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!