EcoSalon’s weekly playlist pick from 8tracks.

It’s officially fall, and although you might be taking a moment to mourn the fact that the days are shorter and the chance for rain just increased exponentially, you can also look forward to all the things that make fall wonderful: apple cider, colorful leaves, harvest parties, hearty recipes to try.

But before you go doing that, it’s totally okay to take one more chance to honor the passing of summer 2011. And to do that, we’ve got the perfect playlist, aptly titled Last Summer Days. So press play, make yourself a cup of coffee and honor the summer past and all the good things to come.

Listen by clicking here.

On Music Monday we bring you a featured playlist from one of our favorite music sites 8tracks. From indie rock to electro pop we hope it’s a playlist that kicks your week off right. 

Image: Anna Brones

It’s like pop art on a stick.

What’s there not to love about popsicles? They’re bright, fun, reminiscent of day camp. But what we might remember as sticky high-fructose corn syrup on a stick has now been given a grown-up, post-modern makeover. Just look at that strawberry banana homemade creation: nutritious and sublime.

The Zoku Pop Maker is particularly cool (pun intended) because it ices pops in seven minutes flat without using electricity. The way it works is this: pre-freeze the Pop Maker for 24 hours before using it. Then insert the sticks, pour in your fixings (be it fruit, juice, yogurt or alcohol for summertime margarita pops) and you’re done.

The Zoku comes equipped with a recipe book, pour cups, a fruit wand and siphon, stencils and a storage case. It’s also BPA and phthalate free, and costs $52.

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Picnic anyone? This summer, load up on eco-friendly bamboo cutlery instead of the “naughty-but-light” plastic stuff.

These lightweight, reusable and chic bamboo forks, spoons and knives are made from organic bamboo, care of the company Core Bamboo. Because bamboo grows like grass – as in really fast – it is one of the most efficient materials on the planet. Plus, it’s 16 percent stronger than maple and 33 percent lighter than oak, meaning this cutlery is both strong and lithe.

A 12-piece bamboo cutlery set costs $36 and contains four place settings.

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Add a smattering of Calypso cool to your next summer soiree. Your friends will applaud you.

Ah, summer. ´Tis the season for deck parties, rooftop soirees, backyard BBQs and these frenetically colorful Calypso Wine Glasses.

Each is hand blown, so no two are ever the same. What’s more, the Calypso Collection is crafted out of 100% recycled glass. Even better? You will look instantly fabulous in your Flickr pics with a tumbler or pint-full of Calypso in tow. Double chic with a wine or martini glass. Stir it up.

Retail starts at $16.00 per glass.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

Need some new ideas for what to read this summer? Here are some top picks from our EcoSalon editors.

Summer is a time to get outdoors, spend time with friends, take vacations and catch up on your reading. Here at EcoSalon we all have stacks of books on our bedside tables (or downloaded on our Kindle apps), waiting to be read on the beach or just on the back deck. We thought it would be fun to share our choices and give you a glimpse of our interests and what we read in our spare time.

Did you know that Amy DuFault reads Dorothy Parker to help fine tune her wit or that Vanessa Barrington even reads about food for fun? Scott Adelson and Katherine Butler can’t say enough good things about the same book, so be sure to put it on your must-read list. Although many tackle weighty issues – strong reviews, glowing recommendations or exceptional writing land them on our list. Here are the titles we can’t wait to start, and some favorites we think you’ll enjoy.

Happy summer!

Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories by Jonathan Chapman and Nik Gant
Ever since I wrote Top 15 Eco-Fashion Books We Love a while back I’ve been trying to chip away at reading all of them. As a sustainable fashion writer, as much as I say first-hand knowledge and experience with the industry is important, it’s just as important to take the time to read thoughtful insights from different members of the fashion industry. [Amy DuFault]

The Portable Dorothy Parker
I LOVE Dorothy Parker and whatever I haven’t read of hers I am sure I will find in this tome and I am hoping she helps me sharpen my wit. [Amy Dufault]

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Before she killed herself, Hannah Baker made seven audio tapes with thirteen reasons why she took her own life. The tapes are making the rounds to each of the thirteen people who played a part (knowingly or unknowingly) in her decision. I’m interested to see how Asher treats this issue, especially since reviewers, teens and parents alike rave about the story.  [Andrea Newell]

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce
The summary had me at “hypnotically dark story.” A couple is caught by an avalanche skiing, and after they dig themselves out, they find that the world is empty. But is it? A friend couldn’t put it down, and I love page turners while I am at the beach listening to the waves.   [Andrea Newell]

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. Janie Crawford is a black woman in the early twentieth century South who marries three men, but only one for love. She lives her life unapologetically, even when she is judged for daring to pursue passion and happiness, and accused of murdering one of her husbands. “The kiss of his memory made pictures of love and light against the wall. Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see.” [Andrea Newell]

Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook
Few people know or would believe that the ubiquitous tomatoes we find on our fast food and deli sandwiches could possibly have been produced by enslaved workers in this country. Even worse, the tomatoes are so tasteless and mealy; they are not even worth eating. A waste of labor and resources, even if slavery is not part of the equation. Someone has finally written a book about what modern agriculture has done to an iconic fruit that should be delicious, juicy, and full of flavor and the workers who harvest it. It’s about time. [Vanessa Barrington]

Day of Honey by Annia Ciezadlo
A food memoir of an American woman who marries a Lebanese man, spends her honeymoon in Baghdad and, through her marriage learns to navigate the world of Middle Eastern food and culture. I’m dying to read it because I’ve heard that it’s exquisitely written, but more so because it shows us different aspects of a part of the world that we rarely see other than through wartime images on the news. [Vanessa Barrington]

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster
Why? Because it’s a classic about one of England’s favorite topics, class distinctions. Though this one has the distinction of taking place over an extended holiday. Plus, it’s funny (in that subtle Forster way) and biting, cutting to the frivolities of what it is to have and have not. Or perhaps better put, to want and want not. I picked this book up again last summer after Diane Rehm featured it in her NPR book club. [K. Emily Bond]

Another Country by James Baldwin
This is a story about the downfall and subsequent suicide of a black jazz musician named Rufus Scott, his relationship with Leona, a white woman from the South, his mentor Richard’s relationship with his wife Cass, his best friend Vivaldo’s relationship with his sister Ida, and his first gay lover’s relationship with Cass. Who, again, is Rufus’ mentor’s wife. Lots of sex – of the straight and gay kind – characterizes Another Country, but it’s very much a book about racial tension, denial, ambition and jealousy. It is an insanely absorbing portrait of bohemian 1960s New York vs. the rest of the world, just as relevant today as it was then. Truly, this and Giovanni’s Room are my two favorite Baldwin works. [K. Emily Bond]

I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere and Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda
These might seem a bit obscure, but this contemporary French writer is one of my favorites, and the two books are always good summer reads, because they’re smart, witty and very French. I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere is a collection of short stories, which is ideal for when you’re on the road or simply in need of some brain candy. [Anna Brones]

Astrid & Veronika by Linda Olsson
A heavy but beautiful book that takes a new friendship from the harsh winter months and into the Swedish summer. Olsson is a Swede living in New Zealand, and although she writes in English, her Swedish roots are clear in her writing, which is probably why I am a sucker for her books. [Anna Brones]

Just Kids by Patti Smith
Art, music, love and romance, all as acute and true as can be in an irrepressible late-60s and 70s New York City backdrop. Rock Shaman Goddess Patti Smith takes us with her on an escape from New Jersey to an anything-can-happen art and rock (and art rock) world as is taken form in the desperate nooks and crannies of The City where pure invention was being begged at every turn. Most of all, perhaps, Just Kids is the story of her deep personal connection with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe, who passed away from AIDs in 1989. Together they negotiate an extreme transition from poverty and youth to success and fame, while never surrounding their hard-driven addiction to creative authenticity. A super read that bears the texture of Smith’s magical and poetic voice. How many people do you think went to see Jim Morrison perform and walked away thinking “I can do that.” Of those, how many could? [Scott Adelson]

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
This Side of Paradise’s exploration of hard-to-like Amory Blaine’s evolution in the face of The Man is as powerful and poignant today as it must have been when it was a sensation at the birth of the Jazz Age. How relevant is it today? Check out this riff: “We want to believe. Young students try to believe in older authors, constituents try to believe in their congressmen, countries try to believe in their statesmen, but they can’t. Too many voices, too much scattered, illogical, ill-considered criticism… Any rich, unprogressive old party with that particularly grasping, acquisitive form of mentality known as financial genius can own a paper that is the intellectual meat and drink of thousands of tired, hurried men, men too involved in the business of modern living to swallow anything but predigested food.” Fitzgerald’s masterpiece changes its tone and structure along with the experiences of Blaine, giving the book a modern feel a nearly a century after it was first published. [Scott Adelson]

The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Chopin was exploring women’s “problem with no name” almost a century prior to the 1970s American feminist revival. Gorgeously describing the hot sultry climate of New Orleans and Grande Isle, it’s a great read for summer. [Katherine Butler]

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
What an outstanding read — Egan compiles a group of amazing characters past, present and future. And she gives us a slightly-chilling view of ourselves ten years down the line. [Katherine Butler]

Having won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, many believe Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is a true modern masterpiece. Magnificent craftsmanship and a unique use of postmodern technique give this novel a cross-time, cross-genre sensibility, and a certain humanity that you might find lacking in the cooler works of Don DeLillo, Paul Auster and other well-known, male Postmodern masters. Egan’s book opens with a story of a kleptomaniac woman and jumps from chapter to chapter, each one bringing new characters into the spotlight without regard to chronology or consistency of style. What emerges is a sense of time, realism and emotional breadth that could not come from your usual “once-upon-a-time” experience. [Scott Adelson]

Enjoy!

image: Michela Castiglione

ColumnYour guide to throwing your own Swedish Midsummer celebration.

This week marks the summer solstice, and if there’s any place that knows how to celebrate this time of year, it’s Sweden. Its northern latitude makes the winters dark and long and the summers light and short, which means there’s plenty of reason to celebrate the official start to the summer season which kicks off at midsommar.

Midsommar was originally celebrated on June 24, but in 1953 was moved to the nearest Saturday – you can’t have a big celebration in the middle of the week after all. The real celebration is the Friday night before, on Midsommarafton – Midsummer’s Eve –  the time when you gather your friends and families, cover long tables in an array of traditional food, put up a midsummer pole and sing songs as you drink Aquavit, or snaps as the Swedes call it.

I get nostalgic around this time, pining after the land where the sun barely sets and the party thrown in celebration of the season continues into the wee hours of the morning. It’s a day of food, friends and tradition.

Sweden might be small when it comes to population, but in terms of food and culture, the country carries some weight, and with the Scandinavian takeover in the culinary world, midsummer and its traditions has made its way across the Atlantic, which for the rest of us, means the chance to drink artisanal Aquavit without the plane ride.

Here’s the quick guide to the essentials for throwing your own midsummer celebration.

Drinks

A standard in Scandinavian liquor cabinets, Aquavit is less of a tradition here on the other side of the Atlantic, but two artisanal distilleries are making a name for themselves with classic renditions: North Shore Distillery in Chicago, Illinois and House Spirits Distillery in Portland, Oregon.

Want to truly go underground? Make your own. You can turn practically anything into a good snaps, you just need flavorful herbs and spices, or even berries – anything from dill to ginger to raspberries – and a bottle of vodka. Let store in a cool, dark place for at least a few days, and taste to gauge flavor. To increase the taste, you can also add in a couple pinches of sugar.

Chive and Lemon Snaps (adapted from GP.se)

• 10 minutes + 1 week
• 750 ml bottle of vodka
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 4 stalks of chives
• lemon zest of 1 lemon

Combine all ingredients in bottles and let stand in cool, dark place for at least 1 week. Shake bottle every few days. When ready, strain vodka as chives lose their color if left in too long.

To complete the drinking process, you’ll also need a good snapsvisa or two, songs sung specifically in conjunction with the drinking of aquavit. Start with the classic Helan Går.

Main course

Midsommar food is easy and it all starts with a good base of pickled herring, salmon and potatoes with dill. In New York, the go-to spot for pickled herring is Russ & Daughters, but if you’re located on one of the coasts, you can often find it at local seafood markets, or even make your own.

To top off the fish, serve up a classic dill mustard sauce, taken from my kitchen staple, Vår Kokbok:

• 3 tablespoons mustard
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1/2 cup cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped dill

Mix mustard, sugar, salt, pepper and vinegar in a bowl. Add oil in a slow and steady stream, whisking quickly the entire time. If oil is added too quickly in the beginning, it will separate from the rest of the sauce. Once oil has been added and sauce has been mixed, whisk in dill just before serving. Serve over fish and potatoes.

Dessert

If you’re lucky enough to live in New York, you might take inspiration from Sockerbit, a store devoted to serving up the best of lösgodis, Sweden’s popular bulk candy; no midsummer is complete without a few bowls of colorful candy carefully placed around the room. Other dessert necessities are strawberries, whipped cream and maybe even a good chocolate cake. I like to make a big batch of chokladbollar (pictured at the top) – easy to make, delicious and totally unhealthy.

• 1 stick of butter
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2-3 tablespoons water
• 2.5 cups oats
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• Optional: 1 tablespoon ground coffee

Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in cocoa, vanilla, water and oats (if you’re adding in coffee, mix in as well). Form mixture into small balls, and roll in coconut to cover them. Refrigerate until serving.

Find yourself a rustic picnic table, cover it in wildflowers and let the party begin. Glad midsommar!

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

I feel a bit guilty writing about oppressive heat in the fog-swaddled San Francisco Bay Area while my friends back east and in Europe are wilting under record-high temperatures. But as someone who spent a recent Parisian summer sweltering in an attic level apartment, I feel I’ve earned my heat wave street cred. For unlike my east coast cronies who groan about triple digit days before retreating to refrigerated offices, I have had to face the heat European-style. For those of you who don’t know what this means, I’m talking about sans air-conditioning.

I should point out that I have a strong aversion to hot weather. As the mercury rises, I become dizzy, tomato-red and weak. It is not pretty. Actually, it is a little scary. And while I am well aware of the environmental damage an air-conditioning unit can pump out, sometimes comfort trumps conscience and I flip that switch.

In France, forget it. Air conditioning is not only rare, but is openly frowned upon. So when Paris was suffering through a particularly brutal heat wave one July, I took to French coping mechanisms to ride out the canicule. I survived. In one piece. And lived to appreciate the lesson, if not the heat itself.

For starters, there is nothing an oven-like apartment to get you out and about. As a writer, long days spent working at home are often par for the course. Add deadlines or engrossing research to the mix, and lunch out or a leisurely afternoon walk can easily fall by the wayside. Facing 95-degree temperatures in a seventh-floor walkup has a way of rearranging priorities. I enjoyed picnics in the city’s parks, afternoons relaxing in cafes and a late-night walk with a friend that spanned several miles and introduced me to new neighborhoods. And you know what? This new relaxed pace reduced my stress level, helping me to be more productive in the long run.

I also saw more of my neighbors and by that, I mean much more than I needed to. Parisians are generally reserved, but all modesty quite literally flies out the window during stifling evenings when fellow apartment dwellers lounge around bright rooms in various states of undress. What initially seemed like a large-scale homage to voyeurism, soon gave way to collective empathy as many people shed attitude along with articles of clothing. We were all in this together, and a friendly wave from a window across the courtyard was a welcome reminder that I was not the only one roasting in a veritable sauna.

In my bid to escape the torment I began to revel in small pleasures. Cold towels dabbed with essential oil became cherished mini spa experiences, further relaxing me.  Besides heat relief, there is something oddly sensual about lying naked across a futon at 2:00 am draped in wet, lavender-scented cotton. Pastis and absinthe daiquiris also had a surprisingly cooling, soothing effect, putting to rest a long-held wariness of licorice-flavored concoctions. Or perhaps polishing off two drinks after lunch makes you less inclined to care how hot it is.

What sticks with me the most, however, is the refrain from friends and colleagues that such heat spells, though previously rare, are becoming increasingly common. Climate experts say that a combination of global warming and urbanization will result in hotter summers in the coming decade.

My French heat wave was a reminder of this urgency. Unlike sizzling summers past when I basked in frigid blasts and quickly forgot a record heat spell, soaring temperatures are hard to ignore when your apartment has morphed into a steam room and a unit across from yours appears to have been taken over by nudists. And if my next July in Paris is anything like my last, I very well may join the party. With my lavender-scented towel, of course.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Erin Zaleski.

Image: Al lanni

I just returned from a seaside vacation, where the leisure-time activities included swimming, hiking, and being environmentally incorrect.

On the very first day at our rented seashore home, I unpacked the cooler we had brought to the beach – and without even thinking about it I began to toss empty Diet Coke cans into the trash. In my real life I am a fairly rabid recycler and would never dream of doing this, but on that day, I did it casually and instinctively, egged on by a small voice in my head that whined, “You’re on vacation – give yourself a break.” As small voices go, this one was relatively benign – it’s not like it was telling me to hold up a convenience store, or wear white after Labor Day. But I was shocked at how quickly and easily I could put my values aside just because I was temporarily away from home. Are my beliefs really that lightly held, that disposable? Apparently so.

In my defense, this was my first real vacation in two years. It’s been kind of a difficult time, what with career changes, mid-life crises, and hauling my daughter cross-country to look at colleges. Faced with a cooler full of sandy cans, a childish and petulant part of my character took over, stomping its feet and insisting that I shouldn’t have to do anything that resembled drudgery – even something as non-taxing as recycling some beverage containers.

Feeling a slight but lingering shame, I went on with my vacation and returned to the beach the next day. My family always looks for seals near the shore line – most times without success – but they were out in record numbers that day, coming closer to the beach than we’d ever seen them. Clownish, whiskered and incredibly sweet-looking, they dove in and out of the water, doing the sidestroke and goofing around. One in particular came right up to the shore and looked me straight in the face for an eerily long time. We bonded. We made crazy cross-species eye contact and in that moment I felt mystically (some would say obsessively) connected to that seal. I named him Frank.

Clearly he was not just a seal – he was nature’s perfect lobbyist and he quickly had me rethinking my lazy, selfish ways. As I stood at the shore, I vaguely remembered reading that ocean litter was largely made up of beverage containers. I cringed then, thinking about the cans I hadn’t recycled, and made a fierce and somewhat crackpot vow to improve my eco efforts.

I spent the rest of the day guarding the shore, giving dirty looks to anyone who looked like they might be on the verge of littering. “Don’t even think about it,” I hissed to a little boy who had the glazed, anxious look of a child who’s about to pee in the ocean. For me, there would be no more throwing out soda cans; I was newly committed to a pristine planet. I was making the world a better place”¦for Frank.

My daughter seemed surprised (and a little annoyed) that neither she nor her brother had ever inspired me with that kind of environmental zeal. This was an excellent point, and one that I deftly sidestepped but could not ultimately explain.

Except to say that Frank was one hell of a cute seal.

Image: nhoulihan

I am a freakishly seasonal shopper. Not only do I assiduously avoid grocery store tomatoes year-round until they are in season at the farmers’ market, I won’t even buy them from the farmers for the first few weeks of the local season.

Instead I continue to enjoy the green beans, squash, and other summer goodies while I wait for the tomatoes to reach their peak of goodness. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, that’s about now.

Forget about heirlooms. They’re so 2007. Have you noticed that sometimes they just aren’t that great?

Eaters in the know are going for the Dry-Farmed Early Girls that many farmers are growing. They are deep red, juicy, never mealy and packed with concentrated tomato flavor. And dry farming saves water – especially important in water-starved California.

Here are three fabulous recipes for you to make with your area’s best tomatoes – be they heirlooms, Early Girls, or Beefsteaks.

101 Cookbooks offers up a Spiced Tomato-Potato Gratin that would be wonderful as a side dish or a light supper.

From Saveur, we’ve got a Grilled Tomato Salsa for tacos, chips, quesadillas, beans, or simply spooning over grilled meat.

And from Simply Recipes a Chickpea, Tomato, and Egg Salad that is simple enough to showcase the best tomatoes but complete enough to be an entire meal-especially on a hot day.

Photo credits: Main image by the ewan via Flickr, licensed for commercial use under Creative Commons. Other images from the recipe sites.

I wish I could tie August around my wrists, carrying the satisfaction of whimsical sunsets and anticipation of impending fall with me year round. There is something about natural rope that insinuates the nautical splash of coastal bliss that only summer can nurture. Go ahead, get tied up and roped into these gorgeous commodities.

Clockwise from top left: Haus Interior Rope & Nickel Accessories, SHINE Rope Artwork, Tanya Aguiniga Unraveled Cotton Rope Necklace, Simplemente Blanco Sisal Knitted Pillow, Anthropologie Coiled Rope Knob, and Tanya Aguiniga Jersey Knot Bracelet.

(Top images from Marie Sturges and Mel Yates.)