Green Earth - Discussion
Green Earth is going to follow a discussion format this week. The issues raised here are from comments. Ideas,comments,inputs encouraged and appreciated. Silent spectators jump in and participate.
Discussion 1:
MS of Sometime Foodie is maintaining a map on her blog to track the miles food travels to reach her plate. How many of you watch the food you eat in those terms? As for me I try my best but being a locavore is not always easy. She also posed a question regarding cutting down the use of paper towels in the kitchen - using cotton towels reduces the usage of paper towels to a great extent.
Discussion 2
Sandeepa's question regarding trying to get rid of plastics and getting caught up in cycle similar to the corn-ethanol-rising food prices crisis and the wastage of food /cutlery in schools. She also brought up the issue of kids lunch boxes. Are there safe alternatives to plastics?
Getting rid of all plastics is not an easy task, they proliferate everywhere and in some cases there are no safe alternatives.
Schools these days are doing a lot more to address the wastage issue. In our county for instance schools compete for being the greenest. Kids are asked to bring lunches in reusable containers and reduce trash. Small steps but very important tool in educating kids and teaching them the value of conserving and respecting our environment.
In a party we attended recently at a friend's house, a guest took a marker pen and wrote the down the intials of each of the guests on the respective plastic glasses (they were of the use and throw kind). I was amazed at the end of a 4-5 hr party every guest had their original glasses in their hands. On the other hand imagine how many glasses each one would have used in that time frame. I am sure most of us are a little uncomfortable in doing this because of being branded a tight wad. But all of us know this approach makes a lot of sense and about time don't you think?
QUIZ - Whose gushing comment was this and about whose kitchen?
"It's so normal! It's so kitchen-like!"
Finally on to our yummy spicy potato curry.
Spicy Potato Curry
Ever since I cast my eye on the spicy potato curry dish on Lavi's - Home Cook's Recipes I have been eagerly looking forward to cooking it. If you dig spicy food, potatoes and black peppers this is one dish not to be missed.
Ingredients
1. 8-10 baby potatoes
2. 1/4 cup tamarind
...rest of the ingredients are the same. Add when the potatoes are about half way cooked add the tamarind juice.
Tastes fantastic with rice.
How I dig spicy food. I don't eat potatoes all that often, but I must try this. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe potato curry looks good. I like the tamarind juice addition.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to quiz: Oprah to Tom Cruise.
I know, I watch way too much TV! It usually is the Food Network.:-( I had the day off that day and there was not much else to do.:-(
Hanna Montana, I think the issue was blown out of proportion, I don't think the VF pictures were racy... but anyway that's a whole other discussion...
ReplyDeleteAbout the locavore issue, I was just reading an article on how the term is being used so loosely these days having no legal definition attached to the term. Stores and restaurants are using the term according to their convenience, so unless you take lots of pains to track down the origin, it is impossible to be a strict locavore.
Frankly, I don't pay much attention to local, I try to eat organic whenever possible, but I have no idea where most of my food comes from!!
Not much TV here either :(, who is Mylie Cyrus ?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your earlier reply to my comment. Pyrex I don't think will work, she will not remember to be that careful. My main issue with plastic lunch boxes are on being heated, they are ok if they carry a sandwich. My worries come from the BPA scare(http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20030331/danger-in-plastic-baby-bottles).
Nice one..I use terry towels in my kitchen..love the potato curry too..
ReplyDeleteTBC, I used to be a big Tom Cruise fan before his couch jumping, Post Partum Depression bashing days. Thought Oprah's comment was interesting maybe for people like Tom Cruise having a "kitchen like" kitchen is a big deal.
ReplyDeleteSig dear, respectfully beg to differ
Venting Start: as a teen star watched by millions of impressionable girls her handlers more than her ((she is just 15yrs old) should have had better sense. I am just sick of Brittneys, Parises, Jamies and now Montana doing what they do. I am kind of pissed that the only solution I have here is to not watch TV at all. Oh there! Venting complete.
Yes on the issue of locavore, it is pretty hard to tell the sources but statying local is cost effective in a lot of ways.
Sandeepa :). Mylie Cyrus is the star of the show Hannah Montana. I was blissfully unaware till DD brought her to my notice, she watched her show at her friend's place. So this caught my attention when every major news source had a story on it.
It was the BPA in baby bottles that prompted my plastic eradication spree. I was watching the scientist talk on a PBS show (Strange Days on Planet Earth). I
That dish is just to die for!! Haven't watched enough TV to be aware of this Hannah Montana situation. Am trying to be more aware of local produce... Should get better as the weather gets warmer. :)
ReplyDeleteOK, this makes two yummy spicy baby potato dishes from you, ISG... more the merrier!! :) I loved the first so am sure this will be just as tasty.
ReplyDeleteHannah Montana etc... happily my daughter is a little too old for her. What she likes for 'mindless tv' is "America's Next Top Model" -- arrghh!! Reality shows are the worst, imho. At least she recognizes that it's mindless. I have tried to use nonsense tv as a teaching moment, too -- here is how *not* to behave and why! ;)
I guess at some point we have to let the kids grow up, hoping we have instilled good judgement and trusting them to use it. But I sure hate how society eggs them on to grow up so fast.
Talking of growing, I have seeds sprouted here! How's your garden coming? :)
Thank You Indo for trying it.. Your Curry looks good with baby potatoes.
ReplyDeleteIam trying to avoid plastic's..soon i will get an alternative i hope..
Mylie Cyrus will be the next Brittany Spears!! Haha! Trisha never watches all those on TV, she is into listening to classical music, thank God!:)
ReplyDeleteI always use cloth kitchen towels, one each day, paper towels are to wipe the oily stuff of the stove, which is not very often.
Planted tomato, eggplant, red chard, and chilly plants y'day, sneezing and coughing today! ;D
Love the potato curry, I have been cooking too many alu dishes these days, got to cut it down!:)
Happy Monday Indo, have a great day.
Linda, that is my fondest hope too, teach them what is right and wrong and hopefully they will make the right decisions. Especially girl children are forced to behave like adults younger and younger - that is my whole problem with the likes of Mylie Cyrus always being in the news. Everybody needs ,mindless TV once in a while :)
ReplyDeleteThe seeds have all sprouted, I have some bitter gourd vines inside the house :) - getting the garden bed ready to transplant end of the month.
Lavi, it was my pleasure, the curry was worth every drop of it.
Asha you have a good daughter on your hands! Thank God! really.
Can you believe that the market machinery is around a billion!!
Cloth towels are so much more convenient too. You put the plants out already? I usually wait till Memorial Day to put them outside. Have a great day too and take care of those allergies.
Thanks for the tip on the marker on throw away glasses in the party - makes a lot of sense!
ReplyDeleteWe still use steel for 95% of our use and I think I am going to revert to steel lunch boxes also - in this hot country wwe really don't have to bother about heating it before eating. At home too, I have always given my daughter milk in steel tumblers and avoided the whole plastic glass thing.
Eating local is a complex thing but from now (May) until fall there is one easy way to do it: find Farmers Markets in your area and frequent them. It is also the best way to find produce at its peak of health, and cheap because it is in season. I find it easy to eat local during these months but more difficult in winter.
ReplyDeleteMiri, yes those steel tumblers are definitely great and don't have to worry about breaking them :) I did buy the steel tiffin box for DD in India with 3 layers it is the best.
ReplyDeleteNupur, true I too go local atleast partly during the warm months but cannot buy all the stuff required from the farmers market. Yes fresh, sometimes I am surprised at how tasty fresh vegetables and fruits really are. I detested apples till I bit into one from a Farmers Market :)
There are a couple of vegetables (bitter gourd for instance) that I don't buy at all, because I have grown used to the fresh taste from the backyard grown ones.