Ben and Jerry's Update

A couple of days ago I ran across an article about PETA writing a letter to Ben and Jerry's wanting them to put human breast milk into their ice cream. Well today I ran across a similar article on treehugger, HERE, and decided it was worth sharing. I figure we can have a Ben and Jerry's update day as I also ran across an article about Ben and Jerry's and climate friendly ice cream coolers, HERE.

Finnish Beer

To stick with the beer theme, I figured today I would attempt to address the topic of Finnish beers. My good friend Burton is currently in Finland, and so I'm going to work with the information he has given me. It's hard to write about things you aren't currently experiencing, but I like learning about other countries and doing the research about them, so I'll take what Burton and the internet have given me and am open to additions later on.

There are a couple beers Burton has specifically mentioned. My internet searches on them have been a little bit less than fruitful, but I've found some stuff. Here is some information on some of the beers you would perhaps run into on a night out in Finland:

-Karhu: According to Wikipedia, HERE, Karhu is a Finnish beer brewed by the Sinebrychoff brewery in Kerava and Pori. HERE is the official Sinebrychoff site, and HERE is a direct link to the Karhu section. HERE is what Beeradvocate has to say about Karhu. You will notice that Sinebrychoff also has a Carlsberg section. According to their website they manufacture Carlsberg under license according to a Danish recipe. You can find the history of Carlsberg HERE. Burton has told me Carlsberg is popular there, and I can attest to its Irish popularity as well.

-Karjala: A product of Hartwall beverage company, HERE, with the link to the Karjala section found HERE. I was unable to find as much information on Karjala, however, Hartwall is also responsible for Lapin Kulta, HERE, which seems popular. On a couple of websites I found people debating whether Lapin Kulta or Karhu was the best beer in Finland. HERE is a link to the Lapin Kulta Wikipedia page and HERE is what Beeradvocate has to say.

For those of you interested in knowing what a night out will do to your waistline (although my opinion is if you are in Europe you should have your night out and diet once you end up back home) I've done some calculations:

Carlsberg and Karhu will both cost you about 40 calories per 100ml. What does this mean? There are 144 calories in a 12 ounce can compared to 110 in a can of Bud Light. Per beer, this seems to indicate no major damage, in my opinion at least, to your figure. Then again, I'm a Blue Moon fanatic, HERE, and that will run you about 170 calories for 12 ounces. Burton has informed me that people tend to drink a lot when they go out to drink. Drinks come either as 33 centiliters or in half liter glasses, and most people go with the half liter since it's a better deal. 33 centiliters is 330 milliliters or about 11 ounces, so about 100 calories for a Carlsberg or Karhu. Half a liter is 500 milliliters or about 200 calories for Carlsberg or Karhu. This is how a couple liters into the night might start setting your diet back. Couple rounds, and you might as well have eaten 3 extra slices of pizza that day. But in all honesty, if you're over there, I say you might as well go for it.

Feel free to point out errors or things that need to be added.

And drink responsibly.

Guinness

As we approached, this is what we saw....

Pretty display by the company archives.

Gravity Bar

The Gate.

This summer my friend and I spent two weeks hiking around Ireland. Ireland is amazing. Along the way, I found myself falling in love with the smaller towns of the coast, however, it is Dublin that can offer the chance to tour the Guinness Storehouse. HERE is the official website.

The storehouse was a fermentation plant until 1988 when it switched over to housing 7 floors of history for visitors to explore. It is found in St. James's Gate Brewery and is the home of Guinness. The floors are built so that when you look at a cross section of the factory it appears as if a giant pint glass is standing in the middle of the building. It's hard to describe, but you can see what I mean in one of the pictures I posted. According to the brochure I grabbed while there, the pint glass the storehouse makes would hold 14.3 million pints of Guinness. One can only imagine the mayhem a pint glass the large full of Guinness would cause.

HERE is a link that describes what you will see and learn on each of the floors. I really enjoyed level 2 which is dedicated to Guinness advertising, the Gravity Bar rotating high above Dublin, and of course, the gift shop. However, I will throw out that if anyone with any ties to Guinness ever reads this, the gift shop needs more shot glass variety. Just a suggestion.

The dollar is worth crap right now, but if you decide traveling is important no matter how the economy is doing, as we did, the tour won't even come close to breaking your budget and is worth your time. Besides, you get a free pint of Guinness in the Gravity Bar at the completion of your tour, who can argue with that?

For more great Guinness information, click HERE.

Clif Bar

I love Clif Bar, HERE. Delicious food, the environment, and morals a lot of us strive to achieve on a day to day basis (please don't let any scandals break out). HERE is an awesome interview with the founder. HERE is the cool article I found this interview in.

Introduction to Irradiation

Maybe I should have all the fears people seem to have when it comes to genetically modified foods, the word nuclear, or irradiation, which is what this post is about, but I just don't. I tend to be interested in these things more than anything, and that interest generally keeps any paralyzing fears at bay. Interest generally brings knowledge, and I think fear should have the same effect. So whatever camp you are in on any given topic, I think you should make a point to learn about it. To that end, HERE is a brief article on irradiation. Introducing it to people who don't know anything about it, putting some facts out there to discuss for those who do.

Also, HERE is the wikipedia page. Not too scientific, but everyone love wikipedia.

And if I get three eyed babies because I didn't fear enough, I gladly accept all mockery!

Enjoy!

Post Script: That symbol up there, it is called a Radura. Next time you see it, you can impress all your friends. HERE is the Radura wikipedia page.

Pop-Tarts Across the Board

This past weekend I played the role of house guest. I always like looking in other people's pantries. I think it's interesting to see what other people eat. Luckily, my host was perfectly happy to oblige my curiosity. The thing I found that interested me the most was a box of Whole Grain Pop-Tarts. I was amused. I mean if you're eating Pop-Tarts to begin with, what are the odds you're thinking about your whole grain intake? I realize I shouldn't be so harsh to judge. I'm all about eating things in moderation. I fully believe there is always room to be found for cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies in the diet. But I do get a kick out of "healthy" junk food.

Anyways, I figured it was worth investigating. I mean I enjoy Pop-Tarts, so if there really is a benefit to eating the whole grain kind, and if they taste good, then I'm all for it.

So I did some research via Kellogg's, HERE, and above I have posted my very scientific like findings. I based my work on Regular Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts, Low Fat Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts, and Whole Grain Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts. From these numbers I would personally choose the whole grain Pop-Tarts. I am a fiber fiend, as odd as that sounds, and I'm always up for an extra gram of protein. The calorie difference here isn't worth discussing. I'm not a fan of the low fat because they have more sodium and sugar to compensate for the lack of fat in the product and that trade off isn't worth it to me.

There is one other thing to consider here though...budget restraints. I would need to go to the grocery store, but I would bet the whole grain are a little pricier. If that's the case, I guess it's more of an individual type thing, I mean you're still eating a Pop-Tart, it's not THAT good for you, so do you want to shell out the extra money? I would, up to about $0.50, but no more, and I actually really care about how much fiber I'm getting a day and stuff. I guess it's all up to you.

Cupcakes from Coast to Coast

Next time I swing about 20 minutes south of Nashville and find myself in Franklin, Tennessee Curious Gourmet Cupcake Cafe will be one of the first places I go. Check out their write up in the Tennessean HERE. Additionally sweet about the article, which is a brief interview with Executive Pastry Chef Michaela Coffey, is that she mentions Hello! Cupcake, HERE, an excellent book by Alan Richardson and Karen Tack. To add to our cupcake mania, Throwdown with Bobby Flay last night was the cupcake episode. This episode featured Auntie Em's Kitchen, HERE, and from where I was sitting, I think Auntie Em's Terri Wahl should have won. Try out the recipes, found HERE, and be your own judge.

'Nation A' vs. Everyone Else

An interesting article mainly about China's elite getting a better food supply than the rest of the country, but with thought provoking references to the same practice elsewhere, HERE.

I Love Cupcakes Bake Shoppe

Cupcakes are big right now, and today I ran across THIS website for some very talented cupcake makers. Unfortunately, I cannot vouch for the taste having not tried them myself, but they are amazing and sure to spice up any event with their appearance alone.

Teuscher Chocolates

While strolling Newbury Street in Boston, my chocoholic friend and I stumbled upon a Teuscher store, HERE, and decided we should do some chocolate sampling. Their chocolate is amazing! The Champagne Truffle, HERE, is their staple and it is fabulous. If you ever happen upon a Teuscher store, found in several large cities, be ready to shell out a couple of dollars per piece, but rest assured you will get what you're paying for.

Vermont Goodies

Not long ago my dear friend from Vermont sent me a care package complete with books, popcorn seasoning, and chocolate...Lake Champlain Chocolates to be exact. I was really excited to try out the chocolate, but decided to wait until I could share the experience with my other friend, who also happens to be my favorite chocoholic. Well, that day was yesterday, and Lake Champlain Chocolates are amazing. HERE is a link to get you started.

But besides having great chocolate, Vermont is also home to the Ben and Jerry's Factory, seen HERE, which is definitely worth your while. I highly suggest taking time out of your day to browse through their website and enjoy the fun of ice cream HERE.

Enjoy!

Green Food

It's the little things that we do that can help. HERE.

It's also the bigger things by those who can. HERE and HERE.

Being Politically Aware

Food and nutrition are very politically active areas. Consumers drive laws and regulations and when something deals with both economics and personal safety, as food does, things tend to happen. I ran across an ARTICLE about genetically modified foods. I know this spectrum of food science is a big issue for a lot of consumers. They're putting fish cells in our tomatoes?!? (HERE for some background information) All that sort of stuff. And yes it is a little unsettling to think about, and there are tons of implications. As a vegetarian do I want to eat those tomatoes anymore? (HERE) But the best thing to do is to stay aware of what is happening, the real facts, and to know how to act if you don't agree with something.

Here are some ways to stay aware:

HERE is a link to the FDA's homepage, you'll see reference to genetically engineered animals right under the news and events section. The FDA plays an important role across the entire food spectrum and is in charge of food additives, including radiation, which is always a hot topic.

HERE is a link to the USDA homepage. The USDA plays an important role in inspection, grading, and meat in general.

Few people realize that our federal government has a "daily newspaper" called the Federal Register and you can access it HERE. Any proposal, amendment, final act...it's all there. HERE is the specific link for the FDA portion, and HERE for the USDA.

HERE is a link to FDA press releases regarding food and nutrition.

And as a refresher in political science 101, it is important to stay abreast of issues and know what is going on. It is important you learn how to contact your representatives in congress, because they are the ones in charge of acts a.k.a laws. Laws are very broad. Once passed, the regulatory agency is response for passing specific regulations. There is always a comment period, so if you know what is happening, you always have time to get your voice heard. HERE is where you can submit comments to the FDA.

Laws and regulations are confusing, but the more you learn and try to understand, the better off everyone is. These lessons come up every four years around this time with the presidential election well underway, but they really should be present all the time.

NYT Nutrition-Functional Foods

A great article on functional foods:

Superfood or Monster From the Deep?

cookthink

At this exact juncture in my life, my wallet is a little tighter than normal. This isn't the end of the world, but it does mean that I have to face up to the reality of spending less money on food than I would like. And sometimes this is very difficult. Sometimes I know exactly what I want, but I also know I don't have the money to buy it. Instead, all I have is a half eaten bag of potatoes and dozen or so eggs. Luckily, I was recently reintroduced to cookthink. Type in ingredients, click on what part of the meal you're trying to create, or even pick a culture and tons of recipes are right there waiting for you. It's a great way to move past the roadblock of, "I have a bag of potatoes, now what do I do?" or, it's an interesting way to pass an afternoon. Either one. Check out their great blog HERE.

Going Green

Green is my favorite color. I think it is beautiful. But today's post is about neither aesthetics nor muppets. No, today's post is about the environment. More and more people are starting to take notice of Mother Earth, and with her hopefully permanent popularity surge there are more and more cool things to read, learn about, and engage in regarding her.

TREEHUGGER is a thriving and informative website. Their food and health section is awesome. Have you heard about the latest lead problems? Click HERE and now you have. Looking for a link to on how to make an organic margarita? Find it HERE. You get the point. The ARTICLE that inspired today's post is on how to throw a green dinner party. It brought to mind all the small things we can do on a day to day basis to be green. One of my favorite tips made it into the article. How about serving items in bulk instead of individual packages at large gatherings? This includes things like chips and ketchup. It really does help. I also like the unmentioned idea of substituting frisbees for things like paper plates.

However, those things aside, one of the most enjoyable ways I have found to be green is to take my own bags to the grocery store. No more plastic bags here. You can be fashionable and Earth conscious. My grocery bags, pictured above, are from Kitsch*n Glam and I love them!

Milkshakes

A dear friend of mine brought up the movie "Pulp Fiction" today. I instantly thought of the scene with Uma Thurman and John Travolta in the diner. This is the scene I always picture whenever "Pulp Fiction" is brought up. I love that scene. I love the dancing and the actors and...the milkshake. So I thought today could be a milkshake mini tribute sort of day.

The history of the milkshake, like the history of many foods (supporting evidence for that statement is to be found in future entries) is quite interesting, unexpected, and the final product, in this case a milkshake, is a far cry from what it first was.

The milkshake, it seems, was originally made for invalids and children. The original version was more egg nog less dairy delicious. But then, in 1922, Ivar "Pop" Coulson was working at a Walgreens in Chicago where he created the drink we now recognize and love. Its popularity skyrocketed. Read a brief history HERE as well as find some interesting recipes to try such as Avocado and Pineapple or Chocolate and Grenadine. I cannot vouch for these flavors, but if anyone wants to be the test subject, please let me know how it goes. Who knows, maybe one weekend I'll get bored enough to try one. Maybe.

Before getting to the wrap up with some resources and recipes, although of course the best resource is expanding your first hand knowledge of milkshakes and experimenting to find your own recipes, I thought we could do a little honor to a great milkshake moment.

HERE to view the milkshake scene from the acclaimed "There Will be Blood."

HERE will take you to an adorable parody.

Other Milkshake Resources:

WIKIPEDIA

MILKSHAKE MAKERS

Recipes:

HERE

FROM FOOD NETWORK

Enjoying Chocolate Chip Cookies

While browsing the JOKES at E-COOKBOOKS I stumbled upon THIS brief snippet about making the most of your chocolate chip cookies. I think the topic of chocolate chip cookies, the best recipes for them, and how to perfect the art of eating them, is something that should be continually explored and expanded upon and input from anyone older and/or wiser in this area would be greatly appreciated. But until then, or until I do more sleuthing, at least we can start with this brief tidbit. A little something from me to you to make the amazing activity that cookie eating is just that much better.

Food Jokes

In the interest of making the little free time that today offers a little more amusing...

Food Joke #1

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Sweden
Sweden who?
Sweden sour is my favorite Chinese meal!

Food Joke #2

A Panda walks into a restaurant and orders the special of the day. He eats the food, gets up and shoots the waitress dead. The Hostess runs over to the Panda and says, "What did you do that for?" The Panda then says,"Look up 'Panda" in the dictionary, and you will see..." And with that, the Panda walked out of the restaurant. The hostess then rushes to a dictionary, looks up 'Panda' and reads..."Panda, n., mammal, eats shoots and leaves."

Food Joke #3

A waitress is explaining to a guest in the restaurant that the specialty of the day is calf tongue in beautiful port wine sauce. The guest shakes his head and says, "I don't want anything that comes from an animal's mouth, just give me some eggs."

HERE you will be able to not only find jokes 2 and 3, but several other gems just like them as well as just a pretty cool sight in general.

For additional food humor I suggest trying FOOD JOKES, your own browsing capabilities, or your own crafty brain!

Blue Ridge Dinnerware

Photo courtesy Ruby Lane, rubylane.com

Today has been another typical day. I'm slightly sleep deprived and worrying about...everything. Grad school, people, finding parking spots. Completely ridiculous. And in this state of ridiculousness, I always seem to rediscover what friends and Mothers are for...slapping you in the face and alerting you to your stupidity. And so today's food post will be a little something dedicated to my Mom.

Let's talk about Blue Ridge Pottery. Best dinnerware ever! (Here I should clarify that it is probably not, in fact, the best dinnerware ever. It is amazing and awesome and beautiful, but best dinnerware ever? Eh. Actually, I would bet $50 dollars that before the end of this year, on this very blog, there is some other plate, spoon, or tea cup that outshines it. So lesson of the day? Sentences ending in ever! should NEVER be taken seriously.)

I digress...

Around age 15 somewhere deep inside of me I decided eating wasn't necessary and Kate Moss (click HERE for grisly example) had the perfect body. Today I will argue that in fact eating is wonderful and Scarlett Johansson (click HERE only if you promise to come back) has the perfect body. However, I'm slightly older and all the wiser for it. So around 15, food and I became enemies. It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt, or so they say, and shortly before turning 16 people started getting hurt and I paid a visit to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital where I did a three week stint getting myself back on track.

It's hard to say what caused the eating disorder. I have theories, therapists have theories, my parents probably have their own theories, the true answer is probably a complex combination of them all. The important part is I recovered. At some point during the long days of recovering via hospital bed my Mom, whom we shall refer to as Momma P from here on out, Momma P decided that we would spend our days browsing ebay for cute plates. The idea was that they would entice me to eat. We settled on collecting Blue Ridge pieces. I cannot say if Blue Ridge really helped clear the air between old foe food and I, but I can say I became very attached to them, love them, and love Momma P for buying me probably no less than 100 various pieces of them. These do in fact include the ones currently being used as food and water bowls for my sister's kitten.

So what am I getting at? Well, they aren't for everyone, but if you're looking for a something quaint and full of history to go with your country homestead, or even if your style is a little more Posh and a little less Laura Ingalls Wilder but you're in the mood for a welcome contrast, then you should check them out.

This WEBSITE gives some great background on the pieces, while this WEBSITE is fun to browse, and then there's always good ol' EBAY to go look at.

Enjoy!

Not Another Omnivore

In some respects, it is a bit high and mighty to blog. To put thoughts, ideas, and information on display assuming somebody, somewhere, will find them interesting enough to read.

But at the same time, to blog is to connect. It is a way to say to family, friends, and strangers, “Here! Look! This is information about things I think are cool…things I think are interesting! Let me know what you think, what you find, and lets all do this together!” And it is that aspect that makes blogging so appealing.

So no, I am not another omnivore. I am a herbivore. To clarify, I am a lacto-ovo-vegetarian. I eat dairy and eggs but no meat or fish. You know the type. We are the oddballs at Thanksgiving. We are the random cousins, nieces, and nephews yelling down the picnic bench to Grandpa for the fifth year in a row why we will not in fact be having a hot dog this forth of July. We are a growing minority.

But this hefty adjective, lacto-ovo vegetarian, this little guy isn’t the only reason I’m blogging. I’m blogging because of the complete picture. I am a recovering anorexic with a strong case of wanderlust on the path to becoming an RD. That’s right. I used to not eat food, I am constantly putting myself in environments that stretch my comfort zone with food, and I want to talk to people about food all day long. I love eating food, cooking food, growing food, food and its relationship to exercise…it’s endless.

And so this is the beginning of my attempt at being a successful food blogger. I’m here to talk about world cuisine as I and other people have experienced it. I’m here to talk about having an intense love for food while sometimes still being in fear of it. I’m here to tell you what it’s like when the ones you love, and are in love with, don’t eat like you do. And finally, I’m here to learn. I’m here to get help and input. To do the research. To write the articles and to post the links. The perfect outcome of this blog would be that we all appreciate and have a healthier relationship with food. But if all that happens is everyone learns just how awesome Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream, courtesy of Ben and Jerry’s, really is…well then so be it!