The school is the last expenditure
upon which America should be willing to economize.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Click over to Good.is to see the infographic at full size.
While you’re there, subscribe to the RSS feed… frankly, I just don’t have enough time to share all the good stuff that comes from that site.
————————————————————————————————-
There was actually a whole lot out there this week, once you waded through all the Royal Wedding & Bin Laden headlines. I’ve held some in reserve to flesh out into full posts because I had stuff to say about them, but here are 7 of my favorite links from the past 7 days:
Proposed principles on what is allowed to be marketed to your kids are open to comment until May 24, but not scheduled to go into effect until 2016. Principle A states that child-targeted marketing must be applied to foods that contribute to a healthy diet, and contain at least one of specified food groups. On the flip side, Principle B states that the food can not contain more than specified amount of unhealthy elements (trans fats, sugars, etc).
The problem is this: “The proposed voluntary principles are designed to encourage stronger and more meaningful self-regulation by the food industry and to support parents’ efforts to get their kids to eat healthier foods.”
Voluntary, self-regulated, and the blame still quietly rests entirely on parents’ shoulders. When are we really going to hold companies accountable for messing with our kids’ heads?
A (very small) study found that boys consumed more calories over the course of the day (163 on average) when they played video games for an hour rather than just laying around for an hour. Since there was no reported increase in hunger, the theory is that video games may cause a “mental-stress effect” and the food acts to self-soothe.
163 doesn’t seem like a lot, until you take into account that most kids spend more than an hour interacting with a screen, often snacking at the same time.
This is my big thing about traditional schooling: it doesn’t teach you to love learning, or how to learn on your own. Those who went on to think out of the box and become wildly creative & successful, did so in spite of their education, not because of it.
“When you were a kid, could you, your teachers, or your parents imagine your current job? Plenty of us go to work every day in careers that didn’t exist when we were in grade school. How can schools set the next generation up for success when we don’t have a clear picture of what the jobs of the future will be? The growing consensus is that we need to shift schools toward to fostering creativity and conceptual thinking abilities…”
The question is, how?
Related topic: a few weeks back I highlighted The Creativity Crisis, which mentioned that NASA and Boeing now look for ideal candidates who have education or experience in “hands-on” fields such music, sculpture, or auto mechanics. The problem, they say, is that “recent graduates can technically render in two dimensions but can no longer think in three.”
I’ve seen this discussed before, and I think it’s fascinating. Your brain knows you are happy when you smile broadly, and smiling/happiness is something that is universally recognized across cultures. We also reflexively mirror other people’s smiles when we see them. When you’ve paralyzed your face muscles with toxins, your face can’t perform these actions and therefore your brain neither recognizes other people’s happiness nor registers your own.
Are happiness and empathy something worth giving up just to erase a few years from your face (only to have them, depressingly, return after it wears off)? I hope I don’t know anyone who answers that question yes.
All those love songs are on to something: two hearts can beat as one. Watching a relative or friend walk over hot coals at a fire walking ritual, spectator’s hearts followed similar patterns as the firewalker. This phenomenon did not occur with audience members who were strangers.
“Anthropologists have long appreciated that ritual binds people together, but it is unclear how this bonding is achieved,” said Sosis, an anthropologist at the University of Connecticut…The discovery that people’s hearts can harmonize solely on visual or auditory information reinforces a law of nature.
This strikes me as so beautiful for reasons I cannot quite articulate.
Mixes internal combustion power with electric motors to achieve supercar performance and less than 99g/km CO2 emissions
I love Bill Murray. I love FDR. That is all.
Thinking about seeing the movie Thor? Better watch this first:
—————————————————————-
‘When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,’ said Piglet at last,
‘what’s the first thing you say to yourself?’‘What’s for breakfast?’ said Pooh. ‘What do you say, Piglet?’
‘I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?’ said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
‘It’s the same thing,’ he said.’
–A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
Pop-Tarts are one of those things that the kids and Jeff always circle on the store circular, as though I might absent-mindedly add them to my list and therefore my cart. Personally, I just don’t like them and never have (preferring Toaster Strudels), but they are so not real food. They are basically sugary, doughy coasters with 200+ calories a pop, and I’ll never understand the appeal.
Especially with this list of ingredients:
ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, DEXTROSE, SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL (WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS), SUGAR, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF CRACKER MEAL, WHEAT STARCH, SALT, DRIED STRAWBERRIES, DRIED PEARS, DRIED APPLES, CORNSTARCH, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), CITRIC ACID, CORN CEREAL, GELATIN, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL†, CARAMEL COLOR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, SOY LECITHIN, XANTHAN GUM, MODIFIED WHEAT STARCH, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, COLOR ADDED, TURMERIC COLOR, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, RED #40, NIACINAMIDE, REDUCED IRON, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), YELLOW #6, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), FOLIC ACID, BLUE #1.†LESS THAN 0.5g TRANS FAT PER SERVING
But, the kids like them and I am trying to not win the title of Meanest Mom in the World this year, so we gave the Pop-Tarts the homemade treatment. For our first time out, we tried classic Strawberry with Frosting. Next time we’ll try using Nutella as a filling; or some semi-sweet chocolate chips & marshmallows to make S’Mores; or maybe cinnamon sugar (I think the corresponding Pop-Tart would be Brown Sugar?).
The results were delicious: buttery and satisfying but not sickeningly sweet.
My dough was imperfect, as my rolling skillz leave something to be desired; you would want cold chunks of butter to remain in the dough for a truly light and flaky crust. I overworked it and the butter all incorporated somewhat, but happily the dough and my kids were forgiving: the texture was a fair representation of a true Pop-Tart. And it tasted just fine.
adapted from the Tasty Toaster Tarts recipe at King Arthur Flour
For the pastry: 
2 cups all-purpose flour (preferably unbleached)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 quarter-pound sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, keep cold until last minute
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
Another large egg, for brushing onto pastry
For the jam filling:
3/4 cup (8 ounces) strawberry jam (I went with a no sugar-added organic)
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
For the frosting:
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon light corn syrup (yes, I know, corn syrup. Looking into alternatives that don’t involve raw egg)
dash of vanilla extract (warning, you will lose your perfect white coloring)
— First make your filling by mixing the cornstarch and water together and adding to the jam. Bring to boil in a small saucepan, simmer for two minutes, then allow to cool.
— In mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and salt at low speed. Chip off bits of butter (like 1/2 Tbsp chunks) and add until the mixture holds together, with good-sized lumps of butter still visible.
–Whisk together one egg and the milk, and add it to the dough, mixing only until combined. Remember, you want to retain those lumps of butter for flakiness.
–Divide dough in half; (the King Arthur recipe helpfully notes that each half will weigh about 10 ounces). On a lightly floured surface, roll each half into approximately a 9″ x 12″ rectangle, 1/8″ thick (use a 9 x 13 pan as a guide).
–Lightly score lines onto the dough to mark thirds lengthwise and widthwise (so you have nine 3″x4″ squares). I used a ravioli cutter to mark my lines; King Arthur suggests lightly leaning a ruler into the dough. Beat egg and brush onto pastry.
–Spoon a dallop of jam filling into the middle of each square.
–Place the second sheet of dough over top and seal firmly around each filling mound by pressing with fingertips. Cut between mounds to make 9 pop-tarts (ravioli cutter rocks the awesome here). Press the edges shut, then press again with the tines of a fork. Prick the tops twice with the fork so steam can be released. Transfer to parchment lined cookie sheet and refrigerate. Preheat oven to 350°.
–Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool; meanwhile mix together your confectioner’s sugar, milk and corn syrup for the frosting (I added a bit more milk for a thinner consistency). Ice, add sprinkles or nonpareils if ya got ’em, enjoy!
Part of a new series where I make homemade versions of mass-produced treats.
Ideas and success stories welcome.
Check it: I’ve added this post to the Real Food Wednesdays linky at Kelly the Kitchen Kop. You know you want to see what else is posted because that blog name is made of awesome.