Stop Blogging and Cook

What you do every day matters more than
what you do once in a while.  ~Gretchen Rubin The Happiness Project (2009)

TODAY’S PREPARATION

CLARITY LIGHT ON SIX WORD SATURDAY
This meme is brought to you by Cate at Show My Face.  Brevity rules: Six Words Do It.

Don’t you hate being put on hold?  Such is the business of The Big Food Corporation, which will remain anonymous, called requesting information.  When I get a good response worthy of being identified, I’ll let you know.

I wanted to find out about nutritional information for a powdered sports drink.  Food label information was based on four grams.  But is it for the mixed beverage or the dry mix?  How much is four grams?  About one-sixth of a teaspoon.  It must be for the dry mix; one-sixth of a teaspoon is hardly a sip.   Or maybe a single serving packet.  But that is not the size of the single serving.

The representative on the phone was not equipped to give me the information without a barcode.  Did she not hear me say, “I’m on the website”?  Don’t they expect people to look on their website before buying their product?  Put on hold for over three minutes while she looked for the information, she came back on the line saying that she would have to search for the information and would I continue to hold?  And she kept calling me “Ma’am”.  The only thing more annoying than being called “Ma’am” is being called it in every sentence.  I bet she wouldn’t like being called “Ma’am” in every sentence.

“I’m going to have to search for that information, ma’am.  Would you mind holding, ma’am?”
“No, I don’t care to hold any longer, ma’am.  Doesn’t your company have computers, ma’am?”

She invited me to look on the website for the information I wanted.  I was on the website and am questioning the information shown.

I sent an email, asking about the serving size and why it didn’t correspond to the serving size of the container or a reasonable approximation of a serving.  I received an automatic reply that my request was being seen to.  That was, oh, about three days ago.  I’m still waiting but not optimistic.  If I was inclined to buy a sports drink, which I am not, I would not buy this one.  Another good reason to avoid buying The Big Food Corporation’s products.  Pass it on.

EXCUSE ME, WHAT DID YOU SAY?
In a quandry as to how to pronounce non-English food terms?  Scroll down the page; tere’s a handy guide, complete with audio.  The Comments offer others not on the list.  Don’t give people reason to roll their eyes at your errors of pronunciation.  And, when enlightened, don’t correct others; just remember that we have all been in those squeaky shoes.

Although I did see just this week, an e-reference to a coup de ta, I did not correct, tempting though it was.  Written by someone who hadn’t seen fit to Google the phonetic spelling.  I always used to think that it would be doing folks a favor to enlighten them as to correct pronunciation, but no, I  sadly learned the hard way.  I recently experienced near mortification upon hearing someone poke fun at someone else’s mispronunciation of a word that I had been guilty of saying for years.  Sheesh.  Best to endeavor to correct ourselves, saving others the trouble.

GULF IS NO LONGER CRYSTAL CLEAR
Check out contest entries for the redesign of the BP logo.  The Gulf disaster is no laughing matter, but these logos will give you an ironic laugh at well-directed efforts to place responsibility where due, graphically.

PUNCH FOR A HOT SUMMER DAY
It’s hot.  You’re thirsty.  What to drink?  Well, you know that still water is the best thirst quencher around.  It’s (almost) free, delivered to you daily, and available at the turn of a tap.  And if you filter it through a Brita or similar system, you’ll filter out the impurities gathered from the plumbing pipes that may have corrosion built up over the years.  If water doesn’t send you, make iced tea.  There are many herbal teas; I find that the berry (raspberry, strawberry, cherry or a mix) and flower (jasmine)  flavors are the most pleasant and aromatic.

Rooibos, a tea leaf from South Africa, is high in antioxidants, low in tannin, inherently lacking in caffeine and has a gorgeous amber color.  Described as slightly sweet and nutty, it’s flavor wonder escaped me so I simply added it to my wild berry tea and bottomed up, delighting in the knowledge that I was filling myself with antioxidant power.  Added to sparkling water or seltzer or club soda give it a refreshing fizziness.  A squirt of lemon or lime doesn’t hurt.

Try  tea this summer.  Can the soda pop – even the sugar-free variety – because you know it’s no good.  Neither the pop nor the container that it comes in – aluminum or plastic – is good for the environment, the planet’s or your own biosystem.  Wasn’t there a tag line for tea ages ago, “Take tea and see“?  That is ringing in my ears, a faded memory all but forgotten.

Today’s preparation is for Summer Punch.  Funny, punch needs no recipe.  Just add fruit juice to tea and/or/club soda and you’re done.  Don’t use fruit juice with added sugar; you’ll diminish the purpose of avoiding soda pop.  Cider, cranberry, grape or apple, pineapple, lemon or lime juice, or apricot or pear nectar.  Any juice without added sugar will do.  Orange juice, okay, even though it is made with sugar, you know.  (The legal definition of orange juice contains added sugar, as well as other flavorings and chemicals which is why you won’t find those ingredients on the label.)  But  oj is better than soda pop.  And, you can add a little beet juice (water from cooking red beets) to give it a rosy color.

This preparation does add some spice to the punch bowl, packing a stronger flavor punch.  Feel free to experiment, and forget the punch bowl, unless you’re having a party.  Save those seltzer water containers or liquor bottles, or keep in a tea jug in the refrigerator to quench any thirst, anytime.

Tags: beverage, breakfast, fruit, gluten-free, good for you food, healthy choices, vegan, whole food