2Dolphins

The iPad is Dolphin Safe

2010-04-11T20:40:00.003-05:00

Thanks Ryan for the picture!

New Year, New House

2010-03-06T22:51:00.000-06:00

Rob hinted in a previous post that big changes were coming for 2010. Well, we finally got Liam potty trained so we decided that, with all the money saved on Pull-Ups, we could afford to buy a new house!

So, after more than 17 years, dozens of coats of paint, several major renovation projects, and countless memories, we’ve actually said "goodbye" to our old home, packed up our stuff, and moved on down the road. Scary? More than you could know! Kinda sad? Yeah, it’s tough to imagine that the old house isn’t our home any longer. Exciting? Unbelievably! Here’s the front of our new house:

We did some prep work before the move-in and after nearly a full day of grueling wallpaper removal, we got Liam’s new room ready for paint — and in his favorite color, of course!

With lots of help from Ryan, we finished painting Liam’s room, the office, the dining room ceiling and the living room before the big move.

Liam was very excited about helping to prepare for the move. He couldn’t wait to box up his toys and put them with our other boxes.

So on February 27th we officially moved into our new house. We couldn't have done it without the tireless help of Ryan, Martin & Adrian. Thanks guys for giving up your Saturday to help us and thanks to Linda for loaning us your trailer!

Stay tuned for more pictures as we finish unboxing and settling in at the house!

A Round Dinnertime

2010-02-12T05:37:00.001-06:00

Dede spotted this awesome video of a unique dolphin hunting technique that was recently showcased in the BBC "Life" series. Aerial photography reveals how some ingenious bottlenose dolphins off of the Florida coast use their powerful tail flukes to create a ring of mud to trap fish in shallow waters. The panicked fish jump out of the water away from the ring, right into the waiting mouths of the other dolphins in the hunting pod. Interestingly, only one female in the pod creates these rings — always counter-clockwise — and she does it over & over until the whole pod is fed.

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

Kinda reminds me of another article about dolphins in southern Brazil hunting fish cooperatively with humans. Now if we could just get people to work together as well as the dolphins do, how great would that be?

New Year, New Car

2010-02-06T05:30:00.001-06:00

Rob predicted last month that 2010 would be a year of transitions. And even before that, he hinted several months ago, that a big car change was afoot.

Still, its come as a huge shock to nearly everyone who knows me, that the Caliente era is coming to a close. My beloved Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible was a fantastic, fun car for two, but not at all a good fit for three. So, a couple of weeks ago we said "Hello" to our new, comfy, more family-oriented car (dubbed Rocket by Liam).

Its a bit bittersweet, of course, knowing that this means a very sad "Goodbye" to my sweet little Cali, who sits dejected on the curb with a forlorn "For Sale" perched in her windshield. (Call me for a price on an award-winning, sporty, fun, little car!)

Is this the first of more big changes to come in 2010? Oh yes! Stay tuned...

Gotcha Day - 2 Year Anniversary

2010-01-31T21:19:00.000-06:00

Happy Gotcha Day, Liam!

I can’t believe its been 2 years already! As many developments as the past year has brought, its hard to imagine what’s in store for us in the year to come.

Here’s what has become our traditional stairway comparison photos on Gotcha Day:

After dinner, the festivities continued with the traditional homemade Gotcha Day cupcakes!

Thrifty Yet Nifty, Even After Fifty!

2010-01-02T01:02:00.007-06:00

In yesterday’s New Year’s post I noted that 2010 is destined to be an eventful year, loaded with all sorts of special occasions. One such milestone is the 50th anniversary of one our favorite books — "Green Eggs and Ham."

After writing "The Cat in the Hat" in 1955 using only 223 words, Theodor ("Ted") Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, bet his publisher Bennett Cerf $50 that he could write a book using only 50 words. Seuss collected on the wager in 1960 with the publication of "Green Eggs and Ham" which did indeed use only 50 distinct words — of which, only one ("anywhere") has more than a single syllable. This simplistic yet infectious book has become the 4th best-selling children’s hardcover book of all time.

Liam has a number of Dr. Seuss books, but this one is our favorite by far. I especially enjoy acting out the exasperation felt by the story’s unnamed, flustered antagonist who is pestered relentlessly by the persistent Sam I Am!

Trivia: To memorialize Dr. Seuss upon his death in 1991,
Reverend Jesse Jackson recited "Green Eggs and Ham"
during a Saturday Night Live Weekend Update segment.

A New Decade Begins

2010-01-01T07:53:00.005-06:00

I expect 2010 will be a remarkable time of significant changes and happenings! It’s the beginning of a hopeful new decade and this’ll undoubtedly be a year of many special milestones. Dede & I wish you all a healthy & happy new year!

Online Optics

2009-12-30T12:30:00.001-06:00

Dede & I had both been wanting to get some new eyeglasses for a few months now — we were both overdue for new ’scripts and the rough & tumble nature of being a toddler’s parents had taken its toll on our glasses. (A nasty heel swipe to the nose in October was the last straw, so I bent my mangled glasses back into some facsimile of proper shape and made an appointment with my optometrist.)

Anyway, like us, many of you probably have often winced at the sky-high prices at the local EyeMasters, LensCrafters or other such "brick & mortar" eyeglass shops. But you pry open your wallet, pony up the big bucks, and get what you need — at a very premium price. And since Dede & I both started doing the bifocal bugaloo a couple of years ago, our glasses are all the more pricey. But this time was different...

When we went looking for glasses to fit Liam last year, we couldn’t find a single store locally that carried a frame small enough to fit a 2 year old. One shop did offer one pair of glasses that came close, but those were $130 just for the frame and didn’t feature springy hinges, flexy temples, or anything that would inspire us to believe that they’d hold up to a toddler’s torture. But then another adoptive couple told us about Zenni Optical and the results couldn’t have been better!

So, when it came time for us to get some new specs, we decided to boldly venture into the world of online eyeglasses too! I picked out a snazzy pair of light, rimless, frames with Transitions-style progressive (no-line) bifocal lenses, treated with anti-glare pixie-dust — all for under $100 shipped! Dede opted for a half-rimless pair with progressive lenses and some funky plastic-framed sunglasses with a cool hibiscus design on the temples for less than $100 shipped! That’s a fraction of what a single pair of similar glasses would cost locally!

Buying glasses sight unseen (rimshot) does seem like a daunting proposition, but once you break it down, it’s not too tough. You just need the dimensions from glasses you own or a pair you like at a store. For example, my previous frames were 53mm wide by 27mm tall, had a bridge width of 17mm, and temple length of 140mm. So using those measurements as a guide when shopping online for my new glasses, I looked for a pair that closely matched so they’ fit well and be proportionate for my face.

So yeah, buying glasses online is a little intimidating at first but the incredibly low prices make it easy to venture into the unknown!

And it also helps that there’s a large and rapidly-growing subculture of glasses-wearers who use online optical shops. Ira Mitchell’s excellent GlassyEyes.com website has a wealth of useful info specific to this. The GlassyEyes forum is a hotbed of discussions where friendly & knowledgeable folks will help you ease into this new frontier with lots of anecdotal info & suggestions. For example, having never gone "rimless" before, I was nervous about the thickness of the lens and one of the helpful guys posted a link to a handy Lens Thickness Calculator tool that put my mind at ease.

Update: In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve gotta admit that those snazzy rimless frames sounded better than they actually worked out to be. The temples were an Oakley-style straight-legged affair so they slid off nearly every time I bent over. I don’t fault Zenni for this — I just chose a frame style that was too different and loosely-fitting than what I’m used to. They’re still well worth having as a backup though.

And when we had Liam’s eyes checked a few weeks ago, his vision had changed enough that he needed new lenses. But Zenni no longer carries the frame we bought for him last year or any other comparable childrens’ models. So, based on the excellent reviews on GlassyEyes, we tried a very similar pair from Coastal Contacts. Thanks to a fantastic half-off seasonal promotion, I bought new glasses for both Liam and myself for slightly under $50, they arrived a mere 8 days after I placed the order, and they’re great!

So, if you’re ready for some new glasses and are tired of getting robbed blind (rimshot) by the high-priced local retailers, I highly recommend trying one of the online stores. At $35-50 for a pair of glasses, you can easily afford to experiment a little.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T12:27:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas this year and are enjoying your holidays! I’m finally getting around to uploading our Christmas pictures and doing a blog post.

Nanny Karen arrived Christmas Eve and Liam was so excited that she was finally here. He had no problem turning off Cars to go pick her up at the airport. That’s a sign of true love! Most times he won’t even stop to eat during that movie.

Liam was wiped out from all the excitement of the day that he fell asleep early on Christmas Eve and missed out on baking cookies for Santa. Poor little guy held out as long as he could, but the driving around to look at Christmas lights just did him in by 7 P.M.

Since he went to bed so early, we expected him up early Christmas morning but he actually slept until about 8 A.M. Needless to say, he was quite pleased to see that Santa had not forgot him and remembered everything on his list. Luckily for us, his list didn’t change from day to day, and he consistently stuck with Mack the truck, Play-Doh and The Lawman (Sheriff), also from Cars. Once he saw those under the tree, he was done and we had to work over the next 3 hours to get him to stop playing long enough to come open a few gifts at a time.

Click here if the linked photo above doesn’t take you to the photo gallery page.

First Christmas Concert

2009-12-14T20:50:00.001-06:00

I’m a little late getting this posted but Liam performed at his first Christmas program last week. He sang with all of the 3 year old’s at his daycare in front of their families. After the program was over, the children joined their parents for lunch.

(For those of you reading this who’re still working on your adoption paperwork or are in the waiting stage, don’t give up, these sort of payoffs are countless!)

Needless to say, our little songbird was thrilled to see us in the audience and kept waving and saying "Hi Momma!" during the concert and my heart just melted seeing him up there so happy. Check out his performance in the video below (he’s on the front row, on the far right in the blue vest):

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

2 Years Ago Today...

2009-12-03T18:40:00.000-06:00

Today (December 3rd) marks our 2nd Metcha anniversary. That is, it was two years ago today that we met our precious son for the first time in Podolsk, Russia. I had no idea at the time how much that moment would change me forever and, just like the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes that day and hasn’t stopped growing since.

In the past two years, we’ve really become a family and our baby that we brought home is becoming an independent not-so-little boy. I’m so proud of him and thankful every day that God chose us to be his parents.

Dec. 3, 2007

Dec. 2009

Breakfast With Santa 2009

2009-11-14T21:41:00.000-06:00

Today was our company’s annual "Breakfast with Santa" which should really be called breakfast before Santa.

We arrived as they opened at 9:00 A.M. and were still number 71 (think Southwest Airlines boarding passes). After we had our sausage biscuit breakfast and juice, we waited for the arrival of Santa and then began listening for our number group to be called so Liam could go see "The Man."

We finally made our way to the stage about 10:30 A.M. where fearless Liam hopped right up on Santa’s knee and told him what precisely he wanted for Christmas. It’s a short list this year — Mack the truck (from Cars) and Play-Doh.

It was a fun morning and Liam had a chance to catch up on some playtime with some of friends he hadn’t seen in awhile.

Click the photo above to see more pictures!

Snoopy vs. Red Baron Redux

2009-11-12T06:51:00.000-06:00

If you know anything at all about me, you know that I love Snoopy. So you can imagine how jazzed I was to learn about the eye-popping upcoming videogame Snoopy WWI Flying Ace. *

Autumn always rekindles fond memories of the great old Peanuts animated holiday "specials" we always watched as kids. Snoopy’s heroic World War I fighter waged aerial battle and crossed imaginary wartime France as a downed pilot in Charles Shulz’s "It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" in October 1966.

Smart Bomb Interactive’s new game, scheduled for release in the 1st quarter of 2010 for all major consoles, once again pits Snoopy against Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. the Red Baron and the rest of those dastardly wartime Germans. From the sneak preview trailer, it looks like they’ve certainly met their match!

If you can’t get enough of the Flying Ace, there’s even a Snoopy Flying Ace USB hub for your desktop. Just plug the hub into your PC’s USB port and watch Snoopy & his faithful Sopwith Camel come alive!

And though you’ve probably seen it countless times, just how well do you know "It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?"

* Okay, never mind that we don’t even own a game console — I can still get excited about a game, right? Maybe this will push us over the edge?

Halloween ’09 Highlights

2009-11-02T21:06:00.000-06:00

Our 2nd Halloween with Liam was another eventful holiday! It was the first time either Rob or Liam had ever carved a Jack-o’-Lantern. The results were pretty good for a rookie effort:

Here are more photos of the pumpkin carving.

For Liam’s costume this year, we pieced together a "Bob the Builder" outfit from borrowed work boots (Thanks Katherine!), a new pair of denim overalls & a flannel shirt found on eBay, and a toy toolbelt & hardhat from Amazon.com. Then for his daycare’s "Barnyard Day" theme day, we just omitted the hardhat & toolbelt and renamed him "Farmer Kirby." (Actually, the "Kirby" part was purely his own invention and we’re still not sure where it originated from.)

And you can see more photos from our ’09 Halloween here.

Finally, I never did get our pictures from Fiddlesticks Farms last weekend posted. So just in case there weren’t already enough pictures in one post, here are a few shots from our fun October ’09 trip to Fiddlesticks Farms.

iTunes Hero

2009-10-26T06:33:00.001-05:00

Thinking back on the song "Juke Box Hero," I started wondering if that has any context with today’s music fans. I mean really, a jukebox? In this age of white earbuds, how many Gen Y or Zers have ever even touched a jukebox?

I fondly recall plunking coins into a flashy old Wurlitzer, watching the machine magically come to life, clicking and whirring as the Rube Goldberg-esqe mechanism whisked the 45 RPM records off the rack and plopped them gingerly down on the turntable, and finally hearing the slight hiss & crackle as the diamond needle met the black vinyl. Man, that was something special!

(And who didn’t envy Fonzie’s special gift for knocking a temperamental jukebox into action with a quick, cool snap of the wrist?)

What got me thinking about this is a new album by Foreigner called Can’t Slow Down that was released just a few weeks ago. It’s another Wal-Mart exclusive 3-disc set like last year’s Journey "Revelations." Like the Journey release, this one features one disc of new material, a disc of 10 refreshed versions of some of the band’s classics (including "Juke Box Hero"), and a live concert DVD.

But the parallels don’t end there. Foreigner’s new lead singer Kelly Hansen is to that band’ s original frontman Lou Gramm what Journey’s new Arnel Pineda is to Steve Perry. Really. He’s that close. No he’s not exactly Lou any more than Arnel is a true Xerox of Steve, but the vocal style & flavor is so strikingly similar (especially on the studio recordings) that it’ll easily pass as the original singer’s sound for casual listeners. Don’t believe me? Compare the following classic hits as performed then vs. now:

Hot Blooded - 1993

Hot Blooded - 2009

Urgent - 1993

Urgent - 2009

Yeah, it is a little freaky for a guy who looks like he could be Steven Tyler’s cousin to sound like Lou Gramm. And in continuing the comparisons to Journey, doesn’t rhythm guitarist & sax player Tom Gimbel (who coincidentally, used to tour with Steven Tyler’s Aerosmith!) look an awful lot like Neal Schon?

Anyway, the new material is good! It may not be quite as punchy & raw as the late 70s / early 80s stuff when Foreigner first landed on the radio (and in jukeboxes!), but the new songs are certainly on-par with much of the group’s mid to late 80s stuff. Several of these could easily be hits if the label works them right. If you were a fan of Mick Jones & the boys back then, you’re going to air-drumming & whistling along with most of the songs on this new album. Of course, it might’ve made more sense for them to remake "Juke Box Hero" as "iTunes Hero" — except that you can’t get the new album on iTunes...

If you give the new Foreigner a listen, post a comment!

By the way, bonus points go out to anyone who saw Foreigner’s original tour in ’85 that actually featured a giant inflatable jukebox. Were you there?

Pumpkin Patch 2009

2009-10-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

We finally had a chance to go to the pumpkin patch today. We had originally planned on going last weekend but the weather didn’t cooperate. It was a great opportunity to get some camera practice in on my favorite subject and Liam loved running around through all the pumpkins.

We bought a pumpkin to carve — which will be a first for both Rob and Liam — and we also bought a baby pumpkin.

We followed up our trip to the pumpkin patch with a stop off at Barnes and Noble for some complimentary hot chocolates that came with our pumpkin purchase.

Here’s a shot of Liam in the pumpkin patch.

Dolphin-Safe Tuna - Anything But Safe

2009-09-28T06:23:00.003-05:00

"You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t."

There never ceases to be good examples of just how true Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote is.

Via Jason Kottke’s blog, I discovered marine biology grad student Dave Shiffman’s interesting debate The Ecological Disaster That Is Dolphin-Safe Tuna that sheds some unique perspectives on the concept of "dolphin-safe" tuna, its effects on sustainable commercial tuna fishing, and the impacts of bycatch.

The gist of the article is that we’ve blindly allowed activists to recklessly prioritize the well-being of one group of aquatic animals at the expense of many others. This is largely because it’s easier for our collective conscience to identify with smart, friendly dolphins than other species that aren’t as easily empathized with because they seem less cute or intelligent. As a result, government-mandated dolphin-safe fishing practices have unintentionally had devastating effects for a much broader range of oceanic creatures.

For every 1 dolphin saved, 382 Mahi-Mahi, 188 Wahoo, 82 Yellowtail & other large fish, 27 sharks, nearly 1,200 smaller fish, and a number of sea turtles and various other sea-life.

(To make matters worse, dolphin-safe fishing methods result in far more young tuna being caught rather than the more mature tuna who have already been reproducing, thereby making food supplies even more scarce for the very dolphins we’re striving to save.)

So the thorny ethical dilemma is whether it’s worth saving dolphins at the expense of sea turtles, sharks, and many other endangered fish species. Should we protect dolphins — who we have reason to believe are sentient mammals with intelligence that rivals our own — even if it means fishing some other sea-life right into extinction?

Gitar

2009-09-20T16:36:00.008-05:00

We often fondly think back to our time in Moscow in Dec. ’07 when we first met Liam. Our driver / translator / guide for that first trip to Russia was a great fellow named Pashe (pronounced Pasha). Among other things, I got a big kick out of his ghetto cell phone ("Bluetooth?! No, my phone doesn’t have Bluetooth; it has duct tape.") that he used almost continuously. When we met up with him on our 2nd trip to Moscow in Feb. ’08, he was quite proud of his new cell phone and the funny ringtone he had at the time. In fact, Pashe and Liam danced to the ringtone.

I asked Pashe to write down the artist & name of the song and a few months later finally remembered to look it up. "Gitar" is a homemade handicam video by 26 year old former architecture student Peter Nalitch. We haul this out to show people from time to time, so I finally decided to just post it here. Rob calls it an "earworm," because it’s so cheesy-fun & infectious that you’ll have it stuck in your head for days. So, in honor of Pashe, enjoy:

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

9/11 Memorial Gardens Park

2009-09-12T22:10:00.001-05:00

Each year, three thousand American flags line the sidewalk — one for each victim of the 9/11 terrorist attack — around our local Memorial Gardens Park and it’s quite a moving sight to see! This year there were six additional flags placed for each of the local police officers that’ve been killed in the line of duty.

We took the opportunity to stop by and take some photographs this cool cloudy morning.
Click here to view some of the photos.

Lost Library

2009-09-12T06:30:00.000-05:00

A recent blog about beautiful libraries triggered some old memories. As a kid, I loved going to the public library — and still do. Our library wasn’t elaborate or grandiose, yet it seemed immense. People spoke in hushed church-like tones. There was that nameless scent. The obscure Dewey Decimal System held untold secrets just waiting to be decoded. The shelves just dripped with potential. Yes, going to the library was a rich & wondrous experience!

But it’s an experience I fear that my son may never know...

Booked-filled libraries are becoming a thing of the past. But while virtual libraries of e-books are certainly more accessible, I don’t think they’re as appreciable. There’s not the same sense of vastness nor do they inspire the same reverence or wonderment. Digital books seem less tangible and substantial. You can electronically duplicate the content, but not the context or sensual aspect, the smell, feel, heft & texture, of actual books.

I’ll admit that even in spite of my love for real, physical books, I’m not immune to the hype & allure of e-book readers. The idea that in a matter of seconds, you can download a new book rather than ordering it and waiting days or weeks for it to arrive make devices like Amazon.com’s Kindle really attractive. But several factors — not the least of which is the price — have held me back. I’ve seen a Sony e-book reader and the screen was surprisingly easy on the eyes, but deep down I’m still suspicious that the e-book reader experience just wouldn’t be as satisfying or comfortable as reading a book.

But sadly, the trend of replacing actual books with digital versions is only accelerating. In fact, Cushing Academy near Boston is one of the first schools in the U.S. to abandon traditional books in favor of virtual ones. In lieu of a library, the academy is instead creating a media center, spending nearly $500,000 equip it with with flat-screen TVs, e-book readers, and a coffee shop.

Is it just me and this is just nostalgia rearing its head once again? Do you think there’s anything lost in the transition from physical to digital books? Have you considered making the move to e-books? Are libraries all but lost as we plunge ever deeper into the cyberworld?

Labor Day Weekend 2009

2009-09-07T23:50:00.007-05:00

We went to Brady, Texas this weekend to visit friends and go to the 36th Annual World Championship BBQ Goat Cook-Off. A big thunderstorm moved through Friday night, which left Richards Park really muddy for the big event, but that didn’t seem to slow down the crowd. I had to figure out how to get a shoe on to wear since my new tattoo is still healing. So I ended up wearing a sock and a loose sandal, which as you can imagine, was quite the fashion statement. Of course, my friends didn’t let me live it down but it worked out pretty well. By some miracle, I managed to still have a white sock after I left (I can’t say that much for Rob’s mud-caked shoes).

Liam was immediately drawn to the air jumpers when we first got there. He of course picked the tallest one to play on. From there, we got him interested in the petting zoo although he didn’t much care for the animals eating out of his hand. After much hand sanitizer, we moved on to check out some of the local arts & craft booths. After we made our way to the back of the park, Liam spotted the bungee trampolines. I really didn’t think he was big enough to get on them so I was going to let the workers break the bad news to him but they unexpectedly agreed to let him jump. So, Liam got strapped into the harness and headed for the skies! Most 3 year olds would have probably been terrified at the prospect of bouncing 15 feet in the air, but not "Mr. Fearless." I can only imagine what’s in store for us in the future!

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

We had some fair food for lunch — but no, we didn’t eat any goat — before we left the event. What is it about food on a stick that you wouldn’t ordinarily cross the street for, but is the most wonderful stuff ever invented when you’re wandering around at a fair? The weather was perfect, it was overcast the whole day and never did get too hot. Liam insisted on a second round at the bungee trampolines on our way out of the park.

Back at the house that evening, Sladyn & his friend Nick "Nickaroo" were riding their dirt bikes and I got several great shots of them doing jumps as the sun was setting.

Click here to view some of the pictures from our Labor Day adventures in Brady.

Food For Thought: Wrapup

2009-09-05T23:56:00.000-05:00

I hope the food-related topics information & ideas covered during this series have been revealing, thought-provoking, or maybe at least sparked some discussion. Some of these topics have certainly dominated our dinner table conversations this week!

As promised, I’ve had an impartial participant draw the names of two people who’ve posted comments this past week to award the free books. And here are the results:

Brian T. — Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser.

Mark & Sinziana — The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

So please send me your mailing addresses and I’ll USPS ship ’em right out to you! A big "Thank you!" goes out to all of you who left comments and helped make this blog series more interesting!

Articles in this Food For Thought series:

Of course, I’d like to encourage you to take a few minutes to peruse through some of our previous food-related blog posts too!

Food For Thought: Loco For Locavore

2009-09-04T02:40:00.001-05:00

One of the focal points in The Omnivore’s Dilemma is the value of eating locally-grown food and although I don’t believe the term is specifically used in the book, author Michael Pollan clearly supports the principles of the "locavore" movement.

What is a locavore? Well, much like a carnivore is someone who eats meat and a herbivore is someone who eats plants, a locavore is a person who eats locally-sourced food. The locavore movement has sprouted in the past few years to encourage people to consume more food from regional farms, area farmers’ markets, at stores which carry local products, or even to produce some of their own food.

There are several reasons in makes sense to favor locally-grown food:

Regarding food quality, even if local products aren’t formally certified as "organic," chances are still very good that they’ve been grown or raised using much healthier methods. The result is better quality, fresher flavor, and more nutritious food.

Locally-sourced food is "greener" or more environmentally-friendly. It has a smaller carbon footprint due to the lower "food miles" — or how far food has to travel from the farm to the fork. Importing non-regional and international foods can sometimes require vast amounts of fossil fuels & non-renewable resources.

Locally-grown and/or produced food is often likely to be the result of more Earth-friendly & sustainable practices. This translates to fewer unwanted chemicals making their way into your family’s plates.

There’s also the satisfaction of knowing that you’re supporting your local economy when you purchase from regional farmers & growers.

Green Blog Diaries offers a bushel-load of great locavore-themed blogs to chew on. The blogs featured in that roundup are an excellent starting point to discover lots more about the local food movement. There’s also a great new group blog called Civil Eats that strives to promote critical thought about sustainable agriculture & food systems.

Of course, there has to be a balance struck between lofty ideals versus what’s practical — buying local is far easier in fertile regions than in other, more agriculturally-barren areas. Some people will be discouraged by the radical narrow-focus surrounding the locavore "movement" and its 100-mile limit. And there’ll even be the wacky few who drive gas-guzzling SUVs all the way across town to buy locally-grown tomatoes because they’re more environmentally-friendly.

So, what do you think? Have you already been focusing more on local food? Do you believe efforts to be more local-minded can make a difference or do you dismiss this as just another pointless yuppie fad?

Remember to post a comment by midnight (P.S.T.) so your name will be entered for a chance at one of the two food-related books I’m giving away to commemorate this Food For Thought series.

Food For Thought: Kids Cuisine

2009-09-03T08:28:00.000-05:00

Inspiring & passionate, Chef Ann Cooper (a.k.a. the Renegade Lunch Lady) has spearheaded a dramatic overhaul in the school lunch programs in Berkley, CA. She’s on a mission to change the way children eat and transform cafeterias into culinary classrooms. Don’t be put off by her intensity — she’s just very outraged and committed to getting the word out about how our childrens’ nutritional needs are being so poorly addressed in school.

Click here if the embedded video above doesn’t play properly in your browser.

Check out Ann Cooper’s blog and also follow Ann Cooper on Twitter to keep up with all of her latest happenings.

Of course, some of Ann’s ideas may not work universally. Sure, fresh regional veggies & fruits are abundant in California, but locally-grown, organic produce isn’t necessarily so readily available in other parts of the country. Still, consider the benefits for children of applying even a few of Ann’s progressive changes.

What’re your thoughts on school lunches and kids’s nutritional needs? Do you believe schools are doing enough already? To be entered in the book drawing at the end of this Food For Thought week, just leave a comment!

Food For Thought: Fast Food Nation

2009-09-02T06:29:00.001-05:00

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser is an in-depth look at how the fast food industry has revolutionized the landscape, culture, & health of America — and ultimately the entire world.

Not quite what you’d expect, Schlosser’s book doesn’t demonize fast food as it pertains to health — in fact, the author plainly states that his family still does eat some fast food — but rather, it’s more of an indictment of the corporate entities behind the drive-thrus.

This is a revealing look at sanitation & food safety that’s very often far from the primary concern of the big fast food chains. It’s also a disturbing investigation into some of the deplorable ways in which these companies commonly, almost criminally, (mis)treat their employees.

But as much as slam many of the major fast food companies for their unethical practices, but I’ve got to commend Schlosser for also making a point to highlight the few that do it right, like In-N-Out Burger, for example.

This book is also packed with details and loads of interesting backstory, so it’s not an quick & easy weekend read. As broad a topic as fast food cultural is, Schlosser’s points wander appropriately across a very wide range. But "Fast Food Nation" is definitely well worth the time! Just a few of the persuasive nuggets:

The fast food industry has aggressively lobbied against improved health and safety practices in the meat-packing industry, while pushing for lower product costs, faster production and more uniform product. One result of this is that any single hamburger patty may be comprised of ground bits from hundreds, sometimes thousands, of cattle rather than a single cow.

The meatpacking industry has become totally industrialized. Cattle are fed a continuous diet of corn — something which cows would not naturally eat in volume — laced with massive amounts of antibiotics to counteract the devastating effects that solely eating grain has upon the bovine digestive system (resulting in ever more resistant pathogens). In addition to being unhealthy for the cows, corn-fed beef is comparably higher in unhealthy saturated fats than that of grass-fed.

To comply with international standards, the quality of meat being processed for shipment to non-American locations of the big fast food chains is several times higher than that of the meat used domestically. That means that a Big Mac in Dubai has better & safer meat than the same burger at a McDonald’s in Dallas.

Fast food has infiltrated every corner of American society and is now served at restaurants & drive-throughs, at stadiums, airports, zoos, public schools & universities, on cruise ships, trains, and airplanes, at retail stores, gas stations, and even in some hospital cafeterias. In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion.

To make a strawberry milkshake at home, you’d probably use ice cream, strawberries, milk, and maybe a touch of vanilla. But the ingredients in a typical fast-food version include milkfat & nonfat milk, sweet whey, high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, guar gum, monoglycerides & diglycerides, cellulose gum, sodium phosphate, carrageenan, citric acid, E129, and artificial strawberry flavor. That elusive "strawberry flavor" isn’t even derived from actual fruit, but rather an elaborate laboratory where "flavorists" perform wizardry with chemicals such as amyl acetate, butyric acid, dipropyl ketone, methyl heptine carbonate, and undecalactone.

This book has certainly changed the way I look at the food I’m putting on my family’s table. And it’s the second of the two books I’ll be drawing a name for at the end of this Food For Thought week, so be sure to leave a comment so that you’re entered to win!

Has there been anything that’s changed your opinions about fast food? Do you still eat fast food as often? Do you ever veer away from the big chain restaurants and instead get burgers & such from "Mom & Pop" fast food places?