Comments msk has made

  • What does 'foodie' have to do with it?

    I think Mr. Lee is being a little disingenuous here. Alice Waters is the ultimate foodie, but I don't think 5 bucks normally buys you a true foodie lunch (would it at Chez Panisse?).

    We do have to be pragmatic, but we are talking about our kids. What can we achieve? A lot, over time. Eating is pretty basic and fundamental, so I don't consider it a foodie pursuit for kids to learn the basics about fresh food, how to prepare it, and enjoy eating it. It doesn't have to dominate the entire school day.

    In the end, you spend 5 bucks now are who knows how much later.On For the first time in decades, a healthy school-lunch debate opens posted 8 months, 4 weeks ago 10 Responses

  • Fruits and Vegetables

    I agree that eating lower on the food chain would be a boon for everyone, whether people adopt a strict vegan or vegetarian diet or simply adjust amounts of what they eat. However, in terms of percentage cost, has any foodstuff gone up as much as fresh fruits and vegetables over the past decade or more? The price of oil, and thus of gasoline, raises transport costs, which in turn make food costs go up real fast, no matter where on the food chain they are.

    I'm all for people eating lower on the food chain and eating more fruits and veggies, but there's no way to dodge the economic hurt of rising food prices completely. On As the feds bail out Wall Street, here's a food-related fix for Main Street posted 1 year, 8 months ago 12 Responses

  • And news media fails again

    This morning I heard an awful lot about the "historic compromise" leading the first-ever veto override for Bush on NPR, but not one thing about what this bill actually involved. I got to hear James Inhofe crow about how if he and Barbara Boxer managed to agree, it must be a solid piece of legislation (I think his participation is reason enough to be wary, but that's another story). So in other words, instead of explaining something to the public about this bill which will actually affect us, NPR simply chooses to do a story about controversy or the lack thereof. I'm disappointed in them.

    Maybe they did something on the actual substance of the bill at some other point that I missed, but the real issue is that it isn't really important whether Congress managed to override the veto; it's what they are pushing through that's important. Thanks for this post.On Why Bush's water-bill veto was actually a good idea posted 2 years ago 11 Responses

  • Another possible option

    First of all, I think BlueFoxFarm has a great idea there.

    The CSA my wife and I belong to allows you to select ten items per week on-line from a list of about 25 different things. The box we get is huge. It IS a lot of work to prepare and sometimes we end up eating the same thing ten days in a row (our freezer is not that big). I can safely say I would not be able to manage it if I were single. A half-share might work. Getting a half-share AND sharing that with a neighbor might work too.

    As much as I support local food, I do not encourage people to try CSAs willy-nilly, as they can get easily overwhelmed and back away from it. It's good that Tara is considering carefully before signing up. There's no shame whatsoever in buying at at the farmers' market, and if it's a "producers' market," as I've heard them called around here, the money goes directly to the farmers.

    Another option I have seen out here in the Philly area is a buying club. Most of them seem to work this way: you sign up and once every two weeks or a month you can choose what you want, paying for each item individually. These usually go year-round and include things like milk and cheese, meat, and honey at certain times, in addition to the veggies. Often they deliver to a central point not far away for pick-up. If you don't want to order because you haven't made it through the last order, you don't have to.

    Another great cookbook with a big section organized by vegetable is "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman, although it would NOT work for a vegan. Our copy is coming apart from so much use.On Umbra on singles and CSAs posted 2 years, 3 months ago 13 Responses

  • Local considerations

    I live in the Philadelphia metro area, where our summer climate often lands us with a home hovering around 84 degrees at 75 percent humidity (we don't have air conditioning and aren't planning to get it). We refrigerate a lot of stuff because nearly ANYTHING without preservatives will mold/spoil/wilt if left out. Also, while I am fine with beer that is not ice-cold, I can't say I like an 84 degree beer. In cooler times, we leave our beer out (also, bottle-conditioned and/or non-pasteurized beer definitely changes - not usually for the better - pretty quickly in a hot and humid climate).

    Contrast this with the typical climate in the UK, which is often cool and cloudy and pretty much ideal for leaving many things out that I must refrigerate, such as beer, or butter, or cheese.On Umbra on refrigerator downsizing posted 2 years, 4 months ago 34 Responses