So, I was feeling really jealous after writing about the Van Leeuwen trucks that deliver organic ice cream to New York City’s not-so-huddled masses.

I wanted to find a Southern California clone—and I hit the jackpot.

Coolhaus has upped the ante here in Los Angeles, with a made-to-order ice cream sandwich buffet on wheels. And according to co-owner Natasha Case, her chilly treats are handmade with organic and all-natural ingredients, whenever possible.

As for available flavors, the choices range from the expected (vanilla bean, strawberry, Meyer lemon) to the eclectic:  mascarpone balsamic fig, carrot cake, brown butter with candied bacon and even foie gras. Special flavors change seasonally, as with this week’s strawberry jalapeño, root beer and peach cobbler with bourbon.

Here’s the best part: Once you pick your ice cream, you can select the handmade cookies in which it’s sandwiched—from chocolate and snickerdoodle to chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. (Brioche is also available.)

To find the truck on any given day, follow Coolhaus on Facebook or Twitter.

Photo: bunnicula

Craving a Poached Pear Salad (Insalata di Pere), featuring mixed greens, blue cheese, candied walnuts, Chianti-poached pears and balsamic dressing? 

You can follow it up with an entrée of Butternut Squash Ravioli (Tortellacci di Zucca), composed of fresh butternut squash and ricotta ravioli, a brown butter-sage cream sauce, freshly ground black pepper and shaved Parmigiano cheese. 

How about ending your meal with a pistachio-encrusted Homemade Italian Cannoli, filled with ricotta cheese and chocolate chips, and dusted with powdered sugar? 

If you’re in Los Angeles, you’re in luck. These are some of my favorite picks at Firenze Osteria, where Top Chef Season 5 contestant Fabio Viviani (above) serves as executive chef/owner. He also runs Café Firenze Italian Restaurant and Martini Bar in nearby Moorpark, where you can enjoy one of 18 “signature,” “luxury” and “dessert” martinis, including Pear Tinis, Blueberry Martinis, Key Lime Pie Martinis and Cosmopolitans. (The Poached Pear Salad, Butternut Squash Ravioli and Homemade Italian Cannoli are also on the menu.) 

Viviani, who trained in his native Italy, recently coauthored the Café Firenze Cookbook, and even a cursory look through its pages will prove the man loves his olive oil. Chalk it up to the kitchen staple’s versatility, flavor and health benefits. Rich in polyphenols (antioxidants) that help fight against cancer, heart-healthy olive oil can be swapped for high-fat butter. Just substitute 3/4 teaspoon olive oil for every 1 teaspoon butter, which will cut the fat in recipes by 25%. 

Here are some of Viviani’s favorite ways to use olive oil: 

• Serve a simple appetizer of fresh bread with extra-virgin olive oil. Pour the oil into a shallow bowl for dipping, and season with cracked pepper or fresh herbs.
• Create a simple, yet flavorful, marinade of olive oil combined with either lemon juice or wine vinegar. Use it to flavor meats, poultry and fish.
• Give your favorite unsalted nuts a fine coating of extra-light olive oil. (You can toss them in a paper bag.) Add a sprinkle of salt. 

Tune in tomorrow for one of Viviani’s  special recipes: Roasted Tomato & Zucchini Salad. 

Viviani photo courtesy of Bertolli

If you're interested in showing up to the L.A. event, check out the Facebook event page. After Los Angeles, Tickell and his team are heading to New Orleans, LA (in a vegetable-oil-fueled van, of course) to hold a screening of FUEL and talk to the people who have been hurt the most by our dependence on fossil fuels—the victims of the BP gulf oil spill. It's guaranteed to be a historic event, with politicians, green NGOs, and celebrities teaming up to change the world.

So show your support for the clean energy movement and head over to Jackson Square in New Orleans on June 29th!

For more news about green movements, check out our Political Action and Environment categories.

Green Zebras. Bloody Butchers. Big Boys. Polish Linguisas.

Organic gardeners will have a literal field day with these and other tomato varieties at Tomatomania, billed as the world’s largest tomato seedling sale. The event will tour select cities from March 20 to May 23.

If the tour misses your area, you may purchase several collections online—from heirlooms to paste tomatoes used in cooking—from Litchfield, CT-based White Flower Farms, which also sells organic tomato fertilizer. Shipping begins next month.

Tomatomania proprietor Scott Daigre, owner of PowerPlant Garden Design in Los Angeles, will sell his book, Tomatomania! How to Grow Tomatoes Successfully in Southern California, at the shows.

Daigre also teaches a Crazy for Tomatoes! class at California State University, Northridge. The course covers soil preparation, staking, fertilizing, saving seeds and getting the best production.

Toyota’s Solar Flowers exhibit has left San Francisco (see photo), arriving at its final tour stop in Glendale, Calif.

The oversized flower sculptures, on display at The Americana at Brand, are partially powered by solar panels on the backs of their petals and bases of their stems. Some of the flowers are up to 18 feet tall.

Five flowers provide seating for up to 10 people, access to free Wi-Fi service, and power to charge cell phones and laptops. Hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, now through Oct. 18.

The flowers are part of the 2010 Toyota Prius marketing campaign, whose theme is “Harmony Between Man, Nature and Machine.”

Glendale bus riders will find solar-ventilation bus shelters spread throughout the area, which feature rooftop solar panels that help run fans and circulate air. This experience is designed to demonstrate the Prius’ Solar-Powered Ventilation System, which uses a fan to draw outside air into the cabin to reduce cabin temperature when the car is parked in direct sunlight.

“It’s exciting to see how the public has really embraced both the displays and the vehicle,” says Tim Morrison, corporate manager of marketing communications for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.

The floral sculptures, up to 18 feet tall, have been installed at the Yerba Buena Gardens, where visitors can harness the power of solar energy to charge computers and cell phones. Each flower seats up to 10 people, who may also access free Wi-Fi service.

The exhibit runs through Sept. 27. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The city’s bus riders will also receive a pleasant surprise: solar-powered ventilation in bus shelters throughout the downtown area.

The Solar Flowers will complete their tour next month in Los Angeles (Oct. 3–18).

Photo courtesy of Toyota

Suffering from dry, chapped and/or scaly summer feet and hands?

How about a “Southern Secret”: a pink lemonade aromatherapy soak, exfoliating key lime scrub, hydrating lavender paraffin wrap and berry fusion mois­turizer massage?

That’s just one of the pampering treatments available at Recess, a completely green nail spa in Los Angeles.

Nail technicians use products featuring hand-blended organic ingredients that are free of formaldehyde, parabens and dyes.

Only metal instruments are used (and promptly autoclaved), and foot files, buffers and orangewood sticks are never reused. Nail polish is toluene-free.

New customers can enjoy a $50 Basic Manicure/Pedicure Special. The salon will eventually launch an online store for product purchases.

Location: 8408-B Beverly Blvd. (east of La Cienega)

Phone: (323) 782-9919

DIY Beauty Treatments

If you’re outside the L.A. area, try some of our soothing DIY treatments, including Bedtime Piña Colada Callus Treatment and Don’t Sweat It! Foot Spa.

President Clinton hailed the initiative, saying "This is the best place in the world, in the U.S. at least, to lead this." He equated the retrofit to taking 6,000 cars off the road.

According to city hall the project will cut emissions by 40,500 tons and save $10 million annually.

And Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said making Los Angeles the greenest city in the United States would be building a bridge to a sustainable future. Projections claim the LED street lights drop energy usage from 197 million kilowatt-hours to 132 million kilowatt-hours during the next 10 years.

Clinton added money from new President Barrack Obama’s $787 billion federal stimulus package will be used to fund environmental efforts similar to the Los Angeles LED street light program; MSNBC reports.

Hey, pay me enough money and I’ll live by candlelight!

Via Earth First.

The community is holding nightly candle light vigils to show their strength and support for the preservation of their farm but I am not sure how long this can go on with the destruction of the farm. It’s sad that the land owner Developer Ralph Horowitz and the farmers could not come to a common ground and accept a last ditch offer $16 million from the Annenberg Foundation (which is probably well above what the property is worth).

Initially Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office was able to raise $6 million in donations to purchase the property. Horowitz however wanted $16.3 million to sell the site.

The Annenberg Foundation announced last week that it would offer $10 million in cash with an agreement to finance the remainder of the $6 million. Horowitz rejected the offer. Upset at the way he’s been vilified by the farmers and their supporters, he demanded the farmers removal at 5am on Tuesday morning.

In a phone call by Mayor Villaraigosa to Horowitz, the Mayor stressed his support for the Annenberg Foundation’s offer. Horowitz said that the land was worth even more now and that he wouldn’t sell to the farmers because of their ungrateful attitude.

The Mayor said to reporters, "I told him that from my vantage point, this is a more than fair offer. This is an opportunity for us to have an urban garden in the city that wants to be the greenest big city in America," Villaraigosa said. "And he said, well, that was nice but he wasn't accepting."

The Mayor went on to say, "I understand a businessman's need to invest and make a profit. I also have a high respect for and will defend property rights, but I also believe that we are called upon by a sense of community and civic duty to do the just and right thing. I had hoped that the landowner would have heeded that call."

It’s sad to say but I think the farmers are going to lose this fight.