And Now For Something Completely Different....

Well, not completely but perhaps a bit more focused. I've been wondering what--if anything--to do with this blog and I think I've decided.

I've long had a fascination with "health food." When I was a kid, we used to go to a restaurant in Boulder called The Good Earth and I was the weirdo who ordered the carob-flavored frozen yogurt. This was back when yogurt was tart and not as sugary-sweet as it is now.

In high school I became a vegetarian and stayed one for about 10 years. I bought all of the Moosewood cookbooks and devoured them. Amanda and I lived on Humble Vegetable Casserole (see: Enchanted Broccoli Forest) through our college years. It still the quintessential comfort food to me--potatoes, cheese, and pickles. Don't go kidding yourself--it's great and I dare you not to fall in love with it (though I never ever make it with the hard-boiled eggs. Yuck.)

So, over the years I've gained weight. And lost weight. When I made my Weight Watchers goal in 2001, I relied heavily on processed foods including aspartame, sucralose, fat-free this, and reduced-fat that. I looked hot. But I wasn't eating very clean and it has always bothered me.

So, I maintained that loss for about five years. And then, as my diet got cleaner, I got heavier. In eliminating fake sugar and fake food from my diet, I replaced those with real sugar, butter, cheese, and more. While I still keep my portions in check (mostly....) what I'm eating is intrinsically more fattening. I'm not even close to being back at my highest weight, but I'm higher than I want to be.

In the last year to 18 months, there's been a lot more talk in the mainstream media about organics (which I've always purchased as much as possible/affordable), plus eating foods in season, and the local foods (locavore) movement. I've become re-ignited with a passion for clean eating and exploring some of these options. But the challenges are: how to do it and lose weight, too? How to do it affordably?

There are loads of great resources for "green" living and whole foods, whatever your interest. If you want to explore the world of fermented foods, there are sites for you. Artisan cheese? Plenty of sites. Organics? Community Supported Agriculture? Locavores? It's all out there--but none of it addresses weight loss issues. Maybe they assume that everyone who wants to eat clean is skinny? I don't know.

So, together with my friends--Weight Watchers and non alike--I want to use this blog to to explore these topics. No, not everything will be points-friendly. No, not everything will be seasonal or local, or organic. Life is about finding balance and moderation. What would life be without the occasional M&M? The occasional red bell pepper in the spring? Bananas? Coffee?

I welcome your suggestions for questions and topics to address. Let's explore all of these questions together. I suspect more questions will be raised than answered, but what the heck. Bon appetite!

(Oh, and fear not--the occasional rant will be thrown in, too, just for balance.)

I Am Old, Part 23

So, I learn last week on the radio that Don Letts has a new documentary out on The Clash. Cool. Come to find out, it's airing on PBS over the weekend. PBS? The same channel showing Sesame Street? Okay.

Then I find out the show airs at 11pm on Saturday night. Thank goodness for DVR. I'll never be up that late.

We record the show, anticipating it all week. The Clash is one of our favorite bands, and according to our friend, Richard, "the only band that matters." Or, at least that's what his six-year-old son says he says.

Sunday evening (at a respectable hour--before 60 Minutes) we sit down to watch, to find that this is part of PBS's pledge drive efforts. Uh, where did Peter, Paul, and Mary go? The Clash? Are you shitting me?

Okay, so they're using The Clash--one of the most influential bands of the punk movement--to sell public TV. And it gets stranger. The two guys pimping them are a Suit and a Hippie. Is it any wonder I love Nigel when he says things like, "Pledge now or we kill the hippie!"? In 1978 and 79, when The Clash first appeared on the scene, punks would have kicked Hippie in a dark alley somewhere in rainy London. Now, Hippie is embracing The Clash and telling us how much we need this documentary on DVD for our very own collections. And for a pledge of only $150.

As for the documentary itself, it was a letdown. There was no documentary to speak of. What the program is, actually, is rare concert footage--some amazing stuff--but not what either of us thought it would be. And freaking Rocky Mountain PBS said the program was 90 minutes and we lost the last part (probably 15 minutes or so) because of all the blathering on to donate. I can't help but wonder what Joe Strummer, co-writer of White Man in Hammersmith Palais, would think if he were still alive, of the following lyric being used to fund raise for public television.

The new groups are not concerned
With what there is to be learned
They got Burton suits, ha you think it's funny
Turning rebellion into money....

When the Nirvana pledge drive concert is on, I hope they'll let me watch it at the nursing home.

There Are Few Things Cooler

than scoring a big interview for someone, or when you are the person to call someone and say, "Hey, guess who called to interview you?"

I've gotten to tell authors that they're going to be in the Guardian and the New York Times, or that they've gotten a starred review in Publishers Weekly. I've gotten to tell authors that they're going to be on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Hardball with Chris Matthews (I even got to escort one slightly-overwhelmed Frances Moore Lappe across Manhattan for a live appearance on Hardball--thankfully I had an emergency box of raisins and a kids' Clif bar...), and I got to call Naomi Wolf to tell her that the producer for the Colbert Report returned my call to book her.

All of that is cool. Wicked cool. But there is nothing cooler than telling an 11-year-old boy that a local TV station wants to interview him because of an academic scholarship he won, and that he has two minutes to talk about absolutely anything he wants to talk about, AND, they'll give him a tour of the studio. That is pure joy and I got to do it yesterday. You shoulda seen the look on that kid's face. He nearly burst.

Questions

How does Tilda Swindon win Best Supporting Actress for Michael Clayton and Tom Wilkerson doesn't win Best Supporting Actor?

How is it possible that yesterday it was 74 degrees out and sunny, and today it is 30 and blowing snow?