Sugar Woods and Athletic Letters

Saturday, Sam and I packed up her car with my bed and headed out bright and early Saturday morning to Sackville to delivery my bed to my sister and then to visit my grandparents in Amherst. We weren't sure if my bed was going to fit into the fit so we tested it out Friday night and realized that it stuck out the end about a foot and that we'd need to bungee the trunk down to make it work. This was really the only opportunity I had to move my bed across the bridge so we made the best of it and at about 8am on Saturday morning, armed with tarps, bungees and coffee, we took my bed apart, lugged it into the driveway and crammed the mattress, boxspring and bed frame into the car, wrapped it all up in tarps so the snow on the highway (yep, a few cm of fresh snow at the end of March...not cool) wouldn't get it all wet and then bungeed the whole thing together as tightly as possible. We didn't have anything to keep the tarp secured around the mattress and box spring so being the creative girls that we are, we resorted to christmas present wrapping ribbon. I was tempted to curl the ends just like the christmas present it looked like but decided that having pretty curls flailing from the back of the car would only draw more attention to them and our gangsta car packing job. We even got laughed at by a hitchhiker who, upon seeing the car, just laughed and put his thumb down since we obviously didn't have room. I'm sure the fact that two young, giant sunglass laden girls were in the front seat sipping coffee didn't help.

We spent the afternoon walking through the sugar woods in Nova Scotia.

I have been lucky enough to have made it to the sugar woods three of the four years I've been on the island but Sam and Big Al had never been so Alex and I had the pleasure of their company. It was a tad cold for the sap to be running but by the time we walked all the way back to the very furthest camp, the sap had started to run. Grampi was our unofficial tour-guide and taught us about every single step in the maple syrup making process and I think it's safe to say that if there is ever a Jeopardy category on Maple Syrup production, he would be the champ. I'm sad that I won't be around to join in on the sugar woods tradition next year! I might need to find one closer to home to make up for missing out in Nova Scotia.

Sunday night was the UPEI Panthers Athletic Banquet. Everyone gets all fancied up and awards are given out to each team and the AUS and CIS award winners are recognized. It's normally held on campus but this year they had it downtown at The Mac and it was definitely an improvement! There's something so much classier about a semi-formal event when it's not being held in the student union cafeteria on campus. I ended up getting nominated for the "Passion For Life Award" and winning the "Coaches Award" neither of which I was expecting at all so it was very exciting! I also got my athletic letter since I'm graduating this year! I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with it now, but for some reason it was the highlight of the night. After 3 years of on again off again competing, I now have a lovely P to show for it. If only I had a varsity leather jacket to put it so I could kick it old school. Last night was officially my last night as a UPEI swimmer! It's sad but I'm so glad I joined the team in my second year. My only regret is not joining the team a year earlier.

And now it's back to the grind after a fun but very unproductive weekend! I thought that knowing it was my last Monday morning of classes EVER might make it easier to drag my butt out of bed this morning but no dice. I also learned that my paper on the History of Roti (yep, I'm actually writing a history of one of my favorite foods, roti and it's worth 20% of my final grade...you know you're in foods and nutrition when...) is actually due Wednesday and not Friday! Oops! Consequently I spent the afternoon joining twitter instead of finishing up my research and writing the stupid thing, which I justified by telling myself it was my last week to ever procrastinate on school work so it was ok. My yoga studio opens back up today after a week of renos so I'm pumped to sweat it out tonight and check out the new and improved facilities!

Inspiration

Here is a video of Steve Job's 2005 Commencement Speech for Standford University. It's kind of long (14 minutes) but definitely worth a listen. It provided me with a Friday afternoon pick-me-up and motivation and hopefully it will do the same for you!

Miss Daisy's Sewage

Sam and I decided to take a mental health day today and boycott school to road trip across the island. It was a perfect spring day and since I'll only be on the island for another few weeks we had to take advantage of it while we still can. Our mental health day was tainted slightly by having to go to our 8:30am class because we were covering slightly important material that couldn't be missed, but as soon as class was over, and as soon as Sam's car was dropped off for it's oil change, we headed out on the road. We have been trying to decide where to go for a few days now, and since there is so much of the island that neither of us has seen we couldn't decide. Every time we had thought we had the perfect place to go, we realized that it would be a ghost town and nothing would be open owing to the fact that it's March in PEI. Every thing is seasonal and only open from June - August or October. We ended up being kind of lame. We had heard nothing but good things about Miss Daisy's Victorian Tea Room and B&B in Summerside so we made that our first stop for lunch. The atmosphere was great and the food was good but not spectacular, with the exception of the homemade biscuit that was fresh out of the oven and still warm. This guy definitely stole the show. It was the best biscuit I have ever tasted. Flaky and soft and melted in my mouth with buttery goodness. Yumm! I would go back just for the biscuits!

The Best Biscuit in the Entire World

I ordered the fishcakes, salad and green tea and Sam ordered a chicken pesto panini and salad, which both looked delicious. We ended up spliting both meals and each had one fish cake and half a panini.

Fish Cakes, Salad and Green Tea

Our meals also came with dessert! It was tough to choose, but I chose the black bottom cupcake. Shocker right? The word cupcake won me over. It was more like a mini chocolate lava cake but the warm melting chocolate was the perfect companion to the cold creamy whipped cream that was piled on top!

All in all it was a successful lunch! The portions were generous and we left full but not uncomfortably stuffed. We made the mistake of not making reservations though, so although they were able to squeeze us in, our food came almost too fast and there was some pressure to head out as soon as we were done dessert. They are normally reservation only because they are typically completely booked everyday for lunch so I can't really blame them. Would have been nice to have been able to take our time leisurely sipping our tea in the totally awesome tea cups without having to rush out after dessert. I would go back to Miss Daisy's, but I would definitely make sure I had reservations and I would request an extra biscuit or two!

After Miss Daisy's, we were at a loss for what to do next. We ended up driving to Victoria to check out the Beach House property. Unfortunately, upon our arrival we discovered this bad boy poking up right in the middle of our property.

They are vents for the sewage pump that was installed under the property. Bad news bears!

CBC Radio Interview and the Psychology of Eating

Despite that they cut out a lot of our in studio discussion, I think our interview on CBC Radio yesterday morning went really well! We've got a lot of positive feedback about it from faculty, friends and peers so thanks to everyone who woke up early to hear it, or went out of their way to provide such nice comments!

For all of you who missed it, I couldn't figure out how to get an mp3 on this silly blog so I ended up making a little slide show of pictures to go along with the audio from the interview.

On a completely random note, I was sitting in a coffee shop doing school work this morning when an elderly man sat down beside me and started spilling out his life story. Somehow we got onto the topic of school nutrition policies and soft drinks in schools. He decided to go off on a rant about how useless Dietitians were because although we're telling people that soft drinks are bad for them, we can't actually make people stop drinking them. According to him, we're simply telling people what they already know. People know that fruits and vegetables are good for them, that eating highly processed foods pumped full of sugar, salt and fat are bad for them, and that drinking 8 cans of coke a day probably isn't ideal. What the world really needs apparently, is more psychologists to figure out why people are making these food choices in the first place despite already knowing what is and isn't good for them. He likened the obesity epidemic to smoking; smokers are very aware of the health risks associated with the behaviour, but yet many of them will never even attempt to quit. Maybe eating and smoking shouldn't be placed in the same category but there is research that indicates that these processed foods are just as addictive.

I must admit I found this whole conversation incredibly annoying because a) I was trying to be productive, b) this man was so convinced he was right that I couldn't even get a word in and c) because there was some truth behind what he was saying. It's true; as a RD I can advise and lobby about healthy eating practices, and I can help those who want the help, but I cannot force anyone to eat or not eat anything. Will taking pop out of schools cause kids to drink less of it? Maybe, but not necessarily. It's so accessible every where else that kids can simply walk across the street to the nearest corner store and get it if they really want. But regardless, it's a start. By making changes like taking pop out of schools and out of community centers and hockey arenas, we are putting pressure on corporations to produce healthier products to meet the demand. Unfortunately, a lot of these so called "healthier" alternatives to soft drinks contain just as much sugar and probably aren't THAT much better for you, but we've got to start somewhere right?

Water Tanks!!

I got word today that the $1500 we raised for the Muchui Women's Group through the sale of aprons has purchased 5 water cachement tanks for members of the group. We got an e-mail from Farmers Helping Farmers with pictures of each member who received one of our tanks and their names. I am thrilled to be able to physically see the outcome of our fundraiser, and am so proud to have been able to directly impact the ability of these women to provide food for their families. One thing we learned over the summer is that the key to food security is water. I can't wait to get back to Kenya to see them and meet these women.

Quantity Induced Germophobia

If Quantity Meal Production has taught me anything, it's to Fight Bac!

I am no where close to a germophobe. In fact, I might just be the opposite.

Ya I wash my hands, I sometimes wash my fruit and veg (I know, I know, gross right?) but I believe in the 5 second rule (I'm, pretty sure mythbusters concluded that the 5 second rule was totally misguided and that food would pick up bacteria regardless of if it was in contact with it for a nano second or 2 minutes), and I am not all that concerned about the egg salad sandwich (with mayo) or yogurt that sits in my lunch bag all morning without an ice pack. There are those of you out there that are probably thinking that they never ever want to eat anything I prepare ever again out of fear that I might accidentally poison you. Obviously I make sure I don't contaminate fruit and veg with raw meat and wash my cutting board and dishes etc, but I am not nearly as cautious as some, nor as cautious as maybe I should be. I also happen to LOVE raw cookie dough, and can't resist sampling at least a taste of the batter of what ever I happen to be baking, despite the fact that it contains raw eggs most of the time. And I kind of consider expiry dates as guidelines, not rules. Expired yogurt, within reason, is totally delicious, and I generally live by the 'smell test' method of checking if food is still edible instead of the marked expiry on the package. 50% off for cheese expiring tomorrow that I won't actually finish eating for a week? SCORE!

All this being said, I very rarely get sick or even get a head cold (knock on wood) a fact that I attribute to growing up playing in the dirt outside, biting my nails and paddling slash swimming in the gross slimy Credit River. If that didn't build up my immunity to every known disease on the planet I don't know what could! I think that being too cautious might actually make you get sick more often because you are never exposed to pathogens and can never build a super strong immune system.

It's not that I was never aware of all of the germs lurking out there, and the dangers of eating raw cookie dough etc but I never really thought to much about it. My quantity food production class has made me so incredibly aware of the "danger zone" temperatures, the appropriate cooling, heating, reheating and holding temperatures of specific foods and all the ways in which food can become contaminated. I can't help but see red flags everywhere I go, or question the food handling procedure at restaurants or cafes.

Yesterday my roommate left raw meat out on the counter to thaw all day while he was at work and I really had to fight the urg to put it in the fridge for him, but a few months ago I probably wouldn't have thought to much about it. And today I was made aware that apparently you are supposed to re-sand your wooden cutting boards as soon as they get grooves in them from use because do you know how many germs and bacteria could be living in those grooves that are so small that it's virtually impossible to clean and remove the food particules from within them? GROSS! I can't help but think of the only cutting board my family has been using since I was a kid that has definitely never been re-sanded and without a doubt is covered in grooves from being used so much. While part of me is a little grossed out, the majority of my brain just thinks back to all the incredibly delicious meals that that cutting board contributed to.

While I don't think all this knowledge about food safety is going to drastically change my life, I am way more aware of all the places that germs can be lurking. To be fair a lot of this is common sense and I probably knew the majority of this information already, but having to actually study it and get tested on it makes it all sound so much more of a threat! I haven't quite reached the germophobe level of my prof (who is VERY passionate about Fighting Bac) but I am a little bit more squeamish then I used to be.

In other news, I regret to announce the death of my dad's bee colony. They did not survive the winter which is tragic and sad. He'll be buying a new colony in the spring and will be getting right back into it, hopefully learning from this years unfortunate outcome to build stronger bees for next year. I'm home this summer (YAHOO!!!) and am hoping to be his unofficial apprentice and learn some mad beekeeping skills.

But until then, Cooper and I will be waiting anxiously outside the hive for the new bees.

CBC Radio Interview

Tuck and I just got asked for an interview on CBC radio! We're taping Friday morning and it will be aired on Monday morning. Stay tuned for an update on where/how you can hear the interview and how it goes!

We're being interviewed as part of World Home Economics Day (I'm pretty sure?) and because we're giving a big presentation to the Home Economics Association on Monday about our trip.

I've been emailing the CBC guy a bit tonight and in a request for background information from our trip he asked what our presentation was about and if we had actually been to Kenya, ha!

Should be super fun and we're both pumped for the interview. I hope I don't embarrass myself!

Just some background info about the Home Economics Association - Nutrition and Dietetics stem from home economics. Before nutrition degrees even existed, dietitians had degrees in home economics. A lot of RDs are still members of Home Ec societies and organizations as a tribute to our humble beginnings. In fact, most of my profs here at UPEI have Home Ec degrees, so the switch to foods and nutrition is fairly recent! As much as I'm glad to be getting a Bsc in Foods and Nutrition (it's got a bit more street cred than a Home Economics degree...no offense to those Home Economists out there) but it would have been pretty rad to have been able to take classes in sewing and fashion and stuff too! Talk about super fun electives!