To Eat or Not to Eat Shrimp

I was reading my July 2016 issue of Vogue yesterday and came across the article "Should We Really Be Eating Shrimp?"

Here are some excerpts/quotes to help you decide what type of shrimp you'll be buying at your local grocery store:

• 80-90% of shrimp in the U.S. is imported and come from Thailand, Ecuador, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Vietnam and Malaysia.
• Almost all of the shrimp is farmed in "man-made ponds brimming with so many shrimp that they pollute nearby water sources, are infected with disease and parasites -- and are treated with a toxic fleet of antibiotics, disinfectants, pesticides, and herbicides."
• "In April the FDA declared that one-third of shrimp imports from Malaysia contained substances such as chloramphenicol (a last-resort typhoid-fever and meningitis drug) and/or nitrofurans (an antibiotic the FDA considers carcinogenic)."
• The FDA doesn't have nearly enough employees to screen more than a fraction of imports and inspects only about 2% of imported seafood.  
• "It is, basicaly, a producers responsibility to ensure that U.S. standards are upheld.  We import shrimp on the honor system."

The article goes on to explain how shrimp are caught and how a company called CleanFish has developed a sustainable (and clean!) way to raise shrimp in an "Eco Shrimp Garden."

The article was a fascinating read (click on the link above to read it).  I thought I was educated, but this article made me realized that unless I know where my shrimp is from and where it was caught, I'm never ordering a shrimp dish in a restaurant again.

Food Labels

I saw this article and wanted to share in case you've been confused about these food labels:

Confusion about food labels leads to waste, possible illnesses (CBS News)

• "Sell by date" is most important for retailers, telling them when they should take a product off the shelves. However, it does not mean that the food is no longer safe to eat.
• "Expiration date" means a product should not be eaten after the date listed; throw it out.
• "Best if used by date" refers to the quality of the product, not its safety. In short, it means that the product will maintain its maximum quality until that date, but it can still be safe to eat for a certain amount of time (depending on the kind of product) after the date has passed.

White Pinot Noir (or Pinot Noir Blanc) is becoming more popular and common, but really, it's not a new thing because Pinot Noir grapes are often used in Champagne or sparkling.

4/14/14 article by Jessica Yadegaran:  White pinot noir?  Like Champagne, without the bubbles

An excerpt:

What do you get when you pick cool-climate pinot noir grapes early, press them ever so gently, and limit skin contact? White wine.

But not just any white wine. Pinot Noir blanc, a rare, dry wine that's popping up in the Anderson Valley, is a bracing beauty: Complex, earthy and clear as crystal, it's unusual enough to stump even the geekiest oenophiles.

The method isn't unusual. In Champagne, it is how producers craft blanc de noirs, sparkling wine made from red grapes. The still version is becoming increasingly common in Oregon, too, where WillaKenzie, Domaine Serene, Anne Amie and others are making luscious examples of white pinot noir.

The Chefs Feeding the U.S. Ski Team

So interesting!!!!

A U.S. Team Chef Shows His Own Competitive Spirit in Sochi

By Bill Pennington

Feb 8, 2014

The New York Times

Allen Tran, the head chef for the United States ski teams, organizes the effort to keep the teams well-fed at the Olympics.

A 22-Course Meal in 22 Settings

Watch this 4-minute video on YouTube from The New York Times.  So wish I could experience this -- at Ultraviolet Restaurant in Shanghai.  Chef Paul Pairet has transformed the dining experience into an amazing theatrical production.

Best Airport Eats

According to Urbanspoon, here are the Best U.S. Airport Eats.  Check them out while you're traveling this holiday season. . .

Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) • One Flew South • Atlanta Braves Allstar Grill • Cafe Intermezzo • Sweetwater Brewing Company

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) • In-N-Out Burger • Pink's Hot Dogs • La Brea Bakery

John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) • Brasserie La Vie • Shake Shack • Deep Blue Sushi • Uptown Brasserie

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) • Ebisu • PIQ • Cat Cora's Kitchen • Andale Mexican Restaurant

Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA) • Vino Volo • Beecher's Handmade Cheese • Anthony's Restaurant & Fish Bar • Dish D'Lish

Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) • Tortas Frontera • Wicker Park Seafood & Sushi • Gaslight Club • Garrett Popcorn Shop

Restaurant Menu Trends for 2014

I always enjoy reading Andrew Freeman & Company's restaurant menu trend report.

Biscuits, ice cream sandwiches, tea & tea cocktails are just a few of the trends we may be seeing soon. . .

A 3-D Printed Dinner

3-D printed architecture models.  3-D printed art.  And now 3-D printed meals?  Is this the future of dining?  I rarely read the Points section in the Dallas Morning News, but this past Sunday, "Dinner is printed" caught my eye.  Check out the article to see what menu items the author and his wife tried for dinner (it's pretty entertaining).

Note:  If the link to the article forces you to sign up for a free trial of the paper, go to Google and search for "dallas morning news 3-d printed meal," and the article should come up in the first search results where you can read the entire article without signing up.

The future uses of this technology is fascinating:

"There’s talk of embedding medicines in meals. In his book Fabricated, Lipson dreams of digitally driven dinners, where the printer uses your body’s up-to-the-minute data to create the perfect lasagna for your nutritional needs, with, say, extra protein or vitamin A.

Junk-food makers hope 3-D printing will allow them to patent a new way to combine salt, sugar and fat. Animal-rights activists hope printers will squeeze out pork chops made from the lab-grown stem cells of pigs. And idealists believe that the technology will help solve world hunger. The hope? We can more efficiently ship powdered food to developing countries, where it can be printed into a variety of meals. A group of Dutch researchers is working on inexpensive bases made from algae and insect protein."

Starbucks Launches the Duffin

I just read that in the U.K., Starbucks is launching the duffin -- part muffin, part donut, yet another "Franken-pastry" like the cronut.

According to the Business Week article: 
The duffin uses a buttermilk base, and tastes like a moist, cakey muffin, not the coarse, bready type. It looks like a muffin, but it’s filled with raspberry jam and coated in sugar, like a jelly doughnut.

Wonder when it'll make it to the U.S. . . ?

Downton Abbey Wines to Be Released

For all Downton Abbey fans, it was announced this past week that a collection of Downton Abbey wines -- Bordeaux clarets and blancs will be introduced in time for season 4.

According to Fox News:  The range of Bordeaux clarets and whites are the type of clarets imported by the British aristocracy from France in the early 1900s. The recreated wines are from grapes grown on the same vines and from the same soil as the era depicted in Downton Abbey.

I wonder if Carson would approve of the wine.

Sources:  HuffingtonPost.com and FoxNews.com

Tableware affects how food tastes

I thought this was fascinating. . . see the full story (super short article). 

The size, weight, shape and color of your cutlery can affect how food tastes, a new study suggests. In the research, participants thought white yogurt tasted sweeter than pink-colored yogurt when eaten from a white spoon, but the reverse was true when a black spoon was used, reported usnews.com. Full Story

Fatty Foods May Cause Cocaine-like Addiction

(This is old news and was on CNN Health back in March 2010.)

However, I was reading an article recently on this topic and decided to do a little more research and found this CNN article that originally was in Health Magazine.

Basically, fattening foods are addictive.  I'm not surprised.

A study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods like bacon and cheesecake affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction.

Perhaps this is why there are so many people overweight/obese in the U.S.

In the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the researchers studied 3 groups of lab rats for 40 days. One of the groups was fed regular rat food. A second was fed bacon, sausage, cheesecake, frosting, and other fattening, high-calorie foods--but only for one hour each day. The third group was allowed to pig out on the unhealthy foods for up to 23 hours a day.

Guess what happened?

The rats that gorged themselves on the human food quickly became obese. But their brains also changed. By monitoring implanted brain electrodes, the researchers found that the rats in the third group gradually developed a tolerance to the pleasure the food gave them and had to eat more to experience a high.They began to eat compulsively, to the point where they continued to do so in the face of pain. When the researchers applied an electric shock to the rats' feet in the presence of the food, the rats in the first two groups were frightened away from eating. But the obese rats were not.

Apparently, our processed food is similar to cocaine -- white bread, corn syrup, etc. 

No more high fructose corn syrup in our house!  That means no more Mrs. Butterworth's syrup!

Make room for Champagne!

I was reading an article in Food and Wine Magazine by Ray Isle "A Wine-Buying Strategy for Every Personality" (Jan 2013, p. 70).  I love how he ends the article:

And one final note:  No matter what kind of life you lead, leave room in your fridge for at least one bottle of Champagne.  Bottles of Champagne are like umbrellas:  The day you don't have one on you is always the day that you absolutely, positively need one.

I second that! 

Hunger and Food Waste

I think this is so disturbing . . .

A few excerpts from the article New report: as much as 2 billion tonnes of all food produced ends up as waste :

A new report 'Global Food Waste Not Want Not' by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers reports that as much as 50% of all food produced around the world is never eaten due to issues as varied as inadequate infrastructure and storage facilities, to overly strict sell-by dates, buy-one-get-one free offers and consumers demanding cosmetically perfect food, according to a report from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The report,Global Food Waste Not Want Not, also found that between 30% and 50% or 1.2 billion to 2 billion metric tons of food produced around the world each year never reach a human stomach.

With UN predictions that there could be about an extra three billion people to feed by the end of the century and an increasing pressure on the resources needed to produce food, including land, water and energy, the Institution is calling for urgent action to tackle this waste.

Dr Tim Fox, Head of Energy and Environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers said:  "The amount of food wasted and lost around the world is staggering. This is food that could be used to feed the world’s growing population – as well as those in hunger today. It is also an unnecessary waste of the land, water and energy resources that were used in the production, processing and distribution of this food.

“The reasons for this situation range from poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage infrastructure through to supermarkets demanding cosmetically perfect foodstuffs and encouraging consumers to overbuy through buy-one-get-one free offers.

Champagne Only Comes from France!

'Champagne' Set for Obama Dinner Has French Wine Lobby Miffed

 Source: NewsMax 1/9/13

 

Summary and thoughts. . . 

 

The White House will be serving "Korbel Natural, Special Inaugural Cuvée Champagne, California" with its dessert course at the inaugural dinner.  Sam Heitner, the director of the Champagne Bureau, says that the description violates U.S. law because Champagne only comes from the Champagne region of France.

 

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (of course, there's a committee for this. . . there's a job for everything!) says that the wine is labeled in accordance with U.S. law.  Apparently, U.S law is more flexible than other countries.  The law prohibits the term for newer sparkling wines but preserves it for those produced before 2006 - and only if their origin is spelled out in their name.

 

I always wondered how Korbel could have the word 'Champagne' on their bottle label.  It really should be called Korbel Sparkling Wine.  

 

 

Patrick Dempsey Wins Bid to Buy Tully's

I just thought this was interesting and wanted to share. . .

Actor Patrick Dempsey Wins Bid to Buy Tully's Coffee Stores
"Grey's Anatomy" star Patrick Dempsey beat out Starbucks and others with a winning bid of $9.15 million for the Tully's Coffee chain. Starbucks warned that a winning bid won't be finalized until it's certified during a bankruptcy hearing this week.

The Cost of a DUI

With New Year's Eve festivities commencing tomorrow evening, please remember to designate a driver or call a cab.  Last year, I sat on a jury for a DUI case, and it opened my eyes to how a DUI can totally ruin your life.  Financially alone, a conviction can cost you $24,000 in Texas. 

 

One thing I learned when I was on the case -- even if you don't feel tipsy or buzzed, there are things such as the horizontal gaze nystagmus test that measures the involuntary jerking of the eyeballs that officers use as part of their sobriety test in many states including Texas.

 

According to Wikipedia:  The horizontal gaze nystagmus test has been highly criticized and major errors in the testing methodology and analysis found.  However, the validity of the horizontal gaze nystagmus test for use as a field sobriety test for persons with a blood alcohol level between 0.04–0.08 is supported by peer reviewed studies and has been found to be a more accurate indication of BAC than other standard field sobriety tests.

 

The Cost of a DUI

Source: WSFA12

December 23, 2012

In 2007, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. But few drivers fully understand the impact of a DUI conviction.

Offenders could face jail time and a possible prison sentence, and the financial impact could be devastating: first-time offenders may be responsible for tens of thousands of dollars in costs and fees. On top of that, a driver's auto insurance rates could skyrocket following a DUI conviction.

 

The Cost of a DUI

Unless a driver lives in a city with an adequate public transportation system, there is no substitute for the convenience of driving a vehicle. Access to driving privileges makes it much easier to travel to work, school, or run errands. But salvaging the right to operate a vehicle can prove astronomically expensive following a DUI conviction.

The Illinois Secretary of State's office reports that the average cost of a DUI in Illinois is roughly $14,660. In other areas, the cost can be even greater. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, a DUI conviction in Texas can top $24,000.

 

DUI and Auto Insurance Rates

Skyrocketing auto insurance rates can add to the financial aftermath of a DUI conviction. After a DUI, you will be categorized as a high-risk driver. A convicted driver's premiums will rise and his carrier may non-renew or cancel your policy. Depending on a host of factors, including insurance company, age and gender, the driver's auto insurance rate may spike as a consequence of a DUI.

Depending on how long a DUI remains on a driver's record, these rates can continue for up to seven years. Furthermore, if any accidents and tickets (past or future) are present, the driver's auto insurance rate could soar even higher.

 

Steep Legal Consequences

Operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a major criminal offense, and the consequences of a DUI conviction are virtually endless. A conviction can lead to jail or prison time, a criminal record, court and administrative costs, attorney fees, community service requirements, alcohol education courses, substance abuse treatment, revocation or suspension of driver's license privileges, probation and more.

What the above estimates fail to account for is the number of hours it takes to satisfy all the corresponding obligations. Time spent in court, at alcohol and drug education classes, hours in treatment, restitution services, and jail time can turn a person's world upside-down.

 

Have a DUI? You Can Still Save on Auto Insurance

Let's face facts-if a driver is convicted of a DUI, his auto insurance rate is going to rise. But more than any other driver, those convicted of a DUI can't afford not to shop around for the best auto insurance rate available.

Although a driver with a DUI will have limited options, don't fall into the trap of signing on with the first company that offers you a policy. Conduct research, compare quotes and make a careful decision. In the meantime, take a conservative approach to driving and steer clear of tickets and accidents.

 

BE SAFE!  HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR'S!

Balancing Act: Wine Glasses

Watch this 54 second video of a British sommelier setting a world record for wine glass balancing -- in the end, he apparently balanced 51 glasses in one hand!

Bad news about wine

If this is true, I'm going to need to cut down my wine consumption. . .

Just two glasses of wine a day can nearly HALVE the number of brain cells we produce

Source: Daily Mail

By Anna Hodgekiss

Oct 25th

 

Just two glasses of wine a day could be harmful to the brain, new research suggests.

 

Even moderate drinking can decrease the production of adult brain cells by as much as 40 per cent, researchers from Rutgers Unviersity in the US have found.  The researchers said the findings showed there is a fine line between moderate and binge drinking.

Lead author Megan Anderson said: 'Moderate drinking can become binge drinking without the person realising it.  'In the short term there may not be any noticeable motor skills or overall functioning problems, but in the long term this type of behaviour could have an adverse effect on learning and memory.' 

 

Ms Anderson, a graduate fellow in the department of neuroscience and cell biology, used rats to model moderate to heavy drinking in humans.  Creating a blood alcohol level of 0.08 per cent in the rats, the legal driving limit in the US, they found this disrupted the production of brain cells.  This level of alcohol intake was not enough to impair the motor skills of the rats or prevent them from associative learning in the short-term.  But the number of nerve cells in the hippocampus of the brain were reduced by nearly 40 percent compared to those in the sober group of rodents.

 

This substantial decrease in brain cell numbers over time could have profound effects on the adult brain, said Ms Anderson.  That's because these new cells communicate with other neurons to regulate brain health. 

 

'If this area of your brain was affected every day over many months and years, eventually you might not be able to learn how to get somewhere new or to learn something new about your life,' said Ms Anderson.  It's something that you might not even be aware is occurring. 

 

The study is available online in the journal Neuroscience.

Candy-fed Cows

Cash-strapped farmers feed candy to cows (CNN Money article 10/10/12)

This is udderly ridiculous.  Ha ha.

Apparently, this practice has been going on for decades.  Do cows that are fed gummy worms, chocolate bars, ice cream sprinkles, marshmallows, hot chocolate mix, crumbled cookies and hard candy taste sweeter than corn-fed cows??? 

Also, ". . . the sugar in ice cream sprinkles seems to increase milk production by three pounds per cow per day."  What????