Lemon Thyme in my garden. Winter is slowly creeping in and the garden is still producing some good things. My peppers are still going strong and I am getting a tomatoe or two every other day. Nice. The rain has caused some of the tomatoes to burst but if I catch them early they are still very flavorful. The arugala is just starting to peak and the carrots are doing great. I will probably have to pull them all out within a week. It has been fun and the girls have liked seeing were food comes from. I highly recommend planting one next year.

Now on to todays food news.

From the LATIMES, By Jenn Garbee, Monkey Bread- The story. Nice history lesson.

The FDA may be stepping up on the front label Smart Choices “health washing” of products that have no nutritional value whatsoever. From FoodNav, By Caroline Scott-Thomas. It is about time that they do something about an industry program that is trying to use a marketing technique that may mislead the customer looking for healthy choices for their families. Nice to have the grownups back in charge instead of the profit driven forces.

The cookie diet, from the NYTIMES, By Abby Ellin. A questionable quick fix diet that is doing really well in profits. Eat 6 special cookies a day and one sensible meal and lose weight. Basically it keeps you around a 1,000 calarie a day consumption rate and therefore you lose weight. What is in the cookie you say? Who cares I can eat cookies and lose weight you say… B level Celebrities have lost weight on this plan and it really does not require any hard work on your part so it must be good for you.

My friend and mentor Catherine Brandel loved Buddha’s Hands. Here is a good article about them in todays LATIMES. By David Karp. Great citrus food.

Have a great weekend and talk to you next week.

Max 10-23-09