SPRING CLEANING – New Tips

Friday, February 26th, 2010 | Our Best Advice | No Comments

Liora Manné floormat available through MoMA

Spring is here with housekeepers, nannies, and other household staff needing to transition to a lighter season. Textile designer and engineer Liora Manné makes products perfect for Spring Cleaning. Using hand blended acrylic fibers needle-punched together her floor mats are saturated with latex for durability, antimicrobial and antistatic, machine washable, and the non-skid backing makes it ideal for use as a new doormat.

MUJI storage box for Spring Cleaning

Another great item for spring storage is from MUJI (the name derived from the Japanese phrase “Mujirushi Ryohin,” meaning “No Brand Goods”). Their products are streamlined, environmentally friendly, and beautiful in simplicity. You can order online or both items at MoMA Feature: Spring at Home

As we get ready for Spring I look at new ideas to combine with others written before on our TIPS pages you can send someone using Our Best Advice and Tell A Friend links. We cannot emphasize enough that Spring Cleaning is a great time to get rid of the old and bring in the new, including products that are green.

I’m amazed at how many people still use toxic and dangerous cleaning products. The days of a huge arsenal of home cleaning products are over. There never was a need for it since traditional cleaning formulas were always environmentally friendly, sustainable, non-toxic, and naturally antibacterial.

Children and Pets are most at risk so make sure to use “old fashioned” friendly products you can make or buy at a natural food store or coop. Make them yourself to save and extend dollar value from baking soda, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, borax, salt (as a great abrasive), and other natural ingredients. There are tons of natural formulas online rather then buying dangerous synthetic chemicals.

photo of Savannah Buffett courtesy of ELLE

While you’re Spring Cleaning a great playlist for you to download to feel as if you’re in Miami “having a rum-soaked vacation” is posted by Savannah Jane Buffett (daughter of musician Jimmy Buffett) in this months ELLE: Read Full Story. Savannah looks so ready for Spring! An all around fun loving expert her list includes lots of reggae to enjoy doing anything including not Spring Cleaning! Check her playlist out.

Another great TIP if you’re in New York, the latest exhibit from the Howard Greenberg Gallery, opened yesterday. More than 50 black and white photographs from the gallery’s collection entitled Heartbeat Of Fashion— including works from Irving Penn, Brassai and Richard Avedon; wonderful fashion images that captured the spirit of an age. Be inspired for Spring!

Heartbeat Of Fashion show in New York

I’ve given some great TIPS on Spring Cleaning and natural cleaning products in our previous TIPS you can find listed on our SITEMAP.

Our Best Advice has been brought to you by www.ISAstaffing.com.Visit often for other great ideas, use our Tell A Friend featured link to this blog, and our Domestic Staffing website to pass our TIPS and renowned services. THANKS!

Serving Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Bel Air, Benedict Canyon, Hancock Park, Laurel Canyon, Los Feliz, Marina Del Rey, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Melrose. Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Topanga Canyon, Westwood, Hollywood Hills, Santa Barbara, Orange County, California, New York, & the greater United States…

Tags: BEVERLY HILLS, Brassai, Brentwood, ELLE, environmentally friendly, green products, Green Tips, Heartbeat Of Fashion, Hollywood, household staff, housekeeper-nannies, housekeepers, Howard Greenberg Gallery, Irving Penn, Liora Manne, Los Angeles, MoMA, MUJI, Nannies, natural cleaning products, Richard Avedon, Savannah Jane Buffett playlist, Spring at Home, spring cleaning, West Hollywood

FOOD – Folk Medicine

Saturday, February 20th, 2010 | Our Best Advice | No Comments

Arcimboldo's oil painting: Summer

Top Chefs know that how they handle food affects our health. Kitchen safety and careful cleaning are a must during and after each meal. Nutritional cooking has become part of standard health routines for our clients, but not all are knowledgeable of TIPS that certain foods may provide for various maladies.

According to the Food Museum in France, Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s painting Summer (circa 1527-1593), a corn ear (introduced from the Americas after 1492), a brown eggplant (introduced from Asia by the Arabs and arrived to Europe in the 15 th century), and a prickly artichoke similar to several Italian local present day varieties. These tidbits are part of a wonderful historical composition of how food travelled from different parts of the world to cross cultural cuisine.

In France, the Kings Medicine Garden contained a variety of foods and herbs brought from all over the world. Today we concentrate on TIPS from one of the most basic of all foods: the amazing ONION.

the Kings Medicine Garden in France

In 1919 the flu killed about 40 million people. There are several differing philosophies about it involving western or eastern approaches. Folk Medicine has lots of applications for ONION. According to lore a doctor came upon a farmer and to his surprise everyone was very healthy. The wife explained she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in each room of their home (probably no more then two rooms at that time). When the doctor examined the onion under his microscope, he found the onion absorbed the flu virus.

Vintage: Onion Cartoon 1900's Germany

Our TIP today is have bowls of onions in your home, office, or other place of work to mitigate getting flus. It works! My husband and I haven’t had the flu in ages (we also take extra Magnesium, which keeps upper respiratory health optimal). If someone you know is ill with pneumonia or flu,  it may help them heal faster by cutting the ends of a large onion, place it in an open jar with a fork in it next to the bed for quicker recovery. These food TIPS are not meant to be considered medical advice. You should at all times consult with your health practitioner and never let any condition go unattended. However, onions can’t hurt, and less expensive then a doctor visit for prevention. Some people are onion sensitive so be alert to that.

Another TIP about onions: never feed them to your dog. Animals don’t digest them which causes infection or other adverse reaction to their digestion. I’ve also read that leaving a raw onion in your refrigerator (even in a baggie) will absorb whatever bacteria or mold is in the air, so don’t eat leftover onions. If you slice one up and don’t use all of it, cook it with a variety of vegetables in water and have the broth as a base for next days cooking, or use for a delicious onion soup the French swear by like some folks stand by chicken soup.

I am a big proponent of raw food and try to have lots of it. Raw onion is one of the best medicines, along with garlic, which keeps us healthy and strong. To prevent onion/garlic breath I carry a small vile of organic Peppermint Oil in my purse (an essential oil my longevity doctor also recommends to his patients); wonderful for digestion and also for headaches. Use couple of drops on your tongue to refresh the breath and aid food absorption (or have fresh mint tea which works as an age old remedy). To revitalize, or treat a headache naturally, rub a drop gently on your brow at your hairline. Make sure to keep away from eyes and if your skin is very sensitive, mix with a little carrier oil like EVO (extra virgin olive oil) or Jojoba (which is actually a wax not an oil).

Have fun with folk medicine and send us your TIPS of those you like sharing with others.

Serving Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Bel Air, Benedict Canyon, Torrance, Hancock Park, Laurel Canyon, Los Feliz, Marina Del Rey, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Melrose. Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Encino, Woodland Hills, Topanga Canyon, Westwood, Hollywood Hills, Pasadena, San Mareno, Santa Barbara, Orange County, Ventura County, California, New York, & the greater United States…

Our Best Advice has been brought to you by www.ISAstaffing.com, renowned Best of The Best in Household Work and Domestic Help staffing. Visit often for other great ideas, use our Tell A Friend featured link to this blog, and our Domestic Staffing website to pass our HOT TIPS and renowned services. THANKS!

Tags: Arcimboldo, essential oils, Flu Season, Folk Medicine, food, Food Museum, France, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, housekeepers, housekeeping, Kitchen Safety, natural products, Nutritional Cooking, Onion, organic, TIPS, TOP CHEFS