Petty Vents

[GotGarlic]

I will take a freshly made pizza from any one of the local pizza shops that deliver in my neighborhood. And I too took two years of Latin and can pronounce the words without any hesitation. Just because I can pronounce the words, doesn't mean the ingredients are what I want in my system.

By the same token, just because someone can't pronounce them, or doesn't know what they are, doesn't mean there's something bad about them. We all use flavor enhancers, emulsifiers, etc., in our food. We just don't call them by their scientific names.

The avalanche of misinformation about food these days is a huge pet peeve of mine, in case no one has noticed [emoji38]

 

[taxlady]

One of the main reasons I tend to avoid prepared foods with lists of ingredients that contain a lot of long chemical names is flavour. Often, they are only in the food to make it possible to use lower quality ingredients. A prime example of that is ice cream. The cheaper ice creams are full of all sorts of gums, so they will have the right mouth feel with less cream or lower fat cream. The better tasting, more expensive ice creams have fewer or no gums or other non-food, chemical additives.

Some of those long chemical names are preservatives and some of those have unpleasant flavours, e.g., in most bottled, reconstituted lemon juice.

 

[GotGarlic]

One of the main reasons I tend to avoid prepared foods with lists of ingredients that contain a lot of long chemical names is flavour. Often, they are only in the food to make it possible to use lower quality ingredients. A prime example of that is ice cream. The cheaper ice creams are full of all sorts of gums, so they will have the right mouth feel with less cream or lower fat cream. The better tasting, more expensive ice creams have fewer or no gums or other non-food, chemical additives.

Some of those long chemical names are preservatives and some of those have unpleasant flavours, e.g., in most bottled, reconstituted lemon juice.

I'm not promoting prepared foods as a regular diet. I'm just saying eating a frozen pizza or using a packet or jar of gravy occasionally isn't going to poison anyone. Btw, the additives are generally chemicals that occur naturally in food. They're standardized and purified and used in specific ways for specific purposes, like the way we use baking powder or salt or fish sauce. So I don't think it's accurate to say they're "non-food."

Curious, what's wrong with preservatives? They inhibit the growth of pathogens like mold and prevent people from getting sick, which is why they were added in the first place. That's a good thing, imo.

Depends on how you're using the lemon juice. I wouldn't use it for something where it's a primary ingredient, but it's recommended in canning because the acidity level is standard and known to be safe.

I had a neighbor once who thought preservatives prevented the body from breaking down food, leading to some sort of intestinal compaction. No, that's not how it works. Too many people who repeat negative information about food don't understand in detail how digestion works.

 

[taxlady]

I'm not promoting prepared foods as a regular diet. I'm just saying eating a frozen pizza or using a packet or jar of gravy occasionally isn't going to poison anyone. Btw, the additives are generally chemicals that occur naturally in food. They're standardized and purified and used in specific ways for specific purposes, like the way we use baking powder or salt or fish sauce. So I don't think it's accurate to say they're "non-food."

Curious, what's wrong with preservatives? They inhibit the growth of pathogens like mold and prevent people from getting sick, which is why they were added in the first place. That's a good thing, imo.

Depends on how you're using the lemon juice. I wouldn't use it for something where it's a primary ingredient, but it's recommended in canning because the acidity level is standard and known to be safe.

I had a neighbor once who thought preservatives prevented the body from breaking down food, leading to some sort of intestinal compaction. No, that's not how it works. Too many people who repeat negative information about food don't understand in detail how digestion works.

I wasn't saying that there is necessarily anything wrong with preservatives or implying that those chemicals are poisoning the food. I started my comment with the fact that I find that food which has fewer of those additives usually tastes better.

As to the lemon juice, I buy a bottled, organic lemon juice that tastes good enough that I can use anywhere I would use fresh lemons. It actually works out cheaper for me than trying to have lemons on hand all the time. YMMV

 

[GotGarlic]

I wasn't saying that there is necessarily anything wrong with preservatives or implying that those chemicals are poisoning the food. I started my comment with the fact that I find that food which has fewer of those additives usually tastes better.

As to the lemon juice, I buy a bottled, organic lemon juice that tastes good enough that I can use anywhere I would use fresh lemons. It actually works out cheaper for me than trying to have lemons on hand all the time. YMMV

My comments were about the way a lot of people in general think about these things lately, not you specifically, except about the preservatives. People are constantly going on about how chemicals are dangerous, prepared food is terrible for you, etc., etc.

I try to keep everyone in mind when I think about the food system - people without a lot of time or money or interest in cooking still need to eat. My peeve is that people who are doing the best they can with what they have are made to feel like they're poisoning their families if they're not buying organic everything and making everything from scratch.

 

[taxlady]

My comments were about the way a lot of people in general think about these things lately, not you specifically, except about the preservatives. People are constantly going on about how chemicals are dangerous, prepared food is terrible for you, etc., etc.

I try to keep everyone in mind when I think about the food system - people without a lot of time or money or interest in cooking still need to eat. My peeve is that people who are doing the best they can with what they have are made to feel like they're poisoning their families if they're not buying organic everything and making everything from scratch.

We are certainly on the same page about that.

 

[GotGarlic]

We are certainly on the same page about that.

[emoji813]

 

[roadfix]

Including what happened today, that's 3 Amazon delivery screw-ups so far in the last month.
I've never had issues with Amazon since I started using them but I think they've gotten so big that the delivery personnel are so overwhelmed by the huge volume of packages they have to deliver.

 

[Addie]

I am a label reader. Mostly because I have a few food allergies. Ninety-nine percent of my cooking is from scratch. And the word "organic is being applied to a lot of food that is most likely not organic.

My first concern on the label is the sodium content. Too high, I look at another product with less sodium. Also using fresh ingredients means more effort to cook what I am making. Example: Dinty's Moore's Beef Stew or make my own. Fortunately I love to cook, so it is never a chore for me. And I have more carrots, celery and other produce left for another meal. I don't have to concern myself with what chemicals have been added to my food.

 

[taxlady]

So, yesterday the water heater broke and flooded the basement. DH called the company we rent the water heater from and they sent two guys today and they replaced it. It was a bit of a production making sure there was enough space for the guys to work. We had been planning on asking for a new water heater next this month, so we had already cleared a lot of stuff out of the way.

But, there's still water in the industrial carpet on the office side of the basement. We will need to have professionals come in and deal with that. We'll need the furniture and stuff removed to storage before the pros can remove the water. I am usually the one who does all the calling for something like this. But, I just wasn't up for it. I am so relieved that DH took care of the phone calls. He called the insurance company today. When the insurance company said that it was covered by our condo insurance and not our home owner's insurance, he phoned our condo rep to get that phone number. It turns out that if we had an "apartment condo", it would be covered by the condo insurance, but since we have a townhouse and the water heater is our responsibility, not part of the building, it isn't covered by the condo insurance. The condo insurance takes care of stuff like a foundation leaking or if something happened to an exterior wall or when stuff happens to the common areas like the garages or the swimming pool. DH will contact the insurance guy again tomorrow. Apparently he was really nice.

And, my laptop needs repair or replacement. There is a bulge in front of the keyboard. It's been getting worse, and today the touch pad has become unreliable. I don't want to have to deal with that while I'm dealing with the water in the basement. I am about to do another backup of my data. I have been pretty good about backups since I first noticed the laptop was behaving less than optimally. If I'm lucky, it's still covered by the extended warranty. Yeah, I should have taken it to the computer store when I first noticed, but I have been having mobility issues and it's just all too much. But, I guess I gotta deal with it now, hopefully before I can't use it at all.

Thanks for reading. Getting that off my chest has already made me feel a bit less stressed.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

taxy, you made me forget all about my little problem. You need a big hug...or a big margarita.

I hope all of these problems are resolved quickly. That laptop bulge sounds serious.

 

[medtran49]

Taxy, please get your laptop looked at. I'm worried it has to do with your battery and you don't want it exploding and possibly causing a fire!

Sorry to hear about the WH issues too.

 

[roadfix]

Tax, better get that laptop looked at ASAP. I had the same thing happen with mine. I ended up removing the bulging battery out myself. Never replaced with a new battery so it’s just plugged in all the time.

 

[buckytom]

Yes, Taxy, put that thing in a safe (fire safe)place and don't plug it in.

It could be the battery or capacitors in the power supply bulging.

 

[Andy M.]

...And, my laptop needs repair or replacement. There is a bulge in front of the keyboard. It's been getting worse, and today the touch pad has become unreliable. I don't want to have to deal with that while I'm dealing with the water in the basement. I am about to do another backup of my data. I have been pretty good about backups since I first noticed the laptop was behaving less than optimally. If I'm lucky, it's still covered by the extended warranty. Yeah, I should have taken it to the computer store when I first noticed, but I have been having mobility issues and it's just all too much. But, I guess I gotta deal with it now, hopefully before I can't use it at all.

Thanks for reading. Getting that off my chest has already made me feel a bit less stressed.

I had the same problem with an old Mac. When the battery gets old it starts swelling and since it's under the touchpad it makes the touchpad unreliable. I'd take it in right away and get the battery replaced.

 

[Addie]

Well, you have the word from those in the "know". Get thee to the repair shop pronto.

Then sit down with a nice big glass on your favorite drink. You certainly deserve it. Let hubby take over and make your world right again.

By this coming Wednesday, things should be looking up for you. At least I hope so. This is not the time of year for everything to be falling apart. Not with the temps being in the minus column for days on end. And if that drink doesn't make your world look better, than go into the kitchen and cook up one of the delicious meals you are known for.

Good luck! Here's an angel to be looking out for you.

 

[taxlady]

Thanks for the heads up about the battery folks. I will get to it very soon.

Thanks for the hug CG.

 

[taxlady]

...
Good luck! Here's an angel to be looking out for you.

Thanks Addie

 

[Caslon]

Here's hoping my LCD TV power board replacement does the trick.

 

[caseydog]

Sooo, I thought I had a rat in my attic. I put some glue traps up there, and nothing got stuck in them.

Turns out I have squirrel somewhere, not quite in my attic, but inside my house. It took me weeks, but I finally found the squirrel hole. One of the few places on my house that isn't covered in brick, and You can't see it unless you climb onto the roof.

So now, it is "game on." I can't get to the hole without a 30-foot ladder, and I can't rent one and bring it home on my MINI Cooper. So, time to call on my friends with trucks. Replace that area of wood with HardyPlank. Cement board that looks like wood. Files those squirrel teeth down in a hurry.

Like I have said before, I love nature, as long as it stays the f--k out of my house!

Seriously, I'd be happy to feed the critters, if they would just stop moving into my house.

CD