Eat by Numbers

Module 2 is officially over! We had our practical this afternoon where we had to individually prepare a sautéed strip steak (medium rare), pommes persillade (fancy name for sautéed potatoes with garlic and parsley - we discussed a variation of this when we talked about butter), and haricots verts (aka string beans). All in all it went extremely well and I cannot believe we begin Module 3 next week, which is comprised of a survey of international cuisines. I have already skimmed through a few things and I am super excited (and you should be too because I'll be talking about them)!

As for this evening though, I am currently sitting here with a tall cool glass of lemon, cucumber, and basil water, enjoying the silence of my apartment, and frankly having no desire to cook. And that's ok! You know, when I began the program I said to myself, this will either drive me to obesity or make me sick of eating. I fear both. We shall see.

 So tonight will be a "betcha didn't know that" post. Well, I hope most of my posts are like that for you, but this I find particularly interesting and we also recently discussed it in class. Most of us shop for produce by simply (1) seeing it and knowing what it is and/or (2) reading the sign that amusingly says, "Radicchio (Italy)" and then on the bottom in smaller print says "Made in Guatemala." We buy the produce, go home, rip off that annoying sticker (or if you're my brother forget about the sticker and mistakenly eat it), and do our thangs. REWIND. That annoying sticker, while granted may continue to be annoying, may also prove helpful. Here's why...

 If you see a 5-digit number beginning with a "9" on the sticker, that is an organic product. If you see a 4-digit number, that product is grown using pesticides. Now if you really want to eat some funky food look for a 5-digit number on the label beginning with the number "8" - those goodies are genetically modified. I found this nifty little website while I was writing this tonight where you can plug in the number and it tells you what you're eating, how it's grown, and what other varieties there are out there. Feel free to give it a go-around here.

As NBC always says, "The More You Know..." Well, they never actually finished that sentence, but you get the idea. I hope that was worth the quick read! I'm off to figure out how I am going to feed myself this evening.


Photos: Fruit (Kent Crockett's Devotionals); Orange with a sticker (The Good Stuff)