Wholesome thoughts

Last week someone brought some tasty little Clementines to work. The miniature tangerines were labelled as "organic," and purchased from Whole Foods, a high-end grocer that specializes in natural and organic choices.

It wasn't until the weekend when I was picking seeds out of my Texas Star grapefruit that it hit me: the purportedly "organic" Clementines had no seeds! How can a food be called organic--a word that is regulated by some governmental body, probably the FDA but I'll have to check the facts on that one--if it could never have existed in nature? The genetic engineering and high-tech cultivation techniques required to make the first tree bearing seedless fruit would be enough to make some of the more extreme Organicists sick.

So it seems that somewhere along the line, someone is getting duped. Maybe it's the growers, who were told by the scientists that the trees were perfectly normal but just needed some special care. Or the grocery stores, told by the growers that the marvelous sweet fruit is organic. Or the consumer, who the stores can count on to be loyal customers gung-ho about putting into their body only foods that Nature blessed. Or maybe somebody pulled a fast one on the body that regulates just what qualifies something as organic.

As for me, I've found that the Food4Less has good produce at a lower price than regular grocery stores, let alone the organic retailers. I'll eat a little ag-tech if it means I get sweeter fruits and fresher vegetables at a discount.

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24

Could it be because they all got their degrees online in 15 months that everyone at Counter Terrorist Unit is so inept?

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Musing for the day

How is one supposed to wash a cheese shredder/grater without shredding/grating his sponge?

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Celebrations

I visited Kristin this past weekend, and we went back to Robinson for some wedding planning fun, working out a few of the many details surrounding the joyous day coming up later this year. During our time with her family, we also celebrated her birthday with dinner at Bobe's Pizza in Vincennse. Back to STL, and K and I re-celebrated at Maggiano's. I took an extra day, staying until Monday evening. That day made all the difference, and the weekend felt longer than just 3 days....

But for all the celebrations we did this weekend, today officially marks the anniversary of Kristin's birth. So today I'll mark this occasion with a special post in her honor. Happy birthday, Kristin!!!

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Collection of pseudo-random thoughts inspired by my current travels

On transportation

Yesterday I thought I was going to die in a taxi cab. This driver was comically hard on the gas and brake, drove so close to the car in front of us that we may as well have been in their back seat, and burned a hole with his stare at any other driver who even thought about changing lanes near his cab. And today the same cab ride with a more courteous and cautious driver was made a few minutes faster, a few HK$ cheaper, and many mmHg lower blood pressure. For this I tipped him well. But I think my next trip to Hong Kong I will attempt to ride the MTR (subway).

On food

The best way to cope with eating "strange" foods is to not ask what it is until after you've had a few bites. Lunch with Dr. Tse yesterday, I was the only foreigner in the restaurant. The barbecue goose, all the seafood dishes, and the mushroom caps were tasty; in fact, I thoroughly enjoyed all the food we ate, but I probably wouldn't have eaten my soup so eagerly if I had known there was kidney in it, nor piled my fried rice so high had I known that the meat in it was duck liver sausage. It's certainly mind-over-matter in cross-cultural dining experiences.

I'll admit, that although I have been pleased with the Chinese food I've had here in HK, it is certainly good to have some "comfort food" occasionally. Which leads me to...

On the USA as a World Power

I ate dinner last night on my own in a bar & grill in the mall attached to the hotel. In big letters at the bottom of the menu was the following notice:

WARNING: We serve AMERICAN portions.

I don't know if that's supposed to be a valid health warning or a joke....but apparently we Americans are truly (perhaps truthfully as well?) perceived as a country with "bigger is better" syndrome.

On "It's A Small World"

At the just-mentioned bar, the gentleman sitting next to me was a fellow American, a New Jerseyan, who was in HK for the business of selling pumps. We chatted a bit, and it made my dinner feel less lonely. And today, of all the people in the area (my hotel alone has 40 floors), I bumped into the same man in the elevator.

On universality

Peoplewatching is independent of language. Sure, it helps to overhear and understand what people are conversing. But the way a mother smiles while helping her young son keep his face clean, the way an old couple walks slowly together, the way teenage kids show their cool to one another: these things transcend culture. And smiles seem to be the most universal form of communication of all.

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Random thought #2

Random thought #1 was not really posted at 4:17 am. I am in Hong Kong, so it is really almost tomorrow. Which means that I'll get to celebrate my sister's birthday a day before she does. Happy Birthday Jax!

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Random thought #1

I wonder how many people have started a blog, written their "Hello World" post, maybe one or two more, and then just let it go? I'll bet it's a lot.

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