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June 26, 2011
June 24, 2011
Tubers uber Alles!
Eating potatoes, yeah! Boiled! Yeah! People and critters both.
June 23, 2011
"Potatoes bad, nuts good for staying slim, Harvard study finds..." WaPo
I beg your pardon, Washington Post! OK, I have not read the Harvard study, but that is the most simplistic and erroneous bit of info re the noble spud I can imagine. The piece published yesterday goes on to gush over yogurt, as in "...perhaps the biggest surprise was yogurt, every serving of which kept off nearly a pound over four years."
A serving of your average fruit-laced, high fructose corn syrup-filled commercial yogurt? Or a serving of full fat, plain organic Straus Family Creamery yogurt from happy cows?
So now America's dairy farmers are gloating, and the spud growers are mashing their own heads, and something complex is once more made simplistic, and misleading. And America's diet-crazed women are scooping cartons of Dannon into their carts.
!!!!!
Here's the beginning of a piece just noted today from SeattlePI:
"Pity the poor potato.
First, the anti-carb folks shun it. Now a Harvard study attacks it.
The study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine says the spud is making us fat.
To which Chris Voigt says nuts.
"If eating potatoes was so bad for you...I'd be dead by now."
That's not hyperbole. Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, went on a potato-only diet for 60 days last fall to counter the negative publicity against spuds.
It made him briefly famous. It also made him skinny.
He dropped 20 pounds. His cholesterol, triglycerides and blood glucose were all down. His cholesterol, for example, went from 214 to 147.
"Every health indicator," Voigt said, "was better or the same."
We of The Potato Museum have other stories like this. We continue to think that eating "good" foods like the potato, and a wide range of other foods, in moderation, is still key. ( We have irritated and annoyed the potato industry by stating here and there that French Fries made fresh should be an occasional delicious treat, not a daily staple, and yet fries consumption is on the rise all over, particularly in China, because the commercial industry is all about processed potatoes. So much for our proselytizing...)
But I should read the actual report. Yes.
June 22, 2011
View Airline "Food" Options Before You Fly
Planning an upcoming trip, we came across this site, Airline Meals, that details what one can expect to be served on an enormous list of airlines. Food matters, right? Especially on long journeys.
Zowie. This one makes the Best of 2011, week 18, economy meal via Thai Airways.
June 20, 2011
Scallops r Them
Full disclosure: I was trying out the Typepad app on my new phone June 20, and just tossed this up, willy-nilly. But today I can add....superb plate of scallops on mixed grains with yellow beets from Artichoke Cafe, Albuquerque. The AC has been excellent for years, but in some ways is beginning to look a tad rough around the edges. Maybe it needs a paintjob. Can't quite put my finger on it. My lunch companion ordered artichoke ravioli, and offered me one, after which there were only 3 ?? left on the plate. That's a bit skimpy, even though the rav were rich.
I gave her a scallop.
June 19, 2011
Another Fine Damn Place to Eat: Eklectica, Moab, Utah
Back in the day, these places were everywhere. Rough hewn, selling jewelry as well as artwork and food, garden-surrounded, almost self-serve, often veggie.
It's Eklectica in Moab, within reach of the soaring red rock formations of Arches National Park, an oasis of fresh ingredients, and inventive baked goods like the praline with a center of choc chips....
But--before that, we had tofu w/peanut sauce on saffron basmati rice and a salmon cake with tarragon tartar sauce. Yes!
At right: yet another offering--from what we ate at Eklecticafe, contrapuntal to the USDA plate---
Hopis Invite Visitors to Reconnect with Mother Earth
Via Felicia Fonseca, AP----"...it's here where the staples of traditional food -- corn, squash and beans -- flourish with what little water reaches the usually dry land.
It's a farming technique that has been practiced for centuries as part of a belief that a prosperous life comes through hard work.
Micah Loma'omvaya shares those stories on a tour he leads to the Hopi mesas that rise above the northern Arizona desert, giving visitors a glimpse of Hopi tradition and culture that's rooted in agriculture.
...Ceremonies, songs and cultural activities are tied directly to agriculture with prayers for rain and a fertile harvest. Prayer sticks with feathers hang from stones that support terraced gardens, and Hopi art commonly features rain clouds.
"That's the simplest of pleasures that we forget in our commodity-driven society when we want the latest iPod, vehicle and the best shoes," James Surveyor (the marketing and sales associate at the Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites on the reservation,) said. "That prayer, that ceremony, that belief is all intertwined with farming because farming is what the people are."
This type of focus on our continent's food heritage delights us, and reminds me to say, "Be Happy, Be Hopi." We'll definitely be signing up for a trip back through Hopi agriculture.
FYI Check Hopi Tours or call 928 206 7433--tours leave from Moenkopi Lecay Inn & Suites, via Experience Hopi.
June 17, 2011
June 15, 2011
June 10, 2011
Stumbling Across the Red Hot "Hot Tomato Cafe" in Fruita, Colorado
Whoa! Cruising through the small town of Fruita, CO, today, after changing drivers, on our way from Ouray to Moab, Utah, we began to see bikes everywhere--actual bikes, bike signage, bike sculpture, and finally, a funky-looking bike w/tomato sign for an eatery that simply drew us in. Hot Tomato Cafe.
Then the friendly staffers, the vibrant feel, and the Granny's Pesto Pizza sealed the deal. We bought, we ate, we swooned, we reckoned that the locals, who began to stream in about 5:30, felt the same way.
What a find, especially when not looking for anything at all. ( To eat, that is. We were in search of fruit production stories from the area. More on that to come.)
Turns out Fruita, a town settled as a center for fruit-growing---who knew?---is today a major mountain bike center, and the cafe itself was the inspiration of a biker and a biker/bike photographer.
Did they know that the tomato is a fruit?
Likely they did. They live in Fruita, so yes.
Here is the inestimable Granny Pesto, a pie with feta as well as mozzarella, thin-crusted and generously loaded with basil-rich sauce and multitudes of tomato.
We intended to take the pizza--2 giant slices-- with us on down the road to Moab, for eating later. Having taken it "out," we sniffed the box, opened it, and sat in our parked vehicle, scarfing it down right then and there, offering bits of crust to our eager terrier whose vocabulary includes the words "pizza night."
June 08, 2011
June 07, 2011
Wild Ramp/Apfel Strudel for Ms Merkel of Germany
EAT LIKE A PRESIDENT: THE STATE DINNER MENU
White House Honey Gastrique
Tuna Tartare with Rye Crisps
Pickled Young Carrots and mustard Oil
Spring Pea Salad
Shaved Ham and Ginger Snaps
Petite Filet
With Maryland Crab Ravioli
Wild Ramp Puree
Apple Strudel
Golden Raisins and Topfe
Am I wrong or are ramps not always wild? The wild leek? They are lovely to look at, for sure.
Ramp photo and fine info are available via Amy Cotler.
June 06, 2011
Foodish Floridians Still Lack Something...
Ah, the bounty of Florida! Fish so fresh it smells like Febreze, new spuds in winter, real-tasting strawberries, plump tomatoes, Cuban cigars and sandwiches, oysters, spiny lobsters, crawfish, tropical fruits like mangoes, starfruit and lychees, and so it goes. It even has Ikea--but, alas, still no Trader Joe's.
So it is with special pleasure that we return to TJ-land here in New Mexico. And this morning we breakfasted on scrambled eggs ( from the growers market) and TJ Whole Wheat Croissants, baked in our fave old countertop convection oven. Flaky, tasty, light, divine.
And healthy as can be, especially with a generous addition of Irish butter and boysenberry jam. Yeah!
For those to whom the breakdown of foods into carbs, fats, calories, proteins, etc., holds a special fascination, take a look at this site that evaluates Trader Joe's products. It's from Livestrong, Lance Armstrong's non profit foundation. ( Did he or didn't he? And do we care?)
June 05, 2011
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