Saturday, September 23, 2006

Preach, Alton, Preach

This is a post from Alton Brown's web page about the E-coli infected spinach outbreak. It's brilliant. Here you go.

Edible News
Tuesday, September 19, 2006E. coli 0157:H7

It’s 11:30 pm on Monday night and as of 1pm today 114 persons are infected with E. coli 0157:H7 in 21 states. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention here’s the breakdown:
California (1)Connecticut(2)Idaho (4)Illinois (1)Indiana (8)Kentucky (6)Maine (2)Michigan (4)Minnesota (2)Nebraska (1)New Mexico (5)Nevada (1)New York (7)Ohio (10)Oregon (5)Pennsylvania (4)Utah (15)Virginia (1)Washington (2)Wisconsin (32)Wyoming (1)

In short, a lot of people are sick and one person has died in Wisconsin. This is a bad thing. And yet, it was going to happen. It was bound to happen.

I don’t want to sound like some crazy, anti-establishment bio-terrorist but maybe, just maybe this is a wakeup call. Truth is our food system has major flaws which point to one reoccurring theme: too much of our food is produced by centralized, industrial concerns. At this hour the continued suspicion is that the spinach, which may have been infected by irrigation water in a field, incorrectly composted manure used as fertilizer on organic crops, or by water used in processing. It may be quite a while before we know.

Now look at the states listed above. 21 states affected by spinach grown not only in one state but in one region of one state. Had the spinach stayed near home odds are good this would have been caught sooner. But packaging and trucking just gave the 0157:H7 time to grow. (For some reason I’m reminded of Charlie Sheen in Apocalypse Now talking about “…every minute Charlie squats in the bush he gets stronger…”.) What’s my point? Had the big chain grocers and restaurant suppliers purchased locally grown produce, this wouldn’t have happened. But don’t blame them. Nope. Blame us. By demanding fresh spinach year round (or anything else for that matter) we create the monster. It’s like Dan Akroyd thinking of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghost Busters. Our own unnatural desires and our refusal to consume locally grown foods have brought us to this sorry state.

And to make matters worse, our ever-wise government has told us to eat no fresh spinach at all. They could have advised us to eat only locally grown spinach but Noooooooo. Let’s shoot every poor farmer in America that’s doing his or her job in the foot. And why? Because we can’t sort out what went there when and how and what it might have touched or been near. Here’s the news kids: when the system gets this big and out of whack, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men (and the USDA and the CDC, and the FDA) cannot keep us safe. I want you to think about that a minute. It’s not their fault. it simply cannot be done. It should not be done.

Right now everyone is doing what they have to do and by the looks of it they’re doing it right. I’m hoping that ground zero for this outbreak will be discovered and that something will be learned. But I still hold that until we diversify and decentralize our food growing system and learn to eat locally and seasonally, we only open up ourselves for more of the same.

And let that be a lesson to us all.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Help! (as in the Beatles' song, not an actual cry of physical help, just mental and emotional help needed)

Hello All or None,

This is a whine, as opposed to my normal rant, so you've been forewarned.

Last week, I got a speeding ticket in a speedtrap (guess it was quota time) and today, on lunch, I went to start my car and the battery wouldn't start. So, I had to purchase a new battery. Good thing I just got paid on Friday, but now with all of that, I don't have money to pay any of my bills or buy any groceries.

So, to whatever meta-physical being that's decided I need to learn something, remember you can't get blood from a stone. In other words, I'm tapped out, so nothing else please.

The only solace I have right now are the brownies and cookies I made yesterday since I had the day off. Which, if you're wondering, is the last thing I need to be eating. But hey, it's either that or go home crying. So, I'm voting for fat and sugar (which turns into fat, BTW.)

The recipe for the cookies and brownies is below if you're having my kind of week (month, year, decade...



Turtle Brownies
(makes 16 brownies)

For the batter:
4 Tbl unsalted butter,

plus more for pan
3 oz good-quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 C milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

for the topping:
1 C sugar
1/3 C heavy cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans (4 oz)

Preheat oven to 325. Line a buttered 8" square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing 2" to hang over sides; butter the lining, excluding overhang; set pan aside.*Make batter: Put butter and chocolate in a heatproof medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Let cool slightly.Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a a separate bowl; set aside.Put sugar and eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, milk, and vanilla, and beat until combined. Add flour mixture; beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl until well incorporated.Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted into brownies come out with a few crumbs but is not wet, 27 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.
Make topping when brownies are cool. Bring 1/4 C water and the sugar to a boil in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. When water comes to a boil, stop stirring, and wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Continue to cook, swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is medium amber, 5 to 7 minutes.Remove from heat and immediately add cream, vanilla, and salt.** Gently stir with a clean wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until smooth. Add pecans, stir until caramel begins to cool and thickens slightly, about 1 minute. Pour caramel over brownies; spread with a spatula. Let caramel set for about 1 hour. ***I melted about 6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate from Schaffen-Berger with just a little milk or cream (wisk until smooth and don't burn the chocolate) and poured it over the top after the caramel had set up then put them in the fridge overnight. These may be the best thing I've ever put in my mouth.***

Cranberry Hootycreeks (goofy name, I know, but I really good cookie)
makes 32 cookies
INGREDIENTS:
1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon
baking soda
1 teaspoon
salt
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. 2. In a medium bowl, beat together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until fluffy. Add the ingredients, and mix together by hand until well blended. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. 3.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges start to brown. Cool on baking sheets, or remove to cool on wire racks.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Deep Thoughts

Hello All or None,

I'm super tired so this blog will be short, but I feel the need to comment on what I see around me lately. I can't believe it's been 5 years (yesterday) since I woke up and turned on the TV to see the world falling apart. I was watching some video footage yesterday from someone filming on the street before anything happened and showed both planes crashing into the towers. It looked like something out of a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. It still doesn't feel real. I was here in Oklahoma City when the bombing happened but I actually felt that move the earth under me so it's a little more real to me. But I can't imagine watching that from the street and seeing people jump out of the buildings.

It should have never happened and as adamant as I am against the war, something inside me is conflicted because the people who were behind this should be dealt with. But the war we're fighting isn't doing that. In trying to defend our country, when we should have gone after the specific group who did this, we went and did something else completely. We put ourselves smack in the middle of one of the biggest messes possible.
And by we, I mean our government.

Speaking of our government, I didn't watch the state of the union speech last night because I make a point not to watch something I know is going to irritate the piss out of me. But I did read the transcript, as you can here, http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/11/bush.transcript/index.html. Basically, to me, it was a "let's scare the American public with lies so we can continue with our war."

This whole notion that if we don't continue with the war, the terrorists will come and kill us in our beds is ridiculous beyond belief. It's just a way for the Bush administration to make money off their oil concerns while Americans don't have enough money to eat, go to the doctor, or afford a decent place to live and pay their bills. They are killing our country in addition to killing our servicemen and women because of this stupid war.

The thing I love the most is not once did he speak about anything else but the war, not one other thing affecting the country. Not Katrina, not the new hurricane that hit Florida, not gas prices, just the war. I hope our next president can make a dent in fixing all the things that this administration has fucked up.

So, I guess my post wasn't very short, huh? :)

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Laborous Day...

Hello All,

I had a good weekend, although it seems like I spend most of my weekends cooking now. Which isn't a bad thing I guess, as long as I don't spend all of my weekends eating. :)

I made my first gumbo Saturday night (Chicken, Sausage, and Smoked Turkey Gumbo) with Pralines and Calas for dessert. Calas are little fried rice cakes. Not at all like a popcorn style rice cake, but imagine fried dough with cooked rice in it and dunked in powdered sugar and drizzled with honey. If you're interested in cooking cajun or New Orleans type food, please visit www.gumbopages.com for some awesome recipes. Spaghetti with Sugo Sauce on Sunday and Clean out the pantry pasta last night (plus I made more pralines :D).

When my mother comes to town, she always wants to buy groceries for me. And if you've read what I've just written, you'd know I don't need anymore groceries. But I don't really use meals in a box or overly processed stuff like that because that's why I learned how to cook, so I wouldn't have to eat that stuff (that my Mom made.) So, I have stuff in my pantry from her that I'll never use like instant cheesecake mix, premade piecrusts, and hamburger helper. The gourmet in my head is cringing just typing those words. Ugh. So, I cleaned out the pantry and decided I would make jazzed up hamburger helper since I had two boxes of the lasagna hamburger helper. I used Italian sausage instead of hamburger and sauteed some crimini mushrooms and added some red wine and balsamic vinegar. This may be the best clean out your pantry meal I've ever made. Yummy!

Friday, August 25, 2006

Think!



Hi All or None,

Be forewarned, this is a rant. I'm pissed off and I can't take it anymore. My post from yesterday opened up this discussion at work and when people started giving armchair advice for the Katrina victims, saying they should pack up and get a new life elsewhere, it was all I could do to keep my claws sheathed. I guess I really do need that massage tomorrow, huh? :)

The victims of the flooding in New Orleans shouldn't have to pack up and move elsewhere. New Orleans is their home and it was torn apart by a lackadaisical government and the corps of engineer’s poor building and not properly maintaining the levees. If you broke it, fix it. Don't put these people up in trailers for a year while you let their homes sit broken and full of debris. Don't tell them it would be easier to move away from all they know and own. Get into the city and fix it! Don't promise them money and maybe give it to them a year later. Don’t allow the insurance companies to not pay these people. It really seems like the government is helping get all the poorer people out of New Orleans, so vultures can swoop in a buy these people's property for nothing and then turn around and sell it for sky high prices. If we ignore this, there won't be a New Orleans.

For the people posting comments to my topic yesterday, saying that it's too easy to blame the government about this situation. I completely agree with you. From the way that the office, that says it represents and serves us, conducts itself, it is entirely far too easy to blame the government.

This is the government that can spy on us illegally, and put us into a war to find Osama Bin Laden and weapons of mass destruction, and then go after Hussein (which is strictly for oil. Don't let that aw shucks got to protect the country talk about weapons and terrorism fool you. This war is strictly about money, which is what most wars are about.)

This is the government who turned the biggest budget surplus ever into a $8,507,362,238,764.27 budget deficit as of Aug 25, 2006. That’s 8.5 trillion dollars. Just thought I’d spell that out for you. :) This is the congress that doesn't use the system of checks and balances to protect our rights that are being infringed upon by the executive branch. This is the government that is using this so called war on terror to further their own agenda.

You do remember that the Bushes are in the oil business, right? And that they waged a war in the Middle East, where there's oil, right? So, you take out the evil dictator and make it easier to make money of your own on oil once you're out of office? Right? Hmm...sounds funny when you think about it. We believed this was about terrorism??? That's hilarious.

So, yes, for me, it's entirely way too easy to blame the federal government about what's going on with the state of our union and all the other messes overseas that Bush has pushed us into. When you’ve fucked up so much, it’s hard not to blame the government. This is the government we elected to stand for us and pass laws for the good of the nation? Really? I only have to say this, “Is it 2008 yet?”

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Thinking about Hurricane Katrina

Monday and Tuesday, I watched "When the Levees Broke" on HBO. This is a documentary by Spike Lee about the victims of Katrina in New Orleans and includes interviews from local residents, state and city government officials. I want to say that I've never been so moved by anything I've seen on television ever. The documentary talks about things that weren't really talked about in the main stream media, like that New Orleans wasn't hit by Hurricane Katrina. It was missed by Hurricane Katrina. It was the levees breaking the day after Katrina that flooded and destroyed the city and killed so many people.

The documentary also interviewed professors at LSU who talked about a research study conducted by FEMA a year before the hurricane, called Hurricane Pam. The study used a computer model to see what would happen to New Orleans if it was hit by a Category 5 Hurricane. The study showed that the levees would fail, flooding New Orleans and yet Fema or the government did nothing about this. I've never been what you'd call fond of our present government, but I thought at least in a national disaster that they would do what needed to be done. But people in New Orleans still live in trailers, sometimes with no electricity or sewerage systems.

That the federal government has money for these people yet it's tied up in red tape is a mockery of our government and what it is supposed to stand for. That there are still houses that stand full of debris and who knows what else is ridiculous. The government should have people down there cleaning out people's houses and helping them rebuild.

New Orleans was called the City that Care forgot, but it's more like the city that the government lied to, forgot about, and then fucked over. It's beyond ridiculous that we live in America (a country that will go overseas to help out another country within 48 hours) but the federal government waits 5 days after a major national disaster to start helping our own people. The government waits 5 days while people are without food, water, and sit dying in the heat and filth of a city where all the sewers have backed up.

There are no words to describe how fucked up that is. After watching this documentary, I feel just like I felt after watching the news footage last year, but more angry and frustrated. I want to help but without money, I don't know where to start. Someone needs to help these people because the government isn't. And the national media has forgotten about New Orleans for the most part.

The crazy thing is that this didn't have to happen. Sure, Hurricane Katrina would have come and caused wind damage and some flooding, but if the government and the corps of engineers that built the levees had done there job, the major flooding that killed people and destroyed homes wouldn't have happened. That breaks my heart. To know that all the little kids who lost their Moms and Dads, all the parents who lost their children, could have been saved. No words can express that level of disappointment with our government, the organization that's supposed to help us.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Piense antes de que usted cocine con los chiles calientes


Hello all or none, I'd been sick last week and just came back to work yesterday. So, that's why I haven't been posting. But to make up for it, let me tell you a hilarious story.


My best friend's birthday was Friday and we had a gathering Sunday that I cooked for. The menu was Mexican food so I thought I'd pull out my authentic Mexican cookbooks and get to work Saturday night. So, I was in the process of making a salsa roja for the first time and the recipe calls for you to toast dried chilies in a skillet and then put them in a blender with roasted tomatoes and canned chipotle peppers and some water.

No one ever warned me about this step, so I'm putting this out there to hopefully help others from hurting themselves.

  • Do not put your face over the blender after you've blended the mixture of peppers and
  • Do not put your face over the skillet while you're toasting the dried chilies.

My face has never burned so much. I had pepper burns all around my nose and mouth. So, I put a cold rag on my face and it helped a little, but as soon as I'd take it off it would start to burn again. Then, I mixed up a paste of baking soda and water which just made the burning worse. After some thought, I finally found some whipping cream in my fridge and put it on my face and it stopped the burning. So, I walked around my kitchen cooking with drying whipped cream on my face. I was a sight.

And I cooked so much on Saturday and Sunday, that my back is now killing me and I feel like I've been beaten. Thankfully, my job has gladly decided to give out bonuses Friday, so I'm taking Saturday as a Spa day and I'm getting my hair cut and colored and a massage. I'm so happy I would do a backflip if I could bend backwards. :D

I think I might email Rick Bayless to add a addendum to his cookbooks asking people to be cautious when making salsa in the blender so they don't burn themselves. lol

Monday, August 14, 2006

Penser à Mme Julia Child


Hello all or none. :) I made pretty good on my promise to do nothing this weekend. I spent most of my time over at my friend's house hanging out and watching TV or cooking. Which was a nice change of pace. I was web-surfing Friday and found out that the 2nd anniversary of Julia Child's death was Sunday and that her birthday is this Tuesday. And I knew that me and my group of foodie friends needed to honor her. We normally have some sort of dinner gathering on Sunday nights, so I thought we'd have a French dinner with lots of rustic, simple country French food, nothing crazy fancy. But we ended up having a French brunch.

Let's just say this. To all the people who normally attend our gatherings, thanks for not coming. That was some of the best food I've had in a long time and I was really happy I didn't have to share. :D Quiche Lorraine, Pommes Anna, Country French Bread, Pain au Chocolat, Croissants, and fresh fruit, tomatoes, and yogurt. Hmmm.mmm. And I have leftovers. I know all this is not traditionally French. The French normally have coffee and bread and a cigarette. But this was possibly the best breakfast I've ever had.

I was telling one of my co-workers about the breakfast and that we were doing it in honor of Julia Child and my co-worker didn't know who she was???!!! I almost had a fit. Then, I calmly explained that Julia Child was one (if not the first) chefs on TV, that before Julia most Americans ate mostly canned goods and fresh food was not the norm. That because of Julia, American housewives demanded fresh produce and bought good kitchen equipment, and starting cooking real food. Julia changed the way American ate and shopped for food. She also changed television.

I remember watching her when I was a kid and teenager. Giving instruction and information with no pretension or ego. Which if you watch the Food Network that lack of ego is something of a novelty. She was funny, bright, and genuinely loved food. The more I watch Food Network, the more I realize how amazing she was. I think watching her on PBS at such a young age really formed how I think about food. And after reading her latest book, My Life in Paris, I think even more highly of her.

I think it's really sad that people don't know more about her. But when they get fresh greens or specialty cuts of meat from the grocery, they should know that Julia helped make that happen. And if they don't know, I'll tell them.

Friday, August 11, 2006

You Think?



Hello, didn't post yesterday from the sheer enormity of email in my work inbox from being gone for one day. But the funeral for my Great Aunt ended up being ok. It was so hot outside and the preacher wouldn't stop preaching for like 45 minutes. I'm like heloo, It's 100 degrees outside and it's 10:00 in the morning. Also, I hate when members of the faith don't know the person who's passed on, and they talk about nothing related to the person. They just preach at you. Grrr. Give me someone who can say something about who the person was and how they lived and then be done with it. Especially when it's 100 degrees outside. :)

Last night, my best friend and I, watched Domino. It was something that looked fairly cool and had guns and a cute guy (Edgar Ramirez) so we thought it might be good. It was the most horrible movie I think I've ever seen. Ranks right up there with Magnolia as my 2 least favorite movies. Supposedly, it was 128 minutes, but it felt like I was sitting on the couch for 3 hours. About 45 minutes into the movie, I turned to my friend and asked (just to make sure I wasn't the only one) if she was liking the movie. And she agreed that it was horrible too. We talked to ourselves for the last hour. I would have turned it off if not for her. The best part of the whole movie is when Edgar Ramirez (Choco) is getting ready to fight he pulls the elastic out of his hair and shakes his head. He had beautiful long wavy hair. That's it. 5 seconds of hair and there's the highlight of the movie (for me at least.)

Also, Wednesday night, I watched the lost Dave Chappelle Episodes. I think Dave shot stuff and never got the chance to finish it and the powers that be at Comedy Central took it and expanded it over 3 episodes to make money. Because that was nowhere near Dave's level of comedy. Or maybe he really was on crack. :) Just kidding. But I will wait the baited breath for something that Dave authorizes and until then I'll watch the old episodes, the Block Party movie, and his interview with James Lipton on Behind the Actors Studio, which was brilliant.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Food for Thought

I had a headache and was a little hungry, so I went to the vending machine. I should have known that this would only make my headache worst. This is a rant, just warning you. Fritos for $0.70 and a Sprite for $0.50. Corn chips, and high fructose corn syrup with flavorings??? So, basically all I'm ingesting is corn. Which basically is a food you feed to animals to increase their weight. Not only am paying $1.20 to make myself fatter, but I'm also becoming more chemically dependent on all of the shit they inject into our foods.

And not only does my company allow this vendor of evil into the workplace, that's the only option they have. So, unless you bring something (which I never have the mental forethought to do), you either don't eat or eat unhealthy. It is beyond amazing to me how the food industry can pimp their poisons and pay the government to help them and advertise that it's good for us and we are stupid enough to believe them.

I've been reading some really good but scary books lately, Skinny Bitch and The Omnivore's Dilemma, both of which are really amazing books about the food we eat and how it's killing us. And I would really like to become less dependent on processed foods. My best friend and I went for a month without red meat and now I find I'm much less attached to it. My next big hurdle is trying to go without white or processed sugar for a month to wean myself off it. And recently with all the shit that's been going on, moving and family issues, I have resorted to going back to caffeinated drinks and that's probably one reason why I have a headache right now. Argh!

Ok, I'm going to stop ranting only because it's making my head hurt worse.

Just A Thought

I was reading a blog, Angry Black Bitch (http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com/), that a friend emailed to me. BTW, it instantly became one of my daily must-reads. And it occurred to me, that blogging could be a forum for me. A cathartic release of word. Which is something I haven't done in far too long. Writing for myself was something I had to do when I was in school just to keep myself sane. And after school, I got caught up in the trivialities of working a lame-ass job and trying to take care of myself. I got caught up in surviving, but not really living.

This past year, when I turned 25, I was so scared. For reasons I didn't understand until now. I haven't done anything since high school. My main accomplishments in 6 years have been buying my car (slowly, 1 year to go :D), moving out of my parents' home, and knowing myself a little better. I've been so scared of how little I've done with my life and how to change it for 9 months now. But with the death of a close relative, I've realized how precious life is and how I have to try my best not to fuck it up. To actually LIVE my life. So, when I'm in that bed, lying there dying, I'll know that my life actually meant something.

I've always been able to lie to myself (we'll do it later, I'll get it done) but I've never been able to lie in my writing. If I write it, I need to be able to justify it. Must be too much time writing for newspapers. Yes, I still have morals, just no motivation. :) So, this is my forum to express myself and learn more about me through word. And for others to learn about me, if they care to. But this time, I'm doing me.