Not just coffee

Archive for March, 2009

Get Ready

Mar 16

Posted by admin in Economy, gardening, life

It’s that time of year when it stays light a little longer, and the birds sing a promise that spring really is just around the corner. Their early morning and late night tweets are comforting sounds that spell hope of warmer climes and sunnier times.

All this is a short translation that says it’s time to dust off the garden tools and start buying some early crop seeds. Around here, real plants just don’t have a chance, no matter how many warm teaser days you get, before Mother’s Day. Maybe we personally invented that notion as it is an ideal family activity on that holiest of days, Mother’s Day. Little hands, little shovels!

Early crops like peas, for instance, survive best when the days are still a little cool. They plain ole hate the hot, humid sun-filled days that tomatoes crave. That’s OK. We like peas, too.

Maybe with the economy in such a rough spiral, more people will consider a garden. Even a small garden can give great pleasure and save some trips to the grocery store. Not to ignore the real truth:  fresh-picked produce tastes far better than anything that’s ever visited a grocery store no matter how many “local” signs they surround the aisle with.

Planting your own Victory Garden will give you comfort and pleasure and save you money.

Too early to start for many parts of the country.

Not too early to dream.

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Yikes–You Kidding Me??

Mar 15

Posted by admin in health, life

OK, so the little ones get a bath and look really good. They even smell clean, and then when the house is quiet I read the morning paper. Are you kidding? Baby shampoo and “baby soaps” are filled with all kinds of carcinogens. Formaldehyde and something called 1,4 dioxane, whatever that is, on their bodies! Those words alone should scare us. What is going on here?

My being outraged is hardly sufficient. How did this ever happen? If I switch to so-called organic soaps and shampoos, are they safer? Who says? What harm have I already caused in the 3 years they have been bathed in this formaldehyde stuff? How many millions of young children have been cleansed sobaby?

Who is at fault? I do not believe one company gets all the blame. Since these are not considered ingredients but contaminants, they do not have to be listed. How crazy is that notion! There are no regulations that stop this. Turns out I can’t even get angry at the FDA; they don’t have the authority to regulate cosmetics at the ingredient stage.

Hello, Congress, can you hear me? This affects everyone, all your constituents. Maybe the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families will get the message to hold hearings. Taking these ingredients out of products within a year is not an answer.

Someone’s been asleep at the switch. Why? Parents who are trying to do the right thing are now feeling guilt in another way. What’s going to be done about this? NOW.

How come we find out about these travesties years after products have been on shelves? Is no one paying attention or must we all travel to the drug store and the grocery store with a dictionary of health words? Turns out that logic doesn’t even work. Not an ingredient; not a listing. Chemicals get a free pass. They are not regulated in the same way.

Let’s get to work and make our products safe.

Now.

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Somebody IS Listening

Mar 14

Posted by admin in Administration, FDA, food

cantaloupesIt sure does get tedious to say, “wash the outside of the melon.” Everybody looks and you and wonders if you’ve flipped, but you know better. Melons, especially cantaloupes, have a little bit of a history with salmonella. Yes, it’s been traced to the outside skin and rind and with proper scrubbing even when there is no known outbreak, you might be safe.

Food safety–that’s a duplicitous expression. We expect our food to be safe. We want to believe that the fresh food we buy has been purchased from a safe facility and that prepared food has gone through the proper handling and  proper care in packaging. Yet we are continually bombarded by bleak news. Peanut butter was the most mystifying. Tons of violations at one plant became a nationwide recall of a food staple.  Last week it was alfalfa sprouts–not the first time those crunchy little guys caused a problem.

Well, today we heard the President say he was creating a special advisory group to oversee the whole issue of food safety. This, mind you, was after he appointed a new head at the FDA, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who actually is a bioterrorism expert with extensive familiarity in dealing with pandemic flu possibilities.

Hello, what about me the grocery shopper? The advisory group is going to look out for us. They’re the back-up team that’ll  be in place to make certain that processes are in place and that science matches logic.  I want to know that my food is safe. That it actually has passed inspection and not just magically appeared on the shelf.

It’s about salmonella, e-coli, and all the other possible foodborne illnesses that could occur. Let’s pay attention and be tough. Close down plants that sneak past inspectors. No halfway points. All or nothing.

Let’s take the worry off the dinner plate and enjoy ourselves. I am encouraged that a proactive step has been taken. Let’s make sure it produces results.

I’m watching.

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The First Woman

Mar 12

Posted by admin in First family

It’s so much fun to have a First Lady who is out and about town. One who recognizes her communication ability and her popularity. Yes, Michelle Obama is an amazingly strong force. She looks fabulous no matter what she wears and no matter how much spin her wardrobe evokes. She has helped people get a better sense of self. She’s like a walking advertisement for a good, healthy lifestyle.

As parents the Obamas are sending a strong signal of balance–work, family, themselves. It is never easy but somehow they manage to fit in the pieces that provide the glue. Time to exercise, to eat right, to take care of the family needs and still function as vibrant forces –they exude the ability to pull it all together. With her visits to government agencies around town, Michelle, yes, you want to call her by her first name as her smile suggests such inviting warmth, has the city abuzz with anticipation about her next stop.

freshfarmmarket.org

Serving food at a homeless shelter is more than a photo op. It’s a means to communicate good, healthy eating habits while thinking of others. Food is like that–it has a connecting warmth. The article about her interest in helping farmers and doing the White House Locavore Dance helps masses of producers. It’s funny that the accompanying photo of Michelle and the chef overlooks large dessert trays. Somehow, even that shot suggests it is okay to have a sweet once and a while. Anyway the desserts look terrific!

It seems no matter where she travels, which Agency she visits, or what message she is trying to get across, she personifies dignity and comfort.

She fills a void–a bright light in an otherwise dark whirl of information.

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I Love It

Mar 6

Posted by admin in food, restaurants

saltWe have spoken. They have listened. Times ARE tough, but we want to eat out. Give us a good deal, and we’re there.

The $8 hamburger in a sit-down restaurant known for its hand-cut steaks, IS a good deal. When it comes with grilled mushrooms or grilled onions and a few faux tater tots, we’re on board. 

The best one-week restaurant deal has turned into a multi-week experience in a number of cities. The single week traffic encouraged restaurateurs to expand the promotion.  Those are the specially priced 3-course lunch and dinner restaurant week menus. What started many years ago in New York as a simple winter promotion has blossomed into a full-fledged activity that has marched across the country. New York  just announced that the early February promotion will continue into the middle of March. Why Not?

Check with Open Table on your city’s promotions page to see what restaurant specials are continuing into the spring. Annapolis just announced a tie-in with the NCAA finals at the end of the month. Dana Point decided to grab a little of the restaurant traffic from LA and started its own restaurant week. Restaurants are doing their part. Now it’s our turn to make it work.

Pass the salt please.

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Winner and Still Champion

Mar 5

Posted by admin in coffee, life

illyHardly a day goes by without some annoying health report about how one drink or another is good/bad for you. Last week it was wine kills women. The next day wine saves you from esophageal cancer. Take your pick. Pretty simple answer for me!

Then there are the good/bad coffee studies which get broken down into sub-categories of caffeine or no-caffeine. I am a full throttle triple espresso gal who occasionally. to make people happy, makes a double decaf espresso. These studies indicate how too much coffee can be a problem and then follow it with a note how coffee staves off strokes. Same week.

Now, here’s a good one: coffee consumption surpasses sales of soft drinks. Maybe it’s the cold winter and hot java wrapper combination or just the soothing affect of warm coffee dripping into a cup. Maybe it’s the aromatic smell that wafts through the house with its cheerful wake-up. Maybe it’s none of those, and it’s just that a good cup of coffee tastes great.

So if young people are drinking more coffee, maybe it’s because there is so much variety; so many types of coffees available. Wait, we could be talking about the number of soft drink or vitamin-enchanced beverages. Think the answer is simple: young people know a good drink when they see one. They are just joining the national beverage club which trends towards more coffee.

Make mine a triple espresso, please.

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Still NOT Quite Right

Mar 4

Posted by admin in Advertisers, coffee, Pairings

OK, remember me, I said you could pull it out. Well, I was almost right, and almost only counts in horseshoes. For Starbucks to borrow a word from the food and wine world and come up with an affordable “pairing” is the good news. The bad is the insensitive, limited thinking approach.

It is true that bacon, sausage, and ham sandwiches may sound like the universe of sandwiches to many people. NOT everyone eats pork products. The new pairing promotion offers a 12-oz tall brewed coffee and a choice of a pork off-shoot sandwich. Or a tall latte and a slice of coffee cake or oatmeal. What happens if you want an egg sandwich, a turkey sandwich, or any number of other non-pork possibilities?

Seriously, who is doing your market research? The concept is good; the estarbucksxecution is a killer.

Think. Make the changes.

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The Overused, but Important Word

Mar 2

Posted by admin in Environment, food, life

tomatoesOK, you know what it is. Everytime you turn around someone is trying to impress you with his new devotion to all foods from the immediate region. The word locavore,  chosen as the word of the year two years ago, is now quickly moving into the trite column for its overuse, and possible, misuse.

Every organization seems to tag a special dinner as a locavore event. Yes, it is important to buy local, to support our farmers and growers but not every purchase can meet the 50 or 100-mile caveat. No matter how hard we try, the urge to buy grapes or apricots may win over proximity. Just for the record, neither crop is grown within a 100-mile radius of my house. Occasionally, the blues make a migratory trip to a farm market, but someone is still driving them there.

The whole fruit discussion gets a little gnarly when you realize the phrase that has become dated is actually “out of season”. Very little now gets called out of season. Fruits are now available almost year-round. Yes, they are coming from faraway places, other countries, but they are being imported because of their popularity. Years ago apricots, plums, and nectarines were invisible except during a few short months of the year.

Let’s keep in mind that no matter how many farm markets you support, there are products that you want to buy that will never make an appearance at your weekend stop.

We buy with our eyes, our budgets, and our wishes. We want to have foods that not only appeal to our wish list but to our taste profile. Some foods sound so extra appealing when it is blustery cold and dark in this long, cold, pre-Spring calendar period. Blueberries, which are never grown in our backyard and probably not even in summertime within a 100-mile radius of our house, do taste exceptional in the dark days of interminable winter.

Yes, I know all about carbon footprint and am doing my own personal crusade to save the planet, but, I am a far more pleasant person when I can have a fruit treat at a time of year when the bounty of the region is more limited to root vegetables. Everyone deserves a break, and we can certainly skip the harangue of damage to the environment.

Let’s not miss the big picture. Yes, we strive to be locavores, but I think it is time to let go of the word. Let’s take a giant step back and not call every dinner that has a local beet course a locavore event. It is an overused word that has become a marketing strategy. Yes, chefs and consumers should have vegetable and herb gardens, and buy their meats, eggs, and poultry from a local farmer, but that is not an option available to everyone at all times.

Let’s go back to the logic: support your farmers when you can. Buy in season and use purchasing programs, such as CSAs. Buy meats, poultry and other products such as eggs from the nearby environs. Just don’t call every trip to the farmer’s market a locavore experience. It’s a trip to the farm market to buy the freshest items available that particular day.

The solution:  Let’s return to the ways of many decades ago and grow what we can, buy from our nearby farms and producers, and skip the bragging rights.

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