20111017-OSEC-RBN-0026


Image by USDAgov
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack explains the benefits of the HealthierUS Schools Challenge prior to First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at a reception on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday, October 17, 2011 to honor the winners of the HealthierUS Schools Challenge. Behind Secretary Vilsack from left are Alex Roman, Walsh Elementary School, Chicago, Illinois and Becky Bounds, Lamar County Schools, Mississippi. Secretary Vilsack and the First Lady hosted the reception to honor the over 1200 winners in the HealthierUS Schools Challenge that met the First Lady’s goal to double the number of participants in the HealthierUS School Challenge in a year. In February 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama introduced “Let’s Move” incorporating the HealthierUS School Challenge into her campaign to promote a healthier generation of children. The HealthierUS School Challenge recognizes elementary, middle and high schools nationwide that create healthier school environments by providing exceptional nutrition education, nutritious food and beverage choices, physical education and opportunities for physical activity. Since the beginning of the HealthierUS School Challenge in 2004, awards have been given to schools in 44 states. As of September 28, 2011, there are 1631 schools certified. A tool kit on how to become a Healthier U.S. School can be found at www.fns.usda.gov. USDA Photo by Bob Nichols.

20111017-OSEC-RBN-0072


Image by USDAgov
First Lady Michelle Obama applauds her introduction by Alex Roman, Walsh Elementary School Chicago, Illinois at a reception on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday, October 17, 2011 to honor the winners of the HealthierUS Schools Challenge. Behind the First Lady from left: are Roman, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Becky Bounds, Lamar County Schools, Mississippi. Secretary Vilsack and the First Lady hosted the reception to honor the over 1200 winners in the HealthierUS Schools Challenge that met the First Lady’s goal to double the number of participants in the HealthierUS School Challenge in a year. In February 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama introduced “Let’s Move” incorporating the HealthierUS School Challenge into her campaign to promote a healthier generation of children. The HealthierUS School Challenge recognizes elementary, middle and high schools nationwide that create healthier school environments by providing exceptional nutrition education, nutritious food and beverage choices, physical education and opportunities for physical activity. Since the beginning of the HealthierUS School Challenge in 2004, awards have been given to schools in 44 states. As of September 28, 2011, there are 1631 schools certified. A tool kit on how to become a Healthier U.S. School can be found at www.fns.usda.gov. USDA Photo by Bob Nichols.

Dance Your Health Out


Image by Christiana Care
Christiana Care hosted women from across New Castle County, Del., for an evening designed to inspire attendees to improve their health through exercise and smart nutrition choices.

Combining dance, fun and education, the first ever Dance Your Health Out event, held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, provided free Zumba instruction, healthy food preparation demonstrations and health screenings to more than 200 women.

Attendees took part in a 50-minute Zumba workout led by instructor Davi Mozie that had them dancing, clapping and moving to the music. Zumba combines Latin and international rhythms with a fun, aerobics-style workout. The group included women of all ages—from teenagers to a woman in her 90s—with varying movement abilities, including “newbies” and skilled dancers.

Christiana Care employee Cindy Noble was one of the more experienced dancers in attendance, having lost 47 pounds in the past year thanks to Zumba and an improved diet. She was impressed by the number of first-time dancers at Dance Your Health Out.

“Every time I would turn around just to see what was going on in the room, I was amazed at the volume of people who were there dancing and into it,” Noble said. “People kept coming onto the floor, and they weren’t intimidated.”

“I think the group was exceptionally energetic,” commented Mozie. “When we got started I really didn’t think they would be able to last. We ended up going 10 minutes longer than we had planned because the group just didn’t want to stop. It was great.”

Others took advantage of the free health screenings available throughout the evening. Staff from Christiana Care’s Imaging Services and Center for Heart & Vascular Health assessed attendees’ risk for bone and heart disease, while members of Christiana Care’s Department of Family & Community Medicine calculated body-mass index and provided body-fat analyses.

Following Zumba, Jenn Barr, with Christiana Care’s Center for Community Health, conducted a healthy-cooking demonstration. Attendees sampled low-calorie dinner options provided by caterer Food for Thought and learned about the importance of nutrition in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

A post-event survey of attendees offered insight about the effectiveness of the inaugural event. More than 97 percent of respondents said they were motivated to eat healthier and increase their physical activity.

The event was a collaboration of several departments within Christiana Care, including: Women’s Health Services; the Center for Heart & Vascular Health; Family & Community Medicine, Center for Community Health; Food and Nutrition Services; Imaging Services; Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute’s Food & Nutrition Services; Employee Health; and Volunteer Services.

Dance Your Health Out


Image by Christiana Care
Christiana Care hosted women from across New Castle County, Del., for an evening designed to inspire attendees to improve their health through exercise and smart nutrition choices.

Combining dance, fun and education, the first ever Dance Your Health Out event, held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, provided free Zumba instruction, healthy food preparation demonstrations and health screenings to more than 200 women.

Attendees took part in a 50-minute Zumba workout led by instructor Davi Mozie that had them dancing, clapping and moving to the music. Zumba combines Latin and international rhythms with a fun, aerobics-style workout. The group included women of all ages—from teenagers to a woman in her 90s—with varying movement abilities, including “newbies” and skilled dancers.

Christiana Care employee Cindy Noble was one of the more experienced dancers in attendance, having lost 47 pounds in the past year thanks to Zumba and an improved diet. She was impressed by the number of first-time dancers at Dance Your Health Out.

“Every time I would turn around just to see what was going on in the room, I was amazed at the volume of people who were there dancing and into it,” Noble said. “People kept coming onto the floor, and they weren’t intimidated.”

“I think the group was exceptionally energetic,” commented Mozie. “When we got started I really didn’t think they would be able to last. We ended up going 10 minutes longer than we had planned because the group just didn’t want to stop. It was great.”

Others took advantage of the free health screenings available throughout the evening. Staff from Christiana Care’s Imaging Services and Center for Heart & Vascular Health assessed attendees’ risk for bone and heart disease, while members of Christiana Care’s Department of Family & Community Medicine calculated body-mass index and provided body-fat analyses.

Following Zumba, Jenn Barr, with Christiana Care’s Center for Community Health, conducted a healthy-cooking demonstration. Attendees sampled low-calorie dinner options provided by caterer Food for Thought and learned about the importance of nutrition in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

A post-event survey of attendees offered insight about the effectiveness of the inaugural event. More than 97 percent of respondents said they were motivated to eat healthier and increase their physical activity.

The event was a collaboration of several departments within Christiana Care, including: Women’s Health Services; the Center for Heart & Vascular Health; Family & Community Medicine, Center for Community Health; Food and Nutrition Services; Imaging Services; Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute’s Food & Nutrition Services; Employee Health; and Volunteer Services.

Dance Your Health Out


Image by Christiana Care
Christiana Care hosted women from across New Castle County, Del., for an evening designed to inspire attendees to improve their health through exercise and smart nutrition choices.

Combining dance, fun and education, the first ever Dance Your Health Out event, held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, provided free Zumba instruction, healthy food preparation demonstrations and health screenings to more than 200 women.

Attendees took part in a 50-minute Zumba workout led by instructor Davi Mozie that had them dancing, clapping and moving to the music. Zumba combines Latin and international rhythms with a fun, aerobics-style workout. The group included women of all ages—from teenagers to a woman in her 90s—with varying movement abilities, including “newbies” and skilled dancers.

Christiana Care employee Cindy Noble was one of the more experienced dancers in attendance, having lost 47 pounds in the past year thanks to Zumba and an improved diet. She was impressed by the number of first-time dancers at Dance Your Health Out.

“Every time I would turn around just to see what was going on in the room, I was amazed at the volume of people who were there dancing and into it,” Noble said. “People kept coming onto the floor, and they weren’t intimidated.”

“I think the group was exceptionally energetic,” commented Mozie. “When we got started I really didn’t think they would be able to last. We ended up going 10 minutes longer than we had planned because the group just didn’t want to stop. It was great.”

Others took advantage of the free health screenings available throughout the evening. Staff from Christiana Care’s Imaging Services and Center for Heart & Vascular Health assessed attendees’ risk for bone and heart disease, while members of Christiana Care’s Department of Family & Community Medicine calculated body-mass index and provided body-fat analyses.

Following Zumba, Jenn Barr, with Christiana Care’s Center for Community Health, conducted a healthy-cooking demonstration. Attendees sampled low-calorie dinner options provided by caterer Food for Thought and learned about the importance of nutrition in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

A post-event survey of attendees offered insight about the effectiveness of the inaugural event. More than 97 percent of respondents said they were motivated to eat healthier and increase their physical activity.

The event was a collaboration of several departments within Christiana Care, including: Women’s Health Services; the Center for Heart & Vascular Health; Family & Community Medicine, Center for Community Health; Food and Nutrition Services; Imaging Services; Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute’s Food & Nutrition Services; Employee Health; and Volunteer Services.

Flickr Photo Recipe: Faruk’s healthy salad (1/18)


Image by kurafire
I’ve mentioned my salads to many people, and since plenty of people have asked for the recipe I decided to document the making of my salad tonight, and do a Flickr Photo Recipe.

First, let’s be clear about this: there is nothing special about this salad. It’s all very straightforward, basic salad making. However, it’s a much more interesting and tasty salad than just some lettuce, cucumber and olive oil tossed together, which is what a lot of people tend to do because it’s quick and easy.

Making a good but simple salad isn’t difficult, and I’ll show you just how to create a salad great for serving to guests in very little time. Again, there is no special skill involved, so anyone can do this.

The ingredients:
- baby leaf salad
- crispy mixed leaf salad
- curly parsley
- chives
- salad onions
- green olives
- one or two sweet peppers
- balsamic vinegar
- white wine vinegar
- olive oil

Optionally, you can add if you wish:
- one or two tomatoes
- Italian herb seasoning

Note that the amounts I’ve purchased (and pictured above) are good for two servings of 2-3 people. I often make these bowls to serve as a full meal for myself, so if you’re like that, note that about half of all of this will be good for one full one-person meal.

Also note that it is very important to get quality ingredients. Choose carefully when you buy them: check that there are no discolored/brown leaves in the salad bags or on the parsley; make sure the chives and salad onions look fresh and dark green; choose a cucumber and sweet peppers that feel firm when you slightly squeeze them. For the olives, I recommend Turkish or Spanish olives. Get pitted olives without any special treatment or additions.

Alright, now let’s get started!

one of my muffin recipes


Image by MrTopf
So here is one recipe (there are 1000 others).

1. Butter a muffin baking-tin and put it into the fridge

2. preheat the oven at 180-200° C

3. Beat an egg until it’s foamy and then add 1 package vanilla sugar
and honey as you like (don’t know the exact amount, just do as you think
Also add 200 g yogurt and mix everything together.

4. Take 200g flour and 3/4 package of baking powder and mix it together.

5. Take 3/4 bar of chocolate (like Milka) and hack/cut it in pieces. Add to the flour

6. Add the flour mix to the egg cream and stir just until it’s roughly mixed.

7. Take the baking-tin out of the fridge and fill each hole 3/4 of it’s size.

8. Put into the oven and let it about 20 mins bake (until they are brown).

At the end put powdered sugar on top of it.

(Hope I haven’t forgotten something

this is what happens when you try to make potatoes from an old family recipe at 6 am


Image by erinblatzer
In a bowl that’s too small.
With 2 lbs too many potatoes.
And not enough cream cheese.

Disaster.

But the potatoes, however, are delicious.

And if you would like to try (I recommend it, totally, if not at 6 am), here’s the recipe:

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup sour creme
8 oz creme cheese
2 tbs butter
1/4 tbs pepper
2 tsp onion salt (not onion powder -this is actually important)
parmesan cheese (the powdered stuff – we’re not fancy here.)

Boil the potatoes and mash them with all the ingredients (except the cheese). Once its mixed well, spread the parmesan cheese on the top, with some extra pats of butter.

(And if you’re me, spend an hour cleaning up).

Heating them takes *forever* so I recommend making them right before you’re ready to eat.

Then – voila! Delicious.

Dance Your Health Out


Image by Christiana Care
Christiana Care hosted women from across New Castle County, Del., for an evening designed to inspire attendees to improve their health through exercise and smart nutrition choices.

Combining dance, fun and education, the first ever Dance Your Health Out event, held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, provided free Zumba instruction, healthy food preparation demonstrations and health screenings to more than 200 women.

Attendees took part in a 50-minute Zumba workout led by instructor Davi Mozie that had them dancing, clapping and moving to the music. Zumba combines Latin and international rhythms with a fun, aerobics-style workout. The group included women of all ages—from teenagers to a woman in her 90s—with varying movement abilities, including “newbies” and skilled dancers.

Christiana Care employee Cindy Noble was one of the more experienced dancers in attendance, having lost 47 pounds in the past year thanks to Zumba and an improved diet. She was impressed by the number of first-time dancers at Dance Your Health Out.

“Every time I would turn around just to see what was going on in the room, I was amazed at the volume of people who were there dancing and into it,” Noble said. “People kept coming onto the floor, and they weren’t intimidated.”

“I think the group was exceptionally energetic,” commented Mozie. “When we got started I really didn’t think they would be able to last. We ended up going 10 minutes longer than we had planned because the group just didn’t want to stop. It was great.”

Others took advantage of the free health screenings available throughout the evening. Staff from Christiana Care’s Imaging Services and Center for Heart & Vascular Health assessed attendees’ risk for bone and heart disease, while members of Christiana Care’s Department of Family & Community Medicine calculated body-mass index and provided body-fat analyses.

Following Zumba, Jenn Barr, with Christiana Care’s Center for Community Health, conducted a healthy-cooking demonstration. Attendees sampled low-calorie dinner options provided by caterer Food for Thought and learned about the importance of nutrition in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

A post-event survey of attendees offered insight about the effectiveness of the inaugural event. More than 97 percent of respondents said they were motivated to eat healthier and increase their physical activity.

The event was a collaboration of several departments within Christiana Care, including: Women’s Health Services; the Center for Heart & Vascular Health; Family & Community Medicine, Center for Community Health; Food and Nutrition Services; Imaging Services; Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute’s Food & Nutrition Services; Employee Health; and Volunteer Services.

Dance Your Health Out


Image by Christiana Care
Christiana Care hosted women from across New Castle County, Del., for an evening designed to inspire attendees to improve their health through exercise and smart nutrition choices.

Combining dance, fun and education, the first ever Dance Your Health Out event, held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, provided free Zumba instruction, healthy food preparation demonstrations and health screenings to more than 200 women.

Attendees took part in a 50-minute Zumba workout led by instructor Davi Mozie that had them dancing, clapping and moving to the music. Zumba combines Latin and international rhythms with a fun, aerobics-style workout. The group included women of all ages—from teenagers to a woman in her 90s—with varying movement abilities, including “newbies” and skilled dancers.

Christiana Care employee Cindy Noble was one of the more experienced dancers in attendance, having lost 47 pounds in the past year thanks to Zumba and an improved diet. She was impressed by the number of first-time dancers at Dance Your Health Out.

“Every time I would turn around just to see what was going on in the room, I was amazed at the volume of people who were there dancing and into it,” Noble said. “People kept coming onto the floor, and they weren’t intimidated.”

“I think the group was exceptionally energetic,” commented Mozie. “When we got started I really didn’t think they would be able to last. We ended up going 10 minutes longer than we had planned because the group just didn’t want to stop. It was great.”

Others took advantage of the free health screenings available throughout the evening. Staff from Christiana Care’s Imaging Services and Center for Heart & Vascular Health assessed attendees’ risk for bone and heart disease, while members of Christiana Care’s Department of Family & Community Medicine calculated body-mass index and provided body-fat analyses.

Following Zumba, Jenn Barr, with Christiana Care’s Center for Community Health, conducted a healthy-cooking demonstration. Attendees sampled low-calorie dinner options provided by caterer Food for Thought and learned about the importance of nutrition in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

A post-event survey of attendees offered insight about the effectiveness of the inaugural event. More than 97 percent of respondents said they were motivated to eat healthier and increase their physical activity.

The event was a collaboration of several departments within Christiana Care, including: Women’s Health Services; the Center for Heart & Vascular Health; Family & Community Medicine, Center for Community Health; Food and Nutrition Services; Imaging Services; Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute’s Food & Nutrition Services; Employee Health; and Volunteer Services.

Dance Your Health Out


Image by Christiana Care
Christiana Care hosted women from across New Castle County, Del., for an evening designed to inspire attendees to improve their health through exercise and smart nutrition choices.

Combining dance, fun and education, the first ever Dance Your Health Out event, held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, provided free Zumba instruction, healthy food preparation demonstrations and health screenings to more than 200 women.

Attendees took part in a 50-minute Zumba workout led by instructor Davi Mozie that had them dancing, clapping and moving to the music. Zumba combines Latin and international rhythms with a fun, aerobics-style workout. The group included women of all ages—from teenagers to a woman in her 90s—with varying movement abilities, including “newbies” and skilled dancers.

Christiana Care employee Cindy Noble was one of the more experienced dancers in attendance, having lost 47 pounds in the past year thanks to Zumba and an improved diet. She was impressed by the number of first-time dancers at Dance Your Health Out.

“Every time I would turn around just to see what was going on in the room, I was amazed at the volume of people who were there dancing and into it,” Noble said. “People kept coming onto the floor, and they weren’t intimidated.”

“I think the group was exceptionally energetic,” commented Mozie. “When we got started I really didn’t think they would be able to last. We ended up going 10 minutes longer than we had planned because the group just didn’t want to stop. It was great.”

Others took advantage of the free health screenings available throughout the evening. Staff from Christiana Care’s Imaging Services and Center for Heart & Vascular Health assessed attendees’ risk for bone and heart disease, while members of Christiana Care’s Department of Family & Community Medicine calculated body-mass index and provided body-fat analyses.

Following Zumba, Jenn Barr, with Christiana Care’s Center for Community Health, conducted a healthy-cooking demonstration. Attendees sampled low-calorie dinner options provided by caterer Food for Thought and learned about the importance of nutrition in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

A post-event survey of attendees offered insight about the effectiveness of the inaugural event. More than 97 percent of respondents said they were motivated to eat healthier and increase their physical activity.

The event was a collaboration of several departments within Christiana Care, including: Women’s Health Services; the Center for Heart & Vascular Health; Family & Community Medicine, Center for Community Health; Food and Nutrition Services; Imaging Services; Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute’s Food & Nutrition Services; Employee Health; and Volunteer Services.

Pic of the day – Choices, Choices


Image by rosefirerising
Today I found this amusing and thought-provoking site called, "Someone Else Will Put It Back."

The site had two main points, which skittered off in many directions from those beginnings, provoking great humor and occasional pathos. One point was a general awareness of the work we create for others by not picking up after ourselves along the many paths we take. Kind of how we create entropy, and how each momentary lapse of personal responsibility and lack of awareness of the impact of our actions on others creates a path that spirals slowly (in babysteps) toward the destruction of the world. For a richer explanation of the basic philosophy in a more grandiose and evocative form, see the Young Wizards books by Diane Duane (archive version here, and no, I am not sure it is authorized), and the Wizard’s Oath.

I am probably putting way more thought into this than the SEWPIB site did! The idea of putting things back where you found them is something we always try to break people of in libraries. The books are valuable, and if you put them in the wrong place, there is a very real possibility that they may never be found again, or not for decades. We also have no idea whether the book is being used unless folks leave it out where we can find it, and that information sometimes determines whether or not a book is kept. If you love a book, take it OFF the shelf and DON’T put it back. In libraries, we do NOT want patrons putting the books back. We want the statistics, and we want to be absolutely certain it goes back in exactly the right place. It was a bit of a surprise to me that grocery stores have the opposite philosophy, however this explains why we have so much trouble breaking people of the habit.

The second point seemed to be to crowdsource the concept and have people pay special awareness to finding these beasts in situ, so to speak, and then to tell the implied stories. Why and how did those two incongruent items become juxtaposed in real life?

With that idea priming the pump, we went shopping today to find turtlenecks for my son, who pulled a muscle in his neck and wanted something to keep it warm. We didn’t find turtlenecks for men, but we did find lots of funny tshirts, hoodies, sweaters, and other warm clothes. Since I had just finished reading the book from my Christmas stocking, I whipped past the book rack to see what piqued my interest and seemed appropriate brainless holiday reading. That was where I found this – a mix for pumpkin pie bars sitting in the book rack amidst the romances. As a librarian I am rather delighted with the idea that if someone had to choose between a less than healthy high-calorie treat and reading a book that supports imagination and hopes and dreams, that one would choose the latter. I love the idea of books as diet food. Excellent choice, whoever did it!

Pan Seared Tuna 8-4-09 — IMG_4347


Image by stevendepolo
I had lunch at the Grand Rapids Art Museum Cafe with fundraisers from the leading arts and cultural organizations in Grand Rapids. Someone had Wasasbi Lime Tuna pan seared with Black Sesame Seeds and a Mandarin Cashew Salad. www.artmuseumgr.org/.

blogs.smithsonianmag.com/food/2009/12/07/food-in-the-news…
www.fitsugar.com/5044642?page=0,0,0
www.ecosalon.com/back-away-from-the-tuna-shrimp-and-salmo…
blog.mansionsofrockwallaal.com/apartment-living/around-to…