Organic Foods and a New Local Restaurant

I had the good fortune of trying a new restaurant featured in the July 28th to August 3rd issue of the Metro Silicon Valley called 'Bayonne': Casual Southern Dining, "a healthy approach to the South" ( a lighter New Orleans and Southern-style food)

The chef, Glen Thompson, came to chat with us, mentioning that he loves using organic ingredients and has been known to change the menu day to day based on the availability of organic ingredients.

He pointed to our strawberry mint lemonade and said, "There's no sugar added. We'll only have this drink available while the strawberries are sweet enough."

The restaurant looks like it makes mostly everything 'homemade' on-site at the restaurant from the organic brioche bread for the 'rich' boy sandwiches, to their ketchup using molasses, to the chocolate ice cream sandwich with date/coconut/granola/chocolate chip cookies, drizzled with caramel sauce.

He's been talking to the Nutrition Department at SJSU and hopes to be able to grow organic produce in the sustainable garden on campus. He'd love to host an "Earth to Plate" event on campus near the garden, with proceeds going to a local children's charity.


Why eat organic? Organic foods are grown without chemicals, hormones, genetic modification, herbicides, or pesticides, which are healthier for the local soil, water resources, air quality, and system biodiversity. It also is safer and healthier for the people working in the farms, as well as the people eating the organic food.

Why eat locally grown food? Locally grown food requires less transportation/fuel to get the food to you faster, fresh from the farm....when the nutrients are at their peak.


Green Tip of the Week: Consider visiting the farmers market for some locally grown and/or organic foods. If you're not into cooking, try a restaurant that uses locally grown and/or organic food.


Here's the link to the downtown San Jose Farmers Market on Fridays in San Pedro Square:
http://www.pcfma.com/market_home.php?market_id=14

Here's a link to the Metro article:
http://www.sanjose.com/bayonne-a31651

Here's a link to the Bayonne Restaurant.
Click on the menu button to see lunch and dinner menus. Keep in mind that the menu could change day to day depending on ingredient availability:
http://www.bayonnesouthern.com/

'Bayonne' is on the first floor of the 'Agenda Lounge' building on 1st Street and East San Salvador Street.

The 'Agenda' has moved upstairs and 'Bayonne' is on the ground floor. There's no 'Bayonne' sign outside the building near the large 'Agenda' sign....just the 'Bayonne' name of the restaurant on the front glass doors. 399 S.First Street

The restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Curious about Plug-In Hybrid or Electric Vehicles?

A four day electric vehicle conference called "Plug-In 2010" is being held at the San Jose Convention Center this week.

Part of the conference is open to the public on Tuesday night for a $10.00 entrance fee.

The exhibit hall with various electric and hybrid vehicles on display will be open to the public from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

There is also a panel discussion featuring Bill Nye, 'the Science Guy' and Martin Eberhard, Co-Founder of Tesla Motors from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.

Toyota and Tesla plan on building a new electric RAV4, which will be ready for sale in 2012 and built at the Fremont NUMMI plant.


Green Tip of the Week: Consider checking out the electric and hybrid vehicles on exhibition, if you're interested.


Here's an article about the conference:
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_15587612?source=rss&nclick_check=1/

Here's an article about the electric RAV4:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=7559231&rss=rss-kgo-article-7559231

Here's the flyer about the exhibition and panel discussion for the general public:
http://www.plugin2010.com/images/stories/home/publicnightflyer.pdf

Innovation Credit - King Library LEED Certification part 5

This week's segment highlights the last section on the Facilities website for the King Library LEED certification process for 'innovation credit'.

These include credits that are "bonus points" that are earned for exceptional features.

Here are some of the King Library’s innovation credits:

*An educational outreach program covering the sustainability features of the library through tours, informational talks, class projects, and websites.

*The resource sharing of electronic library materials (ebooks, ejournals, and digital collections) saves paper and can viewed by many people at the same time, often from their home without traveling to the library at all.

*The compact shelving stacks in the lower level saves space, heating/cooling energy, cleaning, and construction materials.

*Our recycling rate is extremely high due to sending waste and unwanted materials to Greenwaste's Material Recovery Facility (MRF) for sorting, recycling, and reuse.

*The original project architect, Carrier Johnson, supports this certification project with a member of their LEED accredited staff on our King Library LEED Accreditation Team. LEED gives one innovation credit for the participation of a LEED accredited professional on a certification team.

Green tip of the week: Take a peek at one of the library's ebooks, electronic journals, or digital collections just for fun.

http://library.sjsu.edu/research/index.htm


My hope is that this series of green tips featuring some of the LEED certification process of the King Library has been interesting and informative.

http://www.sjsu.edu/fdo/energy/sustainability/king_lib_leed/kingleed6innovation/