In December of 1988, right around my 11th birthday, my family moved into a new house. We (me and our home) were about the same age, and had apparently taken our fashion cues from the same Seventeen magazine – lots of flowers and geometric prints, with dark brass engraved accessories for contrast. (Our abode didn’t have my coveted “COOL” shirt or two rows of shiny orthodontia, though. HA! Loser.)
Since that hallowed year, I’ve upgraded my wardrobe somewhat. The house has, too … mostly. While the bathrooms, bedrooms, and living room are all luxuriating in the latest shades of Benjamin Moore, Ma and Pa's kitchen is still rockin’ a look from the heyday of Bon Jovi. My sister’s summer project is renovating the room, and this weekend, I decided to pitch in. Y’know, for the good of the family.
So, uh … what I’m trying to say is this: I spent the last two days washing 30-year-old wallpaper glue off a billion square feet of sheet rock. No cooking happened at all, and my arms are seconds away from involuntarily detaching themselves from my body. I suck.
HOWEVER, this will be remedied tomorrow, when a brand-spankin’ new recipe will be posted on this very site - one guaranteed to tickle your taste buds until they’re all like, “Seriously, stop tickling me. I hate that.”
Until then, here are 30,000 links to keep your interest, with excerpts straight from the sources themselves.
At Home Laurel: Eating Well in Lean Summer Times
“Summer is always an economically lean time for our family … This summer, we have eaten the healthiest we ever have. Lots of fruits and vegetables. We are eating a high-vegetarian diet, when we are at home. I am amazed at how little I am spending on food.” (Thanks to Like Merchant Ships for the link.)
Casual Kitchen: What's the Most Heavily Used Tool in Our Kitchen? Our Rice Cooker.
“If you don't already own one of these, consider getting one. Rice cookers are 100% idiot-proof, and making rice with them is such a snap that you'll want to have rice with practically every meal.”
Carnival of Personal Finance #161: The Budgeting Babe
“Happy Monday and welcome to the 161st Carnival of Personal Finance! This week’s theme is renewal, because I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately … Just because you’re fiscally fit today can’t predict who or where you’ll be in five years. Picking yourself up after a long slump, or reevaluating yourself to manage life’s changes are key to your ability to succeed financially.”
Chow: Audible Edibles – 10 radio food shows that will leave you salivating
“In recent years, however, as the hosts on the idiot box have become more interested in sizzle than substance, radio and podcast food shows have flooded the airwaves. Here are some of our favorites.”
Chow: Why Do You Need a Nonreactive Bowl for Some Recipes?
“Many foods—especially salty or acidic ones—react with untreated surfaces such as iron, copper, and aluminum. When the foods react, the metals dissolve, and the foods pick up a metallic taste.” Consumerist: Eat Less, Live Longer
“Scientists say that if you start eating 15% less food by age 25, you could add 4.5 years to your life.”
Divine Caroline: The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1
“At the grocery store, getting the most nutrition for the least amount of money means hanging out on the peripheries—near the fruits and veggies, the meat and dairy, and the bulk grains—while avoiding the expensive packaged interior.” (Thanks to Get Rich Slowly for the link.)
Epicurious: Danny Meyer to Serve Up at New Mets Stadium
“[Meyer’s] transplanting Shake Shack (burgers, hot dogs and shakes) and Blue Smoke (barbecue) to Citi Field. He's also adding new concepts, for him, like Pop Fries, a Belgian frites stand; and a taqueria (no name yet). He's additionally going to be in charge of fancier eats at a 1,600-seat restaurant right behind home plate, including a beer-and-wine bar and a truly upscale, reservations-only venue.”
Gawker: Wall-E’s Big Fat Offensive Problem
“Pixar's new movie, about the robot from Short Circuit falling in love with a mechanized tampon and exploring a universe which has ruined and been ruined by humanity, has some people upset. Specifically, the overweight.”
Get Fit Slowly: Can Dieters and Non-Dieters Coexist?
“I think it’s very reasonable (if not an absolute necessity) to ask the people in your family and the people you live with to commit to making your diet the best it can be. Otherwise, how do you expect to be successful?”
Get Fit Slowly: Fruits and Vegetables: Fresh, Frozen, or Canned?
“What about the nutrition of these frozen vegetables? Are they just as healthy as their fresh counterparts? And what about canned veggies?”
Get Rich Slowly: Easy and Cheap No-Knead Bread
“For a little more than the cheap bread in the grocery store, you can have a loaf of actual artisan bread.”
Jezebel: Sometimes a Parents Words Can Bear the Weight of the World
“In this month's O: Oprah Magazine, writer Lisa Dierbeck talks to comedian Margaret Cho, pro basketball player Tiffany Jackson, opera singer and controversial gastric bypass recipient Deborah Voigt, and actress Cindy Cheung about how their parents' actions and words impacted their body image.”
The Kitchn: Seven Tips for Managing Your CSA
“Our fridge is filled to capacity and we can see that it will soon become challenging to keep meals interesting when we're having zucchini for the fourth night in a row.”
New York Times: Cutting Out the Middlemen, Shoppers Buy Slices of Farms
“In an environmentally conscious tweak on the typical way of getting food to the table, growing numbers of people are skipping out on grocery stores and even farmers markets and instead going right to the source by buying shares of farms.”
New York Times: Out of the Kitchen, Into the Field
“Whether raising heritage livestock, combing the woods for exotic morsels or coaxing delicacies from the ground, these women forge new bonds between field and table, strengthening the connection between things we love to eat and the stewardship that makes them possible.”
New York Times: That Costs WHAT?!?
“It’s not cheap.
Especially not the hot tea.
Which costs $7.”
Serious Eats: In Season – Summer Squash
“Here are a few recipes we think are worth trying this season.”
Slashfood: Chocolate may be headed toward “delicacy” status
“John Mason, of the Nature Conservation Research Council (based in Ghana), says that ‘in 20 years chocolate will be like caviar.’”
Slashfood: FDA Rules that high fructose corn syrup is natural
“Recently, the Corn Refiners Association announced that they are launching a $30 million advertising campaign that is aimed at convincing consumers that HFCS is a natural compound, fundamentally the same as honey. Of course, unlike honey, HFCS is the product of a complex, chemical-intensive refining process that takes place in an industrial setting, but why quibble? Strangely, the FDA has agreed with them.”
Wired: Top 10 Wired.com Food Photos, Decided by You and by Us
“After two weeks of being either tantalized or disgusted by the submissions in our food photo contest, Wired.com readers have selected 10 winners … [Also,] Here are our 10 favorite submissions that we think deserved more attention.”
Wise Bread: Chill Out with These 6 Simple DIY Freezer Treats
“With ice cream bars running $5 a small box locally, I went on a search to find inexpensive, alternative recipes to feed our family.”
Zen Habits: Living Life Overweight – 10 Reasons Why You’re Not to Blame
“If you’re overweight then you’ve probably experienced the sharp end of the ridicule stick from many people in your life … This is all part of the vicious cycle and part of the reason why being overweight, especially in America, is not just a lack of motivation.”
(Photos courtesy of MorningStar, compound-eye, pandagon.net, and enegue.net.)
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