Human Breast Milk in Ice Cream?

Well, like a lot of ideas, it sounds great on the surface (maybe), but did PETA really think this out? Sure, breast milk is great for human infants, and PETA is worried about the treatment of cows in extracting THEIR milk, but did PETA really think this through? There is a Swiss restaurant who is, or rather was until they were asked to stop, paying mothers for their breast milk to use in their cooking.

It is a well known fact that things pass through milk into the infant. Many toxins that the mother takes in ends up in the breast. These levels of toxins, by the way, are concentrated by the time they are expelled in the breast milk.

So my question is: Are these mother donors screened for the quality of their diet, or are we being exposed to an accumulation of carcinogens that they have ingested?

Nice idea, but do your homework!

I am Blessed to Live in Oregon

I took a very spontaneous trip to the coast over the weekend. I decided to drive down Route 6 and went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I picked up some varieties of cheese you can't find in stores and cheese curds (squeaky cheese). Then I continued up the coast to Nehalem Bay Winery and picked up a few bottles of their award winning varietals. I ended up in Seaside and had a delicious late lunch at Doogers and finished up the day with a stop in the candy shop buying some nostalgic candy from my youth.

Life is good!
Nancy

Redland Blueberries

What a wonderful day to pick blueberries in Oregon. I headed out to Redland, driving the Barlow Trail route through Carver and spent an hour in this gorgeous blueberry field. The bushes abounded with big, plump, flavorful berries. The weather was perfect in the mid 70's and sunny. The experience is always truly memorable, eliminating the middleman, and going to the source for the bounty. No barcodes and checkouts, just pure bliss, harvesting the berries, putting them in a pail, weighing them, paying with cash and heading home where many delicious culinary creations await.

Multnomah County (Oregon) Fast Food Menu Disclosure

When I first heard of this I got excited, but I am also concerned that it is a short-sighted effort to make a quasi attempt to appease the health conscious.

The menu board cannot possibly address many of the critical components to good nutrition. Simply listing calories and amount of fats is not enough.

There are so many other potentially hazardous ingredients that go into fast food.

I eat locally grown, natural and organic foods. I eat grass finished beef and buffalo. I eat wild caught Alaskan fish and supplement with molecularly distilled fish oil.

I rarely shop chain grocery stores and do most of my shopping at Farmers Markets and Natural food stores and co-ops.

I don't worry about salmonella outbreaks because I know where and how my tomatoes and jalapenos and spinach are grown.

It's not FATS that cause havoc, it's the type of fats and the balance of the fats. It's not the carbs that cause havoc, but the types of carbs.

Fast foods are fast foods...whether you eat a 1200 calorie mondo cheeseburger or a 450 calorie junior mondo cheeseburger, it is still a saturated fat laden, sodium infused dietary time bomb, and coke or diet coke... well, they both have high phosphate levels and leach calcium out of your bones, and one has potentially hazardous fake sweeteners as well.

It may be a step in the right direction, but I hope it doesn't give the fast food feasters a false sense of security. America hasn't got it right yet.

Fun with Catering Photos

Just having some fun with my Paint Shop program. I catered a party for 35 last weekend. They wanted a variety of appetizers and finger foods, so the menu included Pulled Pork Sliders, Meatball Sliders, Cookies-on-a-Stick for the kids to decorate, Fruit Kabobs, Mini Taco Bites, Spinach Artichoke Dip and Chili Con Queso Dip, an assortment of pinwheel sandwiches and even Better Than S*x Cake.

Oh My! Commissioners

Oh My!

Seems like the Multnomah County (Oregon) Commissioners are on a new mission.

They just announced that they are wanting to make chain restaurants with 15 or more locations list the calorie count on all their menu items...that is ON the reader boards on the drive-thru and on their menu boards at the order counter.

I think they are missing the mark! We all know that you don't go to a fast food restaurant to watch your calories.

Furthermore, it's not the calories we should be worrying about. We should be worrying about the type of fats, the additives and preservatives, and the way they prepare the food.

C'mon Commissioners.

Food for Thought

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people,
with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something
like the following: There would be:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth
and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer

Just Couldn't Be Dog-Less

My beloved pug, Magwai, of 9 years had to be put down last month. I just couldn't get another pug. I went to see some pug puppies, but just couldn't do it. So I researched and researched, and decided to get a mini schnauzer. Well, I visited a breeder in the Salem area and decided to get two (umm...they could keep each other company and maybe not puppy terriorize the house as much). Anyway, they are adorable and I should be able to bring them home by the end of June. The photo is taken with the breeder holding them when they were 4 weeks old.

Nancy

Oregon Strawberries

Nothing compares to the taste of Oregon strawberries! Local roadside vendors abound this weekend. I was out and about and picked up a flat of these deep red little beauties. They explode with flavor, and it would be an insult to add sugar or sweetener to their natural goodness.

Oh yum! A fresh berry smoothie or a spinach and strawberry salad is sure to please the palate.

Treat yourself to some...you're definitely worth it!

Nancy

June in the Pacific Northwest

Wow! I think it has finally stopped raining for a few days. I am anxious to start exploring. I plan on visiting some local farmers, and heading out to the coastal range to take some photos, and of course I must make a trip to Seattle.

My favorite (and pretty much exclusive) "grocery store" is in full swing. The upside is that it is awesome! The downside is that it is only open for business 8:30am to 2:00pm Saturday. Yep, you guessed it... Portland Farmers Market... Of course I fill in by buying local and organic from smaller co-ops and other Farmers Markets in the area.

I can't wait for U-Pick berry season.

I'll be posting some photos and recipes soon.