So, I'm still around. And I was pretty good at writing up the daily adventures I had while on my roadtrip with James, BUT I was not as good at having adequate internet connection to post said blogs.
SO, while you wait with bated breath for pictures of all the things I ate in several states and countries, and while I actually finish putting all those pictures up, I give you this:
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/mcdonalds-veggie-wrap/521f4f3a02a760133c000059
A conversation from Huffington Post about fast food, calorie counting, "healthy" options vs actually healthy options, and the marketing of it all. It's a fascinating subject, spurred on by McDonald's new veggie wraps that they are selling in Canada.
If you eat fast food more than once...(a week? a month? a year?). No. Just once. Ever eaten fast food? (Your answer is probably yes) Ever thought about how what you eat at that restaurant is sold to you? Marketing is EVERYTHING to fast food places, so I'm not reprimanding anyone for eating fast food, only for eating fast food without considering the implications of eating it - health wise, environment wise, labor wise. Fast food is complicated.
The video here is a little bit long - it's 25 minutes. But for the most part, there's not a whole lot to see in the video, so what I did was turn it on so I could listen to it while did some dishes. It's worth it to check it out.
...and I'll keep trucking on those road trip blogs, promise :)
-Bethy
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Epic Diamond
I’m going on a road trip.
(Well, ok, technically, I’m already on it, but whatever.) My friend from home, James, is coming to
Boston, and we’re going to explore the Northeast the right way – by renting a
car, and driving place to place to place for 5 days, weaving in and out of 4
different states, sleeping in the back of the car, and seeing parts of Canada
as well as the US.
Thursday was my last day of work at Clover. It was time for me to leave the truck, and I
have so many feelings about not getting up early every morning, and spending 8
hours a day slapping together gorgeous sandwiches, plating and baking barbeque
seitan, and running lunch rushes like a beast.
I’ve spent the last 11 months learning, growing, and leading on that
truck at MIT, and I’m honestly going to miss it a lot. But, life moves on, and it was time for me to
do the same.
So, what better to do with a new life of unemployment
(hopefully not for too long!) than to see a huge part of New England and Canada
that I’ve never explored right before classes begin again?? Now this is what I call FUNemployment!
Our route begins and ends at home in Allston, and fans out
to a huge diamond shape, with Allston at the bottom. Our stops include:
-Concord, NH (because James and I are HUGE state capitol
nerds)
-Montpelier, VT (same reason)
-Waterbury, VT (Ben and Jerry’s factory! And to have some Heady Topper!)
-Burlington, VT (I want to show him one of my favorite
places on the east coast)
-Montreal, Canada (I’ve never been there, and haven’t been
out of the country in too long – it’s time for a little international flavor)
-Quebec City, Canada (same reason + POUTINE)
-Mt. Katahdin, Maine (epic climbing adventure)
-Portland, Maine (I love Portland, and I haven’t been there
yet since moving to Boston a year ago, plus lobster rolls. I need not say any more.)
Yeah. It’s a lot. This was pretty much a crazy “where do you
want to go in New England?” “Um, I don’t
know, how about ALL these places??” “Ok.” kind of conversation that completely
materialized in the best way.
As always, I’m finding all the foodie type topics and
places, and issues to be popping out at me, proving once again to myself that I’m
DEFINITELY in the right Masters program…
Love it.
-Bethy
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Two of My Favorite Things
I am an unabashed reader of BuzzFeed.
It is an amazing website, colorful, readable, and funny as hell that is great for those times when I just can't take any more reading that is even close to academic. Their food section is especially awesome, letting my brain take a break while still reading about foodie stuff.
So, imagine my delight when I saw this post today -
It is an amazing website, colorful, readable, and funny as hell that is great for those times when I just can't take any more reading that is even close to academic. Their food section is especially awesome, letting my brain take a break while still reading about foodie stuff.
So, imagine my delight when I saw this post today -
11 Kinds Of Junk Food That Cost Almost Twice As Much As Something Healthier
Turns out, it was a project from CSPI - the Center for Science in the Public Interest - a DC based advocacy group that has been working since the 1970s to set Americans right about nutrition, food and alcohol policy, and healthy eating. They are movers and shakers. And they are an organization to watch.
Go and look at this post...even if you already eat your fruits and vegetables, and don't touch junk food. If you are a great healthy-eater, let it reinforce your good habits. If what you eat leaves something to be desired, let it be a subtle reminder that you can be eating healthily on the cheap.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Sandwiches
Let’s talk about sandwiches for a second. I really like a good sandwich. But the key word there is “good”. You can’t make a good sandwich without good
ingredients. Anyway – we’ve had a hot
July here in Boston. Really hot. Hot hot hot.
And I do not do hot well. And I
do not have air conditioning in my apartment.
So you’ve got to know that there was NO WAY I was heating up ANYTHING in
my house. I was sweating just standing
there, hot food wasn’t going to be any part of that equation.
When I was working on Meyers Farm in Bethel, I used to eat
lunch with the Meyers family every day.
Lisa used to come up with some of the most creative delicious meals that
I have ever had – she had a way to make a pot of beans taste like heaven – but
one of the most memorable meals that I had on the farm was one day when Lisa
was out of town.
Tim had been working with me all morning in the field, and
as we went into the house, I saw him carry in a bag with cucumbers, a head of
lettuce, and a bunch of cherry tomatoes.
I washed my hands, and Tim sliced the veggies thickly, slathering mayo
on homemade wheat bread, and piling them on.
He placed a sandwich on a plate and handed it to me. I’ll admit, I was skeptical. There was no meat. There was no cheese. Veggies were great….you know….to go with something. Right??
WRONG.
I took a bite, and was in sandwich heaven. I couldn’t believe the taste. The crunch.
The juicy tomato melding with the mayo.
(I’m getting hungry just thinking about it).
So a few weeks ago, when I opened my CSA box and discovered
lettuce, cucumbers, and a tomato, I knew I had to get my hands on a good loaf
of bread.
I walked around the corner of my house to Clear Flour Bread
– a delightful bakery that just won the 2013 Best Bread in Boston award from
the Improper Bostonian, and was instantly overwhelmed (in a good way!) with all
my choices. I would like to say that I
asked the ladies working there to fully explain each breads’ ingredients before
choosing one. I did not. I picked two at random, asked what made them different
from each other – and chose one of them.
I ended up with pain meunier – an incredibly tasty bread that has a funhistory.
Bread in my bag, I walked home, and set to work.
Bread – check. Mayo –
check. Tomato, cukes, lettuce – check.
BEST. SANDWICH. EVER.
CHECK.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Frozen in the Egg Aisle
I've been studying food policy in grad school for almost a year now.
Whew. That feels like a long time when I type it like that.
But the truth is that I've been learning about how food is organized, labeled, and kept safe to be sold - on governmental levels of all sizes, and when I sit down to think about it, I really do know a LOT about our food system. I thought I knew it was broken before - turns out, I didn't even know the start of it.
I've learned a lot about labeling - how all those words get onto your milk, meat, and prepackaged salad bags. Every word is the result of a regulation. Some mean something very specific ("Certified USDA Organic"), some mean something a little less specific ("cage free"), and some - sorry to break it to you - mean absolutely nothing at all ("all natural").
(Sorry if I just made you cry when you scurried off to your pantry/fridge to see lots of foods with the "all natural" label on them...I'll post about it later, it has absolutely no regulation, effectively making it an absolutely useless value claim.)
Anyway - the point is, I've been learning a lot, but as I'm running 16-18 hours of every day between work and school, training for my marathon, singing at church, and having some semblance of a social life, up to this point, my eating hasn't changed that much. (The one big exception here is clearly my purchase of a CSA this summer, which I will also post about later). Though I know about values claims on labels on foods, I'm living a pretty standard "what is the most convenient, nutritious food that I can get for the lowest price?"
Now, I've always eaten eggs. My mother raised me on them, and since I don't tend to cook a ton of meat at my house, I've always seen them as a great source of protein for not that much money. While I've eaten farm-fresh straight-out-the-chicken eggs (and they are INCREDIBLE - if you haven't had that egg eating experience, find a farmer right now, and buy some eggs from him/her. (If you need help locating a farmer, the USDA is here to help you with their Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food website) You won't regret it) I don't have the time to seek out/go to a farmers' market here in Boston to find those eggs here. Thus - I eat store bought eggs.
I eat a LOT of eggs. If I'm making most of my meals at home, I could take down a dozen eggs in three to four days. (I usually don't, but that's just because I don't want to be going to the grocery store that often). As a combination of loving eggs, and loving finding good food at grocery stores for cheap (THAT is just a combination of my frugal nature, loving deals/steals/couponing, and not feeling guilty for buying food because, well, I have to eat) I have always just bought the cheapest eggs at the grocery store - the large, white, store brand "normal" eggs. Usually they're between $1.19 and $1.99. Not a bad deal for a few days worth of protein.
So, it was about a week ago, and I hadn't been in a grocery store for a while (an result of the CSA). I had no eggs at home, and was walking towards my apartment from campus. I was right next to the Star Market, so I went in there for a few things instead of going to Trader Joe's like I usually do. I walked back to the egg section, imagining grabbing a dozen of Star Market's finest. I stopped in front of the refrigerated case, and was instantly so overwhelmed. The cheap eggs were $1.29 - a great deal! And yet, this is what was flashing in my head -
Whew. That feels like a long time when I type it like that.
But the truth is that I've been learning about how food is organized, labeled, and kept safe to be sold - on governmental levels of all sizes, and when I sit down to think about it, I really do know a LOT about our food system. I thought I knew it was broken before - turns out, I didn't even know the start of it.
I've learned a lot about labeling - how all those words get onto your milk, meat, and prepackaged salad bags. Every word is the result of a regulation. Some mean something very specific ("Certified USDA Organic"), some mean something a little less specific ("cage free"), and some - sorry to break it to you - mean absolutely nothing at all ("all natural").
(Sorry if I just made you cry when you scurried off to your pantry/fridge to see lots of foods with the "all natural" label on them...I'll post about it later, it has absolutely no regulation, effectively making it an absolutely useless value claim.)
Anyway - the point is, I've been learning a lot, but as I'm running 16-18 hours of every day between work and school, training for my marathon, singing at church, and having some semblance of a social life, up to this point, my eating hasn't changed that much. (The one big exception here is clearly my purchase of a CSA this summer, which I will also post about later). Though I know about values claims on labels on foods, I'm living a pretty standard "what is the most convenient, nutritious food that I can get for the lowest price?"
Now, I've always eaten eggs. My mother raised me on them, and since I don't tend to cook a ton of meat at my house, I've always seen them as a great source of protein for not that much money. While I've eaten farm-fresh straight-out-the-chicken eggs (and they are INCREDIBLE - if you haven't had that egg eating experience, find a farmer right now, and buy some eggs from him/her. (If you need help locating a farmer, the USDA is here to help you with their Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food website) You won't regret it) I don't have the time to seek out/go to a farmers' market here in Boston to find those eggs here. Thus - I eat store bought eggs.
I eat a LOT of eggs. If I'm making most of my meals at home, I could take down a dozen eggs in three to four days. (I usually don't, but that's just because I don't want to be going to the grocery store that often). As a combination of loving eggs, and loving finding good food at grocery stores for cheap (THAT is just a combination of my frugal nature, loving deals/steals/couponing, and not feeling guilty for buying food because, well, I have to eat) I have always just bought the cheapest eggs at the grocery store - the large, white, store brand "normal" eggs. Usually they're between $1.19 and $1.99. Not a bad deal for a few days worth of protein.
So, it was about a week ago, and I hadn't been in a grocery store for a while (an result of the CSA). I had no eggs at home, and was walking towards my apartment from campus. I was right next to the Star Market, so I went in there for a few things instead of going to Trader Joe's like I usually do. I walked back to the egg section, imagining grabbing a dozen of Star Market's finest. I stopped in front of the refrigerated case, and was instantly so overwhelmed. The cheap eggs were $1.29 - a great deal! And yet, this is what was flashing in my head -
Now, I have known my entire life about the realities of egg production in huge industrial systems. And it's terrible, but it's never changed the reality that I want my eggs, and I don't always have $5 to hand to a farmer who I know isn't keeping his/her chickens this way. To cut to the chase, whether or not it should, knowing has never changed my mind before. And yet, there I was, standing in front of that case, and I couldn't even look at those $1.29 eggs.
So, I turned to my other choices - and by golly, there were a TON of other choices, ranging from $1.99 to $5.49 a dozen. I was assaulted by labels like:
- certified organic
- all natural
- omega-3 enriched
- cage free
- free range
- humanely raised
- vitamin D enriched
It took me the better part of 20 minutes to do it.
I ended up with Born Free brand Free Range Certified Humanely Raised and Handled Omega 3+D brown eggs. They were on sale for $3.49, and I felt good about leaving the store with them in my bag. But as I was walking home, I realized that this was the beginning - that the things that I learned in class were no longer just things I knew in my head, and could easily separate from the life that I led outside of class.
It is terrifying. I've come to terms that my cooking and eating habits have just taken a turn for the educated, and that means a whole lot more thinking about my food outside of class, and inside my kitchen. I guess it's just the moment when the learning becomes synonymous with my actions. Scary - but exciting - as all important life decisions are.
And that's where I'm at now. Actually taking a really hard look at what I'm buying when I go to the grocery store. And, in effect, going to the grocery store a whole lot less.
So, go - check out your egg section the next time you're at the store. Even if you buy the cheap eggs, look at the other ones. Learn about values claims on eggs - what all those terms mean, who is regulating them, what the laws are in your state/city/region. Even if it hasn't before, it might change your mind this time.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Emo poetry gots to go!
Uuuuuuugh. This blog is so emo-y these days. I sincerely apologize for that. Gross.
While I totally support my own emotional needs to be sad, and mad, and weepy, I honestly don't think that I need to emote all over you guys. Everything that has happened/been happening with Chris over the last two months is done, it's final, and while I know that I'm not going to be "moving on" anytime soon, I need to turn to another medium for my terrible "I'll never love again"/"my entire life plan was just decimated in a conversation on the way to the airport" sappy poetry. So...
I'm so busy these days. And perhaps in the interest of just being me, and the need to be busy, and partly in the interest of attempting to keep my mind off of being sad, I'm totally overloading myself.
BUT, it won't be that way forever (HA!). And I have plans galore for this blog. LOTS OF PLANS.
Like making it really focused on food and food issues (because, come on, I mean, that's what I'm all into these days) and other things.
But mostly that I'm going to take a short break from this blog, in order to finish my online class, finish my BU classes, and take a fucking breath for a hot second.
Don't panic. I'll be back before you know it. Seriously.
Love, Bethy
While I totally support my own emotional needs to be sad, and mad, and weepy, I honestly don't think that I need to emote all over you guys. Everything that has happened/been happening with Chris over the last two months is done, it's final, and while I know that I'm not going to be "moving on" anytime soon, I need to turn to another medium for my terrible "I'll never love again"/"my entire life plan was just decimated in a conversation on the way to the airport" sappy poetry. So...
I'm so busy these days. And perhaps in the interest of just being me, and the need to be busy, and partly in the interest of attempting to keep my mind off of being sad, I'm totally overloading myself.
BUT, it won't be that way forever (HA!). And I have plans galore for this blog. LOTS OF PLANS.
Like making it really focused on food and food issues (because, come on, I mean, that's what I'm all into these days) and other things.
But mostly that I'm going to take a short break from this blog, in order to finish my online class, finish my BU classes, and take a fucking breath for a hot second.
Don't panic. I'll be back before you know it. Seriously.
Love, Bethy
Monday, April 1, 2013
The Freshman
When I was young I knew everything
She a punk who rarely ever took advice
Now I'm guilt stricken,
Sobbing with my head on the floor
Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
My best friend took a week's
Vacation to forget her
His girl took a weeks's worth of
Valium and slept
And now he's guilt stricken sobbing with his
Head on the floor
Thinks about her now and how he never really
Wept he says
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
hey yeah
hey yeah
hey yeah
We've tried to wash our hands of all this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt stricken sobbing with our
Heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to
Slip, we'd say
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
And I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
We were merely freshmen
She a punk who rarely ever took advice
Now I'm guilt stricken,
Sobbing with my head on the floor
Stop a baby's breath and a shoe full of rice
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
My best friend took a week's
Vacation to forget her
His girl took a weeks's worth of
Valium and slept
And now he's guilt stricken sobbing with his
Head on the floor
Thinks about her now and how he never really
Wept he says
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
hey yeah
hey yeah
hey yeah
We've tried to wash our hands of all this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt stricken sobbing with our
Heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to
Slip, we'd say
I can't be held responsible
She was touching her face
And I won't be held responsible
She fell in love in the first place
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We'd never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We'd ever die for these sins
We were merely freshmen
We were merely freshmen
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