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.