eG Foodblog: CaliPoutine, MarketStEl & mizducky - The Shrinking

[MarketStEl]

Also, I guess I'm bothered by the fact that Tropicana is asking you to pay for water, and adding artificial sweeteners to mask a watered-down taste. (Coco-Cola owns the company and is starting to narrow the gap between its premium, un-reconstituted fruit juices and its soft drinks.)

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Right industry, wrong company.

Tropicana is under the PepsiCo umbrella.

The Coca-Cola Company owns the Minute Maid juice brand.

[Reminiscence of a 90-mile Network* Feed deleted.  Wonder whether this might not have been the subconscious inspiration for the mileage-based system I created for rating pizza in Philadelphia?  (There is such a thing as a 90-mile pie, by definition, for a bunch of us PhillieGulleteers drove up to New York a couple of years ago to eat it.)  Naah.  I wasn't a participant in this particular feed.  The ones I remember, we never made it any further than Brookline Village.]

As a matter of fact, my Harvard years were also a time of continuing stuggle with my weight and eating, a struggle that had been going on since early childhood. There's a photo of me from kindergarten in which I am already decidedly plump--and also wearing cat-eye frame glasses. Yep, all through school I was The Fat Too-Brainy Girl With Glasses, and thus the instant target of seemingly every bully in every class. Among other things, this piled huge amounts of additional angst about my weight onto my child-psyche, the kind that can keep one messed up about weight and dieting for decades afterward. And it did.

That's one of many reasons why I view the current "War on Obesity" public health efforts with a certain amount of ambivalence, especially proposals for programs to be implemented in schools. These things have to be done very carefully with school children, because the risk of winding up with scapegoated fat kids is huge, and I don't ever want another kid to go through any of the hell I was subjected to.

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I managed to miss out on this element of childhood torture, for I was as thin as a rail all the way from childhood through college. However, in college, I did pick up a smoking habit: first pipes, then clove cigarettes. I gave up the latter about two years after moving down to Philly. Within a year of that event (note that I quit cold turkey here too, with no assistance at all), I had gained 45 pounds. I don't know how long it took to put on the last 20. I've shed about ten of those, give or take a pound or two.

And they all settled around my midsection, thus giving me a thin frame with a Buddha profile.** Maybe instead of losing weight, I should work on achieving Enlightenment.

*"Network" is what WHRBies called WHRB; the term originated in the station's early name, the Harvard Crimson Network. A Harvard undergraduate in the early 1970s did his honors thesis on WHRB lingo; for all I know, the paper is still available for perusal by new generations of WHRBies.

**Like depression and my temper, I think I may have inherited my weight gain and profile from my father too. He was thin as a lad, too; by the time I came around, he was pretty heavyset. He tried dieting and exercises in the late 1960s with not much to show in the way of results. He had put on some more weight after my parents divorced; I recall a cousin saying to me sometime in the mid-1980s, not long before my dad died prematurely, "You know, your Dad looks like a Buddha now."

[Kim Shook]

So I did go out and get a Mcmuffin. Its not a problem for me to not order a value meal since I really dont care for the hashbrowns.  I'd rather have grits!!

According to Dottie's weight loss zone an egg mcmuffin as 6.5 points.  I'll just round up to 7.  I'm sure mine has more because I always get the folded egg instead of the egg it normally comes with.  I can't eat any runny yolks or I burp!!( TMI I'm sure).

Wait!! You have a choice of how the eggs are made???? Does anyone else get a choice where they live? We sure don't in Richmond! I think I'm glad, though. If I could get runny egg yolks on my Egg McMuffins, I'd have one every morning !

Kim

[CaliPoutine]

My beans took a lot longer than 90 minutes!! Closer to 2 1/4 hours. I finally added a few pinches of baking soda at the 2 hr mark and that did the trick.

I sweated some onion, garlic, carrot, dried oregano and celery in a little bit of evoo. I deglazed with some 2 buck chuck( although its 3 bucks in MI) and then added chicken stock I'd made from a rotisserie chicken. I also added some leftover canned cherry tomatoes( Splendido Brand from PC) and some leftover smooth salsa I had from Mexican food last week( brought back from Michigan) I threw in some zuchini and green beans and the borlotti beans. Its simmering on the stove now. I chopped up the sausage and added that too. I almost forgot about it. I've emailed Robin and asked her to bring home some frozen peas. We'll see if she actually does it. I'm going to cook up some tubetti pasta too.

[CaliPoutine]

Wait!! You have a choice of how the eggs are made???? Does anyone else get a choice where they live? We sure don't in Richmond! I think I'm glad, though. If I could get runny egg yolks on my Egg McMuffins, I'd have one every morning  !

Ok, let me rephrase that. No, you don't get a choice about how your eggs are cooked. I always get burpy from runny yolks and for some reason the egg puck style egg thats normally in the mcmuffin makes me burpy too( exposed yolk maybe?). You do get a choice betwen the puck egg or the folded egg.

Btw, the Egg McMuffin cost $2.72( with tax) here!!

[racheld]

Two questions for Sandy:

Are the asparagusses in your lovely marinade raw?

I tried to gauge the size of the pretzels by the dollars, but can't quite measure them in my mind. But I don't seem to see change anywhere---second question: Is it just easier to grab four without digging for change, when your appetite might have settled for 2/.50?

Edited January 11, 2008 by racheld (log)

[MarketStEl]

Two questions for Sandy:

Are the asparagusses in your lovely marinade raw?

Yes, they are. The marinade preserves them too.

I tried to gauge the size of the pretzels by the dollars, but can't quite measure them in my mind.  But I don't seem to see change anywhere---second question:  Is it just easier to grab four without digging for change, when your appetite might have settled for 2/.50?

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The way it usually works is an employee asks a bunch of co-workers who else wants pretzels. That person then goes back and takes a bunch, leaving payment for the total taken.

The change filters between the bills to the bottom of the cup. That's what happened to the quarter I dropped in just after taking that picture.

[mizducky]

That's one of many reasons why I view the current "War on Obesity" public health efforts with a certain amount of ambivalence, especially proposals for programs to be implemented in schools. These things have to be done very carefully with school children, because the risk of winding up with scapegoated fat kids is huge, and I don't ever want another kid to go through any of the hell I was subjected to.

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I wouldn't wish that sort of bullying and ridicule off on anyone, so I agree with you on that point. I would ask, however: how would you see such a program making things worse than they are already, with regard to finding scapegoats? If such ridicule still happens now (and I suspect it does), how would attempting to teach children proper nutrition, so they can stay more fit, be counterproductive?

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Oh, if it's implemented in terms of teaching all children, regardless of their weight and without drawing undue special attention to the heavier kids, about proper nutrition, that's a good start. I'm just worried that, without proper training and consciousness-raising of the teachers involved in implementing such a program, that some teachers' personal unexamined prejudices about weight/dieting will start slipping in--I can think of at least a couple of teachers I knew from my public school days who would have definitely sent out just the wrong message and exacerbated things no end. (A junior high phys ed teacher comes to mind, who made some lovely remark to our class about us kids, having just come back from summer vacation, having trouble fitting our "fat bodies" into our gym class uniforms. )

Even if all the teachers doing this training are totally on their game--and I also knew many excellent public-school teachers who would be in this camp--kids might still seize on the program as an opportunity to harrass those students they think the program is especially aimed at. So I'm hoping that such programs would also contain teacher training to nip that kind of thing in the bud, but am concerned whether that will be in the training. Mind you, I have no kids and am not up to speed with how this is in fact rolling out in our schools--I'm just aware from my own public school experiences that these kinds of sensitivities can get missed.

Plus there's my conviction that, while nutrition education is undeniably important, the real action in weight management is dealing with all the psychological issues that drive one to eat unhealthily, even despite nutritional knowledgability.

[Smithy]

Plus there's my conviction that, while nutrition education is undeniably important, the real action in weight management is dealing with all the psychological issues that drive one to eat unhealthily, even despite nutritional knowledgability.

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That's a good point. For my part, I'm inclined to place at least as much blame on the relentless advertising ("Eat this! You'll have fun, and everyone else does it!") that permeates our popular culture as on the psychological issues. Or is that advertising barrage one of the psychological issues to which you refer?

Edited January 11, 2008 by Smithy (log)

[prasantrin]

Maybe instead of losing weight, I should work on achieving Enlightenment.

Can I use that one? "I'm not getting fat, I'm achieving Enlightenment."

I recall a cousin saying to me sometime in the mid-1980s, not long before my dad died prematurely, "You know, your Dad looks like a Buddha now."

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My dad looked like Buddha, too, but he also had the long earlobes and Asian features that you see in most East and Southeast Buddhas.

[CaliPoutine]

I whipped up some " healthy" cornbread. I used the recipe on the cornmeal. A friend of mine made it before so I know what it would taste like. It's not sweet and has a very grainy quality to it. I like it though. It uses whole wheat pastry flour, cornmeal, 1/4 c. of butter, milk( I used skim), 1tbl of sugar, baking powder, 1 egg and a touch of salt. Please excuse Giada's boobs in the background!!

Edited January 11, 2008 by CaliPoutine (log)

[markemorse]

The hosts and guests were far more mixed than that paragraph would let on, though most of the blacks were women and most of the men white, and vice versa.

Am I the only one having trouble parsing this sentence?

Edited January 11, 2008 by markemorse (log)

[racheld]

I

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WOO, Cali!! I knew you were a G.R.I.T.S. Girl!!

[racheld]

The hosts and guests were far more mixed than that paragraph would let on, though most of the blacks were women and most of the men white, and vice versa.

Am I the only one having trouble parsing this sentence?

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And they all lived in the house that Jack built, or swallowed a spider, whichever applies

I got so carried away by that gorgeous cornbread, I totally missed this. And I used to be SO good at those problems where the truth-tellers wore red hats.

[tamiam]

WW question for the crowd: How do Vietnamese fast foods like pho and rice paper rolls fare on the points system? I could eat those every day and be completely happy.

[Shelby]

The hosts and guests were far more mixed than that paragraph would let on, though most of the blacks were women and most of the men white, and vice versa.

Am I the only one having trouble parsing this sentence?

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And a partridge in a pear tree

[CaliPoutine]

This was good, but I think I would have liked it more without the sausage. It was very smokey!! When Robin looked at the pictures upthread she said " I didnt even know there was zuchini in it". It really disinegrated.

I didnt add the tubetti pasta to the pot because I wanted to measure out 1/4 c. each. I also topped with 2 tbls of parmesan.

Hmmm, what can I say about this? It was very healthy tasting. I usually make a more Northern Style( read: sweeter) cornbread so Robin wasnt too thrilled with this. There is a touch of butter and agave syrup on mine.

[MarketStEl]

The hosts and guests were far more mixed than that paragraph would let on, though most of the blacks were women and most of the men white, and vice versa.

Am I the only one having trouble parsing this sentence?

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And they all lived in the house that Jack built, or swallowed a spider, whichever applies

I got so carried away by that gorgeous cornbread, I totally missed this. And I used to be SO good at those problems where the truth-tellers wore red hats.

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It's all so simple! All you folks need to do is apply some Pretzel Logic.

But to save time, I'll give you the mirror image:

Most of the women were black, and most of the whites were men.

There! The circle is complete.

I think.

This was good, but I think I would have liked it more without the sausage.  It was very smokey!!  When Robin looked at the pictures upthread she said " I didnt even know there was zuchini in it".  It really disinegrated.

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What did you do the zucchini before you put it in the stew, and how long did you simmer it?

That does look delicious -- I'm gonna hafta swipe your recipes!

[MarketStEl]

The hosts and guests were far more mixed than that paragraph would let on, though most of the blacks were women and most of the men white, and vice versa.

Am I the only one having trouble parsing this sentence?

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And a partridge in a pear tree

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And while I'm on the subject of logic:

If all Zooks are Zepps and all Zepps are Zwicks, then I'm Queen Beatrix. True or false?

[CaliPoutine]

What did you do the zucchini before you put it in the stew, and how long did you simmer it?

I just sliced it up. It simmered for a good long while, maybe 2 hours?

[dockhl]

If all Zooks are Zepps and all Zepps are Zwicks, then I'm Queen Beatrix.  True or false?

I love logic games but don't know this one. Point me in the right direction?

I also had hoped to use the Buddha/enlightenment for a sig. GREAT comment !

For all, I am loving this blog, and obviously I'm not the only one

Keep up the great work. (FWIW, there are many times that I REALLY miss the NE... Philly/Boston. After 27 years in CA, which I love/hate , don't know that I could go back but I sure need to visit !)

K

[mizducky]

Plus there's my conviction that, while nutrition education is undeniably important, the real action in weight management is dealing with all the psychological issues that drive one to eat unhealthily, even despite nutritional knowledgability.

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That's a good point. For my part, I'm inclined to place at least as much blame on the relentless advertising ("Eat this! You'll have fun, and everyone else does it!") that permeates our popular culture as on the psychological issues. Or is that advertising barrage one of the psychological issues to which you refer?

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Oh yeah, almost forgot about the marketing barrage--that's not only a psychological issue for the individual, but a larger cultural and economic issue. As long as there are whole sectors of the junk food industry hellbent on making money by pushing product at kids, motivating them to eat more healthily is going to be an uphill battle, for sure. Education to help kids detect the bullcrap behind such ad campaigns--as well as the similar ones selling toys, clothes, etc etc etc.--would IMO definitely be a right-on move.

WW question for the crowd:  How do Vietnamese fast foods like pho and rice paper rolls fare on the points system?  I could eat those every day and be completely happy.

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I dunno about Weight Watchers points, but as a fan of Vietnamese food and a budding rice paper roller, I went searching to find out the calorie count for rice paper, and found this very helpful page.

Just coincidentally, my evening's adventures involved some extremely tasty Vietnamese food, about which I shall be posting as soon as I get my photos organized.

The hosts and guests were far more mixed than that paragraph would let on, though most of the blacks were women and most of the men white, and vice versa.

Am I the only one having trouble parsing this sentence?

←

And they all lived in the house that Jack built, or swallowed a spider, whichever applies

I got so carried away by that gorgeous cornbread, I totally missed this. And I used to be SO good at those problems where the truth-tellers wore red hats.

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It's all so simple! All you folks need to do is apply some Pretzel Logic.

While I tend not to be a fan of those persnickety logic problems, I do share with Sandy a love of the works of Messrs Becker and Fagen. Tangential but still food-related factoid: There's been an off-again on-again project kicking around for years among the on-line Steely Dan fandom to do a Steely-themed cookbook. In fact, I kinda promised the owner of that site that I would contribute something, a promise I really need to get off my butt and do something about one of these centuries ... so many websites, so little time ...

[racheld]

Sum'pn tells me we got us a buncha little push-pins in this thread.

[markemorse]

The hosts and guests were far more mixed than that paragraph would let on, though most of the blacks were women and most of the men white, and vice versa.

Am I the only one having trouble parsing this sentence?

←

And they all lived in the house that Jack built, or swallowed a spider, whichever applies

I got so carried away by that gorgeous cornbread, I totally missed this. And I used to be SO good at those problems where the truth-tellers wore red hats.

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It's all so simple! All you folks need to do is apply some Pretzel Logic.

While I tend not to be a fan of those persnickety logic problems, I do share with Sandy a love of the works of Messrs Becker and Fagen. Tangential but still food-related factoid: There's been an off-again on-again project kicking around for years among the on-line Steely Dan fandom to do a Steely-themed cookbook. In fact, I kinda promised the owner of that site that I would contribute something, a promise I really need to get off my butt and do something about one of these centuries ... so many websites, so little time ...

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To be honest, it was really the "and vice versa" that turned this logic problem into a veritable house of mirrors. Logically speaking.

And if we were signing up for Steely Dan cooking items, I'd reserve red beans and rice (anyone know the song reference?)....

Edited January 12, 2008 by markemorse (log)

[mizducky]

Today turned into a much more hectic day than I had expected, due to one of my contract clients phoning me and telling me they really really wanted me to participate in this teleconference that would be happening right in the middle of when I had planned to be out and about taking blog photos and getting errands done. Plus there was the prep for the teleconference that I suddenly found I had to make time for as well. So the photography and errands--and, incidentally, my meals--got kind of a little randomized. I had already been planning to eat relatively lightly today, to allow room for a splurgish dinner out I'd planned well in advance. But, well, I kinda wound up eating a bit more lightly than I had expected. Oopsie. But all's well that ends well, as you shall soon see.

Anyway--having been blasted out of my leisurely morning wakeup by my client, I resorted to one of my brain-jolting habits from my college days:

In the jumbo glass next to my morning bowl of yogurt is iced coffee, made with instant coffee and sweetened with stevia (in my college days, years before stevia was on the market, I would have used Sweet'n'Low or similar). If you put a lot of ice in it to get it really cold, it doesn't taste half bad ... but let's not kid ourselves: the raison d'etre for this lovely beverage is simply a means to pound as much caffeine as possible, as fast as possible.

Properly jolted awake, I coped with preppeing for the teleconference, and then the conference itself (for a highly visual person like myself, a multi-person phone conference can be a real challenge). And then I looked at my watch, and realized I was really going to have to scramble if I was going to do my errands and be back in time for my dinner plans. So forgive me for the scarcity of photos for the grocery-shopping bits of this erranding.

I zoomed out to my car, and then down to my post office box, and then over to the local Vons for some stuff that Mr. E had run low on: apple juice, milk, crackers, sandwich meat, a six-pack of mini-cans of lemon-lime soda, cheddar cheese (Vons does not carry Cabot cheddar, but I didn't have time to fight my way into Trader Joe's today, so I bought a package of Tillamook extra-sharp aged cheddar to see if he'd find it acceptable).

Then I dashed about a half-mile down the street to one of my favorite local bargain veggie markets, North Park Produce. I did manage to squeeze off one photo there:

For more pix and text about North Park Produce, check out this post from one of my previous blogs.

Here I replenished our household fruit bowl with bananas and anjou pears, and also scored some whole wheat pita, lowfat yogurt, and a package of Laughing Cow light cheese, one of the very few "light" cheeses I've ever found that actually tastes good.

Notice I haven't mentioned eating since breakfast? That's right, I let myself go over five hours since that rather modest meal, and man was I feeling it. Like I said, oops. So I hightailed it home, got the groceries put away, and finally found time to have myself a little snack so that I wouldn't go into Lizard Mode at dinner and vacuum up everything in sight:

That's the leftover spinach from last night's dinner, along with another half a whole wheat pita, plus a couple wedges of the Laughing Cow Light.

Suitably fortified, I scooped up Mr. E and headed out to meet the rest of my dining companions at one of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants in town, Saigon.

(to be continued)

[mizducky]

And if we're signing up for Steely Dan cooking items, I'd like to reserve red beans and rice (anyone know the song reference?)....

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I sure do, ("... red beans and rice for a quarter ..."), but then I'm a self-confessed fangeek, so maybe we should let somebody else have a crack at it.

Edited January 12, 2008 by mizducky (log)