An apple a day...

Long article from the NYT linked below, but interesting - use of a ketogenic diet (high-fat, some protein, v low carbohydrate) to treat childhood epilepsy.
Epilipsy's Big, Fat Miracle

Definitely continues my interest in food as medicine... post to come on my month on the Paleo Diet.

Five things on this fine Tuesday

1. Someone please bake the pie featured in this post -
Scenes from a Pie Contest

2. That Pie Contest? In my effing neighborhood. My hood is awesome. We even had a movie night at Duboce Park on Saturday. Take that, Mission hipsters!

3. I love our San Francisco summer. Please let it last through the weekend. It is glorious. Evidence - post work bike ride, where I snapped this shot with my iPhone:

4. Texts of the day...
Me: You'll be happy to know that I finally upgraded to 1500 texts a month. Also, why the huge jump in options - 200 to 1500? Am I suddenly going to be texting every hour?
G$: Yes.
G$: Welcome to 2005!

H: No way! He's actually a virgin?!? Was that actually confirmed? Wow.
Me: There's no way you could be that clueless about just kissing if you weren't a virgin. Unless he only slept with hookers who wouldn't kiss on the mouth.

5. I finally downloaded an album by Girl Talk. Mashups. Good stuff. Go get it.

Summer red wine recommendations from SFGate...

I like wine. I like wine year-round. I like chewy reds and crisp whites. I like pairing wine with food, I like wine alone. I like the smell and the taste and...

I also like this line,

 Americans have some peculiar beliefs about red wine, not the least of which is that bigger is better. In a world of linebackers, lighter red wines are the misfits in the hallway, the ones getting all emo and wearing black nail polish.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/20/FDVP1E05RQ.DTL&type=wine#ixzz0rbEw4Z5k

I don't know what acylated ghrelin is, but it makes me hungry.

Last August, I posted a Time article about the science between exercise and weight loss, along with some of my own anecdotal evidence that more exercise does not necessarily mean more weight loss. Of course, I'm my own exception - I have lost weight while training for my half-Ironman. So, yeah. There's that. But that's been way more intense than your usual workout, so probably not a good example.

Anyway, just read another article along the same lines... basic idea is that weight loss occurs from eating less, but exercising is what will help one maintain that new, lower weight. That's cool. Lose weight and embrace a new lifestyle, one that includes exercise.

And, I also have science now to back me up as to why I am hungry for days after a tough workout. And also, as the author points out, another reason why life is unfair.

In it, 18 overweight men and women walked on treadmills in multiple sessions while either eating enough that day to replace the calories burned during exercise or not. Afterward, the men displayed little or no changes in their energy-regulating hormones or their appetites, much as in the other study. But the women uniformly had increased blood concentrations of acylated ghrelin and decreased concentrations of insulin after the sessions in which they had eaten less than they had burned. Their bodies were directing them to replace the lost calories. In physiological terms, the results “are consistent with the paradigm that mechanisms to maintain body fat are more effective in women,” Braun and his colleagues wrote. In practical terms, the results are scientific proof that life is unfair. Female bodies, inspired almost certainly “by a biological need to maintain energy stores for reproduction,” Braun says, fight hard to hold on to every ounce of fat. Exercise for many women (and for some men) increases the desire to eat.

Full article here

balls. balls. balls of cake.

Cake balls: The new new cupcake?
Quote of interest:
"Cake balls have a lot of things going for them -- their homey appeal, their variety, a giggle-inducing name -- and Americans are always looking for the next trendy dessert. But given the remarkable amount of sugar involved, it's unlikely that they'll ever reach the kind of widespread popularity of the cupcake (which enjoyed a considerably more responsible cake to frosting ratio)."

TJ's Sustainable Seafood Showcase Showdown

Trader Joe's (love. love. love.).

1. Has moved away from the plastic container of four apples
2. Now offers some veggies/fruits in compostable plastic trays
3. Is going to be offering sustainable seafood ONLY in 2012
4. Is huge on BYOB (bag)
5. Offers many customers with their first organic experience - so many products are offered in regular and organic - or organic only
6. Sells the best effing pumpkin butter out there
7. I heart the hell out of their bottled curry sauces
8. Fantastic prices on nut butters, including organics
9. Smoothie enabler - good prices on frozen berries
10. Wine and beer. Wine and beer.

Yeah, they're not perfect. But #3 is pretty huge. Good job, TJ's.

As the linked article points out, YOU can make this switch a lot quicker, since you don't have to deal with contracts and shit.
Check, it -
Fish guide from GOOD
My fave - Monterey Bay Seafood Watch. I have the app on my phone - it even lists fish by their sushi names!

some...

Some links:
http://www.patspapers.com/blog/item/what_if_everybody_flushed_at_once_Edmonton_water_gold_medal_hockey_game/
This makes me laugh.

As a kid, I was convinced that if I swallowed a piece of gum, it would stay in my stomach/intestines for seven years. I don't know where the seven came from, but this post makes me think that there's some truth to that - http://missionlocal.org/2010/03/street-science-the-gum-we-step-in/

Some news:
The relationship with the triathlete is still in progress, despite my continuous worries that I'm going to fuck it up.

My birthday happened. It was fun. I love my friends. 32 is not horrible.

Some PSAs:
One more week to get your Easter candy, folks. Those Cadbury's Mini Eggs won't be around forever (thank goodness)!

Sunscreen. It's important. I forgot to put it on this weekend and, while I love having a little color, I don't want skin cancer or wrinkles. Or this stupid bike jersey tan line.

music and feelings and broccoli

1. Mixtape recommended by one of the many food bloggers that populates my Google Reader. Mash-ups. Iz good. Download it naow.

2. Website: We Feel Fine.

How it works:

At the core of We Feel Fine is a data collection engine that automatically scours the Internet every ten minutes, harvesting human feelings from a large number of blogs. Blog data comes from a variety of online sources, including LiveJournal, MSN Spaces, MySpace, Blogger, Flickr, Technorati, Feedster, Ice Rocket, and Google.

We Feel Fine scans blog posts for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". This is an approach that was inspired by techniques used in Listening Post, a wonderful project by Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen.

Check it out. There are a few different ways to visualize the results, as well as limit it to certain populations of authors. I may throw up an "I feel" statement every so often, just so maybe it can become part of this design project.

Right now:
I feel unfocused.

3. Things with "the guy who likes weirdos" are going pretty well. I'm finding that I have to be a lot more explicit about what I want and need than maybe I'd like, but he seems to be a pretty fast learner, and open to some change. So I'm going to continue to ask (a little at a time) and see how it goes. If nothing else, I'll leave him better than I found him, right?  

4. I hurt my neck. Either at the gym this morning, or within the last hour. It hurts all along the right side. I want a massage.

5. My birthday is in two weeks. I don't really care. I'm not excited about it. I feel a little inadequate when I think about what being 32 years old used to mean to me - as in, my mom had my younger sister when she was 32. What about all the shit that I thought would have happened by now... like a house, a job where I have an office with a door, a husband, a child...It's like I need those things in order to "be an adult."
Which, is bullshit.
A. Why do I want to be an adult? and
B. Of course, there are plenty of things I've done that I never would have thought I would do... get my MBA, live in San Francisco, get rid of my car, essentially be Kirby 2.0, triathlons, own a pet, live alone.
C. 32 is not that old.
D. Really, what I want is to be happy. Whatever that means for now.

6. Looking forward to travel this year. Alaska and Peru. Plans have been kind of stalled, but I am going to make it happen.

7. Half ironman is less than two months away. I am nervous.

8. I have a head of broccoli and half a head of cauliflower in my fridge that should get cooked tonight. But I'll be getting back home pretty late. Any fantastic ideas? Also - and more importantly, how on earth do you cut either of those vegetables without getting little bits of cauliflower/broccoli all over the place? I cut up half the cauliflower last night and have cauli-crumbs on the floor, the counter... wtf? HELP!

9. I decided to write nine things because it's the ninth. Hmmm... I love Easter candy.

Wine with dinner: WIN!

Red wine drinkers gained least weight

Women who drink wine 'less likely to gain weight'

Women can enjoy a tipple and stay slim, according to a study that shows moderate drinkers gain less weight than teetotallers.

Women who drank red wine gained the least, but the results held for other wines, beers and spirits. 

...
Those who drank no alcohol gained the most weight, and there was an inverse relationship between weight gain and alcohol consumption.

Lunch and other updates

Another day, another awesome email. This one, however, *I* wrote to a friend/coworker.

Subject: Salad today. It's a winner.
Romaine
Cucumber
Radish
Avocado
Roasted butternut squash (roasted w/brown sugar & coconut oil)
Quinoa
Yellow bell pepper
Corn
Beets

EVOO, balsamic vinegar, agave syrup, black pepper, lime juice dressing

A lot of it is kind of old, since it's from last week & I just kept adding to it - but HOLLA! The butternut squash + quinoa sends it OVA THE TOP.

Response:
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmn! That sounds sooooo goodical! I am going to get some food right now, I can't stand it!

-----------
And that is how you know that you're communicating with a friend/coworker, not just a coworker. Also, we'll see how long it takes for me to start foraging for chocolate to balance out all those veggies. My estimate: 5 minutes 30 seconds.

In other news and feats of athletic prowess, let me know if you want me to bench press 100 pounds for you. Cuz I can.

And, I'm an idiot for running a "practice" half-marathon on Saturday before doing an actual half-marathon this Sunday.

And, I've got a potential date/non-date on Thursday. A guy who does triathlons. As two fabulous friends have pointed out (again with the copying of emails...what's with me this week?):

HW: Very exciting!  A new boy to workout with AND potentially make out with!  Perfect for you. 

CP: I agree, you must have a boy who likes to ride bikes if anything is going to work :) Excited to hear the updates. 

One of these things is not like the others

One of these things is far less important than the others, but perplexing to me. So here you go... 
1. I know ya'll are smrt and kind and generous. So I don't need to ask you to donate to Haiti's earthquake relief efforts. There are about a million and a half ways to give, including the nifty text-to-donate method. I really hope that the cell phone providers aren't tacking on a fee to handle that transaction... If you haven't maxed out your donating using that method, a friend of mine who has done relief work in other disasters has recommended donating through Doctors Without Borders or Haiti are Partners In Health. 
2. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr Day! What an incredible leader. Again, since ya'll are McSmartersons, I don't have to add anything. So, here's a fun fact, taken from one of my favorite blogs (Seriously, this woman would be too perfect, except that she tends to end her posts with silly sexual innuendos. The fact that she's a funny writer and adds tons of cute pictures helps out too.) - Did you know that Correta Scott King and Dexter King were both vegans? That whole non-violence and compassion thing? Yeah, they brought it all the way to the kitchen. Wow. (In other vegan news, shout out to CP for her first Vegan Thursday!)
3. I like green bell peppers now. Raw green bell peppers. WTF? How did this happen?

World's first forward?

I'm pretty sure the Neiman-Marcus cookie was among the first forwards I ever received. Come on, you've gotten this one too. And if you received it in the past ten years or so, you looked it up on Snopes. Anyway, now it that it has made its way onto every single computer - it's going for round II, and picking up all the newbies along the way.   I've posted it here, just in case you were asleep the first 100 times you got it.

Have you ever made these cookies? Are they delicious? (If so, and you want to make them again, lemme know and I'll send you my address.)

I did a little Googling to try to find the "first email forward," but had no luck. Was it the Nigerians? Or one of those "forward to 10 friends or else you'll have bad luck" sort of emails (reminiscent of chain letters, from back in elementary school)?

Onward... the Neiman-Marcus cookie forward...

ENJOY THIS...THIS IS A TRUE STORY!

When decent people get screwed over, this is the result!

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe in
Dallas and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are
such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman Marcus cookie." It
was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and
the waitress said with a small frown, "I'm afraid not, but you can buy
The Recipe." Well, I asked how much, and she responded "Only two fifty
- it's a great deal!" I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to
my tab.

30 days later, I received my VISA statement, and the Neiman-Marcus
charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent
$9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the
bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe - $250.00." That was
outrageous! I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the
waitress said it was "two-fifty", which clearly does not mean "two
hundred and fifty dollars" by any reasonable interpretation of the
phrase.

Neiman Marcus refused to budge. They would not refund my money
because, according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our
problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not
refund your money at this point." I explained to the Accounting
Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the State
of Texas . I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau
and the Texas Attorney General's office for engaging in fraud. I was
basically told, "Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you
can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money back."
I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have
$250 worth of fun. I told her that I was going to see to it that every
cookie lover in the world has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman
Marcus... for free. She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this." I
said, "Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped
me off!" and slammed down the phone.

So here it is!

Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think
of. I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make
another penny off of this recipe!

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (recipe may be halved)
2 cups butter
24 oz. chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)
-Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the
butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour,
oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips, Hershey
bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie
sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.
-Makes 112 cookies.
PLEASE READ THE RECIPE AND SEND IT TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW!
THIS IS REALLY TERRIFIC!!

Even if your friends do not eat sweets, send it to them and ask them
to pass it on. Let's make sure we get this lady's $250.00 worth. Enjoy
the cookies they really are good.

Today's breakfast: oats w/banana and peanut butter in a super awesome jar.

For Cara, fellow lover of oatmeal and pumpkin butter, new food blogger - For the Love of Chard... and potential new participant in Vegan Mondays*!

*Ok, she may do Wednesdays. And Vegan Monday isn't always on a Monday for me, either, but I like to call it that.

Resolution #1 and slow cooker stuff

New year's resolutions like "be more organized," "productive" or "eat better" are admirable, but all murky and not easily measured. And easily failed. I like the idea of a fresh start and self-improvement. I know I could write a long list of things to work on, but why not resolve to do something that I'll actually be able to successfully accomplish?


Here's one to start:
Donate blood. Tried last year and couldn't do it because my iron level was too low. Imma gonna hop myself up on spinach in the days prior to blood donation and DO IT! The Blood Center comes through my work every so often. Stay tuned for an update here. And bug me if you don't hear anything about it by March. :)

Do you have any resolutions?
-------------------

Found a link to some slow cooker stews that don't all involve Campbell's cream of mushroom or tomato (which, by the way, lists high fructose corn syrup among the many ick ingredients) soup. Check it. Planned dinner...perhaps a way to "eat better" and "be more organized." ;)

2:1

Successfully avoided:
Mountain of candy in the breakroom
Birthday cake for a coworker


Unsuccessfully avoided:
Checking email and Facebook every 30 seconds in hopes of getting something from a potential interest

Supercook.com

Supercook is a recipe aggregator that allows you to enter what ingredients you have on hand AND exclude other major foods (like dairy, meat, seafood).


Check it.
 

(Alli-gator, not an aggre-gator.)

Healthiness of food vs. cost of food

Stolen from my ninja training gym's Facebook page, who stole it from GraphJam.

Guilt. Guilt. Guilt.

Articles like this make me feel like such a hypocrite.

We've long said that cutting meat and dairy out of your diet, or at minimum cutting back deeply on their consumption, is one of the most powerful personal steps you can take towards mitigating climate change. But new analysis from Worldwatch Institute shows that the impact of raising livestock and poultry is much greater than previously thought and actually amounts to approximately 51% of global greenhouse gas emissions:

(Treehugger article, by Matthew McDermott)

I don't drive, buy mostly organic food, local when possible. I also try to purchase other locally made products - luckily, there are a few Northern CA organic personal care manufacturers (Alba Organics, for one). I generally remember to buy carbon offsets for my flights. But really... I eat meat. And dairy. And eggs. (you know, except when I'm vegan once a week) And switching to vegetarian (well, actually vegan) eating would potentially be the most impactful change I could make in my life, wrt global warming.

Augh. The guilt.

It gets worse, people. I don't always buy organic meats. Eggs are probably, eh 60/40 (organic/not). Why? It's not generally an accessibility issue. Totally a $ thing. Organic, free-range, grazing... easily double the price of conventional.

Whine.Why is this so haaaaaard? End whine.

I may smell a vegetarian week/month/planned out X days a week coming up. With my current ninja training 2x a week, half marathon training and trying to lose weight... I don't think that full-time veg is the way to go for me. But could I do vegan 1x a week and planned vegetarian 2x a week? Probably. I mean, I'm on my way towards an unplanned vegetarian day right now...

hidden dairy alert - pumpkin spice latte

Coffee. Oh, how I heart thee. My mom, she's a Starbucks mocha addict. Seriously, I can make her day by sending her a Starbucks gift card to fuel her crack purchases. There isn't a Starbucks where she works, so she has to slum it with Caribou sometimes. Poor gal. Anyway, unless I'm back in the I-L with Mom, or out with someone who's totally a Starbucksan, I generally don't go to Starbucks. There are lots of other options around that could use my coffee dollar a little more - from the small cafe, to Peet's (their regular coffee is battery acid, but a dash of milk/soy and it's delicious). And, if I'm near a place like Blue Bottle or Philz, then maybe it's my coffee dollar$, but it's fantastic coffee and worth the extra coin.

However, like so many people out there, I dig the Pumpkin Spice latte. It's a seasonal thing at Sbux and, like seeing people walking around with those red Sbux cups, is a nice reminder that the holidays are on their way.

I also dig food blogs. And while I'm not a raw foodie, or a vegan, I like reading their stuff now and again. Because I learn stuff like....
a soy Pumpkin Spice latte is NOT VEGAN! There's milk in thar! After a short search to find the actual offending ingredients (my usual blogger just commented that she was surprised to find that it wasn't vegan, without the explanation)...here you go -
Here’s the ingredient list for the Pumpkin Spice Latte:  sugar, condensed nonfat milk, sweet condensed nonfat milk, anotta (a colorant), natural and artificial flavors (which she couldn’t give me), and caramel coloring.

Along a similar vein, Happy Vegan Monday! Yep, I'm still rocking the weekly vegan habit. It's been well over a year now. Yay!

Crock pot arrival!

Yeah! Programmable 5 quart crock pot arrived yesterday. (I am so thankful for the corner store guy. He accepted it from FedEx for me.)

I'm totally looking forward to trying it out soon. Please comment/send emails/links to your favorite crock pot recipes :)