Monsanto Wins again - Genetically modified Alfalfa heading your way

I've been trying to be more concerned about what I eat. Organics if at all possible. I've cut down on my meat consumption. I don't remember when I walked into a fast food establishment. I know I still should be concerned where my local bars and restaurants purchased their foods. Most restaurants don't really know the food sources. This all about the bottom line. Well, our country just hit another bottom line. The source of feed - alfalfa:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/21/monsanto-wins-supreme-cou_n_619657.html?ir=Green

Europe strictly bans GMO in the food source. Why is the US so behind? It is getting so difficult to watch what I eat, costly and frustrating. I really hoped that our Supreme court was better educated in regards to food sources and the implications to the farmers. Sad day.

MotoGP International dinners or dining around the world

I always want to challenge myself with cooking food. Different styles. Different themes. Different ingredients. We’re also followers of Motorcycle Racing: MotoGp, FIM Superbikes and of course in the US, the AMA races. So, the last two races, I started to match the food to the race location. In May, the second MotoGP race was in Jerez, Spain. Kevin and I planned an enormous dish of paella with prawns, clams, mussels, chorizo, tomatoes, and brown rice. I essentially used Jamie Oliver’s recipe from the Food Revolution cookbook, adding tomatoes. It was delicious. Of course, cava accompanied dessert of Lava cake with framboise and whipped cream.

This past week the MotoGP was in Mugello, Italy. Poor Valentino Rossi, Italy’s pride of the motoworld was in an accident. After an operation on Saturday, to repair a fractured right tibia, he will be out of commission for about 6 weeks. Well, that will give the other racers a chance to move forward.

We enjoyed an Italian pasta dinner of Farmer’s market Pappardelle Pasta with a vegetable sauce of tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers and anchovy paste. For dessert, we had Blueberry cornmeal pound cake and a vanilla panna cotta with fresh farmer’s market raspberries marinated in frambroise. Lately, we’ve been ordering cucumber cocktails on our trips. I finally decided to spend a day making simple syrup with various flavors. So, now I have syrup flavors in cucumber, ginger and cranberry. Kevin make me an excellent cucumber martini for the dinner. Maybe it isn’t exactly Italian but it was fresh. It was a nice way to end the weekend…

A Foodie's beginning

I've always had a passion for baking. I remember being a latchkey kid, the eldest of three, learning how to cook. Maybe, I started around 12 years old. There was the available store packages of cake or frosting mixes, Bisquick and on to the Betty Crocker book. I made that coconut crumble cake from the back of the Bisquick box. I found how to make pancakes from Betty Crocker when there was no Bisquick. Oh yes, then there was Julia Child on KQED. I remember the show was first televised in black and white. Julia made it look like fun. I actually just purchased Julia Child's "The 40th Anniversary Edition, Mastering the Art of French Cooking," this past year. I'm not sure I would have used this book then. It seemed a little complicated. I actually used "The Joy of Cooking" more often. I believe I have 2 editions of that book. Recipes change with time. Lucky for us! I play with healthier substitutions all the time. Tread carefully, some of the substitutions are not always what they seem. Xylitol was my most recent surprise. I would be interested to hear from other experimenting with this sugar alcohol.