Ah, Wilderness!, photos

Timing

I have one observation for photo enthusiasts: If your camera isn’t in your hand, you might as well not own a camera. I’ve made it my habit to have my camera ready to shoot most of the time I’m outside, especially on walks. Even so, I miss some great photos.  A legitimate complaint about non-DSLR cameras, such as my wonderful Sony HX-100v, is shutter lag: The time between pressing the button and capturing the image can make all the difference in the world. Today, it worked to my advantage, lagging from a mediocre shot into a very cool moment.

ladderback woodpecker on hummingbird feeder

I heard this bird a couple of minutes before I saw it. It’s familiar chuckle chided me to practice what I preach and get my camera out of the bag, lens cap off. Thank you, little one.

Save your accolades for the Universe. I was a lucky witness.

Be Ready for Good Luck Thu 05/05/11 at 12:00 pm

Health

Sometimes Fat Free Is not the Better Option

I’ve eaten peanut butter my whole life. In fact, my Mom mixed it in my formula to fatten me up – at a time when that was a good thing. I have a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter almost every day. Years ago, I switched to low fat. I switched back when I started to wonder what else they were taking out along with the fat (besides taste). The linked article looks at what a company puts in when they take out fat. Eat well. mjh

Sometimes Fat Free Is not the Better Option |

We took a look at three sour cream variations from Tillamook, considered one of the better quality sour creams out there.

A serving size is 2 tablespoons, with 60 calories for the full fat product, 40 for the low-fat, and 20 for the non-fat version. As you would expect.

But then we inspected the ingredient lists:

Regular’s Ingredients [3 of them]:
Cultured pasteurized grade A cream and milk, enzymes.

Low-Fat’s Ingredients [12]:
Cultured Milk, Cream, Nonfat Dry Milk, Whey, Modified Corn Starch, Sodium Phosphate, Guar Gum, Carrageenan, Calcium Sulfate, Locust Bean Gum, Gelatin, Vitamin A Palmitate.

Fat Free’s Ingredients [12]:
Cultured Lowfat Milk, Modified Corn Starch,Whey Protein Concentrate, Propylene Glycol Monoester, Artificial Color, Gelatin, Sodium Phosphate, Agar Gum, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Citrate, Locust Bean Gum, Vitamin A Palmitate.

Basically the low and non-fat options had a big challenge once removing the fat – how to keep the “sour cream” product looking and tasting like a real sour cream? Food scientists started mixing various additives together until they reached the closest possible resemblance.

And what did they add? … [keep reading at the link]

Sometimes Fat Free Is not the Better Option |

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams