Scraping Up the Bits...

Some odds and ends from the last few days...

GO FIGURE… drinking a can of soda a day makes a person far more likely to develop “metabolic syndrome,” a constellation of physiologic factors that increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, etc. Shocking, I declare, just shocking.

The Washington Post, meanwhile, brings in 6 chefs to review the new Catherine Zeta Jones-as-big-time-chef flick, “No Reservations,” and they are a little perturbed that Ms. Jones’ character’s signature dish, a quail, is really… a squab. Those crazy Hollywood folks.

And what’s that stuff they put in all of those sodas – that’s it, high fructose corn syrup, made from all of that corn grown in this country, subsidized by the government, so we can buy 32 ounce Big Gulps for 99 cents. Which brings me to …

This Farm Bill thing, about which I become less and less sure every day. A bunch of farm and non-farm groups are getting behind this FARM 21 proposal, but one of the big groups, the Center for Rural Affairs (CRA), says it doesn't do enough to help small- and mid-sized family farms, among other shortcomings. And now the Democrats are reportedly going to try to fund increases in food stamp and other nutrition programs included in the bill with some new taxes that the aforementioned CRA is attacking. I don’t like new taxes, but this is on profits made by companies that set up subsidiaries in other countries to shelter those profits from U.S. taxes. That doesn’t sound all that bad to me.

And now there is a White House veto threat. Maybe that would be a GOOD thing. A veto might slow this grain train down and allow more time to craft something that isn’t just another boon for the big agri-biz companies at the expense of small- and mid-size farms.

And the bill that passed the House Ag Committee is going to the full House for debate today! I want to call my House rep and tell him something, I’m just not sure what. No wonder this bill is the source of so much confusion. That’s because it’s so confusing!

FINALLY, coming soon, a recipe for an excellent curried shrimp dish.