This morning we finished up a Costo/Sam’s club sized container of automatic dishwasher liquid–it’s all full of chlorine and lots of other bad things–but it’s cheap. Then I didn’t recycle it because even now, 14 hours later, I would probably still be rinsing it out. So, with a little shame, I saw this article in a new Times feature called Green Home.
This article is an interview with the head honcho for the EPA’s Design for the Environment division. This part of the EPA identifies the safest products on the market after the makers submit a list of ingredients.
This article is noteworthy because I learned more about different products that I buy and with real knowledge in hand–not just the claims on the packaging–I might make better choices, although I still don’t want to be sold Amway products.
Better yet, I also found this article to be fantastic because the interview is a classic example in a government bureaucrat being so vague and unhelpful in answering questions that it’s hilarious.
ATNTFTB: When It Comes to Detergents, What’s the Least Irresponsible Choice? February 26, 2009
ATNTFTB: Ash Wednesday February 25, 2009
I wanted to find an article on Lent and Ash Wednesday to combine two blogs into one: one my daily news story and the other explaining why I’ll have an oily and dirty smudge on my forehead later this evening.
So, I went to the New York Times website and searched for Ash Wednesday. I think the results show us a bit about our national religious literacy, or lack thereof.
The first article is about a fairly sounding horrid movie from 1973 called Ash Wednesday starring Henry Fonda and Elizabeth Taylor. From the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s I saw notices that churches would be holding their annual Ash Wednesday services to begin the penitential season of Lent. By 2008, there were only notices that New York City parking rules would follow the weekend schedule on Ash Wednesday. Also, the U.S. and British bombing of the German city of Dresden in World War II took place on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday–burning to death over 100,000 Germans in their homes, but not actually reaching any military targets. A nun meditating on this event said, meditating in her convent on that first day of Lent, thinks of the smudge of ash on her forehead; it is ”as if . . . the dust of cities wrecked by war had touched them this Wednesday of ashes.” Penitence needed indeed.
Not Newsworthy at All February 25, 2009
I’ve been working too hard today to read the Times yet, but did see this tibit of information on Nerve.com when I got home. There is, it seems, designer cologne for dogs. It’s called Sexy Beast and it combines essential oils of bergamot, patchouli, mandarin, and nutmeg to create a unisex scent for your stinky pup. The best part? It’s called Sexy Beast.
Unisex cologne for dogs is strange and funny enough I suppose, but in our circle of friends (some Agnes Scott girls plus 2 Georgia Tech geeks), the phrases sexy beast, you’re a beast, and grrrr date back some years. Sole credit for this invention dates back to the Agnes Scott swim team circa 2001 or 2002. They would yell that to each other while swimming for motivation. It soon found new uses and new users. Now the circle is drawn wider yet again with a more literal interpretation and including actual beasts.
ATNTFTB: What Was With the Peacocks and the Gothic Fiction? February 23, 2009
Today’s article of the day is actually a tie with a Business Section article on Tropicana’s failed package redesign. But I love this article title, and I love Flannery O’Connor and her magic of capturing the Southern Gothic, so Books of the Times wins out today. But man, why waste all that money on an orange juice carton?
How does one go about writing a biography of a enigmatic reclusive writer who didn’t live very long? A new book, Flannery attempts this task, and does unravel a bit of the mystery and appears to do a fair job of illuminating Flannery O’Connor’s deeply admired and dark body of work.
Here’s what we know about Flannery O’Connor: She owned peacocks. And made outfits for them. She was racist. She was Catholic in an anti-Catholic South. She mostly lived as a recluse at her family’s farm, Andalusia (a Southern Gothic theological pilgrimage with a good friend from seminary has been in the planning stages for a few months now). A lady friend was madly in love with her–it’s not clear whether the feeling was mutual. She died of lupus at age 39.
My first awareness of Flannery O’Connor began many years ago when my mom talked about meeting her in the 1960s. My mom attended what was then called Women’s College of Georgia (located in Milledgeville, GA). Flannery O’Connor went to college there was well, and while my mom was there from 1961 to 1965, and Flannery O’Connor–quite ill by that time–would occasionally come to campus to speak. My mom doesn’t love her writing, but even then she grasped the awesomeness of having someone like Flannery O’Connor in your midst.
ATNTFTB: Tamer ‘Rent’ Is Too Wild for Some Schools February 20, 2009
I’m not a prude. Or a Puritan. I’m really not. My favorite tv shows are Weeds and The L Word, and I would prefer that How I Met Your Mother came on Showtime so they could spice it up a bit. And Callie as a lesbian on Grey’s Anatomy? Hot. I’m also really into free speech and really not into censorship, even of things that, well, should be censored.
But I kinda agree with some of the folks in this article that Rent maybe isn’t the best idea for a high school play. (I mean, we all know Zac Effron will eventually come out and put some new perspective on High School Musical, but even then it won’t be quite as the same level as Rent)
I first heard about Rent on the Rosie O’Donnell show in 1997–the summer between my junior and senior years in High School, and recall riding around in my trusty 1988 Dodge Shadow playing the Rent soundtrack nonstop. (Yes, I should have known I was gay then but didn’t). So, yes I was in high school and consuming Rent and its message, but we didn’t all go see it as a class or anything. And the drama club certainly wouldn’t have performed it–that would be…gay. PL went to an arts magnet high school, so they had a VERY different campus culture, but I’m not sure they would have even done it when she was there. When her little brother was at the same school as a senior in 2005, the school put on the Laramie Project and it was met with some protest. He shrugged his shoulders and didn’t care whether they did the play or not, but that’s his usual approach to most other things in life as well.
As the article explains, the high school version of Rent has removed some explicit language and they removed the song Contact (they did that in the movie too). I guess “Rent: School Edition” is much more along the lines of the movie than the original play, and the movie did seem to fairly popular in the mainstream way. On the other hand, a part of me is ashamed of my old person-like shocked reaction, and thinks it’s a great thing that high school kids don’t blink at the thought of a play with gay and straight characters and draq queens. It makes me feel both very old and also very hopeful that “kids these days” by and large grew up with LGBT figures in the media and in their lives. I am also hopeful that people who actually see Rent will love it, and even though they may scoff at the subject matter at first, deep down they know it’s quality stuff.
Potato, Potato February 19, 2009
For many years my dad kept a journal of his gardening activities and wrote down dates of planting, diagrams of his evenly spaced rows, and recorded his failures and successes (such as tomatoes so large you only need one slice for a BLT). After many years, he didn’t need to do that anymore. He remembers by instinct after a lifetime of working his grey dirt (unlike us unlucky folks with red clay) that, for example, you plant red potatoes on Valentine’s Day.
I was with my dad on February 13th this year, so it was no surprise that after dinner we went to the farm store and bought a big bag of seed potatoes. I went home with about 25 pounds of them in my car. To put that in perspective, each seed potato will yield an average of 3 plants, so I probably have 100 or more potential plants worth of potatoes in my car right now. Last year PL and I had 4 potato plants and we grew more potatoes than we could eat. Needless to say, I’m looking for some eager potato growers. There’s still plenty of time left to plant them–the Valentine’s Day planting date is pushed forward a week or more with no problem, especially since it’s usually a bit cooler here than where my parents live.
I do have to admit that I’m a bit hesitant to give the seed potatoes away for several reasons:
- I just don’t know that many people, and if everyone I know is growing potatoes too, then I don’t have anyone to take my extras.
- Potatoes are so easy to grow that if you knew how easy they were, you wouldn’t be as excited when I give you a bag of pretty red potatoes.
- I don’t know if you can be trusted with the secret and ancient knowledge that although it’s cool to see big potatoes when you dig up the mounds at the end of the growing season, it’s even better to sneak your hand in the hill and pull out the tiny ones (don’t peel them!) and cook them–they are like butter (said in your best “Coffee Talk” voice).
Before we can plant potatoes though, we have some major garden preparation work to do. We have one raised garden bed in the backyard that I built the day after we closed on our house–seriously, we had no furniture, or even electricity, in the house, but we had tomato plants.
As our family grew to include 2 homeless mutts, our tiny garden bed has become a digging pit for the dogs and their friends. That’s a fine activity I’m sure, but not something that fragile baby plants enjoy.
Since the backyard has gone to the dogs, literally, we decided to move the garden to the front yard, and to just plant things directly in the ground. It’s sunny and lovely in the front yard, and I hope it turns out to be a good spot.
So, this is what the yard looks like right now. In front of the house (resting underground, waiting for summer) are the world’s largest elephant ear plants and some lilies and other flowers of indeterminate heritage. The grass is already in sorry shape, so there’s no shame in digging it up and putting cow manure on top of it. If I’ve never mentioned it, our gardening philosophy is primarily governed by things that people give us for free–I got some assorted bulbs from a coworker, so that’s what’s planted in our flower beds.
ATNTFTB: Great Workout, Forget the View February 19, 2009
Today’s article stands out for the quirky factor of the event chronicled, but also because of the juxtaposition of reading (and then blogging) about extreme sports instead of actually going running.
In New York City on February 3, 319 people participated in the 32nd annual Empire State Building Run-Up. Participants race up 86 floors–that’s 1,576 stairs. The Empire State building stair well is closed to visitors every other day of the year, so it’s cool that they open it for the race. But, ouch.
In other news, it’s colder today than I thought it would be and more windy too, so we felt that we had a good excuse to not go running. Instead, I changed out of work clothes, ate some Cocoa Puffs and watched the Rachel Maddow Show Podcast.
We’ve been fairly faithful runners lately, and progressed back up after some cold weather laziness to week 4 of the Couch to 5k running plan). I also have a shiny new green Ipod Shuffle (a great Valentine’s day present from PL) so I’m enjoying some weird techno funk running podcast to help pass the time. But not today. Today, I’ll just read about the 15-20 minutes of agony of other people.
ATNTFTB: ‘Joy of Cooking’ or ‘Joy of Obesity’? February 17, 2009
Today was an uninspiring news day (Sen. Burris might be a bit shady after all? I never in a million years imagined that), but I did see this nugget of an article that came from the Los Angeles Times. I am in no way suggesting that this news source is comparable to the New York Times, only that I wasn’t inspired to blog about salmon brain injuries today or you know, any of the actual news.
This article is fascinating though, so even if I’m bending the rules, I hope you enjoy it just this once. In a comparison of 18 difference recipes in the Joy of Cooking–recipes that stuck around from the 1931 edition to today’s–researchers found that 14 of those recipes have increased their overall calorie counts by an average of 982 calories or 44% per recipe. The article notes several reasons for this calorie increase:
- Changing serving sizes–a 1997 waffle recipe made 12 waffles, the exact same ingredients made 6 waffles in 2006.
- Adding more of certain ingredients-beef stroganoff apparently needs a whole cup of sour cream these days, when just a decade ago it needed 3 tablespoons.
- Making substitutions to use more meat instead of vegetables-since meat was a lot more expensive in 1931, people ate less of it than we do now).
I did my own mini-study at home since I have both a 1976 and a 2005 copyright Better Home and Gardens New Cookbook (that’s the red checkered one). One recipe I often make from this cookbook is Banana Bread. Both recipes make the same size loaf, but in 1976 the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup shortening. In 2005, you need a whole cup of sugar and a 1/2 cup of shortening. So, if you’re reading this and you are lucky enough to get to partake of my banana bread on occasion, I’m going to begin retro-themed baking and use the 1976 recipe. And I”ll also do my part to bring back Ham Medley and Company Creamed Tuna and maybe a nice elegant rice ring, since those recipes somehow were left out of the 2005 edition.
I often argue that eating at home instead of in a restaurant is one of the easiest ways to eat better and lose weight, and of course save money. But, as this study shows, our food troubles extend beyond restaurant fare and into our own cupboards. The article also briefly highlights the growing size of our plates and utensils–an actual serving of pasta looks tiny and unsatisfying on a giant plate so we eat more. PL and I got new “everyday” silverware recently (from my mom of course) to replace an older set my late aunt and uncle used for forty years. The new teaspoon is the size of the old soup spoon, and the new soup spoon? It won’t even fit in my mouth and we use it as a serving spoon. The trend is also noticeable with our new dinner plates (also from my mom–who needs to get married anyway?). We have a set of my grandma’s plates from the 1960s with a 10 inch diameter (most older plates are even 9 inches), and our new set of plates made in 2008 has a nearly 12 inch diameter–if we had older cabinets the dishes most likely would not fit in them.
Love, Wheat Love February 16, 2009
PL and I continued the trend of foiled Valentine’s Day plans again this year. First, I went to a funeral, in the rain, and then ate delicious Southern food made by Baptist church ladies and drove 4 hours back to Atlanta. PL and I decided to go out for a quiet dinner together once I got back home. We wanted to try out the recently renovated Thumbs Up Diner in Downtown Decatur. We had our first date at Crescent Moon, which used to be in that location (awww). Over the years we watched with horror as a new owner put up mirrors and linoleum tile on the walls and changed the menu. It became a Thumbs Up recently and while the decor didn’t go back to the original look (it might actually be nicer, not that we got to go inside as you will soon see), it no longer looks like a mob run hangout. It turns out they don’t serve dinner though, not even breakfast for dinner which is really the point of even having a diner.
We wandered around downtown Decatur for a while, realizing that 8pm on Valentine’s Day is not a great time to try to get into a restaurant. We ended up at a new spot on the square, Zucca, since there wasn’t a wait. It’s where Zocalo’s used to be if you’re a Decaturite, and it’s only been open about 3 weeks. Both the food and service were very good, and they have a variety of bar foods, pizzas, sandwiches, calzones and nicer Italian fare. We went for the nicer fare since it was Valentine’s Day and I had also just been to visit my parents–that means I had more money than usual. My parents won’t let me visit them without quietly slipping me cash before I leave. PL also usually has cash mysteriously appear in her wallet as well when she goes with me.
The restaurant is also open until 3-4am most days, which is a nice addition for Decatur. Full Disclosure: We’re usually asleep well before 11pm but you know, this one time we stayed up late and needed to eat and couldn’t find anything open so we complain how nothing is open late in Decatur. Zucca is quieter than the Brickstore next door and has more privacy since they have booths with tall backs instead of tiny tables crammed side by side. Each table also had it’s own little tv that you can control, so we’ll definitely hit it up again during March Madness when it’s more widely recognized to be romantic to watch basketball on a date than it is on Valentine’s Day.
PL succeeded in having the quote of the day, if not the month, while we were eating. I was drinking a seasonal Sam Adams beer and PL, who still doesn’t like beer, had a sip just in case she maybe just hasn’t found a beer she likes. Some wine and beer connoisseurs will describe the taste of a drink in reference to other foods–a hint of strawberry and apple overtones, for example. To PL, my beer tasted like “you took a beer and poured it over a giant bowl of Wheaties.” She makes me laugh.
Even better is that I just went to the Sam Adams website to see which beer was their seasonal beer on tap right now. It’s the White Ale, a beer which is an unfiltered wheat ale–whatever that means. The taste of the Sam Adams White Ale is described as, wait for it…”a crisp malty cereal finish.” So, PL is not only funny, she’s also quite the beer taster, even if not a beer drinker. I, on the other hand, will literally drink anything, and not really get what’s good and what’s bad. Just for future reference, Budweiser and Orange Juice mixed together is not at all like a mimosa, even at 3am when you are in college.
ATNTFTB: Playmobil Finds Fun in the Police State February 16, 2009
After keeping at this exercise for 10 whole days–that’s 2 work weeks of distraction and time-wasting, I’m going to stop posting the number for All the News That’s Fit to Blog. Why? It’s too hard to remember what day I’m on now that I’m in double digits. So, in the spirit of having an acronym for everything, I’d like to introduce ATNTFTB. Nice right? I’m a proud Georgia Tech graduate and adept user of acronyms.
The article I selected today comes pre-packaged with mocking and cultural critque already included. Playmobil–which I always thought of as the toy that’s not quite as fun as Legos–has introduced a Security Checkpoint Play Set. The toy attracted harsh comments on Amazon, and I was pleased to learn that Amazon’s policy is to remove reviews if they happen to be profane, but not if they are merely facetious.
One reviewer wrote:
“I applaud Playmobil for attempting to provide us with the tools we need to teach our children to unquestioningly obey the commands of the State Security Apparatus,” wrote one Amazon reviewer pseudonymously.”
I’m fairly certain that anonymous reviewer is PL’s brother, by the way.
The less cynical parts of me realize that toys like this help kids learn about different situations in daily life, and going through airport security can be flustering and intimidating for adults too (ask me sometime about having a stranger remove my belt–well, I guess that’s all there was to it, a stranger removed my belt and it was creepy). Teaching kids what to expect before they meet uniformed people with guns but little authority except to make them take off their shoes and walk through a metal detector is a great idea, and everyone behind you would appreciate your kids not freaking out when it’s their turn.
Even better is that the article, with a seemingly straight face, also mentions that those intersted in the airport security play set “might also enjoy another toy on Amazon, the Playmobil Police Checkpoint, a roadblock scene with armed officers, pylons and warning lights.”
