hearts and laserbeams book report: the omnivore's dilemma

ok so you know how i go back and forth in my book reports - i'll do some books that are classic high school reading list pieces, some fun chick lit, some nonfiction brainy stuff...

after reading ya ya's in bloom, which i loved by the way, i really was needing something a little more thinky if ya know what i mean. i'd heard from a few peeps that omnivore's dilemma was good so i made that the next read on my list. (i think it's interesting to note that this book was such an intellectual read that i went right back to the other end of the spectrum afterwards and am now reading sophie kinsella's confessions of a shopaholic.)

hearts and laserbeams book report: the omnivore's dilemma: a natural history of four meals by michael pollan

so the omnivore's dilemma the title refers to, it basically is people have so many choices in food we don't know what the hell to eat anymore. food overload. i mean there's more to it than that, but that's the general idea.

if you're into food this book is for you. it basically follows four different food chains from start to finish, with finish always ending up as your mouth. he looks at corn, cows (both commercial and grain fed), and the hunting and gathering lifestyle. and this whole book pretty much makes you want to curl up on your couch and never buy anything from a grocery store ever again.

and it makes you start thinking about effed up the system is.

here's one of the big things i took away from this book, something that bugs the shit out of me:

farm subsidies are given to farmers because they can't sell enough crops to pay their bills. they can't sell enough crops because prices are too low. in an effort to make more money the only thing to do is grow more crops. which equals an even higher market surplus and even lower prices.

there's a huge corn surplus, and every day They (whoever they are) finds more ways to shove it down our throats. one way is to process it so it's kinda corn-flaky and feed it to cows. sounds like a great idea, corn fed cows are supposed to be real tasty. problem is it's a myth; cows aren't even supposed to eat corn and get sick from that diet. so farms have to drug up the cows with antibiotics to keep from getting sick.

another way the corn surplus is shoved down our throats is through value meals at fast food places. you don't need that much food. you don't need a 5 gallon paintbucket full of soda or a 12 pound hamburger. stop it.

basically i got really angry at these parts of the book, and then in the following chapters it talks about a farm that grows all kinds of crops and has all kinds of happy animals living on it in a perfect symbiotic system (thanks to the farmers help), and it made me want to run away to georgia and make all the food josh and i eat. those chapters made me so happy, i am not kidding you.

i loved the last section that was all about hunting and gathering, and i kinda wanna try catchin my own yeast to make bread with... i wonder what it would taste like?

and that's pretty much it - book about food and pretty non-biased but still very much an expose on the system. if you like brainy stuff, and long descriptions of different kinds of food totally turns you on then this book is for you the end!

ratings:
4 hearts: really good stuff to think about, and also it gave me some ideas josh and i can put into practice now
1 fart: it took me a really long time to read this - i'm a busy woman, dammit!

sorry i'm not giving away this copy, my buddy gayle already asked to read it when i was done - but stay tuned, i'll totally be doing a giveaway of my confessions of a shopaholic book.

easy peasy nice and cheesy!

last night josh and i busted out our new fondue pot for some cheese-dipping delicousness!

we used this recipe!

and then, because i'm in the process of coming down with a nasty cold, i was alseep on the couch by 7pm. at around 9pm i woke up and realized i should just give up and go to bed. so i said good night to josh, grabbed my phone, and as i was plugging it in i was like OMG i got a text from my brother brandon!

this is news because el brando is an old school sort who is not too fond of things like the internets and texting. it's part of what makes him awesome. he's like the dude from big lebowski, but more sean penn looking.

so i read his text and it says, and i quote:
"best buy is giving away $250.00 gift cards to the first two-thousand callers due to some "lawsuit" i just got one; i was #381. 1-800-429-5683"

and i was like hot damn i will put off going to sicksleep for five minutes and get us some best buy goodness! i try calling the number, and it's busy.

i try calling again, and it's busy.

again.

busy.

again.

busy.

finally, i think on the 11th try i got through! SUCCESS!!! i hear some fun music and then a voice welcomes me to THE BIG GAY CHATLINE!!!

I GOT SERVED!!!!

i called brandon immediately after this and we shared a hearty chuckle and then i went to bed!

the end!!!

also, just a heads up i just got signed up as a contributer on the found handmade blog! make sure you check it out periodically throughout the day, there's a bunch of us folks that'll be sharing amazing links to handmade goodies on the internets for your shopping enjoyment!

hearts and laserbeams book report: skinny bitch

when we got to the airport on the way home from our savannah trip this new years, i realized that i had zero reading material for the 6+ hours of travel ahead of us. i ducked into the airport book shop to see what they had in store for me, and came out with skinny bitch.

i am a new year's statistic; before picking up this book i'd planned to make this the year i actually start taking better care of myself with workin out and eating better and not drinking soda anymore, etc etc etc. couple that with the fact that it was slim pickin's at this partcular airport bookstore and that this book was the only one that looked like it would be remotely interesting to me, and there you go.

and without further ado...

hearts and laserbeams book report: skinny bitch by rory freedman and kim barnouin

this book, i have to admit, started out strong. it's billed as a no-nonsense approach to getting healthier and eating better and blah blah blah, and the first few chapters really do deliver some good information on reasons you should and shouldn't eat certain things. thanks to the first few chapters i will probably stop drinking soda alltogether.

as you get further into skinny bitch, it turns into full-on vegan propoganda, featuring all the reasons we were never meant to eat meat, a chapter on slaughterhouses, how you're a fuckin stupid a-hole if you ever eat this stuff...

and it just snowballs from there. once it starts on the VEGAN OR DIE message it does not fucking shut up, just keeps going on and on about all the conspiracies surrounding the fda and how the completely animal-products free lifestyle is the only way to be unless you wanna be a murderer, you dont want that do you?

here's some of the problems i have with the book - number one, the entire thing is written to make you feel completely shitty about yourself and it WORKS. for about 4 days after reading it i really actually felt like an a-hole every time i ate something this book said was terrible. number 2, there are messages in the book that are flawed - they basically believe that there are only two kinds of eaters out there as far as animals are concernec, meat or veggie eaters - and that since we have flat teeth and no claws we are not supposed to be eating meat and we're fucking with nature every time we do. BUT; why do we have incisors and such in the front of our mouths - y'all are forgetting about omnivores, and that doesn't fit into the meat is murder message so i understand why ya left it out. they make it sound like if you don't buy your fruits and veggies organic-style you are fucked because it's gonna kill you.

AND their main way of helping you to become a vegan is to gross yourself out every time you eat something, like thing of all the shitty ingredients the thing contains, think of something that will make you vomit, and then don't eat that thing. that is an AWFUL way to eat.

basically the book sucked ass and i would not recommend it to anyone. it is the only book i've ever read in my 31 years that ended up in the trash:



also, one of the things josh and i talked about after i read this was that you gotta keep in mind that it was written by a former model and a former model agent - models aren't supposed to eat anything at all, so it's basically a how-to guide for someone who only wants to eat the bare minimum to survive and not actually ever really enjoy food. eff that shit.

so i will not be following much, if any, of what this book suggests. i will from now on only buy cage-free eggs and milk that says it's got no horomones in it, and eat more fruit and veggies. but i will also continue enjoying cheese and ice cream and coffee and salmon and hamburgers and steak and french fries and non-organic veggies and fruits because dammit who can afford to buy EVERYTHING organic??! not in this economy thank you very much! i am much happier enjoying my food than worrying about every single solitary thing i eat and giving up shit i love.

and that's that. we at hearts and laserbeams do not recommend or endorse this book and if you read it please promise us to have a big ol ice cream sundae afterwards!

ratings
1 hearts: it did make me eat more fruits and veggies i aint gonna lie to you

4 farts: if i start to tell you all the things i hated about this book i will get all pissed off again so just don't read it.

my thoughts on toasted everything bagels with extra butter...

i was talking with jenn this morning about bagels and how much i heart them, and she told me there used to be a bagel place on broughton street in savannah that she'd go to with fanny all the time. and that it closed down, and there's a jewelry store there now. i was wondering... if you tied the above note to a brick and threw it through their window in the middle of the night would they maybe start offering toasted bagels along with their baguette diamonds?

you can be a winner at the game of life!

pow! i came in fourth in craftsters' "craft your resolution" contest! thanks to all that voted! you can read all about it here.

aaaaaaaaand what else. i have 2 more days in the office next week before i'm officially a full-time hearts and laserbeams employee! freelancing and artsy fartsy adventures, here i come!

oh and kraft mac n cheese may just be the tastiest of all tasty dinners!

i've rearranged and added a couple of things on here; nothing too major, whaddaya think?

in some ways, it never left

so angela tells me wait 5 minutes before you leave your house and we should get to bob's big boy at the same time. i figure this is the perfect time to tell you the story about how the bob's big boy in bismarck, north dakota has 2, count em 2 big boy statues in front. because the original one got stolen. and later, when the restaurant finally got it's replacement statue, the people who stole the first one brought it back. so now there's a shiny new one and a shitty old one out front. i went looking for a picture of it on google images and i didn't see it, but this came up in my search - enjoy!