Month: June 2008

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Inescapable Nutritional Facts in Recipe Development

venturing into the jungle of nutritional data
Here I am beginning to venture into the the jungle of nutritional data and investigate the Myth that what tastes good has got to be bad for you.

It has always been a strong ‘belief’ of mine that what you really enjoy is probably really good for you… and the stuff you avoid… well… there are reasons for that too. Recently, facts are starting to support my observations and the real issue  associated with good food is the high quantity we all enjoy….not the taste or quality.
Laura's simply fabulous Stuffed Bell Pepper Recipe!Humans have existed in times of feast and famine with the obvious increasing and decreasing size of their waistline. So, it seems very natural for us to enlarge ourselves in times of plenty in order to ensure we make it trough the lean times. Modern times of plenty have produced the general obesity of our population.  I was once one of those.

What people need today is ‘portion control’… and delicious food. They do not have to be mutually exclusive.

I remember spending time in a test kitchen that had two major parameters for their recipes: cost per serving and time in preparation. Although many things can be made quickly and relatively inexpensively, if you forget about these two issues, you can make something that really impresses …. and since it is portioned controlled, it probably isn’t all that bad unless you are using ridiculously expensive ingredients like Beluga.

Anyway, here is a simple recipe of Laura’s that is roughly a little over 300 calories per serving and simply wonderful! A little rich for Jenny Craig… but ‘Oh Well!’

Laura’s Stuffed Bell Pepper Recipe!

Roger Freberg

BTW, California has had very strange weather this year… from 114 to 46 within weeks… so I put on an old school ‘camo’ coat that the Army doesn’t use any more since they went to a better design… works great.

As for recipes, we are revising some of our recipes with the concept of developing natural portion controls ( for example, a bell pepper is a natural constraint as you can only stuff it with so much). One of my favorites “Bobotie” is irresistible to me… so I am looking at this one especially.

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America without Oil Dependency

winning the oil endgame is possible!

The future of America has always represented great technological breakthroughs. As the speaker above points out, whales were saved by the replacement of whale oil with petroleum and petroleum can be reduced and replaced in turn.

One of the fascinating lectures appearing regularly on TED, features a discussion on how we can ‘win the oil endgame’ easily and profitably. One solution presented is carbon fiber cars that are remarkably easy to build ( some with only 14 sections in the exterior body) that are much tougher in collisions that current vehicles

As demonstrated above… the typical today’s car on the left was totaled and the high carbon car on the right needed only a panel replaced. The only question I have is: why aren’t we doing this?

VIEW His Lecture here.

Creative solutions to our oil addiction are here… just do it.
Roger Freberg

DOWNLOAD his paper from his site here, too!

DOWNLOAD pdf Slide Presentation

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from crumbs… emerges a clock!

from a pile of crumbs and twisted wire... emerges a clock!

A while ago, I wrote about how my wife’s sister sent her a clock… a special clock that had huge family sentiment to Laura. When it arrived, we opened the box and found only crumbs and twisted wire … as you can observe in the picture on the far left above.

Laura was distraught and wanted to toss it all as it was too painful to see. This particular clock was something special to her, she would walk by it as a child, stare at for a few minutes and smile… so, OBVIOUSLY, I had to save it!

The largest piece was about 2 inches long and knowing where to begin was quite a challenge. I did not remember the clock myself so it was a bit of a puzzle. There was also another troubling issue… how do you repair stone? Although restoration experts might be shocked… I discovered  “Gorilla Glue”  and it held marble together wonderfully! It wasn’t without further challenges, but by sorting the many tiny pieces together first by thickness… then by fit … I finally got the idea of how it might have looked.

This experience brought me back. There was a time that archeology held my complete interest in college … so in a meaningful way … I felt I was putting together some Etruscan urn on a lost dig. The experience was very satisfying … and Laura is very pleased.

Roger Freberg

Note: the pendulum clock movement was by ‘Japy Freres’ a French (Beaucourt) clock maker until around 1910

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The First Woman to become a Four Star General?

will she be the first women who becomes a four star general?

Lt. General Anne E. Dunwoody of the Army has been nominated to become the first female four star general. General Dunwoody has 33 years of service ( 1975) and has had a number of command positions.

If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the first woman to gain a fourth star ( the first female 3 star general was in 1970). In the armed forces of the United States there are currently 57 active duty female general officers.

Good Luck and hopefully congratulations to General Dunwoody.

Roger Freberg