Dork Chow

Archive for May, 2008

I saw this on FertileHealthy Blog and had to spread it. This of course is an ad for some guy’s book so it is a little propagandistic. And you don’t have to read the book to know what to do. Fight back! Take your health into your hands. Don’t depend on Big Brother to keep you healthy. Big Brother is only interested in maintaining the appearance of being interested in your health. It’s all about money. Get healthy or stay that way as an act of political defiance. A lot of your health is about what you eat.

Just received this from the Sierra club mailing list:

For the next 21 days, in an effort to eat more consciously, Oprah is going vegan. She will be eliminating caffeine, sugar, alcohol, gluten and animal products from her diet for 21 days. She has already exclaimed “Wow, wow, wow! I never imagined meatless meals could be so satisfying. I had been focused on what I had to give up—sugar, gluten, alcohol, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. What’s left?” I thought. “Apparently a lot. I can honestly say every meal was a surprise and a delight, beginning with breakfast—strawberry rhubarb wheat-free crepes.”

Read the rest of this entry »

I just found a new food social network called keyingredient.com. It’s way Web 2.0. One thing I like about it is it doesn’t scream “ads, ads, ads!” in your face. Another cool thing is the way you can widgetize recipes and share them around. Read the rest of this entry »

I always wondered why the miso soup in restaurants tasted so good and mine was just barely edible. One day I observed that the miso soup at my favorite Japanese restaurant (Aomatsu) was lighter colored than the stuff that I made at home. Next time I shopped for miso I got mild white miso instead of the darker Hacho stuff I had been using. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the topics in this blog is sustainability. I’m spreading this video teaser from The Story of Stuff just to make you think twice next time you go out shopping. This is something I believe very strongly in. The consumer culture has been shown time and time again to be a lie. Good food, good friends, and good times are are what makes life worth living. And when it comes to food, locally grown and prepared at home is the best way to minimize the amount of toxic trash from the whole production.

If you surf the web for gizmos to grate garlic and ginger and zest lemons you will find a great variety. I have to give them high marks for creativity, but when you get right down to it, clean-up is the deciding factor. I use one of these simple manual hand-helds. It has no moving parts, nothing to assemble or disassemble, only brush it down under hot soapy water when when done using and voila. Do yourself a favor and get the deluxe model because it has a better grade of steel that is sharper and stays that way. As any cook knows, sharp tools work better and let you get the chore of grating done faster. I have been using this for three years and it is better than anything else I have used, particularly when it comes to garlic.

Frederic Patenaude’s book “Sunfood Cuisine” is designed as a practical guide to assist people in going as raw-vegan as they want to go. I got this book as a result of hanging out at a band retreat with my paranoid raw vegan friend X (more adventures with X here), and at the time I reviewed it on Epinions.

X was eager to nurture us on her day to host with her delicious and nutritious raw vegan food.
In my mind I had pictured a raw-vegan diet consisting of wheatgrass juice and chopped lettuce. Nothing could be further from the truth. The food that X prepared for us was both satisfying and delicious, and on my Sunday morning run after a full Saturday of noshing on raw-vegan food, I tore out at the head of the pack. Psychological? Maybe….

Part I starts out with a justification for this diet that to me is not scientific enough. It baldly states that “we humans are the sickest animals on the planet.” and why do we fail to thrive like wild animals do? Well I could point you to some wild animal populations that are not thriving and in fact are suffering all kinds of diseases for starters. But some of the logic is provable, for example that animal products linger longer in the gut. However, Patenaude is not in the business of scientifically justifying anything. As he himself says “let me ask you to do something. Just try it.”

Continue reading…

The ancient Greeks were afraid to eat beans because they were supposed to contain dead people’s souls or something. I wonder why they thought that. And then there are Mexican “jumping” beans. I have seen them. They really do jump and wiggle because they are infested with the larva of an insect inside the seed. The bean picture below is not an animation. Steal it, put it in your animation ripper, and you will see that it’s just one static frame. I use this picture to illustrate that beans are crawling with fiber, minerals and good healthy protein.
If you cook black beans with epazote, (chenopodium ambrosioides,) in English known as skunkweed or wormseed, and often considered a true weed, it cuts down on the fartiferous effects.
Here is a great educational PDF if you are interested in epazote. The epazote adds a taste that takes getting used to, but once you are used to it black beans don’t taste right without it. Epazote grows wild in the southern states of the USA and in Mexico. You can often buy it at farmers’ markets, or you can grow it quite easily in your own herb garden. Once you are familiar with it you can pick it wild. However I caution against eating anything that grows roadside because you don’t know what pesticides it may have absorbed.
Amazon.com Widgets

Yields: 2-3 servings

• 1/4 LARGE papaya, seeded and peeled
• 1 kiwi fruit, peeled
• 1/2 scoop Greens First or other Green Powder
• 1/4 tsp Edible Green Tea Powder
• 1/2 scoop soy milk powder or soy protein powder
• 1 tsp hemp oil
• 1 Tbsp raw cashews
• 1/4 to 1/2 cucumber
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 disks fresh raw ginger
• agave nectar to taste
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/4 C cilantro
• about 1 cup water

I came up with this original recipe when I wanted something cold, smooth, healthy and delicious. After several tries, this is what we landed on in the Dorkage test kitchen.

Notes: If using a small papaya, use half a papaya in this recipe. Virtually all of these ingredients are optional except the papaya. I would leave in at least one of the oily ingredients. The avocado and/or hemp oil and/or nuts give it a smooth creamy consistency. You might think of other ingredients you can put in as well, such as fresh pineapple, coconut, or parsley. It is best if your chunk of papaya is frozen and partially thawed. Process in food processor or blender until smooth. We eat ours with a spoon. It makes enough for six servings as a side dish, or two servings if this is a meal. Be open minded when you taste this. My healthy minded friends have requested second helpings.

See this post on key ingredient

Above is a sample of a free online streaming Ashtanga yoga class; pick and choose the one that suits you best from Yoga Today. The first time I had a hard time following what was goin’ on on the screen when my head was down but what do you expect! A glance at a yoga book helped me with the Ashtanga dialect. I’m sure I’ll improve with practice. I personally have more experience with Bikram, but Bikram gets boring, and it’s too strenuous and difficult for some folks, but hey! I’m flexible. I found the link on NastyMCT Alaska Blog Thanks!
Amazon.com Widgets