August 31, 2009

August 30, 2009

Job opening

Apparently Salisbury based Food Lion doesn't carry Oikos, so YJDKIY opted for the alternative. Chobani. Not a wise choice as I found the consistency chalky and watery and the 6 oz cup was not at all filling. The pomegranate flavor was ok, but a little on the too-sweet-jam-like side for my morning preference.The purchase wasn't a total loss, however. As it provided one of my favorite things, discovering a copy editing mistake on a national item/brand. iPhone's closeup ability is sorely lacking, so you can't really ready this:
So, I will translate it for you.
Enjoy our 0% authentic Greek strained yogurt....

Is it just me or does anyone else see a problem there? If it's truly 0% authentic, then the front of the package that says Greek is wrong. If the word fat is missing, they need to hire a copy editor/proofer ASAP. Poor marketing department. Surely someone else has pointed this out?

August 28, 2009

Where is that app?

I wish I could download an iPhone app that would take a "scent" of how something smells, sort of how the camera takes a picture of how something looks or Shazam takes a snippet of how something sounds.

(Winston-Salem Monthly image)

On muggy late summer and fall days (and sometimes just randomly, I don't know the growing, picking, drying, shipping, whatevering schedule of tobacco) Winston-Salem is filled with the sweet and thick scent of tobacco.


It's quite charming once you figure out what it is!

August 27, 2009

Fish food

Actually, just woodland creature food lunch.

1. Asian Pear
2. Oikos Vanilla!
3. Raw Oats/Sunflower Seeds/Wheat Crunchies for Yogurt
4. Wasa Multigrain with Almond Butter

Missing some green though!

And this is why!


The geniuses at Microsoft really know how to market their stuff.
Microsoft apologizes for gaffe in online ad

Meanwhile, Apple is busy churning out these:



And here is the result! (Microsoft reports first annual sales drop for those of you non-clickies).

August 26, 2009

A simple equation



1/3 Cinnamon Spice Dunkin Donuts coffee (black)

+

2/3 Chocolate Silk (light is better, but HT was out!)

=

yummy in my cup morning wake up snack! The perfect amount of caffeine (it's good for you, really), less than 140 calories, almost 5g of protein, calcium, D, B12, omega-3s! Great for when I want to delay breakfast but not feel famished. Try it!

Again with the no!



I'm really starting to get annoyed with the lack of satisfactory shampoos for my longish straight hair. Right now the only acceptable ones are this Organix and the $1.97 Suave knock off shampoo of the salon vibrant blonde one.

This annoying Neutrogena one that I found at Walmart felt like I dipped my hair in algae and couldn't get it rinsed off. I had to wash again immediately with said Suave.

August 22, 2009

Local critters

Two visitors posed for pictures this week.

Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies which form the family Papilionidae. There are at least 550 species. The Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) is a large (12 cm wingspan) swallowtail butterfly. There are two morphs of adult females, a yellow and a dark one. The dark form is more common in the Southern portions of the range, especially in areas also inhabited by the poisonous Pipevine swallowtail, which it seems to mimic. It is the state butterfly of Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, South Carolina and Delaware.

The word mantis is Greek for "prophet" or "fortune teller". The closest relatives of mantises are the orders Isoptera (termites) and Blattodea (cockroaches), and these three groups together are sometimes ranked as an order rather than a superorder. The articulation of the head is also remarkably flexible, permitting nearly 300 degrees of movement in some species, allowing for a great range of vision (their compound eyes have a large binocular field of vision) without having to move the remainder of the body.

August 21, 2009

Ooooof

Just in case you thought YJDKIY only fixed yummy, pretty presentations of food, here is proof of:
ADD
clumsiness
multitasking gone wrong
skewed priorities
lack of kitchen skillz



I might have been trying to make that last blog post when aforementioned disaster occurred and ruined my lunch. Boo.

Where is Doogie?



YJDKIY doesn't even have cable, and yet, I love this! The 100 Most Iconic TV Show Intros of All Time courtesy of Super Tremendous (some other great, time wasting lists to be found there, also. For example The 10 Funniest Moments In Jeopardy History and 15 Supposedly Real Alien Photos). Forgive the slow loading 10 pages of video and scroll through the theme songs you know all the words too, still. This list however, is missing a few exceptions:









Mad Men (why won't they let me embed this!?)











This one might win.

Ok, enough of those. Anyway, there aren't a lot of current shows with intro songs, like actual jingley stick in your head songs. Why is this? I blame Survivor.

It's also super cool that every one I looked for on YouTube was there!

August 19, 2009

One of the world's richest starch sources

When I was little, each summer we drove, in caravan, from Roanoke Rapids to Emerald Isle, NC. Less than a four hour drive, but it seemed endless to this impatient six year old. If I was lucky, and it was especially hot, I got to ride in my grandparents' air conditioned Oldsmobile instead of my parents' (un-air conditioned) Subaru.



Connecting us was some sort of old fashioned walkie-talkie CB radio thing by which rest stops (a seriously stinky, but much revered duck pond-swamp in Kinston or Maysville), tongue twisters (if Pop picked Peter Piper a peck of pickled peppers), game achievements (that Wooly Willy guy with the magnetic mustache and beard), and roadside attractions such as flora, fauna and local fare, as can only be experienced in the middle of July in Eastern North Carolina, were communicated.

In one such conversation, my mother radioed to me 'See the Canna lilies, Emily' only it came out 'See the Canna lilies, Lemily?'

I was reminded of this a few years ago when I discovered:

View Larger Map

But what really makes me smile is my first, very own, Canna lily:
























Canna (or Canna lily, although not a true lily) is a genus of nineteen species of flowering plants.[1][2][3] The closest living relations to cannas are the other plant families of the order Zingiberales, that is the gingers, bananas, marantas, heliconias, strelitzias, etc. Read more on Wikipedia

Highlighted facts:
* The canna rhizome is rich in starch, and it has many uses in agriculture. All of the plant has commercial value, rhizomes for starch (consumption by humans and livestock), stems and foliage for animal fodder, young shoots as a vegetable and young seeds as an addition to tortillas.
* The seeds are used as beads in jewelry.
* In more remote regions of India, cannas are fermented to produce alcohol.
* The plant yields a fibre - from the stem - it is used as a jute substitute.
* A fibre obtained from the leaves is used for making paper. The leaves are harvested in late summer after the plant has flowered, they are scraped to remove the outer skin and are then soaked in water for 2 hours prior to cooking. The fibres are cooked for 24 hours with lye and then beaten in a blender. They make a light tan brown paper.
* A purple dye is obtained from the seed.
* Smoke from the burning leaves is said to be insecticidal.
* Cannas are used to extract many undesirable pollutants in a wetland environment as they have a high tolerance to contaminants.
* In Thailand, Cannas are a traditional gift for Father's Day.

August 14, 2009

Because 10 extra steps would be too many



This just baffles me. Yes it WAS slightly rainy, but you'll note the blue sky appearing. And you'll note the available ACTUAL spaces RIGHT beside these (where the red car is). Who do you think you are? What is the rationale here? Oh, its on the side, no one will see me? It's just for 10 minutes? I'm made of sugar and will melt? They might run out of groceries if I walk 15 seconds longer?

Not only is this arrogant and annoying, its dangerous. That right turn is hard to see around on a good day. This forces cars to stop at the stop sign (you know, for those that do follow rules) IN the oncoming traffic lane.

I was especially amused when I left, 25 minutes later...the minivan was gone, but the owner of the white car, who couldn't have been more than 40 and trim-looking, was returning. She also left her cart in the middle of the sidewalk, no less than 5 feet from the cart return.

Recent yummies





1. Favorite to go breakfast: Oikos with oats/sunflower seeds/all bran style cereal/cinnamon

2. Smashed sweet potato, steamed asparagus, cous cous, lemon garlic steelhead trout

3. FAVORITE of the energy/snacky/protein bars: Luna Toasted Nuts 'n Cranberries

August 11, 2009

Take it from YJDKIY...or at least YJDKIY's tummy...

Timely article from CNN on food safety. Most of this is common knowledge, but the article has two great quuotes:

"young adults, particularly white men, engage in risky eating behaviors"

and really the analogy of the month

Nelken likened mold to jellyfish. "Even though you scrape off the head of the jellyfish, the tentacles are still in the food product."

On the (non-food) list!



In no particular order things on my to do list
(subject to frequent updating):



Maine*
NC Museum of Natural Sciences*
Wyoming*
Skyline Drive in VA
Piedmont Environmental Center*
Biltmore Festival of Flowers
Mt. Mitchell*
Charleston
Zada Janes*
California*
Virginia Creeper & Barter Theatre
Duke Gardens*
Boston*
Great Smoky Mountains Railroad*
Portland, OR farmers market*



*designates never before done item

Testy much?

August 4, 2009

It seems like all we do is eat...




3 c. old fashioned oats
1 c. shredded coconut
1.5 c. sunflower seeds
2 c. slivered almonds
2 T. vegetable oil
1/4 c. agave
2 T. maple syrup
2 T. vanilla extract
cinnamon, nutmeg
raisins

Mix dry ingredients, except raisins. Mix wet ingredients. Combine just until moistened. Spread on cookie sheet, bake at 250-300 degree until golden (about 30 mins). Cool, mix in raisins. Serve over low fat, plain or vanilla yogurt.

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