Shown above: the Kaleberg sinks the Titanic

Kaleberg Symbionts

Archived Notes

April 2005

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April 2005

04/30 - We couldn't help noticing the fuss over that new scientific paper that supposedly downplays the risks of obesity. If you get your scientific news from the newspapers or television, you might think that fatter is better. We poked around for a few minutes on Google and found the abstract of the paper by Flegal, Graubard, Williamson and Gail which analyzes the relative risks of obesity from three large scale studies. Their conclusion:

"Underweight and obesity, particularly higherlevels of obesity, were associated with increased mortalityrelative to the normal weight category. The impact of obesityon mortality may have decreased over time, perhaps because ofimprovements in public health and medical care. These findingsare consistent with the increases in life expectancy in theUnited States and the declining mortality rates from ischemicheart disease."

In other words, we are now better at treating heart disease, so that being fat is less likely to kill you than thirty years ago. The first of the three studies they used ran from 1971 to 1975, the second from 1976 to 1980. Medicare was introduced in 1965, so it is likely that Medicare has successfully reduced the risks of being overweight. Of course, it's an uphill battle, since obesity has been on the climb since the 1970s.

04/22 - This time its spinach. We bought TWO huge bunches at the Farmers' Market and really did not want them to go to waste.

The recipe to the right is a simple way of preparing spinach, especially if you have a CostCo bag of pine nuts (aka pignolia nuts) on hand. The trick is to get the pine nuts toasted first, then add them back at the end.

We could probably make a generic greens, nuts and fruit recipe out of this, but even we have our limits.

Recipe for Spinach, Pine Nuts and Currants

    2 lbs spinach leaves
    1/2 cup pine nuts
    2 tbsp olive oil
    1/4 cup currants (or dark raisins in a pinch)

Heat a frying pan over high heat. Dump in the pine nuts and stir until they are lightly browned. Pay attention. You don't want them to burn. When the nuts are browned, dump them into a bowl.

Put the pan back on the burner, and lower the heat to medium high. Put in the olive oil and let it warm a bit. Add the spinach. Now and then, toss it with a spoon and fork so it all cooks down. When all of the spinach is dark green and cooked add the currants. Toss again and turn off the heat. Add the pine nuts and toss yet again.

Serve.

04/16 - Our report on our April journey to New York City is still in the works. Luckily, our web site ran on without us, and elicited some comment during our absence. We are not the only kale lovers on the internet. There is at least one serious lacinato kale fan out at a Somewhat Raucus Kitchen in Iowa!

While we may seem a bit kale obsessed here, in fact we have only commented seriously on kale a couple of times:

from Too Many Oysters
from Lacinato Kale at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market

We have yet to find a really serious kale site, so perhaps we shall have to create one.

04/13 - We were at Kalustyan's on our most recent trip to New York City and couldn't help noticing that the green almonds are in. One reads about green almonds in Mid-Eastern cookbooks, so we bought a bunch and cracked a few open. They have a milder, greener flavor almost like a melon, rather than a nut. We've heard that they can be used in cooking, so we'll see if our supply holds out long enough for us to find a recipe.

04/12 - While rummanging in the archives we came across what is probably the first internet based collaboratively edited dining guide, the venerable Yum Yum which was produced by the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory back in the mid-1970s. The food scene was quite different back in those days, and no, it was not better. Go back in time and see what was for dinner in the early days of the world wide web.

04/11 - Whenever we head down West 66th Street in Manhattan we cannot but help notice the line of trucks from the New York Blood Center with their 800 933 BLOOD phone numbers painted on the side. Imagine, take out is not just for those living in Manhattan, it's available for the undead as well. Elsewhere, vampires have to haunt the streets at night, killing and maiming unwilling blood donors and worrying about run ins with vampire slayers and other undesirables. In New York City, a vampire doesn't even have to leave the apartment. Just dial a few digits, and a tasty meal is on its way.

Now, we are sure that the New York Blood Center is really about providing vital blood and blood products for the living, and you might consider dialing the number above and making a donation, but in New York City, where take out food is one of the glories of civilization, one cannot help but imagine.

04/11 - We've only been home a few hours and haven't even written up our New York City notes, and we're eating Chinese take out food. We finally tried Tendy's Garden, and we liked it. Our favorites: General Tso's chicken and the crispy duck.