It's Pixar. It's about fine food. It takes place in Paris. Did I mention it was done by Pixar? Is there any way that I couldn't like Ratatouille?
(Potential Spoilers Ahead)
Maybe, but if so, they missed it. Ratatouille was one heck of a fun and enjoyable movie. And with a delicious desert of tasty CGI-animation-eye-candy. At its core it's a very simple movie, really, without any big booms, without any huge overreaching flag-waving moral -- it's subtle. Awesomely so, and crafted with all the care of a fine work of art. Actually its quite refreshing that way too. Its not that there isn't anything there -- far from it -- but it doesn't shout it from the top of the Eiffel tower endlessly. Like a book, you find it.
1 - Though I mentioned it already, the animation in this movie is outstanding. The fur, the lighting, the downright softness of the whole picture is astounding. The character's expressions are also amazing, especially Remi's. Paris looked awesome too.
2 - When you have a rat for a protagonist you offer yourself the chance to have a new point of view -- literally. The action sequences shown from Remi's vantage point/eyes were great.
3 - I love the subtle touches they gave to Anton Ego's office, the very grim reaper overtones that show up everywhere (check out the back of that typewriter).
4 - Though there are a lot of action moments there was only one that felt needlessly over the top, and it shows up right at the start of the film.
5 - No, I'm not jealous the production staff got to be tutored by Thomas Keller and ate at the French Laundry. Not jealous, no!
6 - Details, details, details. Do you notice them when they are there? Maybe not, but you sure do notice them when they're not. That's what makes Weta Workshop so amazing when they craft props, and what makes this film so downright seamless. The details are astounding, especially, I found, in the last few minutes of the film.
7 - Storytelling, storytelling, storytelling. Yeah, Pixar has this down solid too.
8 - The above notwithstanding, and despite this is the longest (I think) Pixar production to date (almost 2h) the film felt cut short, like they could have taken more time to let the flavours simmer. Granted everything in the film does take place in a short timespan, but letting the film breathe some would've made the body that much more enchanting.
9 - Now, totally standing in the above (both) this is not a kids film. It is not an adult film. I love that about Pixar. (and Miyazaki too)
10 - Be prepared to get hungry during this film.
Delightful all the way through. I'm looking forward to seeing this film again.
LotD: Poutine in the New York Times!. "Its going to stick without a doubt," said Mr Bennett. No pun intended indeed...
(http://www.bugmenot.com/view/nytimes.com if you need to...)
Eco-farming 'helps world's poor' -- increases yields by up to 79%. Link to story here and to the scientific paper here.
I've gotten an upsurge in spam lately, and it's most interesting -- there seems to be a trend lately for clusters of nearly identical spam messages coming in droves of droves. I'm guessing it's banks of spambots spewing it out in chunks, but it's amusing and weird. Every few days a new batch... most recently it's been of the same word, but with the name of the person in the From: header. As a technique I have to question it, really -- even if you were fairly green, you'd think 10 messages like that would tip someone off, no?
At any rate, I broke down and further set up my procmail rules to sort out my known friends, a whitelist of sorts, to reduce the chance of accidentally deleting messages in a quick scan of 'yes, no, yes yes yes yes, no yes' of my emails.
This post comes post-xmas, and I trust that everyone created for themselves a fantastic holiday. I didn't get a chance to go home this year due to late time-off-requestness and my parents came down to visit instead. We had a fantastic time, and got to hit a couple of very nice restaurants. Food bloggage ahead...
First up of the two places I'll describe is the Slanted Door in San Francisco, recently moved to the Ferry Building. The décor is decidedly modernesque, funky and fresh but not overpowering. Clean lines throughout, with rough touches (such as our table) that cohabited and enhanced each other nicely. Trying to make reservations early in the afternoon was not possible, so we tried our luck in line at opening time. Turns out that was the best thing to do; we not only got a table but got one end of the table in the private room, making for a great view of the bay and a quieter evening (the table was nicely separated by three large candles so they could seat another group).
The fare at The Slanted Door is modern Asian/Vietnamese, and is served 'centre style', ie, sharing style. We started with a beef carpaccio (fine, delicate, but lighter in flavour than I would have expected), and live scallop in a sauce and accompaniment I can't remember but that really made it sing. For main courses we had: wok roasted duck, a whole fish (tail, head, everything, fillet right at the table -- shame I don't remember the exact type), and roasted lobster. Nicely, each dish was served in turn, creating not only a series of courses but giving one time to fully enjoy each dish, on its own, while warm, before the next course came out. Each dish was excellent. The duck is some of the best duck I've had at a restaurant outside China, one of the few places where the duck flavour actually came through. The fish was cooked to perfect doneness and was subtle and delicate, and the lobster was a nice change on the 'usual' of garlic butter et al. Deserts were had, and they were fabulous.
One amazing note is the tea I had -- a combination of a light black tea with a flower. Alas I don't remember the flower type, but it came in a wine glass, all in a large bud. Waiting a few minutes the flower literally bloomed, the tea within along with the flower, slowly steeping and colouring the water. Delicate, remarkable, and many more words of tasteful joy.
After dinner we had the best surprise of the night. The waitress came by and informed us the room was needed for a private function soon -- would we like to go to the bar and she would buy us a drink? That impressed us to no end. She didn't just ask us to leave or shoo us out, she invited us out with an opportunity, which we took. A fine mojito was thereby sampled by myself. Less minty than I would like, but fine nonetheless.
Saturday evening, for our 'xmas dinner', I took my parents out to Chez TJ here in Mountain View. Recently having been rated one star by Michelin, I already had fond memories from my previous (and only) visit. French cuisine of excellence, we each settled on the regular Prix Fixe Menu Gastronomique, fine water and wine at the ready, and the courses commenced.
To say this meal was superb would be an understatement. The textures created, the delicacy, the expert cooking, the presentation, the flavours, both complimentary and contrasting, the route through which the courses took you, each dish described to you as it was brought, it was all there. That I'm writing this so many days later is frustrating because I cannot remember the exactness of everything I had, but I do remember two things in particular:
The foie gras was very interesting; two portions, the first being an ordinary but expertly done fried foie gras, the second being a pate but with a pomegranate glaze atop. They paired excellently, not in any way I can put into words, something about their individual uniquenesses that were just meant for each other.
The "Pheasant, Deconstructed" dish was out of this world: one leg/thigh and one breast, each cooked differently, set apart, contrasting in their colour and texture. The thigh was earthy, robust, with some density (not in a bad way). The breast, however, was unbelievably light, subtle, melt-away, almost sweet. Insanely well prepared and invented.
For xmas day proper, I held a fondue bourguignonne at my house, always fun and a favourite.
And thus ends the tasty foodage recap!
Coke coke coke coke coke... (actually more like heroin)
QotD: "You peer through the window. In the back of the dimly lit hut you can make out a sleeping... Make a spot check... (player rolls, 18) Orc."
Week in... week out. Busy, fun. Also kicked back for some serious WoWage on Saturday night, and did brunch with Melissa followed by a trek to Mount Umunhum. I'm not making this up!
Today we arrived at work to learn that all four drives in our RAID array died hideous, horrible deaths sometime during this morning. Yes, the redundant nature of RAID kinda loses its 'feature' if very disk in the array dies. So today has been one of zero productivity.
Coming up tomorrow are the 10 Tiger movements - Sifu implored us not to miss the class, so I'm gearing up for some serious nifty-age.
LotD: Not surprising, alas.
Wild wild days. Much text after the cut!
What has really opened up for me over the past couple of weeks is being calm in the midst of all the plates I'm juggling. Neverminding Lofty, my course and all the other things I've got going on, but just at work I've got three deadline-intense things on my plate. Yet there is no upset, no panic, no franticness, no deer in headlights of what to do next. It's really quite an amazing and new space to be in... and I get to enjoy a rendering project at work, continue to work on the new labs and implement, create and train the ADT deployment. This works for me, I think I'll keep it.
Bagua continues to be a total learning experience. Saturday's workout was a good one, with a not-to-deadly run and stairs, and then a focus on all the short, explosive Shaolin sets (#4, 5, 6, 7, 8, Tong Bei and Emperor Tai) along with the last third of #1. Evan and I have now learned the first four lessons to Six Harmonies Spear (no injury this week!) getting in practice every night. We also did a second workout on Saturday, to practice some two-person Bagua exercises -- quite the full day of exercise.
Then, I indulged in a couple of hours of WoW in the evening and got Khyborr up to 29. Just another 14 levels to go 'till he's back where he was at the end of closed beta!
FoodFu: Picnic! was held on Sunday with the usual gang. It was a good smattering of fare, lots of varied things (fruit, cheeses, breads, meats, hummus, guacamole, southwestern meatless wraps), and I made a Raspberry/Blackberry Gratin (which is an odd name considering it had no cheese, but it was broiled lightly) that met with much praise and appreciation and tastiness. Then, tennis was played by some in the courts nearby. I jumped in, having a good time and not sucking too horribly (I have more fingers on my hand than the number of times I've played), though I had forgotten my sunscreen upon leaving the house and now have quite the red tinge to show for it.
Sunday evening's D&D game was a great conclusion to the sub-story arc as we awoke in the midst of a carnage. Aathome said I wouldn't like the 'hero' who was chosen to wield the sword, and he was right. We faced off against some lizard folk whom we had not seen in two years (their lands being way to the south), we paused, sized up the situation, learned of a language barrier, troops began walking towards two of our party members, actions were taken, combat was joined. We were seriously outclassed (especially given the quite powerful sword). One member fell, but was healed up to 0 (by the mount of the hero, no less), another of our members was attacked repeatedly and fell well beyond our help. A short engagement between myself and the hero led to me backing off, looking/glaring at him as if to reach an understanding. He understood, for he went after Tito, testing him with his smite (and the blunt of his blade) to discover that Tito's aura of evil was just the taint of his fiendish transformation, not of his character.
With that the battle ended. A spell of comprehend languages allowed the hero to speak to us, and with that we learned the carnage around us was caused by an oath/law of their land that for every fallen of their number they extract a price of two upon the offender's race. (I really don't like him!) Further, the mage in our party, who had been slain, radiated enough evil to likely be seen from the high heavens. Quickly I realized it was the wraps he was carrying that he had taken from the fallen Archon. I said this to the hero, who cared not much a whit. What he did care for was that we had killed one of his troops, and a debt had now been incurred. The judgment was to take Tito's life as he was the 'transgressor', unless another would take his place. To which I immediately stepped forward.
And was struck down on the spot. The lizard folk turned and left.
Alexia turned to heal me and was rewarded with an electric shock. Tito was grief-stricken -- he and I were the last of the original band to leave the caulderra (where the campaign began). As Gravax went to check the other bodies, both I and our other dead party member rose into the air on crackles of energy, to be struck by lightning from above. With that, I awoke from the dead for the second time that day. I had taken oath to protect Tito so many moons ago -- the oath fulfilled Aathome brought me back, and once again I was able to commune with the divine (read: my paladin powers are functioning once more).
The rest of the evening was taken by our task to aid the island sisters recover and to destroy the evil magic item (over the protests of the once-again alive mage). The GM had little to do as for an hour+ we self-generated content. All in all, a great evening with some good roleplaying by all.
Great stuff ahead this week, with Wednesday being the current highlight with a special evening led by the most loving, direct and generous person I have ever met. I invite everyone in my life to come Wednesday night to think, to be moved, to see what's possible.
French Rabbit -- sustainable farming, different and interesting packaging. (BTW, try clicking in front of and behind the rabbit on the bottom of the page)
As in snow. Drove over to Santa Cruz on Sunday morning, and therefore got a taste of snow here in the bay area as we crested the hill, complete with police escort. The trees were delightfully dusted with it, and the novelty of snow this close by made it very fun. For serious snow, I'm heading up to Tahoe this coming weekend where I'll be treated to no less than 60" of fresh powder. MmmmMMmMMMmmmmm....
The purpose of the trip to Santa Cruz was a meeting to further the LoftyOne project; things are moving along. Saturday night saw our most recent FoodFu. The event looked a bit in jeopardy, due to schedules, illnesses, and etc; in a flash of brilliance I re-christened the event as FoodFu Prepackaged/Premade (FoodFu Pre!), and the event was saved, and much tasty food from TJs shared, along with some local small-restaurant tastiness. A joyful lazy extended dinner, with meandering conversation and tied together with several teas. As a bonus, a former Wing Lam KFite was visiting and joined us, so it was an extended KF/FF family eve. Later, a few of us watched the film Ping Pong, amusingly kung fuish and an interesting journey into several themes of competition, satisfaction, happiness, friendship, et al. Also some rather great and understated graphics and effects to tie it all together.
Sunday night gaming was cool, as we were greeted with a pirate ship laid out on the map for the start of our adventure (we had purchased a ship the previous session). Our journey is an important one for my character, who's ties to his deity was severed (disappeared? Blocked? Something else?) and who is following the words of a fortune teller: "They will not be able to help you, but you must go see the Sisters of the Green Isles." We ended having left our bodies and entered the land of the dead -- we're not dead, but we could end up that way if we're not careful. This, by the way, is a surprise to us, we had no idea we'd end up there when we undertook this path, though warned by the Sisters it would be a dangerous one. A couple of weeks of Eberron are next, followed by two of my game before we return to continue this journey.
On the whole I've definitively taken on many things right now, so I'm quite the busy cat. Updates may be a bit more sporadic in the coming weeks, but I'm not abandoning the space of greater conversation. I'll still be here to post and to spur it on.
Chocolate & Quinoa together in a "You got chocolate in my quinoa"/"You got quinoa in my chocolate!" moment? Sign me up!
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/cat_magnifying_glass.php#001534
As in crazy good. Play by play, starting at lunch on friday: Lunch with friend, LoftyOne, Gaming, Kung Fu, Party (1), Party (2), LoftyOne Meeting, FoodFu, Gaming. Whiew!
In more detail, the FoodFu on Sunday was actually a TeaFu, wherein the fu-gang got together and sampled approximately 6 teas, accompanied with cookies and other sweets. Many of the teas were from China, and half of mine didn't fare very well in a large-pot environment. The famous Monk's Blend tea though (I must get more! I just rediscovered the address of the Tea Party store in Ottawa!) was a huge hit, as it always is. A black tea, but with an added layer of delicate flavour. Evan brought a red chrysanthemum tea that bloomed in the pot and was a great ending. And speaking of cookies, I ate WAY to many this weekend. With the various parties and get togethers I ate a lot this weekend, though I can't say I ate particularly well. Waddling like a penguin, filled to the brim with baked treats (and more).
The return to sunday gaming (been off for many a week) was I continuing the Bloodstone game. Exploration and discovery was at hand that evening, with the environment dishing out some amusement (or, at least, providing an area where amusement was dished into). The encounter that rounded out the evening was a drawn out affair, unhelped by the players' less-than-stellar dice rolls (though amusing for me) and certain events that didn't transpire as they'd planned it to. Tactics were present though, and everyone gave a good showing of their character in action. A good evening, made late only by the late start of the game... I'm looking forward to the next time I run it.
Got a lot of legwork done on LoftyOne, set up more things, researched more things, and things are just happening there. }:) Now, I am preparing to fly home tommorow evening -- I feel so disorganized this year, it's odd, amusing and mildly unsettling. There are gifts I haven't bought, or sent out, not sure I've packed everything, what should I read/bring/work on for the week away, etc. I have a day to figure it out!
Been a while since I posted a rant.
So, just days ago, in the 2006 Farm Subsidy bill passed through the USA congress contains language that strips much of the meaning from the label of "Organic" on foods. Now, I'll be the first to acknowledge that the USDA's standards for "Organic" were, already, on the whole, kinda lax. But this new bill eviscerates anything that could resemble rational meanings of the word.
For one, certain artificial ingredients may now be used, quite freely, and still receive a USDA label of organic.
Two, it would also now be permissible to treat young dairy cows with antibiotics and raise them on genetically engineered feed up to the point when they are converted to organic production.
Three, and perhaps the most laughable (if it weren't sad) is that so-called 'emergency decrees' would allow non-organic ingredients to be substituted for organic ingredients without any warning to the public.
What does Organic even mean anymore under these new regulations? I say frikkin' nothing. Organic is sought by those who want it, for reasons of purity and with expectations of how things are grown and raised.
Really, who benefits? Consumers don't have to buy organic if they don't want to. They, and many indeed, just don't. What this amendment does is protect the large food conglomerates. By relaxing the (already lax) purity rules, the food giants already in the quasi-organic business could make greater profits with lesser investment. Their trade lobby, the cutely named Organic Trade Association, of course says "this will allow the continued growth of organic foods!" which I contend is like me saying "these new fire testing standards will allow the continued growth of the fire-proof construction industry, making more homes fire-resistant!" when the new regulations allow me to label paper as fire-resistant.
This, of course, does nothing to help small farmers. Quite the opposite - those who are struggling to adhere to their purity of organic-ness will be hurt as petro-chem and agrobiz produce/etc prices them out of the market, all because of a label without backing.
In the end, I say this again points to my quasi-mantra: READ THE LABEL. Because something has zero cholesterol many products had 'heart healthy' icons on them, yet were loaded with saturated or trans-fats. Like the cute names given to these very pieces of legislation, or the slogans certain politicians like to stand in front of when they give speeches, icons, labels and names are often worthless and no indication of product quality or content.
If you do care about eating organic, I offer the following: READ the label, see what's actually in there. RESEARCH the little icons, see which ones bear truthful meaning (fortunately for us in California the California Organic Program and the Organic Products Act still adheres to standards and is identifiable). And plain out REFUSE to buy things that don't meet your desires and expectations.
Your politician's ear isn't a bad thing either.
Those who play BattleTech will read the title and think, reflexively, Double Heat Sinks!
However, I refer to Double Hook Swords, which is the set Sifu started to teach us last week, another of my "hey, I bought this weapon in China... can we learn that next?" coups. This will be my second double set -- though in all honesty the double dagger is not a very difficult double set, meaning that this one will really kick my butt. Generally DHS are taught after double broadswords, so I'll have a lot of spinning and groundwork stuff to catch up on when we reach it, neverminding general coordination of the left and right hands.
I chose to forgo falling/throwing practice on saturday at KF in the hopes of giving my back/shoulders time to get used to being re-set after, well, having been re-set by Dr Fuji friday morning. The strategy seems to have worked, and it gave me some time to do some extra sets, meaning I did the run, later cane and #3 three times each, some DHS, #6, #7, #5, Tong Bei Quan and Emperor's Boxing -- a good gaggle of sets and a good workout. I'll catch up with the throwing this week with Evan. And speaking of he, we went to his place after class and spent most of the afternoon with wood, tape and tennis handgrips to wrap up and create good handgrips for the often-mentioned DHSs. (The only boo on this whole thing is that the DHS I bought are, for lack of a better term, crap too-thin-at-end things)
Saturday night saw the arrival of my parents down to visit, and sunday we trucked down to Monterey to the Aquarium and some sight seeing. I'd never been to the Aquarium, and it is quite an interesting building, with some on-site building and materials reused, the rest is poured-in-situ concrete, steel and glass. A display near the entrance chronicles the site's former use as a sardine canning factory (of which contributed to the depletion of the sardine stocks in the bay). Overall, the exhibits are well done, with a moderate focus on local/nearby marine biology. Certainly for me the highlight were the sea otters; I was more partial to river otters but after seeing them swim about amazingly gracefully and all their playfulness, I think I'm a bit more equitable in my like for otters.
For dinner we ended up in Carmel-by-the-sea, where I had the most fantastic braised rabbit dish. The rabbit was crazily tender and tasty, the red cabbage and mango salsa accompaniment was a great counterpoint, and to top it off it a triangle of excellent polenta really rounded it out nicely. Given that the rustic Italian bread was some of the best bread I've eaten in a long time, a very fine dinner.
Sunday morning we held the latest Food Fu, starting early and organizing a brunch upon a massive scale. We held it at T&Es place this time around, with lots of space to relax and gather, though ironically a bit tight for eating with a large crowd. The foods being made also lent themselves well -- actually, more like they needed to be -- made just prior to eating, which meant a serial preparation of much of the food throughout the morning. This in itself wasn't bad, except for eating too much of the delicious early dishes... in the end, one dish didn't quite turn out (and thus was not had) and another was saved for a later time lest we all explode.
Le menu:
Mimosas
French Toasts with Plum Compote
Bagels with Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon
Huevos Rancheros
Crepes avec Nutella et Framboises
Bread Pudding
Potato au gratin casserole
Chipped Beef on Toast
Bread Pudding
French Pressed Coffee
Fresh Orange Juice
The Bread Pudding was my inclusion for the festivities, and it turned out quite nicely. Bread Pudding with a whisky cream sauce, including raisins that were simmered in whisky (scotch, in this case) before being layered at the bottom of the baking dish. The rest of the ingredients were simple good affairs, using challah for the bread portion.
After the eating, we retired to the front room for some hard-core lounging about. So. Much. Good. Food.
Next one's in November!
From Cornell University: a study of root-shaking importance.
Saturday, was Kung Fu. With the long weekend, the school was closed, but Sifu invited us to stop by his house to pick up the key for the kwoon, and also suggested we run on the track at the high school accross from his house if we wanted to. So, we did. Rather than our regular run-and-stairs routine near the kwoon, we did a run-on-track-then-bleachers routine at the school. It was good, running on the track was a bit nicer on the knees (even though it was but a dirt track, not a fancy material thing), and while I thought the longer run/rise of the bleachers would make the drills harder it actually was a slope that made it much nicer. After several sets of high knees, hops and fastascans, plus another lap for good measure, we headed to the kwoon to do all the hand sets.
Sunday, was Food Fu. Compared to the others, it was a hastily arranged one, but the theme fit that well: Tapas. The "Little Plates" meant simply prepared but savoury myriad of dishes. Asparagus, bean & sun-dried tomato salad, corn, cheese and quince, roasted potatoes with garlic aoli, salami, brie and nectarine turnovers, and more, were all passed around. A pinot gris (from Oregon), followed by an apple blackcurrent (from Archibald Orchards in Ontario) accompanied the meal. Casual and befitting the theme the dinner lingered with conversation flowing.
Afterwords, we settled in to watch a film. While the chosen film suffered technical difficulties, our substitute, Donnie Darko, was quite something. A film that is hard to describe, I enjoyed it a lot as it wove many a thread of characters, stories, commentary and exestentialism together. It would fall into the 'not really only a narrative' type/category of films, one that I know upon second or third viewing would reveal ever so much more. Definitively good viewing.
Monday, that wrong-day long weekend, saw me get much work done on some rules for SilCore -- likely nothing official this time, but something I want to finish up. That, and cleaning up from the mess of dishes used to make my tapas... small dishes, large mess o' cookware when I'm in the chef's hat.
Good week -- two solid KF classes, a holiday to start the week, marred by more deaths in Granite's game on the weekend from a crazily set up encounter. Some studying, and booked my exam date.
But let's talk about food.
Blah blah Memorial Day blah blah BBQ blah blah. So with that out of the way, that equals, of course, grilling. So I brought along strawberries to grill. Everyone looked at me funny. Then they tried them. Then they looked at me with awe. Muhahahahaha!
Then I busted out the garlic. Skewered the tasty cloves. Grilled. Pulled out a sourdough loaf. More looks of awe.
Simple can be the best sometimes.
"According to research published in 2003, kids breakfasting on fizzy drinks and sugary snacks performed at the level of an average 70-year-old in tests of memory and attention." -- New Scientist Magazine
Oh man, I have bought the best dark chocolate ever -- it made me sneeze in 10 seconds flat.
Thanks TJs!
Let us add a Broncheal Infection to the list of new experiences for the new year! 2005 is shaping up to be quite an introductory one. Whee!
On another front, a crisis was avoided. It seemed that TJ had stopped carrying Quinoa, but fortunetally they had just moved it.... woo!
QotD: "I think I'll have me more of that duck, saussage bean thing..." -- Jason
So was described my cassoulet last night, but a successful Food Fu #2 evening nonetheless. Nine people, lots of good food, and the projector worked out well. I the end, we only watched Bleu (so I still haven't watched Blanc et Rouge) but given how much I love Bleu, I never mind watching it again.
Le Menu: Brie fondue en un bol de "sourdough"; Salade de vollaille a l'orange; Cassoulet; Quiche x 2; Cassoulet; Fondue de Fromage.
I was pretty happy with how the cassoulet turned out, using a recepie from Tiff's mother as well as some Confit de Canard that her mother had sent her. It could have gotten a bit warmer during baking, so the herbs didn't permiate the dish entirely, but the canard more than made up for it. Again, I would make a lousy Iron Chef, given how long it took me to make the one dish (and the equal amount of cleanup afterwords!).
Next up should be Bernadette's pasta making night, woo!
The tail end of my illness continues, with much sore throat, coughing and stuffy nose action. You'd think it would take the hint by now!
Admidst all the fighting from various lobby groups, the HHS and the USDA are getting around to revising the infamous "food pyramid" and associated guidelines. While that is ongoing, they have released their Guidelines for 2005, and while some may be tempted to say "Well, duh?" anything that presents these "common sense" notes in language that is relatively straightforward (if not the best it could be) is, I think, good. Or at least a good attempt to get the message out; it is a bit ironic to think of how many books/diets/fads people will read up on, follow and fail, all the while unaware of info from the national health organization(s).
Of course, the pyramid has its critics. Only ever seen on bread products (because it says to eat many grain servings per day) and occasionally on veggie items, it has been decried by some as unbalanced and a partial culprit of the rising dietary problems. Both it and the Canadian Food Guide (which is interestingly a series of concentric circles, perhaps more appropriate since many would consider the 'top' of the pyramid more highly valued, when instead it is the 'use sparingly' section) are some 10-15 years old now so they're bound to be missing some of the most recent info. Another problem is that it can never be written in a vaccuum, a vaccuum where food lobby groups do not meddle. It will be interesting to see what the new guides will look like when they are released.
Some people have already created new guides, shuffling the divisions of the pyramid to creating for example the "Asian Diet" or the "Greek Diet" pyramids (where diet does not indicate, here, any weight-loss intent per se), going on the assumption that peoples of those cultures have had historically lower incidences of this or that disease. (The site linked above also has an interesting comparison of food guides from around the world.) Are these guides better/worse than the current USDA or Health Canada guides? Perhaps -- at the very least, they have been made 'more recently' and thus tend to include some of the (rediscovered) "healthy ideas".
In the end, of course, these are all guides. Like the manual that comes with the VCR... well, just think "Flashing 12:00 forever."
Hopefully I can write more and more clearly on this later.
Well, not really. But the floor at class last night was about as slippery as the Rideau right now. Slab-on-grade next to a ditch, just-rained and not-the-greatest ventilation combined with 30+ students workin' hard to make for a rather slick floor. Jumping and fast movements are kind of a no-no, and as such we did some more stationary drills and cancelled lessons and instead pulled out the mats for more falling and rolling around. It was a low-chi day anyway given the weather, not to mention the nice clammycold feeling with all the condensing humidity.
But a bunch of us went out to a good dinner after, with both Jim AND Wendy2 being there, even though the table length interferred with the latter somewhat.
A date seems to have been set for the next Food Fu event (which I seem to have accidentally usurped the order a bit, as it will take place before Bernadette's Pasta night) for the end of February; obvoiusly our one-per-month is already off. Maybe 6/year is a more reasonable goal. The theme for the festivities this time will be: "Bleu, Blanc, Rouge", with the movies being shown and food enjoyed.
QotD:
"It's like a strange world of Ayn Rand crossed with Spirited Away."
"Oh, that's just like Canada."
(?!?!?)
There's a bit of a debate that rages around 'breakfast cerials'. On the one side there are those who say that the highly processed cerials tend to be devoid of nutritive content, having been processed, cooked, powdered, stripped, reconstituted, pressed, baked, sugared and preservatived to death. No matter what, they say, the fact you're eating pressed flour really isn't that good. That doesn't even touch the controversy over whether puffed foods -- wheat and rice, mostly -- are full of toxic by-products from the high heat and pressure of the puffing process.
On the other side of the debate are those who say 'meh' and eat them. I, for one, ate cerial every night before bed (but not at breakfast, interestingly) as a snack. I don't eat such types of cerial anymore, really (my morning of choice is granola (ie rolled oats, not powdered) and quinoa) but I'm still in the meh camp. There are a LOT of crappy cerials out there (sugar coated frosty bombs, really) that indeed have nothing, and really cerials for the most part fall into the same cateogory as 90% of everything else sold in so-called modern supermarkets: total crap of refined artificial foodstuffs that companies are getting rich off. But look hard enough and one can find some that are not too terribly bad.
No matter what side of the debate one is on this has got to be at least some good news. General Mills is switching all, yes all, of their prepared cerials to whole grain. It's unlikely to be stone-ground whole grain, and it may still be powder sugar coated, but at least it's not enriched (HA!) white fluff anymore. A step in the right direction, along with another company saying they'll remove all hydrogenated oils from their products.
Props to General Mills for taking that step. It won't transform the supermarket landscape anytime soon (and why I dance every time I visit TJs, the luck I have), but small steps, if not towards health at least away from death.
FotD: Model T MPG: 25. Avergae MPG in US last year: 24.
Well, the return to Kung Fu after three weeks off resulted pretty much as one could expect: sorness, especially in the back of the legs from high kicks. Still workable, however. Practice on saturday, after the initial sorness, was a great one! A small run, then just able to work on sets, running through almost all the weapon sets and my most recent hand sets. Nice.
Work was pretty busy in spurts. Was donated a 21" monitor that unfortunetaly just doesn't fit on my desk anywhere (!). Played way to much WoW (no surprise). Decided when I'll take my Lateral Forces exam.
Returned to Peggy's game on friday -- and two very interesting things happened. Other than the two new players. The first was that Keldorn (which I learned today was used in one of the Baldur's Gate games? Gah! I didn't know...) started speaking in a rather amusing accent, likely due to RotK and WoW. The second was that Keldorn's speech and behaviour turned into a sarcastic, biting, banterful pattern. That's what happens when you approach a shard of the gods -- not only does perception of reality get altered, but so too does the dwarf!
With no gaming tonight, I'm off to Vicki's for a dinner making night, the first in a long time! On the menu tonight is a Lamb Stew, and a Thai-inspired Chicken Curry dish. Woo!
Ah, glorious frost. Certainly made for a nice brisk ride in this morning. I was quite awake by the time I got in. We could use a few more crisp days like this.
Despite the fact the holiday is at a silly time of the year, I did not argue with the well-needed two days off last week. I headed over to Vicki's place on thursday, where we made a quite fine Duck a l'Orange (after a frantic email to my mother for the recepie), accompanied with asparagus, wild rice and an excellent salad with pommegranite seeds, mandarins, and a few other goodies. Wine, cheese, and, of course, tasty deserts were had all around. It was a low-key affair, and very relaxing, very fun. As I said, well-needed.
Saturday saw my "Music Introduction Extravaganza!" come to fruition. I headed over to Wendy2's place, where she, her husband Jeff and myself each took a turn introducing each other to new music/groups/artists. My original plan was to have 1h per person but -- as can be guessed -- that was just plain impossible. Even limiting myself to 1-2 songs per artist I wished to introduced, I would've had six hours of music (!) to play. Thus did the eve run much later than originally intended, but I think we were all entranced by the music to worry about it. It was quite fun, and I certainly have a few new picks I need to look more into and add to my collection. In addition, just reflecting on my music selections allowed me to discover some common threads on music I liked, and Wendy2 and Jeff both commented and added more insight. Music can be one of those very evocative mediums (I imagine especially so for them, given they are in a band) and the melodies brought back many memories for everyone, spawning a varied range of stories, topics and discussion. If I said the evening rocked, would everyone forgive me for the pun?
The rest of the weekend was dedicated to being on vacation. With that in mind, I played an ashamed-ly way to much WoW. For someone who averages .75 computer games per year normally, who would have thought that I would have been so caught up in this one? No surprise, I created 2 of my 3 characters on the RP server, and have been rewarded with what I feel has been at least a moderately more immersive game than during the closed beta as a whole -- but even on the non-RP server some of my group have managed to RPspeak quite well, so it's been good all-around. I've been taking my time, re-taking in all the sights, the game, talking and interacting, reading, and just enjoying the game with no treadmill in mind. It's been fun. Then again, I'm addicted it seems, so take the word 'fun' and apply appropriately.
I've also bought tickets for my xmas vacation. Dec 17th to the 27th will be the time I'll be back in Ontario, and I am already dancing to the snow gods.
So, Saturday night my planned Iron Chef party #1 came to fruition. The plan for the evening was a simple one: everyone makes (at least) one dish, preferably something interesting in honour of the IC theme, we all gather at a specified time/place, and after partaking in our fine foods we watch several episodes of Iron Chef. Simple, fun and food! In the end nine participants came to the evening.
Myself, I made two dishes (cue music). To lead off the evening: Tea Poached Duck with Asparagus, accompanied with a Ginger Infused Tea Vinaigrette and Orange Quarters. At the other end was a desert: Rosemary Pastry with Walnuts and Maple. I also brought two wines: Mosel-Saar-Ruwer German Riesling and the very sweet Apple Maple desert wine from Archibald Orchards Winery (who's orchards are near my parent's place).
With everyone quite hungry as the evening began, not too many comments were bandied about as everyone ate. My biggest fear was that the tea did not come through well enough in the duck -- but Bernadette said she thought it came through quite clear, so I'm a bit relieved on that end. Hopefully it came through for everyone else as well. My pastry was also well received, especially by Jason, who found its semi-sweet nature and the unexpected flavour of rosemary to be quite enticing. Very Iron Chef-y -- and the tame sweetness was a plan on my part, knowing it would be paired with the uber-sweet desert wine. The Riesling was a nice surprise to many, being quite different from California Rieslings, which tend to the not-very-flavourful sweet end of things.
All in all, I'm happy with the way my dishes turned out, though I would make a lousy Iron Chef -- it took me far far far too long for them all to be made (and that was after a week of experimentation).
The rest of the food was also excellent: Seared Ahi Tuna with a Wasabi Soy Scallion sauce, Smokey Chipotle Black Beans with Wilted Spinach and Masa Gnocchi, Kung Pao Chicken, Curry Chicken and a Spinach Linguine with Shrimp, with Cranberry Pound Cake and Crème Brule for desert.
We ended up watching two.five episodes of Iron Chef -- point five because the tape we were watching only had half of the last episode. Ooops… We saw Battle Taisho Shrimp, the Peach Confront, and the start of Battle Soft-Shell crab. I think this may have been the first real exposure to Iron Chef for a few of the participants, and no one complained so hopefully it meant enjoyment all around.
So, my new-year plan for a dinner party every month or so has turned into two dinner parties for 10 months (and this one took 3 months to get a date organized). But maybe this will get the ball rolling (I do hope). Next up is planned a pasta party, with pasta making... plenty to look forward to.
Wrist, still borked. Computer, still borked.
Saturday night, I went to Vicki's with a boxfull of organic vegetables given to me by Mike and Bernadette before they took off for their 2 week vacation to Rome and Greece. We managed to use all the vegetables in one giant Salade Nicoise, which was uber-tasty, very colourful, and had plenty of leftovers.
Game past sunday: Was kind of slow, proceeded somewhat aimlessly, and saw the surprising death of two of the partymembers from what should have been a reasonable encounter (EL 12ish for 6 15th levels). That sank the game for more time as they were raised and adjusted their characters. However, it did provide one of the players with some good character-specific action(s), so at least it was positive on that side.
In the major geek link department, nonetheless fun: Deutsche Welle's site in a new language. Here and Here. Click English to discover what is being said.
An amusing statement of reality: When a guy's parents found out about him working in a porn store, they were OK with it. Quote he: "They're Republicans. As long as I'm making money, they don't care."
On the new Smithsonian Native American Museum: "It was Cardinal, a Blackfoot, who won the original commision ... only to be dismissed from the project five years later... A number of other firms and consultants were eventually brought in to revise and complete Cardinal's scheme, but in its essential outlines the museum still bears his stamp, which is why, for all the turmoil of the design process, it's a superior addition to a mall that has more than its share of Beurocratic Modern."
Missed this past weekend: Jousting. Next year, must remember to go see this.
Saturday night I went over to Vicki's for a 'create a dinner' and wine. While I was shopping (at TJ's, of course) I came accross a Brie de Chèvre, which sounded very interesting. The verdict: Take some good chèvre and put it at one end of a supercollider, take brie and place at the other end, fire them together, gather up all the particles from the collision, compress, and packege them up in a new rind. In other words, it was very tasty, starting with the flavour and softness of chèvre but finishing with the sharper hints of brie. Outstanding. Must get more!
Sometimes, ya just gotta experiment.
The Scene: Fresh Basil (and how do you pronounce it?) in the breakroom. The Thought: Fresh Mint into hot water = mint tea. Fresh Basil into hot water = tasty? The Result: Could have used a few more leaves of Basil, but hey, this is kinda funky and neat and nice.
Oh, I am just full of links, aren't I?
NPR report on a trip accross China along Route 312. As I noticed on my trip to China, and noted in the subsequent articles, China, as always, is changing. Going 5000km+ is not a bad way to explore some of that change, as well as the disparities. A good 7 part series, worth the listen.
QotD: "That's less surprising. I have had falafel served by certain street vendors that could easily survive a nuclear attack. If war ever breaks out, duck behind a falafel." -- SF Chronicle
One more... also saw a book this weekend titled Potatoes Not Prozac, and while I didn't get a chance to read it through the premise of the author seems to be that the sugar- and processed- and white- diet that pervades north america these days sends the insulin curve to whack, and that in turn can lead to mood swings, depression, the blahs, etc. In some ways, it parallels what was noted in Supersize Me. I can't really comment more, as I haven't read it, but given the supposed increase in ADD/HD kids (and depressed adults) it woudln't surprise me to find a good link there.
While much of what the author does on their site is irreverent, Monkey Sphere is an interesting essay. Fear not, for it is still quite written in a humourous style, and still contains satire, irony and reverse psychology, but the basic premise and the points argued I think hold some weight. Mike pointed us to it on the weekend, now I point it to you (and probably back to him, if he reads this page).
Tiff pointed out two other good sites: The Fool's World Map, and the Terra Nova Blog. The former is an excellent harnessing of the collective internet 'intelligence', the latter contains links to various essays and thoughts on MMORPGs in all directions, including their development, style, impact, etc.
More on the environment, our place in the universe, Art Renewal Centre, The Dwell Home, and a very tasty recepie for a type of pesto:
1 cup dry roasted cashews
1 cup fresh basil
2-4 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Two heaping spoons of fresh grated parmisan
Food processor, chop nuts. Add garlic. Add basil -- as the material starts to bind, add olive oil as necessary. Add salt/pepper if desired, add cheese as last step, adding more olive oil if necessary.
Next they'll skip all other pretenses and they'll just start pushing the corn syrop straight. Just what you've always wanted. Ignore the low-carb BS on the page, but do note the insanity of the calorie count, of a small. One-fifth of daily cal requirements for most people. Ye. Gads.
This is really starting to push me to update my food page, as I've been meaning to, and even to do more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/17/WIGDI76NFV1.DTL
I think the fondue went alright last night, and I think all had a good time. Much food was consumed, though the meat-eating faction wasn't large. I am ashamed to say my wines were not the perfect accompanyment -- it wasn't that the wines themselves were bad, actually the wines were very good wines, but they were both light. For a fondue (and other similar dishes), one really wants a wine with good body. -le sigh- Hopefully I will be forgiven...
And if I am, though I don't know when the next get together is, but I've got more wine in store for that too.
FOOD! All about knives. All about crap.
That latter one also is a segue for me to post quick thoughts on Supersize Me: Despite having read Fast Food Nation, there was still some new information and some unexpected results. It was entertaining and a good slice-of-view. However, as a documentary or an investigative film, it could have done some things differently to bolster the argument more, provide more of a backdrop and to erase some doubts and provide more veracity. A fun film worth seeing, moreso if this is an introduction to the petrochemagrobusiness.
CSS! Weird. Banal, but archi.
Harpers. Last week's had a good opening paragraph especially.
The Bush administration abruptly reversed itself Wednesday and withdrew four changes in organic food standards that critics had said threatened to undermine public trust in the word "organic."
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced that "we are taking action to rescind" the four changes made to organic food regulations by National Organic Program administrators in April and reported in The Chronicle on Saturday.
Those changes, which the department called clarifications, had expanded the use of antibiotics in organic dairy cows and pesticides in crops, allowed livestock to eat nonorganic fishmeal and deregulated "organic" seafood, cosmetics and pet food.
Woot. A good step in rectifying the fact that organic was about to become meaningless as a label or a signifier of anything worthwhile.
Three weekends, three times to Elbe's. }:) Since Dave's visit, I went the following weekend (as they didn't have the hassenpfeffer when we went and she said 'see you next week!') and she saved me a serving (actually, Rev and I had the last two servings). We ate well. But as we were leaving, she told us to return this weekend as she would have an entirely new menu. So, of course, we went.
It is indeed new. Of course, its not entirely new, it's just revamped somewhat. She's branched out to touch on other offerings from Europe in an effort to entice more people into her restaurant. Lamb Shank Provencal, a very interesting Weiner Goulash (tasty and different veal dish, which I tried tonight), a Spatzle with Prawns, more seafood dishes, etc. But she has kept some of the best dishes from before: the baked brie and black forest ham appetizer that is to die for, the weinerschnitzel and the jagerschnitzel, the rinderrouladen, the spatzle and red cabbagge... No new desserts yet, though (the experiment she gave to me a couple of weeks ago wasn't there forex, so I didn't see what it turned into).
Post-dinner we stopped by Home Depot. NO, DOORS ARE NOT LESS EXPENSIVE. Heh. Well, they kind of are, but they're too long (80") and the cheaper ones are all hollow so wouldn't do as a table and the ones that would do well are about the same price but with a worse finish. Ikea may be using the same techniques as the doors, but they're better than just old doors.
Article Here. Whether Ketosis is in itself a bad thing (it's been used also by bodybuilders, interestingly) too much = hard on the body at the very least.
More later... (on other topics)
Wow! A product returned to the shelves at TJs! With the return of a favoured juice blend, the number now only stands at seven for items I love that have disappeared from their inventory. I'm suitably estatic! Wooot!
Rant Alert. But it deals with food, so it has to be good!
This one will probably elicit some strong reactions, but its something I have to get off my chest, if only that it is shoved into my face way to often these days.
This could be a long one.
As a disclaimer, I'll start off by saying that I'm sure those who know me will scoff at any views I might have regarding weight loss, but I will counter that by staying having researched the opposite has garnered me plenty of information that guides my thoughts. I'll also say that this rant deals with those who are not suffering from a medical condition that may throw the balance completely off kilter. Oh, and, of course, I'm not a doctor. Those having been said, I'm going to dive right in...
I'm getting admittedly very sick of hearing more and more proclaim "Carbs are Evil! Burn them! Cast their heretic nature into the flames! Repent!" Why am I having enough? Because I think it's a great deal of bunk, at least as far as they (being those so-called professionals) are taking it. Carbs are NOT evil. They, specifically, are not the cause of all ills. Yes, people who go onto Atkins/Low-Carb diets often lose weight. But the question is: Why?
I'll let you in on a little secret: Because they've reduced their caloric intake. Yes the very same information that has been proclaimed for years as the key to weight loss. When Calories In < Calories Burned, one loses weight. But, you ask, how can they reduce their caloric intake if they're eating protein/fat, which has more calories per gram than does carbos? Easy, for two main reasons:
1 - Eating meat/et al fills one up faster than eating bread or potatoes or what have you. Feeling full faster equals eating less overall. Plus, the feeling of fullness lasts longer.
2 - They eat less junk. Less candies, less sodas, less spoonfuls of sugar on the morning breakfast cereal, etc, etc. Also, with it harder to get 'no carb' snacks easily, they eat less overall. (Amusingly and interestingly, one can note that while giving up the sweets/snacks has always been professed somehow people will actually do that on this diet)
Put those two together, and one ends up eating less calories overall. Combine that with a good exercise program (c'mon, eating right isn't the only thing one needs to do, seriously) and good gains can be had.
But its NOT the absence of carbs per se. In fact, if you look at the Low Carb diets and compare that to my own food/eating page, you'll see that many of the precepts are pretty much the same. Lots of added sugar and too too much refined or superstarchy, bad. Eat a proper amount of (low-glycemic) carbs as part of a good balance, exercise, and you'll start shedding the pounds. Eat an Atkins meat/fat-only diet, and you'll likely have serious kidney problems as well as a wonderful amount of nutritional deficiencies. Or even gain weight.
Certainly, eating the popular meat and potatoes (rapid starch with fatty) be it steak and potato or burger and fries does impact the body in how it processes and stores the food and fat. What does this mean? Don't do it every day. Balance.
WHY, then, are these diets, and this new mantra, so popular? Simple.
1 - Because its new. Remember oat bran a while ago? While this one has some longevity compared to earlier diets, the new 'miracle diet' always gets press and advertising.
2 - Biggest reason: it provides a scapegoat. "Oh, it's not my fault, it's those naughty carbs."
Right. Eating too much of _anything_ is not the way to go; think about it, there is probably a pretty good reason why we are omnivores. The old adage of eating a balanced diet is right on; fast food, snacks and sodas is not a balanced diet. Neither is nothing but filet mignon or wheat grass.
The most important thing is self-involvement. Take an opportunity to learn from and about your body. Pay attention to it. Read information, make decisions, and pay attention to what is happening. Pay attention to what you are, or are not, doing. If you have a goal, realize that all goals take time, and work towards it. Remember that everyone's body is different (and that there are 3 main body types/metabolic). That is the key (or keys) to success.
And remember that rapid change usually means rapid change back once you 'go off it' - slow change with permanent lifestyle changes equals long-term.
If a low-carb (note I do not say Atkins, for that extreme way leads to ills) diet is an acceptable way for one to structure themselves around to achieve some results, well, more power to them.
But don't say nor think the blanket statement of carbs = evil.
Oh for the love of... BushCo is now arguing against a new WHO report that suggests we eat healthier. While their claim of wanting more focus on "balancing diet with physical activity" is, I guess, commendable, calling the report faulty science is too much. Wouldn't want to piss off those cheeseburgerfires agrobiz types.
Look. Eating stuff that's "bad for you" isn't going to kill you unless that is all you eat. With most people hardly excercising, kaiboshing anything that is trying to promote people eat better food most of the time is plain dumb, because otherwise "bad food" is all people will eat.
A gaggle scary and/or thought-provoking links.
In keeping with the food theme
How to influence people and policy while pretending not to
How the next election will be won (especially the first quote under the image and the first of the letters) Also read (and there is pretty simple instructions available on how the database can be changed with nothing but MS Access)
And to end on a somewhat humourous link
So, I wander into TJs today, with the intent of buying, for the first time, Soba noodles after doing some reading on buckwheat. They've had soba noodles at TJs forever, and I know some people who have bought them, and I want to try them out.
Preemptive strike policy strikes even at TJs! Not on the shelves, and no longer on the order sheet. Gah!
So I've found a new nifty food to try out: Quinoa. It's a non-grain grain that hails from the Andes mountains and was a major foodsource for the Incas. Very high in nearly complete protein, high iron, high fibre, and low glycemic index. A quick rinse, pop in the rice cooker, done (in a basic form). Bit bitter taste, but complex, and lots of goodness in it. Mixing in with rice could be cool (or instead of rice, as the case may be), breakfast on sundays with some maple syrup (the real stuff, of course), pilafs, the possibilities are just beginning.
Of course, this would be even better if this stupid stomach problem was gone. I thought maybe I had kicked it. I stopped taking the chlorophyll on sunday since I thought it was giving me urfles, and monday was mostly good, and tuesday was almost perfect... I rejoiced. Then came the night. Post-fu, close to bedtime, it returned. As usual, I woke up feeling fine, but today has been minorly upset pretty much all day. I think its back to the chlorophyll, but maybe one tablet per day this time.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this excellent css-zengarden example.
So, I get a mail from the author of a gaming product that I like a lot -- he is working on a revised edition and found an addition I wrote for his product, but the link to it was dead. I check, and it turns out where I'm hosting my files is currently in transit and unavailable. Aiya! Figures, bad timing like that. Must put it up on another server tonight so its accessible and email him back...
Read: this article, and think about it. 4g PER! 6g per for SCHOOLS! And the last line? The agricultural industry (as in the petrochem/agribusiness/big corporate) in the USA is nuts. And I don't mean delicious organically grown peppered cashews either.