve read IMHO. I’ve owned a copy since the first edition was published. It’s not your typical recipe book. It takes a more narrative approach which includes Katz’s journey to becoming well-known in culinary circles for his advocacy of ferments.

Another thing I like about it is that includes basic instructions. It’s well suited to a total beginner. I also like that it covers a variety of fermented foods. Fruits, vegetables, grains, beverages (including brewing alcohol), are all included.

Overall the author’s style is engaging. The book is a short read at 187 pages. Sadly, my first edition was destroyed when field mice invaded my house. I’ve since replaced the book and it’s becoming as well worn as my original copy.

Good probiotics are expensive. Spending your hard earned cash isn’t required. Making fermented foods at home is a good way to stretch your supplement budget.

Product review: Lume deodorant

2020-01-28 by laura

Lume deodorant unscented stick photo — Lume deodorant unscented packaging

I’m always on the lookout for less toxic health and beauty products. Lately I’ve been using Lume deodorant. You may have seen their hilarious and visually stunning musical advert everywhere. Or their other hilarious and visually stunning musical advert. Looks? Humor? Zero stink? Take my money!

The company asserts many positive traits in their marketing. I perspire proudly and profusely so I was really eager to try it based on their “72 hour” efficacy.

Overall I give Lume a 3/10. Would I use it again? Yes. For the “bits.” It’s a product made for “pits and parts” and I found it worked well for “parts.” Just not the all-important pits. I’m pretty sure it’s going to help prevent the long term embedded smell that all work out gear seems to get as it wears out. At least for my bottoms. Also, summer time is coming and it’s climate emergency HOT for months at a time now in L.A. I’m sure to pull out the rest of my Lume then and use it up on my parts.

I think it’s worth trying. There are laws about making unsubstantiated product claims. They double blind test with a respected 3rd party. All the rave reviews are likely true. I’m probably the statistical outlier with my experience. I sweat a lot like I said. I followed all instructions and I evaluated it for a full month.

Here’s how it went for me. In the name of science, I started with a stick and cream bundle of the unscented.

PROS

Works for “parts” as well as pits
This is seriously awesome. Especially if you sweat in odd places during workouts. Or, want to feel fresh for intimate moments. Or keep your shoes in good form

Length of coverage
Works as advertised for me for 48 hours on the bits

Variety of scents
Lavender sage. Juniper. Spruce. Jasmine Rose. Unscented! I don’t want scented deodorant and there are quite a few brands that don’t offer that option

Different formats
There’s stick and tube. I’d never tried tube deodorant before and I really liked it. Especially for non-pit nooks and crannies

Sample/travel size tubes available. Alas, only as a package of 5. Because sample. And I think shipping a single small tube is likely a money loser for them

Soaps in the same scents as the deodorants
Layering baby!

Price deals
Save if you buy by the bundle. Free shipping if you purchase over $20. Special holiday prices. Specials for subscribers, newsletter readers, social media followers

Cruelty free

Aluminum free

Baking soda free

Vegan

Product safety
Developed by a gyno and you can put trust in that

CONS

Length of coverage
Never got any where near the promised 72 hours protection. My armpit stank was back within about 8 hours. Needed to reapply. I waited weeks to judge this because they discuss a 10-day “wash out” in their testing to ensure that waxes and residue from other deodorants were completely gone

Unscented is not without scent
It smells unpleasant to me. To my sensitive nose, the stuff smelled faintly of bathtub tile grout. Not a deal breaker. But not “unscented.” Fortunately this smell did not extend to my person. My parts remained scent free for length of time mentioned above

Packaging imperfections
On the stick: the cap doesn’t stay on tightly. The middle hole tended to get clogged and wouldn’t push out as intended. The protective cover didn’t rip off easily. The unevenness of it made for a potentially scratchy application (see photo above). The foil protective cover on the tube was super difficult for me to remove. Had to pull out a pick to lift the tab. On the bright side, the difficulty in removing the protective elements on both types means the product is safe from tampering and spoilage.

Mail order purchase only
This is personal for me. YMMV if you like that convenience. Subscriptions are great for automating. I’m not interested in mail packaging waste. and I don’t run out of deodorant on a fixed schedule. I don’t want to have to remember to go online to adjust the delivery cycle

Price
A stick costs $13.99. A tube is a whopping $18.99 There are bundle deals. Get about a buck and half to two bucks off per unit for subscribing. There are sales for their subscribers and social media followers. Even still it’s spendy. Costlier still if you don’t use the free shipping for purchasing $20 or more. The stick pricing is in line with some of the deodorants one can buy at the local corpo-hippy grocery store. No offense amazoogle, just telling it like it is. If I’m going to pay that much however I need it to work well. At least you only need to use a small bit of Lume and the stick and tube are likely to last me a long, long, time. That amortization brings the price down if you want to compare price on an apples-to-apples basis.

I really wanted to love this deodorant. It simply didn’t work for me. Per the how-to I waited for my body to “adjust” to it, i.e. get other deodorants out of my system. Since I’ve been using non-toxic natural deodorant for ages, it likely wasn’t necessary for me. But, you know, following instructions. they say it takes awhile for your body to adjust.

They advise treating your clothes to remove any odors embedded (older clothes, alas, are beyond fixing). My clothes are all old and they say those are beyond hope. I like to buy my duds at thrifts because of environmental sustainability. They don’t smell to me, but hey, it could still be a factor. I made sure to wear brand new thus embedded scent free clothes for multiple days running. Didn’t help.

Alas, Lume doesn’t beat my usual go-to healthier brand deodorant. I never got the coverage I craved for my pits. I’m used to having to re-apply once during the day with many natural deodorants. Seems to be par for the course every one I’ve tried with one exception. I don’t need to re-apply with my longtime fave. Not that my fave is all that. It sadly does that clothes yellowing thing that most antiperspirants and deodorants do.

The “perfect” deodorant is unlikely out there in the natural health space. My daily only gets a 6.5/10 for me. There are reasons why natural products can be a bit less-than typical ones. For example, do you know how hard it is to manufacture stuff without the problematic preservatives? A lot of the formulations one makes for oneself at home can’t scale to be safely shelf-stable. The “common ingredients in health stuff that aren’t so hot” discussion is a post for another day.

This review ran way longer than I intended. Ultimately, I think Lume is a great product. It simply wasn’t so great for me. I suspect because I’m a heavy sweater and it washes out. Given how many positive glowing reviews it gets I’d say give it a go.