Giggle Me Baby

Unless you have the proverbial heart of stone, you'll find delight in the embedded video shot on the spur of the moment Monday evening.

Fiona, my little granddaughter, hates baths. Baths frighten her. She's a little skittish and the sudden feel of  water sets her off.

Monday evening my wife, Judy, and Fiona's mom tried a new approach. With Judy holding Fiona seated at the edge of the bathroom sink, mom splashed warm water on the little girl's feet. At one point, mom took a colourful bath toy, a little duck, and used it like a squirt gun shooting water on Fiona's feet. The baby was absolutely delighted.

I heard the giggles and grabbed my little camera. Enjoy.



I never had children of my own, at least not as babies. My wife came into our marriage fully equipped. I missed the entire baby experience. (Oh, I did have experience with my sister's children but that was so very long ago; I'd totally forgotten the details surrounding the joys of caring for a baby.)

I watch Fiona and wonder, "What is she thinking? She has no language; She cannot put together a thought using words."

I imagine she thinks in simple bursts that, if we could translate them, would sound like a comic caveman. "Hungry." "Funny." "Interesting." "Friend."

She has a good attitude towards life. She's a very positive little person. If something is awful, the moment it is past she move on. If something grabs her interest, she shares her enjoyment with everyone present. And she takes such great enjoyment from the simplest things. She truly loves life.

I know that we adults are teaching little Fiona, she watches us constantly. She is learning. But, and I find this surprising, I'm watching Fiona and I'm learning. This grandfather thing is not a one-way street.

Cheers,
Rockinon

Talking and wishing not enough

According to the BIZ monday (sic) headline, when it comes to saving heritage properties "Talking and wishing not enough." BIZ monday is a weekly insert produced by The London Free Press in London, Ontario.

No one would argue with that sentiment. A lot of talk surrounded Alma College in St. Thomas and scores of people wished to see the elegant, heritage building saved. Today nothing remains of the century plus college. It was destroyed by fire, in a senseless act of vandalism.

Contrasted with the sad loss of Alma College is the ". . . painstaking restoration of London's old Capitol Theatre and the neighbouring Bowles Building on downtown Dundas St. . . "

The picture at the left shows the "painstaking restoration" of the theatre. If you think this compares rather than contrasts with the Alma College destruction, it is understandable. This parking lot is where the actual auditorium of the Capitol Theatre stood before its sale to the gentleman who saved part of the front facade.

When discussing the fate of the Capitol Theatre, article after article in The London Free Press glosses over the fact that the theatre is gone, demolished, destroyed, flattened and trucked away. My guess is that it was a wise business decision to demolish the old movie hall. I know for a fact that at least one reporter who has covered this story believes the destruction of the theatre was for the best.

There was a London group that wanted to save the theatre, making it into a performing arts centre. The reporter assured me that they were only good for talking and wishing. "They would never have gotten the funding." The reporter argued that Farhi was the theatre's best hope.

Now, you might think that Farhi is a rather rich but naive fellow from some of the stuff written in The Free Press. The paper quotes the influential developer as saying: "You never know what's behind the wall." There could be unexpected problems uncovered that will increase costs. All very true but . . .

As an example of the unexpected encountered while working at the Capitol Theatre and Bowles heritage sites, the paper tells us, "His crews had to deal with brick walls three courses thick." So? This is not unexpected.

Old brick walls are thick, as opposed to modern brick veneer walls. The brick is structurally significant in this older type of construction. The single course of brick used today is just a veneer; It is not load bearing. According to Farhi Holdings Corp. (FHC), "Every . . . renovation or space expansion project is managed by a strong team of professionals who are thoroughly knowledgeable in all aspects of construction . . . " The people working at FHC are not surprised when they encounter a variation of traditional brick wall construction.

The paper also tells us, "That handsome facade visible from Dundas St. had to be bolted to the main structure," as if this was a surprise and an added expense encountered by FHC. I find that very doubtful. Shmuel Farhi is said to be a lover of heritage. He and his team would know that terra cotta is attached to the building with anchors, hangers, bolts, clips, rods, and pins. Anchor failure is very common.

The way the paper tells the story, a reader would think that terra cotta is gone: A building material from the last century, no longer in use. Not true. Architects around the world are re-discovering the advantages of terra cotta for a building finish.

"Nobody's making heritage buildings these days. And every year, the number of survivors is whittled down . . . " Farhi says, "Once they're gone (heritage buildings), they're gone forever."

One could argue with this statement and with a little blogging discover a heritage building or two being rebuilt but I think all would agree that the Capitol Theatre auditorium is gone for good, demolished to make way for a parking lot; That theatre auditorium will never rise from the ashes, or asphalt. It was the Capitol, not the Phoenix, Theatre.

Yet the facade of the Bowles Building did comeback from the dead and it was Farhi himself who performed the magic. According to an earlier story in The Free Press, "The Bowles used to have a terra cotta front, but 80 percent of the 400 tiles were damaged. The decision was made to change all of it to stone that was meticulously carved."

Think carefully about this. If a heritage building is nothing more than a facade, and a new one at that, then a heritage streetscape can be reclaimed. Let's be honest: Nothing apparently remains of the Bowles Building. It's gone --- replaced by new stone mimicking old terra cotta.

Approached this way, one realizes there really is hope for the old downtown --- even the old downtown that is gone, dead and buried. Hmmm. Maybe there is even hope for the Capitol Theatre.

With the right attitude, maybe there is even hope for Alma College.

A few years ago my wife and I visited an ancient Eastern European castle, badly damaged by time, neglect, and the Second World War. The castle was being "restored" but I think "resurrected" would be a more accurate word. Where the walls were originally several feet thick, they were being rebuilt as hollow but but with the original look and proportions. These walls would gain their strength from modern steel beams and modern engineering and not brute size.

When the castle restoration is complete the beams will be hidden and no one will be the wiser unless there is an earthquake; Unlike other old buildings in the area, this castle will remain standing as it is now earthquake resistant thanks to a strong, modern, well-engineered heart.

Cheers,

Rockinon

The London Free Press votes for Steam Whistle

I don't follow beer. I used to like my beer but as the price for a brewski went up and up my consumption went down and down. Today beer is a treat. No brewery will stay in business because of me.

That said, I used to buy Labatt whenever I did buy beer. It was brewed locally and it made me feel that I was supporting local workers. I still have a Blue, if it is available on tap, when I am out at a pub as I was Sunday.

But the Labatt brewery is now owned by AmBev, the fourth-largest brewing operation in the world. Buying Labatt does not come with the same feel-good-buying-Canadian aura it once did. Still, I was surprised to read this recommendation in a recipe in The London Free Press, the Labatt hometown paper: "1 bottle (355ml) Pilsner beer ( Steam Whistle's a good choice)"

Mixing a Pilsner into a recipe is a great leveler. No need to waste one's favourite beer when it is about to be altered with addition of "BBQ seasoning". I was surprised to see the hometown paper wasn't supporting the hometown beer.

And then I realized that The London Free Press is owned by Sun Media and Sun Media is a Toronto-based outfit. The article, written by the Sun's Rita DeMontis, was simply supporting an award-winning, local Toronto brewery.

It's nice to see a paper supporting local business when possible. Nice work Toronto Sun.

Città Slow

In the next day or two the food topic will be a wrap - for now.

A new topic worth some attention has appeared on my radar: Città Slow.

I'm a fellow who is put off by buzzwords. I stiffen when someone talks about placemaking or walkable cities. But Città Slow has grabbed my attention. Maybe it's the Italian.

Cheers,
Rockinon

The New York Times - Serving Size Snafu

The New York Times took a look at serving sizes. For me the most interesting examples were the blueberry muffin and the Healthy Choice soup. The soup carries the seal of the Heart Association.

A half muffin is the usual serving size according to the label. The soup comes in what clearly appears to be a single serving sized bowl ready to be micro-waved. In reality it contains two servings of soup. This is a bowl of soup meant to be shared with a friend. Get out two spoons.

Business Playlist - Video Library - The New York Times

After viewing the NYT video, Rockinon has a four-part series looking at food. If you only have time for one, I suggest reading Part IV.


We're killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle. Part I
We're killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle. Part II
We're killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle. Part III
We're killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle. Part IV

This topic, the dishonest marketing of our food, is hot right now. The Huffington Post carried a link this weekend to a story looking at dishonest food claims.

Cheers,
Rockinon

We're killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestye_Part IV

Putting the brakes on the obesity epidemic should be easy. If you consume more calories than you burn, and do this everyday, you will gain weight. It's that simple. On the other hand, if you cut back on calories, and add a little exercise to the mix, you'll lose weight. Again, it's that simple.

Processed foods are notoriously calorie dense and often nutritionally thin. Why are so many people turning to processed foods when the results are as obvious as the thickening waist lines expanding around the world? Paul Berton, the editor-in-chief of The London Free Press has an answer, "We'd rather buy our food prepared (and salty) than make it ourselves."

He's right but I also think a little mean spirited and preachy. (If there is one tone that I can recognize it's preachy.) I think Berton needs a little history lesson.

When I was young most families were supported by only one working parent, usually the father. My father never made a lot of money. My mother told me my father never earned much more than $5000 in any year. Yet, my mother was never forced to work outside the home.

Speaking of home, our home didn't cost a lot; I don't think it was more than $7000 in 1960 when my parents bought the pleasant, two-story, five-bedroom home, built in the 1920s. Our home didn't cost even two times my father's annual wage. (Well, maybe it did on a bad year.)

Today the average wage in Canada is about $42,305 and the average home costs about $332,00 according to The Canadian Real Estate Association. It should come as no surprise that more than three-quarters of mothers with school-aged children are employed, most full-time, or are actively looking for work.

Today parents struggle to juggle multiple responsibilities. Fifty percent of working mothers, and 36 percent of working fathers report having difficulty managing their work and family responsibilities. Stress is on the rise.

Many parents simply do not feel they have the time to cook. Processed foods are time savers and many of them are healthy — at least that's what it says on the label.

And if the processed food product doesn't have the word healthy in the name, often it carries the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Health Check program logo. Many believe the Health Check logo means 'healthy,' 'good for you' and 'approved by the Heart and Stroke Foundation.'

Wrong, wrong and wrong.

According to The Uniter, Winnipeg's Weekly Urban Journal:

"Although high amounts of sodium are associated with increased health risks leading to strokes and high blood pressure, the Health Check can be found on food products with extremely high levels of sodium. Canned soups with 650mg of sodium per serving still bear the Health Check symbol . . . Dinner entrées are allowed to bear the Health Check symbol with 960mg of sodium per serving."

1500mg of sodium (salt) is all an adult needs in a whole day!

The Health Check program is updating their nutrition criteria as of November 2010. Soups will soon have to contain less than 480mg of sodium; and dinner entrees, less than 720mg.

It's tough out there. Putting good food on the table is even hard for those of us who shun processed foods and have the time to play in the kitchen cooking healthy meals.

Check out the peaches at the top of this post. They are from Chile, imported by Del Monte, and tossed out by my wife. They were hard; They never ripened — not even when left for days to ripen in a bag — they were stringy, dry and tasteless. The food value was nil as they were inedible. 

O.K. I know I shouldn't buy peaches out of season but I did. Forgive me. It won't happen again. Trust me.

Oh well, when it comes to the Chileans it all comes out even. We sent them Coke. And the stuff, unlike the peaches, tastes good. Now they, like the rest of world, are hooked on sugar water.

When I was in the little Saharan town of dusty Douz in Tunisia, I discovered Tunisians quench their thirst with Coke. When I bought a carpet from a desert shop I was offered the choice of traditional mint tea with an almond cookie or I could sip a Coke while we haggled. (I went with the mint tea.)

What do Canadians look for when buying healthy foods. The Heart Check icon is not perfect. How about the Kraft Sensible Solutions flag? It's not perfect either. According to Kraft the Sensible Solutions products cannot have more than 10 percent of their calories from saturated fat plus trans fat . . . Trans fat? I think not.

Trans fat is related to elevated risks of heart disease and type 2 diabetes but even if you read labels you may still be eating trans fat. You see, Health Canada says if a food contains less than 0.2 grams of trans fat per serving it can claim to be "trans fat free."

But stated serving sizes are often rather small. In some cases a consumer can eat three "trans fat free" cookies a day and in a week consume approximately 4 grams of trans fat. And that is just from three cookies over a week. How much trans fat sneaks in the back door and into our diets in year of eating "trans fat free?"

Berton tells us that we eat too much fat. I don't know. Maybe we do. But according to Harvard School of Public Health the low-fat approach hasn't helped Americans control weight or become healthier.

In the 1960s, fats and oils supplied about 45 percent of the calories in the U.S. diet. At that time 13 percent of Americans were obese and under 1 percent had type 2 diabetes. Today Americans take in far less fat, they get only about 33 percent of calories from fats and oils. Yet, 35 percent of Americans are now obese

and 8 percent have diabetes, most with type 2 diabetes.

Why hasn't Paul Berton's suggestion paid off? I admit, I thought he was right. Let's have Harvard's answer:

"Detailed research — much of it done at Harvard — shows that the total amount of fat in the diet isn't really linked with weight or disease. What really matters is the type of fat in the diet. Bad fats, meaning trans and saturated fats, increase the risk for certain diseases. Good fats, meaning monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, do just the opposite. They are good for the heart and most other parts of the body.

What about cholesterol in food? For most people, the mix of fats in the diet influences cholesterol in the bloodstream far more than cholesterol in food does."

According to Harvard, "Eliminating trans fats from the U.S. food supply could prevent between 6 and 19 percent of heart attacks and related deaths . . . "

Here we really get the last laugh on Chile, they'll be sorry for those peaches; we may be cutting our trans fat use but inexpensive partially hydrogenated oil has become a staple in homes in the developing world. There is a growing epidemic of cardiovascular disease in developing nations around the world.

Slowly, I'm beginning to think there my be something to be said for the eat-organic-movement. And I no longer think vegetarians are giving up an important source of protein. We will be taking another look at food in the coming weeks and maybe giving out some recipes that my wife uses and which help us avoid the worst of the processed food traps.

Cheers,
It's the weekend,
I'm off,
Rockinon!

Killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle_Part Three

According to Paul Berton, the editor-in-chief of The London Free Press, "We're killing ourselves with an unhealthy lifestyle."

Paul sees the problem as stuff like snow blowers, food processors, prepared foods and professional sports (we watch 'em, we don't play 'em.) Sounds good except that the obesity epidemic is often growing faster in developing countries. There are not a lot of snow blowers and food processors in those countries. But they do have prepared foods and each year they have more and more of them.

Maybe we should be putting more attention on prepared foods. If we consume more calories than burn, we gain weight. It is that simple. Today's prepared foods make it far easier to consume more calories than are needed. Packed with fats and sugars, many prepared foods propel your calorie consumption into the stratosphere long before you feel full.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. Paul Berton asks: "What can be done? . . . We need to do something about this ourselves. And we need to do it soon. We can't afford --- physically, economically or socially --- to ignore it any longer," he says.

And what does Paul suggest? One of the answers he apparently likes is: ". . . make cities more walkable . . . " (This is actually weirder than it sounds on first reading. If we make our cities more walkable, we put the stores, etc., closer to the homes. Walking to the store becomes attractive because it doesn't entail much of a walk. I live in the suburb of Byron in London Ontario and I have no problem walking. Remarkably, my legs work just as well here as they did when I lived downtown.)

Let me suggest another approach: I believe many Canadians, if given clear, healthy choices, will choose health. But the marketplace, when it come to food, is anything but clear. Often food labels are downright misleading.

For instance, Campbell's Healthy Request Chicken Noodle Soup contains 480mg of sodium which they list as 20% of your daily allowance. But Health Canada says 1500mg is about right for an adult. My math says a cup of this soup contains 32 percent of your daily salt allowance. This is not healthy.

I could go on and on about this. I could list lots of food products with healthy sounding names but containing massive amounts of fat. Or others with healthy sounding names but packed with a variety of sugars.

I try and stay away from those prepared foods. Do you know what helps me accomplish this? Let me surprise you: food processors, bread machines and massive stand mixers. For me, these are all part of the answer and not, as Paul argues, part of the problem. It is the year 2010 and we live busy lives. It is not 1910 anymore.

But, thanks to my bread machine, I still have the time to bake my own bread. I control the fat --- French bread has none --- and I control the sugar, too. The flour for this loaf came from the Arva Flour Mills and the flavour of my bread, forgive me, but it came from heaven.

My next and last installment will look at the excellent recommendations of the Heart and Stroke Foundation and how these dovetail nicely with solutions being suggested right around the world.

Cheers,
I'm going for a walk,
Rockinon