Nilore Vagan

We were almost out of corn syrup, so I asked my mother to pick up some while she was out tonight.

I probably would have done the same thing: Corn syrup is corn syrup, right? Grab a bottle, and check out.

I wasn’t even going to check, but Dad started reading the ingredients on the corn syrup. “Corn syrup, water, high fructose corn syrup.”

What.

This seems like a dishonest thing to do. They market is as any other corn syrup (“Light Corn Syrup”), and the only way you can tell it’s any different is by looking at the ingredients. I should not have to check the ingredients on every single thing I buy.

We were almost out of corn syrup, so I asked my mother to pick up some while she was out tonight.   I probably would have done the same thing: Corn syrup is corn syrup, right? Grab a bottle, and check out.   I wasn't even going to check, but Dad started reading the ingredients on the corn syrup. "Corn syrup, water, high fructose corn syrup."   What.   This seems like a dishonest thing to do. They market is as any other corn syrup ("Light Corn Syrup"), and the only way you can tell it's any different is by looking at the ingredients. I should not have to check the ingredients on every single thing I buy.

I get suspicious of labels that say “Contains real meat!” or “Made with real chicken!”

“Made with” in particular is pretty suspicious on its own. It implies that the food product in question contains chicken, but the language allows lots of room for error. Chicken can be used in the ‘making’ process, but doesn’t necessarily have to be included in the final product. For example, I had a TV dinner once that was “Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo,” whose label said “Made with real chicken!” and there was not a single strip of chicken to be found. Likely the chicken was used for flavoring or something.

“Contains” at least specifies that the product actually CONTAINS something, but doesn’t specify how much. Chicken nuggets that says “Contains real chicken breast meat!” still allows some room for error. It could be 10% ‘real’ meat and 90% other things.

I think what bothers me the most is that we live in a society where labels like “Contains real meat!” are a thing that ‘fancy’ pre-wrapped meals use to stand out over the rest. Where the cheaper brands are cheaper because they use ‘fake’ meats and other filler ingredients. Makes you wonder what you’ve been eating, doesn’t it? Most of the big food manufacturers can make just about anything look like a high quality steak. Of course, a look at the ingredients will tell you exactly what said steak contains.

While I’m on the subject, I’d like to mention that I’ve been seeing more ‘natural’ foods in the stores lately. Sure, they’re more expensive (Raw cane sugar is more expensive than high fructose corn syrup, for instance), but I think it’s worth it. For example, I found a brand of ketchup that uses real sugar instead of HFCS, and some peanut butter that’s peanut butter the way it should be (No preservatives aside from salt). Companies simply go where the money goes… with demand of ‘natural’ products rising, they’ll provide eventually.

I get suspicious of labels that say "Contains real meat!" or "Made with real chicken!"   "Made with" in particular is pretty suspicious on its own. It implies that the food product in question contains chicken, but the language allows lots of room for error. Chicken can be used in the 'making' process, but doesn't necessarily have to be included in the final product. For example, I had a TV dinner once that was "Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo," whose label said "Made with real chicken!" and there was not a single strip of chicken to be found. Likely the chicken was used for flavoring or something.   "Contains" at least specifies that the product actually CONTAINS something, but doesn't specify how much. Chicken nuggets that says "Contains real chicken breast meat!" still allows some room for error. It could be 10% 'real' meat and 90% other things.   I think what bothers me the most is that we live in a society where labels like "Contains real meat!" are a thing that 'fancy' pre-wrapped meals use to stand out over the rest. Where the cheaper brands are cheaper because they use 'fake' meats and other filler ingredients. Makes you wonder what you've been eating, doesn't it? Most of the big food manufacturers can make just about anything look like a high quality steak. Of course, a look at the ingredients will tell you exactly what said steak contains.   While I'm on the subject, I'd like to mention that I've been seeing more 'natural' foods in the stores lately. Sure, they're more expensive (Raw cane sugar is more expensive than high fructose corn syrup, for instance), but I think it's worth it. For example, I found a brand of ketchup that uses real sugar instead of HFCS, and some peanut butter that's peanut butter the way it should be (No preservatives aside from salt). Companies simply go where the money goes... with demand of 'natural' products rising, they'll provide eventually.

Tomorrow seems to be the day I’m going to want to start getting the garden ready for planting and for spring in general. The plum tree is beginning to bud, and all of the trees need to be pruned and shaped. Dad’s really neglected them and let them go. The quaking aspens need to be removed, and the garden itself needs to be readied for planting.  It’s a long process, but hard work is rewarded in this type of field.

I’m really no professional gardener.  But we have two plum trees, two apple trees, two peach trees, and a pear tree that all need to be taken care of. We have a plot that we plant vegetables in, and what used to be flower gardens are now being used to plant food in.

This year we’re going for being able to make bread and butter pickles. This means raising cucumbers and peppers. The garlic I planted last fall has sprouted and actually looks pretty healthy.  There’s about 10 or so bulbs of garlic planted… I’m probably going to wind up drying most of it for later use.  The rosemary I planted last year doesn’t seem to be doing too well. I though it would be able to handle the light winter we had, but we had a cold snap that seemed to have done it some damage. The thyme plant looks okay, but I’m going to have to wait until late spring to see how well it’s doing entirely.

Tomorrow seems to be the day I'm going to want to start getting the garden ready for planting and for spring in general. The plum tree is beginning to bud, and all of the trees need to be pruned and shaped. Dad's really neglected them and let them go. The quaking aspens need to be removed, and the garden itself needs to be readied for planting.  It's a long process, but hard work is rewarded in this type of field.   I'm really no professional gardener.  But we have two plum trees, two apple trees, two peach trees, and a pear tree that all need to be taken care of. We have a plot that we plant vegetables in, and what used to be flower gardens are now being used to plant food in.   This year we're going for being able to make bread and butter pickles. This means raising cucumbers and peppers. The garlic I planted last fall has sprouted and actually looks pretty healthy.  There's about 10 or so bulbs of garlic planted... I'm probably going to wind up drying most of it for later use.  The rosemary I planted last year doesn't seem to be doing too well. I though it would be able to handle the light winter we had, but we had a cold snap that seemed to have done it some damage. The thyme plant looks okay, but I'm going to have to wait until late spring to see how well it's doing entirely.

aaand here’s another shot of the full moon.

aaand here's another shot of the full moon.  

I don’t use my camera near often enough. I noticed Jupiter was up and decided to see if I could see any moons with my camera. It took a few shots, but I finally got something. Here are some (very blown up) photos of Jupiter, and if you look close, you can see one or two of its moons.

They aren’t very high quality. I don’t have a telescope or anything. But I’m kind of proud how they turned out, anyway.

I don't use my camera near often enough. I noticed Jupiter was up and decided to see if I could see any moons with my camera. It took a few shots, but I finally got something. Here are some (very blown up) photos of Jupiter, and if you look close, you can see one or two of its moons.             They aren't very high quality. I don't have a telescope or anything. But I'm kind of proud how they turned out, anyway.

People who get mad at video games confuse me. I mean, it’s a game. You win some, you lose some. Glitches happen. It’s part of the territory. But people honestly, legitimately get mad at video games. Keyboard-smashing, controller-hurling, cuss-screamingly mad.

And I’m like, “Dude. It’s a game. Chill.”

People who get mad at video games confuse me. I mean, it's a game. You win some, you lose some. Glitches happen. It's part of the territory. But people honestly, legitimately get mad at video games. Keyboard-smashing, controller-hurling, cuss-screamingly mad.   And I'm like, "Dude. It's a game. Chill."

Am I the only one who realizes that “Good Guy Billionaires” (e.g., Bill Gates) who donate tons of money to charity do so for their own purposes, not necessarily because they’re “Good” people? Tax breaks, for example. PR for another thing.

I’m less impressed by “Look at us! We donated a million dollars to kids in Africa!” and more impressed by “I’m going to go over there and use my medical expertise to treat poor kids in Africa (or knowledge to teach people in wherever). For free.”   The thing is, the people who honestly want to help don’t make a big PR thing about it. They just go over there and help.

It gets under my skin, especially, when I get a letter in the mail for a charity. The one that stuck out to me was “The poor native Americans have no shoes! Here, have a free pair of shoes as thanks for your (monetary) donation!”

I was tempted to stuff the shoes (well, sandals) back into the envelope, write “return to sender” and include a letter that stated “Then give those people some shoes.”  Maybe I should have. The audacity required to buy/make a bunch of shoes to send to middle-to-high class people begging for monetary donations so they can buy poor people shoes is staggering.

Back on topic, though….

It’s a safe bet that when an obscenely rich (and famous) person is bragging about how good a person he is for donating stuff (not necessarily money)  to charity, he’s not doing it to be a nice guy, it’s doing it for publicity and tax breaks.  On the note with Bill Gates, I have a hard time trusting the guy, anyway.  He’s recently been boasting GMO crops (which I’m against, anyway) and saying that they’re the only way to end world hunger. He’s also a huge investor in the GMO giant Monsanto. Monsanto is known to sue small farmers who accidentally wind up with GMO crops because of cross-pollination beyond their control. Maybe this is just “Guilty by Association,” but if I were an obscenely rich guy with good intentions, I’d have nothing to do with Monsanto.

Am I the only one who realizes that "Good Guy Billionaires" (e.g., Bill Gates) who donate tons of money to charity do so for their own purposes, not necessarily because they're "Good" people? Tax breaks, for example. PR for another thing.   I'm less impressed by "Look at us! We donated a million dollars to kids in Africa!" and more impressed by "I'm going to go over there and use my medical expertise to treat poor kids in Africa (or knowledge to teach people in wherever). For free."   The thing is, the people who honestly want to help don't make a big PR thing about it. They just go over there and help.   It gets under my skin, especially, when I get a letter in the mail for a charity. The one that stuck out to me was "The poor native Americans have no shoes! Here, have a free pair of shoes as thanks for your (monetary) donation!"   I was tempted to stuff the shoes (well, sandals) back into the envelope, write "return to sender" and include a letter that stated "Then give those people some shoes."  Maybe I should have. The audacity required to buy/make a bunch of shoes to send to middle-to-high class people begging for monetary donations so they can buy poor people shoes is staggering.   Back on topic, though....   It's a safe bet that when an obscenely rich (and famous) person is bragging about how good a person he is for donating stuff (not necessarily money)  to charity, he's not doing it to be a nice guy, it's doing it for publicity and tax breaks.  On the note with Bill Gates, I have a hard time trusting the guy, anyway.  He's recently been boasting GMO crops (which I'm against, anyway) and saying that they're the only way to end world hunger. He's also a huge investor in the GMO giant Monsanto. Monsanto is known to sue small farmers who accidentally wind up with GMO crops because of cross-pollination beyond their control. Maybe this is just "Guilty by Association," but if I were an obscenely rich guy with good intentions, I'd have nothing to do with Monsanto.

My image and music folders were getting to the point of Windows Explorer taking a long time to sort what was in them. We’re talking tens of thousands of (completely unorganized) files loose in a folder.

I figured it was time to get rid of the clunky Windows Explorer and look at the alternatives.

Based on reviews, I finally settled on Explorer++ , and gave it a whirl. And I must say… It’s MUCH faster than standard explorer.

My image and music folders were getting to the point of Windows Explorer taking a long time to sort what was in them. We're talking tens of thousands of (completely unorganized) files loose in a folder.   I figured it was time to get rid of the clunky Windows Explorer and look at the alternatives.   Based on reviews, I finally settled on Explorer++ , and gave it a whirl. And I must say... It's MUCH faster than standard explorer.

My parents went to a nice Italian restaurant tonight, and brought home some gelato. Each of the little cups they brought home cost them four dollars, which seemed pretty pricey to me.

It was good, though. Reminds me of a blog post I read not long ago on how to make the stuff. Makes me tempted to look into that again.

My parents went to a nice Italian restaurant tonight, and brought home some gelato. Each of the little cups they brought home cost them four dollars, which seemed pretty pricey to me.   It was good, though. Reminds me of a blog post I read not long ago on how to make the stuff. Makes me tempted to look into that again.

I successfully made Ravioli. This was my fifth attempt, but I finally got it. I think I have it down, now.

Meanwhile, I found some other tips and such on making pasta in general. I stumbled upon one on accident on my own when making spaghetti this morning.

I figured that I’d make pasta with half a cup of flour, one egg, and some oil. I derped and put in a full cup of flour instead and didn’t realize my mistake until several hours later. Instead, I found it to be way to dry and not even doughy at all, and absentmindedly added water until it pulled together into a dough. Despite it being a big mistake, it actually made pretty good pasta. And a lot. Enough to feed 3-4 people (my family eats small servings, so maybe not 3-4 NORMAL people).

For future reference, too, I found a ratio on another site I thought I might try (Haven’t yet):

3 cups of flour

2/3 cup of egg

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp water

2tbsp oil

I’ll give that a try some time.

I successfully made Ravioli. This was my fifth attempt, but I finally got it. I think I have it down, now.   Meanwhile, I found some other tips and such on making pasta in general. I stumbled upon one on accident on my own when making spaghetti this morning.   I figured that I'd make pasta with half a cup of flour, one egg, and some oil. I derped and put in a full cup of flour instead and didn't realize my mistake until several hours later. Instead, I found it to be way to dry and not even doughy at all, and absentmindedly added water until it pulled together into a dough. Despite it being a big mistake, it actually made pretty good pasta. And a lot. Enough to feed 3-4 people (my family eats small servings, so maybe not 3-4 NORMAL people).   For future reference, too, I found a ratio on another site I thought I might try (Haven't yet): 3 cups of flour 2/3 cup of egg 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp water 2tbsp oil   I'll give that a try some time.