Myself, I love running the rail! Hat's off to the Jockey and a terrific horse...Vado....he was from New Mexico....and $9,500 was his purchase price....damn he paid out well today.
congrats to AP and the derby winners. I've been indoors since Thursday night except for a few coffee runs to Starf@cks taking care of the missus. But being back in Cleveland has it's advantages - going to check out Pecha Kucha
It is cold and cloudy here today so been hanging close to home. I had a fiend send me a couple of worth while web sites to visit. The first one is a new book publication of all of Frank Lloyd Wrights projects. I know not everyone is into this but it is an interesting presentation by the publisher....a bit of a tickler. For that reason I think people might find it enjoyable.
The second web site has my tongue hanging out. This is one project I have always wanted to visit. However it is just to short notice in these hard times. I would suggest if anyone is half way close to Oklahoma you make the trip, I'm sure you will not be dissapointed.
This house was designed by Bruce Goff for an Art professor and built by a bunch of students. Go to the Gallery and then hit slide show, size as required for best viewing.
i actually went to a small derby party (there were 4 of us) in the lower east side. on my way there i saw a girl all decked out in derby hat and dress, walking down houston street. wish i would've snapped a pic.
a buddy, who has been to a couple of derbies, brought the fixins for mint juleps, which we enjoyed in some quantity. and boy oh boy, what a race! what a horse! and that jockey?! hilarious.
i just came across a thing in mens health magazine called "eat this not that", which it turns out is about which junk food is healthier than the other. but healthy in this case actually means less bad. bloody hell, but has america gone so far down the road that this makes any sense at all??? wtf.
i only clicked on the page cuz i wondered how i could improve my diet, but it turns out i don't eat any of the food on the bloody site. i don't eat fast food or pre-packaged food and could not imagine ever doing so. so i guess according to men's health i am some kind of mutant. i mean it isn't like i don't eat that kind of food out of principle or anything. it just isn't part of my culture. i guess i am going to have to ask to be made officially japanese now cuz my birth culture makes no bloody sense to me anymore...do all north americans really eat that much processed food?
jump - last fall I was walking around downtown Boston with my father-in-law and someone was handing those things out for free - he picked one up, and it's been sitting on his coffee-table ever since.
I was wondering where you were, LB... Glad you had a good trip.
I just got invited to my cousin's college graduation at Xavier University in Cincy, but it's less than two weeks away and I won't be able to make it. (Like me, she's been slowly chipping away at her undergrad degree for many years while working full-time... Seems to be a family tradition of sorts.) I think I'll try to take another weekend trip back there early this summer, though, as soon as my budget allows.
jump - No it's not just you. I eat a minimal amount of processed food as well. My body can't really handle it. My brothers and I attribute it to growing up under my parents' roof. My mom's mom was a nutritionist so we grew up eating mostly fresh produce and good cuts of protein, fast food was a once in a while phenomenon (we're talking like every six months or something). Now we all kinda curse her as our grocery bills are higher than the average Americans.
Congrats AP - that's really awesome that you both will be going to Washington University. When do you guys make the move. Hopefully you'll make your through the Queen City at some point. I know of a couple architectural places you could check out :o)
The new remote for my tv is only 20 bucks, so I will just order it.
I didnt watch any derby stuff. First, we were busy, and secondly, without the remotw, I'm actually watching far less tv - its just such a pain.
Jump, yes, people over here eat TONS of crap food. My inlaws, for instance, only eat home cooked food when the families get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We've upped out Sunday mimosas to screwdrivers. Is that bad?
If a company keeps putting up new ads on careerbuilder, but hasnt called me yet (they have at least 3 of my resumes) is it wrong to call them once a week for 2 weeks, and then every other day until I get the hiring guy on the phone? How much harrassing is too much?
that amazing sarah. when i left canada in the early 90's there was junk food, but i swear it wasn't yet like it must be now.
japan has junk food, but not much processed food apart from the cupanoodle variety. we buy groceries everyday from the vegetable seller, the butcher, and fish guy, and then get flour and such from the supermarket. nothing frozen because we don't really have a freezer. and we cook. just like my parents did really. and it ain't remotely a hardship and pretty regular type of lifestyle. maybe it even explains why there are so few heavy people here...
You know, I sometimes wonder if our lack of cooking in the US stems from the women's lib movement. Now hear me out. It used to be the woman's JOB to cook, and so she was taught by her mother, and it was simply expected. Then comes women's lib in the 60s-70s and I wonder if women didnt cook just because it was expected for them to, and so it was a form of rebelion. Give that a few years, and suddenly mother's are 1. not cooking, and 2. when they are cooking, are just trying to get it done after a long day at the office, and can make dinner faster without children in the way. So children aren't learning to cook, creating adults who cannot cook. And I met many girls in college who didnt know how to cook and would sneer "I don't cook, I'll get my husband to do it." I'm not vilifying anybody here, I just wonder if it isnt simply an unforeseen lifestyle change resultant of actions and ideals of a previous time. I for one LOVE to cook, and I'm sure many of you do as well, and I can't wait to teach Abram to cook - he already helps some. And I'm not saying that it is the mother's job to teach the children over the father's, just that in the beginning, the mother's were the main ones who had the skills.
SH,
i definetly learned how to cook from my mother at least early on. She always cooked at home (although my dad did when she was out of town etc and I did learn how to make a mean pasta salad from him) and some of my earliest memories are of being with her in the kitchen..
Of course one of these memories includes pulling a hot pot of boiling milk off the stove and onto me.
She also ran a catering company which i helped at.
After her i learned how to cook at my two restaurant jobs i had during college. First as line chef and then sous chef.
I know I have met many girls who have a similar realtinship to cooking, namely that while they love to do it they feel like there is some sort of feminist poltiics tied up with it.
Personally, i love to cook for my gal, but am more than happy to let her cook for me whenever she feels like....
SH, I agree wholeheartedly. Personally, I am not a fan of the women's lib movement. I think women kind of undervalued their role in the family and social fabric of life, and didn't realize the effect of them not being at home would have on later generations.
And Jump, sadly, processed food is a way of life for me and has become something of a personal project. I'm working on cooking more and making meals for the whole week, so it's still quick to make after work but isn't fast food or frozen dinner.
Dapper - I've been thinking about doing that sort of thing for a while, mainly when it comes to preparing some sort of protein, but I haven't really been able to get the ball rolling. What all do you cook? How many different meals do you prepare for the week? How big are your servings? I live alone and it gets really old eating the same damn thing for the entire week. At times I practically have to gag it down just to get some nourishment.
Of late I've been preparing a lot of flash frozen fish (i.e. Tilapia fillets) and steaming/sauteing fresh veggies, but my pallet is kinda getting bored of the minimal spices.
Melt, something I used to do for Husband's lunches, and you might try, is actually freezing individual portions instead of a whole meal. Yes, it becomes quite the project, but I suppose if youre only doing it once a week, it might not be so bad. And, once you get started, meals will start accumilating and you will have a nice variety.
Something else you can try is pounding all your meats thin, placing them on a tray, into your freezer for a couple of hours, then layering them with wax paper and freezing them in bags - as long as air stays off the meat, then it shouldnt get freezer burnt, and thin cuts of meat cook very quickly and thaw quickly as well. Apparently, you can also can meats, just like you do tomatos and fruits.
rode my old-school mtn bike (w/o cushy suspension) to the office for the first time today. the morning ride is mostly downhill and was quite pleasant except for the hard saddle that I need to get used to again.
had my first harvest of micro-greens fresh from the garden last night as I started to thin my first crop of lettuce. Everything that I planted last month is now up and I'm started the second crop. Now I have about 3 weeks to finish preparing the new bed for the tomatoes, squash, peppers, and okra.
don't have enough room or $$ to set up a talapia pond, but that (and chickens) would be a fun addition to my urban homestead.
some info on the relationship between weather and flu virus...evidence suggests possibility of a re-launch of (possibly stronger) swine flu in the autumn months
growing up mom wasn't much of a cook (she's improved since), but dad has always been brilliant in the kitchen. he has several legendary recipes (best chili i've ever had by a long shot, great beef stroganoff, makes a mean pizza from scratch, master fillet-er and preparer of fish with various techniques, and so on).
we lived in a 'hood with a man-made lake for a while when i was young, so my brothers and i (mostly my brother jason) would catch bass and catfish on the weekends or during the summer, which we would usually eat for dinner that night.
some years later pops got us through slim times with meals like "ham and orange juice" which was no more than ham cooked in oj with mashed potatoes on the side (warm semi-reduced ham-flavored oj as gravy). i don't make that one anymore, but it definitely did the trick for a busy, self-employed single father with 3 teenage sons (parents divorced when i was quite young, 2 older brothers came from previous marriage).
so ya, while i don't believe the issues expressed by SH above played a significant role in all of this, my brothers and i did learn to cook growing up, but dad was doing the teaching. as it turns out, my brother ryan and i (jason has since passed) are the better cooks compared to our significant others... now maybe that fact does have something to do with women's liberation, but i'm inclined to give credit to my dad for teaching us how to make tasty food on a shoestring, rather than blame it on societal ills.
oh, and i should say here that Nam is a very good cook, and i'm most impressed by how unique his repertoire is (how many white boys from Canada make Indian food like that?!)...
My mom taught me to cook as an act of feminism. My wife refused to learn to cook because of feminism (she still refuses any instruction). Now, if I could only get her to cook pasta to the clock/al dente.
I do most of the cooking in my relationship, and I don't mind. I grew up in a family with both parents working, we had a housekeeper - like many people in Jamaica did, who cooked dinner during the week. Mum cooked amazing stuff during weekends, granted due to my father's limited palette and without a panache for experimentation we typically knew what we'd get. As such as I started to play around in the kitchen when I was around 9 or so trying to find something new. Interesting I've found that unless the food fascinates me I'd prefer not to eat. The problem being back home is that many of the local dishes are RICH! either high in sodium or oil.
Anyway I agree with Sarah is some parts about woman's lib, and any redefining gender roles for that matter. It works both ways though.
I refuse to learn how to use the grill. I dont even know how to turn it on. I feel its a man's job. Arent you guys suppose to stand around the open flames, grunt, and stick out your chests?
this fits better in the food central thread, but, since we are on the subject,, the sandwich ladies in the office do not get good sandwiches, and there is nothing walking distance from where i work to go on lunch break, so i have been making the same turkey sandwich for 9 months,,
anyone willing to help me with new things? especially that im trying to cut down on bread,, taking "real" meals is not an option though,, when i was in school, a friend of mine used to make me a delicious salad, i have no idea what she put in it though :S, i remember cucumber, some sort of white cheese
I know I need to eat better and exercise more, but I'm not sure I'd even know where to begin. My mom is a good cook, and I grew up with mostly home-cooked "meat and potatoes" type dishes. Unfortunately, I rebelled and became a fast food junkie as soon as I moved out.
Now that I'm older, I've developed an appreciation for the home-cooked stuff again, but there's only a few dishes that I really know how to make for myself... And most of those dishes are pasta-based and probably wouldn't be considered particularly healthy. I'm usually in a rush and I still eat out far more often than I should (it's bad for the wallet in addition to being bad for the health), but these days I find myself going for fresh food from the deli more often, and I've almost reached the point where I can't stand the processed crap I get at the chain restaurants.
I come from a long line of overweight people, and diabetes and heart disease run rampant in the family... My dad was recently diagnosed as being diabetic (his mother and sister were/are also diabetic) and he's generally a health nut nowadays, but he's still a pretty big guy no matter how well he eats and exercises.
I think I have pretty much the same problem, as I tend to remain the same weight no matter how much or how little exercise and decent food I'm getting. I'm not morbidly obese, but I do have a bit of a gut. Funny thing is, I'm probably a bit heavier than the average New Yorker, but I feel like I'm the skinniest person in the county whenever I visit my parents in North Carolina.
If/when I ever get married, I hope my wife has a better clue about nutrition than I do. I'm happy to learn how to cook, but I'll need some instruction from somebody who knows what they're doing.
Fays, why are you cutting down on bread? If its a calorie thing, then try thinner slices, or bread with a more 'open' crumb - like ciabatta. If its something else, then let me think....
The salad you are describing sounds like it could be spinach, greek olives, cucumber, and feta with a vingrette. Throw some cooked chicken - or even your turkey lunch meat in there for fun.
You can try different variations on tuna and chicken salads as well, adding things like bacon bits, cheddar cheese, ect. Try making a chicken salad with an oriental theme, putting in mandarine oranges and those crispy noodle things.
Go to Tastespotting and search for salads or sandwiches. You could also try pasta salads, but if youre worried about carbs, then maybe thats not the way to go. I've noticed that corn tortias are lower in calorie than flour ones, so thats a direction you might be interested in.
Dapper, maybe we undervalued the role of men and fathers in everyday life of families and therefore women going back to work has allowed that role to blossom and men to find more confidence and pride in taking on a childcare role that includes cooking as well as managing activities, homework etc.?
I mean, I don't want to get nasty, but why does ANY particular activity fall to a specific gender? What "effect" has my generation (my sister and I) suffered because mom went back to work and we were latchkey kids whose father made dinner when he got home every night? If anything it made us more responsible and mature because we had to adjust to a different after-school reality than our friends. For heaven's sake, my dad took me to my fourth grade after school presentation to the girls of "Becoming a Woman" (a movie about menstruation) and was the only man in the room. I was embarrassed at the time, but later my classmates were wondering if my dad had known about menstruation before then and I was, obviously, mortified that they were so unsophisticated about male-female adult relations. When it's time to talk to Angus about sex, I'll be the one doing it because my husband can't say the word "intercourse" let alone "blowjob" out loud without turning bright red.
Many studies have shown that high-achieving business people, both male and female, have something in common: a stay-at-home spouse, male or female, to deal with home life. Running a career and a family is too much for any one person to handle, man or woman (god bless single parents around the world, I don't know how they do it).
Can't we FINALLY let gender roles relax and let partners in a family take on equal responsibilities with each specializing in whatever area they excel?
And before the "women's lib" movement women couldn't even have a bank account in their own name for fuck's sake do you really want to go back to those times?!?
Tuna, Right now I'm making all my protein on Sundays and it's usually the same thing for the week since I'm cooking for one too. Chicken or tilapia mostly and then steam or heat a side as needed. Sometimes I make bigger dishes like spaghetti which serves as lunch/dinner so there's a slight variety.
My biggest issue is really that like, LIG I am a fast food junkie. It's like a drug for me and I had kicked the habit pretty good for the last couple of years but I fell of the wagon again in the last few months.
LB, I agree gender roles shouldn't be defined. Both parents are equally important to the family arrangement. I was very fortunate to have both parents to teach me. Both parents cooked, both parents cleaned, and both parents parented including teaching us the personal life stuff...dad didnt go into detail but he understood that he had three daughters.
I'm not saying women's lib is the root of all societal ills. It brought about numerous positive changes that opened opportunities for my genertaion but it brought a few negative ones as well. I feel like the importance of the family hasn't been the same.
I'm wondering if declining real incomes might have more of a role to play than the women's lib movement or anything having to do with gender roles.
None of my grandparents ever went to college, and on both sides of my family, one worked full-time at a blue-collar job while the other was pretty much a stay-at-home homemaker. (Although I think my grandmother on my dad's side did work part-time as a nurse for a while.) And yet both sets of grandparents were able to afford decent houses in nice neighborhoods, a decent set of wheels, and a secure retirement without having to rely on their children for financial help.
When my parents were in their early-to-mid-30's (the same age I am now), my dad worked full-time and my mom worked part-time. Neither had a college degree at the time, although my mom had gone to nursing school and my dad was working on his undergrad degree part-time while working. On that income, they were able to afford a modest house in a decent neighborhood, although it wasn't quite as nice as the houses either of my grandparents had, and they had to be very aggressive about stretching every penny. My dad has since gone on to finish a masters degree, but the house they retire to probably won't be much different than the first home they bought after they got married.
For me, I work a job that normally requires a masters degree, and if I were living somewhere other than NYC I could probably afford to buy a half-decent condo or a modest house, but I think it would be very hard to do that and still feed a couple kids and pay for health insurance, etc. I'm not sure my future-spouse would have any choice but to work full-time... Of all my friends who have gotten married and have had kids so far, I can't think of a single couple where both parents don't work full-time.
I'm not sure if my observations are typical or not, but it seems like the quality of life for middle-class families has declined a bit with each generation. Incomes are falling compared to home prices and the cost of living, and people with advanced degrees are struggling to maintain the same standard of living as their grandparents had as factory workers.
That said, we can blame less stable families on women's declining interest in domestic issues, or we can blame men's inability to maintain an equal interest in domestic issues, but is either answer going to make either gender feel better? No. Equal is equal, and if you show me a family with a career-focused, domestically uninterested mother I can show you ten with the same characteristics in the father.
Families make arrangements work as best as they can, and as LiG said, the struggle to keep up a family on a single wage is a huge part of the problem.
Thread Central
Congrats, AP... I've heard great things about WashU's program. We should get together for some drinks before you leave.
Mine That Bird. Awesome!
Myself, I love running the rail! Hat's off to the Jockey and a terrific horse...Vado....he was from New Mexico....and $9,500 was his purchase price....damn he paid out well today.
Why don't they ever interview the horse at the end of the derby?
geeee wilbuuuur.
i almost wrote "because they are too hoarse"
but that would be bad taste.
so i didn't.
congrats to AP and the derby winners. I've been indoors since Thursday night except for a few coffee runs to Starf@cks taking care of the missus. But being back in Cleveland has it's advantages - going to check out Pecha Kucha
It is cold and cloudy here today so been hanging close to home. I had a fiend send me a couple of worth while web sites to visit. The first one is a new book publication of all of Frank Lloyd Wrights projects. I know not everyone is into this but it is an interesting presentation by the publisher....a bit of a tickler. For that reason I think people might find it enjoyable.
http://www.taschen.com/lookinside/01652/index.htm
The second web site has my tongue hanging out. This is one project I have always wanted to visit. However it is just to short notice in these hard times. I would suggest if anyone is half way close to Oklahoma you make the trip, I'm sure you will not be dissapointed.
This house was designed by Bruce Goff for an Art professor and built by a bunch of students. Go to the Gallery and then hit slide show, size as required for best viewing.
http://thebavingerhouse.org/mothersday.htm
It was a long day at the springs Saturday. Lots of sun and booze then a friends house last night for an eat local dinner.
AP. awesome news!!!
welcome (in advance) to kentucky, ap! looking forward to your visit.
...and, fays, did you see that a winning $1 superfecta bet at derby paid $227k?
thanks all.
i actually went to a small derby party (there were 4 of us) in the lower east side. on my way there i saw a girl all decked out in derby hat and dress, walking down houston street. wish i would've snapped a pic.
a buddy, who has been to a couple of derbies, brought the fixins for mint juleps, which we enjoyed in some quantity. and boy oh boy, what a race! what a horse! and that jockey?! hilarious.
way to go AP!
i have been away from the western world too long.
i just came across a thing in mens health magazine called "eat this not that", which it turns out is about which junk food is healthier than the other. but healthy in this case actually means less bad. bloody hell, but has america gone so far down the road that this makes any sense at all??? wtf.
i only clicked on the page cuz i wondered how i could improve my diet, but it turns out i don't eat any of the food on the bloody site. i don't eat fast food or pre-packaged food and could not imagine ever doing so. so i guess according to men's health i am some kind of mutant. i mean it isn't like i don't eat that kind of food out of principle or anything. it just isn't part of my culture. i guess i am going to have to ask to be made officially japanese now cuz my birth culture makes no bloody sense to me anymore...do all north americans really eat that much processed food?
jump - last fall I was walking around downtown Boston with my father-in-law and someone was handing those things out for free - he picked one up, and it's been sitting on his coffee-table ever since.
the "don't eat this stuff" in reminds me of this:
http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/
you should go to the east side working class target. you will see some big ass fat fucking people.
Hmm... The A train in my neighborhood is suspended this morning because of a track fire at my station. This may complicate my commute. Happy Monday!
Congrats and yay AP! I will look forward to Flickr shots of St. Louis as interesting as your Manhattan pics have been.
Got in from delayed flight at 1:30 am. Gotta get the kid to school then crash again.
I miss the desert southwest. It was a good trip back.
I was wondering where you were, LB... Glad you had a good trip.
I just got invited to my cousin's college graduation at Xavier University in Cincy, but it's less than two weeks away and I won't be able to make it. (Like me, she's been slowly chipping away at her undergrad degree for many years while working full-time... Seems to be a family tradition of sorts.) I think I'll try to take another weekend trip back there early this summer, though, as soon as my budget allows.
jump - No it's not just you. I eat a minimal amount of processed food as well. My body can't really handle it. My brothers and I attribute it to growing up under my parents' roof. My mom's mom was a nutritionist so we grew up eating mostly fresh produce and good cuts of protein, fast food was a once in a while phenomenon (we're talking like every six months or something). Now we all kinda curse her as our grocery bills are higher than the average Americans.
Congrats AP - that's really awesome that you both will be going to Washington University. When do you guys make the move. Hopefully you'll make your through the Queen City at some point. I know of a couple architectural places you could check out :o)
The new remote for my tv is only 20 bucks, so I will just order it.
I didnt watch any derby stuff. First, we were busy, and secondly, without the remotw, I'm actually watching far less tv - its just such a pain.
Jump, yes, people over here eat TONS of crap food. My inlaws, for instance, only eat home cooked food when the families get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We've upped out Sunday mimosas to screwdrivers. Is that bad?
If a company keeps putting up new ads on careerbuilder, but hasnt called me yet (they have at least 3 of my resumes) is it wrong to call them once a week for 2 weeks, and then every other day until I get the hiring guy on the phone? How much harrassing is too much?
that amazing sarah. when i left canada in the early 90's there was junk food, but i swear it wasn't yet like it must be now.
japan has junk food, but not much processed food apart from the cupanoodle variety. we buy groceries everyday from the vegetable seller, the butcher, and fish guy, and then get flour and such from the supermarket. nothing frozen because we don't really have a freezer. and we cook. just like my parents did really. and it ain't remotely a hardship and pretty regular type of lifestyle. maybe it even explains why there are so few heavy people here...
You know, I sometimes wonder if our lack of cooking in the US stems from the women's lib movement. Now hear me out. It used to be the woman's JOB to cook, and so she was taught by her mother, and it was simply expected. Then comes women's lib in the 60s-70s and I wonder if women didnt cook just because it was expected for them to, and so it was a form of rebelion. Give that a few years, and suddenly mother's are 1. not cooking, and 2. when they are cooking, are just trying to get it done after a long day at the office, and can make dinner faster without children in the way. So children aren't learning to cook, creating adults who cannot cook. And I met many girls in college who didnt know how to cook and would sneer "I don't cook, I'll get my husband to do it." I'm not vilifying anybody here, I just wonder if it isnt simply an unforeseen lifestyle change resultant of actions and ideals of a previous time. I for one LOVE to cook, and I'm sure many of you do as well, and I can't wait to teach Abram to cook - he already helps some. And I'm not saying that it is the mother's job to teach the children over the father's, just that in the beginning, the mother's were the main ones who had the skills.
What do you guys think?
my favorite meal is hot dogs & twinkies...how awesome is that?
I guess that is better than Catup and Bread Puddles....
SH,
i definetly learned how to cook from my mother at least early on. She always cooked at home (although my dad did when she was out of town etc and I did learn how to make a mean pasta salad from him) and some of my earliest memories are of being with her in the kitchen..
Of course one of these memories includes pulling a hot pot of boiling milk off the stove and onto me.
She also ran a catering company which i helped at.
After her i learned how to cook at my two restaurant jobs i had during college. First as line chef and then sous chef.
I know I have met many girls who have a similar realtinship to cooking, namely that while they love to do it they feel like there is some sort of feminist poltiics tied up with it.
Personally, i love to cook for my gal, but am more than happy to let her cook for me whenever she feels like....
SH - I've often wondered that myself.
puddles - that's quite awesome. Unfortunately my stomach would mutiny if I ate something like that on a regular basis.
SH, I agree wholeheartedly. Personally, I am not a fan of the women's lib movement. I think women kind of undervalued their role in the family and social fabric of life, and didn't realize the effect of them not being at home would have on later generations.
And Jump, sadly, processed food is a way of life for me and has become something of a personal project. I'm working on cooking more and making meals for the whole week, so it's still quick to make after work but isn't fast food or frozen dinner.
Dapper - I've been thinking about doing that sort of thing for a while, mainly when it comes to preparing some sort of protein, but I haven't really been able to get the ball rolling. What all do you cook? How many different meals do you prepare for the week? How big are your servings? I live alone and it gets really old eating the same damn thing for the entire week. At times I practically have to gag it down just to get some nourishment.
Of late I've been preparing a lot of flash frozen fish (i.e. Tilapia fillets) and steaming/sauteing fresh veggies, but my pallet is kinda getting bored of the minimal spices.
Melt, something I used to do for Husband's lunches, and you might try, is actually freezing individual portions instead of a whole meal. Yes, it becomes quite the project, but I suppose if youre only doing it once a week, it might not be so bad. And, once you get started, meals will start accumilating and you will have a nice variety.
Something else you can try is pounding all your meats thin, placing them on a tray, into your freezer for a couple of hours, then layering them with wax paper and freezing them in bags - as long as air stays off the meat, then it shouldnt get freezer burnt, and thin cuts of meat cook very quickly and thaw quickly as well. Apparently, you can also can meats, just like you do tomatos and fruits.
rode my old-school mtn bike (w/o cushy suspension) to the office for the first time today. the morning ride is mostly downhill and was quite pleasant except for the hard saddle that I need to get used to again.
had my first harvest of micro-greens fresh from the garden last night as I started to thin my first crop of lettuce. Everything that I planted last month is now up and I'm started the second crop. Now I have about 3 weeks to finish preparing the new bed for the tomatoes, squash, peppers, and okra.
don't have enough room or $$ to set up a talapia pond, but that (and chickens) would be a fun addition to my urban homestead.
some info on the relationship between weather and flu virus...evidence suggests possibility of a re-launch of (possibly stronger) swine flu in the autumn months
marshmallow peeps...i eat a lot of them too. they mix well with rum.
growing up mom wasn't much of a cook (she's improved since), but dad has always been brilliant in the kitchen. he has several legendary recipes (best chili i've ever had by a long shot, great beef stroganoff, makes a mean pizza from scratch, master fillet-er and preparer of fish with various techniques, and so on).
we lived in a 'hood with a man-made lake for a while when i was young, so my brothers and i (mostly my brother jason) would catch bass and catfish on the weekends or during the summer, which we would usually eat for dinner that night.
some years later pops got us through slim times with meals like "ham and orange juice" which was no more than ham cooked in oj with mashed potatoes on the side (warm semi-reduced ham-flavored oj as gravy). i don't make that one anymore, but it definitely did the trick for a busy, self-employed single father with 3 teenage sons (parents divorced when i was quite young, 2 older brothers came from previous marriage).
so ya, while i don't believe the issues expressed by SH above played a significant role in all of this, my brothers and i did learn to cook growing up, but dad was doing the teaching. as it turns out, my brother ryan and i (jason has since passed) are the better cooks compared to our significant others... now maybe that fact does have something to do with women's liberation, but i'm inclined to give credit to my dad for teaching us how to make tasty food on a shoestring, rather than blame it on societal ills.
oh, and i should say here that Nam is a very good cook, and i'm most impressed by how unique his repertoire is (how many white boys from Canada make Indian food like that?!)...
hot dogs, twinky(s) and peeps...should we be reading between the lines, puddles?
I learned how to cook from my dad as well. I am also the product of divorced parents.
My mom taught me to cook as an act of feminism. My wife refused to learn to cook because of feminism (she still refuses any instruction). Now, if I could only get her to cook pasta to the clock/al dente.
I do most of the cooking in my relationship, and I don't mind. I grew up in a family with both parents working, we had a housekeeper - like many people in Jamaica did, who cooked dinner during the week. Mum cooked amazing stuff during weekends, granted due to my father's limited palette and without a panache for experimentation we typically knew what we'd get. As such as I started to play around in the kitchen when I was around 9 or so trying to find something new. Interesting I've found that unless the food fascinates me I'd prefer not to eat. The problem being back home is that many of the local dishes are RICH! either high in sodium or oil.
Anyway I agree with Sarah is some parts about woman's lib, and any redefining gender roles for that matter. It works both ways though.
I refuse to learn how to use the grill. I dont even know how to turn it on. I feel its a man's job. Arent you guys suppose to stand around the open flames, grunt, and stick out your chests?
this fits better in the food central thread, but, since we are on the subject,, the sandwich ladies in the office do not get good sandwiches, and there is nothing walking distance from where i work to go on lunch break, so i have been making the same turkey sandwich for 9 months,,
anyone willing to help me with new things? especially that im trying to cut down on bread,, taking "real" meals is not an option though,, when i was in school, a friend of mine used to make me a delicious salad, i have no idea what she put in it though :S, i remember cucumber, some sort of white cheese
oh, and i do not eat tomatoes, no matter what
I know I need to eat better and exercise more, but I'm not sure I'd even know where to begin. My mom is a good cook, and I grew up with mostly home-cooked "meat and potatoes" type dishes. Unfortunately, I rebelled and became a fast food junkie as soon as I moved out.
Now that I'm older, I've developed an appreciation for the home-cooked stuff again, but there's only a few dishes that I really know how to make for myself... And most of those dishes are pasta-based and probably wouldn't be considered particularly healthy. I'm usually in a rush and I still eat out far more often than I should (it's bad for the wallet in addition to being bad for the health), but these days I find myself going for fresh food from the deli more often, and I've almost reached the point where I can't stand the processed crap I get at the chain restaurants.
I come from a long line of overweight people, and diabetes and heart disease run rampant in the family... My dad was recently diagnosed as being diabetic (his mother and sister were/are also diabetic) and he's generally a health nut nowadays, but he's still a pretty big guy no matter how well he eats and exercises.
I think I have pretty much the same problem, as I tend to remain the same weight no matter how much or how little exercise and decent food I'm getting. I'm not morbidly obese, but I do have a bit of a gut. Funny thing is, I'm probably a bit heavier than the average New Yorker, but I feel like I'm the skinniest person in the county whenever I visit my parents in North Carolina.
If/when I ever get married, I hope my wife has a better clue about nutrition than I do. I'm happy to learn how to cook, but I'll need some instruction from somebody who knows what they're doing.
Fays, why are you cutting down on bread? If its a calorie thing, then try thinner slices, or bread with a more 'open' crumb - like ciabatta. If its something else, then let me think....
The salad you are describing sounds like it could be spinach, greek olives, cucumber, and feta with a vingrette. Throw some cooked chicken - or even your turkey lunch meat in there for fun.
You can try different variations on tuna and chicken salads as well, adding things like bacon bits, cheddar cheese, ect. Try making a chicken salad with an oriental theme, putting in mandarine oranges and those crispy noodle things.
Go to Tastespotting and search for salads or sandwiches. You could also try pasta salads, but if youre worried about carbs, then maybe thats not the way to go. I've noticed that corn tortias are lower in calorie than flour ones, so thats a direction you might be interested in.
Dapper, maybe we undervalued the role of men and fathers in everyday life of families and therefore women going back to work has allowed that role to blossom and men to find more confidence and pride in taking on a childcare role that includes cooking as well as managing activities, homework etc.?
I mean, I don't want to get nasty, but why does ANY particular activity fall to a specific gender? What "effect" has my generation (my sister and I) suffered because mom went back to work and we were latchkey kids whose father made dinner when he got home every night? If anything it made us more responsible and mature because we had to adjust to a different after-school reality than our friends. For heaven's sake, my dad took me to my fourth grade after school presentation to the girls of "Becoming a Woman" (a movie about menstruation) and was the only man in the room. I was embarrassed at the time, but later my classmates were wondering if my dad had known about menstruation before then and I was, obviously, mortified that they were so unsophisticated about male-female adult relations. When it's time to talk to Angus about sex, I'll be the one doing it because my husband can't say the word "intercourse" let alone "blowjob" out loud without turning bright red.
Many studies have shown that high-achieving business people, both male and female, have something in common: a stay-at-home spouse, male or female, to deal with home life. Running a career and a family is too much for any one person to handle, man or woman (god bless single parents around the world, I don't know how they do it).
Can't we FINALLY let gender roles relax and let partners in a family take on equal responsibilities with each specializing in whatever area they excel?
And before the "women's lib" movement women couldn't even have a bank account in their own name for fuck's sake do you really want to go back to those times?!?
Tuna, Right now I'm making all my protein on Sundays and it's usually the same thing for the week since I'm cooking for one too. Chicken or tilapia mostly and then steam or heat a side as needed. Sometimes I make bigger dishes like spaghetti which serves as lunch/dinner so there's a slight variety.
My biggest issue is really that like, LIG I am a fast food junkie. It's like a drug for me and I had kicked the habit pretty good for the last couple of years but I fell of the wagon again in the last few months.
LB, I agree gender roles shouldn't be defined. Both parents are equally important to the family arrangement. I was very fortunate to have both parents to teach me. Both parents cooked, both parents cleaned, and both parents parented including teaching us the personal life stuff...dad didnt go into detail but he understood that he had three daughters.
I'm not saying women's lib is the root of all societal ills. It brought about numerous positive changes that opened opportunities for my genertaion but it brought a few negative ones as well. I feel like the importance of the family hasn't been the same.
Here fays.
What is this Leave It To Fucking Beaver?
I'm wondering if declining real incomes might have more of a role to play than the women's lib movement or anything having to do with gender roles.
None of my grandparents ever went to college, and on both sides of my family, one worked full-time at a blue-collar job while the other was pretty much a stay-at-home homemaker. (Although I think my grandmother on my dad's side did work part-time as a nurse for a while.) And yet both sets of grandparents were able to afford decent houses in nice neighborhoods, a decent set of wheels, and a secure retirement without having to rely on their children for financial help.
When my parents were in their early-to-mid-30's (the same age I am now), my dad worked full-time and my mom worked part-time. Neither had a college degree at the time, although my mom had gone to nursing school and my dad was working on his undergrad degree part-time while working. On that income, they were able to afford a modest house in a decent neighborhood, although it wasn't quite as nice as the houses either of my grandparents had, and they had to be very aggressive about stretching every penny. My dad has since gone on to finish a masters degree, but the house they retire to probably won't be much different than the first home they bought after they got married.
For me, I work a job that normally requires a masters degree, and if I were living somewhere other than NYC I could probably afford to buy a half-decent condo or a modest house, but I think it would be very hard to do that and still feed a couple kids and pay for health insurance, etc. I'm not sure my future-spouse would have any choice but to work full-time... Of all my friends who have gotten married and have had kids so far, I can't think of a single couple where both parents don't work full-time.
I'm not sure if my observations are typical or not, but it seems like the quality of life for middle-class families has declined a bit with each generation. Incomes are falling compared to home prices and the cost of living, and people with advanced degrees are struggling to maintain the same standard of living as their grandparents had as factory workers.
LiG has nailed the biggest part of the problem.
That said, we can blame less stable families on women's declining interest in domestic issues, or we can blame men's inability to maintain an equal interest in domestic issues, but is either answer going to make either gender feel better? No. Equal is equal, and if you show me a family with a career-focused, domestically uninterested mother I can show you ten with the same characteristics in the father.
Families make arrangements work as best as they can, and as LiG said, the struggle to keep up a family on a single wage is a huge part of the problem.
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