Enough is Enough

Lately I have been very busy with my school work. Being a senior is no easy task, especially when the job hunt is thrown into the mix. I've found myself revamping my resume and trying to get interviews. It is very scary to think about, there are so many thoughts about finding a job, should I accept any job that is offered to me? Should I be selective because I am trying to start my career? Do I know everything that I need to? Will I fail to enjoy what I select? The list of questioning goes on and on.

I have been in a state of puzzlement and anxiety lately. It is hard to pinpoint the main reason for this but I feel like it comes down to food....I am confused about what foods to eat...

This may sound like a funny statement, here is a food science person, who loves food, and she is confused about what she wants to eat. Well my confusion stems from food sources and diet. I have been reading a lot about the goodness of eating a raw diet. But I am resistant to going in that direction because 1 I love to cook and love cooked food and 2 because the diet is usually based on a lot of tropical fruits and veggies- I have been trying to reduce my footprint on the planet by buying more local fair. But I still want to be healthy, and somehow I feel guilty for not diving into the raw food thing (?).
In conjunction with changed habits over the summer, to the discovery of a food co-op, and the participation in the Eat Local challenge, I've switched where I choose to buy my food, I now buy at the local co-op, a student organic farm stand, and a health food store. I also have been trying to base my diet on fruits and vegetables and limited amounts of organic, free range meat. However, I've gotten myself stuck in a rut. I eat mostly apples, salads, eggs, bread, and some meat products. Then when I do buy something like ramen noodles ( a college staple) I feel guilty that it is unhealthy and not organic. I'm going round in circles with these types of thoughts. It has really taken a toll on me.

So tonight I have thrown caution to the wind and have whipped up one of my favorite desserts. A dessert that relies solely on the quality of it's ingredients: creme brule. Luckily I have kept it to organic cream, Michigan sugar (Pioneer), free range eggs( which two of the eggs I put in were double yolks, what are the chances of that!) and some Madagascan vanilla beans ( A gift from a friend who traveled there). So I am going to have my fabulous dessert and remind myself of my life motto Good Food, Good Friends, Good Life. The job search will work out in the end, I will continue to challenge my food choices but should not feel guilty for any "short comings" I see in indulging once in a while.

The Real Eaters

There are so many different ways to live a life in the US. In that way it is an amazing place to live. But when it comes to the food world there are so many choices and advice that it can become overwhelming. Now as a soon to be food scientist it has come time for me to ask myself the question of what do I want to do with my life? What part of this vast food system am I going to take part in?

One way to help me decide s to try to identify what all is out there and I'm sure I don't have to tell you that there is A LOT!

Omnivores
Vegetarians
Vegans
Raw Foodists
Localvores
Convenience Seekers
Health Conscience
Indulgers
People on the Go
Children
Mothers
Elderly
People with Allergies


But what is the average or Real Eater out there? Is there one? I guess I would describe the real eater is being someone that may have a family and a 9-5 (or more) that wants fresh convenient food. This person probably also indulges once in a while on packaged foods such as chips and perhaps cookies and ice cream. This is probably what I would call the real eater. This is pretty much what my family is.
However, there are many more emerging trends of people that want pre-prepared foods, diet foods, snack foods, fair trade food, organic foods. So what is it that I want to involve myself in.

I have developed many opinions about food and food systems in the past four years. Without going into much detail about how I feel about all the other categories, the two that I am most interested in are Locally produced foods, and foods catered to people with allergies.

That's all I have time for, for now.

Farmers Market

Within the week of the eat local challenge there were many activities to partake in; kickoff pancake breakfast at a local restaurant, several farmers markets, and even a wine tasting event at a local bar. I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful friend of mine go with me to a special farmers market. This market was held on the front lawn of the capitol building. There were around 50 vendors selling everything from fish, fresh veggies and fruit, maple syrup, bottled sauces, pickled veggies and even handcrafted soaps. It was remarkable to be out on the front lawn of the state capitol buying food. Here are a few snapshots I took between my purchases.

Eat Local!

This is the week of eating local (I know I am a little late in starting). However I'm jumping on....although I was already partially on the bandwagon anyway. I try to buy from farmers markets and buy Local or Michigan produced products as much as possible. However I do have exceptions such as coffee, chocolate, nuts and some fruits. I believe in supporting local economy and I also believe that local food is not only more tasty and nutritious for you but also more environmentally sound. I have pledged to do an entire day of all local food. I have not yet done so but plan on blogging about it when I have it all figured out. Here is to everyone that is going local partially or 100% every little change makes a difference!!!

Travel Info

Thoughts on Food

Going to grandmas meant having her famous apple crisp, making strawberry jam, and warm bran muffins in the morning. It is no stretch to say that you could feel the love in the food. Food for me started with family dinners, meals and stories shared around the table. The meal started by a trip to the grocery store, usually earlier in the week. Sometimes I got to go and pick out apples and vegetables. Then the meal started in the heart of the house, the kitchen. Preparing the meal was as important as eating it. Shucking the corn, making the salad, and chopping veggies together instilled values; learning the nutrition of a balanced meal, the skills of cooking and bonding with grandma, mom, and sometimes sister. Preparing and sharing a meal instills family values of responsibility, taking care of one another nutritionally and socially.

My family doesn’t get together as often as we used to, because of distance. But my immediate family always makes a point of having dinner together whenever we can.

However meals around America are changing for many families. With both parents working and many single parent families dinner is usually take out, a quick stir together from a package, or worse frozen from a box. Dinner simply is getting further and further away from food. It is now “product” carefully formulated with lots of fat, sugars, salt and preservatives that are unpronounceable. All this for the sake of having a meal in the freezer that will be good tomorrow or six months from tomorrow.

Not only has dinner changed for the average American family, lunch has changed for every member of the family as well. The adults are inhaling fast food, or microwaveable meals in front of the computer or behind the wheel of a car. Lunch is no longer the social event that gives people pleasure in eating and talking like it used to. School lunches for the little ones are filled with fried foods and un-nutritious breaded meat patties, with canned veggies that remained untouched on the lunch tray. Drinks are sugar laden sodas or “fruit juices” from concentrates. No wonder so many kids are “diagnosed” with ADD, they are all on sugar highs with little of the proper nutrition that helps kids to be focused.

Breakfast is almost the worst out of the meals that people are eating now, if they choose to eat it at all. Sugar cereals, pop tarts, toaster pastries that have been marketed to kids and parents buy because something seems to be better than nothing. Most adults are now grabbing a breakfast bar or just having coffee in the morning. Some even start off the morning with hash browns and an egg and sausage McMuffin that has a thirty percent of the recommended daily calories that are needed for the average American male.

Why has all of this happened? The new corporate world. With both parents working in order to provide their children with all they need. To be able to send their kids to outrageously priced colleges, buy SUVs, and once in a while go on vacation. So they can be without want. But what have we created? A fast paced life where we are too busy to sit down to a home made meal and discuss our days, desires, our dreams, what we want to do on the weekend. We have created a void in our lives.

Millions of Americans suffer from depression, stress related illness, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, other ailments that affect the quality of our lives. But what is it that caused this? It is the way we live our lives that affects our health, which in turn affects our quality of life whether mentally or physically, or both. We should be the healthiest we have ever been with therapists, nutritionists, personal trainers, spas, dermatologists, specialists, and all other assortments of doctors. But we only go to these people when there is a problem. We go to the doctors to fix what we have broken, what we have caused. We don’t treat our bodies well enough to prevent illness, and barley change our habits to fix the problem. Instead, we rely on pharmaceutical companies to come up with that miracle drug that will lower or blood pressure, change the chemical imbalance in our brains, and suppress our appetites. We have allowed our habits to pass onto our children who are developing the same diseases that an overweight 45 year old would, type two diabetes at 8, high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis the list goes on.

This lifestyle is not only making us unhappy and sick, it has caused our children, the future generation, to have a life span less then our own. The first generation to live a shorter life than our own! How can we ignore this any longer? What is the cause? Our life style, poverty (relying on food stamps and cheap fast food for sustenance), our lack of prevention and or obsession with fixing the problem with a band aid of a pill instead of changing our life styles.

Many people may be saying that this does not start with food. But I beg to differ. We make choices every day what we put into our bodies and how we put it into our bodies. This can have consequences if the decisions are poor. If we take the time to go shopping, and prepare our own meals and eat them slowly with family or friends we will make conscious decisions about our nutrition. About how much, and what we allow ourselves to eat and what we allow our children to eat. If we continue the unconscious food choices that we are making, and eat high calorie low nutritious foods more and more we will continue to have a nation that is increasing it’s waistline and a decreasing quality of life.

Organic Strawberry

Riverside Farmers Market

As I have gained an interest in local and sustainable farming I really wanted to find a local farmers market that I could frequent. Well downtown Riverside has just that. Every Saturday from 8-1 there is a little farmers market set up. It is small but sufficient for all of my cooking needs. Sometimes complete with life band, cooking demonstrations, and a clown with face painting for the little ones. This first trip yielded yellow nectarines, apricots, green beans, and small squashes.

Across The Country

"We would like to offer you an internship. We've express mailed a welcome packet to you." This sentence may have well changed my life. It certainly has changed my summer. After many discouraging interviews I thought I would be spending my summer at my part time job at school. Scooping ice cream was great for last summer but an internship, oh an internship is what I longed for. Well I believe the good came to those who had to wait, me. I was offered an internship after a phone interview that went too well to be true.
Thoughts of the internship faded as project deadlines loomed and finals quickly approached. After moving home, I had one week to pack it all up again and drive across the country. Not an easy feat when I have a Saturn and an entire household to pack into the back of it.
What to take? Clothes, bathroom items, my computer, pots, pans, my new Kitchenaid, microwave, printer....the list goes on. And for me weaning down the kitchen essentials was like cutting off one finger at a time. My Cruset roasting pan, left behind, my wooden salad bowl left behind. Will all that I brought be sufficient to get me through the summer? Only time will tell.

The trip started....



...and continued....


....and then I arrived. My new studio apartment in California. This little Michigander has her own place for the first time! Here are some quick snap shots of the new place. What adventures will come next?

Time flies when you're working

I cannot believe that my spring semester of my junior year is ending...and that I didn't post once! But I have been busy on product development type things, school, work, and trying to be social. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful time of developing Mmm bites for competition. I'm not going into detail because I am sworn to secrecy, seriously

They don't look like much here but with some toppings they look a little more appealing

All set to go in some packaging

The rest of the team hard at work.

I hope to post a ton over the summer since I will have a kitchen to myself and I hope to bring my Kitchenaid along to experiment with things. I will explain more about this summer later. Right now I have to study for finals.

Feel Like Dessert?

You Are Tiramisu

Light and lovely, you pack a punch. You never overwhelm... but you always leave a lasting impression.

What Dessert Are You Most Like?

Sustainable Food- Niche or Necessity

One great thing about this campus and the fact that it started out as a school of agriculture is that there are many groups around that still heavily think like an agi. Yes, we have our dairy plant and our sheep research and even a forestry major that no one really knows what it entails. But and this is a big But, we have many many groups of faculty and students that are dedicated to sustainability. We all know that our food system is based on agriculture, however we all aren't aware of how this agriculture works and how it is actually affecting the earth. Several of these groups have supported the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Speaker series. I am fortunate enough to get the emails about when these are coming up. And in light of the dinner that I recently attended I took the night off of work so I could see John Turenne speak about his jouryney with sustainability.

John started out as a cook, going to culinary school and landing a gig with Yale University as the foods service chair. John worked this job like anyone really would ordering from a large supplier and getting deliveries every morning. But one day he was called to the office of the President. One of the students mothers was there and really wanted to speak with him. This mother was no ordinary woman, she was Alice Waters. She is a chef who runs a resturant that depends on local and organic food. She was there to talk to John about going local, and being sustainable. Now after 25 years of conventional food service one might think that John was a lost cause, but no. He looked into it (partially because the president was sold on this idea). Now the school has a menu that varies by season (What a concept!) and gets it's supplies from a form of a middle man who gets produce from local and organic farms within the area.
Through this turning process John had a lot of battles, especially with the staff that would have to do much more work for prep of the meals, without any more employees to share in the new work. How does one convince a staff that the extra work is well worth it for the taste of the food and also for the good of the earth? Well he did that by showing them what sustainability is. Taking his crew to one of the local farms and talking to the farmer who used a pollycroping system. He explained what plants where where and how the farm worked. Later they moved onto the composting area to explain how the extra biomass would be transformed back into rich soil and used again. One woman brushed a tear from her eye. John being curious about why this woman was crying asked her what was wrong. Her response suprised him (thinking that she might be hot and that the smell was getting to her) She said to him "This is the way that it is supposed to be isn't it? The plants going back to dirt and the cycle continuing...it's almost spiritual."
With Yale being the jumping point of sustainability for John he has moved to having his own business where he helps schools change their program into sustainable ones.
With the average mileage of 1,500 traveled food today isn't sustainable at all. From 1940's with 131 million people, 6.1 million farms at 175 acres each to today's world with 261 million people, 2 million farms at 461 acres each it is easy to see why we are in trouble. However instead of turning things around we are only trying to fix them with biotechnology and poisons called herbicides and pesticides. 

Long term will sustainability infiltrate big business and factory farming? Will food defined as sustainable be a niche or a necessity? Only time will tell. 

Night out

January 19th 2007 will be a night that I will remember for probably ever. I attended a special dinner with two great friends. This dinner was as the Green River Cafe here in East Lansing. The Green River is special to begin with because it is one of the few places around that support the student organic farm on campus, as well as other local and organic suppliers. Some groups collaborated to have a special meal featuring a young Chef recently coming out of the French Laundry and moving on to other things. When I heard about this I jumped on it and had to call some friends to support this and have a great night out.
The menu was all vegiterian and consisted of
Soup: Squash or Creamy potato Leek
Salad:Mixed greens with toasted walnuts, dried cranberries and homeade organic balsamic vinagrette
Entree: Witnter Vegetables over couscous or Roasted Vegetable Kabobs
Derrert; A very generous portion of Michigan apple crisp with organic oats, walnuts and vanilla icecream
(And it was only $14!)

This was a fantastic evening full of great food, great music and most importantly great company. It just reinforced in my mind the meaning of sharing a meal together. A meal is more than food it can be an experience. It was just heart warming and inspiring to eat an entire meal from food that was grown with care and prepared in a great way that used the flavors in their best way instead of overseasoning, and masking the natural beauty of the food. Being surrounded by people that care enough to come to a dinner devoted to thinking global but eating local was just amazing. I couldn't stop smiling and thanking my friends for coming out with me and making the night so special. It was great to feel that excited about something, I haven't felt that great and hopeful for the world in a long time.

The owner of the resturant liked this night so much that he wants to have more groups involved in a monthly evening like this. Meghan who is in the food science club with me jumped on the chance to host the next one. Hopefully it will be just as successful.

New Semester

I am pursuing my undergraduate at MSU in Food Science Technology. I am so happy for this new semester. It seems like I am finally going to be getting my hands dirty with real food science stuff. My previous semesters were filled with general prerequisites such as chemistry, organic chemistry, calc, biochemistry, and others. So this semester I am taking the following:

Intro to food Engineering
Microbiology
Microbiology Lab
Food Sensory
Cereals Processing
And for fun Jazz and society which is part of the required social classes

Other good news is that I am HACCP certified! I passed my food safety class and got a good enough grade on the project that I can be certified. I am so happy that all of my hard work paid off for that. The project came up right before finals and was very tedious, but in the end I guess well worth the efforts.

So far I am really looking forward to everything. Although with 16 credit hours, work and other extracurricular activities I really need to use my time wisely and I'm a little worried that I won't be able to put as much time into everything as I should. I am also trying to find a summer internship. Luckily internships in the food science field are paid! And paid well! But because of that they are obviously very competitive. Some of the internships are also longer than the summer, which would put graduation back a bit....but depending on the opportunity might be very well worth it.
I have been a little discouraged with finding an internship. Last semester I interviewed with 3 companies and didn't get any of them. But in reality that isn't bad, and many people were interviewed as well.

Getting to the food aspect of this blog. Today I prepared a little spin on a chicken Waldorf salad. I used poached and shredded chicken, green grapes, carrots, and pomegranates. I had this in a pita for dinner, I don't really know where the inspiration for this came from but it was very satisfying. I have been looking for creative, tasty, healthy meals that I can prep early in the week to have for later. Some days I am just not able to have lunch, or only have about 10 minutes to eat it. Last week I made some homemade chewy granola bars that I hope to experiment with a little more. The binder is peanut butter, honey and brown sugar- I added odds and ends of nuts, cereal, and dried fruit that I had left over from making a type of trail mix. They turned out pretty well but I would like to change it up a bit and maybe get some different flavors in there.

I realize this post is a little schizophrenic in a way, with lots of direction and not a lot of substance. However that is the kind of life I'm living at the moment. Hopefully things will slow down soon so my head can stop spinning but that's unlikely. I know I don't have a lot of readers (if any at all), and really that is fine for me because my blog is young, I'm doing this for myself, and I feel I haven't developed a writing style yet. I just felt I needed to get a post up before it is too long in-between posts and I get out of the swing of things even further. I hope that as I am able to actually cook more and post more the writing will improve and I will gain a better style of sharing my thoughts, concerns, and passions.