Dr. Horrible

My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew arrived in town today, so there won't be much blog activity for the next week or so. To tide you over (since I know there are maybe one of two of you that actually read this thing on a regular basis) I must link to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which started on Tuesday. My understanding of its origin is that during the writer's strike, Joss Whedon was playing around with ideas on how to distribute content online. The resulting three part, 40 minute musical comedy is off to a good start. It features Neil Patrick Harris (if you only know of him from Doogie Howser, then you don't know him. He is a legitimate Broadway star and has an Emmy nomination for his current show How I Met Your Mother), Nathan Fillion (who worked with Whedon on Firefly and Serenity) and Felicia Day (who worked with Whedon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Go check out Dr. Horrible, and be sure to stick with it past the opening bit where he's reading emails. Once the music starts, it gets much better.

Missing The Office?

New webisodes for The Office have started at the NBC website. It looks like they will focus on Kevin's gambling debt. The first episode is below.

Your Food Footprint

There are lots of reasons to eat locally produced food but in my mind the most important one is the taste. Another important factor is the potential for locally produced food to have less of an environmental impact than food that has been shipped across the country or over the ocean. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to tell how much carbon has been released by the production of the food we eat. From the fertilizers (which are often petroleum based) to tractors and combines, to the trucks and trains and ships that transport the food, a lot of carbon based fuel is burned to get that loaf of bread or fresh salad on your table.

One of the worst offenders is beef, especially grain-fed beef. Two researchers from CMU's Engineering school's Public Policy department published research this spring that suggested that changing only one day per week's meat and dairy-based calories to chicken, fish, or vegetables would have about the same impact on greenhouse gases as shifting to an entirely locally produced diet. That's how bad beef is for the environment. Here is an excerpt from an article about their research:

Weber and colleague Scott Matthews, also of Carnegie Mellon, conducted a life-cycle assessment of greenhouse gases emitted during all stages of growing and transporting food consumed in the U.S. They found that transportation creates only 11% of the 8.1 metric tons (t) of greenhouse gases (in CO₂ equivalents) that an average U.S. household generates annually as a result of food consumption. The agricultural and industrial practices that go into growing and harvesting food are responsible for most (83%) of its greenhouse gas emissions.

For perspective, food accounts for 13% of every U.S. household's 60 t share of total U.S. emissions; this includes industrial and other emissions outside the home. By comparison, driving a car that gets 25 miles per gallon of gasoline for 12,000 miles per year (the U.S. average) produces about 4.4 t of CO₂. Switching to a totally local diet is equivalent to driving about 1000 miles less per year, Weber says.

Driving less and using more fuel efficient vehicles are obviously important parts of dealing with climate change, but eating less beef is more important by several orders of magnitude. A nice side benefit is the healthier heart you end up with if you replace beef with more vegetables and whole grains in your diet.

From a public policy perspective, I think that a carbon tax is probably the best way to encourage more intelligent choices by the public. Eating beef has a large cost to the environment associated with it that is largely hidden to the public. A carbon tax would capture the cost to the environment from growing the grain (fertilizers, transportation, etc.) that feeds the cattle as well as the environment costs of transporting the beef. Grass-fed beef would become less expensive relative to grain-fed beef.

When choosing what to eat, the items that do more damage to the environment ought to cost more. Often the relative price difference of our food reflects the power of different lobbies (the corn lobby is why high fructose corn syrup is so cheap, and therefore why it is in so much of our food) as much as anything else. If the price of food included the cost to the environment, then consumers could make more informed choices.

July Recipe

(Each month, I include a recipe in the monthly newsletter for the kitchen where I work. These recipes need to complement the entrees on our menu that particular month, and are targeted towards our average customer. That means it needs to be simple, require little active prep work, and use only the most basic ingredients. Here is what we published in July.)

The zucchini plants in my backyard are full of blossoms, so soon I will be able to eat squash for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 7 days a week! My favorite way to prepare zucchini is on the grill. As in roasting, grilling vegetables requires little fat, making it heart-healthy, and brings out the vegetable's inherent sweetness.

Whether you are using summer squash, sweet potatoes, onions, corn, eggplant, peppers, or new potatoes, there are a few rules of thumb:

1. Cut the vegetable so that it can be placed along the grates of your grill without falling into the fire. For skinny vegetables like zucchini or sweet potatoes, cut them into long spears. For round vegetables like onions or eggplant, use thick discs. (A skewer through the side of the onion slices will help keep it from falling through the grates) Whatever shape you use, make sure the pieces are thick, ½ to ¾ of an inch.


2. Lightly brush the cut side of the vegetable with olive oil. You can season the oil with salt and pepper, garlic, rosemary, or any dried herb, but plain olive oil works great on its own.


3. For corn, peel all but the innermost, transparent layer of the husk off. Trim the silk off the end of the corn. There is no need to oil the husk or wrap it in foil (which will steam the corn instead of cooking it with direct heat)


4. Use a medium-hot fire. The density of the vegetable will determine the length of time they will need to cook. Potatoes and onions will take the longest (10-12 minutes, turning once) while zucchini or peppers are a bit quicker (8-10 minutes, turning once). Corn also takes 10-12 minutes, but it needs to be turned every 1-2 minutes.

So the next time you are firing up the grill for some Carne Asada, Grilled Blackened Salmon, or Raspberry BBQ chicken, fix your sides at the same time, on the same grill!

The Wayback Machine

On Wednesday, the girl with whom I attended my senior prom stopped by the kitchen where I work. Kathy was in town visiting her parents. Her sister-in-law, Sarah (who also was a member of our graduating class) works with me at the kitchen and suggested that Kathy should come in to say "hello." She reminded me that this cooking thing with me goes way back. For our prom, I cooked as elegant a dinner as is possible for an 18 year old boy to make.

It was fun to hear about Kathy and her husband. She had pictures of their kids (all 4 of them!) with her. Kathy and I got to know each other through music (she played bass in the orchestra while I played tuba - the bass instruments always stuck together!) She somehow finds time to teach a couple of strings classes a week at her kids' school.

Then today, my best friend from childhood showed up in the comments on my post about the Colorado trip. I guess it shows how out of touch I am, but I thought KC was still living in Asia. It turns out that he's back in Overland Park. It will be great to see him, and his family, again.

I wonder who from my past will show up next!

Colorado

The hiking was great, at least when I wasn't worried about lightening. There were a few times when it was closer than I would have liked. The set of pictures can be found here.

On the road

Yesterday afternoon, after stopping for a Local Burger (this time I went with Elk), I drove about 2/3's of the way to Colorado. The bugs sounded like rain against my windshield in Western Kansas near dusk. I think I need a paint scraper to clean the front of my truck.

After a quick stop at the REI in Denver this morning (they are having a sale this week) it will be on the mountains. My goal is to bring back pictures of wildflowers.

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Swallows of San Juan - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
2. Chip N' Tony - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
3. Chelsea Hotel '78 - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
4. Sister Lost Soul - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
5. Smoke - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
6. Sensitive Boys - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
7. Golden Bear - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
8. Hollywood Hills - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
9. Slow Down - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
10. Nuns Song - Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal

No surprise that I've been listening to Real Animal a lot recently. The ballads on this album (Swallows of San Juan, Hollywood Hills, Golden Bear, Sensitive Boys, Slow Down) are some of my favorites. Occasionally the backing vocals are a bit smaltzy for my taste, which is kind of funny to have on an album that is nostalgic for Alejandro's punk days. I can't wait to hear these songs performed live.