~beth
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Agoraphobic Cuisine
Andrew is away on an acoustic adventure in foggy Londontown, therefore, I get to be as agoraphobic as I like and no one can nag me because I don't ever answer my phone. HA! And really, I am more neighoborhoodophobic anyway. However, this means that there is no one to fetch me choice treats from outside this barren wasteland called Central Park North. Damn you, ghetto with no food or civilization that no one will deliver to for fear of getting mugged! So I have to resort to what is already in the apartment and that can be tricky.
There are two items which shine brightly as things I forgot were tasty and now am going to throw back into the regular rotation, Cheerios and Morningstar Farms Philly Cheese Steak Burgers.
As we all know, Cheerios are one of the most basic cereals you can find, without all the crap being put in cereal now and are fantabulous with Vanilla Rice Dream. They provide tons of fiber, which I am addicted to not just a little bit. They also don't get soggy quickly as I have a tendency to walk away from food and forget about it until 20 minutes later. Anyone who is interested in heart health or lowering their cholesterol should have them on their shelf ASAP. They're back in the rotation!
And as for Morningstar Farms Philly Cheese Steak Burgers, those I have loved for a long time. Unfortunately, our apartment has a freezer that I hate and tend to avoid, so I forget what's in there. They have 10g of protein per "burger" which is largely derived from my arch-nemesis, soy. However, they are so tasty that I kind of overlook that fact. And they taste great out of the microwave with just a little sprinkle cheese and either some tomato sauce, salsa, etc. I would make more extraordinary things out of them, but I just cannot be bothered. Not shockingly, when there is no one for me to impress with my culinary skills, I just cannot be bothered. Grrr!
~beth (Who is reminding everyone to recycle! Really, people, it's not that hard.)
There are two items which shine brightly as things I forgot were tasty and now am going to throw back into the regular rotation, Cheerios and Morningstar Farms Philly Cheese Steak Burgers.
As we all know, Cheerios are one of the most basic cereals you can find, without all the crap being put in cereal now and are fantabulous with Vanilla Rice Dream. They provide tons of fiber, which I am addicted to not just a little bit. They also don't get soggy quickly as I have a tendency to walk away from food and forget about it until 20 minutes later. Anyone who is interested in heart health or lowering their cholesterol should have them on their shelf ASAP. They're back in the rotation!
And as for Morningstar Farms Philly Cheese Steak Burgers, those I have loved for a long time. Unfortunately, our apartment has a freezer that I hate and tend to avoid, so I forget what's in there. They have 10g of protein per "burger" which is largely derived from my arch-nemesis, soy. However, they are so tasty that I kind of overlook that fact. And they taste great out of the microwave with just a little sprinkle cheese and either some tomato sauce, salsa, etc. I would make more extraordinary things out of them, but I just cannot be bothered. Not shockingly, when there is no one for me to impress with my culinary skills, I just cannot be bothered. Grrr!
~beth (Who is reminding everyone to recycle! Really, people, it's not that hard.)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
What the Hell is Hairy Lemon and Why Can't I Live Without It?
When my main minx Annika and I went to
Australia and New Zealand in the winter of
2004, presumably to hunt the elusive All
Black, we came upon this fantabulous new
(to us) lemon-flavoured fizzy supplement
called Hairy Lemon. I proceeded to put in
water, diet Coke, tea, etc. I was even tossing
these tabs into vodka tonics. I was a Hairy
Lemon addict and still am to this day.
But what exactly is in Hairy Lemon? Their website lacks my choice of scientific examine, however, in an attempt to find a way to get it short of traveling internationally...I found this quick list.
So that explains a lot. Hangover cure, indeed! Still a little suspect.... We eventually did find an All Black in the Eden Park parking lot. It was kind of anticlimactic but worthwhile all the same. Prop forward John Afoa was changing a tire there and he was nice enough to take a photo with us. No touching, however, his very suspicious girlfriend was there. Hairy situation...
~beth (Who misses Annika now that she finally made the leap.)
Australia and New Zealand in the winter of
2004, presumably to hunt the elusive All
Black, we came upon this fantabulous new
(to us) lemon-flavoured fizzy supplement
called Hairy Lemon. I proceeded to put in
water, diet Coke, tea, etc. I was even tossing
these tabs into vodka tonics. I was a Hairy
Lemon addict and still am to this day.
But what exactly is in Hairy Lemon? Their website lacks my choice of scientific examine, however, in an attempt to find a way to get it short of traveling internationally...I found this quick list.
"Active Ingredient Each Hairy lemon tablet contains: ascorbic acid (vit.C) 250mg, thiamine hydrochloride (vit.B1) 15mg, riboflavine sodium phosphate 20mg, nicotinamide 50mg, calcium pantothenate 25mg Equiv. pantothenic acid (vit.B5) 22.5mg, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vit.B6) 10mg Equiv. pyridxine 8.2mg, cyanocobalamin (vit.B12) 10mcg, biotin 150mcg, paullinia cupana (Guarana) seed dry 240mg Equiv. caffeine 4mg, eleutherococcus senticosus (Ginseng Siberian) root dry 200mg. Contains saccharin. This preparation contains 287.4mg (12.5mmol) per dose of sodium which should be taken into account by those on a low sodium diet. The maximum recommended dose of two tablets daily contains 574.8mg of Sodium."Guarana, tsk, tsk. What exactly is guarana? AKA Brazillian coaca (which sounds way less sinister, in my opinion) is a South American shrub whose fruit seeds are rich in caffeine (even more than coffee) and other naturally occurring compounds such as tannins. It is widely accepted as a stimulant and is now enjoying favor in some weight loss products claiming to depress appetite and increase metabolic fat use. Due to the very very limited and, in my opinion, dangerous lack of regulation by the FDA in the field of supplements and vitamins, I would never professionally recommend it. It also bears mention that you should use it under medical supervision to avoid health condition and medical interactions as there are many.
So that explains a lot. Hangover cure, indeed! Still a little suspect.... We eventually did find an All Black in the Eden Park parking lot. It was kind of anticlimactic but worthwhile all the same. Prop forward John Afoa was changing a tire there and he was nice enough to take a photo with us. No touching, however, his very suspicious girlfriend was there. Hairy situation...
~beth (Who misses Annika now that she finally made the leap.)
Monday, August 11, 2008
Little Italy Festival
Friday evening Andrew and I made a run down to Little Italy to see the opening of the Little Italy Festival. It essentially is an excuse to close a few blocks of Mulberry Street "Pedestrian Mall" and eat at the many restaurants there offering, you guessed it, Italian fare. We did not go to eat, we only went to take a few photos before the light completely disappeared... Please to enjoy.
When: The Summer in Little Italy Festival will run every weekend through Labor Day. The hours are Fridays from 6 PM to 11 PM, Saturdays from 11 AM to 11 PM, and Sundays from 11 AM to 10 PM.
Where: The festival will take place along Mulberry Street between Canal and Broome Streets and on Hester Street between Mott and Mulberry Streets. During these weekend hours, Mulberry Street will be closed to vehicular traffic.
~beth
When: The Summer in Little Italy Festival will run every weekend through Labor Day. The hours are Fridays from 6 PM to 11 PM, Saturdays from 11 AM to 11 PM, and Sundays from 11 AM to 10 PM.
Where: The festival will take place along Mulberry Street between Canal and Broome Streets and on Hester Street between Mott and Mulberry Streets. During these weekend hours, Mulberry Street will be closed to vehicular traffic.
~beth
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Cleanses In General aka Why You Should Stay at Home This [That] Weekend
Clearly I have too much time on my hands this summer waiting for school and coaching to start, so I will bring out a photo documentary of a cleanse we did during the winter. And by we, I mean myself and my faithful guinea pig, Andrew. Also, many of my rugby minxes ask questions concerning detoxes/cleanses and how they can use them to kick start diets, so here is one of those "recipes." However, I am quick to say that all detoxes should be done under the care of a trained and certified health professional, not just gleaned from the interwebs...
All recipes are taken from my handy dandy copy of the The Detox Book, by Bruce Fife, N.D. (byline: How to Detoxify Your Body to Improve Your Health, Stop Disease, and Reverse Aging). Fife is a nutritionist, naturopath, and co-director of an alternative health center and The Detox Book is essentially a comprehensive handbook of detoxification therapies, including nutrition, fasting, juicing, oxygen and heat therapies, exercise, and kidney and liver cleansing. I don't subscribe to all of these personally, but it is really hard to give an opinion on detoxes/cleanses without doing one yourself. However, I will try almost anything once and the idea of getting rid of a bunch of waste in my body is enticing.
Initially I chose to do the Liver Cleanse because I think that is one of the organs I abuse the most (not counting my knees), and seeing as it is the largest gland in the body (averaging four pounds!) doing the bulk of my body's natural detoxification, it likely needs a wash out. It is the only organ that receives a double blood supply and despite a fairly good diet, I suspect my blood is kind of crappy. Andrew and I both feel like our metabolism is sluggish and since the liver plays a major role there, we are set on it.
The recipe advises to start the cleanse on a Friday and clear your weekend plans! You should have a non-fat breakfast and lunch on Friday and then eat and drink nothing else excepting water past 2pm (Basically, skip happy hour). Fat stimulates the excretion of bile, and therefore when saved up will cause a larger evacuation later on once underway. Avoid taking any medications or vitamins that you can live without.
At 6pm (Friday), mix 1 tbsp. of Epsom salt with 3/4 cup of water and drink. This is not the most pleasant taste, so feel free to doctor it up with some flavoured vitamin C powder or in my case, some Crystal Light (I doubt it would be Fife's first choice, O well.). Make sure to get all the salt, adding more water if necessary. Do this again at 8pm.
Just before 10pm, right before bed, measure 1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil and 1 cup of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (Thank you, Gourmet Garage!) and mix in a glass with a spoon. With this mixture you want to take 4 L-ornithine capsules which will help you sleep through some of the unpleasantness. Then go immediately to bed! If you follow these directions, you should not feel any pain or discomfort although you may feel things "moving."
You should wake up Saturday after 6am and make a third drink of 1 tbsp. Epsom salt and 3/4 water. Wait literally 2 hours and repeat the Epsom salt and water mixture. After waiting at least another 2 hours, you may go back to eating normally.
So how did it (bed)pan out? Well, Andrew claimed that there really was nothing going on and frankly, seemed bored by the process. The Epsom "salt shakes" wore both of our nerves and gag reflexes. I, on the other liver, had a very quick reaction to the Epsom salt, and was almost to the point of making a little bed in the bathroom well before 8pm on Friday night. I also felt nauseous throughout the night which could have had to do with me cheating a tiny bit with a diet Coke (It will be the death of me!!) around 9pm... I do feel the process cleaned my colon out though.
Fife claims that you will see hundreds of small green (tinted by bile) marble-ish gallstones and liver stones in your movements and that this is natural. I saw none of these and recall avoiding discussing it with Andrew in favor of the couch, a liter of apple Pedialyte, and some Cartoon Network. He also recommends doing his kidney cleanse first (oops), another liver cleanse a week or so later if you feel you still have stones, followed by a colon cleanse in case stones settle there on the way out. Suspect.
Because it would not be a worthy experience without photos and video... ;)
All recipes are taken from my handy dandy copy of the The Detox Book, by Bruce Fife, N.D. (byline: How to Detoxify Your Body to Improve Your Health, Stop Disease, and Reverse Aging). Fife is a nutritionist, naturopath, and co-director of an alternative health center and The Detox Book is essentially a comprehensive handbook of detoxification therapies, including nutrition, fasting, juicing, oxygen and heat therapies, exercise, and kidney and liver cleansing. I don't subscribe to all of these personally, but it is really hard to give an opinion on detoxes/cleanses without doing one yourself. However, I will try almost anything once and the idea of getting rid of a bunch of waste in my body is enticing.
Initially I chose to do the Liver Cleanse because I think that is one of the organs I abuse the most (not counting my knees), and seeing as it is the largest gland in the body (averaging four pounds!) doing the bulk of my body's natural detoxification, it likely needs a wash out. It is the only organ that receives a double blood supply and despite a fairly good diet, I suspect my blood is kind of crappy. Andrew and I both feel like our metabolism is sluggish and since the liver plays a major role there, we are set on it.
The recipe advises to start the cleanse on a Friday and clear your weekend plans! You should have a non-fat breakfast and lunch on Friday and then eat and drink nothing else excepting water past 2pm (Basically, skip happy hour). Fat stimulates the excretion of bile, and therefore when saved up will cause a larger evacuation later on once underway. Avoid taking any medications or vitamins that you can live without.
At 6pm (Friday), mix 1 tbsp. of Epsom salt with 3/4 cup of water and drink. This is not the most pleasant taste, so feel free to doctor it up with some flavoured vitamin C powder or in my case, some Crystal Light (I doubt it would be Fife's first choice, O well.). Make sure to get all the salt, adding more water if necessary. Do this again at 8pm.
Just before 10pm, right before bed, measure 1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil and 1 cup of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (Thank you, Gourmet Garage!) and mix in a glass with a spoon. With this mixture you want to take 4 L-ornithine capsules which will help you sleep through some of the unpleasantness. Then go immediately to bed! If you follow these directions, you should not feel any pain or discomfort although you may feel things "moving."
You should wake up Saturday after 6am and make a third drink of 1 tbsp. Epsom salt and 3/4 water. Wait literally 2 hours and repeat the Epsom salt and water mixture. After waiting at least another 2 hours, you may go back to eating normally.
So how did it (bed)pan out? Well, Andrew claimed that there really was nothing going on and frankly, seemed bored by the process. The Epsom "salt shakes" wore both of our nerves and gag reflexes. I, on the other liver, had a very quick reaction to the Epsom salt, and was almost to the point of making a little bed in the bathroom well before 8pm on Friday night. I also felt nauseous throughout the night which could have had to do with me cheating a tiny bit with a diet Coke (It will be the death of me!!) around 9pm... I do feel the process cleaned my colon out though.
Fife claims that you will see hundreds of small green (tinted by bile) marble-ish gallstones and liver stones in your movements and that this is natural. I saw none of these and recall avoiding discussing it with Andrew in favor of the couch, a liter of apple Pedialyte, and some Cartoon Network. He also recommends doing his kidney cleanse first (oops), another liver cleanse a week or so later if you feel you still have stones, followed by a colon cleanse in case stones settle there on the way out. Suspect.
Because it would not be a worthy experience without photos and video... ;)
Kittens Against Plastic: Cheeto Beans
Since his early kittenhood, young Cheeto Beans has shown an affinity for green living with his love of reusable shopping bags. Here he models a green bag from the London Zoo. Makes you want to go adopt one of the bazillions of kittens out there who need homes and well as never use plastic again, doesn't it?
~beth (Who is OCD and lines up all of her spices on the counter by category and fullness of container...)
~beth (Who is OCD and lines up all of her spices on the counter by category and fullness of container...)Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Ladies Who Lunch: Mary Ann Pants at Campo
Miss Pants, as I have come to know her (referred to after refusing our internship director's comments on why wearing skirts was preferred for us during orientation), is one of my first minxes. She and I are closer in age than the others (yes, 25) and so we have more things in common having left our initial undergrad days behind a few years sooner than our fellow interns. However, I miss seeing her daily and have lunches of bad and worse hospital food. It is rare that she ventures out of her native Queens so I have to lure her with the promise of potential Italian eats.
We chose to meet at Campo, a "Rustic Tuscan Gathering Place" which had opened on Broadway at 113th Street in early May. Despite the item of hype, the Fried Green Tomato Caprese, there was little other reason for us to go there besides logistics. Needless to say, with our luck working for us as usual, that day they had not placed them on the menu. So we each had some overly priced underwhelming salads, hers of arugula and chicken and mine a version of a Cobb. Also, due to their positioning in the neighborhood of Columbia they had their drink menu named closely to entice young alcoholics with daddy's credit card; we chose to try the Barnard.
Basically, even a nice sunny day could not save this restaurant's boring food, organic hypocracy (breaded monkfish and organic ethics do not mix!), and high prices, however, I was still lucky to have lunch with the very photogenic Miss Pants!
above: The Barnard
above: Chicken and arugula salad
above: Italian dough balls...with honey?
~beth (Who also refused to wear anything but pants! Viva la revolucion!)
We chose to meet at Campo, a "Rustic Tuscan Gathering Place" which had opened on Broadway at 113th Street in early May. Despite the item of hype, the Fried Green Tomato Caprese, there was little other reason for us to go there besides logistics. Needless to say, with our luck working for us as usual, that day they had not placed them on the menu. So we each had some overly priced underwhelming salads, hers of arugula and chicken and mine a version of a Cobb. Also, due to their positioning in the neighborhood of Columbia they had their drink menu named closely to entice young alcoholics with daddy's credit card; we chose to try the Barnard.
Basically, even a nice sunny day could not save this restaurant's boring food, organic hypocracy (breaded monkfish and organic ethics do not mix!), and high prices, however, I was still lucky to have lunch with the very photogenic Miss Pants!
above: The Barnard
above: Chicken and arugula salad
above: Italian dough balls...with honey?Friday, July 25, 2008
So What's This Grad School Business?
All four people who check in here every few months have noticed that the background color is different...and that after two months I posted something. Hooray, it looks different! Well, with this new stage of life goes a new, although ironic, color. I have decided that clinical nutrition is not for me at this stage. Many of you know the reasons as I have a tendency to talk things out until I resign them to be fact. Therefore, I successfully applied to Pratt Institute's Master's Program in Environmental Systems Management which began about five weeks ago.
My original base major (wager) in college (at Ohio Wesleyan University, Go OWU!) was Environmental Studies and despite the attempt towards each career I have, I end up back knee deep in John McPhee and Jared Diamond books feeling like a douche who needs to do something to save about sixteen species of obscure flora and fauna featured on late night Jack Hanna-type television commercials while simultaneously recycling every single fraction of physical matter I come across. Then I have a breakdown that I am turning into my parents. But I digress...
What in the world does this have to do with food or dietetics or anything I had spent the past 3.5 years and some odd $60K to accomplish? Well...this program does allow me to concentrate in LEED certified kitchen design as well as sustainable agriculture. No one in their right can deny there is a food crisis worldwide and that it is not going to get better any time soon. Therefore, while the Megans may wow you with TPN ditties, tube feeding cruises, or a broad scale clinical explanation of my tortured cholesterol scores (if they find the time), I will be focusing on green food and nonfood topics and my classes with a few restaurant trashes interspersed.
I hope you enjoy. And if you don't, please at least recycle the knowledge.
~beth (Who will use this website to procrastinate homework to the point of destruction and not so secretly would love to be Peter Beard when she grows up.)
My original base major (wager) in college (at Ohio Wesleyan University, Go OWU!) was Environmental Studies and despite the attempt towards each career I have, I end up back knee deep in John McPhee and Jared Diamond books feeling like a douche who needs to do something to save about sixteen species of obscure flora and fauna featured on late night Jack Hanna-type television commercials while simultaneously recycling every single fraction of physical matter I come across. Then I have a breakdown that I am turning into my parents. But I digress...
What in the world does this have to do with food or dietetics or anything I had spent the past 3.5 years and some odd $60K to accomplish? Well...this program does allow me to concentrate in LEED certified kitchen design as well as sustainable agriculture. No one in their right can deny there is a food crisis worldwide and that it is not going to get better any time soon. Therefore, while the Megans may wow you with TPN ditties, tube feeding cruises, or a broad scale clinical explanation of my tortured cholesterol scores (if they find the time), I will be focusing on green food and nonfood topics and my classes with a few restaurant trashes interspersed.
I hope you enjoy. And if you don't, please at least recycle the knowledge.
~beth (Who will use this website to procrastinate homework to the point of destruction and not so secretly would love to be Peter Beard when she grows up.)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Ladies Who Lunch: Ellen at Candle 79
During a yearlong unpaid dietetic internship you will actually find yourself becoming more conservative by the day. This is why I loved having rotations with Ellen, because she was the one person who might actually have been more conservative than me at any give moment. She totally understood every single thing I would say and she made the best faces when someone was being completely ridiculous. I miss her facial judgments on a daily basis.
We are both in flux between that soul-sucking internship and grad school so we have time to lunch and discuss our very important social lives and such. We decided to go to Candle 79 as it had been voted the Vegetarian Restaurant of 2007 by just about everyone who was deciding such things. Also, it is a Green Certified Restaurant, and since I am going to grad school for this...it seemed right up our alley. The menu was kind of like that of many Southern California places with raw items. After a precise eye roll from Ellen towards our new wavey server, we decided on some drinks, a lunch entrée, and Ellen had some dessert.
The food was interesting...the salad was divine, and I love Ellen's scrowl face!
above: Ginger Rush sake, plum nectar, ginger
above: Wild Fiddlehead Salad
above: Live Zucchini Enchiladas cashew cheese, spinach, guacamole, chipotle tomato sauce, cashew sour cream, pumpkin seeds, baby romaine, tomato-corn salsa
above: Some Special Ice Cream Thing
~beth
We are both in flux between that soul-sucking internship and grad school so we have time to lunch and discuss our very important social lives and such. We decided to go to Candle 79 as it had been voted the Vegetarian Restaurant of 2007 by just about everyone who was deciding such things. Also, it is a Green Certified Restaurant, and since I am going to grad school for this...it seemed right up our alley. The menu was kind of like that of many Southern California places with raw items. After a precise eye roll from Ellen towards our new wavey server, we decided on some drinks, a lunch entrée, and Ellen had some dessert.
The food was interesting...the salad was divine, and I love Ellen's scrowl face!
above: Ginger Rush sake, plum nectar, ginger
above: Wild Fiddlehead Salad 
above: Live Zucchini Enchiladas cashew cheese, spinach, guacamole, chipotle tomato sauce, cashew sour cream, pumpkin seeds, baby romaine, tomato-corn salsa
above: Some Special Ice Cream ThingWednesday, July 23, 2008
Goodbye Florent!
Literally one month ago my Brooklyn wife, Amy, and I went to see the send off for Gansevoort St. 24/7 iconic restaurant Florent held at Comix. Due to rising rents in the High Line area (Don't get me started on this...Meatpacking District!), it will close after 23 years. There are so few French diners in the world that last a day in the States, let alone 23 years!There were many amazing acts that wowed us and made wearing such painful hot pink python Marc Jacobs pumps completely worthwhile. One moment it would be intimate to the point of confusion on our part, but then disturbingly entertaining the next. We followed it up with a trip a few blocks away across the bricks to get (literally) a midnight bite.
Where else in the city can you be the only two females within 5 tables of pretty ladies and get a plate of quality pâté for $9? I will be sad to only go to that neighborhood now for lesser things, if anything at all. We fear change.
above: The Dueling Bankheads
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Ten Alternative Uses for Coca Cola
For the month of July I have been in attempts to not have a single bit of soda for the entire month. Not one teensy tinesy drop. Reading this list often of other productive uses for it helps.
Taken from the book 5 People Who Died During Sex and 100 Other Terribly Tasteless Lists, by Karl Shaw....
This just confirms my feelings on Coke in addition to its being liquid Diabetes...
~beth (Who until this month used to make poor little Andrew go fetch diet Coke at random hours.)
Taken from the book 5 People Who Died During Sex and 100 Other Terribly Tasteless Lists, by Karl Shaw....
This just confirms my feelings on Coke in addition to its being liquid Diabetes...
Ten Alternative Uses for Coca Cola
1. As a spermicide [India]
2. As a pesticide [India]
3. As a toilet bowl cleaner
4. As a windshield washer
5. As a rust-spot remover
6. As a bloodstain remover
7. As a grease-stain remover
8. As a sink cleaner
9. As s meat tenderizer
10. As a wallpaper paste remover
~beth (Who until this month used to make poor little Andrew go fetch diet Coke at random hours.)
Monday, July 21, 2008
Preoccupation Eventually Gets Boring
Amidst the sea of CU Rugby, Facebook addiction, fractured skulls, beginning grad school and generally being away from the interwebs, I have written nothing substantive. Even the personal statement I wrote for my grad school application was pointless (However, thanks Annika!). I feel like I am under a sea of magazines and books compounded by a fractured skull, helacious humidity, and a depressing economy and environmental outlook...I find myself with tons to write about but no energy to do it. Therefore, I am going to make a decent stab at clearing through some photos and topics promised to myself and others.
Until that takes off, here is a photo of my friend Sarah's posh free range chickens as that is what I owe young Poon, who has asked many times for nutrition information on chicken. Sorry, kiddo.
~beth
Until that takes off, here is a photo of my friend Sarah's posh free range chickens as that is what I owe young Poon, who has asked many times for nutrition information on chicken. Sorry, kiddo.
~beth
Friday, April 25, 2008
Ouch, Starbucks, Ouch
I am once again ahead of the curve on current events, yet was too lazy to post about it last week... *cough* Bloomingdale's shoe sale *cough* Anyway, I think we all know that when it comes to coffee, Starbucks is rather mediocre but they make it so damn convenient by having one every 3.5 blocks, that you get sucked into the trend. Anyone from the southwest knows that it would be far more enjoyable to lick the inside of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf filter sheet taken straight from the dumpster than drink a drop of Starbucks premium blend. Here in the east we're kind of confined to that or Dunkin Donuts, which is also overbrewed trash, but I digress. But this week I have to give Starbucks credit for a breakthrough.
So from a logistical standpoint, being in midtown is already enough to make you want to kick baby pigeons and straight arm tourists, so I needed a little caffeine to make it through the shoe department. There is a teensy hidden Starbucks on 57th Street which is usually dead and so I snuck in there thinking I would get a small plain coffee and life would go on. When I got to the counter there was an overweight suburban mom with a visor and knockoff sunglasses buying her obese son a large Frappuccino (Screw their Italian sizes!). I proudly held my tongue although an eye roll might have slipped out, oops. Anyway, I took the time to look at the pastry selection which always amazes me. I am not a sweets person, so when I see people loading up on that stuff like it's crack I wonder what's up with their wiring. But low and behold, I noticed a new tagging system, giving the calorie counts on each item under their names. Sweet Jesus, I said, now this is exciting....especially since many items, even the "lowfat" ones were well over 400 calories per item. There was even one with 520 calories on the tag.
As I get to the counter to order my basic baby coffee, I size up the counter guy. He could have doubled as one of Ludacris's back up dancers and had tons of flair, so I figured he might be approachable and that I could ask him some questions. I asked him if since their re-tagging of the items, have people been buying as many? His face got all animated as he told me that their sales were down by over 50%, that people come in and see the tags and flip out. But he said that just as many others don't read or cannot care. He capped that off with stating, "400 calories? That's like a whole meal. I'm not wasting that on one tiny cupcake." Good man. I left a tip.
The public repeatedly rides the fence, half the time demanding they know nutrition information and the other half denying a need to know. I just think it's nice to see the numbers. Cupcake conspiracy indeed. Don't even get me started on the lemon pound cake. Ouch.
~beth
So from a logistical standpoint, being in midtown is already enough to make you want to kick baby pigeons and straight arm tourists, so I needed a little caffeine to make it through the shoe department. There is a teensy hidden Starbucks on 57th Street which is usually dead and so I snuck in there thinking I would get a small plain coffee and life would go on. When I got to the counter there was an overweight suburban mom with a visor and knockoff sunglasses buying her obese son a large Frappuccino (Screw their Italian sizes!). I proudly held my tongue although an eye roll might have slipped out, oops. Anyway, I took the time to look at the pastry selection which always amazes me. I am not a sweets person, so when I see people loading up on that stuff like it's crack I wonder what's up with their wiring. But low and behold, I noticed a new tagging system, giving the calorie counts on each item under their names. Sweet Jesus, I said, now this is exciting....especially since many items, even the "lowfat" ones were well over 400 calories per item. There was even one with 520 calories on the tag.
As I get to the counter to order my basic baby coffee, I size up the counter guy. He could have doubled as one of Ludacris's back up dancers and had tons of flair, so I figured he might be approachable and that I could ask him some questions. I asked him if since their re-tagging of the items, have people been buying as many? His face got all animated as he told me that their sales were down by over 50%, that people come in and see the tags and flip out. But he said that just as many others don't read or cannot care. He capped that off with stating, "400 calories? That's like a whole meal. I'm not wasting that on one tiny cupcake." Good man. I left a tip.
The public repeatedly rides the fence, half the time demanding they know nutrition information and the other half denying a need to know. I just think it's nice to see the numbers. Cupcake conspiracy indeed. Don't even get me started on the lemon pound cake. Ouch.
~bethTuesday, April 22, 2008
Happy Earth Day! Now Get Off Your Ass and Make a Change!
Happy Earth Day! No really.
OK, now that we're done cheering for the earth... There is a concept that bothers me just as much as water wasting, plastic bottles, and automobile reliance. Can we quit with the damn plastic bags already? That has been one of my peeves increasingly over the past few years and it is my Earth Day resolution. I will do everything in my power to not use these bags even if it disgruntles every last grocery store bagger on the planet. What does this have to do with nutrition, you ask? Well, every trip to the grocery you have the options of using your own reusable bags, the store's paper bags (if they have them), or plastic bags. You have the choice to turn down these bags and also, to inform the places you give business that they should rethink their use of plastic.
Some malnutritious facts:
And if you are still not concerned enough to start using other options to carry your precious Cheetos and 6-pack home from the corner store, watch this little informative video. Seems that plastic is making a place in our bodies....a fact which is more than a little creepy. Malnutrition indeed!
PLASTIC PLANET: THE CURSE OF THE CARRIER BAG
~beth
*I know "malnutritious" is not technically a word, but it should be!
OK, now that we're done cheering for the earth... There is a concept that bothers me just as much as water wasting, plastic bottles, and automobile reliance. Can we quit with the damn plastic bags already? That has been one of my peeves increasingly over the past few years and it is my Earth Day resolution. I will do everything in my power to not use these bags even if it disgruntles every last grocery store bagger on the planet. What does this have to do with nutrition, you ask? Well, every trip to the grocery you have the options of using your own reusable bags, the store's paper bags (if they have them), or plastic bags. You have the choice to turn down these bags and also, to inform the places you give business that they should rethink their use of plastic.
Some malnutritious facts:
- 1.2 trillion bags are used per year, averaging roughly 300 per adult on Earth.
- 1 million bags are used per minute and the average span of use for a bag is twelve minutes.
- High density polyethylene bags can take over one thousand years to degrade.
- The U.S. alone goes through 100 billion plastic bags, requiring 12 million barrels of oil to produce.
And if you are still not concerned enough to start using other options to carry your precious Cheetos and 6-pack home from the corner store, watch this little informative video. Seems that plastic is making a place in our bodies....a fact which is more than a little creepy. Malnutrition indeed!
PLASTIC PLANET: THE CURSE OF THE CARRIER BAG
~beth
*I know "malnutritious" is not technically a word, but it should be!
Oatmeal, Good... Orange Rind, Good...
In an effort to eat less meat and to also use some of my not-as-limited-as-the-actual-consumer knowledge, I am trying to come up with ways to incorporate more whole grains into my diet. It is strange for the average American woman not to be a bread hound it seems, or in those terms at least not to be a pasta puppy? For some reason I never really developed a taste for starches. I probably could live without bread entirely, I downright don't like white potatoes, and I could go weeks without pasta. Frankly, all these things are only useful to me if they are covered with olive oil or tomato sauce of some sort anyway. Therefore, I am trying to actively fill some of the gaps in my diet left by meat with whole grains.
I have always liked couscous, barley, oats, etc., they just can occasionally be a pain in the ass for someone as lazy as myself to really bother with on a day to day basis. For example, there is this can of stone cut Irish oats that has been sitting on the counter for what I would guess as over six months at this point. So I should probably just cook the damn oats because frankly, I live in Manhattan and I need the counter space, and I do know they have tremendous health benefits, that's why I bought it in the first place. I love me some fibers and manganese! So how can one make this a habit? Oatmeal is one of those foods that if not prepared well, can come out with a taste and texture likened to wallpaper paste.
Then I turned and saw a few nice oranges we had just picked up. Being a kitchen dork with too much time on my hands, that means we all know I attempt to put zest into everything. Well, why not cook it into oatmeal? Orange rind has a compound known as d-limonene in it which holds many cancer fighting benefits. Therefore, lately I have been scrubbing all my oranges (if they were not organic) to get off any residues, pesticides, then zesting them and putting the zest of just about anything I can find. Screw skin cancer! However, dependent upon the variety of orange, the product may be more sweet or more bitter, although still chemopreventive. Therefore, I thought cooking it into oatmeal might tone it down a little....and the addition of a little light brown sugar didn't hurt either.
~beth
I have always liked couscous, barley, oats, etc., they just can occasionally be a pain in the ass for someone as lazy as myself to really bother with on a day to day basis. For example, there is this can of stone cut Irish oats that has been sitting on the counter for what I would guess as over six months at this point. So I should probably just cook the damn oats because frankly, I live in Manhattan and I need the counter space, and I do know they have tremendous health benefits, that's why I bought it in the first place. I love me some fibers and manganese! So how can one make this a habit? Oatmeal is one of those foods that if not prepared well, can come out with a taste and texture likened to wallpaper paste.
Then I turned and saw a few nice oranges we had just picked up. Being a kitchen dork with too much time on my hands, that means we all know I attempt to put zest into everything. Well, why not cook it into oatmeal? Orange rind has a compound known as d-limonene in it which holds many cancer fighting benefits. Therefore, lately I have been scrubbing all my oranges (if they were not organic) to get off any residues, pesticides, then zesting them and putting the zest of just about anything I can find. Screw skin cancer! However, dependent upon the variety of orange, the product may be more sweet or more bitter, although still chemopreventive. Therefore, I thought cooking it into oatmeal might tone it down a little....and the addition of a little light brown sugar didn't hurt either.
~beth
Monday, April 14, 2008
Congratulations! Now Have Some Street Meat!
What does one do directly after passing the R.D. exam? You don't pass go. You certainly don't collect a penny (Quite the opposite to be exact.)... That's right, you indulge in a little street meat. All your currently overloaded knowledge of foodborne illness and Coronary Artery Disease be damned!
Please to enjoy some random photos from the Union Square Street Festival, which is code for "We're going to shut these streets so people can roam and eat otherwise hideously bad for you food." Traffic be damned!
~ beth
Please to enjoy some random photos from the Union Square Street Festival, which is code for "We're going to shut these streets so people can roam and eat otherwise hideously bad for you food." Traffic be damned!
~ beth
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