Around Town

ALAMEDA MADE

Nice Rice

    People are often surprised to learn that many of the ingredients used in natural bath and body products are the same things they eat everyday, says Alameda-based beauty guru Mimie Wong, who points out that rice has been used in Asian skincare lines for years. Rice is also the main ingredient in most of  Wong’s handcrafted beauty products and the inspiration for her company’s name, mi, which is the Chinese word for the grain.
    Burned out by the fashion industry and looking for a new calling, Wong, a Parsons School of Design grad, started reading about natural herbs and beauty products and making soap in her spare time. In December 2005, she launched mi from her Island residence, selling the bath and body line in a few retail shops and on her Web site, which she designed and maintains herself.
    Wong says that most of the flavors and scents she develops are inspired by memories of growing up in Hong Kong. Her soaps come in a variety of fragrances such as lemon litsea, bamboo charcoal, Kauai ginger lily and monoi gardenia. Wong also handcrafts lip balm and gloss, conditioning hair rinse, whipped body butter and body polish, among others items, but her best seller is the mi shampoo bar. “It’s something that I have to keep making,” she says. “People keep coming back and asking for more.”
    Wong’s natural body, face and hair products range from $6 to $28. In the Bay Area, you can find the mi line at Relish at Home in Berkeley (2703 Seventh St., no. 112, 510-981-9400) or online at www.mi-spa.com.             

Fuel Up!

    A new bar is coming to town. And, no, it’s not another happy hour hangout. Clif Bar Inc., maker of the popular CLIF and LUNA energy bars, will soon relocate its headquarters to Alameda.
    The company, based in Berkeley since its 1994 inception, has outgrown its current locale, and with a lease expiring in 2008, the time is right for a move to the former Fleet Industrial Supply Center. Slated for summer 2008, the move promises many advantages for the company and the Island. The 72,000-square-foot facility, which Clif Bar hopes to expand to 100,000 square feet, will allow the company to increase its staff and offer added amenities in the form of a fitness and yoga studio, childcare and a performance space for events. Plans also include a sports medicine clinic and small retail outlet, both of which will be open to the public.
    While 2008 seems far off right now, Communications Manager Dean Mayer projects, “It will be here sooner than we think. We are very excited and looking forward to joining the Alameda community.”
    For more on Clif Bar Inc. and the move to Alameda, visit www.clifbar.com.

Land of the Free

    It’s a familiar scene: You’re cleaning out the garage and discover all this perfectly good stuff, things you don’t need or want but hate to throw away. You could take it all down to Goodwill, or you could, instead, post your stuff on the Alameda Freecycle list, where, quite literally, one person’s trash is another’s treasure.
    Alameda Freecycle is an e-mail group of locals who believe in recycling, reusing and sharing what they don’t need instead of adding junk to the waste stream. Freecycle’s goal is to connect people who are throwing away unwanted items with others seeking the same items. “No item is too big or too small, but since this is a Freecycle list, all items must be 100 percent (that’s right, you got it) free!” boasts the Web site.
    The Alameda group is part of an international Freecycle movement. Alameda Freecycle moderator Chantal Currid started the Alameda site in June 2005, and it has grown steadily since then, she says. There are currently some 1,250 local members, most of who have never met. But when someone has stuff to pass on, anything from kids’ clothes to old magazines, he’ll post it on the list, and someone else will write back and request the item. And the service works both ways: If there’s something you want, post a request; if someone else has the fabric scraps, baby clothes or Mason jars that you want, you may find yourself a happy recipient.
    For more information on Freecycle or to join the local network, visit www.freecycle.org.