the frig blig

OK when I was a boy ketchup came in glass bottles and you could watch the bottle’s contents go down as you used it over time. Hence when it was almost empty, you put it on the shopping list and got a new bottle. Simple, right? So simple it didn’t even seem remarkable at the time.

Today, ketchup comes in an opaque plastic bottle dyed the color of ketchup. So it always looks full. And the only way to get a clue about how much is remaining is to judge by the bottle’s weight in my hands. So it’s way easy to run out before it gets on the shopping list.

This is progress — not. I figure fewer bottles probably break during shipping now, but hey — why not use clear plastic? There are umpteen million food products that you can buy in clear plastic containers: milk, mustard, salad dressing, salsa, horseradish — OK you get the picture. What’s up with the opaque ketchup bottle?

I snapped this photo of my coffee cup the other day and gosh but if it isn’t one of the best coffee cup photos I’ve taken in recent memory…if I do say so myself (pat pat).

In other extremely nonimportant news, whilst driving J and W on a short tour of Seattle this afternoon I noticed the bumper of the car in front of us bore a sticker with the following message, which made S and me smile and nod:

Born OK the first time.

Most weekend mornings find me sitting near this machine quaffing its elixer. My neighborhood joint (one of). Mmmm…

It’s that holiday in the U.S. where the white folks give thanks to native americans for giving their ancestors food and preventing the colonists from starving to death. I’m mainly thankful that I’m not a turkey this time of year. And I’m not sure what the native americans are thankful for; if I was a better bligger I’d conduct a poll and report the results, but it’s hard enough finding time to post regular entries, thank you very much.

Having heard of increasing mercury levels in fish, in search of more information this evening I looked up the FDA advisory on the topic posted on their website here. The first paragraph is as follows:

Fish and shellfish are an important part of a healthy diet. Fish and shellfish contain high-quality protein and other essential nutrients, are low in saturated fat, and contain omega-3 fatty acids. A well-balanced diet that includes a variety of fish and shellfish can contribute to heart health and children’s proper growth and development. So, women and young children in particular should include fish or shellfish in their diets due to the many nutritional benefits.

This set off an immediate clue alert in my head. Apparently the primary function of the FDA is not protecting citizens from dangerous food and drugs, but rather advocating consumption of food and drugs.

This would make perfect sense if the agency were run by the food and drug industries…which I’m thinking just might be the case. Just for giggles, let’s run a simple background check on the head of the FDA, listed on their website as Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach…

Well how about that! von Eschenback is a former chair of the department of urology at the University of Texas; founding director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program in 1996; director of the Genitourinary Cancer Center; and was director of the National Cancer Institute prior to became acting Commissioner of the FDA on September 26, 2005, after the resignation of his predecessor Lester Crawford…(thanks Wikipedia).

Hey I wonder why Lester resigned? Let’s check…ah, here we go: Dr. Crawford resigned from the FDA in September, 2005 - just two months after his approval by the Senate. On October 17, 2006, he pleaded guilty “to conflict of interest and false reporting of information about stocks he owned in food, beverage and medical device companies he was in charge of regulating.”

Dude, can I call them or what? My crap detector seems in working order.

Oh yes, getting back to my original question about mercury in fish…the advisory’s recommendations (besides ‘eat lots of fish’) can be summed up as “small fish good; big fish bad”. Blog out.

S roasted this delicious concoction for dinner tonite…mmmm, beets & potatoes!

One of my quick and comfortable meals is macaroni and cheese. Since I perfected the recipe I hereby share it with the world.

Frank & Annie’s Mac-n-Cheese:

Ingredients:

1 box Annie’s mac n cheese (any kind except NOT whole wheat)
some brie
some butter
some coarse black pepper
some dill weed

Steps:
Fill pot with water, cover and set to boil. Push Annie’s tail (open the box of noodles). Remove packet of dried cheese and throw it away. Dump noodles into boiling water and cook for approx 7 minutes. Once noodles are cooked, drain water from pot and add butter and stir. Add brie and stir it up. Add spices and stir some more.

This meal takes about 10 minutes to make and is nicely complimented with a cold beer.

Q: What color did I paint the music room?
A: bianco.

Q: What books am I reading now?
A: Enclosure Josekis (Takemiya), Intuition (Fuller), Angle of Repose (Stegner), Book of Longing (Cohen).

Q: What is the vegetable equivalent of anchovies?
A: Olives.

Q: Who do I love?
A: Suzan.

Q: Which animals did we see on the islands?
A: Quick silent deer, swooping circling swallows, a soaring shrieking raven, a row of seagulls on the rooftop, sheep herded along the road by 3 black dogs, an unfortunate slug, a fiddler on the pebbly beach, a mysterious pet.

Q: How long is the wooden boat Peter is fixing and when was it built?
A: 50 feet, 1954.

Thai scientist Songpol Somsri crossed more than 90 varieties of durian in order to create “a fruit that he says smells as mild as a banana,” according to today’s New York Times. This is so 21st century, and so wrong.

In honor of real durians eaten by real people, I offer this limerick (per Suzan’s suggestion):

A foodie-in-training from Burien
for dessert, ordered one frozen durian.
When it started to melt
and he noticed the smelt
he became a past-tense epicurean.

-fgb, April 2007

Floating Leaves (FL) is a tea house in Ballard. Wednesday night is ‘Game Night’ and I often stop by for a game of go. Last night I met CEG there and had a fun game, which I lost after failing to kill his stones which invaded my center moyo. It was an exciting fight nonetheless. T (another FL go player) mentioned that he just bought a 24′ sailboat in Everett and extended an invitation to CEG and me. This is a raincoat made from palm fronds, on the wall in FL. They were largely replaced with vinyl wear, but are experiencing new popularity as decoration in Asia according to proprietress S.