Created by two musicians — Eytan Oren of Eytan and the Embassy and Andy Ross of OK Go (you know, the treadmill dance band) — inBloom was originally conceived as a tool to help touring musicians live more sustainably (and no doubt eat better) while on the road. However, the first version of inBloom has been built for a broader audience: New York City. Its database is loaded with more than 500 listings of eco-friendly restaurants and grocery stores, farmers markets, CSAs, green hotels, biodiesel stations, and other sustainably sourced businesses throughout the five boroughs. While the focus of the app is on organic and locavore food, inBloom’s team has also gathered information on business practices like water and energy efficiency, recycling and green building design. And being a location-based app, inBloom helps you “buy what you believe in” no matter where you are in the city.

While the first iteration of inBloom is for the iPhone (it will run on iPads, but may look a little wonky), an Android version has been in the works and should launch within the next few months. The app will be expanding into other locales and will unveil an Austin, TX, edition in time for this year’s South By Southwest Festival (SXSW). For more information and to download the app free, visit inBloom’s iTunes page, where it is already receiving rave reviews.

Do you use smartphone apps to help find and support eco-friendly businesses?

The James Beard House often hosts dinners and events, featuring fares from some of the finest chefs around.

With New York City Restaurant Week in full swing, our thoughts turned to favorite places to find epicurean feasts for less. We love gourmet food, great chefs — and bargains. Happily, we know how to find them all, from coast to coast, Portland to New York City — and even a gem across the Atlantic, tucked away in a London cookbook shop.

A slim townhouse, the James Beard House was the Greenwich Village home of America’s first television celebrity foodie, James Beard. Now, it houses the James Beard Foundation, an organization that celebrates exceptional food and the chefs who make it.

We’re looking forward to early February dinners from Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard of Chicago’s Girl & the Goat and from Ryan Poli, chef-owner of Chicago’s Tavernita. The meals cost $170 each, a bargain for the quality and amount of food. A $29 Friend membership gets you the newsletter and a $50 gift certificate toward your first James Beard House event. Springing for the $125–$500 memberships makes you eligible for membership meal prices ($130 in the case of the aforementioned February dinners).

We also love L’Ecole, the restaurant attached to the French Culinary Institute in New York City. The kitchen is staffed by students and chef-instructors, and the restaurant’s earned high marks from the Michelin Guide, Zagat, Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator. A four-course dinner costs $47 for three courses prepped by pros, or four courses made by students. A three-course lunch costs $30. Brunch, served on weekends, is a la carte.

New York’s not the only pricey place to find an edible bargain. London’s fab Notting Hill cookbook shop, Books for Cooks, houses a test kitchen where recipes from the cookbooks are tried out. Savvy customers stop by for fine lunches — £7 for three courses; £5 for two courses, plus a little extra for coffee or tea.

If you’re in Portland, OR, take advantage of the restaurant at the Oregon Culinary Institute. A seasonal three-course lunch will set you back $9; a four-course dinner, $18. Tip generously, because gratuities go to the Student Award Fund, funding today’s students and tomorrow’s chefs.

You’ll find locations of Le Cordon Bleu’s Technique Restaurant in 14 cities throughout the U.S.: Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, as well as Portland, OR; Orlando, FL; Austin, TX, and Scottsdale, AZ.

At lunch, you’ll get three courses for $10; for dinner you have a choice between three courses for $10 and four courses for $15. Restaurants are not open every day or night, but only when class is in session, and some take as few as 10 reservations in an evening. Plan ahead, call early, and you can nab a table set by the top culinary talent of the future. Even when splurging on wine, it’s hard to spend more than $30 a head.

Technique and the Beard House offer private dining, as well — something to bear in mind if you have an event to plan.

Where do you find gourmet meals at bargain prices?

Photo credit: Mitzi Morris, courtesy James Beard Foundation

Friends and family can make donations toward your vacation fund using myTab.co to bring you closer to relaxing on a long boat in Thailand.

As winter takes hold, our thoughts naturally turn to planning a getaway to a destination with warmer temperatures. We recently discovered myTab.co (yes, .co!), a free layaway service that allows us to plan solo or group trips with friends and save money to use for our vacation. This will come in handy when planning an upcoming girls’ getaway to escape our winter blahs!

Simply create an account with your email address or sign up through Facebook, then start making plans. Give your trip a name, and enter your destination and dates, with options to add a hotel when booking or to post Facebook and Twitter updates about your plans. If planning a group trip, you can include your fellow travelers through their Facebook profiles to make planning easier — then select a purpose of the trip (honeymoon, bachelorette, holiday, etc.) and calculate the cost.

The part we love best: We can create a destination wish list and ask family and friends to contribute to our travel fund as a birthday or holiday gift through the “Put it on myTab” link on our account. Gifts can be made through a PayPal account or credit card. Since we know a flurry of couples that became engaged over the holidays, we also think it makes for a great honeymoon fund in lieu of a gift registry!

When we’re ready, we can redeem our myTab funds and book through the site, which is partnered with Expedia.com for deals on flights and hotels. A “Match myCash” button searches by matching our wish list trips to within 15 percent of the amount of cash we have saved up. Payments are run through PayPal as instant transactions. And if we’re a bit short of our goal, we can just put the difference into PayPal, then book the trip.

If any funds are left over after booking a trip, we can use them toward another myTab getaway, gift the money to a friend to use in his or her myTab account, or donate it to one of myTab’s featured eco charities, such as The Nature Conservancy, charity: water or Earthjustice.

For destinations to consider, check out “Dream Trips on a Budget” in VIVmag’s January/February issue.

Do you have any upcoming getaways planned this winter?

Photo credit: Iakov Kalinin

In Portugal, Spain, Mexico and Peru, a dozen grapes are consumed at midnight, each representing a month's wish.

Because we often vacation over New Year’s, we’ve found out what many different cultures eat at midnight to bring them luck and prosperity for the coming year. We’ve also noted various customs, starting with our own grandmother, who used a broom to sweep the old year out the front door and onto the lawn. Here are some food and New Year’s customs from around the world, plus an easy recipe.

Japan: After visiting a Buddhist temple, where the gong rang 108 times to symbolize getting rid of the 108 sins in Buddhist belief, we slurped a brothy soba soup because the long buckwheat noodles represent a wish for a long life. The poached egg in the soup is for prosperity because of the golden yolk, while the cooked shrimp is for luck, since red and white are considered the lucky New Year’s colors in Japan. The shrimp also represents the hope of living to such an old age that one’s back would become curled like the shrimp. (Although we hope to stave off the back curling with a calcium-rich diet and regular strength training!)

Portugal: At the first chime of midnight, we made a wish and ate a green grape (though purple are just as effective). We continued to make a wish and eat a grape for every chime, until we had consumed 12 — representing each month of the year. Spain, Mexico and Peru also share this tradition.

Brazil: We savored a buffet with all kind of salads, including several made with cooked black beans, which, with their rounded shape and swelling during cooking, symbolize coins and the wish for expanded wealth in the New Year. In the coastal town of Paraty, we also wore all white and threw a white rose into the ocean for good luck. Beans are also eaten in Japan (on New Year’s Day) and Italy (often in the form of lentils).

Morocco: After a celebratory meal, we also had some dried dates because they are sweet and represent the desire to have a sweet year.

France: We drank Champagne and more Champagne! A glass of bubbly is a good cocktail choice since it contains approximately 87 calories for a 3.5-ounce serving. We enjoyed it with a traditional appetizer of raw oysters as part of the celebratory meal.

In other countries, like Denmark, people eat greens for prosperity because the vegetables are the color of money. Folks in Cuba, Spain and Germany often eat pork because it symbolizes the “fat of the land,” while Austrians put marzipan pigs on the New Year’s table. In China, families eat whole cooked fish because the word for fish in Chinese sounds like the word for “abundance.” Cakes with trinkets baked inside also appear around New Year’s in some countries, such as Greece and France, so that the person who gets the trinket will have good luck all year.

Here is an easy recipe for a soba soup that contains all kinds of tasty good-luck ingredients: long-life noodles; lucky red-and-white shrimp, as well as white daikon and “red” carrot coins; an egg with a golden yolk; and currency-colored greens. In Japan, cooks would make the soup with a fish broth called dashi. However, we’re using chicken broth for ease.

New Year’s Soba Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 (10-ounce) bag spinach, tough stems removed
¼ cup thinly sliced daikon radish quarters (from a peeled and quartered daikon radish)
¼ cup thinly sliced carrot “coins”
4 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ pound soba (buckwheat) noodles
4 large eggs
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
1½ teaspoons mirin (available in the Asian section of most supermarkets)
1 scallion, trimmed and thinly sliced

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add spinach and cook for 1 minute. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain and set aside. Once water has returned to a boil, add daikon, carrot and shrimp. Cook for 1 minute until shrimp is cooked through and then remove all ingredients with a slotted spoon and set aside. Return water to a boil one more time and add soba. Cook until al dente, about 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Place a medium skillet filled with 1 inch water over high heat. When water is boiling, add eggs. Gently poach eggs over low heat for 3 minutes. Turn off heat and let eggs sit in hot water.

3. Combine chicken broth, soy sauce, sugar and mirin in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil.

4. Lay out 4 large, shallow soup bowls. Place a portion of soba in each bowl. Artfully arrange a portion of cooked spinach in each bowl, along with some shrimp, daikon radish and carrot. Gently ladle hot soup over ingredients and slip in an egg. Garnish with scallions.

NUTRITION SCORE (per serving)
402 calories
Fat 8 g
 (2.3 g saturated)
Carbs 63 g
Protein 27 g
Fiber 2 g
Calcium 147 mg
Iron 5.6 mg
Sodium 2095 mg

Do you have any New Year’s traditions to ensure luck for the coming year?

Photo credit: iStock Photo

DietDetective.com, founded by Charles Stuart Platkin, Ph.D., M.P.H., ranked the meal and snack options on popular airlines.

Santa Claus isn’t the only one taking to the skies this holiday season. Along with millions of other travelers, we are flying to see loved ones over the next several weeks and we know we’ll want to eat something along the way. But since many airlines cut costs in the past decade by reducing or dropping their in-flight food offerings, we either have to bring our own nibbles, find something healthy at the airport or opt to buy an in-flight meal or snack, since most domestic airlines have discontinued courtesy food service.

A few years ago we explained which airlines provided the healthiest in-flight food choices, based on a survey of eight major airlines conducted by DietDetective.com, founded by Charles Stuart Platkin, Ph.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor at CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City. In light of our upcoming travel plans, we took a look at the updated rankings.

Air Canada tops the list with four stars out of five for its NutriCuisine offerings, such as chicken and roast beef wraps and a vegetarian sandwich. Virgin America also earns four stars for items like the high-protein snack box containing hummus, nuts and tuna.

Continental Airlines, which was in first place two years ago and has since merged with United Airlines, dropped from 4½ stars to 3¼, yet still has a healthy breakfast snack of light yogurt and a banana. United Airlines also has 3¼ stars for several entrée salads, while US Airways and JetBlue tie with 2¾ stars for their limited healthy snack and meal options.

American Airlines dropped from second to fourth with 2½ stars for several decent meal options, but few healthy snack choices. Delta received 2¼ stars for no healthy snack choices, but a nutrient dense Flight Delights snack box. Southwest Airlines earns only ¾ of a star; Platkin recommends only the nut option, and skipping the pretzels. Spirit Airlines receives no stars and a recommendation to bring your own food.

No matter where we’re flying, our favorite option to ensure a healthful, economical meal is to pack our own meals and snacks. Below are a few suggestions:

Beverages: To avoid dehydration, purchase a big bottle of water after the security checkpoint. (Or, as we noted this summer when we told you about San Francisco International Airport’s and Virgin America’s hydration stations, it’s possible to bring your own empty water bottle to fill at post-security water fountains.) For variety, bring herbal tea bags or low-calorie cocoa packets and ask the flight attendant for hot water. Or mix the latter with coffee to make a mocha!

Breakfast: After clearing security, purchase some nonfat yogurt to mix with a carry-on banana, dried cranberries and some Kashi GoLean Original high-fiber cereal, or pack a whole-grain English muffin spread with all-fruit jam, lowfat Cheddar and fresh apple slices.

Meals: A whole-grain roll-up spread with lime-garlic seasoned mashed avocado, white beans, sliced cucumber and tomato, baby spinach and shredded carrot and purple cabbage, plus an orange makes a great packable lunch or dinner. Or prepare a whole-wheat pita pocket spread with nonfat cream cheese, sliced tomato, baby arugula leaves and flaked poached salmon, with a side of fresh fruit.

Snacks: Cooked edamame; peeled boiled eggs; crispy seaweed snack, like Annie Chun’s (great for wrapping around boiled eggs); trail mix made with: unsweetened dried fruit (goji berries, currants) unsalted roasted nuts, raw pumpkin seeds, baby whole-grain pretzels, air-popped popcorn, and cocoa nibs or baby chocolate chips; lowfat whole-grain crackers, reduced-fat mozzarella and cherry tomatoes; apple wedges “glued” together with nut or seed butter.

What’s your favorite healthy snack to eat on board?

Spa Week is giving away a trip for two to the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara.

Every now and then, when we have 15 or so browser windows open at the same time, we feel a bit overwhelmed, like we’re in the technology loop skit in Portlandia. But ’tis the season for giveaways, and Twitter, Facebook and our email inbox yielded some opportunities we want to share — all on one handy page.

For those who need to decompress from the holidays and enforce some healthy-living resolutions, Spa Week and Keri Glassman, R.D., are giving away a four-night stay for two at the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara. The package includes two spa treatments per person, private cooking classes and two dinners, a personalized nutrition counseling program, $100 Spa Week gift card and a two copies of Glassman’s book The O2 Diet (Rodale, 2009). The winner, named in mid-January, will also get a three-day supply of Nutritious Life Meals, if they are within the delivery area (see rules). Airfare is not included. To enter, simply “like” Spa Week on Facebook and fill out the form.

Spa Week also has partnered with Rioja wine to give three winners the choice of three prizes: an iPad 2, a pair of Manolo Blahniks or a wine-tasting party for 20, which includes appetizers and a wine education. Simply provide your email and ZIP code to enter by Dec. 31.

We’ve also spotted a few prize-a-day contests, such as the Anthropologie’s 20 Days A’Gifting, now on day 13. Each day, Anthropologie gives away a new prize; past items have included an array of whimsical ornaments, vintage tapestry boots and a Beauty by the Bagful set that included a weekender bag, Julie Hewett makeup palette and lipstick, a Happ & Stahns 1842 Rosa Alba Parfum Tear Catcher and a Cross-Continent passport case, wallet, pouch and luggage tag. To enter, simply fill out the form on the Anthropologie website.

The Adidas by Stella McCartney All I Want for Christmas giveaway, on day 13 of 25, also has a new prize each day. Among the past ones: Procera ballerina shoes, a Firebird track top and Monogyna running shoes. Every entry to the daily prize also counts as an entry for the grand prize — a new wardrobe from Stella McCartney, worth $1,000.

And don’t forget to enter VIVmag’s giveaways by the end of December! Win a pair of SUBJEKT HerPhones, earbuds designed for a perfect fit for the ladies; a copy of 1,000 Mitzvahs: How Small Acts of Kindness Can Heal, Inspire, and Change Your Life (Seal Press, 2011) and an assortment of wellness blends from Kusmi Tea!

What type of giveaway luck are you hoping for?

Upload a photo of a pizza topped with two Mezzetta products for a chance to win a trip to Italy, a scooter or a digital camera.

Rome is one of our favorite towns: The Eternal City offers some of the most striking juxtapositions of ancient and modern sights — scooters zipping down the narrow streets, windows full of pizza slices tempting tourists across from the Baroque façade of the Trevi Fountain. Now, home pizza chefs have a chance through January to win a trip to Rome, an Aprilia scooter or a Sony digital camera in the Mezzetta Picture Perfect Pizza Contest.

Earlier this year, we told you about Mezzetta’s Make That Sandwich Contest, but this latest contest doesn’t even require sharing a recipe. Simply “like” Mezzetta on Facebook and upload a photo and brief description of your pizza that uses at least two Mezzetta products, such as olives, peppers and specialty sauces. Hopefuls can enter the contest more than once, but each entry must include two new Mezzetta items. The contest is open to U.S. and Canadian (excluding Quebec and Puerto Rico) residents 18 and older, and entries must be in by Jan. 31, 2012.

The grand prize is a trip for two to Rome, including airfare and accommodations for five nights, courtesy of Delta Vacations. Four runners-up will each receive an Aprilia scooter, and five third-place winners receive a Sony Cyber-shot H70 digital camera.

What are your favorite pizza toppings?

Kettner's created the High & Wilde with the favorite spirit of an old patron, Oscar Wilde, for London Cocktail Week.

We’re not big drinkers, but when we recently found ourselves visiting Kettner’s during London Cocktail Week, we sampled the offerings of new and inventive cocktails inspired by the Soho restaurant and Champagne bar’s past famous patrons.

Kettner’s was originally opened  in 1867 as restaurant by Auguste Kettner, chef to Napoleon III, predating the nearby Palace Theatre, which opened in 1891. For more than a century, the restaurant has been popular with the famous — and the infamous. We’ll drop a few names: Agatha Christie, Oscar Wilde, actress Lillie Langtry, and Langtry’s lover, Edward VII, before he became king.

While they were mixing cocktails for us, bar manager Daniel Rolph and beverage manager Brendan Stegmann entertained us with stories about the upper floor’s history as a discreet brothel. Then there’s the famous actress, Langtry. “I hear rumors about a tunnel between here and the Palace Theatre where Edward VII would take his family to see a show, and she would be performing,” Rolph says. During intermission, the prince and the actress would take the tunnel underground and meet at Kettner’s.

Naturally, when they were creating new drinks for Cocktail Week, Rolph and Stegmann kept history in mind. Lillie’s Lemonade, an icy concoction of raspberry syrup, gin, Chambord and mint, is described as being “just like our Lillie – tall, pretty, and a little tart!”

As a tribute to Wilde, they used absinthe in the High & Wilde, with Prosecco and a slice of fennel to complement the anise flavor. While Wilde may have been “dancing with the green fairy,” as the saying about absinthe goes, remember that the absinthe sold in the U.S. since the ban was lifted in 2007 does not contain the thujone found in wormwood. (But it does pack a high alcohol content at 90-148 proof.) Since the culinary cocktail is trending on both sides of the Atlantic, below is a recipe for the High & Wilde.

High & Wilde
1 sugar cube
2 teaspoons absinthe
2 teaspoons crème de pêche
3.5 ounces Prosecco
Fennel slice

Cut fresh fennel lengthways, making a long, slim slice. Drop the sugar cube into a champagne flute. Soak the sugar cube in the absinthe. Add the crème de pêche. Top with Prosecco and garnish with fennel.

What do you think of the old-time cocktail revival?

Mindful-eating expert Nina Smiley, Ph.D., will hold a series of workshops at the historic Mohonk Mountain House in New York's Hudson Valley.

We’ve all heard about mindless eating, the distracted munching in front of the TV or while multitasking that leads to weight gain. So it makes sense that its opposite — mindful eating — has been shown to reduce binging and improve eating habits in numerous studies.

With holiday season looming on the horizon holding a bag of Halloween candy, we’d like to learn more about paying attention to what we eat. Nina Smiley, Ph.D., co-author of The Three Minute Meditator (Mind’s I Press, 2008) and leader of the upcoming “Never Diet Again: Welcoming Weight Loss and Wellness” workshops at the Mohonk Mountain House, a gorgeous resort and spa in New York’s Hudson River Valley, shared some tips with us.

Smiley’s program teaches mindfulness, a mind-body technique in which you’re taught to pay rapt attention to what you’re doing from moment to moment, without being distracted or judging what you’re feeling or perceiving. “This technique can give you immediate feedback on whether you are engaging in self-sabotaging or self-empowering behaviors, and help you make powerful changes in your life,” Smiley says. “The act of mindful eating is at the heart of developing an awareness of true hunger and the insights that lead to a new relationship to food.”

Some of the tools Smiley recommends:

• Use the Hunger Awareness Scale. Monitor your level of hunger on a scale ranging from “-5” (ravenously hungry) to “+5” (overstuffed), where “0” is the point at which you feel comfortable. “The key to hunger awareness is to eat when you are hungry, have what you want, and stop when you are comfortable,” she says. “Without ‘forbidden’ foods leading to a ‘last-chance-to-eat-this,’ mentality, there’s no need to binge!”
• Practice conscious eating. Many of us eat food unconsciously, which can lead to overconsumption and self-criticism. So forget multitasking: Eat slowly and focus solely on the eating process. “Holding your utensil in the opposite hand may help you slow down and concentrate on the action,” she says, as will making an effort to feel every motion you make when you eat. Think about the texture, taste and aroma of the food. Put the fork down in between mouthfuls.
• Be self-compassionate. If you’ve overeaten and feel uncomfortably full, don’t beat up on yourself. Self-hate and the punishment of undereating to compensate are part of the diet/binge/diet cycle that you want to leave behind, Smiley says. If your mind starts judging, take a deep breath, watch the thoughts as they enter your mind, label each one (“angry at self,” “sad,” “upset”…), and then let it go.

Upcoming dates for the “Never Diet Again” workshops are Nov. 4–7, 2011, and Jan. 20–22, April 27–29, July 13–15 and Nov. 2–4, 2012. Rates start at $993 per person, double occupancy, for the three-night package and include three meals daily, all program sessions, and most resort activities (taxes, gratuities and spa treatments are additional). Prices will will start at $780 for the 2012 two-night programs. The resort, located in a 266-room Victorian mansion, is a National Historic Landmark and located just 90 minutes from New York City.

Do you believe that weight loss is more of a physical or a psychological challenge?

Photo credit: Jim Smith Photography

The Taiz Sensorium is designed to create deep relaxation in the muscles through music on acupressure points.

We love to unwind with some soothing music after a long day, and numerous research studies show that a musical interlude can induce the relaxation response, the body’s counter-command to the stress response. Other research suggests music can temporarily relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety, and even suppress pain. But we had the chance to literally feel the power of music when we checked out the Taiz Sensorium treatment recently at Miraval Resort & Spa in Tucson, AZ.

The spa bills the Sensorium as “a unique relaxation adventure into the realm of imagination.” According to inventor and musician Kephart Taiz, the Sensorium bombards the senses with acoustic vibrations, turning off regular patterns of thinking and helping us transition into a meditative state so we can de-stress quickly and thoroughly, and finish the session calm and rejuvenated. “While in the Sensorium, people have described sensations that range from floating on waves of sound in an imaginary womb, to flying through beautiful landscapes in a lucid dream,” he says.

We were skeptical but intrigued when faced with the special massage table Taiz has designed, so we gamely climbed aboard for a seven-minute sampling. We removed our shoes and lay face down with our head in a face cradle, so Taiz could place the music conductors — artfully crafted wooden spheres connected to transducers that gently drive the sound vibrations into the body: feet; lower back; hips; shoulders; neck and other acupressure points. He then placed headphones over our ears and the Sensorium began, with Taiz piping in a variety of layered rhythmic and instrumental compositions.

He varies the sounds intuitively and individually for each client, joking. “I’m kind of like a shamanic DJ.” He takes requests, so if a client has a preference, he can incorporate the genre into his mix of instrumental music and nature sounds (birds, thunderstorms and ocean waves are among his favorites).

We felt the rhythmic vibrations from the music massage our muscles, relaxing our breath and mind. “We are rhythmic beings,” explains Taiz. “Our hearts pulse, as does our breath and our brain waves. When they are affected by an external source of rhythm, like the Sensorium, they entrain with that external source. In this case they slow, inducing deep relaxation.” We remained awake and engaged, but our body was so relaxed we went into a sort of blissful, hypnotic state.

Taiz notes that the idea of using acoustic vibrations to induce relaxation and reduce pain — known as vibroacoustics — has been tested and validated in a number of studies dating back to the 1980s. As a result, vibroacoustic chairs and tables can be found in hospitals nationwide, but Taiz’s unique system is available only at Miraval in Tucson. The cost for a full 50-minute session is $250.

Does this spa service “sound” great — pardon our wordplay — or a little loopy?

Photo credit: Courtesy Miraval Resort & Spa