Friday, 11/30

I've been talking about food and/or grocery stores all week, so why stop now?

Right?

Actually, it's just something I observed while eating dinner last night, something so...strange that it made a piece of spinach shoot out of my mouth because I was laughing so hard at the absurdity of it all.

Sorry about that, Loraine.

Okay.  What made me laugh so hard that a piece of spinach went shooting out of my mouth? Well, it was in a flier for a local grocery store (one of the ones I actually mentioned in yesterday's blog). One of the deals they have coming up is this—if you buy 4 of one item, you get a fifth, separate item for free. It's something grocery stores do all the time and, usually, the items are grouped together by some common thread. You know, buy four boxes of cake mixes and get a container for free; something along those lines. So just what was this particular grouping, the one that made me laugh so hard spinach went shooting out of my mouth?

Buy four Healthy Choice frozen dinners, and get a container of ice cream free.

No, I'm not making that up. I couldn't make it up if I tried. I wasn't seeing things, either. After I apologized to Loraine for shooting spinach out of my mouth I showed her, and she saw it too. There is a currently a deal at a local grocery store—buy four things that are healthy (heck, “Healthy” is even in the name!) and get a tub of fat absolutely free.

Now you see why I laughed so hard that spinach flew out of my mouth?

I don't know why the store stuck those items together. I don't know if the store just got a great deal on a bulk buy of ice cream and needs to get rid of it, or if someone actually sat down and said “you know, we should pair a low calorie dinner with a high calorie dessert. That makes sense, right?” I mean, sure it makes sense, or at least as much sense as going into a restaurant and ordering four pieces of cheesecake and a Diet Coke. But there it is, in the flier in black and white (or red, black, & white, if you wanna be technical). Buy four “healthy” dinners, and get a tub of ice cream for free.

America. What a country.

8-)

On that note, have yourself a great weekend. If you're in Marquette, enjoy many of the church bazaars and public open houses going on the next few days. And if you go grocery shopping, I hope all of your deals are as healthy as the one I just described!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 11/29

Since I've written about either food & grocery stores so far this week, how about if we combine the two today?

Thanks for your indulgence.

If you've been reading these over the years you may have picked up on the fact that, for the most part, I try to eat well. I try to avoid fast foods, overly processed foods, and foods that aren't really “foods”, foods that are just made up of chemicals and additives and shaped to look like “food”. Even the “bad' things I eat, like chocolate, are the “good” versions of the food.

So I try my best.

It may not, however, come as a surprise that I have a food that's a guilty pleasure. It's a food that I don't believe I've ever seen in a 'good” versions, and while I don't eat it a lot I do savor the times when I break down and ingest it. And that guilty pleasure is?

Cornbread.

Yup; I know I don't seem like a cornbread-loving kind of person, but I am. I know it's not good for me; it's basically a grain with all the good stuff removed combined with sugar and a bunch of fatty oils, but there's just something about it that I can't resist. So when I noticed that two Marquette grocery stores started selling freshly-made cornbread, I couldn't resist, even though it means eating 1,500 calories of gunk that could instead be used for healthy whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

But it's cornbread...and there's something about cornbread that I just can't resist.

Anyway, the first grocery store started selling it when they remodeled a year or so ago, and I have to admit I partook of it a little more than I should have. Then I did something else I probably shouldn't have, and that's read the ingredients list they stuck on the back of the container. I noticed that instead of sugar the store uses high fructose corn syrup, which is something I try to avoid at all costs. So for a few months, I had to live without cornbread.

It was hard.

Then a few weeks ago we were at a recently opened grocery store, and I noticed they had a slab of cornbread for sale. They make theirs with sugar, which obviously meant that I had to buy it and try it out, just to see if it was any different than the cornbread I'd previously been eating. A larger than usual (gulp) one pound container of calories later I was totally satisfied, not only by the cornbread but by the fact that it had sugar in it. Sure, I had just eaten around 2,000 calories, but at least those calories didn't include high fructose corn syrup.

Yes, I know I need help. What's your point?

Thankfully, I don't eat cornbread all that often. If I ate it every time I felt like it, I have the feeling I'd be adding another 20 or 30 pounds to my 160-pound frame. Besides, can you imagine what all that processed grain and fully saturated fat would do to a body not used to it? I shudder to think. However, I am human, and I do have the occasional temptation. So if you ever run into me in a grocery store and you happen to see one of those one-pound bricks of cornbread in my cart, realize it's not part of my everyday diet.

It's just a guilty pleasure.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 11/28

I'm bummed. I'm not totally surprised, but I'm bummed.

The news that Valle's Market in Marquette is closing in a few weeks spread like wildfire Monday and yesterday. The growing increase in competition from big box stores in and around the city is cited as the reason, and like I said, I'm not totally surprised that a small, family-owned neighborhood market couldn't make it.

But I'll really miss it.

I was usually at Valle's several times a week, not necessarily to do all my shopping but to pick up stuff I needed. It was a 12-minute walk from my apartment to the store, which means that it was literally quicker for me to hike down there and get milk & toilet paper (or whatever I needed) than it was to fire up the car, drive to one of the big stores, park, stand in line, and then get home. For me, at least, Valle's truly was a neighborhood market, especially when I was able to make that walk on a warm summer day.

Of course, like almost everyone, I didn't do all my “shopping” there, so in a way I guess I'm partly responsible for it not hanging on. Like most people, I didn't think of it as a “grocery” store; instead, it was a convenient place to pick up whatever I needed at the moment or whatever I forgot at another store. It was just one of many stores I go (or went) to; I go to Farmer Qs, I go to the Co-op, I go to Super One or Econo, and I go (or went) to Valle's. But, like everyone else, I didn't do my “shopping” there.

So, I guess, it's partly my fault.

I'm not quite sure what I'll do now. If I do need to pick up something for a baking project or if I notice we're running short of milk I'll no longer have the convenience of walking down the street and getting it. There are a couple of party stores nearby, so I supposed that might suffice as far as milk goes, but everything else? Now I will have fire up the car (or my bike, if it's summer) and make my way from the East side of Marquette all the way to the West, find a parking spot (or a bike rack), and trudge through a building as big as a city block to find the one thing I need. Then I'll have to fire up the car (or my bike) again, and dodge traffic to make it back home with my eggs or the avocado I didn't get at another store.

I totally understand why Valle's is closing, but that doesn't mean it makes it any easier. They were an amazing asset for those of us who lived nearby, and I will miss not only the convenience they offered, but the friendly people who worked there.

Thanks for being part of the neighborhood, guys.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 11/27

The experiment was quite the success.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about trying to come up with my Christmas cookie list for the year, and mentioned that I'm always thinking of ways to tweak or to upgrade some of the cookies. Well, in the course of exploring new ideas, I came across something that intrigued me. I mentioned it to Loraine, who then opined that the new idea would actually work well with one of my existing cookies.

Lo and behold, she was right. So without further ado, I present the Nutella-stuffed Nutella cookie--

Yup. It's a cookie with dough that includes Nutella, all wrapped around a gooey Nutella center.

If that doesn't scream “Christmas', I don't know what does.

8-)

I've never actually made a cookie (or a lava cake) with a gooey center before, but it was surprisingly easy, although a little messy. You actually have to freeze the Nutella into balls before you make the cookies, which is simple. But then you have to handle the frozen Nutella when making them, and since frozen Nutella melts REALLY quickly in human hands, just be forewarned--

You'll be washing your hands a lot.

After I made the cookies yesterday I was sitting around thinking of ways that they could be amped up even more, and it seems like the cookies, when finished, could be sprinkled with various spices to make them even stranger. You could dust them with cinnamon, or ginger, or even red pepper or Cayenne flakes, if you were adventurous. Or, you could just eat them plain.

Trust me. That option is quite easy.

This will now replace the plain 'ol “boring” Nutella cookies that I usually make for the holidays, which means that I now have something “new”. I don't need to come up with something I haven't done before, because while I HAVE made Nutella cookies before, they haven't been stuffed with even more Nutella. And sometimes, that's all you need for a cookie, “new” or not.

******

The recipe, should you want to try them yourself?

Make 24 teaspoon-sized balls of Nutella, and freeze them

Then mix:

1 stick butter

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup Nutella

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

After that, mix together

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

And add that to the wet stuff. Then take that dough, and wrap bits of it around each frozen ball of Nutella. Make at 350 for 10 minutes. When done, eat in copious amounts.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 11/26

200 millions pounds. That's how much leftover turkey there was in this country after Thanksgiving.

That may not be much of a surprise to anyone who shared dinner with family and/or friends last week. I know I'm still eating some that I brought home from the celebration at my parents. Unlike some people, I actually don't mind; I think that leftover turkey sandwiches are among the best things you can eat. But I know not everyone's like that. With that in mind, a couple of years ago I came up with a list of what you can do with the leftover turkey that's still sitting in your fridge.

So...tired of leftover turkey sandwiches? Try one of these--

Turkey chili

Turkey tacos

Turkey pot pies

Turkey pasties

Turkey casserole

Turkey croquets

Turkey canapés

Turkey jerky

Turkey latte

Turkey nog

Turkey & cranberry smoothies

Turkey bread

Turkey granola

German turkey cake

Turkey & sweet potato jam

Home-made turkey Pop Tarts

And. . .frozen turkey doorstops.

Hopefully, you won’t have so much leftover turkey that you make it to the bottom of this list, but if you indeed have your share of those 200 millions pounds, there you go. Good luck!

Tomorrow, the story of another food, one that might be described as my culinary guilty pleasure.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 11/21

Guess who's celebrating a birthday today?

That's right; the most amazing woman in the world turns another year younger today. I don't know how she does it, but I don't think she looks a day older than she did, say, last century.

But then she's amazing, so what do you expect?

This is one of my favorite recent pictures of her, taken on Herreninsel on Lake Chiemsee in Germany, one of the homes of her BFF King Ludwig II. There are many things I love about her, but one of the best is the passion into which she throws herself when pursuing a new interest. A couple of years ago we're traipsing through Germany with our parents, we visit a castle on a rainy day, and before I know it the two of us are heading back to Germany, visiting many castles on many rainy (& sunny) days, and just having a blast, a trip entirely planned by her.

Not only that, but she also wrote this 80+ page “brief” beforehand so we'd both know what we're looking at and looking for. That's how amazing she is.

And that's just one of her talents. You know about the books she's written, the honors she's received, and everything else that she's able to do. Being a bit of a shy person (yes, despite what I just said, Loraine IS a bit of a shy person) she doesn't necessarily like to shine the spotlight of achievements on herself. But I'm married to her. I'm proud of what she does. And I'll keep mentioning things like her books and her trip planning abilities and the fact that she defies aging. Why?

Because people deserve to know that I'm not kidding. She really IS the Most Amazing Woman in the World.

So Happy Birthday, Loraine. I hope you're enjoying your Chocolate-Hazelnut Gelato!

(Lotsa) love,

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 11/20

I guess my DNA is a gift that keeps on giving.

Those of you who read this regularly may remember that earlier this year I finally sent some spit into Ancestry to find out why my skin is darker than the average white person (refresher, in case you don't remember--I'm apparently part Iberian/Moroccan). One of the things the website does is update the findings as they get more data in and can refine the results, so when I received an e-mail from them telling me my results have been updated; well, you can imagine just how fast I clicked on it.

And even though the change only affected part of my heritage, it was still interesting.

The update actually deals with my maternal grandfather's side of the family, the Schwemin side. When I received the results earlier this year I was in no way surprised that I was 17% German/Prussian/ European East; after all, I knew my grandfather's grandfather had come to the UP from Germany. But the update has narrowed that down a little bit. It now appears as if 9% of my DNA comes from “Germanic Europe”; specifically, what is now Northeastern Germany, while 8% comes from northern Poland or the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia), all places that were part of the Prussian empire in the 17 & 1800s.

So now I know. It looks as if I had a great-great-great someone who came from the southern part of Prussia, and a great-great-great someone who came from the northern part of the empire. Isn't science wonderful?

It's also interesting in that the part of southern Prussia from which half of my grandfather's ancestors apparently hail is now the part of Germany where I will be visiting next spring. That's right; my ancestors came from somewhere in the area of the country that encompasses both Berlin and Leipzig, the two places where Loraine and I will be next April. That means I could be walking down the street in Berlin or into Red Bull Arena in Leipzig and have some long-lost 32^nd cousin unknowingly walk right past me.

How freaky would THAT be?

That's only one quarter of my family tree; with the way tests and samples are constantly refined, I can't wait to see what other interesting information pops up over the next few months on the other sides. After all, my grandmother, the woman married to the Prussian guy, always joked that she was related to British royalty. And according to Ancestry I am almost 40% British, especially on her side, so...

You never know!

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)