Sustainable Seafood, Recession-Proof Beverages

This ranking of supermarkets by the sustainability of their seafood operations (according to Greenpeace) makes me all warm and fuzzy because we frequently buy fish at Wegman's, but less-than-fuzzy because we also buy occasionally from Trader Joe's. Anyone else surprised that this hippie grocery enclave appears so far down on this list? Anyone not surprised that a chain called H.E. Butt is in last place?

What will we have with our fish...a nice IPA, perhaps? Recession-be-damned, we're [read: the U.S.] still drinking at about the same clip as we have since 1947, according to Callup (do these Gallup folks have a poll for everything?).

Ethanol, Dumb Government, and Corn Syrup

Government is usually faulted for moving too slowly, taking too long to catch up to the will of its citizens. The mandated ethanol production targets are an example of government moving too quickly, before the science of ethanol - as it related to global warming - was really understood. Now that it is better understood, this is a giant screw-up that has more serious ramifications than just massive give-aways to industrial agriculture. The problem is leaking into our food supply, and does anyone really expect the feds to move quickly (or to move at all) to correct their error, especially in an election year?

[A food/health aside: The farmer quoted in the Post article argues that food costs as a proportion of the average household budget is much less than it used to be. That's true, but that's because so much of the food Americans eat is processed food which is the end result of the industrialization of agriculture; back in the 1950's, food cost more because it was real food. Now so much of what we eat and drink contains some kind of corn-based chemical concoction that's cheaper than the real food alternative. As long as we continue to ramp up corn-based ethanol production, those processed food-like items are bound to get more expensive. So maybe this ethanol thing isn't all bad, if it means that real food becomes more of a part of the national diet once again?]

Here's another food prices / ethanol article on the front page of today's Sun.

Chocolate! (& Charity)

Jenny and I attended the 15th Annual Chocolate Affair at Ravens Stadium last night, our first real exposure to such a charity event, and we had a great time. Our friend Tammie is involved with the charity, Health Care for the Homeless, and was one of the organizers of what I assume must be their largest annual fundraiser. The food was terrific, although after a while we found we really needed to rein ourselves in, for fear of entering some kind of chocolate-induced coma. I think we were most impressed with the scallops with chocolate glazing - who knew scallops and chocolate would work so well together?

We also placed a couple bids on one of the silent auction items: a signed Jerry Springer photo and 4 tickets to a taping of his show!!! Alas, we were not victorious, as the winning bidder (A Mr. David Johnson) went up to $70. He was hovering around the bid sheet towards the end of the auction, so we knew that we were a long shot to take home Jerry. He was somewhat-jokingly trying to discourage us from bidding anymore, but we didn't end up going beyond $45, so we weren't his real competition. But I suppose that we did do our part to bid up the final price of the item, so even though we didn't win we helped out the charity, right?

Fine Dining in Baltimore

For our one year anniversary, Jenny and I dined at Charleston on Saturday night. By far the most expensive meal either of us have ever eaten, but easily the best dining experience as well. So many dining experiences seem focused on a loose combination of quantity and quality - at the conclusion of the meal, one measure of satisfaction is often, "am I so full that I have trouble getting up from the table and leaving the restaurant?" It's rare that a satisfying meal is purely the result of the exquisite quality of the food, and has nothing to do with quantity. This was one of those rare moments. I sincerely doubt that there is a finer restaurant anywhere in the Baltimore area.

A Cookie is a Sometimes Food?!?

This may be old news to some of you, but I just heard about it this morning: apparently, Cookie Monster is cutting down on his cookie intake.

Sure, the chunk factor of kids in this country have been well-documented. But he's a piece of felt who likes cookies - no harm there, right? Maybe parents need to be a bit smarter if they believe that their kid is being unduly influenced by Cookie Monster's cravings for sugar and saturated fat (although with all the role models kids could choose these days, one would think that Cookie Monster would be the least of parents' worries). Buy lowfat cookies for your rotund child! Sure, they taste like sawdust, but they're still technically cookies. Kids are smart, smart enough to know better when their parent tries to pass celery off as a crunchy green cookie, but not smart enough to make sure there's real sugar and high fat content in that package of low-fat Oreos.

I appreciate what Sesame Street is trying to do, but let's hope they don't go too far. Oscar should still be a Grouch, not "Oscar the Occasionally Moody". Big Bird is still a BIG YELLOW BIRD! He's not "Bird, who is tall for his age". And Elmo is simply hyper and obnoxious, not overly enthusiastic.

62 Essential Vitamins and Minerals

That's what your average box of Grape Nuts cereal contains. Not only that, but 500% of your USDA RDA - that's Recommended Daily Allowance, for you non-label-readers out there. And what does it have in the taste department? I'm glad you asked!

Jenny (my lovely and talented wife) and I don't often disagree, believe it or not. But I can only hope for the best, and prepare for the nutritious, when she buys breakfast cereals without me. While it's true that I do enjoy the sugary cereals - I have always had a particular affinity for Lucky Charms - I don't need tons of sugar for breakfast. There's nothing wrong in my book with Special K, even the plain stuff without the fruit, or Cheerios, the classic stand-by. But breakfast is the first meal of the day, and I'd prefer not to experience character-building events so early in the morning. Grape Nuts might be fantastically healthy for me, it might be the single greatest source of fiber known to cereal, but it also tastes like mulch. Cheap mulch, not the premium mulch with cedar chips and stuff like that. Cedar chips would actually improve Grape Nuts. Maybe I should write to Post and suggest that - "Grape Nuts, now with cedar!" I've heard that cedar doesn't stay crunchy in milk though, so it's probably not as marketable.

I also never thought much of frosted mini-wheats - kind of bland, I always thought, even with the sugar. That tune changed in a hurry when I discovered the colon-cleansing joy of regular (non-frosted!) shredded wheat. Frosted mini-wheats are a fabulous concept by comparison! Scouring the kitchen for a pop-tart is never an ennobling task, but alas, it was all too necessary on that sad morning.

I'm not asking that pastel-colored marshmallows be added to every cereal, but could we perhaps find a happy medium? Honey-Nut Cheerios? Total, with raisins? Golden Grahams never killed anyone, at least not that I've heard.