Now I'm Cooking.

I admit it, I may have a problem. I used the word 'may' so perhaps I'm not admitting it. But, I might be a compulsive blog starter.
About a year ago, I decided to give up wheat. I suspected I was allergic to it and noticed I felt better when I didn't eat my favorite foods (pizza, artisan bread, everything). I go through phases where I eat regularly, eating decent, fairly well-balanced food. Then I get tired. Eating wheat-free is difficult. Practically everything I eat has to be made from scratch. There are no last-minute sandwiches for my lunches (have you ever eaten pre-made GF 'bread?'). No opening up a can of tomato soup when I've been sick in bed for two days. I've been angry about missing my favorite pizza crust and delicious apple fritters, I've not eaten well because I'm too tired to cook, and now I've been sick. On the upside (when I was eating healthfully), I had more energy, I lost weight, I had less acne, less moodiness, better attention span and fewer sick days. In the long run, giving up wheat is worth it and now I'm looking to give up gluten. I want to love food again. I've been a culinary adventure-seeker (as long as it's vegetarian). I miss that. I hate sitting in a restaurant with friends and taking 20 minutes to break down a menu to order a salad with tomatoes, but "please hold the bleu-cheese" because that's processed with wheat. I need my food back.
With that in mind, and inspiration from The Gluten-Free Girl, my fellow gluten-free, vegetarian/vegan girl, Jamie and I have started a blog (The Gegan Girls) so we can share our finds with each other and anyone else who is struggling to find their new relationship with food. I want to fall in love with food again.

I'm Going Slightly Mad!

or so it seems this Montenegro farmer thought.

But...when you read on down, you'll notice that the zoo owner seems to take a lackadaisical approach to Nikica's recapture. This makes me think he might be the one slightly mad. "There is no reason to panic."

Helpful Information? Good Marketing? Obsessiveness? Elitism?

Teavana Blog

This is pretty impressive. I suppose after the monkeys go to all the trouble of picking my tea, I wouldn't want to screw it up. And how does one NOT end that sentence with a preposition? Up it screw? That doesn't sound very good...

New Shoes

I got new shoes....


Garfunkel approves...

Saturday Night at the Pearson's

Simon took on the wind-up toys last night...tragedy everywhere.


But when Simon went to take a hit of his catnip mouse...


Mr. Penguin rallied the troops.

Moral of the story: Don't let weed distract you.

Disclaimer: I really do have more interesting things to do on a Saturday night.

Familial Awkwardness

My friend Brett turned me on to this website. Awkward Family Photos My particular favorite at this moment is this photo. As one commenter noted, it makes it easier to cut the other out of the photo after the break up. Which, by the look on his face, could be any moment!

And....I'm back!

It's been a really LONG time since I've posted. Last I knew, Ceri was encouraging me to do the thing where you post every day in November. And now, it's May. It's been a long, dark six months, only partially due to the abyss of Rochester winters. But...I'm back and hopefully will start finding interesting things to post. If not, I'll post non-interesting things!

Obama! The Musical!

I've talked to Jenny about settling things with a dance-off, but I really hadn't gotten to this point in politics!

Obama the Musical

Yeah Kenya!

Lake Ontario

Today I decided to finally go see Lake Ontario for the first time and also checked out the nearby Lake Durand. It's no Pacific Ocean, but it is really beautiful.

Butternut Squash & Spinach Gratin

1 medium butternut squash -- peeled and cubed
3 cloves garlic -- peeled
1/2 large mayan sweet onion -- cut in large chunks
1 1/2 bags baby spinach
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon grated ginger root

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Scatter cubed squash and garlic on lightly greased cookie sheet. Lightly sprinkle with salt. Roast for 35 minutes.
3. In a large skllet, cook onions until nearly soft. Add spinach and lightly stir until wilted.
4. In mixing bowl, combine cream, feta and spices. Scrape roasted garlic out of skins and into the cream mixture. Stir thoroughly.
5. Mix roasted squash with onions and spinach and dump into lighly greased 9X13 baking pan.
6. Pour cream mixture evenly over vegetables.
7. Turn oven down to 375 and bake for 35-40 minutes.
8. Serve.

Sadness...

One of my heroes died today...he found the beauty in the ordinary and shared it with all who would listen.

LA Times--Studs Terkel, who made his name listening to ordinary folks talk about their ordinary lives -- and who turned that knack for conversation into a much-honored literary career -- died Friday. He was 96. More...

Breadfruit

Here is my breadfruit. Any suggestions?

Ain't No Virgin Mary Here!

My friend is selling a potato chip on Ebay. A very special chip indeed. This one is vaguely shaped like the United States; and by "vaguely" I mean "Hey, I think I just spotted Texas?"



You too could have this chip, but it probably won't bring some holy blessing.

And Adam...good use of the word "patriotic." Now people will HAVE to bid on your chip or risk being seen as a terrorist! Good luck!

(If you knew Adam, you'd be rolling on the floor laughing right now!)

Moroccan Soup Addendum

I forgot to mention that the entire soup is pureed before serving....that may help with your texture question Ceri!

Cheez!

After reading Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral," I became intrigued with the idea of making one's own cheese. Last week I finally attempted to make paneer, an Indian cottage cheese. I'd seen so many recipes for this particular cheese that I'd decided it must be easier to make than most, and the recipes seemed pretty simple. It turned out pretty well, so I took the next step and attempted to make feta.

Here's my feta, it tastes SO good!



Next up I'm going to work on curing tofu feta-style for a vegan option.

Giving up Gluten

Even though I'm still waiting on some official diagnosis (which in itself would be a minor medical miracle), I have found that I feel much better when not eating gluten. So...on that note, I've been busy gathering recipes and ideas on how to eat without wheat (seems impossible for one of massive German heritage!) On the sidebar, I've listed sites that feature not only gluten-free recipes, but many recipes that rely on natural foods, of which I'm a huge fan. I believe that a gluten-free diet does NOT have to consist of Styrofoam or starving!

Moroccan Tomato Soup

1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
28 oz canned tomatoes, crushed
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon Frank's Hot Sauce
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup catsup
2 cups water -- as needed

In a food processor, blend onion and garlic cloves

Fry mixture in olive oil until cooked

Add crushed tomatoes with liquid, peanut butter, cumin, hot sauce, cayenne, salt and pepper, vinegar and catsup. Add water until soup is desired consistency. Simmer until heated through. Blend soup with a hand blender.

NOTES: I replaced Cayenne with Paprika. Added more salt and pepper to taste. In the future, try half as much vinegar. Perhaps reduce peanut butter slightly.

Serve with a rustic bread

Makes Approx 4 servings

Facebook Narcissism

This is what Beth wishes she'd done her dissertation on. I just found it a very interesting thing to consider how personality comes through even with a potentially static concept as online presence.

Can you spot the Facebook narcissist?
Study: The self-obsessed use Facebook the same way they do relationships
updated 2:30 p.m. ET, Fri., Sept. 26, 2008

Facebook profiles can tell you more than just peoples' birthdays and what movies they like — they can reveal the self-adoring, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Georgia gave personality questionnaires to nearly 130 Facebook users and analyzed the content of their online profiles. They also had untrained observers look at the profiles and rate how narcissistic, or excessively egotistical, the owners of the profiles were.

The results of the study are detailed in the October issue of the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

The researchers found that the number of friends and wall posts (messages left by the owner of the profile or friends) that a person had on their profile correlated with how narcissistic they were. Study leader Laura Buffardi, a Ph.D. student in psychology, said this is similar to how narcissists behave in the real world, forming numerous but shallow relationships with others.

Narcissistic Facebook users were also more likely to have glamorous, self-promoting pictures for their main profile photo, while others tended to use snapshots, the study found. The untrained observers also noted the differences in photos and amount of social interaction.

How do you spot a Facebook narcissist?

"We found that people who are narcissistic use Facebook in a self-promoting way that can be identified by others," Buffardi said.

Narcissism hampers a person's ability to form healthy, long-term relationships, said study co-author W. Keith Campbell.

"Narcissists might initially be seen as charming, but they end up using people for their own advantage," Campbell said. "They hurt the people around them and they hurt themselves in the long run."

In the past, research has found that personal Web pages are more popular among narcissists, but this doesn't mean that all Facebook users are narcissists.

"Nearly all of our students use Facebook, and it seems to be a normal part of people's social interactions," Campbell said. "It just turns out that narcissists are using Facebook the same way they use their other relationships — for self-promotion with an emphasis on quantity over quality."
© 2008 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved

Now this....

is a classy Starbucks!



Starbucks Dubai

Outback Zoo

Here's a little Antisocial in the making... It also brings in the question of who's responsibility is this behavior?

SYDNEY, Australia - A 7-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo's director said Friday.

The 30-minute rampage, caught on the zoo's security camera, happened early Wednesday after the boy jumped a security fence at the Alice Springs Reptile Center in central Australia, said zoo director Rex Neindorf.

The child then went on a killing spree, bashing three lizards to death with a rock, including the zoo's beloved, 20-year-old goanna, which he then fed to "Terry," an 11-foot, 440-pound saltwater crocodile, said Neindorf.

The boy also fed several live animals to Terry by throwing them over the two fences surrounding the crocodile's enclosure, at one point climbing over the outer fence to get closer to the giant reptile.

'Like he was playing a game'
In the footage, the boy's face remains largely blank, Neindorf said, adding: "It was like he was playing a game."

By the time he was done, 13 animals worth around $5,500 had been killed, including a turtle, bearded dragons and thorny devil lizards, Neindorf said. Although none were considered rare, some are difficult to replace, he said.

"We're horrified that anyone can do this and saddened by the age of the child," Neindorf said.

Lawsuit planned against boy's parents
Alice Springs police said they are unable to press charges against the boy because of his age. Children under age 10 can't be charged with criminal offenses in the Northern Territory. His name was not released because of his age.

Neindorf said he plans to sue the boy's parents.

The boy's small size is probably the reason he didn't trip the zoo's security system, which relies on sensors to detect intruders, Neindorf said.

"I just want people to learn that they can't let their children go and run amok," Neindorf said. "If we can't put the blame onto the child, then someone has to accept the responsibility."

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.