This has been around for 2 years, but I've only just seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZFG5PKw504

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I've run into the problem before. 

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Passing this on from Mark Bittman, food writer for the New York Times.  He tweeted this article:

http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/2009/03/hfcs_the_good_the_bad_and_the.php

If anyone knows of any reputable scientific articles that show that HFCS IS dangerous, and how, please let me know.  I had thought that the structure of the resulting sugars (the organic molecular structure) made it spike blood sugar rapidly, and then it dropped just as rapidly.  This would cause you to get hungrier sooner after eating food with HFCS.

It's possible that the problem is sugar in general - eating things that are sweet spikes blood sugar (duh).  And as I've often said, and many articles/studies have supported, damned near everything we eat is sweetened, even "savory" items.  They'll put sugary glazes on meat, because when it cooks up it'll have a lovely brown color.  Plus, you know, sugar.  It makes us want to eat it.

I'm still against high-fructose corn syrup, and I am taking the article linked above with a grain of salt (pardon the pun).  But I have no problem accepting the idea that sugar, in its many and varied forms, is really the problem, or more accurately our consumption of so many sugary calories, with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles. 

I WILL take issue with one statement in the article - okay, we might not be able to grow sugar cane here like they can in other countries, but it was NOT expensive, until the U.S. imposed tariffs and fees on imports of sugar, to help the corn growers build the market for HFCS. 

TWO issues - maybe the differences between HFCS and sucrose are not that great, but I can tell you that regular, American Coke with HFCS does not taste the same as sugar-sweetened Mexican Coke.  Sugar-sweetened and cane sugar-sweetened items taste different, and I like it.  

One thing not mentioned in the article is that HFCS is promoted as an additive not just for sweetening, but for promoting moistness in foods.  So they want manufacturers to add a sweetener to things like breads, to promote moistness.  Unfortunately, it adds moistness AND sugar calories.  This just makes it ubiquitous.  You reach for food and get added sugar, without knowing it. 

I'm happy to get perspective on this, but I have not changed my opinion.  Stay away from prepared foods, and watch out for sweetened drinks.  And I'm still waiting for the study that is going to show HFCS is dangerous to the human metabolism.  It's an intuitve thing for me.

First, thanks to all of you who made it out to my birthday shenanigans last night.  Everything worked out great.

Val and I started the day getting some prezzies at Lush, then went to Korea Garden Grille on Bellaire.  If you ever want to try Korean food, and want to try all of the different options - go there!  It's not very cheap ($15 per person for lunch), but they had lemon-pepper salmon, shrimp, marinated ribeye steak (bulgogi), and dozens of different side dishes.  To date, everything Korean that I've tried, I have liked.

After some other running around, we went to Poison Girl on Westheimer.  Parking can be a problem down there (it's near Dunlavy; not a lot of parking), and the bar isn't easy to find.  But it was worth it.  They had great cheap drinks, the folks behind the bar were very cool, and it had a great vibe - laid back, they had pinball machines, and (at the time we were there) it wasn't packed with people.  So we built up a good buzz.

Next was Anita's Bar & Grill - exactly what it sounds like, drinks and food.  But with drag queens, which was fabulous.  Some friends tried to warn me that the food was bad there, that they'd read a lot of bad reviews of the place.  Hear this: wrong.  The food maybe wasn't super-duper, but it was just fine.  In fact, those were some of the best buffalo wings I've had - a great blend of flavor and heat.  The burgers were huge and tasty, the fries were fine - there is nothing wrong with the food there.  And the drag show was fun, and had about 20 people there, all of us going crazy.  Every seemed to have a really good time; I sure did.  

A few of us made it to Katz's after midnight; my friend jhaenchen had to work late, so we stayed out so he could meet up with us.  Sadly, there wasn't room for a lot of food at that point, so I couldn't really take advantage of being at Katz's.  But it was quieter than Anita's, and we were able to talk and chill for a bit. 

So yesterday kicked 7 kinds of @$$, we're feeling worn out today, but that's good.  We left it all on the field yesterday, and that's the way you should celebrate anything. 

I'm so freaking livid I could scream.

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I read this morning that Pastor Rick Warren was going to be giving the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration.  That made me mad, because I know Rick Warren was one of the outspoken opponents of gay marriage, and helped get Proposition 8 passed.

Then I read this:

This part really reached me: "If you are mad about Rick Warren, I'm not attacking you. I understand your anger and I'm not saying it's not justified. But it's all right to let your anger go, too. It doesn't mean surrender, it doesn't mean giving up the struggle for equality.

"It means doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. It means winning, right now - because the fight against hate starts whenever you want it, in your own heart. You can win a battle right now by not hating.

"Can I get an amen?"

Sure can, from me.  I wasn't even aware of Rev. Joseph Lowery also being a part of the inauguration, or that he was pro-gay marriage. 

Like the man said, Obama talked about being bigger people, and learning to approach our differences by reaching out to both sides, encouraging discussion, and looking for what we have in common.  And the crazy bastard meant it.

There's a lot of work to do, but now I find out that I have to go back to school, too.  Re-learn how to resolve differences and reach consensus.  Hmmph. 

Worth it, though, isn't it?
 

Wow.  This makes me said.

http://tinyurl.com/6kuht9


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valgrl  and I went to JJ Ichiban tonight, one of the numerous Japanese restaurants that have opened up in the Copperfield area in the past 6-8 months.  They've had a write-up in the Houston Press, that made it sound pretty good.

It was great.  Sadly, we were there from 5pm to 7pm, and there were never more than 5-6 customers, including us.  This place needs more business, folks.

We started with edamame and shrimp tempura, and it was all very good, and not that expensive.  Then we ordered warm sake, and a glass of plum wine. It turned out that we got there at the end of "Happy Hour," and they gave us the Happy Hour prices on drinks and appetizers (the drinks lasted the entire meal, so it was a really great deal).

For dinner, Valgrl got a spicy salmon roll, and a Philadelphia roll (salmon, avocado & cream cheese).  I ordered tonkatsu, a breaded/fried pork cutlet (big!), with katsu sauce (like a soy sauce-based BBQ sauce or ketchup).  It was pretty good, but there's a lot of other choices on the menu that I'll be trying, the next time we go. 

Also, when you order $10 or more of food, you get the salad bar for free.  If you're looking for 50 vegetables, you're out of luck.  They had Romaine and Iceberg lettuce and cherry tomatoes.  The rest of the bar had prepared salads (they had some great pickled carrots), 9 dressings, croutons, and those awesome crispy-fried noodles that you put in soup.  But it was nice to have some fresh vegetables, along with the other food.

The menu is nice, a lot of great seafood and sushi options, and Japanese food.  BUT, if you aren't into that, you can get chicken fingers, steak and mashed potatoes.  That's pretty nice, when you can get Japanese food, but there are options for your friends/family that aren't into it.  (pyro_rebel  and nicofiend , I'm talking to you!)

Service was outstanding; of course, it helped that our waitress only had 1 table to take care of.  We loved the warm sake, so she brought out a bottle (even encouraged us to take a picture of it - Sho Chiku Bai, if you're interested).  Then she just started talking to us about Christmas, and the economy, and all of the Japanese restaurants opening up near FM 529 and Highway 6 (seriously, it's ridiculous).  She was very nice.  And we got our food out WICKED fast; we just started tucking into our appetizers when the mains came out.

The location is hampered by being right behind a bodega gas station, and being in a mostly-empty strip mall.  But seriously, seek this place out.  The food is great, the prices are good (better, if you get there for Happy Hour, 11-5), and the facility and service are exemplary.  Totally worth the money.  Spec Fic group, we need to eat here!  ;-)

 

It looks like the first African-American president has been elected.  I'm hoping and working towards the day when distinctions like that  won't matter anymore.  But for now, I'm hoping that this result means a step forward, into the future.  I'm hoping that people are going to be willing to make changes, fundamental changes, and put in some hard work.  Times ahead will be hard, one way or the other, but I believe there is hope, a new vision, and maybe even a new unity.  There's HOPE. 

Fingers crossed, everyone.  The real work begins.