Octoberfest and the Art and Science of Beer Sep30

Octoberfest and the Art and Science of Beer

Today is September 30. Which means that tomorrow is October 1. Which means – in case by now you’re wondering – that Octoberfest — which oddly enough starts in late September — is well underway. Yes, yes, I realize that many may wonder what beer has to do with the Christian faith, but did you know that beer contains xanthohumol – an incredible cancer-fighting antioxident? (Of course, you’d have to drink about 118 gallons of beer a day to get any significant benefit.) Okay, only slightly more seriously, beer and the religion have been intertwined for centuries. The Sumerians, who are credited with first fermenting beer,...

Jamie Oliver Sings the Sugar Blues Jun06

Jamie Oliver Sings the Sugar Blues

Food is all the rage these days, especially concern about how bad so much of our food is. There’s the incredibly successful and compelling Supersize Me, the documentary following one man’s decision to eat only MacDonalds meals and the devastating effects it has on his body. More recently, HBO produced The Weight of the Nation. Today’s “Wednesday TED Talk” turns the spotlight on British chef turned media personality Jamie Oliver, who has been on a crusade for several years now to change the way we eat. More specifically, he is trying to change the way we feed our children. Oliver is one of the few folks in the...

Making Bread Jun02

Making Bread

Different filmmaker and different subject, but the same idea. And for those who are interested in, but perhaps daunted by the prospect of, making bread, one of the books I’ve enjoyed and found helpful is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking....

Mardi Gras Pancakes! Feb20

Mardi Gras Pancakes!

It’s got a familiar ring to it – feast before the famine. In a sense, that’s a large part of what Mardi Gras – literally, “Fat Tuesday” is all about. But not entirely. Yes, one part of the celebration is the splurge before the fast (which, as any dieter knows, actually makes the...