1. Why do the French insist on calling my mobile phone even when I ask them nicely to call my 'land line', explaining that I don't live on my mobile. In fact, I only turn it on if I have to make a phone call whilst away from my house.
I have a perfectly good phone, 2 in fact, in my house. I see no reason to walk around with my mobile in my pocket.
If I'm not using it I see no reason to have it turned on. It just wears the battery down, leaving it useless when I do want to use it.
Why, oh why, after I explain this to people do they still call my mobile?
I spent the morning at my desk, my phone inches from me.
As I'm going to be out running errands tomorrow I decided to check the charge on my mobile.
I turned it on and there were 2 messages, both received within the recent hour.
Both leaving long, rapid, nearly unintelligible messages in French to which I had to listen 5 times each to get even the vaguest idea what they were about.
Is that why they call my mobile?
To leave messages and not have to talk to me?
2. Isn't there anyone, other than me, in the entire universe interested in knowing the nutritional values of natural foods?
I have spent far more time than I am willing to admit over the last 2 days looking for a book/chart/something to give me the nutritional values of just regular old food – you know, carrots, chicken breasts, potatoes… That sort of thing. (Need it for mon mari – not calorie but carb counts)
I found lots and lots of places to tell me everything I want to know about every bit of fast food / junk food / crap food on the planet.
It would seem that people who live on Big Macs have a morbid curiosity about what they're consuming but people who cook and eat natural foods are totally unconcerned.
The few places I found that did give information on regular food couldn't quite get away from the idea that everything was 'name brand'.
Take the lowly carrot.
I could find out how many calories in 'Dole baby carrots, 5'.
I could find out how many calories in 'Green Giant, 1 carrot, medium'.
What if the name on my package isn't 'Dole'? What if it's 'Peter Rabbit Baby Carrots'?
Are 5 Peter Rabbit Baby Carrots the same as 5 Dole Baby Carrots?
What the hell is a baby carrot anyway?
Is my medium carrot the same size as your medium carrot?
Couldn't they have said: 1 medium carrot, app. 4oz?
I'd be happy with that. They needn't be more precise, though that would be nice.
They put this information on all the fast food crap so someone has to know it….
Why won't they share?
I'm done now….
Here's some regular, old, no name food that I combined to make dinner. I have no idea of any nutritional values.
Just trust me…. It's good for you!
As it happens to have pasta in it I'm sending it over to Tigerfish, of Teczape, the host for this weeks Presto Pasta Nights, founded by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.
Tigerfish will have a round-up of all the wonderful pasta dishes from around the world on her blog on Friday.
I have always had a complaint about most 'Pasta Primavera's.
It's meant to be 'spring' pasta, but often has things like summery courgette/zucchini or autumnal mushrooms in it. Then I ended up adding some red bell pepper for color, so there you have it… It's been like that lately….
Pasta Primavera Salad
1 avocado
8oz (250gr) asparagus, white or green
3oz (90gr) mangetout (snow peas)
2/3 cup (3oz, 90gr) halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 red pepper
1 tbs olive oil
1 cup bite-size pasta
Vinaigrette
1 tbs Dijon-style mustard
3 tbs olive oil – the good stuff
2 tbs tarragon white wine vinegar
1 tbs fresh snipped chives
1 tbs fresh snipped tarragon
Cook pasta according to package directions.
While it cooks: Trim and cut asparagus into 1 inch lengths. Cut pepper into matchsticks. Trim snow peas and cut large ones in half.
Heat 1 tbs olive oil in large nonstick skillet over high medium high heat. Add asparagus, snow peas, pepper and stir-fry for 2 – 3 minutes until just crisp-tender (longer if you prefer, but, remember this is a salad!). Remove and put into a large bowl.
Add cherry tomatoes and herbs.
Make Vinaigrette: Whisk together mustard and vinegar. Drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly until it emulsifies. Add herbs.
To finish: Pour vinaigrette over vegetables and toss to coat (tongs work well).
When pasta is done drain, add to salad and toss to combine.
Cut avocado into cubes, add to salad and stir gently.
I must remember: Why ask why?
Ah, Katie, we’ve been gone too long. Apparently all anybody eats these days are baby carrots and baby spinach and who knows what else baby.
I remember trying to find some kind of info on real food some time ago. Didn’t exist then, either. Not all that many recipes even call for real food.
Wonderful society we live in. Thanks for your attempts to keep us all set with real, natural, actual food!
People call you on your mobile phone because you divulge that you have one. I just lie, now, and tell them I don’t have one. Of course, they look at me like I’m from Mars when I say that – these days _everyone_ has a cell phone and everyone uses them ad nauseum, it would seem. I can’t help much with the carb count except to say, as a rule of thumb, if a food is white, or made with white ingredients, it’s high in carbs (rice, potatoes, flour, sugar, alcohol,) in short, all the things we like best…
A lot of people use the mobile as their default phone, if you know what I mean. It’s no longer for an emergency or contingencies like away from home.
What gets my goat is that increasingly, people seem to say I’ll call you back, I’m getting another call or I’ll call you back, my mobile’s ringing.
Great measurements like that! When I bake an apple-pi.jpge I always wonder how much a cup of slices apples is, it all depends on how you slice’em and how you place them in the cup.
Anyway if you still need to know.
100 g raw carrots: 11 g Kcal, 1 g protein, 0 g fat, 2 g carbs, 0 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 92 g water, 2 mg vit.c.
If you need to know about other products, mail me a list and I’ll fill it in from my booklet with all that kind of information.
Sigh…life is so complicated! I’m like you and really use my mobile phone when I’m out…and when I’m doing the calling. My daughter in Toronto, doesn’t have a land line, so when I call, my first question is always “where are you?” Crazy world.
As for nutritional value…with at least 10 cookbooks with “Health or Healthy” in the title, you’d think I’d find something for you…nada, but you already knew that.
Thanks for sharing the gorgeous pasta though.
I have the same hard time trying to find blood sugar stats on fresh foods. Each source seems to have a different idea.. like they all just guestimate. Carrots are good! No, carrots are bad! New potatoes are good! No, new potatoes are bad!….
None of them can make up their minds.
I do love pasta primavera.. even though I, too, like summer veggies in it!
Katie, the American Diabetes Association has a useful website that may help you, including a chat function where you can ask a nutritionist questions about different foods. Here’s a link – hope it helps:
Can’t you change your mobile service to NOT take messages? We have the most basic service on our mobile phone – it phones. No call display. No message service. No list of missed calls (other than simply the number of missed calls that are registered ONLY if the phone is turned on). The only message that is heard is the generic “customer you are calling is currently unavailable” when the phone is turned off (which is just about all the time)
There is quite an extensive chart showing calorie counts for fruits and vegetables in the back of the paperback “The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Cookbook” produced by Celebrity Kitchen, Inc. The chart is a little annoying because it measures some things in terms of small or medium but it still would be useful.
5-6 spears raw asparagus: 26calories 4gms carbohydrates
2/3c cooked asparagus: 20calories 4gms carbohydrates
2/3 c peas, green, cooked or fresh: 71calories 12gms carbohydrates
(snowpeas aren’t listed)
1/2 c cooked tomato: 26calories 6gm carbohydrates
1 large empty shell of a raw green pepper: 22calories 5gms carbohydrates
(red peppers aren’t listed; perhaps they’re the same as green?)
I’m afraid I’m too lazy to continue with the calculations to figure out how many calories in your delicious sounding pasta primavera salad though.
The book is available on Amazon for as little as a couple of dollars (before shipping) It’s also listed at http://www.bookfinder.com/
I used to use my mobile only for emergencies. Didn’t turn it on otherwise. But little by little, it has taken over, and I now rely on it for all my long distance calls. (I don’t have long distance on my land line.) I have to agree with zoomie – don’t tell anyone you have a mobile phone. Lie through your teeth! It’s none of their business, anyway.
As for the nutritional value of different foods, the best advice I can give is to figure the averages. If you get a number for a particular brand of carrot, you can figure that your carrots are more or less the same. Baby carrots are those things they sell in bags here – the are actually larger carrots which are cut and peeled and made to look small and pretty – all by machine. I would figure about 3 or 4 of them to equal one “normal” carrot.
As for the junk food – read it and weep! 😉
Makes a one dish meal for me 🙂
You can usually find the nutritional counts for a lot of natural food at http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/nutrition.asp (just click add a food and search, then use the “See nutritional info” link at the bottom. Their recipe area is also handy, if a bit cumbersome, because you can build your own recipes and it will give you the nutritional counts for all the ingredients.
The pasta primavera that I make usually has peas, zucchini and leeks. Maybe not excusively Spring, but definitely delicious!
Have you looked at http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/calorie_counter/fruit.htm#avocado?
They have nutritional info for prepared foods, as well as plain old fruit and veg.
Azurienne, I can understand small and tender… But ‘baby’ seems such a waste, and the few things I’ve had weren’t that good.
Zoomie, so if I drink red wine (not white) it’s low in carbs? I like this…
Sra, I hate that – as if they think someone ‘better’ might be calling them.
Thanks, Lien. And about the cups and spoons… I have an ‘official’ cup but my British friends just use any old coffee cup
Ruth, my mother got very upset when I called her from my car – ‘Can’t you take the time to sit and talk to your mother?’
Natashya there are more opinions then there are people who know anything….
Thanks, Zoomie, it looks good,, Bookmarked!
Elizabeth,Thanks for all the info. And explain to the French that I don’t want every possible service? Not possible… Why wouldn’t I want that? Maybe I’d like this instead… Nope, can’t be done (I’ve tried)
Toni, I use Skype for almost everything, even local calls – which we have to pay for. That’s why the baby carrots look so weird.
Thanks, Tigerfish.
Thanks for the link, Michelle… I’m getting lots of good stuff.
Jeanne, the plain old – that’s what I want…Thanks!
Hi,
there is a useful website where you can post your questions for free.it’s calles .
Cheers,
Peter