According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the South has once again taken the cake (pardon the pun) for the most obese region in the country. In the most recent issue of their Morbidity and Mortality Report, Alabama checks in with around 30.3% of adults being obese. Mississippi is slightly ahead with a 32% adult obesity rate. By the way, if you're with the CDC and reading this, your report officially has the most depressing sounding title of all weekly reports ever. 

The typical factors are to blame: bad diet, high poverty rates, and low levels of physical activity. Unfortunately with the current economy and increase in the local jobless rate, things could possibly get worse. The good news is that small changes can lead to big improvements.

So this weekend, we recommend three small steps that everyone can do to begin a healthier lifestyle:

1. If/when you go see the new Batman movie (The Dark Knight), park farther away than you normally would and take a walk around the surrounding shopping center and do some window shopping. You'd be surprised at how a few extra steps can make the ol' ticker happy.
2. Swing out to the Pepper Place Farmers market and pick up some fruits and veggies for the week to replace other snack alternatives. Click here to go the Pepper Place market website for more information.
3. If you're out this weekend and the hunger pangs strike and need immediate sustenance, use this handy-dandy "How to Eat Healthy at Fast Food Joint" guide from Real Simple magazine.

If you have any other great healthy lifestyle ideas that you would like to share, leave us a comment. In the meantime, have a great weekend and maybe we'll see you at the market!

Manchmal ist die Essensbeschaffung schon ganz schön kompliziert. Heute war so ein Tag wo ich leider wirklich vollkommen auf Fast Food angewiesen war, ich musste schnell Anschlusszüge bekommen und wollte zwischendurch mir schnell etwas zu Essen holen. Fast Food sollte ja auch gemäß dem Namen schnell gehen. Aber alleine die Auswahl ist schon ein immenses Hindernis für entscheidungsunsichere Menschen wie ich.

Mein Tag beginnt morgens in der Bagel Bakery.
Gedankenverloren sage ich: "Ein Bagel zum Mitnehmen bitte".
"Welche Sorte hätten Sie denn gerne", fragt mich die überaus nette Bedienung, die schon morgens um sieben Uhr so motiviert und energiegeladen wirkt, dass man geradezu selber von ihrer Vitalität angesteckt wird (werden die eigentlich beim Einstellungsgepräch darauf getestet wie breit die grinsen können?!)
Oje...welche Sorte. 15 verschiedene zur Auswahl. Na dann entscheide ich mich mal für den Natur Bagel.
"Doppelt oder einfach Käse?"
Schon wieder eine Entscheidung. Doppelt! Käse ist doch immer gut.
"Salatgurken oder normale Gurken?"
Was weiß ich? Ist mir doch egal. Ich will nur einen Bagel.
"Salatgurken."
"Und welche Soße?"
Ahhh...noch drei Minuten bis mein Zug abfährt. Hätte ich mich im Bett bloß nicht nochmal umgedreht. Aber wer kann schon ahnen, dass man so lange braucht, um einen Bagel zu bestellen.
Geschätzte zehn Fragen weiter stehe ich an der Kasse.
"Zum Mitnehmen oder hier essen?"
Natürlich zum Mitnehmen oder ist ihr mein nervöser Blick, der sich sekündlich zur Uhr hinwendet, etwa entgangen?
"Haben sie schon Bonuspunkte gesammelt?"
Oh Mann! Welcher Laden kommt eigentlich mittlerweile noch ohne Bonus-, Kunden- oder Paybackkarte aus. Nein danke, ich will nur meinen Bagel.
Ich hetze zum Gleis. Mein Zug hat 15 Minuten Verspätung. Wenn auf jemand Verlass ist, dann doch auf die Deutsche Bahn. Super, also kann ich wenigstens den Bagel in aller Ruhe essen.

Ich steige in Frankfurt aus. Die Müdigkeit macht sich in meinem Gesicht breit. Ab zu Starbucks, noch einen Kaffee bevor ich anfangen muss zu arbeiten. Aber Oh Nein! Hier wiederholt sich die gleiche Prozedur!
"Welche Größe soll ihr Getränk haben?"
"Mit oder ohne Sahne?"
"Heiß oder Gekühlt?"
"Extra Karamell?"

Unglaublich...da bin ich wirklich schon total entnervt als ich endlich die Arbeit erreiche. Und dabei wollte ich nur einen Bagel und einen Kaffee. Fast Food zum Abgewöhnen!

Men and women who lived in past centuries had to face a huge number of problems: famine, Viking attacks, the possibility that Goodie Proctor would accuse them of being a witch... Far worse than any of these, however, was the fact that their food was so darn slow. It took forever to prepare, we’re talking hours here, and there wasn’t any decent method of refrigeration available (unless you lived in the Norway), so you had to make nearly everything from scratch.

Fast food helped bring an end to all that. It started with the Automat in New York, which offered pre-made meals at surprisingly low prices. People appreciated the convenience, so the concept caught on and other fast food restaurants began to spring up across the nation. It soon became possible to get a hamburger and fries in just a few short minutes, through a revolutionary process known as letting the food simmer all day under the hot lights until someone decides to order one.

Unfortunately, fast food also happens to be remarkably less healthy than regular meals. The Double Six Dollar Burger at Carl's Jr. has 1560 calories alone. A Chocolate Milkshake at McDonald’s has 1160 calories, and even the healthy choices tend to be bad for you, with the Southwestern Salad at Jack in the Box clocking in at 870 calories, though that’s mostly just the Ranch dressing.

The result can be seen all around you. America, quite frankly, is a large nation, and a huge number of its citizens suffer from obesity and heart disease. It's also doubtful that this will change any time soon. People absolutely love their triple decker hamburgers with double cheese and four strips of bacon and slathered mayonnaise and a fried egg on top, and if you want them to give such tasty meals up, you’re going to have to pry it out of their cold dead hands. So you should have it by next Tuesday.

Quizzno's $5.00 Sub Sandwich

I stopped at the Quizzno's restaurant off Lockwood Blvd and Route 224 for dinner tonight. I saw all the commercials from Subway and from Quizzno's. Both joints are touting $5 dollar foot long sandwiches. Well, feast your eyes upon Quizzno's version of the $5 dollar sub.
(Click the photo for a much larger version)

To begin with, the sub above was not a foot long. More like 9 inches.

Next, this giant sub had three slices of turkey. Yes kids, that's right, three thin slices of turkey. Not anything remotely similar to what the commercials on TV depict. This is blatant false advertising at it's finest.

Moving on, the sandwich had two pieces of cheese. Yup, just two pieces of cheese. Cut in half and spread on the bun.

To top it off, the bacon was pieces, but just by eye balling the sandwich, it was not more than two standard slices of bacon.

The cost was $5.00 for this sandwich. Let's take a minute and analyze the ingredients of this sandwich. three slices of turkey. I can buy a pound of turkey at the local Giant Eagle grocery store for $4.99 which consists of approximately 25 slices, or about 20 cents a slice.

The bacon is $1.99 a box, which is 15 slices, or 13 cents a slice.

The cheese is $4.99 per pound which is 20 slices or 25 cents a slice.

The bun is $1.99 for an eight pack of sub buns, which is 25 cents a bun.

Let's add it all together. 60 cents turkey, 26 cents bacon, 50 cents for cheese, and 25 cents for the bun. Grand total $1.61 for the sandwich. Keep in mind that Quizzno's has to have better costs than my retail prices.

The Grassy Knoll Institute is highly disappointed in Quizzno's awarding only 1 shot out of five and does not recommend them for lunch, dinner, or any event of any kind.

Back To Blue Plate Special Archives

LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL

The journey started off early.  Of course, I managed to fret the night before as I thought about things I might need, things I might have forgotten about.  It was all for naught anyways because my car was absolutely packed to the gills with stuff.

Then there's the nightmare.  It's not only the insanity of committing to a choice in school but the anxiety of leaving a poor paying job for school and school not amounting to anything but the same job I've been doing anyways.

The morning starts off at the local McDonald's as mom had some coupons for some new breakfast sandwich.  After getting food and coffee, we hit I-70 East and started our journey.  Not much to look at in the middle of nowhere Eastern Colorado.  I listen to a couple of old podcasts and we hit Goodland, KS in good time and with nary a dent in the gas tank.  It's pretty hard to decide where Colorado ends and Kansas begins.  Eastern Colorado is so flat and empty and Kansas really looks no different.  Maybe the colors of the crops are what set the two states apart.  I guess some borders really are arbitrary, imaginary lines.

Our next stop on the route is Topeka, KS.  The trip planner said we would probably stop in Topeka for our last gas up.  Unfortunately, the gas tank started looking pretty empty.  Mom freaks out and we're still out 35 miles from Topeka so we side track to some nowhere town where gas is fiendishly expensive to fill up.

For the record we would have made it to Topeka just fine on the remaining fuel.

Topeka yields a brief stop at Burger King for a late lunch of dollar menu treats before setting off.  Since the drive was set to be our longest of the trip, we would be hitting Kansas City and the Missouri border just as rush hour traffic hit.  Luckily, Kansas City's pretty easy to circumnavigate and rush hour proved to add a mere half hour to the trip.

Missouri seemed unusually lush compared to the last time I drove through their almost five years ago.  Lots of big, green trees lined the highways.  Since the solstice recently passed, the sun was out super late even as we made it to Columbia, MO.  We stopped at a Super 8 Motel for the night and unloaded the necessities.  Dinner was a simple, touch of Taco Bell value menu chicken soft taco.  Of course in the span of one day, I manage to consume more fast food than I have the entire past year.

I call it a day after checking e-mails.

Daily Summary:
Total Miles - 718 miles
Hours Drivern - 12.5 (not counting time zone changes)
Gas Fill-ups - 2.5

From Columbia, MO to Cleveland, OH - June 24, 2008

Breakfast at the Super 8 motel was a blessing.  I doubt most people think of the complimentary continental breakfast as anything decent but they had fresh fruit and this was something after eating three meals of processed grease masquerading as food.

Timing seemed to be on our side as we made our way through Columbia.  A levy apparently just started to spring a leak the morning we were leaving.  Thankfully crossing through the remainder of Missouri was brief and we avoided any potential inconvenience of the situation.  We skirted around St. Louis and it was amazing to see the Mississippi River swollen and lazily moving downstream.  Although under the circumstances of all the flooding and the threat it posed.

Illinois was a brief cut through into Indiana.  Everything in these states is just flat and plain looking.  There's nothing really out within the expanse of Southern Illinois.  We stopped at a Subway for lunch.  I took in a map of Indianapolis and a view of the metropolitan area.  The city is essentially Indiana and extends out like a cancer on the land.

The Ohio state line greeted us in the late afternoon and we eventually reached Cleveland at around 7 PM local time.

Now the blog diverges for a bit to talk a bit about family.

We stopped for the night at my second cousin's house, Lewis Loeb.  He's the last, "close" relative on my father's side of the family.  His mother passed away three years earlier at the dignified age of 97.  Since she's passed on this makes Lewis, my father, and myself the last of this particular branch of the Loeb name.

Lewis lives alone in a rather large house.  It is devoid of people except for a rather inquisitive and funny cat named Moose which prowls around the house.  Mosse is the most active fat cat I have ever seen.  Lewis had a stroke a few years back which makes getting around a bit difficult for him.  His home is sparsely furnished.  He keeps little.  A 19" HDTV and a full range of cable channels is his only guilty pleasure and he owns no computer.  He walks a lot and plays with his cat.  For a man of his age, 74, and condition, he is in good shape although he looks a bit frail.

We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  The staff is pretty rude and the food was pretty mediocre despite my dad's insistence on its quality and the local Jewish newspapers awards of quality.  I'd rather have gone to the Jewish deli Lewis recommended.  Of course we were shot down by mom and dad.  Anyways, we ate the meal and left.  Lewis needed to pick up cat food for Moose.  I guess the pet store knew Lewis and the braces bearing, tie-dye wearing high school girl eagerly helped him find food and they chit-chatted about the wily cat.  We also took Lewis grocery shopping for some items so he would not have to make the long trek on his own.

After all of this, we called it a night.  It was much later than I planned for but our last day of driving would be a short one.

Daily Summary:
Total Miles - 1405 miles
Hours Drivern - 11 hours (not counting time zone changes)
Gas Fill-ups - 2

From Cleveland, OH to Syracuse, NY - June 25, 2008

Morning came pretty quickly and I was still pretty weary from exhaustion.  I slept poorly but this has been par for the course.  I'm sure this has to do with the sudden and rapid changes taking over my life.  I watched the sunset come up and played with Moose for a bit while I waited for Lewis and mom to wake up.  I had a glass of orange juice with Lewis before loading back up.  We bid Lewis and Moose goodbye.  I wish the timing had been better so we could have spent more time in Cleveland.  Mostly, I just wanted to pick Lewis' brain a bit about the family history.

The road out of Cleveland set us through Pennsylvania and then into New York.  We decided to forego lunch in favor of just getting to Syracuse as soon as possible.  Of course New York had the funny way of greeting me with a series of toll booths.  It seems to be really backwards for New York state home to one of the premier cities to have tolls on its road especially with gas being what it is already.  I guess the inevitable downturn in tax collection on the roads is why the state's so eager to collect its Internet tax.  Sometimes I wonder about the priorities of government...

Anyways, we arrived in Syracuse and settled into our hotel.  For being a fairly inexpensive hotel, the Comfort Inn was surprisingly nice if a bit rustic.  So rustic, our door seemed reluctant to let anyone enter.  The hotel was closer to North Syracuse and the airport so it was a bit difficult to gauge the town.

For my first meal in my new city, mom and I decided to take in some Korean fare.  This was two fold because we were both craving it and mom wanted to pump a local for some information about Syracuse to help me out.  The owner of Seoul Buffet was really nice and helpful.  She told me I could make this place my kitchen away from home and she would cook for me like a Korean mother.

It's too bad I found the city to be so underwhelming.  Looking at Syracuse University I found the campus to be this interesting amalgamation of old and new.  The construction around the university added this sense of the institution being in flux and trying to re-invent itself for the new age.  The rest of the city couldn't be more different.  The city appeared to be abandoned.  This appearance of a place hit by hard economic times mixed in with the frustrations of the economic downturn.  Nothing of the city looked appealing to me.

Then there's the weather.  I don't mind warm or even hot weather but Colorado is a dry climate.  Heat is just heat it doesn't weigh on you or sap the strength.  The humidity on arrival was just absolute murder.  The humidity coupled with the heat just makes everything sluggish and too oppressive to do anything.  I couldn't stop sweating once I exited the confines of an air conditioned room.  My sweat was so bad I managed to completely destroy a new-ish t-shirt.

They say first impressions are everything.  I can't say Syracuse has made a good one.

Trip Summary:
Total Miles - 1753 miles
Hours Drivern - 29 hours (not counting time zone changes)
Gas Fill-ups - 5.5

To be continued...

For those of you who read the previous blog, this quite possibly could go hand-in-hand with our current condition. When we got home from Kidsplosion, Emma had a "mini-explosion" herself. I didn't think anything of it other than she may have had a belly ache or something. She didn't complain once so she went to bed and was fine.

I woke up Wednesday morning not feeling so hot. I felt a little nauseated. My first thought, no, not thought. It was a panic! I was in a panic thinking I could be pregnant. I went to work, it got worse and worse. I didn't eat breakfast so I thought maybe if I ate lunch I'd feel better. So I went up to my local Chinese hole-in-the-wall joint which I have been faithful to since high school. I've never had a problem there. I had my $4 lunch special and tried to move on. 2 hours later, I couldn't. I was breaking into sweats, drooling uncontrollably and running to the bathroom. I thought, if I don't start to head home, I'm going to puke on myself in the van and that will not be pretty. I've done it before, its not fun!

I headed home about 3pm. Once I got home, I tried to sleep it off. I woke up and it felt like someone was having a boxing match in my stomach. It was awful. I couldn't roll over without feeling the urge to blow chunks (and my $4 lunch special) everywhere! I made it til about 5pm and lost it. I finally started to feel better. But then about 45 minutes later, I was right back where I started. I knew I wasn't prego, I thought maybe it was the flu.

About 10pm we all decided to head to bed. Aubrey was already asleep and Jon, Emma and I headed to bed. Just as Jon and I were laying down, we heard Emma coughing which was immediately followed by a cry and that "barf" sound. You know how it goes. That's when I knew it had to be the McNuggets.

So all night long, I was up every 30 minutes to an hour and it was literally coming out both ends at the same time. Just really pleasant! Emma was up a few times as well. I got about 3 hours rest so I asked Jon to take the day off work to help take care of us. As the day went on today, Emma and I were feeling much better... and Jon was a little worse. We started to think and realized that he had eaten one of Emma's nuggets too! He fought it til the bitter end but finally threw up alongside the rest of us. Now we're all good. It's been a long 24-hours to say the least. Anyone else who has had food poisoning can understand, it's awful.

We have officially boycotted McDonalds because of it. I am seriously afraid of fast food and probably won't go there ever again. I will sure miss their french fries but not the explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting.

Man with his ventriloquist dummy .ca 1870.
Photographer: William James Harding
Reference number: 1/4-006818-G
Wet collodion glass negative
Photographic Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library

Thank you National Library! 

 There's something about the imagery of old circus / funfair stuff that's extremely disturbing, and I certainly found that when visiting Coney Island. 

Contrary to popular belief, it's not actually even an island and is located waaay down in Brooklyn.  Getting there by subway from Manhattan takes about 40 minutes, and its approach is heralded by the growing number of excited teenagers on the train.  The beach itself is crowded, dirty and bleak, with a Soviet-style vista of high-rise apartment buildings.  Ironically enough, the next beach down, Brighton Beach, is a haven for Russian-Americans, where businesses have signs in Cyrillic and Roman script and you can buy all sorts of delicious Russian cuisine.

(Psst, remember you can enlarge images by clicking on them)

We wandered along the boardwalk, dodging the cops driving along the wooden walkway (US cops are really like the lazy doughnut-eating stereotypes!) and the large holes in the boardwalk caused by aforementioned vehicles.  Coney Island is an OSH / ACC nightmare, complete with a 1920s wooden rollercoaster and this wonderful sideshow, "Shoot the freak". 

Walking along the boardwalk was also a lesson in American fast food.  Although by this stage we had been in the states for nearly 2 months, Coney Island demonstrated to us that we had a lot to learn.  What's a knish?  And eww, what on earth is a funnel cake?

Even though it's seedy, dodgy and scary, it seems to hold a place in the imaginations of New Yorkers.  The (brilliant) Brooklyn Museum had an exhibition a while ago called Goodbye Coney Island? reminiscing about its past and possible demise.  They also have a cool Flickr pool with loads of Coney Island photos people have posted.  Here's the link. 

JOURNÉES D'EXTERNAT 1 RESTANTES: 6

Yeah ! Mon bras droit a enfin complètement regagné sa sensibilité !

Aujourd'hui, j'ai vu seulement une partie d'une chirurgie, mais elle fut interminable. L'opération a duré de 9:00 à 15:00. Et de 10:30 à 13:30 (donc pendant trois longues heures !) je me suis retrouvé brossé, tenant la caméra de laparoscopie et tentant de suivre les mouvements des nombreux instruments insérés dans l'abdomen du patient pour cette combinaison ambitieuse : cholécystectomie + gastrectomie partielle + Y de Roux !

Après ces trois heures, franchement, j'étais engourdi de l'épaule droite jusqu'au bout des doigts. Mes deux mains, en fait, souffraient de froid et d'engourdissement, car l'infirmière au service interne m'avait par mégarde donné des gants 7 et 1\2 au lieu d'une paire de 8. Trois heures avec des gants trop serrés, c'est long.

Par bonheur, quand l'anastomose gastro-jéjunale a foiré et s'est mise à couler dans le ventre à 13:30, le patron a décidé de convertir la scopie en laparotomie. Durant les quelques minutes de transition avant ce nouveau chapitre imprévu de l'opération, ma collègue externe (qui avait déjà dîné pendant que j'assistais) a pris la relève et j'ai enfin pu enlever ces gants infernaux et remettre mon épaule droite dans sa position naturelle. Quel soulagement !

En sortant de la laparoscopie-devenue-tomie, je suis allé me chercher un hamburger au resto fast-food qui a paradoxalement ouvert ses portes directement dans l'hôpital. J'ai dîné tranquillement au salon des résidents en jasant avec une autre externe, puis vers 14:30, par un petit relent de CDFose qui flottait dans l'air, je me suis senti obligé de retourner voir ce qui se passait en salle d'op...

Mais heureusement, alors que j'allais chercher je ne sais plus quoi dans mon casier, j'ai aperçu Pavlov qui s'en allait au salon; il m'a malicieusement et frauduleusement convaincu de ne plus remettre les pieds au bloc, et de rester au salon à jaser jusqu'à l'heure de mon cours en fin de journée. On a donc déconné comme d'habitude, calés dans de gros sofas, jusqu'à 16:00, pendant que l'engourdissement de mon bras diminuait tranquillement en picotant. De 16:00 à 17:00, j'ai eu un petit cours sur les pathologies de la prostate, puis hop ! Fini. Une journée de moins d'ici la fin de mon externat 1. Only six to go !

http://www.loculcavalerilor.ro/

Localul este OK, mancare buna si destula, atmosfera pentru prieteni (nu cred ca are rost sa zic ca nu te poti duce la o cina romantica).

Singurul lucru de care nu va pot spune este baia, pentru ca nu am fost acolo.

A si inca ceva un minus este ca nu are terasa, dar in rest este foarte ok.

Recomand "Cina pentru Regi" - 2 pers.

...see you....

Does this sound familiar? Honestly, it seems like we’ve all got some pounds we could shed—and we’re in big company (yes, pun intended). But seriously, this is no joking matter: the statistics about obesity in this country are far from funny. Can you believe that by 2010, three-quarters of the U.S. population will be overweight? And if that didn’t shock you, check this out: statistics show that 80% of our kids are suffering from weight-related afflictions, like arthritis? The consequences of extra weight are devastating. So here’s my question: how did we get here?

FAST FOOD: Just walk through a supermarket or down Main Street will explain part of the weight gain: our diets. Fast-food meals are usually brimming with artery-clogging, heart-attack-causing amounts of calories, fat, and sodium. And while most fast-food chains have added healthy or light items to their menus over the past couple of years, you need to check out the whole package and ask yourself these questions: Is it fresh? Does the dressing have a ton of sugar and chemicals in it? Am I really getting the nutrition I need? The answers are probably no, yes, and no.

MONEY: The other excuse I often hear for falling into poor eating habits is the one that includes the bottom line: money. Wee, my friend, I’d be the first to tell you that eating healthy ain’t always cheap. I don’t have to tell you that budgets are much tighter than waistlines: trying to justify buying healthier choices, versus what your pocketbook allows, can be real tough.

TIME: In addition to money, the other commodity many of us are short on is time. I know how it is: you’ve got a big 20 minutes (or less!) for lunch. Sure, you try to make your lunch from time to time. But it’s not easy—and there’s a place on the corner that offers you a super quick and cheap lunch.

STRESS: The fact of the matter is that because people are so busy running around like maniacs, they’re not eating as they should. Especially moms! Having one or more kids to care for, getting them off to school in the morning, getting involved in their after-school activities and sports, not to mention their own work, and being part of the sandwich generation (caring for elderly parents as well) all adds up to crazy schedules, unhealthy eating, and in many cases a seeking of foods that immediately satisfy (chips, brownies, candy, cookies, soda, ice cream) but don’t promise benefits in return.

LACK OF EXERCISE OR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: It’s a logical equation really. Ask anyone who’s not sleeping what they want to do and I guarantee that working out is going to be at the bottom of the list. The thing about exercise is that it needs to be done, but it has to be something that fits your schedule. If you can swing getting up early to go to yoga or take a jog before work, do it! If a lunch hour workout is what you can fit in, then you should! (Just don’t skip lunch!) This doesn’t mean that it will be easy, but it will help and you will see and feel the results physically and mentally—almost immediately.

HORMONES: Ask any woman and you’ll hear the same thing: appetites grow and fade depending on the time of month. Most women I know feel incredibly peckish that week before their period, and snacking often leads to the avalanche effect…

SNACKING—THE WRONG WAY: Most of us parents know that we’ve got to have the snacks on hand, right? Any trip, whether it’s a walk to the park or a drive to the supermarket, requires keeping a few treats nearby—for the kids, that is. Here’s the problem: we grown-ups like to snack, too!

LACK OF SLEEP: Sleep deprivation can also affect appetites—not to mention everything else. It’s true; the less we sleep, the weaker we are in terms of being able to fend off not only increased emotional sensitivity, but crazy cravings for comfort foods. Also, did you know that sleep patterns can be disturbed by many things that you consume—including food additives and caffeine?

Goodburger in NYC takes a lot after the skit, like their tag line (welcome to Goodburger, home of the Goodburger), the name itself and the fast-food aspect to the restaurant. Something and new -- and even better -- than taking after Kenan & Kel is Goodburger's hard attempts to be as "green" as possible.

When you walk in, you are handed a menu, which is easy to take away for future take-out and deliveries. The menu offers all the standard burger joint fare -- burgers, fries, milkshakes, chicken fingers, sandwiches, salads, etc. -- at a slightly-more-than fast-food price.

I, and the three other girls I went with, all ordered cheeseburgers and fries. Unlike other fast-food burger places, here we had the option of what toppings we'd like and how we wanted it cooked (MEDIUM RARE!). I also was extremely pleased with being able to opt for a whole wheat bun, and chose cheddar cheese, mustard, mayonaisse, onions and pickles for toppings.

After a $10 receipt and a 10 minute wait, we began to chow down into our big-portioned, juicy burgers. We all agreed they were good, and that the skinny fries were fried to perfection. But there was one very obvious element missing ... the special sauce! The entire Kenan & Kel movie is based around their secret special sauce, and this Goodburger didn't even have one! That was definitely a major disappointment, but the burgers were still pretty darn good.

We all managed to finish our meals, though, and had the requisite burger-and-fries stomach ache to show for it. I've been back to Goodburger since because I really can't resist burgers and fries, and am sure I'll go back again. Hey, when it's down the block and under $10, what's to lose?

Det var precis just det vi intalade oss efter vår första middag (rättelse: "middag") på 40-timmars kryssningen. Eftersom restaurangmenyn såg förvånansvärt trist ut tänkte vi (jag) att OK, vi är lite snåla och äter i fast food-restaurangen (rättelse: haket) första kvällen. Så äter vi en god lunch i land i morgon, och middag i restaurangen på hemfärden. (Båtbuffé går bort! Helt bort.)

Snabbmaten i restaurangen visade sig vara totalt oätlig. Ser ni en skylt med Fast Food 25 h (sic!) på en båt så kan jag garantera att ni där kommer att äta den läskigaste räkmacka/baguette/hamburgare/Ceasar Sallad-wrap ni någonsin ätit. Det fanns andra som åt, men de måste ha tuggat och lidit sig igenom "maträtten" som vi, även om de, till skillnad från oss, inte lämnade något kvar. Eller så finns det folk som lämnar smaklökarna i land när de går ombord.

Lunchen i staden nästa dag var i alla fall bättre. Visserligen kostade den som på en hyfsad middags-restaurang hemma fastän den serverade rätter á la lunchrestaurangerna här hemma, men vi blev mätta. Och bordsdukarna var fina. Och miljön var härlig, kulturell och turistig på en och samma gång.

Hemresa. Middag i restaurangen trodde vi. Vi är där när de öppnar, redan klockan sex. Näpp! Inte med en gång i alla fall, eftersom vi varit dumma och gjort annat än köat för bordsbeställning klockan fyra. Klockan nio kan vi få ett bord. OK, vi får väl äta lite godis tills dess, så att vi står oss. Eller en öl, det mättar bra.

Men sedan börjar vi fundera (eller jag, som är snålast). Menyn ser inte särskilt originell eller kul ut. Ska vi lägga ut en stor slant på en middag där risken är stor att vi blir besvikna? Inte ens grädden till jordgubbarna och croissanten i kaféet (efter Fast Food-floppen i går) smakade ju bra.

Det blir jordnötter och cashewnötter, salta kex och vitlöksost, ölkorv och beef jerky i stället. Till "middag". Från Taxfree-butiken. Med Toblerone till efterrätt. Automaten med kylda drycker ger endast ifrån sig två burkar, sen behåller den pengarna och vägrar servera något mer. Så jag sköljer ner delikatesserna med Baileys.

Och det gör ju inte semestermat-minnet sämre. Tvärtom.

McDonald's stock has nearly doubled in price since this same week in 2005, going from $30.99 a share to $60.16 as of Wednesday's close.

Interestingly, unleaded gasoline prices have done the same, going from $2.32 a gallon this week in 2005 to a record US average price of $4.11 yesterday, according to AAA. Pretty strong correlation. Not causation, but consider some additional evidence.

Over that same period, Brinker International (owner of Chili's) stock has fallen from $27 to $18. DineEquity, the parent company of IHOP that acquired Applebee's last year has fallen even more precipitously.

The Street tends to price value appropriately. There are exceptions, but these performances seem to line up with fundamentals.

That is, fast and cheap is better when most-not all, but most-people are on tight budgets and tight schedules that are tightening daily due to inflation and our culture of busy-ness.

The plight of Chili's, et al, is a reminder that food marketers must react quickly to unanticipated changes.

We can all learn from watching these two markedly different parts of the foodservice sector. It's a good lesson in finding opportunity within challenges. We can't just throw up our hands and say, "Well, it's just tough. Our business model isn't built for this kind of market." We have to find ways to compete.

We can do it. Let's talk about it.

1 6 oz can or bag of Tuna fish

2 tbsp Hummus

1 tbsp chopped walnuts (optional)

5-8 diced grapes

Drizzle Olive Oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients.  May be served on pita bread, baguette slices, or on side of salad.  Serves 2.

Mediterranean Salad

4 cups Pre-washed bag of lettuce Chopped

1/2 can of chick peas rinsed and dried

8-10 Olives of choice

½ cucumber diced

¼ c Arugula 

1 tbsp Feta Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Drizzle Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Place all ingredients into bowl.  Gently toss ingredients together to combine. Serves 2-4 people.

Stuffed Tomato

1-4 large round tomato  (heirloom or beefsteak)

Salad mix of choice (Egg, Tuna, Crab, Turkey, Ham)

Lettuce leaf for presentation

Slice cap off top of tomato.  With a teaspoon remove pulp.  Spoon into tomato salad filling of choice. Serve on top of lettuce leaf

Angel Hair Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes

Serves 2-4.   To table in 7 minutes.

1 large pot 2-3 quarts boiling water

½ box Angel Hair Pasta

¼ cup Olive Oil

1 garlic clove (sliced)

1Tbsp Capers (optional)

10 olives (optional)

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes

Salt, Pepper to taste

Parsley fresh or dried

Fill pan with water and place on stove on high to start boiling water.

Meanwhile, place skillet on medium high heat. Add oil, garlic, tomatoes, (capers and olives) Salt and Pepper.  Allow to simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

When water boils add 1 tbsp salt to boiling water and pasta.  Allow pasta to cook 1 minute. Remove 1 ladle of boiling water and add to tomatoes in skillet.  Drain water from pasta.  Add pasta to skillet and combine with tomatoes.  Top off with fresh or dried Parsley and serve.

Angel Hair Pasta with Pesto

Serves 2-4.  To table in 7 minutes.

1 large pot 2-3 quarts boiling water

½ box Angel Hair Pasta

¼ cup Pesto

Olive Oil

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Fill pan with water and place on stove on high to start boiling water.

When water boils add 1 tbsp salt to boiling water and pasta.  Drain water from pasta.  In a clean bowl, add Pesto and Drizzle olive oil, gently combine together.  Serve and top off with cheese.

Sirloin Tip

Serves 2-4.  To table in 7 minutes

¼ cup Olive oil

Peeled and Sliced ½  Onion

Sliced Portabella onion

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup wine

1tsp Soy Sauce

2-4 slices of thinly sliced Sirloin tip

Place skillet on medium high heat add olive oil sliced onion and portabella mushroom. Salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 4 minutes.  Add wine and soy sauce and meat allow to cook for 2-3 minutes with cover on skillet.  Serve meat with mushrooms and onions

Asparagus Sautee`

Asparagus spears washed and lower part of stick cut and removed.

1/4 cup olive oil

garlic clove sliced

sesame seeds

Salt and pepper to taste

Place skillet on medium heat and add all ingredients.  Allow to cook with skillet covered for 5 minutes.  Serve on side of pasta dish or with Sirloin tip.

Imagine this:- You are extremely hungry and want a filling snack.

Imagine this:- You don’t have much cash but you have to take your girlfriend out on a date and treat her well.

Imagine this:- Your friends have all managed  to grab a treat from you which you need to throw but you are almost broke.

Imagine this:- You are running late for a meeting and your grumbling stomach needs a quick lunch

Whatta do...?

Seemble, call Kaati Zone or simply walk-in

Kaati Zone is responsible for making the kaati rolls famous in Bangalore. It is a Bangalore-based chain of Indian fast-food restaurants specializing in Kati Rolls. Founded by Kiran Nadkarni in 2004, the restaurant is famous for its Chicken Tikka and Mixed Veg Rolls.

The USP  of Kaati Zone is the packaging and the pricing. For a megre sum of 100 bucks you can have a delicious, filling roll. The resturants are hygenic and the rolls are wraped in a special spill free wrap. So all you need to do is, drive in to the nearest Kaati Zone in town, place your order and enjoy a drive back with a hot and tasty roll without having to bother about all that spill or simply call them for a home delivery.

Kaati Zone not only sells rolls, but you can get vada pao, omlette, paranthas and chaats too. They also have diet rolls for the health freaks with a variety of fillings to choose from.

For people who don’t know what a Kaati Roll is, here is some information.

Kaati Roll is a  fast food popular in Kolkata, India. In Kolkata, it was introduced by Nizam's, a restaurant in the city noted for its Mughlai food inMumbai, it is similar to a frankie.

It is said that the kati roll was the result of some quick thinking on a busy day. Apparently, on that particular day, the number of people asking for kebab and parathas far outstripped the number of plates available, or the pace at which the plates could be washed and recycled. It was decided to wrap the kebab in parathas, and in the process, reduce the number of plates required by half.

So next time when your stomach says, “Hungry Kya?” The answer will be Kaati Zone se rolls khaya kya?

You can reach them at:- 080-4112-2100

Anyways, after work we went some where new! 江南西路. There's nothing special there, just went to meet up with Charlene and her friend. We had KFC for dinner.

Their KFC is awfully werid. First of all, they don't have like a 2 piece chicken meal, or like 3 piece. Most of their meals come in like burgers. How werid is that. It's not like they are Burger King; speaking of Burger King, I've got this uber craving for those delicious, fattylicious beef patties sandwiched in tasty sesame seed buns, oh damn. The best thing is that this rat hole DOES NOT HAVE A BURGER KING! FUCK!!

Anyways, the people here have no courtesy at all, they blatantly just cut your queue. Just like barbarians with no education, no manners, no class. Fuckers. And the coleslaw sucked. It was carrots with corn. Who does coleslaw with carrots and corn?! The worst part, they don't have mashed potato. OMG! What is a KFC meal without mashed potato?!!?!?! KFC really gotta rethink their business plan in China.

So after that awful dinner - which left me hungry for more food. We headed over to the nearby Macdonalds to find some real food. You can always trust Macs to be the same! I had a 5 piece nugget for only ... hold your breath ... one dollar and twenty cents Sing! HAHA, it's so fucking cheap. And that applies for everything else for the menu, one word, cheap!

Oh and I took the bus for the first time! It was quite an experience. It was as usual, cheap. Only 2 yuan per ride, to anywhere the bus stops. 2 yuan is only 40 cents in Singapore. OMGS so cheapppp.

I can stay here forever! But I still wanna go back cause there's no freaking Burger King here! Oh, and the KFC sucks.

We had Dairy Queen ice cream and we were trying to take a picture where all of us had our ice cream over turned. But the lady at DQ doesn't really know how to operate a camera. Oh wells.

Everywhere you go, you’ll come across advertisements for Khan Bräu, for instance. The Khan Bräu brewery has been around since 1996. It’s run jointly by a German and a Mongolian.

Khan Bräu makes its beers in Mongolia, but they’re brewed in strict compliance with the German beer purity law. This law dates back to the year 1516 and dictates that beer should only be made from water, hops and malt.

Consequently, Khan Bräu imports its hops from Bavaria to give its beers that special German flavour.

Brauhaus and Biergarten

But Khan Bräu doesn’t only make beers. It’s taken the German idea of Gemütlichkeit even further: Khan Bräu also runs a “Biergarten” restaurant in Ulan Bator. Here, they serve their Pilsener and dark beers and also classic German food specialties like Leberkäse and Bratwurst.

If you don’t have the time to sit down in the Khan Bräu beer garden for a hearty German meal, how about some fast food? You can stay with the German theme even if you just want some junk food: there are at least three fast food joints called Berlin Burger in Ulan Bator.

German meat products seem to have a pretty good reputation in Mongolia. In downtown Ulan Bator, you’ll see German-language billboards for the Makhimpex meat processing factory.

The text on these billboards reads: “Europäische Qualität, Geschmack und Verpackung in der Mongolei”.

The German may be a little rough, but what this friendly butcher is trying to tell his Mongolian clientel is that he’s providing European quality and taste, but that his products are made in Mongolia.

They need a little help with their advertising

According to the Makhimpex website, the company slaughters and processes sheep, cows and horses. It also tells us that its daily production includes:

• 4 tonnes of blood
• 1 tonne of meat and bone meal
• 8 tonnes of blood meal
• 10 tonnes of food oil

Reading this, I’m glad once again that I’m a vegetarian.

Tune in to German radio

Maybe the Makhimpex meat processing company should try advertising on Ulan Bator’s German radio station? Yes, German radio also exists in the Mongolian capital.

Deutsches Radio Ulan Bator (DRUB) broadcasts three hours a week to the capital area in German. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from five to six p.m. it’s the German hour on FM 98.9 in Ulan Bator.

Three Mongolian journalists put the programs together – with a little help from Germany’s foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle. The three have been on the air since March, 2008, and hope to reach a sizeable amount of the German-speaking crowd in Ulan Bator.

So far, they haven’t gotten much feedback from listeners, though. They want to improve their programs, however, and are willing to learn.

The Leipzig connection

One reason why German products and the German language play a role in Mongolia is that many Mongolians have personal ties to Germany.

Before the 1990’s, Mongolia was a staunch ally of the Soviet Union and had excellent connections to the other Eastern Block countries. One of these countries was communist East Germany.

Consequently, many Mongolians who wanted to study abroad went to the German Democratic Republic.

And while they were studying in Leipzig, Dresden or East Berlin, they also developed a taste for German beer, German food and German Gemütlichkeit.

It’s estimated that some 30 000 Mongolians have been educated in Germany over the last half century. 30 000 may not sound like a lot – but if you keep in mind that Mongolia only has a population of less than three million, you realize that this “Leipzig connection” must be a pretty strong force in Mongolian society.

Most of the 30 000 Mongolians who studied at German universities now hold important positions in this country. They’re a powerful group in Mongolian society and most of them are pretty wealthy for Mongolian standards.

At least they make enough money to be able to afford German beer, Bratwurst and all the other things they grew to love while they were in Germany.

We still have some President's Choice Hamburger Buns left, and they're really flat and dense, similar to pita bread. Maybe we could use those to make little pizzas, as in the following recipe.

This recipe is from Quickies: Ten Quick Ways with Everyday Foods, one of my favourite cookbooks. We could cook the bacon in the microwave, to get it nice and crispy. There's fresh basil in the garden, and we could use Cheddar cheese, instead of Swiss. Or maybe grate a couple of the Mini-Bels in with the Cheddar. Yum!

Microwave Bacon & Tomato Pizza

Sprinkle 2 pitas with:

• 1 cup grated Swiss cheese
• 1 chopped seeded tomato
• 3 slices crumbled cooked bacon and
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

1. Microwave on a double thickness of paper towel, on medium, 2 to 3 min.
2. Drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil

Serves 2.

Da is natürlich ne Menge passiert. Abgesehen vom schlechten Wetter fiel vorallem der enorme Fast Food konsum und ein Eichhörnchen auf.

Aber von Anfang an:

Wir kamen bei recht gutem Wetter und ca. 90 min Busfahrt auf dem Zeltplatz an, der sich Irlands Pfadfinderzentrum heraustellte und recht gut aussah.

Das uns zugewiesene Stück war leider nicht grade eben, aber kein größeres Problem. Viel problematischer war die Tatsache, dass wir eine falsche Plane eingepackt haben und deswegen unser Zelt nicht aufbauen konnten. Aber zum Glück kann man ja mit Schwarzzeug improvisieren und so schliefen wir die 1. Nacht in einer sog. verlängerten Lockomotive. Das sind 2 Dreiecksplanen und eine Vierecksplane in der Mitte. Leider wurde wir wegen des fehlenden Platzes nass in der regnerischen Nacht und liehen uns deshalb ein Fickzelt von den Platzbesitzern (nette und hilfsbereite Leute).

Am nächsten Tag gingen wir Einkaufen und kauften uns Wochentickets, die das Busfahren relativ Preiswert machten. Als wir zurück kamen mussten wir aber festellen, dass sich ein Tier über unser mit 2 Plastik Schichten geschütztes Brot hergemacht hat und Löcher in die Zeltplane gefressen hat.

Das wiederholte sich 2 mal und (wir sahen das Eichhörnchen insgesammt 3 mal aus dem Zelt hüpfen) und auch eine dicke Box aus Hartplastik könnte das Vieh nicht aufhalten unsere Nutella und unser Brot zu futtern. Wir steigen daher auf Milch + Kellogs um, die das Tier nicht anrührte.

One of the sales guys who deals with memberships asked me to talk to one of our clients today and as usual I am talking away about the business and generally as i always do over selling the product and as i say to the client "Million Impossible represents all business but especially business that are going through challenges" and as i am talking about how difficult it is to survive in business, i cross my legs and notice that i have two big holes in my shoes.......

I just thought i mention it because there we are trying to promote Million Impossible and where we intend to take the business and i am wearing shoes with holes in them... !!!!!!!!

It made me chuckle

Regards Bradley

www.millionimpossible.com
www.millionimpossible.com/forums/default.com

"Some people will say, 'Well, people just don't have to eat it,' " said Jan Perry, the Democrat who represents the city's overwhelmingly African American and Latino District 9. "But the fact of the matter is, what if you have no other choices?"

The proposed ordinance, which takes a page from boutique communities that turn up their noses at franchises, is supported by nutritionists, frustrated residents and community activists who call restrictive zoning an appropriate response to "food apartheid."

The article also included a prominent photograph of a McDonald'srestaurant and their drive thru point of purchase display promoting a "new fruit and walnut salad".  Increasingly, fast food establishments have been adding healthy choices to their menu not as a matter of government mandate but in response to consumer demand.  Interestingly, the article twice questions the availability of a salad in South-Central Los Angeles:

  "You try to get a salad within 20 minutes of our location; it's virtually impossible," said Harris-Dawson."

""There's no choice," said Jessica Quintana, 15, leaving McDonald's after a lunch of a fried chicken sandwich, fries and a soda. "It was nasty, but I ate it 'cause I'm hungry."

Beyond the inherent irony of the photograph and menu choices highlighted above, the question the article does not ask is should local government use zoning to restrict the type of food sold? 

While ordinances are generally developed to promote the general health, safety and welfare of the community, should government be restricting menu options?  Perhaps there should be different restrictions based on body mass index and/or medical history. 

Why not limit choices to granola and tofu for everyone?  How is this government's role?  What about individual responsibility?

Perhaps the most troubling quote in the piece is the following:

But researchers and activists praised the strategy as a cutting-edge application of government power to promote health.

"As far as we're aware, it's fairly precedent-setting," said Mark Vallianatos, director of the Center for Food and Justice at Occidental College. "It's an important public statement on how planning intersects with food health.

This is an example of an abuse of government power.  The person responsible for making decisions regarding what one eats should be the individual.  If the individual wishes to make "healthy" choices they will frequent those establishments that allow him to make such choices.  If the "healthy" choice population cohort grows, businesses that do not offer "healthy" choices will not remain in business. 

To put government in the business of determining what types of food will be sold under the guise of health is a prime example of how a "government knows best" or nanny state philosophy has taken over significant segments the planning discipline. 

Remember the saying, as goes California ...... 

We are making sacrifices in terms of time, income, emotions, family and friends in order to keep our dream alive which is to build one of the Worlds most successful Entrepreneur and Business Networks with very limited funds...

The reason that we are trying to do this is to prove that regardless of age, race, financial position, gender, religion or nationality that you can make your dreams a reality if you unite with other people and draw upon their strengths.

Heidi is our operations Director and she has a heart of gold, a solid business head and is one of the most loyal people i know. Always an air of inspiration- A true fighter.  She is also very Shy and does not like her picture on Blogs (but ill tell you a secret - our members can see her full picture at www.millionimpossible.com). Heidi definitely holds our business together and she is the BIG CHIEF and when she says no! We all pay attention.

[caption id="attachment_110" align="alignleft" width="128" caption="Brad Chapman "Believing is everything""][/caption]

Insbesondere das Logo und dessen Forderung hat mich fasziniert:

"Politisch korrekte Burger" wurden gefordert, für jeden Geschmack und Herkunft. Irgendwie niedlich.

und weil es soviel Spaß macht und es so schön staatsmännisch klingt, gibts oben drauf noch eins für das Schnellessen-Restaurant mit den 2 goldenen Bögen.

Und hier geht's zur Website vom StaatsBurger - übrigens geführt von einem StaatsPräsidenten, so wie es sich gehört.