Readers' Favorite Green Restaurants: Great Sage

This is the first in my series about favorite green restaurants anywhere in the world!  If you have one to share, please email me at lori@lorihillevents.com with the name of the restaurant, its website, what makes it green and why you like it so much!

Great Sage
Clarksville, Maryland
Submitted by:  Melissa Jones, Silver Spring, Maryland

Great Sage provides delicious organic, vegan, and vegetarian food Tuesday through Sunday.  Lunch is served Tuesday through Saturday with a brunch on Sunday.  Lite fare and dinner are served every day.  Food is sourced from local, organic farms and low impact practices are emphasized not just with the customers, but in the kitchen as well. 

Melissa says, "The food is AMAZING and they have weekly meal specials, jazz bands and more!" Indeed!  This restaurant is also a favorite of mine, so when Melissa submitted it as a favorite, I had to give her a virtual high five.  I've taken carnivores there who have learned about eating healthier and have enjoyed the food (there are faux versions traditional meat dishes).  Once I took my sister there for Sunday brunch and was a bit embarrassed when she asked for Sweet'N Low to sweeten her tea.  The non-judgemental server happily provided Stevia and I am delighted to say that my sister has now replaced her evil fake sweeteners with the natural stuff!  I am also a fan of beer, wine and hot tea, and Great Sage has an abundant supply of organic offerings for all of these beverages.  The decor is also pleasing and relaxing and when the weather is warm, you can sit outside.  Thursdays feature live music and half price wine bottles.

If you have to wait for a table, visit nest, the gift store next door, which sells organic, recycled, fair trade, eco-friendly and handmade items such as "...the cutest eco-wear, accessories, paper products and more!" according to Melissa.  On a personal note, I rarely leave nest empty handed.

Strawberry Shortcake Tower

Roots Market, a natural and organic food market, is within the same complex -- Conscious Corner -- along with Bark, a pet store offering pet food that is preservative free with no by-products.  Visitors from far and wide make an afternoon out of visiting Conscious Corner, and I completely understand why!  And this just in!  Boulder, a new, men's eco fashion store is coming this spring! 

14 Days of Green Valentines

Gift Idea #11

Dine Green
I know, I KNOW!  Going out for dinner on Valentine's Day is SO unoriginal.  But how about taking your Love to an eco-friendly restaurant that serves organic, vegan and/or vegetarian food?  Imagine that?!  How do you find one of these Earth-friendly eating places?  The Green Restaurant Association can yelp you out.  It is a national non-profit organization that provides a convenient and cost-effective way for restaurants, manufacturers, distributors and consumer to become more environmentally responsible.  They help a restaurant operate more sustainably and then provide them with a rating.  The general public benefits because GRA provides a database of green restaurants in your area.  It also lists caterers in your area that have been certified by the association which might come in handy in case your Valentine's dinner turns into an engagement of the long term type!  You can then turn to this site when planning your nuptials and find yourself a green caterer! 

Another useful vegetarian guide is Happy Cow which is a service to help travelers and people everywhere to find vegetarian, vegan and healthy food choices.  No matter where you live in the world, you can browse their global resource directory to find a vegan and/or vegetarian restaurant near you!  I'm heading to the Caribbean next month and found 124 listings! 

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I Unplugged for 10 Days: Part 4

Below is an account of my attempt to unplug completely from email and the internet for 10 days while on a stay-cation.  For those of you who haven’t heard the term, a stay-cation is a local vacation.

Day 2 – Saturday, April 23

My boyfriend John is having a gathering of family and friends on Friday and being the event producer that I am, I am helping him with the menu and other details.  I had hoped to have these details taken care of before my unplugging, but we couldn’t’ find the time to have the discussion until now. 

I try to convince him to go with Sticky Fingers Sweet & Eats, an amazing vegan bakery/restaurant [see, we ARE still talking green on this blog!] that also caters, but he wants to go with No Name Vegetarian Caterer since he has used them before.  I’m okay with this since I’m curious to see how they’ll do.  I get on the Internet to see what their menu options are.  While I don’t mind getting online (no heart palpitations whatsoever) to handle this task, I will admit that I’m a bit disappointed that once again, I’ve failed at my plan to unplug.  But this gathering is much more important than my silly experiment, so I “man up” and get online. 

John and I look at the menu for No Name Vegetarian Caterer from our respective laptops.  He is one efficient, no-nonsense kind of guy, so we quickly figure out a menu.  I send an email inquiry and specifically request No Name Vegetarian Caterer to call me on my mobile phone since I am NOT checking email!  So goes it for unplugging from phone calls…  I realize that will be impossible.  I stay away from my laptop for the duration of the day. 

I didn’t plan anything for the rest of the day.  As a planner, I like to plan out my day – even on the weekends, but today, I wanted to let whatever happen, happen.  John, his 2 young sons and I went to an egg hunt in his neighborhood.  This one family has been hosting it for nearly 20 years.  The night before, parents drop off 1 dozen candy-filled plastic (eek!) eggs per kid.  The next day, families show up at the same house for a shot gun start to the egg hunt.  The little ones go first, followed shortly thereafter by older age categories.  They have a limit of 12 eggs per kid.  The adults hang out and enjoy a pot luck brunch and chat while the kids hunt for eggs.  I help out a few neighborhood kids I know who haven’t accumulated their 12 eggs by standing in an area where I see eggs and let them know if they are getting warmer and colder.  It was great, simple fun. 

Total time on the internet today:  15 to 20 minutes.  

Next post:  See how I did on Day 4 and read about the interesting experiment my college-aged nephew engaged in that involved removing mass media from his life for 24 hours.   

Sixth Annual Polar Bear Plunge the Coldest Ever!

I did it! On Saturday, January 22, I plunged into 30-degree water in 20-degree weather and raised over $1,523 (and counting!) thanks to nearly 50 friends, family, colleagues and clients.

I had an amazing time at the Plunge! I bundled up (8 layers on top, 3 on the bottom if you count my suit) and looked a bit like the Michelin Man and didn’t feel cold at all – even when I took off all those layers to get in the water. In previous years, I actually felt sick as soon as I hit the water, but not this year. I kept charging forward, full speed ahead and had the most amazing time! Everybody is ALWAYS in such a good mood and so many people really get into the spirit of the day.

lori hill event productions helped out with some of the logistics and in recruiting the day’s sponsors who also helped out a bunch. Be sure to give these folks you attention and business if you can.

Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company
            












 Not only does Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company produce some of the region’s finest coffees (if you were at the Plunge, you know!), they do it with modern eco-technologies. But more importantly, they are devoted to making the world around us a better place. CBRC pledges 2% in support of their H2O-Initiative that contributes funding to local organizations devoted to restoring our regional treasure, the Chesapeake Bay. Visit their web site to find out how you can purchase them at a store near you.

New Leaf Vegan Society
For three years in a row, Dale Ball from New Leaf Vegan Society has baked her buns off to provide the most delicious vegan muffins, cookies and brownies. We are confident she shocks skeptics when they realized they are eating vegan treats! New Leaf believes in a tasty plant-based outlook towards a more compassionate and sustainable future for ourselves, the animals and the planet. They are a valuable resource for delicious recipes, tips and hot topics.


Perfect Settings
A rented table looks pretty naked without a beautiful linen to adorn it and we are grateful that Perfect Settings, a party rental company with one of the most extensive product lines in the area, helped us adorn our tables with beautiful grass green linens. There are many party rental companies out there, but Perfect Settings makes every effort to reduce their carbon foot print. Furthermore, they recycle all plastic linen bags and cardboard, offer recycling services to events through the rental of recycling bins, purchase 100% wind power and have the most environmentally friendly tables and coverings in the special events industry.

Waste Neutral Group
We wouldn’t walk the talk if we didn’t dispose of our Plunge waste responsibly, so for the past three years, Waste Neutral Group has taken our compostables (all food, coffee cups and collars, wooden stirrers, napkins, paper waste) and recyclables and diverted them from the landfill. Whether you are planning an event, or are a commercial business or institution, Waste Neutral will come up with cost effective alternatives to help you divert needless waste from going to the landfill.