glass straws

Q&A: GlassDharma

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Over the past few months I have been using my GlassDharma straws all the time and have added them to my OpenSky shop for you to get your own set.  These straws are great and so easy to clean and are eco-friendly.  Below is a little Q&A for the people at GlassDharama.  Enjoy!

1. Why did you decide to partner up with OpenSky?

GlassDharma’s publicity began with Bloggers!  Blog reviews of GlassDharma products brought about an appropriate forum.  Not only to get the word out about a new idea (Glass Straws)  but also to present the forward thinking that goes along with the creation of our products.

When Open Sky made it’s debut, Glass Dharma staff recognized an organization that could easily unite bloggers and product manufacturers in a way that gave bloggers opportunities for store fronts.  After all, the bloggers promote the products, so why not sell to their own followings as well & increase their profits?

2. What is the inspiration behind GlassDharma?

GlassDharma has a mission – the power of a spiraling thought process goes with each product that leaves our manufacturing facility.

The thought process?  REUSE!

Reuse it and you don’t have to throw it “away”.

Reuse it and you won’t have to “recycle” it.

Reuse and just say “no” to single use plastics.

Choosing a reusable straw is a small and simple act, but the decision leads to more decisions about much bigger things….

David Leonhardt, owner and founder, focuses his hard work and determination into creating quality products that have an impact on health and environmental issues.  While caring for his customers with the highest level of integrity, David creates a product that benefits other people like himself and the quality of our world. His vision to create his own line of glass drinking straws stems from his 12 years of experience as a Lamp-worker.

In addition to becoming a part of the “green” movement with his product and his packaging, David also loves the elegance of glass.

GlassDharma is the result of a life long pursuit to follow “dharma” – that which upholds and supports the proper conduct of living.

3. Which is your favorite straw and why?

“I use every style and size of GlassDharma straws but my most used are the 10inch 9.5mm because I drink Iced Tea every day.  At home I use tall Iced Tea glasses and on the go I use tall glass bottles.  The 10 inch are the perfect size for both.

Every day I drink a fruit & veggie smoothie for breakfast and I always reach for a 12mm “smoothie size” Beautiful Bends Glass Straw.

Serving guests?  The Decorative Dots are the favorite and the different colors help with drink identification.”

-Cheryl Newcomb (PR& Marketing Department at GlassDharma)

4. What are the benefits of GlassDharma straws?

There is the benefit of taste & feel when you use glass straws, the elegance of the fire polished glass…

The glass maintains a more constant temperature in both hot and cold beverages, there is not the condensation buildup and sweating that often occurs with stainless steel and aluminum straws.

The very best benefit is to reduce the need for single use plastics because of what plastic waste is doing to our Planet

5. How durable are GlassDharma straws?

GlassDharma Glass Straws are manufactured using a special annealing method:

David Leonhardt uses the highest standards available, provided by Corning, Inc. (the makers of Pyrex©) to anneal*.  Under computer controlled conditions, all glassware created by GlassDharma (*a special heating process that reduces stress in the glass) produces “Vintage Pyrex” quality and durability.  100% inspection for Quality Control is implemented at each stage of manufacturing and packaging.

Please see video à http://glassdharma.blogspot.com/2010/03/glassdharma-difference.html

6. Lastly, I see that you are involved in fundraising as well, could you tell me more about this?

GlassDharma knows that the giving back reaches far beyond the manufacturing of a product that is environmentally friendly.

There are many worthwhile causes in our world and GlassDharma would like to provide platforms and opportunities for Fundraising by providing a user-friendly Fundraising Package of our products to allow profits from sales to be used for worthy causes.

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From Farm to Table

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Yesterday was busy with meetings, appointments, CSA pickups and lots of organizing before our first guests visit our new home. Since it was going to be a busy day the Hubz stopped and picked up iced coffees for us after his trip to the gym.

We used our GlassDharma Straws to sip them with

After our whirlwind day we finally sat down to a meal that was filled with delicious items from our CSA. In our CSA this week we received 2 lbs Red Beets; 2 lbs Onions; 1 Bunch Kale; 1 Bunch of Thyme; 1.5 lb Beefsteak or Heirloom Tomatoes; 1 Bag Spicy Brassica Mix; 6 ears of Sweet Corn; 1 Qt Frozen Winter Squash Puree. Last night I used half the kale to make baked kale chips, 2 corn on the cob for baked corn and 1 tomato for our pita pizzas.

The kale was tossed with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 tablespoon nutritional yeast, salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne and baked at 425F for about 7 minutes; just until it began to crisp up.  The corn was removed from it’s husk and rubbed down with a little Earth Balance and then sprinkled with nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper and rolled up in aluminum foil and baked at 425F for 15minutes.  The little pita pizzas had a slice of vegan cheese of half of a pita with a leftover bean&rice burger, tomato and quarter of an avocado.

After dinner I caught up with my BFF for awhile over skype since we hadn’t talked via phone/skype in over a month and then I decided that it would be a great time to try out the Ravi Wine Chiller.  I learned something new last night that red wine is often served too warm! I was unsure about the Ravi Wine Chiller at first thinking that maybe it would make my red wine too cold but it was perfect! It has a great little valve on the side that the more your thumb is over it the slower the wine pours out and the colder it gets; so for red wine you just let it run through the chiller and it brings it to a proper temperature without making it cold.

Q: What is your favorite type of wine to drink? or do you enjoy wine?

P.S. From now until August 16th you can save 25% of your total purchase when you use coupon code EXCITE25; this a one time use only so make sure to check out other items on my OpenSky shop as well as others shops before checking out!

Disclaimer: Ravi provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

Burgers & Smoothies

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Yesterday after work I wasn’t feeling great so I just spent the afternoon relaxing on the couch with the fur baby.  I wasn’t really feeling up to solid foods but was hungry so I decided to make myself a smoothie. In the smoothie I had original 1 cup unsweetened hemp milk, 1/4 of a cantaloupe, 1/2 banana and about 1 cup of frozen mango.

It was so cool and refreshing I think it is my new smoothie love.  I also tried out my new GlassDharma straw which I absolutely love! It as a little weird to drink our of at first but I really like it.  Above is just one of the straws I have and I can’t wait to show you the others! Not only are these straws pretty but they are sustainable, dishwasher safe, kid friendly and they have a life time guarantee; you can’t beat that! Also at first I was like how am I supposed to clean this thing?  Well GlassDharma includes a cleaning brush which makes things so much easier because otherwise I would have had a hard time getting that smoothie residue out of the straw. They are also part of my new OpenSky Shop where right now until August 16th you can save 25% of your total purchase when you use coupon code EXCITE25; this a one time use only so make sure to check out other items on my OpenSky shop as well as others shops before checking out!

Finally dinner time rolled around and I knew the Hubz would not be down for a liquid dinner so I decided to use up some veggies and rice that was in the fridge and make bean and rice burgers.  This is one of my favorite things to make when I have left over grains, veggies and beans in the pantry. I also love how easy it is to make these because there is very little work that I have to do; I just stick everything except the spices, condiments and rice into the food processor and pulse.   In last nights mix there was: 1/2 parsley, 10 olives, 1 carrot, 1/2 onion and 1 can of drained and rinsed white beans all tossed into the food processor.

Pulse everything until it is pretty well combined but there are still some small chunks.

Once the mixture has reached the right consistency dump it into a bowl and start adding the remaining ingredients: 1 cup of cooked rice or grain (I only had white rice; need to restock the pantry), 1/4 cup nutritional yeast, 1t salt, 1/2t black pepper, 1t chili flakes (optional), 1t paprika, 1 heaping tablespoon each of dijon mustard and tomato ketchup, 1/2 tablespoon hot sauce and 1t garlic powder.

Mix to combine all of the ingredients and then scoop out onto a parchment lined baking sheet and place in a 425F oven for 23-27 minutes, flipping part way through.  I then topped mine with a little BBQ sauce and served it up with roasted broccoli.

I get this question a lot of time from friends and family: “I really want a food processor however they are a lot of money, do you have any suggestions for a lower cost one?” YES! I do have a great suggestion!  I have always wanted wanted a really nice Cuisinart 14 cup food processor, however these are around $200+ and just not in my budget at this time.  I one day was checking out reviews online for lower end food processors and came across the Black & Decker Quick & Easy and decided that the price was right and that I would get one.  I have now had mine for a few years and I love it! I can make hummus, dips, veggie burgers, cookies and baked goods, and my favorite banana ice cream in it with no problem.  When I was looking through OpenSky to see what items that I love and use in the kitchen I was excited to see that they actually had this food processor so now you can have it too!

For now I am going to be glad I have a good food processor that works but I still am dreaming of the day when I will come home to a nice big Cuisinart food processor.

Q: What one appliance do you wish you had but don’t?