Getting America back

What was America for people from abroad in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s?
Freedom equated to Levi Strauss blue jeans, Coca-Cola and chewing gum.

Fact: The word DENIM comes from the name of a sturdy fabric called serge, originally made in Nîmes, France, by the André family. Originally called serge de Nîmes, the name was soon shortened to denim. Denim was traditionally colored blue with indigo dye to make blue "jeans".

Fact: when launched, Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola.

Fact: In 1906, Frank Fleer invented the first bubble gum called Blibber-Blubber gum. However, the bubble blowing chew was never sold. Therefore all credit goes to employee of the Frank H. Fleer Company, Walter Diemer, who invented the successful pink colored Double Bubble, bubble gum.

The Statue of Liberty with Coca Cola bottle torch made a perfect picture meme which swiftly proliferated the web but not everyone knew that it also had jeans underneath the tunic and was about to produce a translucent pink bubble.

My believes: even Cherry Coke Zero is no good for you.

My doubts: this statement - Benefits of Chewing™ (Wrigley). Ask your dentist. I am sure dentists are getting perks from chewing gum manufacturers for promoting gum while manufacturers of gum promote dental business by, well, selling you gum.

But I digressed. It's all about getting America back, and it's about Levi's jeans. The new CurveID campaign is about finding your perfect fit with Levi's® Curve ID: Slight (for women with straight figures, or have trouble finding jeans that fit at the waist), Demi (for women who are more evenly proportioned aka usually the girls who hardly have trouble finding jeans that fit), Bold (for women with curves who experience waist gapping in the back), and Supreme (for women with the curviest shape and need a back with a higher rise so it doesn't sit too low).

Found my curve ID. Ordered 2 sizes (shipping with code CURVES is free). Selected one. Liked it. Wearing my flared demi curve Levi's right now.

Eating soup = losing weight (1)

Have you ever tried mushroom soup for dinner? Note: no hidden meaning, drug or sexual subtext. So, mushroom soup. I don't mean cream of mushrooms. I mean plain and simply delicious clear mushroom soup. Wild mushrooms are great but let's make it cheap too. Take 8 oz of common mushrooms, also known as champignon mushrooms, cultivated mushrooms etc. and 1 medium to big onion, all chopped. Sauté with vegetable oil. Add to 1+ qt (1.5 litre) of water along with some salt. Boil on medium heat - and as it boils, add a couple of decent size potatoes cut in small pieces. Boil for another 16-20 minutes. You can use more or less water next time for best results. To make it fancy, garnish with chopped fresh herbs like cilantro, parsley, scallions... Eat it at American dinner time as the last meal of the day (you can eat a snack later). You may have a slice of toasted bread with it. Eat as much as you can and nothing else. Mushrooms are low in calories but they somehow give you strength. Since this soup is low in nutrition, carbohydrates and fat, it won't last more than 2-3 hours. So either go to sleep then or eat an apple if you need to go on with your life for some extra time. Even cultured mushrooms could be hard on your liver, pancreas and stomach so use this dieting tip in moderation. One-two times a week should be safe. Enjoy!

Specialty kitchen tools (1)

The funniest thing ever that we indeed use some of these speciality utensils in our daily life or at least for special occasions. Take apple corer. Or egg slicer. Or nut cracker. Or ice cream scooper. Or pasta serving fork. But when it comes to fish bone pliers we are startled. As a party host we either risk the lives of our children and elder relatives by relying on their alertness and dexterity in removing the fish bones from this carp-a-la-natural on their plate. Or we do it with our own fingers. Fingers! This is so uncultured. This is what fish bone tweezers and pliers are for. Tweezers by Global at Amazon.com $43 Pliers by Messermeister @ Sur La Table $20 Fishbone tongs by Rösle $17 Tweezers by Shun @ Williams-Sonoma $40 Pliers by Wüsthof @ he WEBstaurant Store $33 I vote for safety. Fish bone pliers, tweezers and tongs in every household! Best sock & stocking staffers ever. It may save your life or a life of a loved one! More to come

Topics to follow:

• visiting  Sur La Table (tag: lifestyle)
• eating soup = losing weight , with more than just few recipes (tag: diet, recipes, lifestyle)
• beer demotion (lifestyle)

Pop your corn, eat your fruit

Actually, popping your own corn in a microwave in a bigger brown bag can be a good idea. You can reuse a bag multiple times. You can get these bags at places like Au Bon Pan with your breakfast croissant. Which is fine as long as you follow the rules. Talking of popcorn bags. They are sold cheap, cheap as in 500 bags for 13 bucks (while supply lasts, amazon.com). Customer confessions: NICE & MULTIPURPOSE I love these bags. I purchased a box for my sons carnival style birthday party and they were perfect. In addition, they served multiple purposes during the birthday party, for instance we cut them to use as french fry and soft pretzel holders. The are so nice that instead of using our bowls for popcorn during family movie night, we use these bags. CHEAP At three cents per bag (popcorn not included), this is pretty cheap fun these days. FUNCTIONAL, CHEAP, WILL BUY AGAIN Honestly, there's not much to say about popcorn bags. These were by far the least expensive I could find, and they did they job just fine. I would buy them again.

Don't forget you fluids: water.
Don't forget you fruit: apples any time, citrus according to the season. Stay away from commercially made orange juice. Unless you squeeze it yourself or your SO does it for you, don't trust this juice. It's sugar and it's carbs. It's close to Coka-Cola. There are juices worse than orange juice: that be grape juice which is by far the worst or apple juice. But I suppose you are serious about your diet and quit drinking those long time back. See for yourself.