Why I won't lose weight this year

The greatest airplane flight I ever took was from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia. Even considering the fact that it was a 16 hour flight during which I didn't sleep a wink, it was a wonderful flight. The airline went out of its way to make us happy. Socks and eye masks were standard amenities. There were popsicles before take-off, hot towels before landing, two tasty meals that I actually wanted to eat, and orange juice as we taxied to the gate. And cookies. More to the point, Biscoff cookies. It was my first introduction to the greatest airline snack of all time.

For those who haven't had the pleasure, Biscoff cookies are a shortbread cookie with a touch of cinnamon. For me they taste a little like a mild gingerbread. Spicy and crunchy and far better than the standard fare of peanuts or pretzels which you often find on flights. The Lotus company makes the cookie as a with coffee snack but they have become synonymous with airline travel.

Well, Jeff and I haven't been traveling much lately but I found out recently that I can still get my shortbread fix. We were in the grocery store picking up peanut butter when I happened to glance at the top shelf. And my mouth dropped open. Then I started salivating.  There was a small jar of Biscoff Spread. Cookies I can spread on toast, or dunk chocolate bars in, or even just eat with a spoon. I've managed to go through half the jar in a very short period of time. Even as I type this I'm licking a spoon covered in cookie goodness. So much for those weight loss resolutions.

And many of the baking blogs I follow have started to post recipes that include this lovely spread. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to mix this heavenly delight with other things or if I'm going to selfishly eat it plain, spoonful after spoonful. Happily I know that once this jar is empty it's only a short trip back to the store for more. Even though it isn't as exciting as hopping on a flight somewhere and unwrapping the crunchy cookies, I think the spread is the better option. After all, it's like cookie dough but in spreadable form. YUM!

Foodscapes

I'm sure you're all tired of seeing food at this point. After the huge feast that is Thanksgiving, there are days and days of leftovers. And dinners with family. And extra pie in the fridge. I'm sure you're thinking that you've seen enough food for a lifetime. Or, if you're like me, you never get tired of food. Particularly not when it is as well presented as these foodscapes.

Carl Warner is a U.K. based photographer who creates landscapes out of food. Almost everything in these scenes is edible. He takes very traditional looking scenes and finds the exact right ingredient to make them out of edibles. According to his website each set takes a couple of days to build and then Warner takes photos of the foreground, background, and the sky separately. Like any organic setting, the food deteriorates quickly so he has to work in stages.

Warner started as a still life photographer and then began to branch out into these arranged landscapes. His work has been used in numerous advertisements and he even came out with a book of his work. I just love the inventiveness of these images. Every part of the picture offers such wonderful detail, which makes for complete images that are creative and simply amazing. The images can be dramatic or serene but they are all wonderful to look at. And all made of food.

Not sure why but this simple scene is my favorite

The Start of Something Wonderful

I have a three foot long by one foot deep "garden" in which I can plan whatever I like. A good part of the land is taken up by Roderick, my lion (thanks for the name Keith! I can't think of him as anything else) and the other part I am starting to experiment with. The lilac bushes that the association pulled out are starting to come back and I'm leaving them. The lilacs were some of the main reasons I moved here. I planted a nice looking hosta that requires almost no care from me. But the last planting is the one I'm the most excited about (Jeff would say obsessed about). Strawberries!!!

I planted a half dozen strawberry plants last year in April. They were still too new to bear fruit last year so I "patiently" waited through the year for this spring. Three of them survived the winter, although two others are trying. Suddenly I'm starting to see a mixture of the little white flowers that strawberries grow, and another kind of stalk. The berries are still green and very small but they are the start of something wonderful. In May I will have fresh organically grown strawberries. I'll be able to harvest my own food, which has been a dream of mine for years now.

I'm already thinking about planting more strawberries and trying to do some potted raspberries. My father learned how to Bonzai an orange tree, with the possibility of full size oranges. I tried planting spinach last year that failed miserably. But these little plants, so green and beautiful, make me want to plant more food. To actually produce a crop of something. Until then I'm going to gorge myself on homegrown strawberries. Well at least once they become ripe.

Processed Produce

I saw something this past week at the grocery store that made me weep for the next generation. I was in the produce section picking up carrots and celery and peppers when I walked by a section of apples. But not just any apples. Individually wrapped apples. I thought that was odd until I took a look at the wrapper. And it was a:

Bubble Gum Flavored Apple

I kid you not. This apple was apparently bubble gum flavored. I'm not sure how they make it flavored but I stood there, dumbfounded, and couldn't figure out if I wanted to run away screaming or break down weeping right there. I didn't buy one to find out how they flavored it. Heck I couldn't even bring myself to pick it up. I didn't want to be seen with it. It was terrible.

I've been on a "real" food kick lately. The processed cereals that I've been buying are starting to smell too chemically for me. I can't bring myself to eat the processed frozen meals for lunch. I shop mostly in produce with some dairy. I'm trying to start using the grains and beans I buy. It's not really a health conscious decision, it's more based on what sounds good. I like things made without chemicals. Fresh is starting to mean more to me.

And I guess I stupidly assumed that produce would always be real. That a tomato (particularly an organic tomato) was just a tomato. That grapes had no artificial flavors to make them more grapey. That celery was made up of just celery. And that apples would always taste like apples in all their wondrous variety. So this scares me. Are we trying this to make kids interested in fruit? Because the fruit that they're eating doesn't taste like fruit anymore. They won't grow to love apples. But they will crave bubble gum. And even more scary, I'm sure that there are parents out there that will buy them. We have no idea how they flavored these apples but a few parents will think "hey this is tasty and healthy" and buy them for their kids. And the kids will never get to know how tasty a real apple can be.

I've become cynical about food processors and marketers. The more packaging something has the less likely I am to buy it. This week I finally figure out why that is. Soon I'll be able to buy chocolate flavored grapes and artificial raspberry-flavored strawberries. And a little more naturalness will be gone. I weep for the next generation.

Rainy Day Reading

I had so much that I was going to get done today. I had been so productive last night and I was looking forward to really making progress on a couple of projects today. I have a letter for our homeowners association that I need to draft in the next day or so. That hung over my head all day. I have a house that severely needs to be cleaned out. We have reached that extremely cluttered stage that drives me crazy. I had some writing I was going to get done. But I woke up late this morning with a headache (stupid wine) so instead I drank endless pots of coffee, ate most of a loaf of beer bread, and spent the entire day reading.

I'm currently reading Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky which is a rather fascinating history of how the salt trade and production has shaped our world. I got interested in the book after reading At Home by Bill Bryson last week. Bryson had done a small section on salt and pepper for his dining room section. He didn't list where the salt information came from but when I found the book at the bookstore, I figured I'd found a definitive history. I love seeing how one product has impacted us so immensely. I would rank Salt right up there with A History of the World in Six Glasses as one of the more incredible food based histories I've read.

I read some of Salt, but the rainy day called for a little lighter fare today. So it was off to the library to return my stack of books and pick up more pictures books for my 1001 Children's Book Challenge. I picked up a brand new stack. I can't seem to leave the library without at least a dozen books. I brought them home and lay on the floor reading, like I was 10 again. I even started craving hot chocolate. I laughed and I marveled. So many of the books were just great. Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French made me laugh so hard I snorted. Even Jeff was surprised at how hard I was laughing. Joyful Noise, Poems in Two Voices has such interesting insect poems that I found myself rereading the poems over and over. A Van Allsburg made me gasp at the beauty of the illustrations. It wasn't the most productive day but it was a good one. A perfect rainy day.

When Life Gives You...er Bananas...

You make banana bread. I had the day off work today for a beautiful four day weekend. And I had four bananas that were just about dead. At least they were well past the point where Jeff and I would eat them. For the record I like mine with still a bit of green to them. So I decided to do what millions before me have done when they have overripe bananas. I made banana bread.

I've been reading a blog called Eat Me, Delicious for years now. The author regularly posts vegetarian recipes that make my mouth water. And the baking ones make me want to dust off a taupe and become a pastry chef. So when I went looking for banana bread recipes to try, I started with Eat Me, Delicious first. I thought I had remembered a chocolate banana bread that would be fun to try. I found the recipe and tried it. Not only is the bread easy to make but it's incredibly tasty as well.

The recipe can be found here and other than the buttermilk and the cocoa powder, most of the ingredients were already in the house. Assembly took less than half an hour so it was quick that way. There was a ton of actual baking time (70 minutes in total) but by the fifty minute mark I was already drooling with the great smell. It's a rich bread. Almost dessert-like. The chocolate and banana are well balanced. It was even more amazing right out of the oven when the chocolate chips were still melty. I'll make this more often. So tasty.

Eatin' in St. Louie

That was supposed to be a play on Meet Me in St. Louis, but I'm not sure how well it worked. Oh well. I just got back from St. Louis about an hour ago. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are expecting in June so Jeff and I made the short drive down to attend a baby shower. I'm rather excited for them. They are both very happy about the baby and, if the volume of presents is any indication, this will be one spoiled little boy. It was fantastic to see everyone. I spent only a bit of time with the mom-to-be and my other sister-in-law but got to spend a ton of time with my in-laws. We played dominos and talked and of course ate.

Jeff and I travel a lot but there are very few places where we have so many must-eat foods. St. Louis has some amazing eating, even for a vegetarian like me. So without further ado, here are Jeff's or my top 10 foods you must try in St. Louis. Note that since both Jeff and I contributed this will be a mix of vegetarian and meatatarian fare.

10. White Castles. I know that there are White Castles all over the country but this one of the only places where we ever seem to get them. Both Jeff and I are Castle fans. I've found you either love them or hate them passionately. There is no middle ground with White Castles.

9. Chiliman Chili is also national but we can't seem to find it anywhere but St. Louis. We pick up a case every trip we make. I'm not normally a fan of canned chili but this stuff is good, particularly over macaroni noodles.

8. Fried Pickles at J. Bucks. Having spent years listening to Jack Buck announce the Cardinals games I knew I had to try the restaurant named after him. And after trying their fried pickles, I knew I'd be back. Jeff will argue but those are some of the most amazing pickles I've ever had (Jeff hates pickles so he'd argue no matter what).

7. Vess Cream Soda. Where else can you find a syrupy sweet, bright pink beverage that I would go crazy for. Vess is a local soda company that makes one of the most interesting and tasty cream sodas around. They have tons of other flavors but Jeff and I used to fight over the cream soda. Another one of those things we grab a case of most trips.

6. Toasted Ravioli. This St. Louis tradition is always meat filled (rather than the more common cheese-filled) which is why it is Jeff's favorite meal.

5. The Pasta House. I was introduced to their salad long before I ate at the restaurant and from that first taste I was hooked. This St. Louis company has everything from sandwiches to rich pastas. Although I've eaten my fair share of meals on The Hill (the Italian district), the Pasta House is a great go-to meal.

4. Gerbers at Ruma's. Ruma's Deli makes the best Gerber sandwich in town. A Gerber is a St. Louis tradition. You take garlic bread, add thinly-sliced ham, mound on Provel cheese, bake, and then dash with Paprika. It's one of the few sandwiches where I break my vegetarian fast to have a bite of ham and cheese goodness.

3. Imo's. We had to get pizza this weekend. Like Fox's in Chicago I have certain pizzas that I crave. Imo's uses Provel cheese on their square-cut thin crust pies to make the perfect balance of cheese and crust. Add their cheese covered house salad with the celery seed dressing and I'm in heaven. My only worry is about saving some for anyone else.

2. To be honest almost anything with Provel makes my list. This St. Louis based cheese was created specifically for Imo's Pizza and has spread throughout the city. It is a mixture of swiss, cheddar, and provolone and is quite possibly one of the greatest things ever. Our local grocery store has just started carrying it (on request) and we buy a carton at least once every two weeks. Mmmmm

1. And last but not least...Ted Drewes. If I had access to this iconic ice cream stand on a regular basis, I would weigh well over 300 pounds. I'm addicted. Ted Drewes is a frozen custard stand on the old Route 66 that specializes in Concretes (think Blizzard but only better). Their Apple Pie concrete (with apples and pie crust and whipped cream) is my downfall, my Kryptonite. I am powerless to stop myself from eating it. We didn't get a chance to go this past trip but I'm sure we'll go down after the baby is born.

The typical nighttime crowd at Ted Drewes

Like any top 10 list, I'm sure that there will be disagreements. I didn't even mention the world-famous St. Louis style barbeque. I didn't talk about all the fantastic restaurants on The Hill. I was told that there is a pretzel place down by the Anheuser-Busch brewery that I would love. I've eaten some amazing meals in St. Louis. These are just the ones that instantly come to mind when the great city is mentioned. We travel down to visit really, but we also make the trek for the food.

Losing Faith

I don't normally talk politics on the blog. I don't normally follow a lot of politics, except what I need to for my job. I read enough state code to bore anyone to tears for work. I don't want to pay attention outside of the office. But this week has me angry. More then angry actually. I'm disgusted and today I lost a little bit of faith in humanity.

Iowa is an agricultural state primarily. We grow much of the country's corn and soybeans. But our biggest industry is animal products. We harvest three times more eggs then our closest competition. We raise millions of pigs, cows, and chickens for meat and other products. And we most often do it in large factory farm situations. These places are not nice. I've heard them described as everything from horrific to Hell on Earth. Every couple of months, an organization like the Humane Society, Mercy for Animals, or PETA sends some of their volunteers into these facilities to take covert video. It's the only way that we, the public, know what is going on.

Today, my home state's House passed a bill that made it illegal to take video of these type of places. There is now a possible 5 year prison term for showing what occurs in a factory farm. Agribusiness is claiming that this is just for the protection of their animals and their livelihood. I say that they're full of crap. Just because we can't see the horrific conditions and the abuse doesn't mean it won't occur. Instead they simply cover it up. They can sweep regular abuse under the carpet and we will never see about it. Never learn what is truly happening.

I have learned that to get people to take animal welfare seriously, you have to hit them where it hurts. In their food supply. The largest salmonella outbreak came out of an egg farm here in Iowa. I wonder if that could have been avoided if we had eyes in the factory. If we had seen the rat droppings and piles of excrement. I guess we won't know. I know that from now on we really won't know. There are severe penalties for whistleblowing. We can no longer see where our food is produced. And that makes me awfully happy that I'm a vegetarian, moving more towards vegan each day.

I won't apologize for this political rant. I'm so angry right now that I can't even think straight. When I had first heard of this bill I had hoped that it wouldn't get out of the house. I had hoped that people would see the light. But I know how powerful the animal industry lobby is. I know how well money talks. And animals can't. Today I lost just a little more faith in politics to speak for the people. To protect me. And I lost some faith in humanity.

Winter Foods (or Pomegranates for Dummies)

It was officially winter for me today. Oh sure I've already seen my first junco of the season (a birding sign of winter). I've already scraped my car a couple of times now. I've worn my mittens. I've had the heated mattress pad cranked up in the evenings. I've even brought out my winter coat. But the final straw was this morning when the house dropped below 63 and we had to turn on the furnace. Winter begins when the furnace kicks on for the first time. From now until March the house will rarely drop below 68. We spend a small fortune in heating bills but it's worth it.

One of my other signs of winter is that I get the sudden urge to bake. Each winter I typically bake a couple dozen cookies but I'm learning this year to bake bread. Last week I started with an easy banana bread that came out pretty well. I didn't have enough banana to make the recipe so I substituted in some applesauce which worked beautifully. It was a bit dry but very tasty. This week I'm thinking about doing a wheat and rolled oat bread from a recipe I found in a dieter's cookbook. We'll see how it comes out. I'm also suddenly interested in cake decorating. i picked up a couple books from the library and am going to spend some time with food coloring, sugarpaste, and royal icing. We'll see what comes out of that. I'll post pictures of both the successes and tragedies. I'm assuming both will be equally tasty. :-)

But my big excitement for November are those oddly shaped red fruits called pomegranates that I gorge myself on every year. If you're new to the blog, I wrote about my undying love of pomegranates. I devour them throughout their limited season until I'm practically sick. And about the time I'm starting to get tired of eating them day in and day out, the season ends and I have to wait 10 more months to get them. When Jeff and I were in the grocery store today I noticed that they were back in stock. I bought three and brought them home to rip apart.

For those of you who've never prepared a pomegranate, they can be a bit time intensive. You have to pluck the delicate seeds from the rest of the fruit. I used to waste hours on them until I mentioned my addiction in the blog and my friend Salt pointed out a much better way to prep them that I thought I'd share here. First, you want to pick your pomegranates based on weight. The fruit should feel surprisingly heavy. That means the seeds are filled with juice. Once you get them home you'll want to cut the top and the bottom off of the pomegranate. Try to stay pretty shallow so you don't cut any of the seeds. Once that's done, score the fruit along the white material. I tend to stay shallow for this as well. Then the fun begins.

Grab a big bowl and fill it mostly full with water. Holding the pomegranate under the water, start to gently pry it apart. The seeds spray purple everywhere when pushed too hard, so having the fruit underwater will minimize the mess. Rub the seeds off gently by pulling them away from the white foundation. You'll be able to pull off multiple seeds at one time by simply rubbing the tops of the seeds. The fruits will sink to the bottom of the bowl while the white debris will float to the surface. After all the seeds have been pulled off, I scoop the debris off the top of the water, and then strain the seeds. They go into a tupperware container to sit in my fridge. I've found them great for snacking or in salads. They'll keep in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Winter may be my least favorite time of the year, but baking and pomegranates make it just a little bit sweeter.

Sushi for Vegetarians

I had a fantastic weekend of writing, reading, and relaxing. Other than dinner on Friday and breakfast out both Saturday and Sunday (a rare treat) I never left the house. It was a rainy weekend and I was quite content to stay in. We slept with the windows open and I fell asleep both nights listening to the rain. I wrote four blog posts, read three books, and pretended to do some real writing and drawing. Overall it was a productive weekend that ended up being incredibly relaxing.

On Friday I had plans with my little sister to go out to dinner. We had some family things that we had to talk over and what better time to do that than over the dinner table. She'd left the choice of location up to me and I spent most of Friday wracking my brain as to where to go. Finally that afternoon I texted her with my answer, Miyabi 9, the best sushi place in Des Moines. It certainly doesn't hurt that it's within walking distance of my office. She loves the place too and responded back quickly with something that sounded to me like Yum!! Of Course!

My always thinking little sister got there early and snagged us a table (not always possible without a huge wait on a Friday night). We ordered beers and started studying the list of rolls. Now I know what you have to be thinking right now. Yes I'm a vegetarian. No that doesn't mean that I can't have sushi. What it means is that I can't have any fish. What my limited four year Japanese education taught me is that sushi is vinegared rice with seaweed. Properly done it is possibly the best dish on the face of the earth. Raw fish, which often goes with sushi, is called sashimi. I'm welcome to eat sushi, just without any sashimi.

My sister sweetly agreed to go vegetarian with me that evening and gave me carte blanche to order. And apparently order I did. What seemed like just a couple rolls on paper turned into an entire tableful of rolls. The count we took before diving in was 48 pieces. I wish I could tell you that we finished everything on the table. I know we both gave it an incredibly valiant effort. But that is a lot of rice, a lot of cucumber, and way more avocado than anyone should eat in one sitting. It was amazing. Emilie found her new favorite vegetarian roll (avocado-cucumber) and I gorged myself on tempura yam rolls. Mmmm. A to go box was in order and we promptly packed up the leftovers for her to have as dinner the next day. After dinner we headed out to my favorite coffee house in the city, Rituals for a little decaf and some continued conversation. It was a wonderful night and I have to thank my sister for it. Love you little sis. Thanks.

Quick Image

This is nothing special. I'm working mostly full days now (7-8 hours) and my work days have been really busy. In the evenings I've been either exhausted or out so I haven't really had any time to post anything. I hope to get back on schedule soon. Thank you all for your patience.

In the meantime, here is a fun image I took off of Epicute. I love Bento boxes and these are just too cute to pass up.

Eating Animals

It is hard to imagine that two years ago I had never heard the term Battery Cage. That I had never really thought about where my eggs come from. That I had never even really thought about the chicken that I ate. Some would say that I was blissfully ignorant but I find my lack of information incredulous. How was it possible for me to not know how my food was produced? But that was the case. Over the last year and a half I have learned perhaps far more than I ever cared to know. I have learned enough that I plan to never eat meat again. I have learned enough that I'm actively contemplating becoming vegan. And they say that a mind, once expanded, can never return to its original size. I cannot unlearn what I have learned. Nor do I want to.

Over the last year and a half I have read everything I can find on food production, with a focus on animal production. Jonathan Safran Foer's newly released book "Eating Animals" immediately jumped to the top of my list when I heard about it. I asked for the book for my birthday and finally sat down to read it over Thanksgiving. This had to be one of the toughest books I've ever read about any topic. I've read war stories that didn't affect me as much as this very true story of systematic torture. I broke down halfway through and had to put the book down for a while. I've always been sensitive to animal suffering but knowing that this is all true and that this is how the industry is trending makes me angry, disgusted, and sad at the same time.

Foer starts out with a tongue in cheek discussion of eating dog. His arguement is that with dogs we would have a steady stream of good tasty meat. Dogs are plentiful and eaten around the world. And by now you are starting to get angry. We can't eat dogs. We don't eat companion animals. I've mentioned before that companion animals actually have a pretty good life in the US, certainly compared to farm animals. Foer states that pigs are just as smart as dogs, just as loyal. Yet the dogs we invite into our families. The pigs we keep in horrible conditions and slaughter in terrible ways. And pigs have it far better then our feathered friends. Chickens, whether kept for eggs or for meat, are some of the most tortured creatures on the planet. Both their lives and their deaths would make most horror films look tame. And this happens to hundreds of millions of birds every year. And chickens, like dogs, are playful, curious, and social.

Foer tells stories of both animal lives and animal deaths and all are enough to make you ill. He also gives the opposition a chance to speak. His book includes letters from cattle ranchers, factory farmers, along with the more expected letters from animal welfare activists and PETA. The only one he doesn't represent is the Agribusiness executives, mostly because they refused to answer his letters, request for tours, or even inquiries. As Foer points out, shouldn't we get a chance to see where our food comes from. We used to be able to but now that factory farming has become dominant, that is no longer the case. Mostly because the more we know about where our meat comes from and how the animals were treated, the less likely we would be to eat it.

I won't apologize for sounding preachy here. This is something that I feel incredibly strongly about. Although I won't attempt to convert anyone to vegetarianism, I do ask that you think about where your food came from. And think about what animal made that meal possible. Although I will not eat meat again, if the industry does return to more humane lives for its animals I won't begrudge someone for eating it. But with the current state of factory farming, meat production (along with dairy and eggs) is nothing short of torture. And that I can't have on my conscience. I'm currently a vegetarian but after reading this I'm heading towards vegan. I'm also planning other life changes. I won't say this is all because of this book, but the more I read, the more sickened I am. And what I have learned, cannot be unlearned.

What my favorite snack is worth?

For the last hour I have done nothing but stand at the counter, plucking delicate seeds, avoiding juice stains, and slowly losing feeling in my back. Twice I had to stop and sit down in order to ease the pain in my neck from bending over. My fingers were so cold and wet that they pruned within the first thirty minutes. But it's all worth it. I now have a huge tupperware container filled to the top with pomegranate seeds.

November makes me incredibly happy for a number of reasons. It's my birthday month which always means a nice dinner out with my family. It's the month of my very favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. More food and family. And it's pomegranate season. Can you tell I like food?

In these days of supermarkets where I can get grapes, asparagus, apples, and strawberries year round, pomegranates are a bit of an oddity. They only appear in the store during the end of October and throughout November and December. The rest of the year you simply can't get them or at least not good ones. You can always tell a good pomegranate by how heavy the fruit is. It should be much heavier than you expect it to be. It should also be firm and a deep red.

Now pomegranates have to be one of the most difficult fruits to eat. I've heard of people who peel the skin and then eat both the seeds and the pulp between but I'm not willing to stoop to such lengths. I am picky about my pomegranates and am willing to put in the work to get the flavorful seeds while avoiding the stringy pulp. They are quite simply my favorite snacks and are worth every minute of extra effort.

At the store today, I bought three of the largest ones I've ever seen. I took them home and scored the fruit into quarters. Then comes the delicate work of pulling the seeds out. I'm pretty picky and only take the full and clear seeds, leaving behind the cloudy and smooshed ones. Inevitably I will get juice all over the counter, my hands, and my clothing. But it is all worth it. I can now open the fridge and take a handful of seeds to munch on whenever I want. And this will be my only snack for weeks. All during pomegranate season the fridge is never without a container filled with seeds. I literally eat myself sick of them. I will eat them until the thought of their juice makes me slightly ill. Luckily by that time the season will be over and I can start working on craving them again next year. I love pomegranate season.

Epicute

It's not often that I find a website that combines two of my very favorite things in the world. In this case, food and cuteness. I've been slowly gathering blogs that make me incredibly happy. This particular one is a favorite. I'm not sure how I found it. It was mentioned on one of the blogs I read but when I went back I couldn't find the reference.

Epicute is a blog created by a young woman named Sonya who searches the web to find some of the most amazingly creative and cute food items that people are making out there. There are cupcakes, candies, cakes, bento boxes, and more. She posts almost twice daily and each image is just a bit of sweetness.

If that image didn't hook you, how about this one. Yep, those little adorable bears are made out of sugar.

And I have to throw in one of Sakurako Kitsa's Bento Boxes. I had seen these before but they are way too amazing not to share.

One warning though, if you don't crave sweets after reading this blog, there is seriously something wrong with you.

Mmmmm....Fast Food

Since I've become a vegetarian, I rarely eat at fast food restaurants anymore. It's just so difficult to find anything to order. Even the salads are out since so many of them are premade. Other than Subway, I've stayed well away from them unless I absolutely had to. I've been to KFC twice, Arby's twice, Wendy's once, and McDonald's once. And that's in the last 10 months.

Today though I was hungry for something quick, something I could bring back and eat at my desk, something that was not quite so healthy for me. And luckily I finally have a solution. Burger King offers a Veggie Burger! Not only that, but they use Gardenburger, which is actually somewhat tasty. They're not Boca's but they're tasty enough. So today I went out and bought myself a value meal. A Veggie Burger, fries, and a huge soda. And it was so tasty. I'm sure I'll make that an occasional treat.

The big thing for me is that they offer it. It tends to be a meat eaters world and the fast food world is even more meat crazed. To even give vegetarians an option, is an amazing thing. And a trend that I hope to support. Plus I loved the fact that the toys that came in the kid's meals were from books. Not books becoming movies, but stand alone books (The Dangerous Book for Boys, The Daring Book for Girls). This is a chain that I might be able to support. I know that Burger King is not a particularly conscienous chain, but they seem to be doing better than others. Now if they could just improve their commercials. (I'm not a fan of the king commercials). But at least I can go and pick up a fast food meal and still not have to compromise my principles. Because honestly, there is only so much Subway one can eat.

I Married a Meatatarian

When Wendy's came out with their Meatatarian commericals, Jeff and I just died laughing. I finally had a name for what he is. Jeff is the epitome of a meat-and-potatoes guy. If he could eat nothing but bacon cheeseburgers and fries for the rest of his life he would be happy. Throw in the occasional chicken fried steak and he'd be in heaven. I like to joke that if it has flavor, Jeff won't like it.

But I have to say he's been very good about my decision to become a vegetarian. I already avoided most meat, simply because I don't like the taste. So when I finally made the call to cut out meat entirely, it wasn't much of a stretch for me. I miss the occasional salmon sushi or bacon with breakfast, but overall I'm pretty content. For Jeff this has been a bit more of a shift. Not cooking wise, since we've always made our own meals. But in our choice of restaurants. We no longer go out to Barbeque places, because there is nothing for me on the menu. Steakhouses are also no longer mentioned. He's been great about eating more asian and indian food with me where the choices are almost overwhelming. He's just been great about the whole thing, well other than the occasional bacon taunting.

I've been thinking about this because my brother and his family are coming in town this weekend so eating should get interesting. Red Robin and Cosi Cucina (a local italian place) are no problems for me. At Red Robin, I can get a Boca patty on any of their specialty burgers. Cosi has half a page of vegetarian options, all of which are really tasty. But one of their other favorite places is Famous Dave's; and I don't know of anything there that I can eat. I'm sure that I'll be able to find at least something that I can remove the chicken from. They supposedly have some decent salads. Jeff, of course, will be in heaven.

The big thing I'm trying to learn is to not be embarrased to ask them to take the chicken off or to prepare it differently. I've always been one of those people who hated to send a meal back or have it special ordered. I didn't want to be a bother or I didn't want the waitress to be upset. I'm not sure why I thought that would happen. I'm normally pretty polite. This stepping outside of my comfort zone might be good for me. And it will give Jeff a chance to get to some of his favorite restaurants again. After all, Jeff and I have been at opposite ends of the food spectrum for over a decade now and somehow we've survived.

Harvest for Hope

Amazingly enough I've become something of a slow reader since I started playing WoW. What used to take me three days to read now takes a couple weeks. I used to read a book a week at my slowest. Now it takes me a couple weeks to finish some of the fastest books. It's something that I'm going to look to correct, but for right now I plod through books when I used to glide. 

So when I say that it has taken me weeks to read Jane Goodall's Harvest for Hope, it is not because of any flaw with the book. In fact this book is wonderful. It will gladly go onto my shelf for future perusal. Harvest For Hope is a book about the food industry and all the issues and challenges that face it. Food production has changed completely in the last 50 or so years and not for the better. Corporations control too much of our food supply now, monocrops dominate farms, and animals are kept as commodities not living things. So many of us have no concept of where our food comes from or the huge lengths it goes to, getting to our plates. 

Goodall presents all this information in her standard direct way but she is quick to point out ways in which we can improve the system. The tone of several sections are bleak but there is always hope at the end of each chapter. Her section on local eating is fascinating. There are a ton of slow food, local food movements out there that I was not aware of. The sections of factory farms for animal products made me physically ill and continues to cement my decision to be vegetarian, no matter how often Jeff offers me bacon. :-) 

Goodall touches on the natural order of eating, animal rights, genetically modified foods, obesity rates, water issues, and corporate control. None of this information was new but the solutions Goodall offers are not normally given in these types of books. I came away feeling more hopeful then I did after reading Fast Food Nation. Like reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in high school, these books make a huge impact in the way I view my world. Goodall's section of fish farming was new and very eye-opening. I was not aware of how often these farms contaminate the wild fish that live nearby. The sections on local foods made me want to start growing my own vegetables. I'll have to start a small garden this summer. 

Again not a lot of new information (after having read multiple books on food production) but told in a wonderful way. I felt dispair and I felt hope within a couple pages of each other. A call to arms if I ever read one. For anyone interested in all sections of food production, it is a must read. 

Food Is the New Sex

Since the 1950s the number of books that have come out about sex have been staggering. Masters and Johnson produced their well known book, Human Sexual Response. The Joy of Sex has been printed in version after version. Kinney came forward with his ground breaking research. And through the sixties, seventies, eighties, and even some of the nineties it is what we talked about. Sometimes in hushed tones but it was on the tip of a lot of people's tongues.

The 2000s seem to have brought a new focus: food. And suddenly it seems like the market has been glutted with books about food. We discuss trans fats in hushed tones and talk about antioxidants the way we use to talk about the g-spot. I of course only mention all this because I've been hit with this craze as well. "Fast Food Nation" was the first book I remember reading on food and I was shocked by what I found. I eat fast food (Subway excepted) far less then before because of it. I finished "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" about a year ago. Barbara Kingsolver's beautiful book on eating local made a huge impact on me. I started to think about where my food really came from and what distance it had traveled to make it to my table. I began to think about the seasons food has. I'm currently reading "Harvest for Hope", Jane Goodall's book on eating in a sustainable manner, both for the planet and the animals and humans who live here. And I'm on hold at the library to read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" Michael Pollan's revolutionary book on food production. After that will be another Pollan, "In Defense of Food" about the debate between food and nutrients. In short, I'm suddenly paying a lot of attention to what I'm putting in my body.

The idea for this post came from my dad who just finished "The Omnivore's Dilemma". My dad has never been a man who has been bitten by the environmental bug. He used to get my sister's ire up by denying that climate change was happening. He would drive me crazy with his defense on CAFOs. Suddenly he's talking about sustainable, organic farming. He's mentioning the hormones in his meat. We're talking crop rotations at dinner. He has become interested in food. And one night he mentioned that food was the new sex. And we started debating why we, as a society, were suddenly interested in something we've taken for granted for years.

Perhaps this focus on food is coming at a good time. The obesity rate in this country is skyrocketing. We eat processed foods with ingredients we can't even pronounce much less know what they do. We add artificial flavors and (as I found out from Fast Food Nation) scents to our foods. Corporations control a good portion of what we eat. Within my parent's lifetime we have seen a shift from natural foods to grocery bought packaged foods pumped with preservatives. And suddenly people are starting to notice that the food they eat doesn't really feed them. At least not provide them with the nutrition they need. It is amazing that something created in a lab can be so tasty but there is very little to match a free off the tree pear or a bit of honey drizzled over a biscuit. Nature at its finest.

This wasn't meant as a lecture. I've been interested in food for a while. I'm trying to strip more and more of the artificial out of my diet. My family is now pretty comfortable with my vegetarian diet although my mother (bless her heart) keeps inviting me over for beef stew. I've often said that I don't cook, which has been mostly true. But I'm ready for a bit of a change. I want to start making more food from scratch. I love the idea of knowing everything that went into the dinner I eat. I'm excited about the idea of eating less preservatives. And I'm excited about trying out some new meals. Plus I just like food.

And just a little something to sweeten you up, since this post seems a bit like a lecture and that wasn't my intent. Food is not just the new sex but sometimes the new art.

Cripes Those are Good Crepes

I'm a foodie. I like food and I particularly like good food. So as Des Moines continues to put up amazingly good new restaurants I am in seventh heaven. Today I ended up at Django (pronounced Jaing-go) a newish French restaurant in town. I hadn't been avoiding the place but I put off going for a while. As a vegetarian, French food is tough. Most dishes tend to be heavily meat based. Or so I thought.

Months ago, while we were on our cruise, I read Kathleen Flinn's very tasty "The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry". The author spent one year in France attending the very competitive Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. The school is designed to make people into master chefs and walking out with an advanced degree at Le Cordon Bleu will guarantee most people a highly sought chef position. Flinn's book was fantastic. All of the dishes seemed so beautiful and tasty. Even all the hard work that went into making them seemed to make them that much better. I found myself wanting to learn to cut vegetables the proper way. I wanted to learn to make dough and create my own stocks. Although the meat portions kind of disgusted me (not through her fault, just my sensitive stomach) I came back from the trip with a desire to cook and bake. And with a new appreciation for French cuisine.

And one of the dishes she made constantly was bechamel sauce. Bechamel is considered one of the five mother sauces in France. It is a simple concoction, mixing milk with roux (butter and flour) and is one of the bases for many different types of sauces. Cream sauces and cheese sauces simply wouldn't exist without bechamel. So when I saw a pretty dish with roasted red pepper bechamel sauce I knew I had to have it. It certainly didn't hurt that it was drizzled over wild mushroom crepes with spinach and goat's cheese. I can't even imagine a better combination. And it was heavenly. For those of you out there who are too afraid to try savory crepes, you are really missing out.

So I ate what is considered the ultimate comfort food in France, while watching the rain pour down and the lightning crack across the sky. I had lunch with a friend who offered me pieces of her tart and we talked and enjoyed being inside and eating amazing food. And I got over my worry about French food. There were at least four other vegetarian options on the menu for me to come back and try. And I will definately be back.

Roof Ice and Snow Cream....

Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Salmonella.


I drove into work this morning with my iPod blaring and an icicle wedged into my mitten. Right as I was walking out the door I noticed a beautiful array of icicles right over my head and I just had to grab one. Any of my family will tell you that I have strange icicle addiction. I love them. My mother has been known to stash a particularly pretty one in the freezer for me to eat when I come over. They are one of those great outdoor snacks.



My older brother (a doctor) started calling them roof ice as a way to remind me of where they came from. Roofs are dirty, covered in dust and grime and bird droppings. And of course icicles are dirty. I still eat them. I've grabbed them off strange houses and eaten them. It's not that I'm not worried about getting sick....it's just that...no I'm actually not worried about getting sick. It is the same for me with cookie dough. I think it's a crime to bake cookies. Cookie dough is the greatest treat on earth, particularly with chocolate chips. And I'm constantly remind by others of the salmonella risk that comes from eating cookie dough. I just don't care. I figure I've gone 32 years now eating cookie dough and never had salmonella. I like those odds.

I'm a big fan of eating food I find outdoors. Mulberries are my favorite summer fruit and they can only be found outdoors. No one packages and sells mulberries. They are just too delicate. So when I find a mulberry tree I stop and eat for a while. Perhaps some of the joy is foraging for my own food. Or the fact that this is as natural as food can get. We have a focus on eating Organic in the US but most people would refuse to eat berries that they find on a tree. How much more Organic (natural) can you get?


And the worry of salmonella brings me to my favorite outdoor winter treat. Snow Cream. This is recipe that Jeff and his family introduced me too and I have to say I'm hooked. You need snow, particularly freshly fallen snow. The big flake kind that's somewhat heavy. Leave a big soup pot outside in the falling snow and then collect the rest from the top layer that has fallen. Mix in an egg (raw), sugar (normally 1-2 cups) and a tablespoon or so of vanilla. Mix and eat. It is unbelievably good. But most people can't get past the raw egg. Now I will admit that the first time you see a bit of yolk in your snow cream it's a little offputting. Even I was a little unsure, but if you get past the fear of salmonella or any other diseases, there are some great natural treats out there for you. Icicles and snow cream, making winter more enjoyable for the last 30 years.