firecat

In the Pipeline is a blog written by an organic chemist who works in pharmaceutical development. He writes with intelligent laypeople in mind.

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2013/06/21/eight_toxic_foods_a_little_chemical_education.php refutes some of the misinformation in a fearmongering Buzzfeed article called "8 foods we eat in the U.S. that are banned in other countries." (The article is actually about chemical additives, some of which are not actually banned in other countries.)

I have felt especially fed up by pseudoscience lately (possibly having something to do with the latest shenanigans of the AMA *cough*). So this post scratched a particularly irritating itch of mine. A couple of excerpts:

If we're going to play the "made from the same atoms" game, well, strychnine and heroin are derived from the same harmful chemicals as the essential amino acids and B vitamins. Those harmful chemicals, in case you're wondering, are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
...
If you're having chicken and rice and you want to worry about arsenic, worry about the rice.

Read the comments if you like to see people named "Anonymous" questioning whether the blogger is a real scientist.

If you like that, I also recommend the posts with the tag "Things I Won't Work With." Some of them are laugh-out-loud hilarious. http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with/


None of this is intended to be an opinion about what anyone does or does not eat.

I was just treated to a really good dinner at the Madison Concourse restaurant, Dayton Street Grill. The restaurant has a new chef since the last time I was at Wiscon (and according to my dinner companion, since last year). It's definitely more than "a convenient hotel restaurant" now, at least for dinner.

They serve three sauces, out of a list of twenty, with each entree. You can either pick your own sauces or they will recommend some. I went with their recommended sauces for the short ribs, and was happy. Not only did the sauces add something to the ribs (which were very tender and came with their own sauce, which was also tasty), but the ribs were served with a risotto I actually liked. (I almost never like risotto...something about the texture.)

Tonight they were also serving some specials, which are supposedly previews of what will be on the menu later this year. One of the specials was "Cheese bread." I'll just say that it's not what it sounds like, and it's superb.

This post in JunkFoodScience examines whether there is good evidence to support the widespread belief that people with type 2 diabetes should attempt to lose weight and/or eat according to a particular food plan (low-carb or modified fat or what have you). It concludes that there is no good evidence to support weight loss or any particular food plan as a treatment for type 2 diabetes—not many studies have been done, and the studies that have been done are flawed.

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/08/evidence-behind-dietary-and-lifestyle.html

Bacon brittle

Bacon baklava

I would make them, but bacon has a tendency to go from the draining and cooling stage directly into my mouth.

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

There are 38 brands of "meat chunks in gravy" type cat food listed.

ETA: See comments for a link to voluntary recall participation by several individual pet food brands. Nutro is also participating:
http://www.nutroproducts.com/menufoods.asp

The OH and I went to a new-to-us restaurant for brunch - Piccadilly Catering in Foster City. They have a Cajun brunch buffet every Sunday.

http://www.piccadillycatering.com/cajun.htm

They didn't have everything listed on the menu (didn't see any smoked chicken, gumbo, or grits), but -

They had the best Jambalaya I've ever had outside New Orleans. (And since one of my favorite restaurants is Creo La, which has very good Jambalaya, that's saying something.)

The mac'n'cheese was the best I've had in a long time, and so was the fried chicken and peach cobbler. The BBQ pork ribs were excellent. The specials were prime rib and crawfish etouffé, and we could have had cooked-to-order broiled or fried catfish if we'd asked for it. Brunch came with individual crab cake and deep fried prawn appetizers with creole sauce, delivered to the table.

I appreciated that they had serve-yourself coffee, because when I'm in a coffee mood I drink a lot very fast and feel guilty pestering the wait staff to bring more. The coffee was very tasty.

The hostess/proprietress, Pam, made us feel very welcome even though we arrived a bit early and not all the food was out yet. (So we got to concentrate on the Jambalaya for a while.) It's a small place, holds about 32 people. Price is a flat $23 per person, which includes tax.

(Oh, and she's really cute.)