Who Funds Contrariness on Climate Change?: Scientific American

Who Funds Contrariness on Climate Change?: Scientific American: "If someone really believes in 'free market' solutions, and libertarianism, I mean really believes in a free market to solve most or all problems, then why be a denialist at all? It is inconvenient? If you really believe in a free market solution let it do the solving; stop trying to artificially help it out. Scientific research supports the climate change theory so that should be an opportunity in a free market not the condemnation of it."

brilliant statement, thank you so much.

Local Places: Cafe via Roma

Pros:

Lots of Capitol gossip. Soups are good. Best salads in town, my fave being the Vesuvio. Also, the Breakfast Panini is delish. Iced tea is always fresh. Great selection of syrups.

Cons:

You might get the grumpy/spaced out barista, who makes the worst latte in Jefferson City, next to Chez Monet who have demonstrated they do not understand the concept. Otherwise service is delightful.

Local Places: Arris Pizza

There is a grand tradition in the mid-Missouri area of Greek family pizzarias. The best of the crop was the first in the area, Arris'. The crust is pretty consistent among the various Greek eateries: thin, crispy at the edges and chewy in the middle. Arris' seems a bit crisper than most, which suits me fine. Toppings cover the usual gamut, and the more unusual ones,  spicy Greek sausage and gyro meat, are appropriately Greek and both delicious. There are a number of combinations named after familiar ancient Greeks; my personal favorite is the Hippocrates, which features every single vegetable on the menu. I like to order it light on the cheese. It doesn't make it health food, but it alleviates my guilty conscience. And this is one guilt-inducing pleasure I don't plan on sacrificing.

Mediterranean Lunch

Look at the great lunch Abbey packed me: a spinach salad with browned hallumi and baba ghanouj! Yum.

If only there were two of me

I've been taking a hiatus from the Cooler to establish a health-oriented blog (Mike's Health Magazine, you'll find it in the sidebar) with my wife. Currently we're in the beginning throes of taking a stab at South Beach. It seems contrary to what I stand for, typically; every fiber of my being is objecting. I don't respond well to restrictions placed upon my diet, and I think it's usually incumbent upon mature diners everywhere to explore the world around them, not shut it out. But the winter weight is especially heavy this time around, and, being in my mid-forties, a little extra weight is making me feel a lot more tired, sore, and grumpy that it might have ten or twenty years ago. Abbey and I have friends who have indeed lost their extra baggage on this plan, so we are going for it.

And just when Jefferson City finally has a decent (nay, GREAT) full-service bakery! I can't eat any of it. It makes the baby Jesus cry.

If you aren't me or Abbey, you probably don't know me (yet!), but I can tell you this: I do not suffer boring food gladly. Yes, I do have a few comfort food holdovers from childhood that I feel the need to indulge in from time to time (is there anything better than thickly sliced, genuine bologna and sharp cheddar with Miracle Whip on homemade bread with Pepsi from a glass bottle? Not much!), but overall I think I have pretty eclectic tastes, and plenty of opinions to share. I don't intend to hang on a thread eating egg beaters and salad with skinless chicken breast. Check out the spice-heavy ragout we had just tonight. Some of this will spill over from the health blog to the Cooler, inevitably. Stay tuned.

Paleo Girl

I've been reading up on the Paleo diet, mainly through the interesting blogs Free the Animal and Mark's Daily Apple. I'm especially interesting in light of our friend Rob revealing he'd lost 60 lbs following the South Beach diet, which has a lot (mainly no refined carbs) in common with the Paleo diet.

Tonight, it occurred to me maybe my diet guru could come from a closer, unexpected source.

Our six-year old girl, Olivia, mainly subsides on chicken nuggets. We're trying to get her off of the kid chow and into a more eclectic mode, figuring even if the alternatives aren't ultra-healthy, getting her used to variety is more important than any specific nutritional goals right now. So tonight, the parents had spaghetti carbonara with bacon and a lovely green salad. Olivia saw the carbonara and requested its distant cousin, ramen, for her dinner. We made it but it turns out of the two we have in stock, "red" ramen (beef) and "orange" ramen (chicken), she indulges in the orange variety exclusively. As we had only red ramen and are clueless parents, the ramen was red, and she rejected it.

Along with the ramen were several sliced strawberries. Also on the table were extra slices of bacon left over from creating the carbonara. Now, bacon is a provision for which olivia has great fondness. In no time Olivia ate all of the strawberries and all of the bacon, four pieces in total. The perfect Paleo dinner. Mark Sisson would be proud. And her obstinance gives me something to think about, too- what are we doing eating so many carbs at this dinner when Abbey are I were so knocked out about Rob's accomplishment, vowing to do something similar in the new year to shed our extra inches?

Food for thought...

But the carbonara, by the way... was awesome.

Pumpkin-riffic

Punkins everywhere! Why waste such an opportunity?

Guts

Seeds

Inside

Pie