Michelle Obama's New Weight Loss Plan For 2013

For breakfast . . .

For lunch . . .

For dinner . . .

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon In The Can, By Meijer

The price of this canned salmon moderated recently for some reason after spiking up to over $6 per can, so I bought a dozen cans when it went on sale for under $5, after the price adjustment.

I figure I paid about $3.80 per pound, which these days is pretty darn cheap for wild salmon.

Royal Basmati Rice, My White Rice Of Choice

Available at Sam's Club.

Curried Basmati Salmon Cakes With Apricot Sauce

Of all the salmon cakes I've made, I like these the best.

The reason is simple. They are lighter and crispier than the cakes I make with whole oats, oat bran, bread crumbs and the like.

It's always laudable to combine as many healthy ingredients into one recipe as you can, but when the result is better with slightly fewer of those good things and which actually makes you prepare and eat the recipe more often, I say go for it.

Wild salmon is something you should eat as often as possible instead of red meats in order to improve your overall health, and I think this recipe will help you do that and add an important ingredient at the same time which we should all eat more often for health reasons, namely, curry powder, a powerful anti-inflammatory.

Curried Basmati Salmon Cakes With Apricot Sauce

1 egg beaten in a large bowl

1 T curry powder of your choosing

1 14.75 oz can wild Alaskan sockeye salmon, drained

1 cup already prepared white Royal Basmati rice from the foothills of the Himalayas, cooled

.5 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1. After you beat the egg in a large bowl, whisk in the curry powder.

2. Add the drained salmon and mash together with a potato masher.

3. Stir in the basmati rice and the flaked coconut, combining gently with the masher until thoroughly mixed.

4. Heat a generous amount of sesame or canola oil in a porcelainized dutch oven, such as a Le Creuset oval 3 quart.

5. Form the cakes using a smallish half inch deep lid from some container or other, pressing the mixture into the lid until firm. I use a rubber lid from a broken Leifheit food chopper I saved. It releases the cakes perfectly. Using it, I make seven patties from the ingredients.

6. Fry the cakes over medium high heat two minutes on a side. Use a slotted silicone spatula to lift and drain the cakes as you remove them, and keep on a serving plate in a warm oven.

Apricot Sauce

4 T salted butter

6 T best apricot jam

2 T fresh lemon juice

1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over low heat.

2. Stir in the apricot jam and lemon juice at medium heat.

3. Cook and stir until thoroughly combined and slightly thickened and remove from heat.

4. Top each cake with some sauce and serve immediately with some petite steamed sweet peas, or a crisp green lettuce salad on the side.

Wunderbar! 

Eric Hoffer: "The Individual Cannot Change"

"The individual has not changed. The individual cannot change. And maybe that's what we need. We have to return to the individual: to the genuine individual who knows that life is brief, that the joys are few, that what matters most in this universe is to have somebody to love and somebody who loves you. We are in an enormous waste land and it's the individual who has to confront all these things by himself. That has been the one thing closest to my understanding."

-- Eric Hoffer, 1974, quoted in ERIC HOFFER: THE LONGSHOREMAN PHILOSOPHER by Thomas Bethell (Hoover Institution Press, 2011), p. 253 

Denmark Abolishes Butter Tax

So reports AFP here:

"[T]he measure was costly and failed to change Danes' eating habits."

Arsenic In US Rice Is Residual Pesticide From Previous Cotton Production

sulfur in garlic scavenges arsenic

So reports CBS News, here:

The arsenic enters into the rice when it is grown, according to Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He explained the rice with the highest levels of arsenic is from Texas and Louisiana, and along the Gulf coast where fields were used to grow cotton a century ago.

"When there was cotton there they had to treat the cotton with arsenic pesticides to control the bowl weevil," he said. "Now a century later, that arsenic is still in the soil, the rice is very effective at pulling it out of the soil in and it concentrates in the rice."

Arsenic causes lung, skin and bladder cancer, Landrigan said. He added that arsenic is also very harmful to babies' brain development. If a baby is exposed to arsenic in the womb because the mother is eating arsenic or if a baby ingests arsenic in the first months of life in cereal, rice milk or other food, the arsenic could interfere with brain development, reduce the child's intelligence, and cause behavioral problems.

Choose Basmati Rice From India To Reduce Arsenic Exposure

available at Sam's Club

So reports The Chicago Tribune, here:

"Choose aromatic rices. For those who are already fans of Indian basmati or Thai jasmine rices, the news is not so bad. According to the hundreds of recently released test results, aromatic rice varieties show the lowest levels of inorganic arsenic. Imported basmati and jasmine rices showed about half to one-eighth the level of arsenic as regular rices grown in the Southern U.S."

Some Rise By Sin, And Some By Virtue Fall

Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:

Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none:

And some condemned for a fault alone.

-- Escalus, William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 1

Johnsonville Brats Give Me A Headache

Johnsonville bratwurst gives me a headache.

The reason? Johnsonville brats are made with MSG (monosodium glutamate), evidently to help preserve the product for national distribution.

Back in the day in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, we never bought Johnsonville, and rarely many of the other local brands available in Sheboygan. We bought a smaller brat available from Luedke's Meat Market, which started way back in 1917 if my information is correct. It was our meat market of choice for sausages of all kinds in the 1960s and beyond, including Sommer Sausage, mit oder mitout (with or without garlic -- a little Sheboyganese German-American lingo there). The brat fit perfectly in half a semel roll, a light airy hard roll I've never seen anywhere else. The Luedke brat was also preferred because it was NOT a pure pork brat, but a pork and beef mixture. Better flavor and texture.

At any rate, I've found a grocery store brand brat without MSG for tonight's nod to Oktoberfest, at which I'll be drinking . . . Bud Light Platinum!

Sie Lebe Hoch!

What's The Difference Between A Norwegian Introvert And A Norwegian Extrovert?

 

 

When a Norwegian introvert talks to you, he stares at his shoes.

When a Norwegian extrovert talks to you, he stares at your shoes.

h/t Tim

(image source)

Dinosaur. It's What's For Dinner.

I've Changed My Mind About Canned Tomatoes And Switched To San Marzanos

For quite some time, my standard brand of canned tomatoes has been Dei Fratelli. But I must say that compared to the ones we grow ourselves, they're always a let down. And one thing I haven't mentioned is that the cans have a white lining which some people object to out of fear that the acid in the tomatoes reacts with that and leaches something harmful into the contents of the can. Count me skeptical on that score. No company is going to risk their reputation without having looked into that. Besides, that liner has to cost extra to apply to the can. Why bother if they knew it was also harmful?

That said, what it really comes down to is the taste, and as the price of Dei Fratelli has climbed steeply, with lots of other things on the supermarket shelf, I've decided to get reacquainted with the Italian food lover's tomato of choice, the San Marzano. Since the retail price on Dei Fratelli has climbed to $1.99 in my area, paying the higher price for the San Marzano becomes more justifiable when you realize once again just how much more flavor the San Marzano possesses.

When I lived in Chicago and ran out of my own home grown, I had at least two Italian grocers within five miles of my house where I could always get the genuine article, and the major supermarkets often carried the same just to compete. Living as I do now in "Mudflap Meadows" Michigan, the options have been less numerous and the prices more out of reach. I saw a can of Cento San Marzanos the other day at a more upscale grocer for nearly $6 for the 28oz. can. Outrageous!

It turns out Meijer stores carry Bella Terra Organic San Marzanos for $3.79. After I prepared a batch of those I went back for more only to find Meijer has its own store brand of San Marzanos suddenly, right next to the Bella Terra on the bottom shelf. They are just as good, in my opinion. Even better, they were on sale for $2.99 a can.

Compared to Dei Fratelli, the San Marzano cooks up sweeter and less sharp, with a much more robust tomato flavor. It almost seems the Dei Fratelli has a more metallic quality by comparison, which must be the acidity. It's interesting how mellow the San Marzanos are, coming as they do in old fashioned unlined tin cans.

As always, I fill the bottom of a heavy sauce pan with extra virgin olive oil and heat it on medium heat for a couple of minutes. Then I add the contents of two 28oz. cans of tomatoes and bring them to a boil, and then after a stir I put on the lid and reduce the heat to lowest for one hour, stirring every twenty minutes. At the forty minute mark I add six cloves of crushed, chopped or pressed fresh garlic.

After the hour is up, I use my stainless steel potato masher to crush the tomatoes thoroughly and make a uniform thick consistency. I remove the lid and let the sauce cool for freezing in one cup servings. This also permits a little bit of evaporation to help thicken up the sauce.

Life is just too short to eat bad sauce. So don't!

Larry Norman: Sittin' in my kitch'n

Maybe the most affecting performance he ever gave. Wouldn't have been nearly the same without the choir, though, imho.

See it here.

The Sidekicks To The Super Foods Which You Can Incorporate At Will

almonds
AMARANTH
artichokes
ARUGULA
asparagus
BARLEY
bay leaves
BUCKWHEAT
bulgur wheat
BOYSENBERRIES
bok choy
BLACKBERRIES
broccoflower
BRUSSELS SPROUTS
sea bass
CASHEWS
carrots
CANOLA OIL
cauliflower
RED & GREEN CABBAGE
chives
SWISS CHARD
clams
CUMIN
currants
CHERRIES
collards
CRANBERRIES
cloves
COUSCOUS
yellow corn
SKINLESS CHICKEN BREAST
daikon root
EDAMAME
purple grapes
GRAPEFRUIT
guavas
HERRING
hazelnuts
ALASKAN HALIBUT
kale
KUMQUATS
kamut
KEFIR
kohlrabi
LEEKS
lemons
LIMES
romaine lettuce
LIVERWORT
miso
MILLET
mustard greens
MACADAMIA NUTS
oregano
OYSTERS
papayas
ORANGE BELL PEPPERS
pineapple
PEARS
sweet potatoes
PLUMS
pistachios
PUMPKIN SEEDS
peanuts
PECANS
Japanese persimmons
QUINOA
rye
WILD RICE
brown rice
RUTABAGA
raspberries
SCALLIONS
shallots
SARDINES
sesame seeds
SUNFLOWER SEEDS
Butternut squash
SPELT
seaweed
SOY MILK soy yogurt
SOY NUTS
strawberries
THYME
tangerines
TURMERIC
triticale
TEMPEH
turnips (& greens)
TOFU
canned Albacore tuna
TROUT
watercress
WATERMELON
wasabi
WHEAT

I Believe In Love

Video here.

1966 Volvo Nears 3 Millioneth Mile

Tom and Judy had two, one red, one white. That's all over now.

Video here.

"Give Me My Personality!"

I.e. the moustache, which Field Marshall Herring (Curly) has just torn off his upper lip!

I'll Never Heil Again, 1941 (here)

Grapes, Other Crops, Threatened By 2,4-D Herbicide Used On Engineered Corn

"David Simmons, an Indiana farmer who grows corn and soybeans but also runs a vineyard and winery, says his young grapevines have suffered significant damage from drifting 2,4-D applications at neighboring farms, forcing him to fight to recover damage claims from fellow farmers' insurance carriers."

Read the full story here at CNBC.com.

The Light of Eternal Mind

"Did he speak as a man?"

"He is not flesh, but spirit, the light of Eternal Mind. And I know that his light is in every man."















(1956)

True Poetry Frees Us From Burdens By Moderating Feelings

"True poetry announces itself thus, that, as a worldly gospel, it can by internal cheerfulness and external comfort free us from the earthly burdens which press upon us. ... The most lively, as well as the most serious works, have the same aim of moderating both pleasure and pain by a felicitous intellectual form."

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Autobiography, tr. John Oxenford (1891), Book 13

Beware! Quackery Lives . . . in the Cult of Chiropractic

The quacks of chiropractic are still out there, with their doctrines of innate intelligence and subluxation. Doubters will not be accepted as patients as communicants. The chiropractors do not claim to cure any disease, but commitment is required up front! 12-18 months! 6 months! OK, 10-12 weeks, but that's the minimum. Because subluxations reassert themselves within 24-48 hours of every adjustment, you are nothing but a human ATM machine for the back-cracker. They operate x-ray machines but have never heard of microsieverts, or millirems. Before you realize who they really are, they already have some of your money.

Beware!

“It is the position of the medical profession that chiropractic is an unscientific cult whose practitioners lack the necessary training and background to diagnose and treat human disease. Chiropractic constitutes a hazard to rational health care in the United States because of its substandard and unscientific education of its practitioners and their rigid adherence to an irrational, unscientific approach to disease causation.”

-- AMA House of Delegates, 1966 (seen here)

The Joke of the Day: I Quit Drinking!

Wine.












This morning.

Natural Radiation in Salmon

Bananas have 3.5 pCi/g, or 525 pCi per 150 gram banana, enough to alarm a radiation monitor. One per day would give you 36 microSieverts per year.

In America from all sources we get about 6,200 microSieverts per year.

Salmon has 20.0 pCi/g, nearly 6 times as much. A 150 gram piece of salmon will thus emit 3,000 pCi of radiation, a little over 200 microSieverts per year if you ate that much everyday.

Naturally!

Why I'm Still Not Worried About Radioactive Wild Salmon From Alaska

From an excellent blog post "Radiation Misinformation" by Jack Phillips from 10 February 2012 here:

[S]almon have always been radioactive because they contain radioactive potassium just like we do. Have they become more radioactive as the result of the release of 26 billion Becquerel (Bq) into the Pacific Ocean as reported by Tepco?  Unlikely when you consider that this is less than one Curie (Ci) of radioactivity and the oceans contain over 400 billion Ci of radioactivity, 380 from Potassium, 87 from rubidium and 1 from Uranium 238.

Keep On Sucking Until You Do Succeed

Curley: "If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do succeed."

The Three Stooges in Movie Maniacs, 1935 (here)

Same Crummy Breakfast, Different Day