things i love!

It's Thursday and I haven't posted anything this week, so here's another shot of "Things I love Thursdays!" Come on, it's fun, right?

Here's my first pick. It's an absolute requirement to wake up early enough every morning to make myself some kind of meaty goodness for breakfast (and often, mid-morning snack!), but I can never seem to make time to eat it before leaving for work. Here's my perfect solution:

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The don't forget me lunch bag! So cute and practical with a clever red silk ribbon. Of course, I use it for breakfast instead of lunch. And I don't forget it. It came home with me at felt club last Christmas and has been a good friend ever since. What do I do for lunch, you ask? Well, I currently happen to be lucky enough to walk home for lunch so I can fry up some fresh bacon, along with some berries and a mug of peppermint tea. I'll always be a scavenger at heart.

Here's another thing I love, a weekly dose of internet irony! I found it curious that these two articles circulated in the same week--

Woman's Shattered Life Shows Beef Inspection Flaws

The FDA's Ten Riskiest Foods

Or, would you rather suffer from E. coli as a result of eating this:


(source)
Father's Office burger*


or this:

McDonald's Side Salad

Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely soulless. Every now and then, I do partake in a sketchy ground beef patty or take a chance by not re-washing pre-washed greens (though I find them to be pretty ridiculous in general-- how hard is it to rinse and chop your own lettuce?), and I do so in full awareness that these products come with their fair share of risks. It is so unfortunate that a woman's life was ruined by enjoying a hamburger, but as you can see, anything you eat comes with some sort of risk unless you grow or raise it yourself; that's just the price we pay for convenience. Perhaps these articles will encourage us to be more educated consumers and not just become radical scare tactics...

And speaking of health food, another interest of the week was inspired by this post on svelte gourmand.

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Yes, that's right, lard! I'm itching to try cooking something with it. I love the idea of cooking Brussels sprouts in lard, as Joshua Ozersky (author of The Hamburger) suggests in this interview. Perhaps I will get some good stuff next time I visit my friendly local butcher, or perhaps I will try this technique for rendering lard, although since I don't technically have a kitchen window, I run the risk of my home permanently smelling of pig fat.

*I am aware that this is an unfair comparison, since I am fairly certain Father's Office uses only the highest quality meats and grinds their beef in-house, but doesn't that burger prove the point better than a frozen beef patty?

lady (butchers) who lunch

I've been on Project: Weight Gain for a while now. It really isn't going that well, but in the last few weeks, I've been asked by my nutritionist to keep track of my eating and calories. In beginning, it was novel, but I'm getting bored with it. And possibly obsessive.

Maybe I should combine Project: Weight Gain with Project: Food Stylist!

Here's what the project would look like in regards to today's lunch:

-organic boneless skinless chicken breast (180 calories) sauteed in 1/2 tablespoon olive oil (60 calories), lemon juice, basil, oregano, and one clove of garlic (20 calories)

-1/4 red bell pepper (10 calories)

-organic green leaf lettuce with onion and white wine vinegar (20 calories)

-organic brown rice cake* (70 calories)

-1/3 cup organic frozen strawberries and blackberries with fresh mint from my windowsill mint plant that I've somehow managed to keep alive (25 calories)

Total: 385 calories (I've been trying to eat every three hours, so that's about what I can handle per "meal.")

Totally boring? Probably. But maybe I can improve my food photography and my diet simultaneously?

*I am lazy and don't often have the patience to cook a pot of brown rice, so I've become quite dependant on Lundberg brown rice cakes. Excellent and super convenient for you gluten-free people out there.