Quick Hit: Point of Order! 3 March 2010 2:44 pm
Posted by Tracy in : consumerism, convenience, eating, economics, food snobbery, geekery, health, news, nutrition, politics , CommentsToday, several news sources I follow are all about a new study comparing the effects of “junk” food taxes and subsidies on healthier food which concluded that the former is better at encouraging people to buy more “healthy” stuff. If this story goes away in less than a week, I will be very surprised, so I’m going to be watching it if only to see how long it persists, and hey, look at me responding to news in a timely manner for a change, woo!
That said, my one-word response to this study story is: AUGH. (more…)
Foto Friday: Linguine Alfredo recipe, for Piett. 15 January 2010 11:08 pm
Posted by Tracy in : Holland, Netherlands, cheese, convenience, cooking, eating, eugene, family, hot mess, pasta, photos, pictures, random, recipes, restaurants, vegetarian, work , CommentsSo I’m back from Holland and recovering from the trip, but still pretty freaking tired and nowhere near done uploading and organizing all the pictures I took. Today’s photo post was going to be all about flying fancy-style, but like I said, I haven’t quite got those pictures processed. Instead, I’m going to blog my dinner, which happens to relate back to my trip in more than just the “so tired, can’t get stuff organized” way. You see, on Tuesday night my brother Piett and I made a huge pasta dinner for my parents, my Oma, my aunt Ingrid, uncle Dako, their daughters Stéphanie and Claudia, and Stéphanie’s boyfriend Raymond (to be perfectly fair, Claud made her own food but I was still happy to have something that almost everyone could agree to eat). We cooked 1 1/2 kilos of spaghetti and three different sauces for people to mix and match to their own tastes: tomato-meat, tomato-vegetable sauce, and creamy pesto. Piett was an awesome sous-chef, and somewhere in the chatting over cooking we got to the topic of Alfredo sauce. My basic point was that it’s super-easy, and Piett said he’d like me to show him how to make it some time. While this post is not the video podcast recipe he suggested, it’s a step in that direction.
Linguine Alfredo: it’s what was for my dinner tonight.
More obesity big-picture stuff. 14 October 2009 3:08 pm
Posted by Tracy in : consumerism, convenience, food snobbery, health, health at every size, history, politics, responsibility, writing , CommentsSo here’s a few thoughts I cut from last Wednesday’s post since it was running too long. I am tempted to make my health-at-every-size ranting a regularly-scheduled feature, but “Weighty Wednesdays” is just too cutesy and besides, I haven’t exactly been rocking the regularly-scheduled posts these past few months anyway.
So. Here I go. Despite its persistent reporting by both government and mass media sources, I am extremely skeptical about the oft-trumpeted assertion that we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic. I should probably spend some time analyzing the hell out of the use of the term “epidemic” when I think “crisis” or “panic” are more appropriate, but for now I’m trying to get on with this post (more…)
Breadman Ultimate, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Machine 3 September 2009 12:29 pm
Posted by Tracy in : baking, breakfast, consumerism, convenience, cooking, eating, friends, kitchen gear, pictures, recipes, thank you Thursday , CommentsSo last week I posted a picture of some tomato sandwiches on homemade bread, and realized that there was more to their story. You see, that wasn’t just any homemade bread, but the fruit — I mean, product — of our bread machine, the Breadman Ultimate of this post’s title.
Breadman Ultimate is actually our second bread machine; its predecessor was not just our first bread machine but also the first in a series of appliances we’ve worn out through overuse — which you’ve got to admit is kind of badass awesome. That first bread machine was, no joke, Betty Crocker brand, I believe from a Fry’s Electronics in southern California. It was also the source of some controversy. (more…)
Monkey Monday: knee-jerk reaction edition. 1 June 2009 10:58 am
Posted by Tracy in : consumerism, convenience, cooking, friends, monkeys, people, politics, random, restaurants, work , CommentsHey! Is anybody reading this planning to go to the Vegan Brunch book party at MooShoes tonight? I’m going to try to make it, but I’m going to have to get Isa’s autograph on Vegan With a Vengeance since my super-lucky copy of Vegan Brunch is still on its way over here (do tell me all about it, Megan!) Okay, now on with the rant.
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Disclaimer: Only the last paragraph of this rant (the update) was written after I’d actually read the blog post in question, but I stand by everything that leapt partly-formed from my brain as soon as I saw this headline and summary:
American Dining’s Service Deficit
from The Atlantic Food Channel by Nina and Tim Zagat
About 70 percent of complaints recorded by the Zagat Survey are about service; far more than food. How to fix our service problem.
PAY THEM! I shouted at my computer screen, startling the cat who was climbing around on my desk in a futile effort to get my attention. (more…)
