"fruits and vegetables" news and stories

Last week's San Francisco Chronicle Food and Dining section had a short piece on the sad state of produce in the Bay area with the weeks upon weeks of rain they had during March and April. I didn't pay much attention for a couple of reasons. It seemed that it only applied to northern California, and additionally, I was so busy with work that I hadn't gone to the market to stock up on ingredients as I wasn't planning on cooking or eating at home.  

However, I became painfully aware of the sparse and poor quality of produce this morning when a selection of fruit that was offered to me for breakfast included the most horrendous looking strawberries I have ever seen. First of all, I was appalled that they even had the, uh, balls, to serve them to the public. But worse yet was the actual state of the berries. Some of them were tiny, some of them dispropotionately enormous, many of them badly mis-shapen. Some of the strawberries were a pathetic pale pink and others were a gross dark brown. The worst of it was that they looked like they were rotting.

No strawberries for Spring, but hopefully we'll have some for summer.

Hungry Girl has a quick and easy to read rundown of the properties of Vitamins A through K, complete with information about what each vitamin is, what it does and where to get it.

For example, Vitamin A is primarily found in brightly colored fruits and vegetables, while Vitamin D is in fish, like salmon and tuna, and can also be gotten from spending time in the sun. Vitamin B mostly comes from animal-based sources, but can also be found in whole grains and green, leafy vegetables. Citrus fruits will provide plenty of Vitamin C, which can help fight colds and other illnesses. Vitamin E boosts your immune system, while K regulates blood clotting. For a full listing of all you need to know about these vitamins, check out Hungry Girl's list.

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There's a lot of buzz about comfort food right now - macaroni and cheese, chicken soup, meatloaf, and doughnuts - things that you crave when you need a little bit of TLC whether it's from a bad day, being sick, or just hungover. The buzz has gotten me thinking about things that are the exact opposite of comfort foods. Does that mean uncomfortable foods? Nah, uncomfortable foods are things like still-wiggling octopus tentacles and scorpions. I was thinking more along the lines of the last thing I want to eat when I need some TLC (but that's not to say that live octopus isn't one of those last things).

1. Salad - Salad really is the opposite of every comfort food I know. It's cold. It's light. It's a little too healthy. Even when it has two cups of oily, fatty, sugary dressing on it, a salad still has all those healthy vegetables with vitamins and minerals, which are probably really good to have when sick. I don't care. I don't want vitamins. At least not from a salad. (And not from a vitamin either.)
2. Sushi - It's raw and it's cold. Sushi is not warm and comforting, and I don't want to cuddle up with it. It reminds me of when I wanted a puppy when I was little and my parents bought me a goldfish instead.   
3. Fresh fruit - "I'm depressed," shouldn't be followed with, "Aw, here, honey, have an apple." That's not right. If the apple is drowning in hot sticky caramel and wrapped in a flaky pastry, maybe I'll feel better. But a fresh apple? See #1, salad. 
4. Wine - When I'm hungover, the last thing I want to drink is wine. Some say that the best way to cure a hangover is with more alcohol, which I totally agree with. That's why I say, "bring me a bloody mary!" not wine.
5. Cookies - This is weird, I know. It's probably only me. In fact, I think I really might be the only one who doesn't want to eat a cookie when I'm sick. When I'm sane, happy, and healthy, I love cookies of every kind, even *ahem* store-bought ones. But if I'm hungover or sick, a cookie sounds dry, like it will take too much effort to chew and swallow. I don't mind the fat and sugar though, which is probaby why a piece of tres leches cake sounds great.