FDA Warns Against Eating Cookie Dough, But Not Because of Eggs
This story is a bit old by now, but flour sits on our shelves for a long time.  Apparently E. coli contamination of raw flour is potentially widespread.  It had never occurred to me that this was even possible with dry goods.

Out Here, Up Here
Includes the best kitchen tip ever, from Nikki McClure via Orangette:  soften butter by wedging it in cleavage.
​

​

​
​There's a Price to Pay for Not Eating America's Ugly Seafood
Americans are only comfortable with certain types of familiar seafood, many of which are imported and/or overfished.  Meanwhile, other local ocean food resources are wasted or sold overseas.  What would buying local look like when it comes to seafood?



Discomfort Food: Using Dinners to Talk About Race, Violence and America
Chef Tunde Wey organizes dinner parties with diverse (but predominantly black) guest lists, to discuss race, social justice, and personal experience. “There was some sort of obscenity to the whole thing, this foodie movement,” he said. “You eat at one of these new restaurants with small plates, and the food tastes good, but it’s not saying anything. What it’s saying is just, ‘Look at me.’ It’s self-referential. That’s where the obscenity comes from: when you can say nothing, surrounded by so much to say.”

 
Unsponsored opinion: these Fig & Olive Crackers are like one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life.  And I got them on sale at Whole Foods for $4.99!  (Which seemed like a lot, until I saw that Amazon is selling them for $11.59.)

​My kid is greatly amused at "men's" versions of everyday products, such as bath grenades or Bounce fabric softener for men, so when I saw Men's Pocky at the HMart, I had to buy some.

Breakfast: on a non-ordinary day, I have an ordinary breakfast.  Water with lime, black coffee, smoothie made from almond milk, honey yogurt, hemp protein powder, avocado, strawberries, and lots of swiss chard, because the latter is starting to wilt badly and I am going away for three days.

Then we drive to Pennyworth Lock and start our hike.  The bulk of our experience is detailed at that other link.  I'd intended to write up a food diary of the hike as well-- even kept notes in my little red notebook, about what we ate and under what circumstances-- but when I got home I found those notes interested me very little.  First of all, how much can you write about trail mix and crackers?  Secondly, and more important, I was ready to end the daily food diary.  It has been an interesting experiment and writing exercise, but is immensely time-consuming and requires an attention to minutiae that eventually becomes wearying.  I also feel that the world now knows enough about exactly what I eat on a daily basis.  (I would still like to know more about what OTHERS eat on a daily basis.  But we'll save that for another post.)

I reserve the right to continue writing about things I eat... just not everything, not right now.  Ironically, I have had less time lately to cook, due in part to all the incessant chronicling.  Also, less time to walk, and less time to write my murder mystery.  All things that are important.  Perhaps as important as eating.

Nevertheless, stay tuned, I shall continue to afflict you with this and that.

​June 27
An early, before-work breakfast: water with lime, coffee with half and half, smoothie made from vanilla almond coconut milk, honey yogurt, peanut butter, hemp protein powder, peach, strawberries, blueberries, frozen mango, and kale.  This one is not sweet at all, whereas yesterday's was almost cloying.  The main difference seems to be the banana.  Maybe I should start going with half a banana?

At work, all I have is a cup of decaf coffee, black.

When I get home about 2:30, I have a wonderfully wholesome lunch.  Leftover leek soup garnished with some creme fraiche, snipped tarragon and chives; a bowl of mixed raspberries, blueberries, and cherries; and some raw carrots and peppers.  I feel so virtuous.  I also have a cup of regular black coffee, and afterwards another cup of decaf with half and half. 

Shopping (Co-op): can of coconut milk, organic 1% lactose-free milk, half & half, organic lemon juice, quart of plain yogurt, cat treats, unsweetened almond milk, raw goat cheddar, seitan, 2 cans of pinto beans, a cantaloupe, 2 packages small corn tortillas, dried currants, coffee, 4 ears corn, 6 individual Brown Cow yogurts (assorted flavors), strawberries, cilantro, 4 limes, bananas, 4 avocados.  $91.

Dinner is slightly less virtuous, but still fruit-and-vegetable-centric, which is the way I like best to cook.  I roast some mixed root vegetables (the rest of the CSA beets, two farmer's market potatoes, an onion, some farmer's market carrots) with fresh marjoram; also make an apple-and-fennel salad with a lemon-mustard dressing.  My kid has long hated fennel, but recently expressed a desire to try it again.  So I bought fennel at the farmer's market (as well as the Gold Rush apples).  It turns out that, while they still do not love fennel, they no longer hate it.  They eat some; in particular, they seem to find the bulb more edible than the fronds, which of course it is.  So, a pretty good foray.  As an "entree," I just melt some goat cheddar onto slices of whole wheat bread, also from the farmer's market.

​I think I am mighty lucky to have a child who volunteers, of their own free will, to experiment with foods they dislike.  Next thing you know, they'll be eating cucumber.
 
June 28
Breakfast: lemon water, black coffee, smoothie made from vanilla almond coconut milk, honey yogurt, hemp protein powder, canned coconut milk, banana, cantaloupe, and swiss chard.  I totally forgot about my half-a-banana plan that I made yesterday.  Afterwards, I had some decaf with half & half.

At noontime, after my kid and I take a test-run with our new backpacks, another cup of regular coffee with half and half, followed by lunch.  Lunch is a bowl of mixed strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and cantaloupe; some raw carrot and pepper; and half a peanut butter-and-blueberry jam sandwich on whole wheat farmer's market bread.  Actually, the blueberries, cherries, carrot and pepper are from the farmer's market too.  I am eating like a queen.

​After lunch, I do some housecleaning, and don't go out until late afternoon to make a quick trip to REI.  I don't have the chance to have my usual mid-afternoon cup of decaf, and for that reason, or some other reason, I become ravenous while I am out.  There isn't an opportunity for food and drink until about 6 pm, when I stop at a bakery near home to buy the decaf coffee.  Of course, I feel I need some sort of snack, and end up buying a mushroom & cheese turnover.  In retrospect, I can see how a series of poor decisions led to my basically buying dinner an hour before cooking a second dinner at home.  The turnover isn't even very good, but I eat it because I paid for it.

Second dinner at home is vegan, because my kid's girlfriend is staying for supper.  I've had tacos on the brain ever since we had the worst tacos ever in small-town Virginia.  Tonight I put out some local corn tortillas that are not really very good (made in Virginia!  Coincidence?), pinto beans, sauteed seitan (both this and the beans flavored with chili and lime), avocado, tomato, shredded cabbage, onion, cilantro, corn sliced off the cob, green salsa, and bottled hot sauce.  Tacos are always fun, but they are more fun when your tortillas don't disintegrate into bits the minute you try and pick them up.  I have two tacos with kid and girlfriend, and then another one with my husband when he finally arrives home from work at about 9:45 pm.  Also a glass of sherry, which I do not quite finish.

At around 9:00, while waiting for my husband to get home, my kid and I drive through the rain to pick up our CSA box.  We run up the sidewalk to the house where it is delivered, getting soaked with huge drops of rain, and thunder crashing around us.  In the box: big green cabbage, 3 big white onions, 2 heads garlic, 4 cucumbers, 3 summer squash, carrots, leeks... and eggs!  Exciting!  Says farmer Mike about these eggs: "Eggs always start out mostly on the small side then increase in size as the hens gain experience." 
 
June 29
A work day.  Breakfast: water with lime, black coffee, smoothie made from almond milk, honey yogurt, peanut butter, hemp protein powder, banana, strawberries, cantaloupe, and swiss chard.

I didn't quite finish my coffee at home, so I have another cup of black coffee at work, followed by a cup of decaf with half and half.  By the time I finish that, it is almost time to go home (I don't have a lot of time to stand around and drink!)  At home, I have another cup of regular coffee with half and half, and lunch consisting of a leftover taco from last night, with all the fixings except beans, corn and cabbage (those are already gone); raw sliced cucumber and summer squash from the CSA; and a dish of mixed cantaloupe and cherries.  Oh, and one little hard-boiled egg, but the CSA eggs are too fresh: I can't peel it without taking most of the white away with the shell.

​After lunch, another cup of decaf with half and half.

About 4:30, I've recovered from work and go to Safeway to buy food for our hike, as well as supplies for my husband to use while we're gone.  Shopping: Pirate Booty (requested by kid), Wheaties, 2 cans cat food, 3 bags beef jerky, hot cocoa packets, big jug white vinegar, marshmallows, jar of Hershey's chocolate spread, graham crackers, Ritz crackers, Brookside dark chocolate clusters, 2 shrimp-flavored Cup-O-Noodles, 2 rolls paper towels, toilet paper, lactose-free milk, frozen pizza, Amy's frozen lasagna, free-range eggs, 2 cigarette lighters, mini hand sanitizer, rosemary bakery bread, Applegate bacon, nova salmon, bananas, Bing cherries, green grapes, shelled pistachios, Caesar Snapeas, 3 kinds of trail mix, organic baby carrots, strawberries, banana chips, dried apricots, dried broad beans, wasabi chick peas, 2 bags dried banana snacks.  $162.

Dinner is a quick affair, conducted in the midst of elaborately packing our gear for tomorrow.  2 little fried eggs each from the CSA farm, really good Applegate bacon, Safeway bakery rosemary sea salt toast with butter, a little mixed fruit (blueberries and apple from the farmer's market, plus strawberries).

I don't finish all my packing and prep-- plus quickly finishing this post-- until 11:30 at night, by which point I am hungry again, so I go to the kitchen and scarf down a leftover strip of bacon and half a glass of the fairly drinkable honey yogurt from the farmer's market.  That'll hold me.  However, even though it is already late, I have trouble sleeping.  I really wanted a good night's sleep before our hike, but instead I probably get a little over five hours, not nearly enough for me.  Midnight finds me in the kitchen again, yelling at my husband about waking me up by turning the light on and then drinking straight out of the milk carton, which I have forbidden him to do.  My finest moments occur at times like these.

​June 23
Breakfast: lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from cashew milk, coconut water, plain nonfat yogurt, canned coconut milk, hemp protein powder, strawberries, and banana.  This was fairly light and I am hungry again fast.  Another cup of decaf afterwards.  A slow morning-- I am planning on going, by myself, to a couple of documentaries at the AFI DOCS film festival today.

At the first movie (Obit), I drink a cup of coffee.  Usually the theater coffee is stale and muddy, but apparently it is better at 11:30 in the morning than it is at night.  Then, in the 45 minutes or so between films, I walk one door down the street to Panera and grab some lunch: a roasted turkey and caramelized kale panini and an apple.  I did not end up being excited about the panini.  It was okay, but I would not get it again.  Then back to the theater (the exact same theater, same row, even) to see Under the Sun.  I buy a box of peanut M&Ms and eat them while I watch a travesty unfold onscreen.  The official description from the American Film Institute reads: "Given permission by the authorities to film a Pyongyang family, Russian filmmaker Vitaly Mansky soon realized that his government minders were turning his documentary into a highly manipulated fiction. Mansky left the camera running between takes to capture them staging scenes. This controversial, award-winning film is a chilling glimpse behind North Korea's propaganda curtain."  The film has really turned into a fascinating documentary about the making of propaganda, as well as the soul-deadening effects on the general populace of being forced to live a false public life, full of simulated emotion.

At home afterwards, another cup of decaf while I struggle to get some work done.  This proves unsuccessful; for the second time today, my web editor crashes, and I lose my unsaved work. 

Dinner is late, because my husband has to go to a meeting.  When he gets home, we have one of those catch-all type dinners: CSA vegetables (beets, the "tronchuda," broccoli) served over rice with a fried egg on top, and a little fruit on the side (honeydew and raspberries).  Sometimes you just have to eat food, in its mostly-unadorned state.  Oh, and a glass of sherry.

Before bed, I have a little dish of Cascadian Farm oats-and-honey granola with milk.  I have the munchies, I guess; craving something sweet or crunchy or both.
 
June 24
Breakfast: lemon water, coffee.  My husband ate the remaining bananas in the night and I find there isn't much to put in this morning's smoothie.  Smoothie ends up being made of coconut water, almond-coconut milk, whole milk, plain nonfat yogurt, peanut butter, hemp protein powder, and frozen mango.  But it is more liquid-y than I'd like-- needs more fruit, and I need to buy some greens.  I miss the greens; the depth of flavor is not the same without them.  Afterwards I have another cup of decaf and start a new book.

At noontime, after yoga, another cup of regular coffee while I try again to settle down to work.  Today I will be more diligent about saving my work constantly.  This helps.  After a while, I have a working lunch too: leftover leek soup from Wednesday night (I like it better cold!), leftover farm vegetables from last night, mixed peanuts and raisins.  And another cup of decaf mid-afternoon.

​June 20
Back to our usual sorts of breakfast.  Lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from coconut water, vanilla yogurt, hemp protein powder, almond butter, frozen peaches, frozen strawberries, and iceberg lettuce.  Not my favorite (too much iciness between the fruit and the lettuce), but my husband especially liked it.  He is reporting feeling a post-smoothie queasiness that could be about blood sugar.  I am responding by cutting back the sweetness in our morning smoothies-- no more lemonade and fruit juice bases for a while.  My kid, on the other hand, will be disappointed.  They were guzzling juice as fast as I could bring it into the house.

Later in the morning, we practiced setting up our new tent and using the new campstove.

Morning shopping (Co-op): organic lactose-free 2% milk, coconut water, peanut butter, 2 fresh mozzarella balls, organic cashew milk, organic flour tortillas, Cascadian Farms Ancient Grains cereal, pepperjack cheese, honeydew melon, organic portabello mushroom spaghetti sauce, 2 boneless pork chops, green salsa, can coconut milk, large can black beans, bananas, cilantro, 3 roma tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries.  $64.

Just before lunchtime, I go to the mall to try on a few more backpacks and shop for clothes.  While there, I take a lunch break at the Panera in the mall.  Coffee is my number one priority, but I also want a sandwich.  Somehow I am seduced by their limited-edition Lobster Roll, with a $17 price tag (at least I pay cash for it).  Is it worth it?  Well, if you are measuring purely in terms of quantity of lobster, it probably is.  There is a TON of lobster, giant chunks, in my roll, and little filler in the form of mayo or lettuce.  Lovers of lobster rolls may be satisfied.  Do I derive twice the pleasure from it as I would from a normal sandwich, for instance the roast turkey and caramelized kale panini I was considering?  Doubtful.  I have an apple on the side.  A $20 lunch, for myself only, at the mall.  What kind of self-indulgence is this?  But I read my hard-boiled Scottish crime novel and drink my coffee and am reasonably happy.

At home again after buying an excess of cardigans at H&M, it is time for some decaf and settling down to work with my laptop.

Dinnertime finds me trying to make a decent soft taco, in order to erase the memory of Saturday night's Mexican Fiasco.  I chop up some boneless pork chops and marinate them briefly in hot sauce and spices, then brown the meat with some onions.  Season (similarly) and heat some canned black beans.  The kid does not eat pork.  Other fixings: chopped tomatoes, shredded iceberg lettuce, grated pepperjack cheese, chopped cilantro, green salsa, bottled hot sauce.  Some warm flour tortillas, build-your-own.  This simple dinner, in its infinite variety, is always much appreciated by my family.  On this particular occasion, I didn't go to a lot of effort; there are fancier versions.  Even this basic and relatively boring version was so much better than what we had at that restaurant. 
I will note again that one Google review calls Jalisco Mexican restaurant in New Market "the best darn food, probably, in this part of rural Virginia."
​
Oh, and I had a glass of red wine with dinner.  Now that bottle is finally gone.

​June 21
Same old, same old breakfast.  Lemon water, coffee, smoothie.  The smoothie is good, uncomplicated, like a Slimfast breakfast drink.  Coconut water, cashew milk, vanilla yogurt, hemp protein powder, canned coconut milk, banana, strawberries.  Maybe it doesn't sound uncomplicated.  But it is.  Also, the lack of greens make it an actual pale pink instead of army green or mud-brown.  I don't get a chance to finish my coffee before I have to go out.

Back midmorning, I have some decaf, then some more regular, and then some more regular again around lunchtime.  After which I have lunch.  Lunch is leftover pasta from last Thursday night with a tiny bit of grated parmesan (kid has used most of it, left the rind in the fridge); also, a slice of stale whole wheat bakery toast with butter and lingonberry jam. 

​Midafternoon, I cannot handle any more coffee, so I have a cup of Pero with half and half, try to do some planning for our backpacking trip while listening to hail and thunder outside.

As dinnertime approaches, and especially after a late afternoon yoga class, I am really hungry-- have a few salted cashews, scarf down some honeydew melon while I am slicing it for dinner, drink a glass of white wine.  Dinner itself is spaghetti again: sauce from the jar, but lots of fresh basil and sliced fresh mozzarella dress it up a little bit.  Honeydew melon on the side, which I realize does not match at all.  Just trying to feed my family; but there's been too much pasta lately.  Our carb intake is through the roof.

In the evening, we walk over to the neighbor's to pick up our CSA box.  It is a really good one this time! Giant leeks (see photo), tiny cabbages (see other photo), a few giant leaves of something I cannot identify (farmer says it is "tronchuda" or "Portuguese cabbage."  Most vendors seem to refer to this as a variety of kale, but to me it looked somewhere between Swiss chard and collards), marjoram, broccoli, kohlrabi, beets, radishes, 4 gorgeous red onions, garlic.  I miss the strawberries but they cannot last forever.

​June 22
Work day, typical breakfast.  Lemon water, coffee, smoothie made from cashew milk, plain nonfat yogurt, hemp protein powder, peanut butter, strawberries, and honeydew melon.

I have a cup of decaf coffee at work, but it takes me the entire shift to finish it; too busy.  So, when I get home at 2:45, I have a lot of catching up to do.  Coffee, a Q ginger soda, lunch consisting of leftover spaghetti from last night, 6 saltine crackers, about 3 cashews.  Yep, we need to find something besides carbs to eat.  While having lunch, I look up leek soup recipes online.  Preferably ones that use up a TON of leeks.  I choose this one. 

Still in workplace recovery mode, I have another cup of decaf, black this time, because we are out of half and half and I haven't been to the store yet.

Shopping (Co-op): organic whole milk, golden raisins, decaf coffee, organic frozen mangos, creme fraiche, sponges, half & half, carton of almond coconut milk, 3 rolls toilet paper, organic spinach, bananas, raw peanuts, pull-apart challah rolls, white cage-free eggs, fresh tarragon, 2 lemons.  $64.

For dinner, I have to do something about these outrageous leeks that came into our lives last night. The leek soup recipe I chose off the internet is pretty plain, really-- lots of leeks softened in butter, thickened with rice (instead of potato), a lot of raw spinach blended in at the end, with a garnish of creme fraiche and tarragon (no chives were available at my local store).  I don't bother to strain the soup to eliminate all spinach bits.  Neither do many of the commenters on the original recipe.  We are sane people with lives.

​Along with the soup, I make a slaw out of some of the other CSA vegetables: a tiny cabbage head, shredded, with grated radish and kohlrabi.  The dressing is my standard slaw dressing: olive oil, apple cider vinegar, a little mayonnaise, honey, salt and pepper.
​
Neither of these swell items has much in the way of calories, so we also have some challah rolls with butter.  And I have a glass of sherry.  And another half a challah roll with butter just before bed.