Lately, I’ve been avoiding tomatoes. Ripe or slightly green, I don’t even put them on my plate. This coming from me, a person who lives on salad.
For six months, I’ve been noticing that this fruit—which we usually buy fresh at produce markets—has been tasting funny. Just to make sure, I asked my mom: “Have you noticed that the tomatos have a different taste?”
“Yes!” she answered right away. I don’t know what is going on. I’ve never drunk pesticides, but I’m under the impression that that is what I’m eating instead of tomatoes. Does anyone agree with me?
Even so, it’s too soon for nostalgia. Late last night, I wolfed down on an irresistible snack of peeled tomato. Hunger!
Note: Monday, February 16, I’ll be a guest on the “Todo Seu” show, hosted by “cuttie” Ronie Von, to talk about blogs. Other colleagues will be there too. Among them, bloggers from Pergunte ao Urso and Nova Corja. Sweet.
The documentary The World According to Monsanto, by French journalist Marie-Monique Robin has finally been subtitled in Portuguese on YouTube. It is divided into 12 chapters. If you are serious about finding out what is behind the genetic engineering applied to food you need to see this video.
Robin is now working on uncovering the relationship between agricultural industrialization and the rising number of cancer cases in the world, according to an interview she gave to Epoca magazine. We’ve known for a while that industrialized food is equal to packaged garbage. The issue now is the extent to which this is harming our health. For instance, a feature published by EstadĂŁo on Tuesday, reports that we are poisoning our kids with too much fat, salt and sugars.
Transgenics are just a part of the problem. The main issue is the carelessness of the industry - and of a good portion of consumers - about something as fundamental as the food we eat every day. We should always know what we are eating, what it can do to our bodies, the side effects, and so forth. But to do this, the food industry needs to be honest with us, which is something that doesn’t happen. They only act when pressured by consumers and/or by the Law - when they do act. But we are here to pester them until they get their act together and change their current business paradigm, aren’t we?
Anyway, on to the film. Click to watch on YouTube.
It’s very nice to notice that more people are making soap from used cooking oil. The comments on the ecologic soap post that I wrote for the Ecoblogs Network prove that this attitude is becoming increasingly common among environmentally aware and concerned people. My daughter is saving used oil and, very soon, we’ll make more soap.
Another little recipe…
5 litres of used cooking oil
2 litres of water
200ml of fabric softener
1Kg of caustic soda, in flakes
Instructions:
Carefully place the caustic soda flakes in a bucket.
Add boiling water, very carefully.
Stir until all of the flakes are completely diluted.
Add the oil and stir a bit more. Keep stirring until the mixture becomes creamy.
Add the fabric softener and other ingredients to scent the soap.
Pour the mixture onto a baking pan and let it dry.
Divide the soap into bars.
Tips:
•   If you prefer, while the soap is still creamy, pour the mixture into one or several molds and let it harden.
•   The soap should be put on a shelf and left to mature for at least 2 or 3 weeks before being used.
•   Wear gloves and be careful with your eyes, because the sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) may cause burns, allergies, and irritations when in contact with skin.
•   In case of accidental contact, wash the area with running water for at least 15 minutes.
•   Once the oil is mixed with the caustic soda solution, the mixture is no longer dangerous.
Another way to dispose of used cooking oil is to deposit it in collectors, or take it to the nearest Extra store, since this supermarket chain keeps special containers for this purpose. From there, all of the collected cooking oil will be sent by a cooperative to recycling companies, which will use it as a raw material to produce biofuel.
And now, with the law that requires that all cooking oil used to fry food be reused, collecting the oil residue is no longer part of an awareness-raising campaign but a legal regulation subject to applicable penalties. This law, approved in a single vote by the House of Representatives stipulates that every commercial establishement, including restaurants, cafeterias, and dinners, as well as citizens, must collect, in an adequate container, cooking oil used for frying food.
It’s like my mom used to say: “If not out of love, then out of necessity.”
Read this post at the Sturm Und Drang blog: Collecting used oil is “cool”
Read this post at the Sturm Und Drang blog:
– Carol, what’s that little package in the fridge?
– Hmmm…
– Carol?
– I’m out here!
– What are you doing there on the floor?
– Getting Tak’s lunch.
– Whose???
– Eustáquio’s.
– Eustáquio?
– Yep. What did you ask?
– There’s a package in the fridge…
– Don’t touch his food!
– Food? But it’s a very small package…. What’s in it? Peas?
– Well, I wish it was… But I’m the only vegetarian in this house.
– Carol, I’m sorry, but what’s that that you’re doing?
– Getting Estáquio’s lunch, Val. It’s hard. They escape from me. And I don’t want to kill anyone. He needs them alive. But, because he’s too small, he can’t eat them fast and the meal escapes. Because of that I put one in the fridge, to let it a little groggy. It’s almost as if it was put under. This way it’s less cruel.
– There are ants in the fridge?!?!?
– Just one, Vale. Don’t panic, I closed the package really well.
– There’s a living ant in the fridge?
– Asleep.
– I never worked for someone that kept living ants in packages in the fridge to feed a carnivorous plant!
– There’s always a first time …
– I want a raise.
PS: After a long and gloomy winter sponsored by Net, I’m back, missing you!
Read the original post in Portuguese (Guindaste Blog): O almoço.
Going to the supermarket hungry-less is number one law of any well prepared person. But, do you know that you spend less when you shop alone? Or when you take products from the shelves below? That and other care at the time of the shop, can reduce in, until, 30% your supermarket bill! Note down the tips of the financial consultant Reinaldo Domingos, author of the book Financial Therapy.
Write down everything
Before you leave, make a list of the missing products.
Keep focused
Do not stop in the sections that don’t have your listed items.
Go alone
This one’s for women with kids: kids insist in the superfluous and the husband isn’t patient.
Avoid shopping monthly
This way, you get the best week offers.
Search below
Usually, the products that are right in front of the eyes are more expensive.
Buy own brands
The supermarket brands are usually cheaper than the others.
Mistrust the offers
When you find promotions like: “pay 1, take 2”, check the individual price.
Turn blind in the cashier
The products near the cashier usually increase your bill over 15%.
Go to street markets and butchers
Buy fruit, vegetables and meat in street markets and butchers: the price is usually better.
*Uncut version of the published text in this week’s Ana Maria magazine.
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