I have moved my blog to http://aaronhegde.blogspot.com. I seem to be able to incorporate more features on blogspot. So I will try it out for a few weeks and see the difference.
Eating Healthy – Part II
An article in last week’s Economist magazine, titled ‘Better than Cure’ discusses a study led by Dean Cornish at UCSF which looked at the impact of vegetarian diet on prostate cancer. They found that a low-fat vegetarian diet, with whole grains, for a period of three months led to the switching off of oncogenes (cancer causing genes) and the turning on of disease-preventing genes in a group of 30 men who were in the beginning stages of prostate cancer. While there are some questions about the study (there was no control group, small number of subjects, etc), it nonetheless is a step towards the validation of healthy diets and decreased incidences of diseases and the continuing notion of an apple a day keeping the doctor and his/her meds away. Source (full article): Cancer and Diet (click here)
Day 1: The Orphanage – A
The first of 75 movies this summer. This was a good way to start. The Orphanage is produced by Guillermo del Toro, who also produced and directed Pan’s Labryinth. The Orphanage, in some sense, was better than Pan’s. It is quite suspenseful. It has elements of The Others. While parts of the movie were predictable, it would have been worse if they did not play out as expected. Laura (Belen Rueda) and Carlos (Fernando Cayo), along with their son, Simon (Roger Princep) move into a big house by the Spanish coast. The movie was shot in the town of Oviedo (in the summer resort area of Llanes) in the north-west coastal region of Asturias, Spain. This region used to be a kingdom in the middle ages, but is now an autonomous community within Spain. Known for its seafood, the most famous Asturian dish is fabada asturiana
, a bean stew, probably second only to Paella in terms of Spanish food.
Back to the movie: Turns out, the house used to be an orphanage where Laura grew up. Now she wants to, along with her doctor husband, open it up for a few special children (with Down syndrome). At the welcoming party (or probably like an open house), things start going wrong. Simon, the son, who normally plays with invisible friends, (the father attributes this to loneliness and says that once ‘real’ kids show up, he will get over it) disappears. That is when things start getting interesting. Eventually in order to find her son, Laura needs to figure out what the spirit of children, who seemingly were abused in the orphanage, want in exchange for letting her know Simon’s whereabouts. The end unravels the themes of the movie: a mother’s loneliness and how she dealt with loss. The movie, at times, can make one jumpy, owing to the use of silence and music. Well directed by first time director Juan Antonio Bayona.
Eating Green and Healthy
It is often believed that in order to be eco-friendly one needs to consume locally grown foods. Some even advocate this militantly, saying that it is not ‘natural’ to consume strawberries/cherries in the middle of winter, when it is evident that they would have had to travel miles from the Southern Hemisphere to get to their wintery destinations in the northern hemisphere. A new study titled ‘Food-Miles and the Relative Climate Impacts of Food Choices in the United States‘ by Christopher Weber and Scott Matthews, both from Carnegie Mellon, forthcoming in the journal Environmental Science and Technology suggests that it is the production of the food (how it is produced) that matters more than its transportation (how far it travels). They find that transportation adds only 11% to the average household’s contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG) due to food consumption, the rest due to the food production itself. Of the remainder, the largest contributor of GHG was found to be Red meat (30%) and dairy (18%), with fruits and vegetables (11%) and cereals and grains (11%) contributing among the least. Chicken, fish and eggs contributed 10% towards GHGs. Another evidence of the fact that red meat is not healthy, whether to the health of an individual or our earth. A chapter in the S. Clark edited book ‘Food Politics at Home and Abroad‘ discusses the water usage in the production process of various types of foods. This chapter, written by Michael Ault and Monica Evans, titled ‘Verities of Vegetarianism: Why They Pay Less and We Pay More‘ finds that more water is needed to produce one pound of meat than for an equivalent pound of vegetables.
Evita
CSUB Theatrefest presented ‘Evitathe Musical about Eva Peron put up by theater students. The lead characters, Che Guevera were sung very well. The set design was as good, if not better, than any other plays put on at the Dore Theater. The clip below is a performance of ‘Don’t Cry for me Argentina’ by Lea Salango. Enjoy.
STS9
Went to see Sound Tribe Sector 9 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. STS9 is an instrumental band that plays a blend of different genres of music. Electronic music mixed in with Jazz, Psychedelic, Hip Hop, Southern Rock type of music. At times they remind one of Allman Brothers, especially the latter’s live concerts. STS9 is well known also for the light shows that are part of the performance; in addition to artists on stage who paint during the show. The art, also psychedelic in nature, at least at the show in LA, is then displayed at the end for anyone to see. The band played until just after 1 am. They went on stage about 10 pm. The HOB was packed with also an eclectic crowd, ranging from seemingly young to a few older faces. The all to familiar concert whiff was permeating through the air at times. Here is a clip from one of their past shows in LA.
Feta Fried Rice
My own creation.
- small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 oz feta, chopped
- cooked rice (0.5 cup)
- S&P and lemon juice, to taste
1. Saute onion, garlic, turmeric, garam masala and chili powder until onions are translucent.
2. Add egg and constantly mix (until scrambled).
3. Add feta and continue to stir.
4. Once feta starts begins to melt, add cooked rice and stir.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Finish with some lemon juice.
Serves: Two, as side dish
Global Warming: The Signs and Science
Documentary hosted by Alanis Morissette. PBS Video (2005).
Some notes: avg temp of earth rising faster than last 10,000 yrs; signs: droughts, rising seas, tropical diseases, extreme weather; 1 F increase in 100 yrs (worldwide); Eastern Arctic: 7 F in 50 yrs; snow caps of Mt. Kilimanjaro receding; sources of carbon: trans (33%); elec gen (33%), agriculture and land clearing (20%); increase in co2 concentration levels ; coal fired power plants – large polluters; popn growth another factor; environmental justice (Nira Robinson) – effects on low income/ minorities; asthma result of co2; west nile; el nino (heat transfer essentially): frequency & intensity changes?; 1 F warming = 10% decrease rice yield, 10% more rain needed; pop grow fast, w/ decrease food, difficulty w/ scarcity; “Boiling Point” (book)
