cooking
Stop drinking that! A Thirsty Nation’s Dilemma
Several weeks ago, when I voiced my misgivings about what a pregnant woman with a voracious thirst should drink, it paved the way for much larger questions that touches all of our lives, preggo or no: “Wait, what ARE we drinking“? “What’s IN this can/glass/bottle/cup, anyway“?
In recent news there has been a spirited debate about whether the government should impose a penny-per-ounce tax on soda and other sugary beverages. The fact that it has garnered so much attention by the national media shows us how interwoven soda and its affordability is to our national fabric. And although I’m not prepared to weigh in on whether such a tax might promote a healthier lifestyle, I’m listening intently to the debate. And I’m aghast at what I’m learning simply by paying a little attention.
I’ll say this out front: I like a good glass of juice or lemonade, but otherwise I’m not a big fan of sweet drinks. My tea contains neither sugar nor honey, nor does my morning coffee contain sugar or cream. I’ve never been a soda person, though I’m no stranger to the occasional can. My choices in wine and alcoholic beverages are always dry. For me, it’s just a matter of what my taste buds prefer. So suffice to say that I do not have a personal stake in this debate.
Given where I’m coming from, I’d like to match up two opposing arguments that I’ve heard; exhibit A and exhibit B:
Exhibit A: Lobbyist for the soda industry appearance on MSNBC within the last few weeks (apologies for not being able to provide specific show/guest info) making the case that beverages account for only 5 Percent of daily caloric intake for the average American, and that the blame that such a tax implies is patently unfair, an argument similar to the one defended by Kevin Keane of the American Beverage Association in this Chron.com article.
Exhibit B: Eat This, Not That‘s documentation of the 20 worst drinks in America, including the “worst soda“, Sunkist; a 20 ounce bottle contains 320 calories and 84 grams of sugar, as much as 6 Breyers Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches. Additionally, Sunkist makes use of “the artificial colors yellow 6 and red 40—two chemicals that may be linked to behavioral and concentration problems in children”. WikiAnswers lists the ingredients in Sunkist as these: “Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, citric acid, sodium benzoate (preservative), food starch-modified, natural flavors, caffeine, glycerol ester of wood rosin, ascorbic acid (preservative), yellow 6, red 40″.
So, according to the argument posed in Exhibit A, if one measly 20oz bottle of Sunkist was all the caloric beverage that you drank for an entire day, your overall calorie intake could be extrapolated to 6400. Is this reasonable? Would even Kevin Keane agree that this is reasonable? And I wonder whether he would be willing to weigh in on the effect of the ingredients list: high fructose corn syrup, yellow 6, red 40; as well as what specific ingredient tends to hide behind the term “natural flavors” (hint: MSG). So, it seems to me that this “don’t pick on us because there are other, bigger fish to fry” is really just awfully sad. And although the proposed soda tax has been defeated on the several occasions thus far that it has shown up as proposed legislature in Maine, New York, and San Francisco, I hope that the movement gains momentum, and that in time, the American Beverage Association does have its fish fried. I’ll take a water with that.
In the meantime, if a 2000 calorie-per-day diet is the ideal for most of us, let’s really try, as a culture, to observe that 5% idea — really, it turns out not to be such a bad one — 5% of your calories from beverages: that’s 100 calories a day. Let’s just all pay a little closer attention to the labels and try to observe this. It’d be way more effective to our lifestyle than a tax, though our states would still be that much more cash-strapped.
If just 100 calories to drink a day sounds way too restrictive, note the following from TLC Cooking: “look at the calorie count of any soft drink. For example, a typical carbonated soft drink will have 200 calories in a 16-ounce serving. All of those calories come from sugar, and sugar contains 16 calories per teaspoon. By this measurement, a 16-ounce serving contains 12.5 teaspoons of sugar.So go down to the kitchen and get out a 16-ounce glass, a teaspoon and some sugar. Measure 12 teaspoons of sugar into the glass — it’s an amazing amount. Then multiply that by however many sodas you typically consume in a day”.
For further reading, see also New England Journal of Medicine’s “Ounces of Prevention — The Public Policy Case for Taxes on Sugared Beverages”, and the New York Times’s “Health Official Willing to go to the Mat Over Obesity and Sugared Sodas”
Fisher Paykel Dish Drawer: A Review
Because the repairman will be here this afternoon, and not, as I was told yesterday, this morning; I find myself with a little time to burn in which I’d like to write about my experience with the dishwasher that warranted the aforementioned repair call: The Fisher Paykel Double Dish Drawer.
We bought it in 2004, in the midst of our whole house renovation, for our newly constructed kitchen. We chose it because it was not only innovative and beautiful, but liked the idea of being able to run two loads of dishes simultaneously. We entertain a lot, and because of our renovation project, we had been without a dishwasher for long enough that two loads at once sounded like heaven. At the outset, we loved it. It looks great in our kitchen and is nearly quiet as a mouse. For a three year stretch, we would have had only positive things to say about it. Then came 2007, and our troubles began. Sadly enough, by this time our two-year service warranty had expired.
The plastic brackets holding up the top drawer broke, causing the drawer to stick and rendered the top unit unuseable. We had them replaced. Within a month, they broke again. We had them replaced again. But this time, the weight of the top drawer on the bottom had caused some leakage, and the resulting water spill resulted in the frying of the sensor and control panel underneath both units. We had it replaced. The following year, the motor on the top unit broke. We had it replaced.
This time, this year, today, the plastic brackets have broken again. In fact, they broke two weeks ago, and though I called for the repairman immediately, the parts have been agonizingly slow to arrive. I understand the brackets are now made of metal, which, fingers crossed, will offset this pesky problem from happening in the future. But in the meantime, we have invested at least twice the purchase price of the Dish Drawer in its repair, and I find myself fantasizing about an alternate reality in which we just chose another make of dishwasher back in 2004.
In my experience, in this case, sometimes expensive is expensive, too.
09/24: edited to add: According to the serviceman last night, the brackets (though he called them “actuators”) are not now being made from metal. We get the same plastic ones. Again. And we were his second F-P Dish Drawer repair of the day. That might not be a big whoop in, say, Chicago, but we are very much downstate. According to him there are only about 25 Dish Drawer owners in his service area. Doesn’t bode well.
02/16/10, edited to add: a few weeks ago, the actuators broke again. Yep, the same ones that we had replaced in September. Guess how long the warranty on the new parts lasted? 90 days. How long did it take for them to break on us? Just over 90 days.
07/30/10, edited to add: The last straw: last week, the actuators broke again. Rather than call our repairman, we went dishwasher shopping, and adopted a brand new Whirlpool Tall Tub. No bells or whistles, just a good, inexpensive, well rated dishwasher. Our journey with Fisher Paykel is over. Well, almost. It’s currently sitting all alone in our garage, and we’re thinking about creative ways of getting rid of it and venting our frustrations at the same time. Target practice, maybe? See if it’ll catch on fire? Any suggestions?
Garage Sale Friday
Today’s haul:
Two dollars.
Two garage sales and one estate sale visited. The bread maker came from a garage sale that a woman was holding for her parents, who were selling their house to move into assisted living. The house, though small and relatively nondescript, was immaculate. I would estimate that they’d been living in the house since the 1950s, and hadn’t updated a thing. But oh my did they take exceptionally good care of it. I figured that anything I bought at the sale would also be impeccably maintained, so I saw it as a good opportunity to shop seriously. If I had been in the market for a pristine 1950s wringer washer or vacuum cleaner, this was the place. They had both. But I did pick up this little guy, complete with all parts, instruction manual, and cookbook to boot. The daughter recalled her mom using it all the time, but it looks like new.
I had been thinking about getting a bread machine lately; wondering if I’d use one if I had it, or if it would be just another thing taking up space. I guess we’ll see about that one! Right now, I’m dreaming about fresh homemade rolls to go with dinner. If I can master the basic steps, I can make it a habit. Fingers crossed.
Why I love Top Chef Masters
I am a big fan of Top Chef, the reality series that recently wrapped up it’s 5th season on Bravo. This summer, however, we are treated to the first season of Top Chef Masters, a spinoff of the original series in which already-established chefs at the top of their game are competing against each other in the same types of challenges as the up-and-comers in the regular series.
The majority of the buzz that I’ve read so far on the new series is that it’s a little lackluster in comparison to it’s counterpart. The chefs that are competing in the Masters series are already well established, so the stakes are lower and the usual excitement over the competition is not as robust. I couldn’t disagree more.
The 24 contestant/chefs that have appeared on the show thus far are successful professional chefs already. The individual competitions are not packed with the schadenfreude of the original series, it’s true, but that’s because the chefs on the series have a deep reverence for the craft of cooking, and a healthy respect for each other. In this environment, the focus is on the ingredients, the cooking, and only a little about the personalities behind the dishes. It’s a great pleasure to watch these chefs do their thing amidst the hair raising challenges that they are tossed into. And they take pleasure in watching their colleagues without the backbiting.
(minor spoiler alert)
In last week’s episode, the elimination challenge gave each chef a chance to completely sabotage one of their competitors. It was their job (a la secret santa) to shop for one of their competitors, and the competitor would be obligated to make use of all of the ingredients that they selected. No one took the bait. Each chef showed great care and consideration in picking out a fine assortment of ingredients for his competitor, because, as one chef remarked, he wanted his colleaugue to be able to show his chops as a chef. The grace and camraderie shown by the chefs elevated the entire competition to a celebration of talent and the craft of cookery. Bravo, indeed! Encore!
