Life at the Zoo, and other kid-friendly fun

Posted by clara / Friday, July 22nd, 2011

Friday, July 22, 2011

Image: Shutterstock/Kristina Postnikova

Ever been to the Reston Zoo? This whole summer they’ve got educational and interactive animal workshops for kids on Thursdays. Next Thursday, July 28, they’re hosting “Tails, Claws and Paws.” It is a workshop with a parrot, kangaroo, and snakes, and the kids craft includes making their favorite animal using different appendages. Head over between 1:00 and 2:30 p.m. and for only $25 kids get to experience the animals up close. But the workshops are pretty popular, so call ahead to reserve a spot (703) 757-6222. As the zoo website describes their upcoming workshop, “Most animals have appendages, like tails, and arms, to help them climb, pounce, hop, run, or swim. Learn all about these specialized structures while watching animals in action! Also, find out who at the zoo has NO appendages at all!” While  you’re at the zoo, don’t forget to check out their new prairie dogs exhibit! For more information, visit www.restonzoo.com.

Image: Shutterstock/SergeyDV

If you’re thinking about driving into D.C., the National Air and Space Museum’s Mars Day is happening now until 3 p.m. Kids will find out more about this strange planet, with questions such as: Why is Mars red? Does it have water? Is there life on Mars? This anual event enables visitors to interact with staff scientists and experts from the Museum of Natural History and NASA. And the best part is, it’s free. For more information, visit www.nasm.si.edu.

For those in the Reston area, Loryn Brantz, author of Harvey the Child Mime, will be doing a book signing! She is a native of Fairfax and has worked on Sesame Street for which she has won two Daytime Emmy Awards. Her book won Gold 2010 Moonbeam Children’s Award for Best First Picture Book. Head to the Dandelion Patch in Reston this Sunday, July 24, from 3 to 6 p.m. to get this up and coming children’s author’s autograph!

Wolf Trap brings in various children’s programs, and tomorrow at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 23, you can see Bob Brown Puppets and Recess Monkey. Bob Brown Puppets offers a sing-a-long and dance-a-long adventure as Mother Bear and Baby Bear encounter crazy dancing frogs. Recess Monkey is another musical program. This will spark your child’s imagination as the Seattle-based elementary school teacher trio has been heard on NPR and Radio Disney! For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit www.wolftrap.org.

–Clara Ritger

Food Pantries Pinched by New Produce Fee

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Although workers in Arlington and Fairfax Counties may have the the second and tenth highest average salaries in the country, the region’s food pantries are being forced to swallow a bitterly expensive pill.

Beginning July 1, hundreds of area agencies will pay 10 cents per pound for fresh fruit and vegetables to the Capital Area Food Bank, the region’s primary supplier of food for the poor. The Capital Area Food Bank is imposing the fee in order to cover its own skyrocketing transportation and food costs (to the tune of more than $1 million in unanticipated expenditures). It is projected that U.S. food costs will increase between 3-4 percent by the end of the year.

For Northern Virgina’s Food for Others pantry in Fairfax, the produce fee will add an additional $40,000 in expenses, a sum equal to a quarter of FFO’s food budget. As the Washington Post reports, area food banks are now seeking creative solutions to offset higher food costs, including ”harvest parties” (scavenging fruit from trees in public spaces and private backyards) and “urban gleaning” (gathering fruit from the city tree canopies). In a related story, NPR recently spotlighted food bank efforts to salvage normally discarded canned foods and billions of pounds of wasted farm produce.

To help the FFO, consider volunteering for the Harvest for the Hungry Project. Volunteers will harvest crops from the USDA Agricultural Research Center’s 3,000-acre farm in Beltsville, MD, which are then transported to a warehouse for distribution. Both children and adults are welcome. The 2011 Harvesting Schedule for the summer months is as follows:

Wednesday, July 13
Wednesday, July 20
Wednesday, July 27

Wednesday, August 3
Wednesday, August 10
Wednesday, August 17
Wednesday, August 24
Wednesday, August 31

To register for one of the above dates, email harvest@foodforothers.org. For additional dates and more information, click here.

Food for Others
2938 Prosperity Avenue
Fairfax, VA 22031
(703) 207-9173

-Johnisha M. Levi

Olive Oil Good; Nutrition Keys Bad; Dishwasher Fungi Ugly

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, June 24th, 2011

Today’s Gut Check is a round-up of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of health news.

First the Good . . .

(Image: Luis Carlos Jimenez del rio/Shutterstock)

Yale University School of Medicine has come a step closer in understanding the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. This may be due in part to a polyphenol called oleuropein found in olive oil. The “short” of it is that oleuropein has a beneficial effect on smooth muscle cells (“SMC”), preventing them from proliferating and thereby contributing to heart disease.

Wine Spectator gives us a slightly more complex picture for those of you who like science (keep reading, it is good for you). The scientists harvested SMC from cows and grew them in the lab. Vascular SMC controls blood flow. When the muscle cells contract, blood pressure increases. When they relax, blood pressure decreases. If a person has a lot of “bad” cholesterol (or LDL), it damages the SMC and white blood cells come to the rescue to fight off inflammation. Sounds good at first?

Well, unfortunately, white blood cells also combine with the LDL and form “foam cells,” which cause more damage to the SMC. As the SMC “proliferates to try to heal itself,” it “combine[s] with the foam cells” to form arterial plaque. And arterial plaque can snowball into atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, and heart disease. All bad stuff.

So this is where oleuropein comes in to save the day. The more oleuropein that was added to the cultured SMC, the less SMC developed to mix with foam cells and form arterial plaque.

Admittedly, the oleuropein study was not conducted on human cells, and you “would need to drink an extraordinary amount of extra-virgin oil to reach the high levels used in the study” (about 2 kilograms worth, to be specific!), but it is hypothesized that “olive oil consumption could have cumulative effects throughout one’s lifetime.”

The oleuropein study was recently published in the journal European Society for Vascular Surgery. For some Ah Love Oil, click here.

The Bad

In other Yale news, NPR reports on dissatisfaction with front-of-package labels called Nutrition Keys proposed by the food industry. The Nutrition Keys consist of boxes with “information on saturated fat, salt, sugar and calories,” plus two so-called “optional nutrients” of the industry’s choosing. The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale is critical of the Nutrition Keys for several reasons, and is calling for the food industry to await an upcoming report by the Institute of Medicine before implementing the Keys.

First, the Nutrition Keys labeling system is controversial because it is preempting White House, FDA, and Institute of Medicine endeavors to formulate an ideal front-of-package system. Second, the food industry’s previous labeling system was ill-considered and resulted, for instance, in Froot Loops and Cocoa Krispies being designated “Smart Choices” for their vitamin content! The Rudd Center is also critical of the minute size of the Keys — they account for only 1.5% of the surface area of the front of a box. As Kelly Brownell notes in the NPR piece, “My guess is that consumers will be lucky if they even notice it, much less make use of it.”

And Now the Ugly

It took me a LONG time to get over what I learned about pathogens in my Food Safety Manager Certification course. And just when I thought I had reined in my mysophobia, I read this Independent post. More than just your kitchen utensils are dishwasher safe these days. Apparently, a black yeast called Exophiala dermatitidis, and its so-called “cousin” E. phaeomuriformis, may be  surviving and thriving in the rubber seal on your dishwasher door. A small sample was done of 189 homes in 101 cities and six continents and these two were found to outlast “high temperatures, aggressive doses of detergents and rinsing salts and both acid and alkaline types of water.” Blech!  It is not known at this time what, if any, health threats the fungi present, but know that you are not alone:

-Johnisha M. Levi

Pressure Cookers: More than “Meats” the Eye

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Pressure Cooker (Image: samoshkin/Shutterstock)

So I have a confession. And I suspect I’m not the only one. While I was utterly appreciative of all the generous wedding gifts I received (almost three years ago), there are a few that have been . . . well, underutilized, despite my good intentions. What immediately comes to mind is a gift that is currently living in a large box under my bar counter. My husband and I eye it every once in a while, guiltily; and although we do quite a lot of cooking at home, we just haven’t mustered up the courage to tackle the pressure cooker.

The pressure cooker. It is, after all, an ideal gift. It is a time-saver, right? I mean, we use our slow cooker quite a lot (especially during the winter), which, despite the name, is another great time-saving device. But I don’t know what it is about the pressure cooker that is, well, slightly intimidating or inacessible to today’s generation of home cooks.

I’ve seen them on Iron Chef battles. I have also seen them on Top Chef, where they have caused some “technical issues” during heated Elimination Challenges. I’m thinking specifically of Season 6′s Eli Kirshtein and the exploding pressure cooker.

So NPR’s recent post on the pressure cooker’s comeback made me take heart. The pressure cooker enjoyed tremendous popularity in the American household during World War II as more and more women entered the workforce. The principle behind the cooker is simple. Increased pressure raises the boiling point of water from 212 Fahrenheit to about 242 Fahrenheit, which allows food to cook at a higher temperature, thus reducing the total cooking time.

Pressure cookers may have lost ground to other time-savers such as frozen dinners and microwaves in the States, but they remain “a staple across Europe [especially France], North Africa, South Asia and South America” because they economically and efficiently ”tenderize cheaper, tougher cuts of meat.” Jacques Pepin even includes pressure cooker recipes (Beef Short Rib, Mushroom, and Potato Stew; and Veal Roast) in his  book “Fast Food My Way” (Houghton Mifflin, 240 pp). And I suspect they are still popular in certain portions of the United States (e.g., Aspen) where water boils at a lower temperature, therefore not allowing food to cook at a temperature high enough to break down the fibers or cellulose in meats and beans.

What is more surprising is that you can do more with this kitchen gadget than meets (or meats) the eye. A pressure cooker is not just for stews, and beans, and beef. It can be employed to make desserts such as cheesecakes and bread puddings — an idea that particularly appeals to me as a pastry student. Click here for Lorna Sass’s recipe for Chocolate Kahlua Bread Pudding. And watch Volt’s Bryan Voltaggio in action with his pressure cooker as he makes a signature cheesecake. (I have to admit, I particulary like hearing him say “dulce de leche” and “maltodextrin.”)

-Johnisha M. Levi

Tweat Cred

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, June 25th, 2010

(Image: The Next Web)

Believe it or not, I uncovered a few tweets this week that not include the terms #USA, #WorldCup or sexually suggestive offers to personally “thank” Landon Donovan for his last-minute score.

The praise-worthy gastropeeps include:

* Culinary counselors @NPR (via @FoodNewsJournal) and @aboutdotcom (via @LAFoodie) for spinning everyday greens into dining gold;

* Media observers Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) and @WaffleW for deftly weaving food and politics into rhetorical fun (you listening, #TopChefDC ?);

* Fearless gourmand Ian Knauer (@iknauer) for grabbing grocery shopping by the short and curlys;

* Alimentary aesthete Daniel Patterson (@dcpatterson) for hailing the lyrical beauty of genuine food prose;  and,

* Intergalactic first mate @Nien-Nunb for finally speaking the truth to power.

Just wanted to let you all know that your fleeting thoughts made a lasting impression. Keep up the good work.

–@WARojas

Tweat Cred

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, April 9th, 2010

(Image: Etiole)

Lots of really funny stuff floating around the twitosphere this week. And who can’t use a laugh these days?

A wink and nod to:

* Infogatherers NPR (@nprnews) and Foodista (@foodista) for challenging folks to have fun with their food;

* Family Guy scribe and @SarahKSilverman main squeeze Alec Sulkin (@thesulk) for chronicling his painful breakup with dairy;

* Baking devotee Kari Nye (@olly_oxen_free) for spinning alcotweets into time off;

* Culinary do-gooder Allison Sosna (@ChefAllisonDCCK) for self-medicating with the best of’em;

* Traveling mouth Andrew Zimmern (@andrewzimmern) and songstress Ashton Shepherd (@ashtonshepherd) for trumpeting the simple pleasures of home cooking;

* Food scholar Amanda Bensen (@FoodAndThink) for sharing how a white lie led to positive change;

* Advice guru Meredith Goldstein (@MeredithGoldste) for attempting to decode the semantics of womens’ birthday dining expectations; and,

* Reality cooking gadfly Jeff Huock (@JeffHuock) for channeling his inner H.I. McDunnough.

As per usual, I learned a lot. Thanks for feeding my head.

–@WARojas

Larding Up the Garden

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, September 14th, 2009

I’m actually a big vegetable lover.

I’ve dabbled in vegetarianism (took up the mantle for six months after exploring an anti-animal cruelty installation while in graduate school). To this day, my cooking still relies heavily on a solid foundation of produce (go-to contributors include smashed garlic, sauteed onions, minced mushrooms, blistered peppers and slow-simmered beans).

Over the weekend, NPR host Lynn Neary and food writer T. Susan Chang delved into the world of hard-to-love vegetables, touching on taboo comestibles like okra (love the stuff, but have never tried to make at home) and beets (another dish I enjoy, but only at the hands of a capable chef).

I was particularly intrigued by Chang’s advocacy of the “add bacon” philosophy:

In this era of “sneaky chefs” (another vegetable-masking program Chang endorses), it seems somewhat juvenile to dilute healthful foodstuffs (beets) with fattening camouflage (chocolate cake).

How do you feel about these types of “ends justify the means” cooking strategies? What sweeteners/additives, if any, do you use to weave otherwise unwelcome vegetables into your dining routine?

–Warren

Tuesday Food News

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

To everyone who started their weekly diets yesterday (bikini season is just around the corner, after all):

It is now only Tuesday morning, and if your throat is already starting to constrict at the thought of another celery stick or mouthful of sawdust (that Fiber One bar in your desk drawer) then check out the following links for some motivation.

None of them offer recipes for magical low-cal elixirs or links to celebrity workouts that promise chiseled buns in just four minutes a day! No, these links will do you one better. Click through them and watch your appetite disappear.

Photo by The Pug Father/Flickr.

Homesick Swine Flu Bug Hitches a Ride to Visit Canadian Relatives

Rationally, we all know that we can’t get swine flu from eating pork, but the pig=death connection still gives us pause no matter how hard the pig PR reps work to rename it H1N1 (does anyone else secretly pronounce it “hiney”?). It certainly doesn’t help that, as CNN reports, the flu virus can seemingly hop from pork to person and back to pig again, like a transient vagabond:

Canadian officials on Saturday said they have quarantined pigs that tested positive for the virus — scientifically known as 2009 H1N1 — at an Alberta farm in what could be the first identified case of pigs infected during the recent outbreak. They said the pigs may have been infected by a Canadian farmer who recently returned from a trip to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak that has sickened nearly 660 people.

Thanks to this news flash I now picture swine flu as a microscopic flea, jumping from animal to person and perhaps onto my dinner plate where it takes cover among the bacon bits in my Cobb salad. Delicious!

Which one would you rather eat?

In a Separate Study: Blindfolded Dogs Ravenously Consume Everything

A group of researchers asked 18 willing participants to pick out a dish of dog food (admittedly the premium Newman’s Own brand) from a selection of commonly eaten people foods, ranging from SPAM to liverwurst to duck liver paté. Each sample was ground up into a homogeneous meat paste to rule out the variable of texture.

Of course, the inevitable happened. Fifteen out of 18 participants failed to distinguish the puppy chow from the other USDA-sanctioned foodstuffs.

Goldstein said the tasting demonstrated that “context plays a huge role in taste and value judgment,” even though researchers warned the participants that one of the five foods they were going to taste was dog food.

The moral of this story is: Do not attend cocktail parties thrown by people who hate you. You never know what is spread on that Carr’s water cracker.

I don't think I realized how much coffee beans look like cockroaches. Photo by lifties/Flickr.

Caffeine: Not the Only Thing That Gives Coffee Legs

Dreaming of picking up a calorie-packed Iced Frappuccino instead of picking at the boring green salad you packed for lunch? This story’ll make you leave your Starbucks card in your wallet.

CHOW contributer Joyce Slaton quotes a bio prof at U. of Montana, Douglas Emlen, from yesterday’s NPR broadcast on beetles:

“Preground-you know, your big bulk coffee that you buy in a tin-is all processed from these huge stockpiles of coffee … that get infested with cockroaches,” says Emlen. “And there’s really nothing they can do to filter that out. So it all gets ground up in the coffee.”

Maybe you should get today’s caffeine fix from a nice glass of calorie-free iced tea. Tea leaves, thankfully, aren’t featured in this FDA list of foods with predetermined maximum levels of “natural or unavoidable defects” (that is, “insect filth” or “mammalian excreta”) that Slaton so helpfully reminds us of in the same article.

– Christina Lee

Chef Jose Andres Talks Budget-Friendly Recipes on NPR

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Photo by giffconstable/Flickr

Yesterday on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Chef Jose Andres, the Spanish mastermind behind Café Atlantico and Jaleo, shared his recipe for a thrifty yet fabulous meal — a garlic and saffron-infused Morrocan-style chickpea and spinach stew — that feeds four people for under $10.

Chef Andres, who the Washingtonian credits with introducing the small plates concept to the area, first tasted the stew when his then-new wife prepared it for him — with less than economical results. It wasn’t the pinch of saffron that broke the budget; it was the long distance call she made to her mother to walk her through the recipe from start to finish:

Andres tells NPR’s Michele Norris. “I remember how good it was, how affordable it was. But the telephone bill is something I will remember forever.”

To bring down the cost of this dish, skip the staggering long distance bill by checking out the recipe here, and use dried chickpeas instead of canned. The trick to cooking dried chickpeas, according to the Chef Andres, is to 1) soak them overnight with a pinch of baking soda and 2) learn the language of peas so that you, like a skilled lover, can tell when they are supple, willing and ready:

“You’re going to look at them, talk to them,” he says. “What if you’re not fluent? I’m talking to them, touching them, and with a little pressure in your fingers, you see they are very soft thing. The chickpeas is telling me, ‘I am ready.’

Those are some lucky garbanzos beans.

Do you have an arsenal of cost-effective recipes that will tide you through the recession? Share them with NPR’s “How Low Can You Go” challenge by May 1, and your recipe might be mentioned on air. Or you can just skim the 60+ recipes that have already been submitted to find something to make for dinner tonight.

– Christina Lee