Freebie Friday 3.11.11

Worthy Things to Do, Listen To, or View that Won’t Cost You a Dime 

TGIF once again. Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday. There are three tips this week—one to download to your mobile device or print out for your pocket, and two which may keep you online for hours.

• Are you concerned about the sustainability of the fish you eat? If so, visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and download the version of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Pocket Guide most appropriate for you. The Monterey Bay Aquarium asks you to “Support Ocean-Friendly Seafoood.” At their site you will find a guide specifically created for the sushi lover, a national guide, and six regional guides, all of which offer up-to-date recommendations for the best seafood choices and rankings for “good alternatives.” Project FishMap, available as an app for your iPhone, allows users to share locations of restaurants and markets where they have found sustainable seafood. Spend a little time on the site. There are many resources there, including sustainable recipes.

• Have you ever wondered what was happening on a certain day in history? Your birthday for example? If so, check out http://newstimeline.googlelabs.com/ Just enter your date and see what comes up.

• Finally, something fun, AND educational, AND of benefit to society. FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the UN World Food Programme with two goals: to provide education to everyone for free AND to help end world hunger by providing free rice to hungry people. The “free” is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on the site. When FreeRice started, it was strictly a vocabulary-building site (perfect for SAT or GRE prep). Now it offers six categories of quizzes. No matter which category is selected, the rules are the same. For each correct answer the player gives, 10 grains of rice will be donated to feed the hungry. [There are no penalties for incorrect answers.] Your running total is visible while you play. Imagine that. You can help feed someone while learning something new, all for FREE! If you and your friends are seriously competitive, you can even form a team. Have fun! 

TGIF. Come back again soon. And do check out my posts from earlier in the week if you missed them. I’m still working on my long overdue blog updates…

FYI Why a piñata? Just like a blog link, until you open it, you won’t know what’s inside.

The Ayes Have It: New Haven Alders Say “No” to Bottled Water

In a roll call vote on March 7, 2011, the New Haven Board of Alderman granted their overwhelming approval to an order prohibiting the use of any public funds to purchase bottled water for the City of New Haven, including bottled water for the New Haven Public Schools, except in cases when no municipal water or other alternative source of healthful drinking water is accessible or when necessary to address health requirements or emergencies. This order was originally introduced by Alderman Justin Elicker at a public hearing before the City Services and Environmental Policy Committee on February 15.

Last night’s vote was preceded by brief testimony by Alderman Elicker who cited reports that #7 plastic (of which large water drums are made) are endocrine disruptors. He also referenced a story on NPR this past weekend which reported that all plastics (including those of which small serving bottles are made) leach chemicals that act like the sex hormone estrogen. He also emphasized his points about the safety and purity of our municipal water supply and how we should be reinforcing this message in our schools instead of giving students cause to think that our water is somehow not good enough for them to drink.

The only publicly dissenting voice was that of Alderman Darnell Goldson who supported the order “with concerns.” He approved the ban on the purchase of bottled water but wished the order had been presented as part of a larger package during the budget process. He particularly expressed concerns over the high cost of the City’s cell phones and voice mail system and asked why we do “the easy stuff first.” Alderman Elicker countered, “This was not easy to do.”

When the vote was called, 26 of 30 alders were present. There were 23 ayes, 2 abstentions, and one pass. 

One question remains: Will the Board of Ed follow the order? The Board of Aldermen can not dictate how the Board of Education can spend the money allocated to them. The Board of Ed made that point clear at the previous public hearing (via messenger). 

Some may see the projected $32,000 savings from this measure as a mere “Drop in the bucket.” It may not do much to close the $57 million budget shortfall the City currently faces, but it is a cut that needed to be made by a city who wants to be known as “Green.” We owe a thanks to Alderman Elicker and to all the effort he put into this order. [Justin Elicker was recently named to CT Magazine's 40 under 40 List.]

Missing last night were the legions of supporters who had come out for the public hearing in February. Yale students are on spring break, and the hard core activists must have heard how the vote was going to go. No one told me, but I was happy to attend the meeting, my first full board meeting ever. I was impressed by the civility of everyone in the room, how seriously each alder took his/her responsibilities, and how much they seemed to care for one another. I stayed until the end when the personal items not on the agenda were introduced. I observed a moment of silence,  applauded an honor, joined in on the singing of “Happy Birthday” and walked out the door with my alderwoman when the meeting was over. Now that’s participatory democracy.  

  

Meatless Monday: More on Pancakes

Happy Monday everyone. Those of you who joined me last week know that the topic was pancakes and their importance in pre-Lenten rituals. And here I am, a week later, still talking about them…

Fat Tuesday is tomorrow. The international pancake races will be taking place in Olney, England and Liberal, Kansas, and lots of people will be eating lots of pancakes.

Last week I posted a favorite family recipe for cornmeal pancakes which was easy to make and not overly high in fat or sodium. I also told everyone about the IHOP annual short stack giveaway for the benefit of Children’s Miracle Network and local charities. Those of you who returned to my blog on Friday know that I apologized for this after learning the fat, sodium, and calorie counts for IHOP buttermilk pancakes and all their other menu items. You can download a pdf for nutritional data for the IHOP menu here. 

In fact, all major restaurant chains are now required to make such information readily available. This was part of the health care legislation that President Obama signed last year. If you google “nutritional data” plus the restaurant name you can obtain all the info you need to determine the chain’s best and worst menu selections before you go there. Good luck finding a selection low in fat, calories, and salt other than fruit salad.  

Banana flapjacks with optional chips

Now for the good and healthy part of this post. Last week a reader left a comment about her family’s favorite vegan pancakes — her take on Banana Flapjacks from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I was skeptical when I read the recipe — no  egg, no milk, no sugar, so little oil, and the only salt coming from the baking powder. How could something this easy to make and so healthy sounding taste good? But I gave them a try. Pictured is the result — these amazingly fluffy and tasty cakes! 

Here’s the recipe. The only thing that you might not have on hand is the two very ripe bananas, so plan ahead the next time you shop. 

JESSE’S FAVORITE BANANA FLAPJACKS

from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Mash: 2 very ripe bananas

Stir in:

2 Tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used soy)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together and then fold into wet ingredients:

1 cup flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch allspice

Mix only until there are a few lumps. Do NOT over mix.

Heat your griddle and grease it well. 

[Your griddle is hot if a few drops of water “dance” on the surface.] 

Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to drop the batter. 

Sprinkle a few mini chocolate chips on top (optional). 

Turn the heat down, and cook the cakes until brown. 

Then flip them over and brown on the other side. 

I served them with some warm maple syrup!

The deliciousness of these cakes has left me wanting to check out more of Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recipes. Her blog is Post Punk Kitchen, and she has published six books to date, so I have a whole lot of reading and cooking to do!

ENJOY! Have a great week. And come back again soon.

I try to blog on food or food issues each Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”