| In which I speak heresy.... |
[Jan. 26th, 2008|04:10 pm] |
It is a reasonable supposition that because feed conversion ratios for turning corn into meat are on the order of 10:1, somewhat more for beef, somewhat less for pork and poultry, we could do the environment a favor by eating mostly plants.
But lying in bed in the wee hours of this morning, I realized that the truth of this supposition depends entirely on which plants we are talking about. Excluding diets constrained by dire poverty, few of the vegetarians I know subsist on cornmeal. Indeed, a diet in which most of the calories are derived from the low-cost, energy-rich plant products on which the reasonable supposition is based, say corn and potato, with canola oil putting in an important supporting role, can be obtained from the nearest vending machine, and is common route to poor nutrition. Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, are mostly fiber and water. And while they certainly involve less land, water, and energy to produce than meat on a per-mass or per-volume basis, it would be very interesting to compare them to meat on a per-calorie basis. (To validate the assumption that it would be interesting to see the numbers, at the extreme end we have things like lettuce and celery that, if the energy used to digest them is considered, contribute nothing to one's energy balance. We can say for these plants, that whatever land, water, and energy went into producing them, it contributed absolutely nothing to feeding the world.)
I'm not saying you shouldn't eat your veggies. Micronutrients are also important (but increasingly available in tablet form). But I suspect that if we considered foodstuffs on a balance of being both good for you, and not particularly taxing on the global resource base to produce, the winners would be legumes and animal products with high feed conversion rates, like eggs and dairy. |
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| Torture |
[Oct. 12th, 2007|04:23 pm] |
I have been smelling fresh cookies all afternoon from my cube, and I cannot tell where they are, or even whether my nose does not deceive me. |
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| Stuffed acorn squash |
[Sep. 16th, 2007|10:06 am] |
This was yesterday's dinner. The other half will be today's afternoon meal. I think this is the perfect meal for autumn weekends, because (it 1) is tasty; (2) uses the fresh produce of autumn; (3) needs about two hours of time, though only about 20 minutes of hands-on time, and therefore is better for weekends than workdays. It is a joy to be working on something else near the kitchen while it cooks, to hear the squash sizzle and to smell it cooking.
( Recipe ) |
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| First frost |
[Sep. 15th, 2007|08:13 am] |
This morning was the first frost on the windshields, though possibly not on the grass: the growers at the Farmer's Market were debating with one another about whether there was frost on the ground. At any rate, it was the first morning this fall where I could see my breath. I put on my orange sweater.
I made it to the Market shortly after 7 AM. (You can park for free downtown before 8.) Winter squash are coming into season, and the second season of all things cabbage is underway: this week was the first that I saw Brussels sprouts there. They sell them on the stalk, rather than picked, as you see them at the store, which raises the question of to carry a two-foot long cabbage stalk coated in sprouts, not that it's heavy, just big. I saw one woman who had strapped one to her back using a baby-toting sling.
But I did not buy Brussels sprouts this week. (I don't know whether I've ever had them. As a kid, it fell under the category of "vegetables Mom won't eat, and therefore won't make her kids eat".) I bought an acorn squash. By sometime this afternoon, it should be stuffed with apples and nuts, and roasted.
I keep discovering odd little businesses here. For instance, the bakery where I bought a pasty for lunch/dinner yesterday does a sideline selling knit goods and knitting accessories. Impractically, one could have bought there a knit bikini. |
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| Concerning pasties |
[Sep. 14th, 2007|12:40 pm] |
Today, I decided that a pasty is simply a Celtic empanada, or perhaps that an empanada is a Latin pasty.
Except that no self-respecting Argentine would put rutabaga in an empanada. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 26th, 2007|08:49 am] |
I must post this in the interest of being perfectly fair to the cheesemaker whose product was discussed at length in a previous post.
I was back at the farmer's market yesterday, and back at that same cheesemaker's stall, where I purchased a chunk of his swiss-style cheese. Although a little brittle, as liable to break as to cut, I have to say it is the best swiss cheese I have tasted.
This obligated me to make french onion soup last night to suitably accompany it, and it was good.
( Recipe ) |
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| The rain it raineth every day... |
[Aug. 19th, 2007|08:57 am] |
Well, at least that's how it seems. And while it isn't the kind of grey-skied perpetual drizzle that marks an Illinois March (last night, for instance, we had some awesome sky-bepurpling lightning), rain, mundane or spectacular, does preclude most outdoors activity. So, having taken Brent's advice to liberate my photos from my camera, I'll present a picture and a story from last weekend's outdoorsiness.
( Smelly cheese )
( Hot coffee ) |
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| Miscellany |
[Jul. 3rd, 2007|03:04 pm] |
1. The Courier has a pretty good set of evening food specials going on. After 8pm, you can, for instance, get a burger, fries, and milkshake for 5.95.
2. I have seen many more woodchucks around town lately than in years past.
3. If you squint, geese move kind of like I imagine a miniature bipedal brachiosaur would.
4. I passed a couple on a park bench today. Although they were each holding an ice cream cone, they appeared to be more interested in snogging. As the day was warm and the ice cream cones full, I entertained the idea of asking them if they were going to finish the ice cream before it melted. |
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| Turkey corn chowder, ... |
[Dec. 30th, 2006|08:35 am] |
or, what to do with the large aluminum-foil wrapped bird carcass in the fridge.
I think Uncle Ken simply likes outdoor cooking. He stayed with Grandpa for one more day following Christmas, and yet when we stopped by Grandpa's house several days after Christmas, on the way back from Colorado, his fridge contained, in addition to the uneaten Christmas leftovers, half a smoked turkey carcass, and a large hunk of roast beast. The turkey fell into Kelley's and my hands as part of a Leftovers Reduction Campaign hastily improvised by Grandpa.
Anyway, this is what I did with a good chunk of it. Kelley called it yummy, so it must be good.
Turkey and corn chowder:
5 bacon strips
1 c chopped celery (about two stalks)
6 c water
3 c diced turkey
3 c diced potato (about three medium potatoes)
1½ 15 oz cans cream-style corn
1 15 oz can kernel corn, drained
½ c dried onion flakes
2 T chicken soup base
1½ c half-and-half
Variation for the faint of heart: use skim milk.
Variation for Mr Habel: use heavy cream.
Fry bacon over medium heat. Reserve the bacon, and strain any carbonized bits out of the bacon grease.
Put 3 T bacon grease in the bottom of the soup pot. Add celery, and sweat covered over medium heat, 8 minutes.
Add the water, turkey, potato, corn, onion and soup base. Stir well. Turn the heat up until a boil is reached, at which point back off to a low heat, and simmer partially covered another 15 minutes. Test a potato for tenderness.
Add the dairy, and stir until steaming, but not boiling, maybe 2 minutes. Serve garnished with bacon bits. |
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| Yum |
[Dec. 28th, 2006|09:12 pm] |
I have discovered, without exaggeration, the yummiest Mexican food I have known.
If you happen to be travelling down I-80 through Nebraska (and I realize this more or less limits relevance to skiers and the Lins), I encourage you to stop at Ogallala. There, near the highway, in a building obviously converted from a failed fast food franchise, you will find a place called Mi Ranchito. And there, you will consume, oh! the shells.
Here, the tortilla is a thick, flexible slab of dough, fried a golden brown, becoming translucent in places, yet somehow avoiding greasiness. The humble taco or tostada is transformed into a delight, and I must only mention the sopapilla in passing to avoid drooling on my keyboard. |
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| Thin crust pizza |
[Aug. 20th, 2006|03:03 pm] |
Thanks to adaptations from a printout from Cook's that the Beglis graciously forwarded me, I finally have a thin-crust pizza that I'm happy with:
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 c cake flour
1 1/2 t instant yeast
1 1/2 t salt
2 t sugar
1 c warm water
Mix half of a.p.f. with other dry ingredients, water. Blend in remaining flour, kneading lightly until the dough is well-mixed. Divide and shape into two balls, and let these balls rise under plastic wrap, 1 hr. Roll each ball into a 12 inch round, top, and bake 10 minutes on a preheated pizza stone, 500 F.
So far I've tried this with tomato, mozzarella, basil (pizza margherita) and with carmelized onions, olives, and mozzarella (in my opinion, the more delicious of the two). My intuition says that the high heat and fast baking works best for toppings that aren't very watery, but as I am not a fan of tomato sauce, this poses no barrier.
So, on the plus side, I have a thin-crust recipe I'm very happy with. On the down side, my dad's pizza stone experienced self-induced trauma in my oven on Friday, and now I have to buy him a new one. (As it was a birthday gift from Kelley and I in the first place, I know exactly how to do this.)
In other food-related news, the array of deep batter-fried things available at the state fair has now extended to oreos, corn-on-the-cob, and sliced pickle. The carnies responsible for these travesties have gone online (www.friedwhat.com). In marginally food-related news, the state fair features a life-sized sculpture of a cow, executed in the medium of butter. The sculpture features a mound of whipped butter behind the cow, which I believe is intended to represent a cow pie.
In state fair news not at all related to food, but somewhat related to cattle, the fair also features the world's largest work boot, courtesy of Red Wing, size 670-something. According to the sign placed near it, 80 cowhides went into making it. |
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| Miscellanea |
[Mar. 26th, 2006|06:07 am] |
Random collected observations, upon returning home from a trip to see Kel's dad's family in Alexandria.
* Before leaving, we bough the cats one of those bubbling fresh water reservoirs. When the house is very quiet (i.e., when everyone but me is asleep) is sounds like we have acquired an upstairs neighbors, and their bathtub drain is always flowing.
* Virginians make a wonderful peanut soup, though probably bad for you. Must reproduce it.
* The stonecarvings above the artwork of the National Cathedral depict 110 saints surrounding Christ in Majesty. But the most prominent six of them are not any particular historical personages, but rather, you who gave be something to eat when I was hungry, you who gave me something to drink when I was thirsty, you who invited me in when I was a stranger, you who clothed me when I was naked, you who looked after me when I was sick, and you who visited me when I was in prison. |
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| Blossom rot |
[Jul. 20th, 2005|07:15 pm] |
Well, any of you who I suggested might be the recipients of gifted tomatoes may have to let down your hopes. Many of our plants, and the peppers, too, are suffering from blossom rot. Which means that about the time the fruits start ripening, a large, soft, sunken, black lesion appears on the blossom end of the fruit. I guess this will be the season of FGTs. |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 25th, 2005|05:39 am] |
So Kelley and I are in Alexandria, VA. From a touristing point of view, downtown Alexandria is a beautiful place, with a lot of late colonial and Civil War history in it. It may feature the highest density of buildings where George Washington actually did sleep.
( Read more... ) |
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