As part of an agreement reached with the Partnership for a Healthier America, the non-profit organization whose honorary chair is First Lady Michelle Obama, the candy bar maker Mars Inc. has agreed to phase out chocolate products that exceed 250 calories per portion. This means that by the end of 2013, consumers will no longer be able to purchase king-sized Snickers bars. In addition, Mars will also need to reduce the size of a standard Snickers bar. It currently contains 280 calories and thus exceeds the new calorie cap by 12 percent. As Contributing Editor Greb Beato explains, Michelle Obama may succeed in reducing chocolate consumption, but she’s also giving Big Candy a major financial boost in the process.One more thing to put on your list of things on which to stock up. (How could you write that without ending with a preposition?) Here's the link to Beato's article.
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| "Papa Sylvest's" mirlitons. |
The mirliton, a native plant to Mexico, has a long and unique history in New Orleans. Popularly known as Chayote (botanical name: Sechium edule), records of this member of the gourd family indicate that it was grown in New Orleans as early as 1867, and the city is virtually the only major urban area in North America where the mirliton was cultivated throughout the last century. The proximity to the Caribbean and the large migrations from that area, as well as the banana trade, probably contributed to its popularity. In the 1920s the U.S. Agriculture department attempted to introduce the mirliton to a broader public in a project based in Homestead, Florida, using varieties imported from Cuba. That project ultimately failed because most U.S. consumers had no idea what this odd vegetable was: was it a squash or a fruit? It is, in fact, a member of the gourd family, Cucurbitaceae—or Cucurbit for short, and botanists refer to the vegetable as “fruit.” In the U.S. it took on the name “vegetable pear” in the 1920s when first introduced outside of New Orleans, but lack of consumer demand ended the federally funded project. The mirliton retreated to New Orleans where eccentricity in music, culture, and even vegetables were well tolerated.
The “backyard mirliton vine” was a staple of New Orleans homes. A generally self- sufficient plant resistant to most diseases and pests, homeowners traditionally planted mirlitons to run along fences (the vines can grow to 50 feet), over shrubs, and even straight up trees. The fruit is highly perishable: within thirty days of harvesting it can germinate and send out a shoot which draws water and nutrients from the fruit causing it to shrivel. Because the soft inner-seed cannot be planted apart from the fruit shell (the whole fruit must be planted for propagation), the vine was an ideal Fall-yielding crop. It was a very “sociable” vegetable in that its abundant yield and small commercial market helped create a tradition of backyard growers giving mirlitons to neighbors and “sacking” fruit under the sink to give sprouted seedlings to new growers.
The tradition of the backyard mirliton (locally pronounced “mel-uh-tawn) was strong only a few decades ago, but in recent years people stopped growing mirlitons, especially as imported varieties from Latin America became available inexpensively and year round. In 2005, hurricane Katrina brought saline flood waters that destroyed much of the traditional Louisiana mirliton variety. A few growers retained their plants, but in 2008, hurricane Gustav’s high winds traumatized the vines and virtually wiped out the varieties that had been grown for decades in South Louisiana. Some growers attempted to propagate imported varieties purchased at local markets, but found that the fruits would not germinate (perhaps a result of new chilling practices) and that the commercial varieties, grown using pesticides and fungicides and bred for uniformity in size and color, were not as disease resistant as the traditional Louisiana varieties and lacked flavor.
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| Recipes to follow |
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| 03/03/2010 |
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| Man, this is so good! Which isn't surprising... |
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| And in a few weeks, I expect to be eating salad |
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| with homemade dressing. |
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| This is not an endorsement. I haven't a clue who/what this group is. | But I'm sympathetic to the question. |
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| Tasteful, in its own peculiar way, don't you think? |
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| Note the complete absence of weeds in the lawns. |
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| The stone is beautiful. |
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| A statue of Jefferson Davis in Memphis |
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| I think I need to adjust the shutter speed, or something. |
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| Dang it! I was so excited by the chicken that I forgot to take a photograph of the (homegrown, fresh) carrot, artichoke, etc. fritatta. |
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| Where do I begin? |
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| The pansies were infested with aphids. |
Just the good ol' boys,
Never meanin' no harm,
Beats all you've ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they was born.
Straight'nin' the curve,
Flat'nin' the hills.
Someday the mountain might get 'em, but the law never will.
Makin' their way,
The only way they know how,
That's just a little bit more than the law will allow.
Just good ol' boys,
Wouldn't change if they could,
Fightin' the system like a true modern day Robin Hood.
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| The clock tower |
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| as seen from The Bowl. |
EASTERN EUROPEANS FIGHT FOR INTERNET FREEDOM:
A grassroots protest movement erupted last month in Poland and spread quickly across the former Eastern Bloc and beyond. The growing opposition against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, has raised questions about the fate of the treaty, which is important to the governments of the United States and other industrialized economies.They’re right to be angry, and Americans are wrong to be complacent.
There have been street protests across Eastern Europe, attacks on government websites in the Czech Republic and Poland, even a heartfelt apology from a Slovenian ambassador who signed it and then decried her act as “civic carelessness.”
In a region where people remember being spied upon and controlled by oppressive communist regimes, the treaty has provoked fears of a new surveillance regime.
Posted at 1:25 pm by Glenn Reynolds
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| Still trundling along |
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| I've been spending a lot of time in the Front Pasture. |
City Grocery Bar in Oxford, Mississippi
Faulkner’s gone, but Oxford writers still need whiskey. Enter City Grocery Bar, a magnet for both visiting literati and a prodigious crop of local talent. At this dark second-story spot, bartenders pour grown-up drinks, says chef-owner John Currence. “And those soothe the demons in a writer’s soul.” citygroceryonline.com
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| Citation information below |
Caroline L. Hunt, Scientific Assistant, Office of Home Economics-- who wrote this chapter-- goes on to provide a "good rule" as to amounts and servings from the groups. Each group is then taken up in turn, with milk being dominant throughout.For example, Milk Toast is discussed at length in the Milk, etc. section and mentioned again in the Breads section. (My paternal grandmother used to make my dad milk toast and he tried to get my brother and I to like it. Didn't happen.)A little child who is carefully fed in accordance with his bodily needs (as these are now understood) receives every day at least one food from each of the following groups:
- Milk and dishes made chiefly of milk (most important of the group as regards children's diet); meat fish, poultry, eggs, and meat substitutes
- Bread and other cereal foods.
- Butter and other wholesome fats.
- Vegetables and fruits.
- Simple sweets.
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| Petri dishes, rack, and canister |
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| "The pods are silver-green and produced [sic] large, meaty, brown seeds." |
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| when she has biscuits in her hands!" |
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| Use cheap pie plates |
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| Sunday Supper |
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.
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| Not tonight, thanks. Perhaps some other time? |
