Jul
27
2009
I got a watermelon a few weeks back from the store. It was bland and not much taste at all, but I had to make due. Last Sunday I hit pay dirt. One of the beautiful Jubilee watermelons I’d planted at the beginning of the summer had finally ripened. And oh what sweet wonderfulness it was…
no comments | tags: Gardening, Summer, Watermelon | posted in Zone 9 Gardening
Jul
3
2009
As I’ve gone back to my roots and started growing some of my own food again. I’ve become very aware of the growing market for books about food. While not quite Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
, the food genre that looks at how our food is produced is interesting. The agribusiness of my childhood has fallen by the wayside. So I’m exploring current food production trends in my summer reading list. Here’s a few the things on my summer list for reading and viewing.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)
by Barbara Kingsolver. This book focuses on Kingsolver’s experiment with her family to eat as locally as possible for one year. I thought this was a fabulous read. Kingsolver writes the bulk of the book but her eldest daughter and husband contribute as well.
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto
by Michael Pollan. Michael Pollan talks about the slippery slope of food labelling in this book. I’m in the middle of this one as we speak. And will report back on it later.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan. I’ve been looking for this book for a while at Half Price books, but when R. mentioned that at some point in the future he wanted to check out Food, Inc.
, I thought I’d order it for the both of us so we could read it together. I’m interested in seeing it as well and I know Pollan was a contributer to the movie.
Food, Inc. and Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It
- While I’ll probably not end up seeing the movie until this fall when it comes out on DVD (R hates movie theatres), after watching the movie King Corn (Green Packaging)
and getting back into gardening. I’m very interested in what the movie and the book has to say. I’ll have to order the books for R and myself when I get paid in a few weeks.
Fast Food Nation
by Eric Schlosser. It looks at how we became a nation that eats much of it’s food at fast food joints and how it affects our economy.
Another book by Schlosser is also on the list. Chew On This: Everything You Don’t Want to Know About Fast Food.
This book is an expanded version of Fast Food Nation. It provides a history of fast food. Schlosser then examines the agribusiness and animal husbandry that supports the Fast Food industry.
More books and movies coming soon because this is not all of my list by a long shot!
no comments | tags: Agribusiness, Animal Husbandry, Books, Fast food, Fast Food Nation, Food Inc., Movies, The Omnivore's Dilemma | posted in Paula's Picks
Jul
2
2009
When we finally made the digital transition, I lost access to my local PBS station. It became non-existant. And I missed it. I don’t care about NBC, CBS and ABC. But I miss Nova, Nova Now, Globe Trekkers and my Saturday Morning Cooking shows (which hopefully will work this Saturday).
So when I did the scan the other night and realized that yes indeedy, I had my PBS station back I was excited and enthralled. I’ve spent the past few nights with my butt mostly parked in front of the boob tube indulging in educations TV. I spent Tuesday evening revelling in the wonders of the mind when music is involved, learning about CAPTCHA and ReCAPTCHA and a documentary about a gay man killed in France by Skinheads. Last night was spent watching Garrison Keller on American Masters, and tonight has included the aforementioned Globe Trekkers, and WorldFocus where I learned that the level of c-14 in the atmosphere has increased since they did the Nuclear testing back in the 1940s and 50s. This means they can date ivory to determine if its antique or comes from an animal that has been killed more recently.
no comments | tags: Digital Transition, DTV, Elephants, Globe Trekkers, Houston, Nova, Nova Now, PBS, Public Television, Texas, WorldFocus.org | posted in That's Life
