Some small thoughts.

Chicago.

A smattering of little thoughts are running about my head today, and in order to avoid going outside for as long as possible, I'll address each one in turn.¹

Really?
I love reading the weekly Really? column in the New York Times' Science section; it's like a straightforward² version of the Straight Dope. Each week, it refutes or reassures some claim of general common sense. This week, it's about keeping minor wounds moist, instead of dry. In particular, I was interested to note the bit about not applying antibiotic ointments. I presume that this means repeatedly. Though I make it a point to wash well whenever I cut myself, I've always considered an initial application of a topical antibiotic worthwhile. And it's good to know that my absent-minded habit of picking away old scabs isn't doing me any long-term damage.

Don't eat the Uni.
Frank Bruni, restaurant critic for the New York Times, generally raises some interesting points in his blog, but his new series of interviews with chefs looks especially enlightening. The first is with Rebecca Charles of Pearl Oyster Bar. She's down-to-earth, always a respectable trait, and I appreciate a number of her answers.

• What significant meals does she remember? Rustic, English country food³ and a simple roast chicken with frites in Belgium. Having had the wondrous delight that is the real Belgian frite, I can understand.
  
  
• What's most underrated in the kitchen? Salt and pepper. Sometimes - especially in the summer, with all of the great produce available - everything just tastes best without any additional embellishments.
  
  
• What food can't she stand? Sea urchin. I have to concur. I tried it once - uni, sea urchin roe sushi - and hated it. It tasted like salty milk.⁴

Six rules.
Yesterday, I successfully talked a coworker out of buying out-of-season strawberries, on the premise that they wouldn't taste very good. Of course, since she's may never have had good, fresh, ripe, local ones, she can only take my word for it. So, to back it up, I referred her to The Omnivore's Dilemma. I can probably make some points in addition to those that Pollan raises, but not much.

After that, I recalled that Pollan had written a short piece for Time magazine, entitled "Six Rules For Eating Wisely." It's a common sense - and amusing - approach to feeding yourself well. Or at least a little better. His rules:

• "Don't eat anything your great-great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." Generally, this means avoiding pre-packaged, processed stuff. Though we Americans don't have an established food culture - we have a whirling array of fad diets and "magic bullet" approaches - thinking like long-ago ancestors might help nudge us in a saner direction.
  
  
• "Avoid foods containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)." There was a recent article in either the New York or Los Angeles Times that addressed the controversy over HFCS in foods. The problem with it, I think, was that it targeted that single ingredient, rather than treating it as an indicator. As Pollan points out, HFCS only shows up in highly-processed foods, the sort that are more "food product" than "food." Eliminating HFCS also helps reduce the sorts of things that come loaded with other questionable ingredients: lots of sodium, fat, extra sugar, etc.
  
  
• "Spend more, eat less." I try to take this approach, especially with the sorts of foods that should be special. Good meats come to mind as an example. Beer and wine, too; I'm comfortable paying extra to savor and enjoy something, rather than simply bolt it down like a commodity. When I've paid more for something, I'm more willing to take the time and effort to enjoy it.
  
  
• "Pay no heed to nutritional science or the health claims on packages." In our advertising-saturated culture, the "magic bullet" gets a lot of play. The only reason nutritional claims show up on cereal boxes is to help sell more of them. They're about as fair and balanced as Fox News.
  
  
• "Shop at the farmers' market." Oh, for so many reasons. They could fill a book.
  
  
• "How you eat is as important as what you eat." If eating is simply a sustaining activity, it becomes mindless. When it's a social endeavor, a ritualized event with meaning, it becomes something special. Something worth thinking upon.

It's worth noting that these points, though distinct, really do have a lot of overlap. They're simple, but have the potential to be very effective.

Kathy's shirt.
This I should I have mentioned with the market stuff yesterday, but I forgot. Kathy finally got a shirt from John and Dorothy. See their newsletter for the story behind it. I can't recall exactly, now, but I think it's green, with yellow, lower-case lettering, and spells out "if i ate meat, this is the meat i'd eat". When your favorite beef and pork farmers have a vegetarian stumping for them, you know they're doing things right.

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¹I'm dawdling inside for several reasons: the weather outside is extremely hot and humid; the air conditioning is actually working in our building this week, which is a pleasant surprise; my apartment here has no air conditioning or cross-ventilation; and there's a Cubs game tonight, so I couldn't get on the northbound Red Line if I wanted to.

²As in less snarky, and generally not particularly humorous, but always containing a nugget or two worth remembering.

³The English can actually cook. Granted, not everything is great - and some of it is outright bad - but in capable hands, you can get some very excellent comfort food. Most of it also pairs very well with beer, and the British have an strong tradition of diverse and well-made ales. (The continued presence of which is attributable, in no small part, to CAMRA, the CAMpaign for Real Ale. In both the UK and the States.)

⁴I should point out that I don't drink milk. Though I love most dairy products, the taste of plain milk turns my stomach.