It’s so much fun in the fall to go to Chelan, Washington, and visit with my high school classmates. Lake Chelan is so beautiful. And new, since I lived there, are wineries, a fantastic diversification to the famous apple industry of Central Washington. My sister and I, both graduates of... Read more →
It’s a clear memory. Plastic was becoming widely used in packaging for food. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration didn’t say it was safe. It said as far as it knew, plastic packaging wasn’t harmful to health. I figured out myself right away that it wasn’t a good idea to... Read more →
In the past, I haven’t had much of a problem buying souvenirs when I’ve been on vacation. They just seem to be plentiful at tourist spots. Madrid, Paris, London, San Francisco, Miami, Seattle. I have post cards from them all. Not so much from museums. I love museums, but I’ve... Read more →
About a dozen times I’ve written about price gouging being one of the biggest drivers of inflation, along lamenting about how politicians weren’t talking about it. President Biden took up the topic recently, and Kamala Harris, vice president and the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, announced it Friday as part... Read more →
More than one third of all food produced globally goes to waste, and 8 to 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are generated by producing food that’s never eaten. Fixing this seems like an unsurmountable problem, but Danielle Nierenberg, president of Food Tank, a think tank, said companies and... Read more →
My daughter Mona is a Ph.D. botanist. When she was in the ninth grade she said she was going to study horticulture and be a botanist. Mona loves plants. Whenever we go on vacation, she “botanizes,” checking out the plants, bushes, and tree and identifying them. When she was in the middle of doing her doctoral thesis on cape ivy, we took a trip to Spain and Portugal. Read more →
For years, I shopped at the local farmers market. We’re fortunate to have a large, permanent space provided for the market. Through the years, I haven’t noticed food safety errors, such as those pointed out in the in the food safety tips information provided below by the USDA. However, our farmers market is big with lots of foot traffic. Read more →
Thursday I wrote about how more than 50 percent of inflation is caused by corporate price gouging and wondered why politicians don’t talk about it and news organizations don’t cover it. Friday I was going to write about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suing Acima and its former chief executive officer Aaron Allred for illegal lending activities. Read more →
The Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer, and as the weather gets warmer, so do the number of meals served outside. Whether you’re at the beach or barbecuing, food should be served safely to avoid food poisoning. The bacteria that cause foodborne illness love the summertime because they thrive and multiply quickly in warmer temperatures. Read more →
My birthday is May 4, a wonderful time in the spring when everything is blooming. When I was a child growing up in Central Washington on an apple ranch, I used to run through the orchard on my birthday when the trees were in full bloom, an enchanted place. The blossoms were spectacular and the fragrance marvelous. Read more →