Drinking Hole

Good News for Beer-In Tennessee At Least

2011-05-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

From Libertarian Republican:

Saturday was a big day for beer drinkers in Tennessee, and for jobs. The Tennessee House approved a measure to allow strong beer sales in the State. But it's also an enticement for out-of-state breweries to re-locate to Tennessee. One in particular happens to be from California.

From the San Jose Mercury News "Lawmakers OK strong beer sales at Tenn. breweries":

The House voted 69-15 to pass the bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Curry Todd of Collierville. It passed the Senate 28-3 a day earlier.

The measure is aimed at enticing Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to establish a $200 million plant in East Tennessee.

Alcoa is on the short list of locations being considered by the Chico, Calif.-based company, but the brewer has said that it won't remain in the running without changes in state law. The company wants the state to allow on-site sales of high-alcohol beer and the sampling of products at a taproom and restaurant that would be built alongside the brewery.

"This is a good bill, it's an economic development bill," Todd said.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has said he will sign the legislation.

Mitch Daniels Likes Woodford Reserve Bourbon

2011-05-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

A partial post from my main blog detailing Mitch Daniel's choice of drink:

[....] and this:

Meeting with a group of young Republicans to discuss his possible presidential bid on Thursday. As relayed by RCP:

"We are a party of ideas, but more importantly a party that acts on ideas," he said, adding that in the Hoosier State, there were no forgotten towns or inner cities that are too bleak.

He has obviously given some thought to the area beyond Indiana's borders, too.

Daniels accepted an invitation from those 55 students to meet at a spacious bar several blocks away after the event; he sipped Woodford Reserve bourbon as he asked them about their own lives and families.

A Beer for Patriots

2011-05-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) — George Washington is famous for many things. Yet it‘s safe to say few know the nation’s founding father created a recipe for beer.

The New York Public Library, which owns the recipe, announced on Wednesday that it was partnering with Coney Island Brewing Company in Brooklyn to recreate the brew.

100-Year Old Whiskey Found

2011-04-08T09:24:00.001-07:00

A Mistake Destroys $200,000 in Beer (tears)

2011-03-03T07:40:00.001-08:00

Cast Iron Apple Cobbler

2011-01-29T12:15:00.000-08:00

Bacon & Egg Breakfast

2011-01-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

Bacon, Egg and Toast Cups
Printer-Friendly Version
Ingredients:
6 slices of bacon
6 slices of bread
Shredded cheese
6 eggs
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Grease 6 wells of a muffin pan with butter. In a frying pan, cook bacon about 3-5 minutes, until partially cooked but not completely crispy. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Cut out rounds of bread (I used a 3.5-inch round cookie cutter, but a drinking glass would be fine.) Press the bread rounds into the greased muffin wells. Curl a piece of bacon around the periphery of each piece of bread, positioning it between the bread and the muffin tin to help keep it in position. Sprinkle a small amount of shredded cheese in the center of each piece of bread. One at a time, crack an egg, removing about half of the white, and dropping the remaining white and yolk over each piece of bread, being careful not to break the yolks. Once all the bread pieces have been topped with eggs, bake until eggs are cooked through to your liking (about 6-10 minutes) and bacon is crispy. Run a knife around the edge of each muffin well and pop the egg cups out. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Beer From The Bottom! Less Foam and Time-More Bang for the Buck

2010-12-24T14:11:00.000-08:00

Banning Mixed Drinks?

2010-12-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

Some Food Myths and History on Low Fat Studies

2010-12-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

War On Raw... Government Overstepping Its Bounds

2010-11-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

Big Government h/t:

Great Bar Trick

2010-09-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

Speakeasy

2010-09-02T20:46:00.001-07:00

Cheese Commercial

2010-08-26T14:32:00.001-07:00

Large Amounts! Like if you are a vegan...

2010-08-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Some Myths About Bottled Water and the Documentary To Perpetuate Some of Them

2010-06-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

This post is with thanks to a reader,The Lemon Lady.

This movie is a great example of misleading information. The other documentaries these people were involved in (Who Killed the Electric Car, etc.) are a bit propagandist, but that is neither here nor there. These people do come from a worldview typically at odds with mine, but I love to post contrarian views for fairness. Granted, I do not believe that there is a secret cabal to kill electric cars. Oil, gas, and coal will still be burned to supply their energy needs. I, likewise, do not believe man in causing Climate-Change (formerly know as Global Warming). I also do not believe that plastic bottles leach chemicals into the water they hold. See:

All that being said, I do believe that the plastic produced has harmful, long-lasting effects on our environment. This effect has no impact of Climat-Change, but its effects are on the biological life forms that exist on our planet, more than other forms of pollution. The author of "Bottlemani: how Water Went On Sale and Why We Bought It," makes these points in an interview on the Dennis Prager Show entitled, "The Cult of Bottled Water" (Broadcast on July 31, 2008). (There is another interview with Denis Prager where Elizabeth Royte makes some great points on the show entitled "Where Does Our Garbage Go?" originally broadcast on August 17, 2005.) That is, there is not much evidence for the "leaching effect" but there is evidence that plastic stays in our environment far too long. So with all that said and you understanding my rejection of many parts of this documentary, here is the intro to it:

Know Your Bacon -- Breakfast Tips

2010-06-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

House Passes Beer Resolution -- I Love a Politician Who Loves Good Beer

2010-05-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

Politico Story:

While most of Washington was focused on Tuesday's election results, the House was busy doing something else: Passing a resolution about beer.

House Resolution 1297, sponsored by Rep. Betsy Markey, supports "the goals and ideals of American Craft Beer Week."

"We've got quite a number of microbreweries and entrepreneurs that are creating jobs, and we wanted to celebrate that this is a craft," Markey told POLITICO.

"I think beer has been a tradition since this country was founded," said Markey. "We wanted to celebrate entrepeneurship — and good beer!"

Markey is obviously partial to brews from her home state of Colorado, but she won't claim a favorite.

"You can't just have one," said Markey. "It really depends on what mood you're in. Sometimes, I like a light beer — I might want a Skinny Dip — or otherwise prefer a heavier brew."

The real question is: Why would anyone vote against this?

"It does seem like a no brainer," said Markey.

Monkeying With Wine -- Plus the "Sock Monkey" Has Evolved

2010-03-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

(BreitBart h/t)

Baboons with a taste for Chardonnay grapes are terrorising farmers in South Africa's Western Cape wine region, munching tonnes of grapes ready for harvesting, local media reported on Monday.

Farms in the Franschhoek Valley had been emptied by rampaging Chachma baboons, who sneak into secured plots and help themselves with top grade grapes, The Times newspaper said.

"They can easily wipe out up to two tonnes of grapes a week when you are not watching, and that makes about 1,500 to 2,000 bottles of wine," said Mark Dendy-Young, farm manager of La Petite Ferme.

Dendy-Young said he had lost up to 40 percent of his harvest last month to the baboons.

He said the thieving was unwittingly taking farmers back to the traditional ways of French wine making, where few grapes are harvested.

"In some parts of France, they would let you yield only a small amount... the baboons are doing it naturally for us," said Dendy-Young.

====================================

Baboons with a taste for Chardonnay are terrorising farmers in South Africa's Western Cape wine region eating tonnes of ripe grapes ready for harvesting, local media reported. Farms in the Franschhoek Valley have been emptied by rampaging Chachma baboons, who sneak into secured plots and help themselves to a feast of top grade grapes.

'They can easily wipe out up to two tonnes a week when you are not watching, and that makes about 1,500 to 2,000 bottles of wine,' said Mark Dendy-Young, farm manager of La Petite Ferme who lost up to 40 per cent of his harvest last month to the hairy pests. He said the thieving was unwittingly taking farmers back to the traditional low yields.

Top of the Wine News -- Paso Robles (Daily News)

2010-03-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

The Daily News ran a wonderfully rich and vibrant story on one of my wife and I's favorite getaways, Paso Robles. There is an "E-Edition" of the Daily News to subscribe to if you are not in the Los Angela's areas. Here it is:

Paso Robles: The best wine region you may not know

PASO ROBLES - The February issue of a respected wine industry trade publication gives only one of the world's wines both a rarefied 98 score and the top spot in the "highly recommended" section.

Near perfection came from Saxum, a well-regarded but obscure winery in Paso Robles, a one-time California cow town becoming a superior wine-producing region known by few non-aficionados outside the state.

Located on California's Central Coast, the Paso Robles viticultural area's consistent quality and relatively moderate land prices have combined for phenomenal growth.

In fewer than 20 years, the number of wineries has grown from 30 to 250 and counting, plus at least 600 hopefuls making boutique bottles at custom crush co-ops to hawk at restaurants and local wine bars.

Esteemed reviewer Robert Parker has said the region of rolling, oak-studded hills holds California's greatest potential. Winemakers swear by a climate and limestone-infused soils that mimic the southern Rhone region of France.

Most are family operations that make fewer than 5,000 cases a year, which make them impossible for distributors seeking consistent availability to market nationally. Saxum bottles fewer than 3,000 cases and its wine club has a wait list. (The winery's 2007 James Berryhill that earned Wine Spectator's 98 - and 100 from Parker in October - sells for $67, compared with $375 for a French 98 in the same issue.)

"The reason people don't know Paso is because they don't see it in the marketplace. Maybe 20 are distributed now; it would help the region to have more," said Deborah Baldwin, co-owner of Justin Wine Co., founded in 1981 when there were seven wineries in the region.
Hugging the coast midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, the 666,618 acres of the Paso Robles Viticulture Area is California's largest - three times the size of Napa. It comprises just more than half of the Central Coast wine region that stretches 250 miles from San Francisco to Santa Barbara.

Grapes have grown there since the Mission padres settled in the late 1700s. In the 1980s, the flat and sprawling east side became home to large commercial wineries such as Eberle and Meridian and later Gallo, Robert Mondavi and Kendall-Jackson farming 25,000 acres. But the cooler west side, where 5,000 acres are planted across hilly terrain, is where winemakers are scoring with critics.

With a production of 70,000 cases, Justin has tallied international accolades and become the region's vaunted behemoth and image maker: its 1994 Isosceles, the iconic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, was named "Best Blended Wine in the World" at the London International Wine & Spirit Competition. Wine Spectator named its 1997 Isosceles No. 6 in the world.

There is a wait for Isosceles reserve, but prices range from just more than $60 for Isosceles to $18.50 for the winery's screw top "Orphan" blend of leftover juices from the hand-harvested single vintage.

Justin draws 40,000 visitors a year, many of whom meander the wine trails to discover a new favorite or obscure winemaker. Or, not obscure: Miss America 1957 Marian McKnight owns Carmody McKnight with her husband. Former NFL defensive back Terry Hoage produces 2,100 cases of Rhone-inspired wines nearby.

"We realize we're all in this together," says Justin Baldwin, who believes the success of one increases exposure and recognition for the others.

Paso Robles has half as many wineries as Napa, but like Napa its climate includes coastal breezes and stifling inland valley heat. The wine boom and influx of oenophiles have transformed downtown Paso from an ag town of 18,000 in 1990 to a bustling tourist mecca of 30,000 with a lineup of sophisticated restaurants lacking in other cities its size.

"The wine here just kicks butt," says Bruce Davison, visiting Gray Wolf with his wife, Genevieve, from Los Angeles, three hours away by car.

In a state known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, the new crop of vintners in Paso Robles are self-described "Rhone Rangers," plumbing limestone soils of the Pacific Plate with Syrah, Grenache and Mouvedre vines from the southern Rhone region of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

The terroir is so similar, when wine importer Robert Haas went looking with the sixth generation of France's Perrin family of Chateau de Beaucastel fame for a New World site, their four-year search ended in 1989 at a 120-acre site west of Paso Robles.

For their Tablas Creek they imported clones of the French winery's prized 13 varietals that could be legally blended into Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines (today the number is 20), and pioneered the organic growing movement.

Growing organically "is an important part of making wines that reflect place," said Jason Haas, Robert's son and general manager.

As if on cue he bent over to pick a lady bug from a clover leaf in a vineyard of Grenache Blanc.

Relatively affordable land prices made it possible for Rich Hartenberger, a former hospital bedding salesman from Chicago, to own Midnight Cellars with his family. They're just over the hill from the ultramodern winery of Ron and Marilyn Denner of the Ditch Witch fortune.

Most hand-craft their wines with small staffs, so odds are tasting-room visitors will be served by the owner/winemaker.

"You can walk in any time and see me here," said former environmental attorney Jeff Pipes, who with his wife, Florence Wong, has created at Pipestone Vineyards a 10-acre organic, solar-powered feng shui paradise that he plows with a team of draft horses.

Napa prices for land and the best wines are beyond many peoples' reach. But Paso is much more approachable, Justin's Deborah Baldwin says.

"The winemakers here today didn't come here with an attitude," Baldwin said. "Will it stay that way forever, I don't know."

Almost 8-Years in Prison for Stealing $4 Worth of Cheese

2010-03-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

This is a tough call. Maybe the judge knows how violent this ex-con can be and he doesn't want someone getting hurt on his watch? I have to tell you, if I knew I was going to get this amount of time for such a cheesy offense, I would have taken something other than a bag of Tillamook shredded cheese! Some aged Gouda perhaps, how about some Parmigiano Reggiano:

A Yolo County judge on Monday sentenced a man who walked out of a store with a package of cheese in his trousers to seven years and eight months in prison.

Prosecutors had originally sought a life sentence for Robert Ferguson under the state's "three strikes" law. They dropped that bid last month, saying a psychological report had convinced them that a life sentence wasn't warranted....

....No weapons or injuries were associated with his crimes, Brushia told the judge....

When it came time to sentence Ferguson on Monday, Judge Warriner chose a middle ground. He accepted a probation department recommendation to disregard the prior strikes and to sentence Ferguson to the upper term for petty theft with priors.

The judge gave Ferguson 825 days of credit for his time in jail awaiting trial and said Ferguson would be required to serve half his sentence in prison. He will be eligible for parole in less than three years.

...(read more)...

Patriotic Hunger Pains

2010-02-10T20:15:00.000-08:00

Craig Ferguson Prepping Food for TV

2010-02-10T20:12:00.000-08:00

The Mayo Clinic Diet

2010-01-06T07:08:00.001-08:00

Wine Tasting with Helen Buehler of Buehler Vineyards

2010-01-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

Helen shares 3 of her favorite Californian wines with Gary and talks about the wine business in Napa.

MAS Wine Co.

2010-01-03T14:13:00.001-08:00

BASF's Wine Cellar

2009-12-26T06:39:00.001-08:00

Pre-Christmas Gathering of Some Friends

2009-12-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

“Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women? The sun, the moon, and the stars have been worshiped. Shall we then pluck them out of the sky? …see how much he [God] has been able to accomplish through me, though I did no more than pray and preach. The Word did it all. Had I wished I might have started a conflagration at Worms. But while I sat still and drank beer with Philip and Amsdorf, God dealt the papacy a mighty blow.” (Martin Luther, quoted in: Drinking with Calvin and Luther – A History of Alcohol in the Church, by Jim West)

The occasion was a friend from Hawaii was out and another friend just took a job back east (New York) and has 3-weeks left here in SoCal... not to mention this was probably the only time we can get together for Christmas. So I opened some bottles and the "boys" brought some wine.

The prices range from $6.00 a bottle to about $65.00 a bottle. The least pricey was the Minage A'Trois, which held its own against some of the other wines. My favorite was the Barolo. It was full bodied but smooth on the finish. I like very little aftertaste on my wines except for a bit of fruit. The color was that slight brown tinge to the red, which means it was perfect for consumption and perfect to open if not kept in a cellar or wine fridge, considering the 02' vintage on it. The next wine in my taste range was almost a tie. The Rombauer Cabernet was an 04' and could have sat another year or two, but considering the occasion, I opened it up. This bottle sat and I turned it on a consistent basis (fighting my wife who turns the labels towards eye-site range for aesthetic purposes that only women know). I was quite surprised to see that the wine had mellowed out... and not just a small bit but turned into the wine I am sure the makers had in mind. Foresight is everything. Tied in taste but deep color (dark plum color) was the 2005 Rafanelli Cabernet. This wine was excellent. It was my first introduction to Rafanelli and I would definitely purchase a bottle if the chance was presented (I believe this is sold only through the winery?). These three were the ones that stood out. I am sure the Bridlewood Zinfendale was excellent as well, but that was the last bottle opened and it would not be fair to rate this wine with the skewed pallet of five previous wines, pizza, pesto cheese, and the like. All-in-all it was a good night. The wine I liked the least? The Grgich Hills Cab... too strong and meaty for my buds. Seemed to have too much tannins/oak for me. That is not to say I would ever turn down a bottle of this (*wink*).

(Wall Street Journal) The Science of Champagne Bubbles -- Follow Through to Interactive Link... Very Cool

2009-12-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

The Festive Side of Carbon Dioxide Scientists Uncork Champagne's Complexity and the Wondrous Micro-Mechanics of Bubbles
By ROBERT LEE HOTZ

There are 20 million bubbles in a bottle of champagne and every one of them alters the taste, scent and fluid dynamics of the sparkling wine, say researchers studying the chemistry of carbonation and the physics of fizz.

During centuries of artisanal trial and error, winemakers had learned surprisingly little about how a sparkling wine's most active ingredient affected its chemistry of aroma and flavor. To understand the essence of its effervescence, the researchers analyzed champagne bubbles with mass spectrometry, laser tomography and high-speed microphotography, and then tested its carbonation on genetically engineered mice.

To a vintner, the bubbly in a crystal flute may be vintage Dom Perignon or Pol Roger. But to these scientists, it is a complex hydroalcoholic solution supersaturated with carbon dioxide molecules and laced with proteins, lipids and amino acids.

More interactive graphics and photos

Their experiments, described recently in Science, the American Scientist and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal the unexpected ways in which the microscopic and molecular behavior of carbonation make champagne tingle in the nose and tap-dance on the tongue. Champagne owes much of its magic -- its savor, scent and glow -- to the micro-mechanics of CO2 bubbles, they reported.

"I could not imagine such beautiful hydrodynamic phenomena hidden right under our noses," says Gerard Liger-Belair, professor at the laboratory of enology and applied chemistry at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in France, who has devoted a decade to deconstructing the fluid mechanics of sparkling wine.

Every bottle of champagne is a blend of many wines, but it owes its signature sparkle entirely to pent-up carbon dioxide. In fact, an average bottle of champagne contains about five or six times its volume in carbon dioxide, so compressed that when the champagne cork pops, it typically kicks out of the bottle's neck at about 30 miles per hour, Dr. Liger-Belair says. The champagne will actually taste better, he says, if the cork can be released with a more subdued CO2 sigh.

All this gas is the natural product of fermentation, created as yeast transforms sugar into ethanol. For centuries, though, winemakers treated so much CO2 as a hazard that, unvented, could make their wine bottles explode. The original developer of champagne is lost to legend, but an innovative 17th century Benedictine monk named Dom Pierre Perignon did invent the wire collar, called a muselet, which holds a cork in place to withstand the fermentation pressure. With that simple twist, he turned a gassy nuisance into a luxury industry that last year sold about 322 million bottles of champagne world-wide.

Today, champagne makers ensure their lucrative bubbly is sufficiently saturated with CO2 by subjecting a base wine to a second round of fermentation inside tightly sealed bottles. After that, the CO2 pressure in the bottle is about six times the normal atmospheric pressure. When the bottle is uncorked, most of that gas quickly dissipates in a distinctive mist around the open bottle neck, but enough remains in the liquid to sire millions of bubbles, Dr. Liger-Belair says.

Traditionally, champagne bubbles were prized for their size and an aesthetic appeal that 19th century poet Lord Byron praised as "foaming whirls, as white as Cleopatra's pearls." Substituting the tools of chemistry for a wine-taster's more subjective judgments, Dr. Liger-Belair and his colleagues documented the expanding bubble universe within a glass of champagne.

In their findings, a bubble's biography begins inside a microscopic cellulose fiber clinging to the glass surface, usually fallen from the air or left by a towel. Gas builds up in the fiber as champagne splashes into the glass. When the combination of pressure, surface tension and viscosity is just right, the fiber starts leaking bubbles, the researchers said. Once settled after pouring, a glass of highly carbonated champagne effervesces at the rate of about 400 bubbles per second, compared with a rate of about 150 bubbles per second for beer, they reported. Champagne bubbles also are more flexible than beer bubbles, which affects how long they linger at the surface before popping.

As they rise, the bubbles swell to slightly less than a millimeter or so in diameter, absorbing other chemicals from the champagne. At the surface, they burst in a piquant froth.

Each exploding bubble sprays hundreds of droplets of concentrated compounds into the air, wreathing anyone drinking it in a fragrant mist, mass spectroscopy studies show. "These tiny droplets are highly concentrated, and this makes you feel directly through your nostrils all those aromatic molecules," Dr. Liger-Belair says.

Researchers used fluorescent dyes and laser imaging to monitor flow patterns. They discovered that the shape of a champagne glass can affect how thoroughly bubbles mix the beverage, which could affect its scent and flavor. Bubbles appeared to mix champagne more completely in a narrow, engraved flute than in the broad, shallow glass called a coupe.

Fizz, they found, seems to please the palette. Carbonated bubbles in sparkling wine, beer or soda actually activate our taste buds, researchers at Columbia University and University of California, San Diego recently reported.

Their discovery was inspired by reports of mountaineers who had lost their taste for bubbles after taking a medication called acetazolamide, which is used to prevent altitude sickness. After reaching the mountaintop, the climbers found that their beer tasted flat and soda tasted like dishwater. They dubbed the effect the champagne blues.

In October, biochemists Charles Zuker at Columbia and Jayaram Chandrashekar at UC San Diego showed that carbonation triggers an enzyme in taste buds that normally sense sourness. First, they implanted electrodes in normal mice to monitor a nerve connecting taste cells on the tongue. The nerve reacted to a taste of club soda or even a squirt of CO2 gas. The researchers then bred genetically engineered mice lacking those taste receptors and repeated the CO2 tests. "We can make a mouse with all its sour cells gone," Dr. Zuker says. "And when we make such a mouse, all CO2 sensing is gone."

Eventually, they identified a single sour-cell gene, called Car4, responsible for the enzyme sensitive to the taste of CO2. They found that the Car4 enzyme is also blocked by the altitude medication. "The zing and the tingle you get on your tongue is the stimulation of the sour receptors," says Dr. Zuker.

Write to Robert Lee Hotz at sciencejournal@wsj.com

In The Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, an international research team reported on "Unraveling different chemical fingerprints between a champagne wine and its aerosols."

In Science, researchers explored the biochemistry and genetics behind "The Taste of Carbonation."

In Chemical Society Reviews, a French champagne chemist discusses "Recent Advances in the Science of Champagne Bubbles."

In the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers reviewed "The Physics and Chemistry Behind the Bubbling Properties of Champagne and Sparkling Wines."

Writing team Don and Petie Kladstrup cover the history of champagne and its region in "Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed over War and Hard Times."

University of Reims physics professor Gerard Liger-Belair explores the scientific reasons for the behavior and taste of sparkling wines in "Uncorked: The Science of Champagne."

State of the Wine Industry 2009-2010 (link out)

2009-12-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

Robot Poors Perfectly

2009-11-26T21:55:00.001-08:00

Wine Library TV: Thanksgiving Wine Episode (Episode #586, 2008)

2009-11-25T06:17:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Wines -- NYT (6-years in the making)

2009-11-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

Gathering at the Table, Bottles in Hand

New York Times Dining & Wine Section

FOR six consecutive years, the Dining section’s wine panel has gathered for an early Thanksgiving meal. The mission: to taste potential holiday wines, to determine what works and what does not with a representative feast, and to offer coherent answers to the annual question of what to serve with the bird.

This year, I think we really got it right.

Oh, I don’t mean the advice we offered was ever wrong. We are committed as always to the idea that Thanksgiving requires agile, nimble wines that can refresh and satisfy over the course of a long and possibly fatiguing meal.

The wines need to be versatile, to complement a wide assortment of dishes, including the idiosyncratic variations that every family knows and loves. They must be modest but confident wines that assert their flavors in harmony with the food rather than trying to dominate the proceedings. And they must be modestly priced.

This, of course, assumes that like mine, your Thanksgiving will be an exuberant extended-family gathering. For my family feast, I buy a white and a red by the case, and everybody helps themselves, pouring into glassware that we are none too picky about. If your Thanksgiving is a more intimate candlelight and crystal affair, by all means break out the exceptional wines you’ve been hoarding for the right occasion.

So what do I mean about getting things right? Well, this year, for the first time, all the wines we tasted fit the meal beautifully, though each was very different. The wines produced none of the sneering and ridicule — I mean, constructive analysis — that has characterized past wine panel Thanksgivings. It couldn’t be that our bubbly brother Frank Bruni left his job as restaurant critic and so could not grace our table with his provocative wine choices and sharp wit, right?

Absolutely not. This year, Julia Moskin, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by our new restaurant critic, Sam Sifton, and, as always, Bernard Kirsch, our tasting coordinator. We each chose two bottles, one red and one white, maximum price $25, and we tasted them blind with our Thanksgiving-style meal.

The wines we brought approached the problem from multiple angles, demonstrating that the Thanksgiving wine issue has no right answer, but many excellent solutions.

Take the five whites we chose, one each from the United States, France, Austria, Spain and Sicily. Tasting them blind, I was in a most uncomfortable situation as for the first time I couldn’t even identify the white I had brought! It was the 2008 Rueda Pie Franco from Blanco Nieva, a wine I’ve loved year in and year out. It is made from old, pre-phylloxera verdejo vines that manage to survive in the sandy Rueda soils (pie franco means ungrafted), and I’ve prized its subtle fruit and mineral flavors.

This year, however, it seemed brasher — minerally, yes, but with a twang to its fruit. I still loved it, but I pegged it as a Sancerre, which is a sauvignon blanc wine. Meanwhile, the real sauvignon blanc in the group, a 2008 Charles Krug from Napa Valley brought by Florence, had an unusual white-pepper element to it that made me think it was grüner veltliner. Not even close! We all really liked the Krug, while my Rueda was a trifle polarizing. Julia, who also typed it as sauvignon blanc, called it too strong, although she allowed it would be perfect with a dozen oysters.

My favorite of all the whites was a 2008 Beaujolais blanc from Château de Chatelard, which Bernie brought. This fresh, stony chardonnay was one I could drink for hours, I thought.

Sam brought the 2007 grüner veltliner from Domaine Wachau — the one I didn’t guess was a grüner. It’s a delicious, light, grassy wine that would be just right, Sam thought, for the shellfish course that leads off his family’s Thanksgiving. That left Julia’s 2008 Sicilian white from Feudo Montoni, which had the kind of ripe, floral character I often associate with Rhone whites.

Each of these wines fit the Thanksgiving white wine paradigm: lively, dry and thirst-quenching, with enough character to continually pique the interest. Sam, for one, felt that white wines aren’t taken seriously enough as companions to the Thanksgiving feast.

“Most people think white wine is something you drink after yoga class,” he said.

All the whites were under 14 percent alcohol, which helps over the course of many hours of imbibing. On the good chance that those individual bottles won’t be available, other wines with similar characteristics would include whites from the Mâcon, Muscadet, light sauvignon blancs and whites from Campania.

The reds didn’t hit the target quite as squarely as the whites. My favorite was the 2007 Morgon from J. Chamonard, which Bernie had brought. Good Beaujolais is always a great Thanksgiving choice, as are gamays from the Loire. By contrast the candied Beaujolais nouveaus that are common this time of year can be noxious.

Sam brought our top-rated red, a 2007 Three Valleys zinfandel from Ridge. I always run counter to the Thanksgiving bromide that zinfandel is the perfect American wine for the most American holiday. Zinfandel is often too big and alcoholic. But at 14.3 percent, this zin was well balanced and almost sleek.

My own wine was the 2008 Il Frappato from Valle dell’Acate, kind of a Sicilian Beaujolais in its earthy chuggability. Sure, it drew a few snipes — Florence said it wasn’t her kind of wine, and Sam called it “the kind of wine someone would bring to your house,” which I inferred would be unwelcome. Yet I couldn’t help but feel they really liked it as much as I did.

Julia also brought a Sicilian wine. Her 2007 Colosi Rosso, made of nero d’Avola rather than the frappato grape, was jammy like some zins, but likeable enough.

Florence’s red, a 2007 Sonoma cabernet sauvignon from Louis M. Martini, was polished and redolent of the vanilla flavors that come from new oak. She called it an “uptown wine.” It’s not to my taste, but still, if you like that sort of wine it won’t overwhelm the food.

With so many different types of wine that work so well with a Thanksgiving dinner, can anybody really think that choosing wines for the holiday is a problem? Just between you and me it’s easy. But don’t let this get out, or we’ll have nothing to talk about next year.

3 Must Try Whites

2009-09-18T18:06:00.001-07:00

Hormonal Imbalance, Thyroid Issues, and Asian Soy Intake History

2009-06-17T05:42:00.000-07:00

(graph linked to study) Environmental Health Perspectives Supplements Volume 110, Number 3, June 2002 // Goitrogenic and Estrogenic Activity of Soy Isoflavones // Dr. Daniel R. Doerge and Dr. Daniel M. Sheehan // Division of Biochemical Toxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, Arkansas.
Abstract -- Soy is known to produce estrogenic isoflavones. Here, we briefly review the evidence for binding of isoflavones to the estrogen receptor, in vivo estrogenicity and developmental toxicity, and estrogen developmental carcinogenesis in rats. Genistein, the major soy isoflavone, also has a frank estrogenic effect in women. We then focus on evidence from animal and human studies suggesting a link between soy consumption and goiter, an activity independent of estrogenicity. Iodine deficiency greatly increases soy antithyroid effects, whereas iodine supplementation is protective. Thus, soy effects on the thyroid involve the critical relationship between iodine status and thyroid function. In rats consuming genistein-fortified diets, genistein was measured in the thyroid at levels that produced dose-dependent and significant inactivation of rat and human thyroid peroxidase (TPO) in vitro. Furthermore, rat TPO activity was dose-dependently reduced by up to 80%. Although these effects are clear and reproducible, other measures of thyroid function in vivo (serum levels of triiodothyronine, thyroxine, and thyroid-stimulating hormone ; thyroid weight ; and thyroid histopathology) were all normal. Additional factors appear necessary for soy to cause overt thyroid toxicity. These clearly include iodine deficiency but may also include additional soy components, other defects of hormone synthesis, or additional goitrogenic dietary factors. Although safety testing of natural products, including soy products, is not required, the possibility that widely consumed soy products may cause harm in the human population via either or both estrogenic and goitrogenic activities is of concern. Rigorous, high-quality experimental and human research into soy toxicity is the best way to address these concerns. Similar studies in wildlife populations are also appropriate.

The below is taken from Health & Learning Info, A 2 Z of Health, Beuaty, and Fitness -- an online magazine:

What Does the Thyroid Do? "The thyroid’s main job is to produce thyroid hormone. Hormones are chemicals that are secreted by glands which act like messengers telling specific body parts what to do. Thyroid hormones help the body make energy, keep body temperature regulated and assist other organs in their function. The thyroid produces two major hormones: triiodothyronine and thyroxine, commonly referred to as T3 and T4. (The “3” and the “4” relate directly to the amount of iodine molecules which are used to create these hormones.)" .... "Soy contains goitrogens, plant chemicals that inhibit thyroid function. And 99% percent of the soy we consume is genetically modified, otherwise known as GMO. Soy has one of the highest percentages of contamination by pesticides of any of our foods. Soy is rich in phytic acid, a chemical that blocks the uptake of essential minerals. Soy has the highest phytate levels of all the grains and legumes. The phytates have been found to be resistant even to long slow cooking in an effort to denature them. There exist hundreds of research articles on phytic acid and their effects, including binding with certain nutrients like iron to inhibit their absorption."

CNN.com: Health, Diet & Fitness

White, for one, worries that soy may speed the aging of brain cells. He recently found evidence that the brains of elderly people who ate tofu at least twice a week for 30 years were aging faster than normal. Tests designed to assess memory and analytical ability showed that their brains functioned as if they were four years older than their actual age, White says of his study published in the April 2000 issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Another fear is that the estrogen-like substances in soy may dampen the function of the thyroid. Consuming 40 milligrams of isoflavones a day can slow the production of thyroid hormone, says Dr. Larrian Gillespie, author of "The Menopause Diet" and "The Goddess Diet." (One tablespoon of soy powder contains about 25 milligrams of isoflavones, while most isoflavone supplements come in 40-milligram pills.)

According to Gillespie, within a few weeks of regularly consuming 40 milligrams of isoflavones, some women feel fatigued, constipated and achy all over. Some also gain weight and have heavier menstrual periods. Menopausal women are at particular risk, since they're already prone to hypothyroidism. "Women think it's because of hormones and don't realize they're symptoms of hypothyroidism," Gillespie says. "Once they stop the soy, they say, 'I'm feeling fine again.' " ...

....Messina, for instance, recommends a daily serving of soy: perhaps 1 cup of soy milk or 3 to 4 ounces of tofu.

So, how much soy did Asians eat?

Not much, even though we, as a society have been led by expert mass marketing to think otherwise. Soy has never, ever been a food staple in Asian history. The exception was that the poor often used the soybean to fill their empty bellies during times of famine. Even then, the soybeans were prepared in such a way as to neutralize the natural and inherent soy toxins thus proving that even ancient Asians understood the soybean better than we do today.

To consume a serving of tofu and a couple of glasses of soy milk has become commonplace for many Americans. Soy is also touted as the original protein source for those perusing a vegetarian lifestyle.

This is absolutely in excess of the amount of soy that Asians consume. In native Asia, from where so much of this "research" is purported to have originated, a tablespoon or two of soy is simply used as a condiment. According to K. C. Chang, the editor of Food in Chinese Culture, the total caloric intake of soy in the Chinese diet during the 1930's was only 1.5 percent as compared to 65 percent for pork products.

The huge concern about consuming large amounts of soy products lies in the mega dosing of isoflavones. If consumers follow the nutritional advice of Protein Technologies International (manufacturers of soy-isolated protein) their daily genistein intake (an isoflavin found in soy) could exceed 200 milligrams per day. It goes without saying this level of genistein intake should be avoided.

Up until only two decades ago, soy was considered unfit to eat. By Asians, mind you! To see the hold soy products have on the USA marketplace is truly a miracle. Agricultural literature clearly depicts the soybean and its first and foremost use as a crop rotation plant used to fix nitrogen in the soil. Soybeans did not serve as any form of food until the advent of the Chow Dynasty. During this period, fermentation techniques brought us some of the soy edibles we see today, such as tempeh, soy sauce and natto. In the second century B.C., the Chinese discovered a porridge of cooked soybeans could be precipitated with calcium sulphate or magnesium sulphate (Plaster of Paris or Epsom salts) to make tofu. Sound healthy?

The Chinese did not eat unfermented soybeans as they did other legumes because the soybean contains large amounts of antinutrients (toxins). First among them is hemagglutinin, a clot promoting substance that makes red blood cells clump together. Soy is rich in enzyme inhibitors that block the action of much needed enzymes required to digest proteins. These inhibitors are not deactivated during cooking. They can cause gastric distress and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake. Protein inhibitors and hemagglutinin are scientifically proven to inhibit growth, as evidenced in studies of weanling rats that eventually failed to thrive.

Soy contains goitrogens, plant chemicals that inhibit thyroid function. And 99% percent of the soy we consume is genetically modified, otherwise known as GMO. Soy has one of the highest percentages of contamination by pesticides of any of our foods. Soy is rich in phytic acid, a chemical that blocks the uptake of essential minerals. Soy has the highest phytate levels of all the grains and legumes. The phytates have been found to be resistant even to long slow cooking in an effort to denature them. There exist hundreds of research articles on phytic acid and their effects, including binding with certain nutrients like iron to inhibit their absorption.

The marketing push for more soy products has been relentless and global. Public relations firms help convert research projects into newspaper articles and advertising copy. It has worked like a charm. Soy protein is now found in a majority of supermarket breads. Soy can be found blended in the regular old corn tortilla. Try to find a salad dressing in a health food store whose first ingredient is not soy oil. Advertising for a new soy enriched loaf from Allied Bakeries in Britain targets menopausal women seeking relief from hot flashes. It goes on and on.

For more information on the great soy misinformation please consult the well-written and respected book entitled The Whole Soy Story by Dr. Kaayla Daniel.

About The Author:

Dr. Linda Posh MS SLP ND brings a fresh perspective to natural health and nutrition. She packs a solid educational background with degrees in organic chemistry, psychology and a Masters in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Visit www.Nutra-Resources.com for information.

Soy Causes Thyroid Problems (among other things)

2009-06-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

(Imported Article) Soy is not the best thing for people. Not a lot of people know this, but just 5-8 ounces of soy milk is too much soy isoflavons in ones diet (30grams). The USDA site lists the isoflavone content of a total of 128 foods, including foods such as vegetarian hot dogs soybeans, chickpeas and tofu. This can help you in deciding how much soy to include in your diet. So vegetarians, count your "soy intake," rather than your calorie intake. The following link is to my "Drinking Hole" site where this article from Thyroid-info.com comes from, enjoy

(click picture for another article)

Do Soy Foods Negatively Affect Your Thyroid? A Look at the Downsides of Soy

by Mary Shomon

It seems that there's isn't a newspaper, magazine or news program that hasn't recently featured a story on the amazing health benefits of soy food products and soy/isoflavone supplements. Soy is promoted as a healthy alternative to estrogen replacement for some women, as a possibly way to reduce the risk of breast cancer, as a way to minimize menopause symptoms, and as a healthier, low-fat protein alternative for meats and poultry. But what all the positive stories fail to mention is that there is a very real -- but very overlooked -- downside to the heavy or long-term use of soy products.

Soy products increase the risk of thyroid disease. And this danger is particularly great for infants on soy formula.

This is not information that the powerful and profitable U.S. soy industry wants you to know. The sale of soy products is big business, and the increasing demand for soy protein products, soy powders and soy isoflavone supplements is making that an even more profitable business than ever before.

In researching my book, Living Well With Hypothyroidism, which covers the issue of soy products and the thyroid in great depth, I talked to Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick, an environmental scientist and phytoestrogen researcher who has conducted in-depth studies on soy, particularly the use of soy formulas. Dr. Fitzpatrick makes it clear that soy products can have a detrminental affect on both adults and infants. In particular, he firmly believe that soy formula manufacturers should remove the isoflavones -- that part of the soy products that act as anti-thyroid agents -- from their products.

Researchers have identified that the isoflavones act as potent anti-thyroid agents, and are capable of suppressing thyroid function, and causing or worsening hypothyroidism. Soy is a phytoestrogen, and therefore acts in the body much like a hormone, so it's no surprise that it interacts with the delicate balance of the thyroid's hormonal systems. High consumption of soy products are also proven to cause goiter, (Anti-thyroid isoflavones from soybean: isolation, characterization, and mechanisms of action, Divi RL; Chang HC; Doerge DR, National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, AR 72079, USA, Biochem Pharmacol, 1997 Nov, 54:10, 1087-96)

Note: The best source of information on soy and its negative impact on health can be found at the Soy Online Service, and in particular, its page on phytoestrogenic effects of soy, and impact on the thyroid.

Isoflavones belong to the flavonoid or bioflavonoid family of chemicals, and are considered endocrine disruptors -- plants or other products that act as hormones, disrupting the endocrine system, and in some cases, this disruption involves acting as an anti-thyroid agent. (The grain millet, for example, contains high levels of flavonoids, and is commonly known as problematic for thyroid function). Flavonoids inhibit thyroid peroxidase (TPO), which disturbs proper thyroid function.

The March 1999 issue of Natural Health magazine has a feature on soy that quotes Daniel R. Doerge, Ph.D., a researcher at the Food and Drug Aministration's National Center for Toxicological Research. Dr. Doerge has researched soy's anti-thyroid properties, and has said "...I see substantial risks from taking soy supplements or eating huge amounts of soyfoods for their putative disease preventive value. There is definitely potential for interaction with the thyroid."

One UK study of premenopausal women gave 60 grams of soy protein per day for one month. This was found to disrupt the menstrual cycle, with the effects of the isoflavones continuing for a full three months after stopping the soy in the diet. Isoflavones are also known to modify fertility and change sex hormone status. Isoflavones have been shown to have serious health effects -- including infertility, thyroid disease or liver disease -- on a number of mammals.

Dr. Fitzpatrick believes that people with hypothyroidism should avoid soy products, because, "any inhibition of TPO will clearly work against anyone trying to correct an hypothyroid state." In addition, he believes that the current promotion of soy as a health food will result in an increase in thyroid disorders.

The Dangers of Soy Formulas

Since the late 1950's, it has been known that soy formulas contain anti-thyroid agents. Infants on
soy formula are particularly vulnerable to developing autoimmune thyroid disease when exposed to high exposure of isoflavones over time. ( Breast and soy-formula feedings in early infancy and the prevalence of autoimmune thyroid disease in children. Fort P; Moses N; Fasano M; Goldberg T; Lifshitz F Department of Pediatrics, North Shore University Hospital-Cornell University Medical College, Manhasset, New York 11030. J Am Coll Nutr, 1990 Apr, 9:2, 164-7) This study found that the frequency of feedings with soy-based milk formulas in early life was noticeably higher in children with autoimmune thyroid disease, and thyroid problems were almost triple in those soy formula-fed children compared to their siblings and healthy unrelated children. Dr. Fitzpatrick even believes that long-term feeding with soy formulas inhibits TPO to such an extent that long-term elevated TSH levels can also raise the risk of thyroid cancer.

Not much is being done in the U.S. to make parents aware of the thyroid-related dangers of soy formulas, or to alert the public that heavy soy consumption may be a danger to thyroid function. Other countries, however, are far ahead of the U.S. In July of 1996, the British Department of Health issued a warning that the phytoestrogens found in soy-based infant formulas could adversely affect infant health. The warning was clear, indicating that soy formula should only be given to babies on the advice of a health professional. They advised that babies who cannot be breastfed or who have allergies to other formulas be given alternatives to soy-based formulas.

Why more information is not available about these concerns is probably a function of the tremendous strength of the large agricultural companies that dominate America's soy market. One thing is clear, however. At the same time that health experts, and nearly every radio and television health program in the nation touts soy as the miracle health food of the new millenium, the United States pediatric and medical community needs to get more on top of this issue, and begin to counsel their patients regarding the serious impact use of soy products can have on thyroid function.

How Much Soy is Safe?

According to the Soy Online Service, for infants, any soy is too much. For adults, just 30 mg of soy isoflavones per day is the amount found to have a negative impact on thyroid function. This amount of soy isoflavones is found in just 5-8 ounces of soy milk, or 1.5 ounces of miso. For more information on how much soy is too much, see the Soy Online Service guidance page.

The USDA has launched a website that is promoting the health benefits of use of soy and soy foods. The USDA site lists the isoflavone content of a total of 128 foods, including foods such as vegetarian hot dogs soybeans, chickpeas and tofu. This can help you in deciding how much soy to include in your diet.

More information

For more information on soy products, see:

Soy Online Service
Concerns Regarding Soybeans, from the Rheumatic Diseases website

Under My Belt -- Wineries Visited

2009-05-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

Wineries Visited

Paso Robles

Adelaida
Austin Hope
Eberle
Carina
Carmody McKnight
Castoro
Chumeia
Dark Star
Derby
Denner
Dover Canyon
Eagle Castle
Eberle
EOS Estate
Firestone
Five Rivers
Four Vines
Grey Wolf
Halter Ranch
Hunt Wine
Jada
J.Lohr Wines
Justin
Locatelli
Martin & Weyrich
Meridian
Midnight
Moonstone
Norman
Opolo
Peachy Canyon
Pipestone
Robert Hall
Rotta
Summerwood
Tablas Creek
Thacher
Thunderbolt
Tobin James
Tolo
Treana
Turley Wine
Villicana
Vina Robles
Wild Horse
Windward
Whalebone
Zenaida

Santa Barbara

Andrew Murray
Artiste
Beckmen
Brander
Bridlewood
Cambria
Carina
Curtis
Fess Parker
Firestone
Foley Estates
Gainey
Hitching Post
Kalyra
Kenneth Volk
Koehler
Lincourt
Roblar
Rusack
Sanford
Scott
Shoestring
Sunstone
Zaca Mesa

Mr. Stogie's Cigar and Scotch - Review #101

2009-05-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

New Technology -- "Green" Pizza Box (Whoever Made This Is Set To Be Rich!)

2009-04-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Great Little Gadget for the Road, Or, Work Shop/Garage, etc.

2009-04-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

Our First Bristol Farms Experience

2009-03-18T18:20:00.001-07:00

St. Patty’s Day is a holiday my wife, friends, and I enjoy celebrating every year - as we are Irish. There is a new Bristol Farms in town and we were walking through the store checking them out, we ended up trying the corn beef they offered as a sample and way to get customers to buy the prepared meals for the Irish holiday. We were sold! We ended up preordering eight meals for our family and some neighbors. When the day came (17th) we went to pick up the meals, they pointed out that there were reheating instructions included (See below).

When we got home and started to take out the containers, we noticed they were plastic and not aluminum, as the instructions mentioned. So I called Bristol Farms. They mentioned they were old instructions and that they were sufficient for the task. So I asked specifically if we should put the plastic containers in the oven. The response was that we could. I asked if we should still put the aluminum foil on the top, they said yes.

Well, as you can see wherever the aluminum foil touched it melted the plastic, not to mention a general meltdown. Fumes, smoke, smell, all contributed to drive our guests outside our condo. Now, I realize that people make mistakes, and apparently these were not the “oven-safe” containers they thought they were giving us. To be fair, Bristol Farm management was very sympathetic and gave us a full refund of the $90. However, I must say a couple of things.

Firstly, I can better understand this mistake if it were made at Ralph’s, or Vons. However, Bristol Farms bills itself as a step above these other grocery chains. For the money, they had better. Secondly, in these economic times where people are cutting back, these types of higher end businesses need to pull customers in like us and try to make us permanent visitors to their business, and thus benefit by us spending our hard-earned money there. Bristol Farms failed our yearly family celebration (on both accounts), a mistake we will not make again, unfortunately for Bristol Farms.

I think, upon further reflection, my family will stick with Whole Foods.

Papa Giorgio

More Water Bottle Myths (Imported)

2009-03-04T11:37:00.001-08:00

I wrote on this subject quite in-depth as well, plus threw in a fact filed video in a blog entitled, "Urban Legends -- Water Bottles" It is a great blog to read along with this imported article.

Bottled Water Myths
by Angela Logomasini
Issue 127 - March 4, 2009

For the past couple decades, bottled water had been growing in popularity as an environmentally preferred choice and as a healthy beverage alternative. Yet in recent years, environmental activists have begun attacking its value and quality. The activists’ claims do not hold water, yet, based on those claims, they are promoting bans, taxes, and regulations on bottled water—taking the Nanny State to a whole new level. The following analysis counters this “new wisdom,” questioning the justifications for this new assault on consumer freedom.

Some key facts include:

Bottled water regulation is at least as stringent as tap water regulation. Under federal law the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must pass bottled water regulations that are “no less stringent” than Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. The law does not allow the FDA to set standards that produce a lower quality product. As a result, FDA regulations mirror EPA regulations very closely and are more stringent in some respects because FDA applies additional food, packaging, and labeling regulations.

Bottled water is substantially different from tap. About 75 percent of bottled water is from sources other than municipal systems such as springs or underground sources. Much of the bottled municipal water undergoes additional purification treatments to produce a higher quality product that must meet FDA bottled water quality standards, packaging, and labeling mandates. In terms of safety, tap water has more documented health-related case reports compared to bottled water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends bottled water for individuals with compromised immune systems to reduce the risks associated with tap water.

Bottled water containers are a tiny fraction of the solid waste stream. Many people have turned to bottled water to replace other portable drinks containing sugar and calories, producing little increase in total waste. In any case, single-serving plastic water bottles amount to just 0.3 percent of the nation’s solid waste. Bottles used in water coolers are recycled at high rates and have even less impact on landfill waste. Taxing and banning either type of container will not matter much in terms of overall waste.

Plastic bottles are safe for consumers. The chemicals which environmental activists suggest are a problem are not even used in the PET plastic used for single-serving water bottles. Bisphenol A, a chemical found in large five-gallon water cooler jugs and other food containers exists at such low trace levels that there have been no reported health problems and the FDA, along with several scientific organizations around the world, have not found any problem with this substance.

The public has freely turned to bottled water as an alternative to drinks with calories, for convenience, freshness, and whatever other reasons they themselves find worthy. Misinformation spread by activists should not determine who can access this product. People who do not like the product can make their own choices. They should not have any right to make them for the rest of us.

"Water Bottle Myths -- Reusable? Poisonous?"

2009-02-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

I have worked at Whole Foods long enough to hear many of the “health myths” that typically float through the customer base there. One of these myths about health and product is found in the scare about plastic water bottles. It started in an email referencing a masters thesis by a student at the University of Idaho. The media, according to Snopes, ran with the story even though there was no peer reviews of the students work. They have this myth marked as false. Another worth-while article to read is on my Carol Rees Parrish, R.D., M.S., entitled, “Bottled Water Myths: Separating Fact from Fiction.” In it it is pointed out that,

Based on the evidence available to date, it appears the true health risks (if any) related to drinking commercially manufactured bottled water or water in refillable plastic bottles may or may not come from the plastic itself. Further study is warranted to determine if poly carbonate plastics can cause harm to humans. Consumers should focus more on the quality of the drinking water, particularly from a microbe perspective as this point is indisputable, rather than chemicals leaching from the container.

Nutrition Issues In Gastroenterology, Series #50 (PDF)

One of the organizations implicated as supporting the health risks by bottled water release this statement in their Public Health News Center bulletin:

The Internet is flooded with messages warning against freezing water in plastic bottles or cooking with plastics in the microwave oven. These messages, frequently titled “Johns Hopkins Cancer News” or “Johns Hopkins Cancer Update,” are falsely attributed to Johns Hopkins and we do not endorse their content. Freezing water does not cause the release of chemicals from plastic bottles.

“Email Hoax Regarding Freezing Water Bottles and Microwave Cooking,” John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In a short video, Dr. Joe Schwarcz, author of Brain Fuel: 199 Mind-Expanding Inquiries into the Science of Everyday Life, explains some of these myths in more detail:

Even author Elizabeth Royte mentioned in an interview that this is a myth of grand proportions. (You can hear this interview dated 1-22-09 on the Dennis Prager show when she was interviewed about her book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. There are much better reasons to stop using water bottles than hocus-pocus... she even seemingly convinced Dennis of this.) Again, the folks at Johns Hopkins sat down with Dr. Rolf Haden, assistant professor at Department of Environmental Health Sciences and the Center for Water and Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Haden dispelled the myth saying “This is an urban legend. There are no dioxins in plastics. In addition, freezing actually works against the release of chemicals.”

Those are my thoughts on the matter.

Ice Wine - Canucks

2009-01-25T13:16:00.001-08:00

Import Duty Wars... Trickle Down Economics

2009-01-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

From, A New Dark Age is Drawing:

THE TELEGRAPH: The French government is facing calls to slap a massive import tax on Coca-Cola in retaliation for punitive American duties levelled on the salty, blue-veined, sheep cheese roquefort.

The American measures were taken as part of a trade dispute, now known as "cheese wars", in which the Bush administration took action against the European Union's ban on imports of US hormone-treated beef.

Last week, America imposed a 100 per cent import duty on a long list of EU products, but singled roquefort out for a 300 per cent tariff.

"Symbol versus symbol," said Philippe Folliot, a French member of parliament whose Tarn constituency contains many roquefort producers. "Since the United States has decided to surtax one of the most ancient (cheese) appellations, I think that the French government, with the European Union, must think about a heavy specific tax on imports of Coca-Cola concentrates produced in the US."

Guy Eats the Hottest Pepper In the World - Yikes!

2009-01-16T19:37:00.000-08:00

Grocery Store Wars

2009-01-14T22:54:00.000-08:00

How to Shop for & Eat Eggs

2008-12-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

For the Beer Brothers & Sisters "Out There"

2008-12-20T17:30:00.000-08:00

Kegerator Tips

I was at a friend’s house and he mention that his keg was putting out a bit too much foam. We both agreed that part of the reason was that it was a new keg. However, I am a big believer in lower PSI so with the micro-brewed (15-gallons), a PSI of 8-10 is good. However, if you have the proper set up you can go to the recommended 14, which does allow optimal taste in a pour. Yes, taste does change with pressure... most pubs you go to have about a 14 or higher setting.

There are ways for the amateur to start fixing the problem of foam, and here are some of the best tips for making your kegerator the best in the neighborhood. One of the most common causes of foam is the tower. As you or your guests go about drinking there brew the beer in the tower is warming up to room temperature. When someone goes to pour from the tap the beer in the tower is warm and that is typically the foamy part. That is one of the easiest ways to combat foam, but it takes a little cha-ching.

~ TIP

One of the most helpful sites I have found (especially their forums section where dummies like myself can ask questions from the pros) is MicroMatic.com. I would suggest after going through this blog to stop over there and root around. They have everything under the sun for purchase.

These cold taps cooled tower dispensers can be found at any of the sites I am going to recommend, they range in price and get pretty expensive. You know your finances better than I so shop with caution. Another item to add to your kegerator if you have the money to spend is this little device:

(Click on photog to read about it)

This device is good for kegerators as well as the “back yard diddy.” Here is a demonstration:

The device is not terribly expensive ($62), and for the person with the kegerator you would want to mount it inside the refrigerated section of the kegerator as to keep the beer in it cold.

~ TIP

Another helpful site for ideas on what to buy and helpful hists is the site KegWorks.com. Check them out. Again, their people are really helpful, over the phone or email if you have any questions.

Again, some of these Q&A can get very technical, for homor sake I will post a response over at MicroMatic that made me laugh... keep in mind though that these folks take beer seriously!

Question:

Our boat club installed a new 4-faucet Mini-Mushroom tap from Micromatic recently. We have a little too much foam on all taps, and the only difference I can see is that the beer lines are a smaller diameter (1/4" vs. 3/8") than the old tap. Temp is good, it's direct draw, same CO2 setup. Any ideas?

Response:

What's the distance from the keg to the tap? What's the "vertical lift" in the system (distance from center of keg to tap)? What beer are you dispensing?

Questioner:

The distance is about 36", the beer is bud, bud light, Blue Point Toasted Lager and Blue Point Pale Ale. No trouble with old tap (it was an eyesore) same issue on all beers

Response:

Sorry to hit you with math here Nick but this is the way I work it out...

I was told that the proper formula to use is this...

L=(P-(H x 0.5) -1) / R

L=Length (Are you saying 36 inches from keg to tap?)

P= CO2 Pressure (for the type of beer you're pouring I think it's around 14lbs if your temp is 38F)
H=Height (from the center of Keg to the faucet let's pretend its the three feet you're talking about since that's the only way I can see it - the taps being above the keg)
R=Resistance of the line

If the length is 3 feet like you say...

3=(14-(3 x 0.5) - 1) /R

3=9.5/R

3r=9.5 (This is the total resistance of the line)

We need to run line that has a total resistance of 9.5lbs. 3/16ID beer line has a resistance of 3lbs per foot... so if we run 3.17 feet of 3/16 you'll have the perfect resistance.

If (and this might be the case), you're really talking about 36 feet we'll have to change the numbers a little and use different diameter line. Let me know.

Obviously this is more business oriented, but one can see why not paying attention to your math teacher actually hurts you later in life. Of course the easiest way one is going to keep foam issues down is to CLEAN YOUR LINES! It may be troublesome, but this is the price one pays for perfection. Here is a short Q&A from BeverageFactory.com that explains the issues:

Q: Why do dispensing lines have to be cleaned?

Beer lines have to be cleaned because a scale called calcium oxalate, commonly referred to as "beer-store" forms on the fittings, lines and taps. "Beerstore", if not completely removed in a cleaning process will leave an unsanitary surface that can harbor microorganisms. Line cleaning with the proper equipment and chemical, eliminates the build-up of "beerstore" protecting the integrity of the product.

Microorganisms or bacterial will grow very quickly if a sanitary environment is not maintained, causing off-flavors or shorten the shelf life of the beer. Regular cleaning assures that bacteria does not have the opportunity to reach levels which affect the quality/taste of the beer.

Q: How often should I clean my lines?

Line cleaning should be done on a regular scheduled basis. (approximately every 6 weeks) A standard cleaning kit will perform approximately with scheduled line cleanings. We recommend that you clean your lines every time you switch out a keg.

Q: How do I clean the Beer Line and Faucet?

Once a week the beer line and faucet should be cleaned with fresh water. You will need the CK100 Cleaning Kit to do the following steps.

Clean, clean, clean! This is the best possible recipe for a healthy poor. One last item, one of the reacurring problems during my time at a place that sold kegs was the proper hookups for the proper beer (e.g., domestic, European, and the like). So some of the guys and I put together a helpful list of proper couplers to pair with the right beer. Whether you are having a “dirt-party” or have a nice kegerator tucked away in a corner of your home, this list is most helpful. Just click on the thumbnail to enlarge to a helpful size:

I hope this helps all you beer lovers out there -- Cheers, Papa Giorgio.

Soy is Poison!

2008-11-18T19:01:00.000-08:00

If anyone here follows The Drinking Hole, one of my other sites, they know I am a big anti-soy guy. Well, here is an article that boosts my theory:

President-elect Barack Obama is being asked to intervene in the state he represented in the U.S. Senate to halt a prison "feeding program" that is causing health problems for inmates, according to a nutrition organization.

In an open letter to Obama, Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, said the existing procedures are "poisoning" inmates.

Obama, Morell wrote, should "focus on a grave injustice taking place in the prisons of your home state, namely, a prison diet that is slowly killing the inmates assigned to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

"This is a diet based largely on soy protein powder and soy flour. As you stated on last night's 60 Minutes Program, America does not condone torture. I think you would agree that what is happening in the Illinois prisons is a form of torture," Fallon wrote.

Soy products have been in the news in recent months after a new study from Harvard indicated that consumption of soy lowers sperm count.

The study suggested confirmation of a series of reports documented by WND columnist Jim Rutz, who described soy's "feminizing" effect on men.

According to a report from Reuters, the study was done by Jorge Chavarro of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, whose work appeared in the journal Human Reproduction.

It reportedly is the largest study of humans to look at the relationship between semen quality and a plant form of the female sex hormone estrogen known as phytoestrogen, which is plentiful in soy-rich foods.

Now comes the Price Foundation letter to Obama, which states that soy protein and soy flour are toxic, "especially in large amounts."

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists 288 studies on its database showing the toxicity of soy. Numerous studies show that soy consumption leads to nutrient deficiencies, digestive disorders, endocrine disruption and thyroid problems," the letter said....

Eating veggies shrinks the brain

2008-09-15T05:06:00.000-07:00

I could have told you this... I see them all the time at Whole Foods. Of course, this may have given me a false sense of mental ability?

MELBOURNE: Scientists have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain-with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage.

Vegans and vegetarians are the most likely to be deficient because the best sources of the vitamin are meat, particularly liver, milk and fish. Vitamin B12 deficiency can also cause anaemia and inflammation of the nervous system. Yeast extracts are one of the few vegetarian foods which provide good levels of the vitamin.

The link was discovered by Oxford University scientists who used memory tests, physical checks and brain scans to examine 107 people between the ages of 61 and 87.

When the volunteers were retested five years later the medics found those with the lowest levels of vitamin B12 were also the most likely to have brain shrinkage. It confirms earlier research showing a link between brain atrophy and low levels of B12.

Brain scans of more than 1,800 people found that people who downed 14 drinks or more a week had 1.6% more brain shrinkage than teetotallers. Women in their seventies were the most at risk......

Beer vs. Wine w/Cheese

2008-04-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

K.O.

Cheese Expert Stephen Jenkins

2008-04-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Soy Truths and Mistruths

2008-03-17T08:37:00.001-07:00

Myths and Truths About Soy

Starting Out

While I have already posted on this topic, I am going to do a more in-depth blog on this matter that will always stay at the top of the other blogs that I will post here. Mind you I do not post much at this site in general (as my interests ultimately lie elsewhere), but this topic is one that I believe needs more reflection by those persons who feel that Soy is “the way to either replace proteins, vitamin B12, or simply ad to a “healthy” diet.

Myths

One of the first myths is that the Asian world eats a lot of it. The truth of the matter s quite different than others would have us believe. The average consumption of soy foods in Japan and China is 10 grams (about 2 teaspoons) per day. Asians consume soy foods in small amounts as a condiment, and not as a replacement for animal foods.

This is a refutation of what I am constantly told by many – at my work – that al we need to do is look to the Asian culture for evidence of health verses quantity of intake. Another myth that bugs me is the myth that soy products, even fermented soy products (which are superior to regular soy more common to large production quantities), provide a good source for vitamin B12 in vegetarian/vegan diets. The truth of the matter is that the compound that resembles vitamin B12 in soy cannot be used by the human body; in fact, soy foods cause the body to require more B12.

Why do I delineate between fermented soy and modern production methods which differ from the ancient ways of producing soy enriched products? Because fermentation neutralizes toxins in soybeans, and are processed in a way that denatures proteins and increases levels of carcinogens. Denatured is defined as used here as:

to cause the tertiary structure of a protein to unfold, as with heat, alkali, or acid, so that some of its original properties, especially its biological activity, are diminished or eliminated.

This is what effectively isn’t being done in most of today’s modern soy products, speaking here of many of the tofu’s and soy milks as well as the many other products.

Tempe, Miso and Nato would be a better choice for soy intake as they are fermented, see the video below for a better explanation than I can give:

Greedy Corporate Soy Producers!

From soy milk, tofu, and textured protein to mayonnaise, bakery products, margarine, and ice cream, soy products may be found in most processed foods in the supermarket and fast food chains, inflicting hormonal imbalances which may lead to cancer, osteoporosis, obesity, heart disease, sexual development abnormalities, learning disabilities, immune deficiencies, and infertility. The US Government sends soy products to foreign lands to mitigate hunger and malnutrition and thus causes even greater malnutrition, despite nearly half a century of research warning of the dangers of soy products.

"The industry has known for years that soy contains many toxins. At first they told the public that the toxins were removed by processing. When it became apparent that processing could not get rid of them, they claimed that these substances were beneficial. Your government granted a health claim to a substance that is poisonous, and the industry lied to the public to sell more soy." Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (1999, 2nd edition, New Trends Publishing)

The Fairy Tale of Soy

This is another thing that baffles me. Most of the people that follow these diets tend to be liberal, and many of these liberal person’s have a “conspiratorial eye” towards corporations and their greed factor as well as the government aspect, specifically government “funded” by corporations. These people generally do not trust all the products these corporations push, but they say this while not connecting the fact that the soy industry is a huge multi-billion-dollar making conglomerate of corporately owned money making people that will not allow negative news about their products to reach the common man. Now obviously I do not adhere to these conspiracy theories as do my more left-leaning counterparts. But for them to believe that only products they don’t use are guided by corporate entities is, well, an uneducated supposition. I hear about who funded which study in regards to countering anthropogenic global warming, but this same criteria is not applied to their own “golden calves.”

"Each year, research on the health effects of soy and soybean components seems to increase exponentially. Furthermore, research is not just expanding in the primary areas under investigation, such as cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis; new findings suggest that soy has potential benefits that may be more extensive than previously thought."

So writes Mark Messina, PhD, General Chairperson of the Third International Soy Symposium, held in Washington, DC, in November 1999.1 For four days, well-funded scientists gathered in Washington made presentations to an admiring press and to their sponsors - United Soybean Board, American Soybean Association, Monsanto, Protein Technologies International, Central Soya, Cargill Foods, Personal Products Company, SoyLife, Whitehall-Robins Healthcare and the soybean councils of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota.

The symposium marked the apogee of a decade-long marketing campaign to gain consumer acceptance of tofu, soy milk, soy ice cream, soy cheese, soy sausage and soy derivatives, particularly soy isoflavones like genistein and diadzen, the oestrogen-like compounds found in soybeans. It coincided with a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decision, announced on October 25, 1999, to allow a health claim for products "low in saturated fat and cholesterol" that contain 6.25 grams of soy protein per serving. Breakfast cereals, baked goods, convenience food, smoothie mixes and meat substitutes could now be sold with labels touting benefits to cardiovascular health, as long as these products contained one heaping teaspoon of soy protein per 100-gram serving.

The Fairy Tale of Soy

These industries and corporations have a lot of money invested in as well as to be made by selling their product. So these people are not un-biased in their “marketing of soy products. One customer asked what the problem with adding soy to diets would be, I will explain some of the adverse effects of it, as well as exploding a big myth about something I hear all the time, which is, blaming early puberty on anti-biotic and steroid infused Beef. I will argue that as more soy is added to products we will see earlier puberty in females and more erectile dysfunction (ED) in men. Not to mention an increase in obesity in children and adults.

Childhood Obesity, Early Puberty, Erectile Dysfunction

Estrogenic isoflavones, such as genistein and daidzein, are present in virtually all natural-ingredient rodent diets that use soy as a source of protein. Since these compounds are endocrine-active, it is important to determine whether the amounts present in rodent diets are sufficient to affect sexual development. The present study consisted of in vitro and in vivo parts. In the in vitro portion, human hepatoma cells were transfected with either rat estrogen receptor (ER) alpha or beta plus an estrogen-responsive luciferase reporter gene. Genistein and daidzein were complete agonists at both ERs, genistein being more potent than daidzein, and both compounds were more potent at ER beta than ER alpha. In combined studies with estradiol, genistein exerted additive effects with estradiol in vitro. In the in vivo portion of the study, groups of six pregnant Sprague-Dawley females were fed one of the following four diets, and the pups were maintained on the same diets until puberty: (1) a natural-ingredient, open-formula rodent diet (NIH-07) containing 16 mg genistein and 14 mg daidzein per 100 g of feed; (2) a soy- and alfalfa-free diet (SAFD) in which casein and corn oil were substituted for soy and alfalfa meal and soy oil, respectively, that contained no detectable isoflavones; (3) SAFD containing 0.02% genistein (GE.02); or (4) SAFD containing 0.1% genistein (GE.1). In the GE.1 group, effects of dietary genistein included a decreased rate of body-weight gain, a markedly increased (2.3-fold) uterine/body weight (U/BW) ratio on postnatal day (pnd) 21, a significant acceleration of puberty among females, and a marginal decrease in the ventral prostate weight on postnatal day (pnd) 56. However, developmental differences among the groups fed SAFD, GE.02, or NIH-07 were small and suggested minimal effects of phytoestrogens at normal dietary levels. In particular, on pnd 21, the U/BW ratio of the GE.02 and NIH-07 groups did not differ significantly from that of the SAFD group. Only one statistically significant difference was detected between groups fed SAFD and NIH-07: the anogenital distance (AGD) of female neonates on pnd 1 whose dams were fed NIH-07 was 12% larger than that of neonates whose dams were fed SAFD. The results suggest that normal amounts of phytoestrogens in natural-ingredient rodent diets may affect one developmental parameter, the female AGD, and that higher doses can affect several other parameters in both males and females. Based on these findings, we do not suggest replacing soy- and alfalfa-based rodent diets with phytoestrogen-free diets in most developmental toxicology studies. However, phytoestrogen-free diets are recommended for endocrine toxicology studies at low doses, to determine whether interactive effects may occur between dietary phytoestrogens and man-made chemicals.

“Developmental effects of dietary phytoestrogens in Sprague-Dawley rats and interactions of genistein and daidzein with rat estrogen receptors alpha and beta in vitro,” Toxicol Sci 1999 Oct;51(2):236-44, by Casanova M, You L, Gaido KW, Archibeque-Engle S, Janszen DB, Heck HA. Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA. casaheck@beaufortco.com

Found at: SoyOn-Line.com

Epidemiological evidence suggests that isoflavone phytoestrogens may reduce the risk of cancer, osteoporosis, and heart disease, effects at least partially mediated by estrogen receptors alpha and beta (ERalpha and ERbeta). Because isoflavone dietary supplements are becoming increasingly popular and are frequently advertised as natural alternatives to estrogen replacement therapy, we have examined the effects of one of these supplements on estrogen-dependent behavior and ERalpha- and ERbeta-dependent gene expression in the brain. In the adult female rat brain, 17beta-estradiol treatment decreased ERbeta messenger RNA signal in the paraventricular nucleus by 41%, but supplement treatment resulted in a 27% increase. The regulation of ERbeta in the paraventricular nucleus is probably via an ERbeta-dependent mechanism. Similarly, in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus, supplement treatment diminished the estrogen-dependent up-regulation of oxytocin receptor by 10.5%. The regulation of oxytocin receptor expression in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus is via an ERalpha-dependent mechanism. Supplement treatment also resulted in a significant decrease in receptive behavior in estrogen- and progesterone-primed females. The observed disruption of sexual receptivity by the isoflavone supplement is probably due to antiestrogenic effects observed in the brain. These results suggest that isoflavone phytoestrogens are antiestrogenic on both ERalpha- and ERbeta-dependent gene expression in the brain and estrogen-dependent behavior.

“Soy isoflavone supplements antagonize reproductive behavior and estrogen receptor alpha- and beta-dependent gene expression in the brain,” Endocrinology 2001 Jul;142(7):2946-52, by Patisaul HB, Dindo M, Whitten PL, Young LJ. Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30329, USA. hbeaupr@emory.edu

Found at: SoyOn-Line.com

We report here the effects of oral micronized estradiol and soy phytoestrogens on uterine weight, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and nerve growth factor (NGF) mRNAs in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of ovariectomized young and retired breeder rats. Within each age category, 15 bilaterally ovariectomized rats were randomized equally into three groups: control (OVX), estradiol (E2), and soy phytoestrogens (SBE). The OVX rats were fed a casein/lactalbumin-based control diet; the E2 rats were fed with the control diet with added estradiol; and the SBE rats were fed with the control diet with added soy phytoestrogens. After 8 weeks of treatment, blood, uteri, frontal cortex, and hippocampus were collected at necropsy. Results showed that the uterine weights and serum estradiol concentrations were significantly higher in the E2 group compared with those in the OVX and SBE groups. In the hippocampus of young rats, E2 treatment resulted in significantly higher NGF mRNA levels than no treatment (OVX), and NGF mRNA levels in the SBE group were intermediate between the E2 and OVX groups. ChAT mRNA levels were significantly higher in the frontal cortex of E2 and SBE-treated retired breeder rats compared to OVX retired breeder rats. There were no differences among treatment groups for ChAT mRNA levels in the frontal cortex of young rats and in the hippocampus of both young and retired breeder rats. Our data suggest that soy phytoestrogens may function as estrogen agonists in regulating ChAT and NGF mRNAs in the brain of female rats.

“Effect of estradiol and soy phytoestrogens on choline acetyltransferase and nerve growth factor mRNAs in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of female rats,” Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1999 Jun;221(2):118-25, by Pan Y, Anthony M, Clarkson TB. Comparative Medicine Clinical Research Center, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157-1040, USA. ypan@cpm.bgsm.edu

Found at: SoyOn-Line.com

There are about 70 more such studies at Scientific Abstracts of Found at: SoyOn-Line.com. Too many to list in fact.

Dangers of Soy

So what are the dangers involved with soy in your diet? Lets see:

High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc. Phytic acid in soy is not neutralized by ordinary preparation methods such as soaking, sprouting and long, slow cooking. High phytate diets have caused growth problems in children.
Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic orders. In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.
Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.
Soy phytoestrogens are potent antithyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.
Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body’s requirement for B12.
Soy foods increase the body’s requirement for vitamin D.
Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.
Processing of soy protein results in the formation of toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines.
Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and added to many soy foods.
Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys.

(SOY INFANT FORMULA — BIRTH CONTROL PILLS FOR BABIES)

Babies fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula.
Infants exclusively fed soy formula receive the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day.
Male infants undergo a “testosterone surge” during the first few months of life, when testosterone levels may be as high as those of an adult male. During this period, baby boys are programmed to express male characteristics after puberty, not only in the development of their sexual organs and other masculine physical traits, but also in setting patterns in the brain characteristic of male behavior.
Pediatricians are noticing greater numbers of boys whose physical maturation is delayed, or does not occur at all, including lack of development of the sexual organs. Learning disabilities, especially in male children, have reached epidemic proportions.
Soy infant feeding—which floods the bloodstream with female hormones that inhibit testosterone—cannot be ignored as a possible cause for these tragic developments. In animals, soy feeding indicates that phytoestrogens in soy are powerful endocrine disrupters.
Almost 15 percent of white girls and 50 percent of African-American girls show signs of puberty such as breast development and pubic hair, before the age of eight. Some girls are showing sexual development before the age of three. Premature development of girls has been linked to the use of soy formula and exposure to environmental estrogens such as PCBs and DDE.

I have to go to work but will add to this blog in the near future.

Drinking Hole

Good News for Beer-In Tennessee At Least

Mitch Daniels Likes Woodford Reserve Bourbon

A Beer for Patriots

100-Year Old Whiskey Found

A Mistake Destroys $200,000 in Beer (*tears*)

Cast Iron Apple Cobbler

Bacon & Egg Breakfast

Beer From The Bottom! Less Foam and Time-More Bang for the Buck

Banning Mixed Drinks?

Some Food Myths and History on Low Fat Studies

War On Raw... Government Overstepping Its Bounds

Great Bar Trick

Speakeasy

Cheese Commercial

Large Amounts! Like if you are a vegan...

Some Myths About Bottled Water and the Documentary To Perpetuate Some of Them

Know Your Bacon -- Breakfast Tips

House Passes Beer Resolution -- I Love a Politician Who Loves Good Beer

Monkeying With Wine -- Plus the "Sock Monkey" Has Evolved

Top of the Wine News -- Paso Robles (Daily News)

Almost 8-Years in Prison for Stealing $4 Worth of Cheese

Patriotic Hunger Pains

Craig Ferguson Prepping Food for TV

The Mayo Clinic Diet

Wine Tasting with Helen Buehler of Buehler Vineyards

MAS Wine Co.

BASF's Wine Cellar

Pre-Christmas Gathering of Some Friends

(Wall Street Journal) The Science of Champagne Bubbles -- Follow Through to Interactive Link... Very Cool

State of the Wine Industry 2009-2010 (link out)

Robot Poors Perfectly

Wine Library TV: Thanksgiving Wine Episode (Episode #586, 2008)

Thanksgiving Wines -- NYT (6-years in the making)

3 Must Try Whites

Hormonal Imbalance, Thyroid Issues, and Asian Soy Intake History

Soy Causes Thyroid Problems (among other things)

Under My Belt -- Wineries Visited

Mr. Stogie's Cigar and Scotch - Review #101

New Technology -- "Green" Pizza Box (Whoever Made This Is Set To Be Rich!)

Great Little Gadget for the Road, Or, Work Shop/Garage, etc.

Our First Bristol Farms Experience

More Water Bottle Myths (Imported)

"Water Bottle Myths -- Reusable? Poisonous?"

Ice Wine - Canucks

Import Duty Wars... Trickle Down Economics

Guy Eats the Hottest Pepper In the World - Yikes!

Grocery Store Wars

How to Shop for & Eat Eggs

For the Beer Brothers & Sisters "Out There"

Soy is Poison!

Eating veggies shrinks the brain

Beer vs. Wine w/Cheese

Cheese Expert Stephen Jenkins

Soy Truths and Mistruths

A Mistake Destroys $200,000 in Beer (tears)