Monday Morning Mix-Up 1/9/2012

OK Real Foodies, I'm hoping you enjoy checking out good food as much as I enjoy snapping the pictures for you…

My friend, Nancy & I went to Marie Catribs for lunch last week.  Isn't this picture of our appetizer salad trio pretty good?

On the left was a Greek salad that had really good flavor, but too many olives for me.  In the middle was my favorite, an eggplant dish, called Baba Ghanoush, that is SO good, but I don't even know how to describe the spices in it.  On the right is my other favorite, a quinoa salad that has a delicious orangy citrus flavor, with chili powder and cumin, along with parsley, red onion, black beans, celery.  Then as we were leaving, look who we ran into outside!

Here's Marie Catrib herself, pictured with my friend, Nancy.  We had a nice chat with Marie about how much she loves cooking with REAL foods, local foods, and all homemade recipes.  Eating there is such a treat!

• Did  you see my Saturday post where I tell you about some new giveaways, about my new assistant, and about the audio post that I didn’t end up sharing? Here it is:  Down and dirty scoop on the blog and how you can WIN stuff.  (Two more high traffic days last week came from these posts:  The ignorance of Dr. Oz and My nipples are on fire.)
• I've been listening to this recording someone sent me with Dr. Mercola and Caroline Barringer, who I met at the Dallas conference last fall.  (Her singing voice is amazing.)  They're talking about the benefits of fermented/cultured vegetables for our immune system.  “They have a way of changing the ecology of our gut – 80% of our immune system is located there.  When you bring cultured foods into your body you're practicing the principle of replenishment.  Cultured foods are amazing detoxifiers in our bodies!”  I feel SO spoiled because I just went over to our freezer and got out some fermented carrots for tomorrow.  Sometimes it's still hard to believe something that good for me can taste so good.  (Where to get my favorite fermented vegetables, that you can freeze, for a tasty and convenient side dish all winter long!)
• Well something tells me that Sandrine's new blog is going to be very successful!  Her post the other day on how rotten Girl Scout Cookies are already had 55 comments when I last checked!  Read Girl Scout cookies or chemicals?  (That's her picture, of course.  You knew it wasn't mine, didn't you?)
• If someone can explain the hogwash in this article I'd love to hear it, but I think it's just shocking.  Wisconsin Judge: No fundamental right to produce and consume foods.  Seriously?!  Here's an excerpt:  “Some analysts believe that such increased food regulations are being proposed because big agriculture fears competition from little producers, and therefore uses lobbyists to virtually eliminate small family farms that have been successful outside of the mainstream. Interestingly, those involved in large-scale agriculture are already the beneficiaries of massive government subsidies.“
• What do you think of this Walmart article?  Eaters beware, Walmart is taking over our food system.  “Walmart is pushing us toward a future where food production is increasingly industrialized, farmers and workers are squeezed, and the promise of fresh produce is used to conceal an economic model that leaves neighborhoods more impoverished. Are we going to let it happen, or are we going to demand better food and a better world?”