excitinggggg!

Great summary of a study about a high correlation between pesticides and diabetes. I just discovered this blog and though I'd share.

I found it while searching for a reference on some yeast questions i had... active dry vs. instant and whether they could be interchangeable. answer: they can, and instant (from what i scanned) just has more yeast per packet, which would maybe just increase the effectiveness of the yeast if you use it for quickbreads and things that don't require a lot of proofing or anything. this makes sense to me, but I can't help but feel a little confused as to why yeast companies would market a zillion different types of yeast with different names if many of them can be used interchangeably. i can think of at least 3 times when i've been thoughtfully wandering down the aisles of grocery stores, come upon the baking section and pass over buying yeast because I can't remember what specific yeast a given recipe calls for. And if i have those hangups i can only assume i'm not the only one... isn't this discouraging home baking? I mean, it certainly can't help anything.

And while i'm on this tangent, let's talk about the Food Network. I'd say i've gone from watching it both regularly and also with a great deal of excitement a year ago to just feeling uninspired, except for the british imports they have (nigella and that new jamie at home show that seems promising, barefoot contessa being the exception). I'm SO sick of Rachel Ray, Robin Miller, and Sandra Lee doing little more than opening cans and smiling, all the while justifying it by saying how busy their lives are and how they just don't have time for making their own stock, letting raw foods simmer, cutting their own vegetables, or even soaking their own pulses. i'm not trying to look down on these people at all, because i guess they all have their own audiences, and i'm not saying that i'm too good for using canned products or store-bought stock, but this is a cooking network. what happened to setting an example? all that those shows end up doing is reiterating viewers' own fears that cooking, baking, and simmering are too hard, too time consuming, and too similar to store bought equivalents to justify doing on their own. It's REALLY not that hard, not that time- or energy-consuming, and is almost always cheaper and wayyyy better for you to do it on your own. I lose patience in things very quickly, and if I can do these things, please believe me that they are not difficult.

I don't watch cooking shows to reiterate my own knowledge. Now, i realize that i spend an inordinate amount of time tinkering away in the kitchen so i am probably not the target audience here, but what is the purpose of having an entire channel of cooking shows if not one of these programs actually teaches techniques? Why not show the correct way to do something from scratch, like make a cream sauce or a reduction or make potato water (things that take MAYBE 15 minutes extra, tops) and then offer the use of storebought ingredients as an option, though pointing out that they contain upwards of 3x the amount of salt, saturated or transfats, and refined sugar? You can make an educated decision if you're being taught the pros and cons of each option, not if the host of a cooking show shrugs and smiles into the camera, telling the audience that they're too busy to make their own biscuits (which take literally 45 seconds longer than opening a package of pillsbury and sectioning out). Your job is to teach me how to cook, not teach me where to find products i already know exist in my grocer's freezer.

I just can't help but cringe when I see these hosts trying to "make do" with their busy lives because that excuse really isn't good enough for me. We all have time at some point in the week to invest 45 minutes to make a week's worth of meals, if that's what the goal is, and I really feel bad that all that these shows are accomplishing is to push people further away from their stoves, their pots, and their rolling pins. Cooking, baking, simmering, etc. are all cathartic and stress reducing. They're not chores, they have the ability to nourish, nurture, relax, and bring together. Isn't that the reason why we mark celebrations with feasts, with restaurant dinners, with company? Come on! Appreciate a perfectly ripe avocado, a bunch of pristine grapes, even a particular marbling of meat. THIS is why we go through the daily grind... to appreciate small things and to share your heart with other people, and the easiest and most rewarding way to do this is through food.
And that is why the Food Network is On Notice.