Animal, Vegetable, Miserable

The free-range turkey debate ignores whether it’s wrong to kill animals for human consumption at all. Food for thought...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/opinion/22steiner.html

David Byrne: Live on Two Wheels

The former Talking Heads frontman discusses his passion for bicycles and what he thinks New York City should do to become more bike friendly. Link

Food rules!

Food Rules: Your Dietary Dos and Don'ts

Published: October 11, 2009

Michael Pollan shares 20 of his favorite food rules sent in by Times readers

I posted this on FB, but I got to talking with the kids about it and we came up with some of our own food rules and decided to share them here:


1) When eating cream of tomato, you MUST have grilled cheese with it. (Scout)
2) Don't eat too much pie or sugar. (Ethan)
3) All ways put oregano in your eggs. (Scout)
4) Do drink out of the toilet. (Oscar)
5) Don't drink out of the toilet. (Jeremy)
6) Eat with others. (Jeremy)
7) Don't put salt and pepper on before tasting the dish. (Scout)
8) Tomatoes are great right off the vine. (Ethan)
9) Everything in moderation (Maryanne)
10) Eat local, Eat seasonal ,Eat fresh! (The whole family)
Typing courtesy of Mostly All Sydney (and 3 Ethan)

Why we can and must have better health care in the US

5 Myths About Health Care Around the World

"...the most persistent myth of all: that America has "the finest health care" in the world. We don't. In terms of results, almost all advanced countries have better national health statistics than the United States does. In terms of finance, we force 700,000 Americans into bankruptcy each year because of medical bills. In France, the number of medical bankruptcies is zero. Britain: zero. Japan: zero. Germany: zero."

Western Wrap Up

Kinda left the rest of trip through the vastness of the western US without narration. Good internet connections could be had but time & energy to write were scarce. Waking refreshed and ready to go, we left the western edges of KC and headed toward our next destination of Denver. The landscape wasn't too exciting in Kansas but it was neat to see several dozen electric-generating wind turbines dotting the landscape along the way. Juxtaposition these clean, white majestic-looking creatures with the occasional rusting & noisy oil well pump that popped up here & there - quite a comparison: energy of yesterday vs energy of today.


The approach to Denver wasn't what I expected. Sure we could begin to see the Rocky Mountains in the distance and even watched a fantastic summer rainstorm as it approached and washed over us. As the Miro (GPS) kept clipping down the miles to the Mile-High City I kept expected to see more & more signs of civilization. You know...a few houses, some outlying commercial areas, some big box stores a Popeye's chicken or two. No dice - I blinked my eyes and the next thing I knew, there we were in Denver and at our hotel. Enough for now...I'll add to the post later....

Health care and the public's resistance to change: newyorker.com

Health care and the public's resistance to change: newyorker.com


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God Bless Generica

We headed out of StL in the early afternoon on Saturday (7/25). I-70 had slowed to a crawl because of an accident and we took advantage of the slowdown to consume an in-car lunch of PB & honey or cheese sandwiches. Our next major stop was at a Holiday Inn Express on the west side of Kansas City from where we would launch one of the longer legs of the journey across the entire state, roughly 10 hours. Everything was indeed up-to-date in Kansas City, at least where our Holiday Inn was located but I doubt that they had gone “about as fer as they could go” when it came to sprawl unfortunately. Our hotel was on the edge of what appeared to be a vast “Generica” development complete with the usual array of big box stores and frozen custard establishments. We decided to venture in to the heart of the consumer frenzy because folks were itching for non-car prepared cuisine. This turned out to be an immediate mistake as the parking and traffic situation in the central part of the commerce zone was a nightmare. (The last thing I wanted to be doing at that point was navigating a 7 person SUV and aggressively competing for scant parking spots). So, we got out of that part of the complex with all due haste and parked our big Conestoga wagon in a distant pasture and hiked it in from there – of course the trails were nonexistent and we had to cross a number of wide concrete streams and manicured hedges finally making to a trendy-looking Asian eatery. Via a recommendation from cousin Alex, the kids all started out with some California rolls that turned out to be quite a hit (a second order was required). Sufficiently fed, we headed back to the hotel for a splash in the indoor “pool” – I say “pool” because it seemed more like a large communal bathtub than an actual swimming facility.

A night & day in St. Louie...

In the tradition of Lewis & Clark, we began our westward exploration from the gateway of St Louis. The drive wasn't bad at all and on the way we surprised the kids with our announcement that we had lawn tickets to the Coldplay concert - hoots & hoorays all around. The Drury Inn that we stayed in was basically in the shadow of the famous Arch. The accommodations were quite nice...Drury has free drinks (wine, beer & mixed for adults) and snacks in the evening and the kids were all about "free" stuff. Any way we checked in, grabbed our snacks and headed west on I 70 to the concert spot.

As expected, the show was fantastic with lots of cool stage special effects to keep the crowd on their toes including a release of a bunch of big yellow balls during the rendition of "Yellow". It's been a while since I've been to a big, highly orchestrated production like this and they can often seem a bit mechanical and short on spontaneity. However, I thought Chris Martin & company included a nice touch when they ventured out onto the lawn area late in the show (nowhere near us unfortunately) to play a short set of eclectic songs including a fun cover of MJ's Billy Jean. We made the tactical move to leave a bit early as the drive and shift to Central Time had left all a bit tired. We listened to a couple of songs from the car as we drove out and crashed hard back at the Drury.

On Saturday morning we grabbed our "free" breakfast and then headed over to the arch. Fortunately, Maryanne had secured tickets for a tram ride to the top in advance and we proceeded to the the departure point. The arch is 630 feet high and is made of three principle materials: stainless steel, concrete and carbon steel. The tram car sat 5, but I was glad that everyone in my group was smaller than me. The view from the top was spectacular, but from the ground it was hard to conceive that there was much space up there for observation. Incredibly, there was probably enough room for 50-75 people There was a utility access panel in the floor of the observation area...I told kids that it was the "quick" way down.

Maryanne and I agreed that StL was deserving of more exploring...6.5 hour trip from CHM, hmm...weekend get away in the near future?

Summer Dining

We picked up two very dirty, happy and tired kids Saturday morning who were pleased to sleep in their own beds last night. As I noted in a FB post, Ethan said in the car on the way home: "First thing when I get home, I'm going right upstairs to the bathroom for a decent pee, a decent poop and a decent shower." Who knew I was raising such a decent kid? With the cool & rainy weather yesterday it was nice just to spend the day relaxing with the kids, playing games and doing laundry. Oscar was also very happy to see his Red House pals back once again administered plenty of fresh licks even with (or maybe because?) a layer of camp grime.

Although both kids said camp food was good, I went all out for Saturday night dinner with goods from both our CSA share and my garden. Scout thought the meal lacked focus (a central, main dish) but I said the focus was the many fresh summer veggies. On the table: Sliced tomatoes (first Brandywine, yum!) w/ fresh mozzarella; sweet corn, sauteed green & yellow summer squash and a green bean salad (toasted walnuts, olive oil & lemon juice and a sprinkle of parm cheese). I know I'll look back on these pictures longingly come February. (Notice the product placement for the Newcastle...I get a small payment every time I mention or show a bottle...I know, I know, but it helps to offset the cost of the blog.)

Postcard from Camp Wyandot!

Sydney's Boston Adventure

Here's a summary of Syd's visit to Boston...too much ice cream if you ask me!

Dear Everyone,
I have had a great time this week and want to share it with you so I made a chart of what I did every day enjoy!

Wednesday:
Flew in and worked @ Uncle Jo Jo's Gallery
getting ready for his opening (see friday)
sat in big green squishy seat i named my nests
ate hotdogs
went apartment hunting
and met Chris (gallery intern)

Thursday:
installed the show (put up photos)
was bored by the rearranging of photos
sat in my nests
and met Rita

Friday:
went to Harvard Square with Edward on train
ate hamburger @ Charlie's Kitchen
went to the Peabody museum
the new show for the gallery opened
and ate ice-cream

Saturday:
went to castle island
went on a boring tour of fort with old people
Constitution didn't come
got ice-cream
and watched beautiful fireworks from Ohio

Sunday:
went on boat to George's island
saw a really cool fort
ate cake batter ice-cream
and felt sick after having my first fish and chips

Monday:
had lunch @ the top of the Prudential building (52 floors up)
ate half a big hamburger
visited Edward @ the museum of fine arts
saw a mummy, saw a giant buddha,
went to the boston pubic library
took a nap (not me uncle Jo Jo)
and ran to meet Edward @ the movie theater 2 see Up

Tuesday:
had waffles
had waffles
sat in my nests
made tape pictures
ate hotdogs
met Monique and Gizelle (a Papillon )
gave Gizelle puppy treats
ate pasta
and Klondike bars

Wednesday:
had waffles
sat in my nests
went to the gallery
and has flown away
Bye Bye Boston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sydney

Maryanne's Birthday Video

The kids and I put this together for MBT's birthday...tons of fun...I'm liking iMovie!

Adventures in fine dinning

Back on the job after a month long hiatus in Facebook land. FB is fun and I've connected with a lot of old friends I'd lost track of...but, it is nice to get back to the slower paced, longer entry form of the blog. The beginning of June finds the kids ready for school to end and summer to officially begin. Big plans for the summer as usual. Both kids will be doing a week at Camp Wyandotte (Camp Fire Kids) in the Hocking Hills in July. This will be Ethan's first full week away and we're glad big sis will be there in case he gets to missing home too much. We've got a two week stint out to the Grand Canyon planned for the last of July and the first of August and then our usual trip out to Ocean City later in August (big "shout out" to the State of Ohio for "Cost Savings Days" - an extra 10 days off this year and 3.5% pay cut!) Scout has an extra-special event planned...7 days with Uncle JoJo and Edward in Boston over the 4th of July weekend. I understand she will be working as a special assistant the proprietor of Carroll & Sons fine arts gallery.

Maryanne has engaged in a new workout program called "boot camp" that meets 4 mornings a week (6AM - 7AM) for some good old fashioned US military style PT. That means we've been eating "extra" healthy these days (drill sergeant's orders) which gets me to this post's title...dinner last night (at right): whole wheat farfalle tossed with pan fried, peppers, onions, asparagus and veggie italian saugage; stir fried pak choy (from the CSA), and sliced watermelon (it's a bit early for watermelon to me, but Maryanne found a nice one a Weinland's Market). Tonight: Steamed broc, carrots & cauliflower with golden pan-fried tofu, brown rice and a spicy peanut sauce. Oh, and my friend Amy sent me some new quinoa recipes that I'm itchin' to try - thanks Amy!

Ethan loves it when I sing this to him (ha!)

Spring sports seasons have begun!

Soccer games started last Saturday for the kids at Whetstone and they've also started swimming lessons at OSU. Here's Scout fresh from doing 18 laps in 12 minutes!

Rockin' good times

Sorry to keep all you RHC fans post-less...It didn't take long to get us back in the groove with M. Spring quarter started this week and M is teaching on Monday & Wednesday afternoons. And on Thursday this week Ethan has a sharing event at his school. They've been working on a unit focused on rocks, soil & fossils. Ethan has been collecting every interesting rock he can find and we have various collections scattered throughout the RH. It also means double checking his pockets before doing laundry, even if he likes his specimens nice and clean. He's scheming to sell one of his finds to the Natural History museum for big bucks. I hope so, then maybe he can buy some cases in which to house the rest of his collection (and maybe rent some space).

Speaking of rocks/fossils, on Sunday we had a bowling party get together with the Carroll clan to celebrate Uncle Jeff's 48th. A right fun time was had by all (gotta love those lane bumpers) but the cardboard bowling alley pizza was no match for Grandma's German Chocolate cake - yum!

Meat = Death

From the Washington Post:

"Among women, those who ate the most red meat were 36 percent more likely to die for any reason, 20 percent more likely to die of cancer and 50 percent more likely to die of heart disease. Men who ate the most meat were 31 percent more likely to die for any reason, 22 percent more likely to die of cancer and 27 percent more likely to die of heart disease."

She's back!

We were all very happy to have Maryanne/Mama back home with us late Friday evening. She had wonderful trip and got to meet and help many wonderful folks in hot and dusty Honduras, like this little one. The kids and Oscar took good care of me, fetching my slippers, pipe and cognac when I needed them. Of course she came home to a clean house with all the laundry done (really).

We slept in on Saturday and then helped M good through the output of her Honduran economic stimulus package. Quite a haul - she even got me some Honduran stogies...doesn't she know I'm a pipe guy?

Be careful in the shower!

From Maryanne (3/17)

Doing well here, tap water went in my mouth during my first shower and my GI has been reaking havoc since. Still able to work, so doing OK. Jer, trying to call the kids this morning but the phones are not working. I wanted to talk to them. Tell them I wrote and love them and doing well. Today we are going out to a village again. It is a good group of people and I am enjoying my time with them much more than I did in Haiti. I am seeing a lot of very, limp, dehydrated babies. It is amazing how 90cc of oral rehydration can fix them. Lots of roaches, dust, sun and heat. I will call and write when I can.
Love you all. Maryanne

From Maryanne (3/18)

Things went fine today. Looking forward to seeing you and the kids and sharing this trip.Phones are not working so can't hear your voices. Tell them I love them. Tomorrow we leave for the city in the morning and won't be able to write or call. I will call when my flight comes in before I get my luggage so you know when to pick me up.Love you lots and will try to call tomorrow.
Maryanne
 

Maryanne Update

Heard from Maryanne this morning via phone and e-mail. She couldn't talk long...she made it safely to Tegucigalpa. Here's her e-mail message:

I can´t write long but wanted you to know things are good and I made it here OK. It is hot and dusty. Kisses and love to you and the kids.

Maryanne

Well....here we go...

I dropped Maryanne off at the airport at 4:30 AM this morning for her trip to Honduras where she'll be until next Friday. I assume that everyone reading this knows that she's on a medical mission trip with students from the College of Nursing. Which means the kids & Oscar will be taking care of me for a week. I'm in good hands! We are also getting a lot of good help from Trudy (neighbor) and my Mom who is staying with us for a couple of days next week. We all miss Maryanne/Mama very much already but know that the work she is doing is very important to many people. Fortunately Oscar has volunteered to give us all lots of extra licks of love - thank you Oscar! I'll try to provide some updates from Maryanne when I her from her. She apparently will have some access to e-mail and phone from time to time.

Thought this was a good article...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/opinion/08friedman.html

Monday Night Dinner

Maryanne and I thought the table looked especially pretty tonight so I took a snap. On the menu, soy crumble tacos/taco salad with stir fried sweet potatoes. Yum!

No more pallet expander!

Ethan got his pallet expander out last week, yea! This will hopefully significantly reduce any time he needs to be in braces. Ethan says: "There's a lot of space in my mouth now." Other big news at the RH, Scout has completed her basic babysitters course and CPR with flying colors. She already has potential jobs lined up in the hood.

First Lady, First Class

The First Mom rocks...check it out here

King Parker Visits the RH

King Parker stopped by tonight for a visit while his mama & baby sis were at a meeting. Scout got the king to dance with her in the kitchen.

The kid's new school

Playing around with my BlackBerry...I was able to post this pic directly from my phone when I was walking Oscar the other day. (Not quite sure how I did it - it's hard to blog and walk a dog at the same time!) This is the view looking east from Calumet Road. The school is suppose to be ready by fall for the start of the new school year. They are completely gutting and renovating the building - it should be quite the facility for the kids, all the way through 8th grade.

Sickies

The Red House is blue these days...flu has come. First Ethan, who was hit last weekend (Friday - Sunday). Then Maryanne got hit hard on Tuesday and still hasn't fully recovered. And Friday evening Sydney was stricken. Presumably YT will be next in the rotation although I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Interestingly, I'm the only one who did not get a flu vaccination this year - I was scheduled for my shot at work back in the fall (October?) but had to miss work that day. Why? I was home with a sick kid.

Something in the way they smile....

Mondays...a 9 hour work day for me...e-mails popping up, folks stopping in for guidance. Starting to get weighed down by stuff I need to do, stuff that is over due and stuff I don't want to do but need to do anyway. And then I look up on my desk and see the kids school pictures and the smiles...how did they do that?

Thursday Night Cocktail Night

Thursdays...almost the weekend but not quite. But to get a head start, Maryanne & Katie have christened Thursday evenings as cocktail night. Each week a different drink is featured...this past Thursday was a pitcher of Sangria prepared by yours truly (4.9/5 stars by the tasters). The week before, Vespers and before that (as featured above by Katie) Mojitos. What's next? Who knows, we'll keep you posted!

My new friend...Quinoa

There I was again last week...two ravenously hungry kids trapping me in a corner, back against the pantry. In desperation, I slipped a hand into shelves and felt around while holding them at bay with the remains of a bag of tortilla chips and some salsa. The chips would soon be played (in a manner of speaking) and then my hand fumbled onto a mac & cheese sized box that I hoped was a home economic bailout package. "Quinoa" it said on the package..."the ancient super grain of the Incas". Hmm...I thought, can a super grain from the past be the answer to my current predicament? Cooking time: 15 minutes, that fit the bill. Add some sauteed veggies and it becomes a pilaf. But this is a grain, right? Will it be filling and pack the needed nutritional punch? And most importantly, will it be tasty? I decided to augument the meal with some stir-fried sweet potatos from a recipe I found on the NYT website (check it out here ) - very yummy and easy.

But the Quinoa, whoa was it D-lish! Ethan didn't care for it but Maryanne and Ethan's friend Ben thought it was great (3/4 people is pretty good I think). And then I starting learning more about this ancient "grain" - turns out, it is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal as it is not a grass like wheat or corn. And it's a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium) which is also the same genus as a common weed in these parts I grew up calling lamb's quarter (aka purple goosefoot?). Lamb's quarter was supposedly grown by ancients in Ohio for it's seeds as well. Anyway, back to Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), according to what I found on Wikipedia:

"Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthful choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source. It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights."

Pretty amazing eh? Looks like Quinoa will be a regular guest at our table from here on out.

The BIG 11!

It's official...Sydney's now a "tween" having reached that landmark on Friday evening. She had a short gathering on Saturday afternoon with select friends to celebrate. The theme: A dance/bread party. I'm not sure how much dancing went on but there definitely was bread. Maryanne picked up several loaves from Panera and I made some cheese fondue for dippin'. I understanding that she substantially added to her ear ring collection - however, I had to rescue 1/2 of an escaped pair that slipped down the drain in the first floor bathroom sink. I grumblingly dismanteled the trap and retrieved the wayward adornment (a peace symbol wouldn't you know) out of the slime. And then the unexepected payoff: "Your Dad is awesome Sydney!" - just when I was starting to get a good grump on...rats!

How Meat Contributes to Global Warming: Scientific American

How Meat Contributes to Global Warming: Scientific American

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Dancing with Oscar

The kids had a little a little dancing time with Oscar tonight....I think O weighs more than Ethan now. Oh yeah...I figured out how to bluetooth videos from my phone to the computer now too...watch out!

Hope over fear!!

Slacking again!

Got to get this in my routine...lot's happing at the Red House of late...Here's a pic of Syd at the OSU men b-ball game against Indiana (smoked 'em)...Go BUCKS!

14 years!

Not only did we get a new president on Tuesday but Maryanne and I celebrated our 14th year of holy matrimony! I originally had planned a surprise weekend get away but my plan was spoiled when MBT was checking our credit card accounts (because one of her cards was used illicitly) and made the reservation discovery (I made the reservations back in November). Where did we go you ask? One of our old favorites Glen Laurel in the beautiful Hocking Hills (http://www.glenlaurel.com/) - we had not stayed there in a while and were sad to learn that the original owner and founder Michael (?) has sold the place to a group of three owners. To their credit, the place has stayed reasonably true to its original designs. This was our fourth visit and our first stay in the "Elliot" croft. Although we usually like to hike the gorge on the property, the bone-chilling cold kept us snug in our cozy little abode with the gas fireplace going (except for a short jaunt into the hot tub Saturday afternoon). On Saturday evening we enjoyed a wonderful 7 course meal at the manor house with a nice bottle of French red we brought back from our 2005 trip abroad (Chateau Gardour 2002). The wine was AMAZING and the food was great too although we were a bit disappointed with the vegeterian main entree (soba noodles?). Big shout out to Ma & Pa Tranter for hanging out with the kids and Oscar all weekend - Pa Tranter got some great good morning "kisses" from Oscar, or so I heard.

New Hominy Recipe

I was desperate last night with dinner...I had a 30 oz can of white hominy in the pantry, so I did a recipe search on Google to find a creative way use it. There were tons of recipes but everything included cheese/sour cream/meat. Because MBT and I are doing the vegan thing for a couple of weeks, (sort of a post-holiday food consumption gut-check - multiple puns intended) I was forced to get creative on my own (ready, set cook!). So, I sauteed some chopped onion in some corn oil (seemed appropriate for hominy) and then threw in some cajun spice and a bunch of kale sliced in ribbons. After waiting for the kale to wilt a bit, I then drained the hominy and added about 15 oz of chopped, fire-roasted tomatoes (with liquid). I cooked it down a bit and then transferred to a casserole dish and baked it for 20 minutes at 350. Very tasty and pretty to look at (white/green/red), I love the texture of the hominy. I polished off the leftovers at lunch today, yum!

"What? I was sleep walking..."

Here's the scene at the Petry's during the holidays as recalled by Uncle Brian (through AJ)...cousin Claire and Ethan at odds over some issue. The parties are split for a "cooling off" period. Ethan announces that he is just going to "take a nap" and lays down unceremoniously on the couch. After a few minutes he gets up, walks over to Claire's new "pony" and knocks it over. His story when questioned by Uncle B...."What? I was just 'sleep walking'...

Sounds like he may need some "treatment" for his condition.

New Year's Day Hike at Highbanks

As is our annual tradition, scenes from our NYD hike.

Here's the bird!

Finally loaded pics onto the computer...