Monday Morning Mix-Up 7/23/2012 – Two Kids’ Birthdays and Some New Stuff to Tell You About

Our youngest turns 7 this week.  Did you see this video I did of him taste-testing some cod liver oil for me a while back?  Fermented cod liver oil that tastes like candy?  And our oldest, Kal, turned 20 last week and will begin his third year of college this fall.  Did you ever see the post I wrote about an amazing trip he and I took together?  Our son's dream come true — now he can never complain about our ‘health food' again!  Or this one, about a late-night mission to get some footage at our local grocery store that I could use in my Real Food for Rookies online class?  A covert operation with my teenager.

Speaking of Kal, he still lives and breathes soccer, and especially follows his favorite team, Liverpool.  Over the weekend he and Kent went to Toronto because Liverpool was playing there for part of their North American tour.  I'm so excited that he got to go and finally see them play live, and even more than that, I think it's cool that he wanted to go with his Dad.

Get this.  They were telling me about their trip and Kent said, “Every place we ate at served real butter, too.”  I said, “You asked?!”  (Usually Kal cringes when I ask at restaurants, but Kent's used to me.)  He said, “I did at the first one, but then I saw it on the menus.”  How cool is THAT?!  When I'm not even with him, he still asks about real butter?!!!  I'm a lucky woman.

They went to eat at a place called Smokes Poutinerie and had the special, which sounds amazing:  Seasoned French fries, cheese curds, and gravy.  (It's actually served in a box like this.)  They ordered theirs with pulled pork and bacon on top.  🙂

“Curd is created by separating whey from the milk resulting in just curd to be strained, dried and crumbled. Curds used in the Smoke's Poutinerie recipes are produced by dairy farmers in the Eastern Townships of Quebec where you will find some of the finest cheeses in the World. The curd needs to have a ‘squeaky’ sound when poked with a fork and sound like two balloons making out.“

The only bummer is that I looked to see what they fry in:  canola oil.  Tsk tsk.  It's not their fault though, restaurants probably can hardly keep up, just as the average person struggles to figure it all out.  First “they” tell us not to cook in saturated fats, so everyone switches over to crap like soybean oil or canola oil (which is part of the reason many of us are so sick), and now that the truth is coming to light, it will continue to be a battle getting everyone to realize that saturated fats were good for us all along.  (Especially saturated fats from pastured animals.)  It's hard to believe that my Dad passed away 14 years ago today.  He had emphysema and smoked much of his life.  He began back when no one knew how bad it really was.  How many these days are dying from eating the “healthier vegetable oils” that they've been told are good for them?  We can't stop spreading the truth, the movement is growing like crazy, and I know we'll get there.  (Read more about healthy fats.)

• Have you always wanted to make your own cheese?  Now's your chance!  Sign up for this giveaway to win a soft cheesemaking kit!  (Don't you love this picture?  Of course it's not mine.)
• Lately I've had some technical struggles since my main techie helper has been unavailable to help me for a few weeks now, and things are going to heck!  I'm struggling with my Aweber and can't get it to play nice, which is why my “weekly” newsletter hasn't been up in a loooong time.  Hopefully soon I can figure that mess out before I move to the next issue…
• Over the weekend I did play around with my sidebars, though, that I know how to do, up to a point anyway.  I went from two sidebar columns to one, hoping to declutter a bit. What do you think?  It still needs some work, so don't worry, I'm not done with it yet.
• Read what Jenny wrote last week about a new online magazine!
• I read what is sort of a touchy blog post last week called, Why I can't do free, that might help you understand why myself or other bloggers can't always be as responsive as we'd like for our readers.  There are just not enough hours in the day, she says as she writes this at 2:46 a.m.
• Here's a great article from last week in the Denver Post:  Judge rules Delta farmer's use of pesticides a form of trespassing.  It's about time, eh?
• I'm thankful to have heard from so many of you who have said that this post helped you thicken your failed homemade mayo!
• Have you tried this Einkorn pasta yet?  We did and loved it!

Have a great week!