Be A Terrorist Month! ... Brought to You by FEMA

Irony, or the plan of an evil mastermind?

 

FEMA sponsored a "Preparedness Month" in September. Which sounds really great, until you realize that by if you followed their suggestions, you would officially have conducted activities which DHS lists as the signs of a potential terrorist.

Miscommunication, or easy excuse to put a large swath of unsuspecting people on your watch list? That's up to you to decide... but I hope it gives you a good laugh, either way.

The Realities of America's Food System

 Last month, the LA Times published an article lamenting that

"Children’s allergies to peanuts, dairy and other foods cost the U.S. nearly $25 billion a year, according to the first survey to come up with a comprehensive price tag for a condition that affects 8% of American kids."

The researchers coming up with the figure included in their calculations:

•  Doctor’s appointments, hospital stays, trips to the emergency room and other direct medical expenses 
• Lost productivity of parents who had to take their children to such appointments
• Expenses associated with buying special allergen-free foods, placing children in allergy-sensitive schools and making special arrangements for child care in nut-free facilities
• Long-term costs incurred by parents who give up, restrict or modify their careers to accommodate their children's medical conditions

They came up with a total of  $24.8 billion a year spent or lost as a result of children's allergies in the

U.S. This, of course, is a gross underestimate. It does not take into account the innumerable cases of gastroenteritis, rashes, headaches, and other allergy-based symptoms that are brushed off as the flu or other generic childhood malady simply because an allergy has not yet been diagnosed or because parents were unable to connect the result with the cause. Considering that 83% of individuals with Celiac disease go undiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed for an average of 7 years, and that is only one example, the true cost of food allergies is staggering.

Allergies are only the tip of the ice berg, anyway. Diabetes, cancer - many of the most devastating health issues facing America in terms of personal and financial costs can be directly linked to our deplorable food system.

What most Americans either do not realize, or choose to ignore, is that these costs stem directly from the greed of major packaged food producers who are getting rich producing and selling packaged foods of every type that are loaded with exactly the kinds of things that trigger and exacerbate food allergies, diabetes and other ailments - wheat, corn, soy, and nuts (often in oil form). In 2011, Monsanto reportedly made 11.8 billion dollars. Pepsi made over 66 billion dollars - and these are only two of the big players! The struggles of the average family make no difference to them when there's that kind of money to be made.

As has been demonstrated by some excellent documentaries, major food producers own the FDA and USDA. There will be no reforming of the system or change of heart from within either the producers or the agencies supposedly charged with policing them. The only alternative is to opt out. Buy local. Make everything you possibly can yourself. Vote with your wallet!

Budgets are tight across the nation, and it doesn't seem that we can expect that to change any time soon. But I'd like to offer a word of encouragement: everything counts. Even if you take baby steps to educate yourself, to find alternatives, or to change an existing habit for a better one - every step you take towards reducing your dependence on these companies frees you a little bit more from their grip and makes them a little bit weaker. And it's worth it.

Can I encourage you to look this week for just one thing you can do to be more aware of the dangers of America's food system or to reduce it's grip on you?

Dark Halo

Dark Halo is the finale to a creatively written trilogy following a young dancer through a handful of chaotic months (immediately post-high school) during which everything she knows about the world is upended and the realm of angels and demons becomes intimately and terrifyingly real. As is to be expected, this is the book where everything comes to a head and finds resolution… one way or another.

I was frequently reminded while reading this of Peretti’s This Present Darkness, though Dark Halo is targeted towards a younger audience. The pace was much faster than the previous two books, and there were a few pleasant twists along the way.

Even more so than the first two books, I felt like this one did a phenomenal job of being true to the characters. Brielle is an 18 year old girl, and the author gives her all the fears, doubts, and desires that go with that without dipping into caricature, melodrama or cliché. There’s no shying away from the hard questions and realities of life – bad things happen to good people, and we won’t always know why. But ultimately, the beauty of faith, hope and love shine through. I very much enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

Furry Companions

Ran across this poster on Pinterest (original source here) and had to share. Read it, then go hug your furry companion - whatever kind you have - and take a moment to be thankful that in the midst of our busy, often distracted lives, God blesses us with furry angels to remind us what's important and to teach us how to love well.

Leave it to Dilbert

 If you search for the Myers-Briggs personality profile on Pinterest, you'll quickly notice that of all the personality types, ISTJ's consistently turn up the least positive memes. We're viewed as being boring, predictable and otherwise uninspiring because we're dependable and get things done. (How's that for gratitude for keeping the world running?)

And then - Dilbert! 

Dilbert discovers that the government is illegally copying all of his company's data. When the company computer system crashes, he restores it by hacking the government database. Government agents are dispatched to his mother's house, and this is what ensues:

Clearly, Mombert is an ISTJ. We may seem predictable, but we are also fiercely loyal. Start with our loved ones and the only thing you'll be able to predict is that it will end badly for you!

Thank you, Scott Adams, for finally and succinctly coming up with something ISTJ's can pin to show off our true colors in a positive light!

Spaetzle

I have always considered biscuits the standard go-to option when I need a starch based side dish in a short time frame. They're easy, I can pretty much make them from memory, and they're on the table in about 15 minutes.

But biscuits may have a run for their money in the near future, as I've started experimenting with making my own spaetzle. So far, the best recipe/instructions I've found are from The Wishful Chef (photo hers, of course).

There's a fantastic German restaurant out near my brother-in-law, which is what got me thinking about making spaetzle in the first place. It seemed like it shouldn't be that hard to make something that is variation on a noodle so I started researching recipes and finally gave it a try.

As it turns out, spaetzle are rather like bread. It's all about consistency. I need a little more practice, and am leaning towards a slightly less sticky dough, but overall the test batch came out well and I'm pretty sure a few more practice sessions are all it will take to get this yummy goodness added to my cookbook and on the regular menu rotation. Like biscuits, it takes almost no time to whip up a batch and it's versatile enough to go with a lot of different things. I'll be sure to post my thoughts and tips when I've got the recipe tweaked and completely nailed down, but for now I wanted to share about the experimenting process and my happiness and playing in my kitchen again!

Concentrated Sin... aka Plum Chutney

After years of lamenting the lack of decent farmers' markets around here, I am delighted to have found one that meets my (admittedly high) standards. It's not big, but it's got good prices, great variety, and nice vendors. While picking up some green beans to pickle a couple weeks ago, we unexpectedly stumbled upon some gorgeous plums for an incredible price. So we snagged a few pounds and I got to try something I've been thinking about tackling for a couple years now: Plum Chutney.

I used this recipe from Chow (photo also theirs), and canned it up in pint jars. The house smelled incredible while it was cooking, and when we slathered it on top of pork chops (which we expertly grilled, because my husband is awesome like that), we agreed that the best description for this new recipe was "concentrated sin". This is somewhat misleading, because there's nothing bad for you in it at all. But it tastes so good you'll swear it must be horrible for you!

I imagine it would be equally good over chicken or duck, and actually would be perfectly happy to scoop it onto chips or bruschetta or to just eat it with a spoon. I literally rough diced the plums, dropped everything in the pan and just stirred every once in a while when I walked by - there was nothing else to it!

We've officially added this to my list of make-every-year goodies (like pickled green beans), and next year I'll plan to make enough to share. If you see a good deal on plums near you, give this a shot!