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October 17, 2005

Waaaay Behind the Curve

I just got an article emailed to me that appeared in USA Today that fairly took my breath away. Protein is the new diet hook? Well, shut my mouth! Let's see, it seems to me that since Protein Power came out in January of 1996, these guys are about ten years behind the curve getting this "breaking news" item.

Posted by mdeades at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)

Here's the Beef

I was delighted to read in this Sunday's Santa Barbara News-Press an article off the Associated Press wire by Jeff Barnard in which he trumpets a gladsome tiding: natural meat sales are outpacing sales of conventional products. A sample of the article:

Thanks to concerns about mad cow disease, the success of natural foods stores and Americans' growing desire to know where their food comes from, natural meat is one of the beef industry's fastest growing sectors. Over the past 10 years, Oregon Country Beef has gone from processing 3,400 head a year to 40,000...with a 73 percent increase over the past year.

Obviously, the amount of hormone-laced meats sold by the mega giants of the ag-biz-ranching world still dwarfs natural meat sales in absolute pounds and dollars, but the trend sure is headed in a most promising direction. Providing the discriminating consumer with safe, quality meat, free of antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, and other toxins may be the savvy move that saves the small family ranchers from extinction. Long may happy cows roam free to graze on the grasslands of such concerns as Coleman Purely Natural, Lasater Grasslands Beef, Oregon Country Beef, and all the other natural meat producers...for their good and the good of us all!

Posted by mdeades at 4:45 PM | Comments (0)

October 6, 2005

C'est Cheese!

Years ago, maybe fifteen or more, I read a travel article about hiking in the Vermont woods in autumn. In the itinerary described, one spent a week hiking through the glorious flaming foliage, not camping out nightly, but rather hiking from cozy B&B to cozy B&B, being welcomed each evening with a glass of wine and some good cheese and offered dinner, sleeping in a soft, fluffy bed each night, chowing down on a good breakfast each morning, and being sent off with camera and lunch in hand to amble through the woods to the next stop with bags ferried by car. I have since that time dreamed of making this trek, but because it requires a fair amount of preplanning (and our lives have not run on that kind of schedule for years) we've never been able to fit it in. But the dream persists.

Thus, I was ingrigued by an article by Wendy Knight in yesterday's New York Times about touring the Vermont Cheese Trail. Instead of simply walking through the woods (which would be lovely) I learned that it's possible to combine glorious foliage with glorious fromage. With good cheese topping my list of delectible edibles, this combo speaks to my heart. If, like me, you're a lover of the beauty and bounty of nature, this is an article worth reading and the trip would be worth taking. If you're not into a walk in the woods, but still like to read and learn about artisanal cheese, I can recommend a pair of beautiful books that Mike recently bought me called Cheese A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best and The Cheese Plate. Both are filled with photos so luscious you can almost smell the cheeses and packed with information about how the various cheeses are made, and more importantly for those of us not planning to make our own, about selecting, buying, storing, serving, and pairing great cheeses with the right wine and other foods to heighten the pleasure of eating them. Enjoy.

Posted by mdeades at 8:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 5, 2005

Is Low Carb CookwoRx at a tube near you?

A reader just wrote to ask how to find out where our PBS tv show was showing and when. It occurred to me that other people might also want to know, so here's the scoop:

All the nearly 360 PBS affiliates around the country are independent, meaning that the programming director has wide latitude over what his or her station airs and when. Thus, our Low Carb CookwoRx show may be on twice a day in Manhattan PBS on their high definition station feed, perhaps not at all in Omaha, and on both high definition and standard definition in San Francisco.

To determine if the show airs where you are, simply go to the show's website and put in your zip code. The engine will take you to the PBS affiliate's website that serves your area. From there, scan both the high definition and standard definition programming (the show is shot in high def, but is available downgraded to standard and has been picked up in that format in a number of areas) and you should be able to find the schedule. If you can't find it, call the station and ask them when it's shown. If it's not shown, tell them you want it!! Failing that, the website's shopping area does offer videos of every show for sale and all the recipes from the show and more are availabe in the new Low Carb CookwoRx Cookbook.

Posted by mdeades at 11:11 PM | Comments (1)

October 3, 2005

CookwoRx Cookbooks Hot Off The Press

We just got our advance copy of our newest book, the tie in to our PBS tv show, called The Low Carb CookwoRx cookbook. Its arrival at our box means that the books have shipped and should over the next couple of weeks be arriving in bookstores across the country.

The book contains over 150 of our favorite low carb recipes, including all the recipes prepared on air in the first season, an equal number that have never been seen before, and plenty of commentary and travelog info about their genesis. We had a blast inventing the recipes based on dishes we love from among our families' traditional dishes to restaurant meals we've enjoyed all over the world. We hope you'll enjoy them.

Posted by mdeades at 3:31 PM | Comments (0)