I found these tucked away on a shelf in a friend’s closet. She told me to throw them out. Yeah, right.

My husband and I ordered take out the other night from the local Japanese restaurant. We ordered three rolls, hijiki, a green salad and some dumplings. When we were done cleaning up, I took a step back and really looked at the waste generated from all the containers used to transport our meal. I’ve done this before, but never been motivated to actually stop and think long enough to want to change my behavior regarding one of NY’s diehard habits. And then I did a quick and rough calculation: I figured that if they got just 30 take out orders a night, and multiplied that times the number of days in a week, weeks in a year and then times that by the number of Japanese restaurants in Brooklyn alone…I lost track when I hit 230,000 separate pieces of plastic. I started to feel dizzy and a little sick. Not to mention guilty. Basically, that is one shitload of plastic containers. There has got to be a better way! First of all, no more take out.

Full disclosure: when I was in college and working late at night, my default meal was either a tin of sardines, triscuits and cheese, or a bag of oreos and a can of coke. Yum. And it was more likely the latter. I only wish that I had thought to occupy myself with making cameo portraits out of the creme filling. Thankfully, Judith G. Klausner has! The whole notion of a portrait sculpted out of something as ephemeral as a cookie, is deeply satisfying, and just very very funny. Thank you Erica for sending this my way. Photos by Steve Pomeroy.

Are we, or are we not, a nation of sandwich lovers? I would venture that we are probably more obsessed about sandwiches than most any other food, other than perhaps pizza and barbeque. David Schwen, a subversively funny designer, has captured our preoccupation with all that fits between two slices of bread. But he has brilliantly distilled it down to the barest of elements. I think you can buy a print version of a hamburger here. And a tee shirt here. I am going to lunch now…

Yay!!!! Rima Suqi from the NYT wrote a little piece in Thursday’s Home Section about my Tupperware designs. Thanks Rima! Thanks NYT! I hope this gives the containers a little extra street cred. Photos by Richard Gary.