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Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
But 21st century girls LOVE cookies and sweets the same as their grandmothers (and grandfathers) :D I mean, look at the huge and quirky (girl) foodie blogosphere...
PBJ Debate: Jelly-Side Up or Down?
It's psychological :D It is peanut butter. All classical sandwiches have butter first and then on top of that anything else. Nobody thinks about the "density of peanut butter compared to jelly" unconsciously, except probably a few super-sophisticated food fanatics.
Do you spread your usual sandwich butter, mayo or mustard on top of your salad and tomatoes? I mean, unconsciously and automatically? I have sometimes mustard on the cheese, but the butter is always the base at the bottom... (it is fun to see how many people get moved by such a simple subject :D)
Heavy Metals Found in Organic Agriculture; Does that Make Organic Dangerous?
I do not know who was testing what, but fact is, that there were hundreds of random tests, made by Greenpeace Europe in supermarkets and health food stores and groceries, where they tested what really is in the vegetables sold in the end.
Ands surprise, surprise: only the organic fruits and vegetables were more or less free of any metals or chemical substances - while the "standard" produce contained partially amounts which were directly dangerous to life, especially in young children (so several supermarkets got sued by Greenpeace right after the tests).
The amounts of "dangerous substances" which could be found in organic foods are constantly tested, not only by Greenpeace, but also by the organic monitoring organizations. There is 99% more chance to get sick from "usual" produce than from organic.
I am not rich myself, and I usually buy only animal derived products organic, in small amounts (meat, eggs, cheese). I can understand that some people get mad at the high prices, but spreading false rumors will not help anybody. Due to higher and higher demand some organic produce is sometimes sold already at the same price as the other or just slightly more pricey (apples, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots). And, if you mistrust anybody and everybody, the best choice would be growing you own vegetables, or not?
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This Weekend in 'New York Times' Food News
After reading the "return two-month-old salmon" article I was just mad. What an egoistic, thoughtless, rich snob. It is soooo great to have a house here and an apartment there and still be proud of treating hard working poor people like trash, and "returning" x month old spoiled and rotten items. I am sure this "lady" never had to work as a frightened and exhausted assistant of assistant at the return point. Always knowing a single mad customer may cost your job (and it DID cost one of my jobs, when a crazy customer started accusing me of having made xxx mistakes, I was fired, and only eventually found out afterwards that nothing of this was true).
Thank you very much greedy rich lady and all you relatives and alikes, who are "now learning her ways". It is very nice to know idiots like you land in the New York Times, while I land on the street. And the New York Times itself knows well why this article does not have any "comments" enabled.
Sorry Serious Eats, nothing against your blog or this New York Times links here...Just got really furious about the blindness of some people :(
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
But 21st century girls LOVE cookies and sweets the same as their grandmothers (and grandfathers) :D I mean, look at the huge and quirky (girl) foodie blogosphere...
PBJ Debate: Jelly-Side Up or Down?
It's psychological :D It is peanut butter. All classical sandwiches have butter first and then on top of that anything else. Nobody thinks about the "density of peanut butter compared to jelly" unconsciously, except probably a few super-sophisticated food fanatics.
Do you spread your usual sandwich butter, mayo or mustard on top of your salad and tomatoes? I mean, unconsciously and automatically? I have sometimes mustard on the cheese, but the butter is always the base at the bottom... (it is fun to see how many people get moved by such a simple subject :D)
Heavy Metals Found in Organic Agriculture; Does that Make Organic Dangerous?
I do not know who was testing what, but fact is, that there were hundreds of random tests, made by Greenpeace Europe in supermarkets and health food stores and groceries, where they tested what really is in the vegetables sold in the end.
Ands surprise, surprise: only the organic fruits and vegetables were more or less free of any metals or chemical substances - while the "standard" produce contained partially amounts which were directly dangerous to life, especially in young children (so several supermarkets got sued by Greenpeace right after the tests).
The amounts of "dangerous substances" which could be found in organic foods are constantly tested, not only by Greenpeace, but also by the organic monitoring organizations. There is 99% more chance to get sick from "usual" produce than from organic.
I am not rich myself, and I usually buy only animal derived products organic, in small amounts (meat, eggs, cheese). I can understand that some people get mad at the high prices, but spreading false rumors will not help anybody. Due to higher and higher demand some organic produce is sometimes sold already at the same price as the other or just slightly more pricey (apples, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots). And, if you mistrust anybody and everybody, the best choice would be growing you own vegetables, or not?
Lactivism
I absolutely agree with the first comment, it is a bad joke to see something as common and as old and as normal in a grown up human, as lactose intolerance, as "picky eating" or "food phobia". Of course everybody can eat everything, it is the free choice of grown up humans to have stomach cramps and other pains and symptoms. Or to buy and consume expensive supplements allowing some dairy digestion.There is no psychologist and no "shock therapy" out there to be able to "cure" something, which is present in almost all grown up mammals biologically, not only humans. And it is present since the beginning of any dairy consumption thousands of years ago. The reason why people kept eating dairy products was the good taste and the lack of other foods, and not the good digestion. People were lactose intolerant since the beginning of dairy consumption traditions. It is not any kind of "novel allergy" or "pathetic illusion".
"Eat everything" is the same possible as "do everything" (you can! just murder, and torture and abuse little children, you will see, everything is possible and will not have any consequences). Just do it. And let me in peace care about my body. I think the only pathetic guys are those, who are permanently annoying others with such articles (Slate) and such "approach", unhappy about their constant pains and health problems, caused by their silly "eat everything" philosophy, and proving how wrong their are with their Rambo theories.
There is a huge difference between "picky eating", "hypochondria" and being aware what happens around oneself and what one is really doing (in opposite to being dazed and confused or otherwise drugged). And even "picky eating" has its own right, if somebody is just deciding not to eat certain useless items, no matter how "great" others may think they are. And I am far far away myself from any picky eating habits, my family was way too poor to make such luxury ever possible.
I always loved dairy, especially cheese, but only since I am aware of lactose intolerance and the different lactose contents in dairy foods (so avoid pure milk, but can eat certain cheeses, butter and some yogurt), I can maintain something near to feeling well every day.
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
I have as long as i can remember been a fan of girl scout cookies. i had different ways of eating the specific type; samoas in the fridge or even freezer, thin mints, with milk, bite opposite ends of the cookie off just a bit, and suck the milk through the middle...the cookie got soft and milk soaked, and the coating kept it whole, and when you popped it in your mouth and chewed it...WOW, same way for tagalongs...A signifigant part of me is saddened by the thought...but i offer an alternative for interested parties.
Come see what i have been up to in the kitchen. I keep tabs with the newsletter and love it, it gives me brief respite from the day.
Everyone for your consideration, i humbly and thankfully give you
NOMS, Inc. http://www.show-notes.com/chefjohn/noms.htm.
Lactivism
This is such a non-issue...like dairy (and it likes you)? Eat it. If not, don't. I don't understand people who want everybody *or* nobody to eat something.
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
I'm a dad of my 10 week old daughter. I'm thinking of the future and looking for something like the girl scouts of america for her to join in the future. I looked at their website and there are more than one tab with the word Cookies. I got the feeling that the whole thing was about cookies. I was very disappointed. I hope they do get rid of cookies. I couldn't find anything about their merit badges, there was very little about hiking/backpacking. At least you don't have to use the word god in the scout law. I assume they allow gays. Good thing she is a girl and not a boy, I'd never want my child to be a member to the boy scouts (anti guy, anti atheist).
PBJ Debate: Jelly-Side Up or Down?
O M G
definitely jelly on top BECAUSE that way the PB doesn't stick to the roof of my mouth. This is from an anti-PBJ/peanutbutter in general person though.
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
I've been a Girl Scout all my life and a volunteer at the council level working on the Cookie Sale for the past 5 so a lot of these comments are like a knife in my heart.
Yes, it is true that the individual troops get less than 20% of the retail price back as immediate, direct profit but that doesn't mean they don't benefit from the money they don't keep. Cookie profits go back to the local council to pay the salaries of the staff members, pay for upkeep and improvements at camps and other properties, program materials, and all the other things necessary to make Girl Scouts great. Additional profits go to Girl Scouts of the USA to help them develop new programs and manage national policy. And yes, we do have to pay the baker too.
I'm sorry that some people don't believe how hard we work to make sure the Cookie Sale is not just a fundraiser but is also a learning experience for the girls. Every year, that is our foremost priority. It may sound like marketing hype to hear successful, adult women talk about the lessons they learned selling cookies but I have seen countless cases of girls who really blossomed because of opportunities they had during the cookie sale. The girl who had been pathologically shy in meetings suddenly find the confidence to talk to strangers while selling cookies in front of Wal*Mart, the girl struggling to find her place in the social structure of the group who comes up with the amazing idea to make the whole troops' sale successful, the stories go on and on. The feeling of setting a goal and achieving it is something we'd like every girl to experience.
In addition, the Cookie Sale, like all Girl Scout programs, has a service component. Troops can choose a charitable organization to sell cookies for. In 2001, my Brownie troop sold 10 cases of cookies and personally delivered them to the fire station. For the past few years, our council has sold cookies for the USO and girls have distributed them to soldiers as they board planes to deploy overseas. The stories the troop leaders tell from that experience are unbelievably touching.
Yes, girls still go door to door in some places but mostly that depends on having an adult volunteer willing to accompany them. I know of plenty of girls who do but a lot more girls who do not have the opportunity. For anyone who wants Girl Scout cookies but does not have a way to get them, call your local council. During cookie season, I guaranteed they will find a way to get cookies to you. http://girlscouts.org/councilfinder/
Finally, Samoas are still called Samoas for parts of the country. There are 2 bakeries providing cookies and the name varies depending on which one supplies your area. Caramel deLites are the equivalent (but not quite as good as the Samoa IMHO).
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
Troop 655, Hudson Valley GS Council, represent.
Back in the '80s, I learned about all kinds of things in girl scouts. We had simple first aid classes and a course on babysitting. Reading, cooking, science, outdoor life. Don't get me wrong, selling the cookies was fun. But summer camp was AWESOME. I loved boating and swimming. Arts and crafts, hiking, camp fires and sing alongs.
I guess scouting experiences differ widely. Mine rocked, except for those nasty latrines at camp. And I still get a wave of nostalgia when I see the cookie mafia at the mall. *sigh*
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
My mother was the "cookie mother" in our troop, too. I remember selling GS cookies back when I didn't have to go door-to-door b/c father, et al. could just lay the order forms on their desks & they would magically get filled out over a couple of weeks with hundreds of orders. These days, they have changed the recipes (to be lower cost, i think) & the names (to be more pc - did a Samoan actually take offense at the fabulous cookies bearing the name of their homeland) so much, that the cookies are barely recognizable, so no wonder the Cookie Mafia has to extort in front of grocery stores in order to unload their ever-shrinking boxes of cookies.
Imho, GS should've started updating their image 25 yrs ago. It was totally unhip when I was a "brownie". I went to a day camp for a week once & it was lame (not even any swimming in the Texas summer!!) really lame. All we did was have meetings & make dumb little crafts (made better ones at home) & sing songs that were babyish even to a 2nd grader. I was in it b/c (a) there was nothing better to do in our one-horse town & (b) let's face it, my mother made me do it. I am afraid that it is too late for GS to update their image, but they could start by getting rid of the "scout" part.
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
My favorite cookie was always the Thin Mint. I say "was" because there was a tragic development which removed my Thin Mint cookie from existence. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the Thin Mint cookie used to have a layer of white mint filling on top of the cookie, and was then coated in chocolate. I remember part of the fun was licking the chocolate and mint layers off to reveal the GS logo on the cookie itself. Good times.
At some point in the eighties (I think) the powers-that-be decided to sync up the PWN cookie with the rest of the country, and now the crappy no-mint-layer cookie is what everyone has today. I scoff at today's Thin Mint. Fleh ptooey!
I was a Girl Scout for a year or so and maybe I had a particularly lame troop, but it was indeed lame. There was no camping, hiking, horseback riding, first aid lessons .. you know, all the things on would associate with camping and scouting? It was all about pimping out the girls to sell cookies, of which we received a tiny fraction of the sales after paying off the baker, the national GG organization, the regional people, etc.
Now I refer to the Girl Scouts as the COOKIE MAFIA. It's like you have to pay protection to get in to friggin' grocery store. Plus, the average baker can make better/better-for-you cookies at home these days.
Bah humbug!
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
This is what's wrong w/ America: management consulting teams! Stupidity, and they have to pay to be told the stupidity! My thought is, duh, get web connectivity @ the GS camps! Create new, 21st century badges - e.g., blogging, website creation, etc. etc. My prediction is that if we lose the cookies we lose the GS soon after.
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
Bialy, in my troop (this was in the '70s) I learned serious first aid skills, including how to rescue a drowning victim and provide resuscitation , how to do minor car maintenance, like change oil, how to check tire pressure), cooking, sewing (we made a patchwork quilt for the Bicentenial), how to chop wood, how to identify edible plants, and so many other skills. I'm sorry that your troop leader didn't invest herself more in providing a better experience for you.
When my daughter was young, I was one of her brownie troop leaders.
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
Girl Scouts also earn money that can be used towards GS camp in the summer. This is a huge positive for poor young Girl Scouts as GS camp presents a tremendous opportunity to get out in the country and to gain many skills, independence and self esteem.
What I find troubling is the so called advisor probably has no clue about the benefits of the cookie sales. What's more, again, they sell them, they don't eat them. I was a Girl Scout for seven years, and rarely if ever ate them.
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
As a former scout, I feel the need to also contribute seriously to this matter.
I don't remember doing much as a Brownie other than earning merit badges in outdoor skills (similar to the boys) and subjects, like reading or art, that suited my interests. I, however, remained a girl scout until I was 13 because, in a small town, there wasn't much else to do! As a Junior and later Cadet Girl Scout the focus is shifted from selling cookies to doing community service. I think this is where I may have picked up some of the leadership skills that scouting is supposed to be about.
In recent years, I've seen commercials sponsored by the Girl Scouts of America advertising resources for parents to get their kids interested in math and science. If cookies contribute to this cause, they should most certainly not stop selling them!
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
The bakers take 30% off the top. In reading about this on CNN's website (from March of 2007) I was amused by what the organization claimed that Scouts learned from this "voluntary" activity. The CNN piece states that of the 70 retained, 12 to 17 percent is kept by the local troop. Yikes! That's all?
And um, er where do you live where you get Girl Scouts door-to-door? We haven't seen that in at least 18 years around here. In our city, you buy cookies when a) a scout's mother puts out an email b) a scout's mother leaves an order form on her desk in the office or c) you go shopping and encounter a card table outside the grocery store/discount store etc. staffed by 4 Girl Scouts and a mommy or two (okay once I saw aan adult male. Once.). (I wish they did still come to the door. We don't have a car, so delivery would be so helpful.
Of course i buy them. I was a Girl Scout and there's nothing, like guilt to encourage purchasing something. And I can't imagine life without Thin Mints. Even some of the newer "tea cookies" were okay. Ooooh, cookies....(sorry, did I slobber?)
But sorry Mrs. B, I never learned "salesmanship" from selling GS cookies. And I never learned "responsibility which I believe I already understood. i do think that the latter is a good goal for girls. I do not think "salesmanship" is something I'd want my daughter (if I had one) to acquire as a Scout. I didn't learn "nuttin" from selling cookies (though that was decades past) and think the grandiose explanation offered is plain silly. the spokeswoman claimed that the skills helped girls become leaders later in life thanks to "cookie activities" which apparently included planning, team-building, "speaking up" making decisions, problems solving....and on and on. Wow. Pardon my lifted eyebrow. I think training girls and young women to become saleswomen should be the job of Junior Achievement.
Oh yeah, and my mother was a "cookie captain" at least once. Back when we did go door to door taking orders and delivering boxes when they arrived a few weeks later, we were the staging area for the troop. Cookies here, cookies there. Oy, did we have cookies!
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
my favorite cookie is the samoa. this is unacceptable. i will try and remain calm.
Death of the Girl Scout Cookie?
When one hears "Girl Scouts", the next immediate thought is "Cookies!!", so I can see why they may want to broaden their image a bit. That being said, there is no reason to simply stop cookies sales. The girls learn quite a bit from selling cookies - salesmanship, responsibility, etc. - and the rest of get to enjoy a variety of yummy cookies!!
PBJ Debate: Jelly-Side Up or Down?
Jelly on top! It just feels right.
And besides, the whole double PB layer thing makes the jelly squish out of the middle. It's got to adhere to the bread enough to stay inside.
PBJ Debate: Jelly-Side Up or Down?
I always toast my bread, put a layer of PB (usually extra crunchy) on one slice of toast, a layer of jelly on the other (being toasted prevents soggy bread...and gives it extra crunch) and then slap them together....I eat it whichever way the sandwich should land in my hand!
PBJ Debate: Jelly-Side Up or Down?
It's always been pb on the bottom (or slice of bread on the left of the plate, to be exact) and jelly on top of that for me. Then the naked slice of bread (or the one on the right side of the plate) gets smooshed on top.
That goes double for when I toast the bread - that way the heat from the toast makes the pb all yummily melted. Mmmmmm.
Heavy Metals Found in Organic Agriculture; Does that Make Organic Dangerous?
Oh good grief, what a pile of composted crap that Slate article is. First, the article doesn't even definitively SAY anything - it just makes a number of vague allusions to inconclusive studies peppered with "may" and "could" and "possibly." The first "study" they point to isn't even in a bona fide peer-reviewed science journal, and there for isn't even worth taking with a grain of salt. The second study - the Belgian wheat study - was at least in a science journal, but appeared to be a chemical analysis of commercial wheat rather than a controlled comparative study.
It's articles like this in the mass media that really drive me crazy. It serves no purpose: it's not actually reporting on anything, yet causes consumers to be afraid and spread unsubstantiated gossip.
"Gee I just read an article the other day that said organic food has lots of heavy metals. I don't know what heavy metals are, but I think they are bad so I will not buy these peas which were grown in a sustainable, chemical-free way, and instead opt for these GMO peas from Archer-Daniels Monsantoland because they are better for my family. The internet told me so."
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After reading the "return two-month-old salmon" article I was just mad. What an egoistic, thoughtless, rich snob. It is soooo great to have a house here and an apartment there and still be proud of treating hard working poor people like trash, and "returning" x month old spoiled and rotten items. I am sure this "lady" never had to work as a frightened and exhausted assistant of assistant at the return point. Always knowing a single mad customer may cost your job (and it DID cost one of my jobs, when a crazy customer started accusing me of having made xxx mistakes, I was fired, and only eventually found out afterwards that nothing of this was true).
Thank you very much greedy rich lady and all you relatives and alikes, who are "now learning her ways". It is very nice to know idiots like you land in the New York Times, while I land on the street. And the New York Times itself knows well why this article does not have any "comments" enabled.
Sorry Serious Eats, nothing against your blog or this New York Times links here...Just got really furious about the blindness of some people :(