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kalypso

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  1. Darcie You're absolutelycorrect, there is room for improvement. Lots of improvements. A District's commodity allotment is directly proportional to the percentage of Free and Reduced price students it claims. Districts with a lot of Free/Reduced, which tends to be the large, urban, inner city districts, get far more commodity goods than do districts with a smaller enrollment of Free/Reduced kids. Eligibility for a Free or Reduced priced meal is determined by the percentage above or below the government established poverty line. So districts that are more affluent, where the majority of the parents aren't even close to the poverty line will most definitely get fewer commodities to work with. The assumption is that if the district is affluent it has parents that can afford to either send a lunch with their child(ren) or pay full price for the lunch. Doesn't exactly happen that way. And a final comment on commodities, many commodity processed products will come in boxes that look exactly like retail. Chickens that are processed by Tyson, for example, will come in a standard Tyson box except that somewhere on the box will be an identifier that indicates the product has come from a commodity source. As parents you all have a voice and all it takes is one dedicated voice that is willing to sound like broken record over and over and over letting people know that what's being served isn't in the kids best interest and that it can be done better. It'd be best to have a few ideas in mind about how you'd make it better, but my contention has always been that if change is going to happen it's going to have to start at the local level as kind of a grassroots thing. Parents can accomplish a lot more in a school than I think they realize, they just have to understand it's going to be a lot like that salmon swimming upstream Institutions are hard to move and even harder to change, which is why they're vulnerable to small incursions, kinda like King Kong on the Empire State Building swatting at airplanes. Choose the food battle you want to fight, stick with it, and you can most likely facilitate the change you'd like to see.
  2. I think they have in the past. That's how we got the current USDA guidelines on Federal School Lunch programs. ← Using the current USDA guidelines on Federal School Lunch programs, you will get this: (From the Kanawha County, WV schools website.) Dec. 6 - Breakfast: Hashbrown Patty w/Toast (I’d like a little starch with my starch). Lunch: Salisbury Steak w/Gravy (probably processed crap), Mashed Potatoes/Green Beans, Fresh Kiwi/School Made Wheat (notice it does not say "whole wheat") Roll /Milk Dec. 7 - Breakfast: Fresh Yogurt Cup, Nutra Grain Bar. Lunch: Baked Cajun Fish, Brown Rice Pilaf/Steamed Corn/Strawberry Gelatin w/Fruit, Breadstick, Milk Dec. 12 - Breakfast: French Toast Sticks. Lunch: Double Stuffed Cheese Pizza, Corn/Cucumber Slices, Hot Apple Crisp, Milk Dec. 19 - Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Bacon/Biscuit. Lunch: Beef BBQ on Kaiser Bun, French Fries/Baked Beans, Fresh Apple/Milk Dec. 21 - Breakfast: Super Nutritious Donut (I am NOT making this up). Lunch: School Made Pepperoni Roll, Tossed Salad, Pears/Tortilla Chips w/Salsa, Milk Does this sound like something you would want to feed your kids? I don't think we can lay all the blame all on parents for their kids' unhealthy eating habits... However, I don't think that the Illinois proposal would do much to alter these menus. It seems misguided. I agree with all who say that in addition to offering nutritious foods, we need to emphasize exercise and nutrition education, especially exercise. One of my neighbors refers to another neighbor's children as ghosts, because they are never outside. The two girls get no exercise other than the meager P.E. offering in school. (The boy works out with weights in the basement.) The parents don't encourage exercise and won't let the girls (now ages 13 and 16) leave the yard for fear of molestation or abduction. (We live in a very safe suburban neighborhood.) I think is becoming the norm rather than the exception. But how do we counteract this trend? ← While the menu posted above may not appeal to you - and is certainly not one I would ever have considered - you really don't know what's in it or how it was made. You can never, ever take a school lunch menu at face value. This is due largely to the heavy usage of USDA Commodities, without which the school lunch program would never survive. 25 years ago school districts got the commodites in bulk and cooked from scratch. They can't do that now because - 1) they can't afford the labor, and 2) they can't find the skilled labor. So.........the USDA allows food manufacturers to process the commodities into end use products. For the most part this isn't as bad as it sounds. Any company wishing to process commodites has to submit a ton of certified information about the nutritional value, yields, amount of commodity used, serving information, ingredient information, etc., as well as having an inspected facility. The process is fairly long and pretty involved. States have processing agreements as well in place with many local manufacturers and schools can elect to have their commodity allotments diverted to manufacturers so that what arrives at their doorstep is easily usable. Commodity processing significantly reduces the cost to a school district. For example a case of pizza that might cost $65 for 96 slices without commodities, probably costs around $16 or $17 dollars for the exact same product made from commodities. That non-commodity pizza costs $ .67/serving whereas the commodity processed pizza costs $ .17/serving. Multiply that out by the number of pizza meals a school might serve and that's the savings to the school that commodities will make. Like most things, though, commodity end products are not all created equal. Some are better than others and will provide better nutrition than others. The variety is fairly wide and is this way to allow a district to select the product(s) that best fits their needs or their budget. I guess that fully 80% of the items listed on the menu above are commodity or commodity processed......including the fresh produce! That Salisbury Steak (crap) is most likely USDA Commodity ground beef. The Double Stuff Cheese Pizza is mostly likely made from USDA cheese, including reduced fat cheese, USDA tomato paste, and USDA flour, USDA shortening. Now, as to the Super Nutritious Donut, THAT is a bastard product. It most likely comes from a company called Super Donut that makes a variety of breakfast pastry type items out of any USDA Commodity it can figure out how to use. They used to have an item call Super Donut Hole that was fortified with every vitamin and mineral known to the Western world. It tasted god awful, but was extremely popular. By the way, the company Super Donut is owned and operated by Franco Harris of Pittsburgh Steeler fame. Almost all lunch meats in a school lunch program are turkey based and many of the items that appear to be what they really are, have been processed into something that is either highly fortified, drastically reduced in fat or otherwised modified to make it fit within the USDA nutrition guidelines. As parents I would encourage any of you to make friends with you local school lunch Director. Many of them do not, I repeat do not have a background in nutrition. If you come on like a ton of bricks accusing them of poisioning the kids, not being concerned about nutrition, serving crap, etc, they're going to be pretty defensive, but if you begin asking questions about what it is their serving, where it came from, can they give you a copy of the nutrient data sheets (and they have to have one for every single product they serve), ask what the percentage of fat is in the meals per week, and that kind of thing, you're most likely going to get an answer. Some will still be defensive - they are, unfortunately, used to getting beat up by the media and people (in general) that don't understand how the program works. But others might welcome the the attention. I gotta run, I have an appointment, and if I keep going this will turn into a book. Just remember what a school lunch menu looks like on the surface rarely is truly reflective of what it really is........on many levels.
  3. I think they have in the past. That's how we got the current USDA guidelines on Federal School Lunch programs. Why don't we additionally use modern research on weight loss and training principles to help these kids move and develop. Do primary schools still make kids wait 45 minutes after eating to have recess? Mine did, but that was 2 decades ago. ← A bit of ancient history, or at least 20th century history. The federally funded school lunch program began in 1947 and was a direct outgrowth of the shortage of recruits during World War II. You need to go back a few years before that to the Great Depression when food *was* scarce and people did not get enough to eat, this included growing children. As a result, but the time WWII came along there were a substantial number of men declared unfit for duty because they carried the after-effects of malnutrition from the depression. So to prevent this situation for future wars, Congress enacted the National School Lunch Program and modeled it after a program Great Britian had implemented after WWI for exactly the same reasons. For the first 25 years or so of it's existence, the NSLP was part of, and administered by the Department of Defense. The meal pattern that was established was based on providing ONE meal per day, and reflected the eating habits and patterns of the late 40s. Up until approximately 1997 - yes, folks it took 50 years to get a change in meal pattern requirements enacted - the basic meal pattern for grades 3 - 12 was: 3 oz. of Meat/Meat Alternate (a meat alternate would be considered cheese, peanut or other nut butters), 1- 1 oz. bread serving, 3/4 Cup (combined) serving of fruit/veg from 2 different sources and an 8 oz serving of milk. Until the early 70s there was also a 1 Tsp. per meal requirement for "fat" which was mostly commodity butter added to canned vegetables. (If you attended grade school in the 50s of 60s, now you know why the cafeteria veggies always tasted better than at home, they were sporting a health dose of real butter) Around 1971 Richard Nixon transferred oversight of the NSLP from the DoD to the USDA. At that point it pretty much became a commodity support program for the USDA and was folded into the existing entitlement programs that had been established during the Johnson administration as part of his Great Society program. The NSLP was never intended to be a hungery safety net program, but that is one of the ways the transfer of oversight changed the program. Yes, your FEDERAL tax dollars are funding the NSLP, not your State or local tax dollars. Do you have any idea how much of that actually gets to a school district's NSLP program. A Free lunch is reimbursed at $2.10, a Reduced price lunch at around $1.70 and a Paid meal at around $ .40. From that reimbursement a District's lunch program must pay for it's food, labor (including school district benefits, which are generous), capital expenses, indirct expenses and anything else a District cares to charge the program. That's right, in many cash strapped states, a school District will charge it's own program money to operate. Let me ask you all this. What kind of meal can you mass produce to appeal to a wide audience of tough critics - and there really is NO tougher critic than an 8 or 10 year old - comply with a myriad of federal regulations, hit nutritional targets and cover all your expenses so that you don't infring on your District's General Fund? It ain't easy. If you're a needy District it's easier because the sheer volume of Free/Reduced priced meals will eventually cover most of your expense, but if you're a District with 60% or less Free/Reduced it's exceedingly difficult. Are there things wrong with NSLP? You bet, after 55 years it now is a flawed program. But I can honestly say that the school lunch folks have done and continue to do a poor job of educating the public about what they do, how they do it and the challenges they face.
  4. I've been following this thread with great interest because, I will confess, I am a former (reformed??) K-12 Director of Food Service (for San Francisco Unified among others). If there is interest I can post more details later about the rules and regs when I've got time. But for the moment, the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) which is operated in approximately 93,000 school districts around the country is controlled by the USDA (a scary thought if ever there was one). The State has very little direct input into any food service operation other than to act as the centeral clearinghouse for compliance, commodity distribution and program review. The USDA rules and regs for the NSLP are extensive, cumbersome and extremely specific as to what can and can not be served. With regard to the milk issue being discussed here, for ages there was a USDA requirement that whole milk be available at all meals. As the trend moved more and more towards the lower fat content milks, consumption of whole milk dropped to the point where it would spoil before it was taken with a meal. Not only is this a waste of good milk, and, usually limited storage space, it cost each program money. The USDA was asked to remove the requirment that whole milk be available all the time, but they declined. You see, the Dairy lobby in Washington D.C. is extremely powerful and U.S. dairy farmers are particularly adept at producing butter fat and the USDA has to keep those dairy farmers solvent by getting the butter fat off the market. It's also the reason that for years the USDA refused to allow yogurt to be recognized as a viable protein source for the NSLP. The fact of the matter is that the NSLP - and most government feeding programs for that matter - are BIG business to the USDA and the companies (and it's not all big agribusiness) that do business with the USDA. The end user, in this case kids, are, unfortunately, pretty far down the priority list. With regard to the FMNV - Foods with Minimal Nutritive Value - the USDA has very specific rules in place that NSLP programs have to follow. Foremost among them is that sodas, and FMNVs have to be sold in an area different from the reimburseable school lunch. Which is why you usually see the reimburseable lunch on a steam table serving line inside a cafeteria and snacks being sold via snack windows outside the cafeteria. Federally funded school lunch programs are limited to the types and variety of snacks that they can serve, other campus organizations are not. The vast majority of vending machines selling sodas and junk food are not operated by school lunch programs but by ASB, ROTC, PTA, PTSA, Student Stores, the band, and other school related groups. The USDA and most States actually do have rules in place about when the vending machines can be open and used, but those rules are routinely violated with little consequence from the USDA or State enforcement agencies. The USDA NSLP is one of the most over regulated and under funded programs there is, which is a shame because it's the kids that loose in the end, not the government, not the farmers, not the food manufacturers. I applaud the comments, outrage and questions everyone on this thread has raised. They're the type of grassroots movement that needs to grow and swell in order to facilitate action. As to the legislators in Illinois, though they may be somewhat misguided, they've managed, for better or worse, to put an issue into the spotlight that needs attention and needs action. I've been out of this segment of the industry for at least 5 years. After reading this thread yesterday I visited the web site for the California School Nutrition Association. On the site are a couple of links to current meal pattern requirements and initiatives. It only reconfirmed by decision to leave child nutrition, let's just say that the governmentese was only slightly less confusing than the IRS tax code. I've said it before, you can not legislate good nutrition, especially if said legislation is not adequately supported by nutrition education.
  5. If you're visiting San Diego, the best advice is to head to Kearny Mesa and Convoy Street. That is where you will find the greatest - and best - concentration of Asian foods........of all kinds. I'm pretty sure what you are seeking is at Sakura. The general consensus by knowledgable fans of Japanese cuisine in San Diego is that this is the place. Tremendous sushi and omikase. Finding it is the trick, if you can do that, you'll be rewarded with a great meal in a city not exactly known for great dining Sakura is located on Convoy and is in the same shopping center as The Original Pancake House , which is on the street and clearly visible from both directions, and since Sakura has virtually no external signage, this is the best landmark to use. Sakura is in the very back of the shopping center, next to the Army recruitment office. Also in this shopping center is La Playa a Mexican ceviche place (pretty good), a philly steak place (decent) and, I think, The Dumpling House (a little uneven at time, but very good and worth trying). There are a couple of "secret" Japanese places in the south bay, i.e. Chula Vista/National City where you 1) need to be Japanese, 2) need to speak Japanese and 3) need to be connected in order to get in. These, clearly, serve only a Japanese clientel and from what I've been told the food is quite exceptional. I have a friend I can put you in touch with who knows quite a bit about these two restaurants, and is pretty plugged into the Asian dining scene in San Diego. As far as I know, even he has not been able to breach the Chrysanthemum curtain at these places.
  6. What a great topic On top of my fridge are -- 2 insulated lunch bags 4-pak of L.A. Weight Loss meal replacement shakes (LAWL does work!) 1 Bundt cake pan 1 half size hotel pan 1 knife block with knives 2 nesting bread baskets 1 paella pan 1 cake pan 1 grocery bag with about 10 coffee cups in it (and a partridge in a pear tree) On the topic of cats that like fridge tops, I used to own a show quality Persian cat, yes one of those smashed face felines. Contrary to popular belief, she was fully capable of propelling herself anywhere with great speed and impulsion. Her favorite thing to do was to race through the house at breakneck speeed, take one bounce onto the kitchen counter, dash across the counter depending upon where she had landed on it, one more bounce and land on top of the fridge, and then usually one final bounce onto the top of the cabinets, which didn't go all the way to the ceiling. There she went into vulture mode, hanging over the edge watching everything and everybody, planning her exit stradegy. My Maine Coons were much less impressed with her antics than I.
  7. Even though my experience wasn't outstanding, I would still say to absolutely go for churros at El Morro. I was there on a Sunday morning as a prelude to a visit to the Franz Mayer Museum. I don't know many restaurants that are going to have their "A" team working at 8:30 AM on a Sunday, even those that are open 24 hours as is El Morro. The milk-based hot chocolate I had was truly quite satisfying. It's just that I've purchased better churros waiting in line in my car at the border crossing at Tijuana. Based on everything I've always read and heard about El Morro, I found the churros rather disappointing in comparison.
  8. That makes two of us, darlin'. It certainly got my attention Hmmmm, let's see............Aero Mexico departs San Diego every morning at 9:05 AM, I could be there in time for comida............
  9. I had churros and chocolate at El Morro last month. Perhaps it was an off day because while the chocolate was wonderfully delicious the churros were, most decidedly, not wonderfully delicious. They were, unfortunately, rather leaden and tasted of old grease. We were, however, awfully amused by the abundance of security cameras on premises.
  10. I may be coming in on this thread a little late, but Mexican chocolate really does make pretty good hot chocolate. It's just that Abuelita and Ibarra (which I think is the better of the two) aren't the best choices, just the most readily available here in the U.S. You can get MayorDomo Chocolate from Oaxaca on-line from Chocosphere. The directions for making hot chocolate are printed on the box in Spanish - AND - in English. MayorDomo is not as sweet (you can get classic and semi-sweet) or as gritty and the nuts/spices are better balanced for a softer overall flavor. Here's a variation I make using Mexican chocolate - To a quart of milk add 5 or 6 whole cloves, chile flakes to taste, orange zest or about 1/4 tsp. Boyajian orange oil. Slowly heat until milk is very hot. Remove from the heat and drop in 2 tablets of MayorDomo chocolate (8.8 oz.) and stir until chocolate has dissolved. Pour into a blender and with the lid slightly ajar, turn the blender on low and then increase the speed; blend until thick and foamy. Pour through a mesh strainer into mugs. You don't need a lot of chile and you don't need a lot of orange, they both marry beautifully with Mexican chocolate. You don't want any of the flavors to overpower another. I've also made this using Popular brand chocolate from northern Mexico. And, BTW, Zingermann's carries Susana Trilling's Chocolate de Metate (handmade chocolate) at about $15/lb. Suitable for snacking but a little spendy for hot chocolate
  11. Click here for theSoleil @ K menu I have not eaten there yet, and only know of one person that has; her take was that it was very good. I, too, am a San Diego native and probably around your "vintage" as well . The thing about the Gaslamp is that you'll find almost as many locals there as visitors. Restaurants are cheek-by-jowl there, if you don't like one, the one next door might be better. Here's a list of even more choices for you, some for New Year's, some for the rest of the time -- Candelas - upscale Mexican in the style of Mexico City, which is to say with strong Continental influences. Atmosphere is dark and romantic, food is mostly quite good. Dobson's Steak House - a long time local favorite and also quite good. The Fish Market/Top of the Market - Top of the Market does fish really well and would be suitable for a nice quiet evening. Oceanaire - opened this year to stellar and well earned reviews Osterio Panevino Blue Point Costal Dakota Grill JSix - 1 block north of your hotel. I've had dinner and brunch there and both were outstanding. I took my mother and aunt for brunch, both are in their mid-80s. They both enjoyed it and have said they'd like to go back. McCormick & Schmick's - is also a short walk away from your hotel in the Omni. It opened to horrid reviews, has made some adjustments and is currently flying under the radar, so I'd use a little bit of caution in choosing to eat here. Tin Fish - just past the Omni, try it for lunch Bandar - pretty good Middle Eastern Bread on Market - nice oversized sandwiches, close to Petco Chopahn - Afghan Lou & Mickey's - yet another steak house Panda Inn - in Horton Plaza Napa Valley Grill - also in Horton Plaza Cafe Chloe Cafe Cerisse - food is somewhat uneven, and it can get noisy. The Field - Irish pub with pretty decent food The Yard House - 130 beers available Luigi's - in Golden Hill, for pizza All of these (except Luigi's) should be within walking distance of your hotel. As for La Jolla, tons of choices there. I like Nine-Ten, especially for breakfast. Roppongi and Fresh both do Happy Hour where everything on their appetizer menu is half price. Both are fairly upscale and their app menus have a varied and interesting selection. Apps. are large enough to share among 4 adults and it's easy to make a meal doing that. Roppongi is Asian inspired, Fresh is seafood. I have very fond memories of the Marine Room. Sunday brunch is a buffet, but what a buffet it is. Around $40 +/-. This is also the time of year that they do Hide Tide Breakfast. The restaruant sits right on the beach and the waves often break on the windows. That's around $30 or $35. Check the link above for the dates, it usually coincides with New Years, depending on the tides, of course. And finally, here's a couple of links to other resources for you: San Diego Reader San Diego U/T Databases that you can search by type of cuisine, location, price. Good luck and have a great time. It's usually a pretty nice time of year to visit.
  12. I live in San Diego as well, and New Year's Eve celebrations haven't hit the media yet. In addition to the Westgate, here are some other suggestions: * The Manchester Hyatt, they usually have several parties going * Either of the Marriotts - Convention Center or Petco Park. The Petco Marriott has a rooftop bar on the 22nd floor that has a spectacular view. If the weather co-operates this might be a nice place to start the evening with a drink. * Several new boutique hotels have opened in the Gaslamp recently including the Kimpton Group's Solamar. It has the JBar on the 4th floor that's fun and the JSix restaurant. Atmosphere is sleek, trendy and uptown. I've eaten at JSix and had very good meals, but others have reported some unevenness, but they will be doing something for New Years. Located at Sixth and J St. * You can take the water taxi across the bay to Coronado and go to either the Hotel Del or Loew's resort, both always have New Year's parties. * You could go Spanish. Cafe Sevilla will offer special dinners and flamenco shows. Tapas, paella and a little tango anyone? * There will be a function on the aircraft carrier Midway * The local NBC affiliate sponsors a party on the embarcadero which is family oriented. Usually a few bands, food, entertainment for the kids and fireworks at midnight, just no alcohol. Easy trolley access from the Gaslamp, 3 or 4 trolley stops max. * Chris Isaac is playing the House of Blues * And if all else fails Google for the Cohn Restaurant Group. They have several Gaslamp venues and all of them are sure to be offering NYE specials. If you're still staying in or near the Gaslamp, the beauty of it for you is that there will be all kinds of functions going on in that area and you should be able to walk between most of them until you find what suits your tastes. This link can get you started too -New Year's Celebrations in San Diego
  13. I just returned from Mexico a couple of weeks ago where, amazingly, I had no bad meals. Was also struck by the quality and professionalism of the service every place we ate. Izote - meal was very good but not spectacular, tho' the chile relleno on the app. menu came close. Very crowded but very good service. Crowd was primarily English speaking ex-pats. Got to meet Patricia Quintana who was quite gracious. Best meal, without a doubt, was at Pujol. I've managed to get the recipes for the Duck Carpaccio and the dessert we ate, but I'd kill for the recipe for the Squash Blossom Soup served to resemble capuccino. Service was exceptionally professional. Most traditional (in the continental sense) meal was at San Angel Inn. Loved the presentation of their margaritas in miniature silver wine coolers. If Pujol was the best meal, my favorite meal was at Alkimia, which is the restaurant attached to the Centro Culinario Ambrosia. It is a serious culinary institute very similar to CIA. In fact, their teaching, training and test kitchens reminded me quite a bit of those at the CIA at Greystone in CA. All of the dishes we sampled - 16 in total, 4 apps./ 4 sopa seca/4 entrees/4 desserts - were all exceptionally well done, but some were better than others; dessert was the weakest course. The stand-outs were Swordfish Ceviche, Tortilla Soup, Foie Gras Soup, the pheasant entree, osso bucco, and all the tuna preparations. CCA publishes their own magazine "Restaurantes, Gastronomia y Vino" and it is possible to do stages there as well. Alkimia Av. San Jeronimo 243 Col. Jardines del Pedregal 5550-6886 or 5550-7297 I also had some amazing water based hot chocolate at Cafe Azul Y Oro on the UNAM campus (above the Julian Torri library near most of the performing arts venues). It was rich, thick and utterly delicious. The chocolate is a proprietary blend from Oaxaca made to the chef's specifications. He must have one heck of a sweet tooth because it's the best hot chocolate I think I've ever had anywhere. The chef also makes an interesting Enchilada de Jamaica. We could not get in to Aguilar Y Sol unfortunately. We also had a hot rec for a new Asian restaurant called China Grill in the Camino Real that is supposed to be generating a lot of interest. And "espuma", or foam, seemed to be on every menu in some way, shape or form.
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