Going Au Naturel

It's amusing to me when I hear non-truck drivers complaining about fuel prices.  If you're driving a regular car, on average, it gets 28-30 mpg and can go about 300-500 miles on a tank of gas.  Which, at $4.00 per gallon, would set a car driver back about $80.00.  For us, a tank of diesel fuel allows us to drive approximately 1,400 miles but sets us back around $1,200.00.  BIG difference.  And we only get 7 miles to the gallon.  Yes, I know, pitiful.

We purchase most of our fuel at major truck stop chains, and on occassion, smaller truck plazas.  In a pinch, we've even been known to pull our rig into teeny tiny gas stations in the middle of nowhere, as long as they sell diesel.

There are approximately 180,000 gas stations in the United States, and about half of them offer diesel fuel.  Which when compared to the number of fueling sites available in the UK for example, gives you an idea about how big each country is and how the fuel needs for their citizens compare.  In the UK though, they have a neat little fuel card program called Chooseafuelcard.com, which allows cardholders to choose the card that best fits their needs.

Although we may have seventy-five times as many filling stations as they do, we don't have as many fuel card choices.  We use the Comdata card, which is what the majority of truckers seem to use.  There are probably a few others, but mostly it's just a payment card, as there has to be money in the Comdata account to pay for the purchase, no matter where you choose to use it (as long as they are part of the program, of course).

We spend about $90,000.00 a year on fuel and do everything we can to reduce our consumption in an effort to combat the fluctuating fuel prices.  Ed has been doing a lot of research lately into the use of natural gas.  It would mean modifying the truck, or buying another truck, or....hell, I don't know what it means, but it's a big change, requiring special equipment or tanks or something.  The most attractive aspect of using natural gas is that it will save us tens of thousands of dollars a year.  Personally, I see a new truck in our future. 

It's still a fairly new concept and not something that's been rolled out in enough locations across the country yet, but we have seen several truck stop locations under construction, adding natural gas pumps to their fuel offerings.  Its widespread use is right around the corner.  Right now finding a station that dispenses natural gas would be challenging (but would reduce the number of fuel stops we'd have to make!), because they're few and far between, but someday it's going to be an attractive money saving reality.

Until then, trip planning is going to be a real bitch.



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2011: A Great Idea
2010: The Real Deal
2009: This Should Keep You Buy For A While
2008: Plenty Of Room For The Ladies
2007: It All Began With The Cheese
2006: Zig Zag Wisconsin Color
2005: Made In China

A Sad Day For The Piggies

In the grocery store today,this cute litle pig balloon was tied to the "Buy 1 Package of Pork Ribs, Get One Free" sign.  Evil tactic, luring people in with cuteness.

You know I loaded up my cart.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: A Warrior Waging A Noble Fight, Fueled By Chocolate Ice Cream
2010: Ragazzo dell’Ombrello
2009: Eddie It’s Not Even Halloween Yet Friday
2008: Not So Different, Are We?
2007: Quite Uneducated, If You Ask Me
2006: Sometimes Identity Theft Can SAVE You Money
2005: Mina In Fifty Years

Two More For You, Mr. President!

We got home this week and among running around taking care of our other errands, we were able to take advantage of early voting since we have no idea where we'll be on November 6th.  It was the first day the location was open and I thought it would be busy, but when we got there, it was just the two people who ran the place, and us.

We were in and out in fifteen minutes.  We voted for our guy, among others, and can now kick back and watch the next two debates, listen to the pundits pundit, and just wait for the final word.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: A Thing About Things
2010: Americans Among Us
2009: Next Time I’m Buying Him Carbon Paper And White Out. And A Roll Of Stamps. And Maybe A VHS Player.
2008: Flash Flood
2007: Consider The Source When Getting Advice
2006: Perfectly Apropos For Bush’s Home State
2005: Soul 2 Soul

Not So Subtle

We were sitting in the TV room, watching King Of Queens, the three of us each occupying a Lazy-Boy, when my mother said, "Ed has such smooth feet."

"I know, they're like babies feet." I said, looking over at Ed's sockless feet propped up on the footrest. 

"Frank had feet like a baby." my mother said.

"I know.  Ed's are the exact same way." I said, talking about Ed like he wasn't sitting right there.

"My feet used to be so S-U-B-T-L-E." my mother said, spelling the word.

"Subtle?" I said.

"Yeah."  she said.

"I think you mean supple." I said.

"S-U-P-P-L-E?" she spelled again.  "Supple?  Is that what you're saying?"  she said.

"Yes, Mom.  Supple.  Smooth.  Soft." I said.  "Like buttery leather."

"Well now they're like potato chips." she said.

And that's the moment Ed decided to pop into the conversation.

"Crunchy and salty?" he said.

I don't even need to tell you how much that confused my mother.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: Satan Called. He Wants His Weather Back.
2010: If Only I Looked As Good As He Does
2009: What Grandmothers Do When Their Grandchildren Grow Up
2008: The View Of The Valley And Meadow
2007: A Beautiful Dimple In The Earth
2006: Dive The Sky
2005: G-Y-M

Digging Through The Vault

I saw this ring in an antique store in New Paltz, New York about eight years ago. It's costume jewelry, but I love the faux peridot and I love that it's set in the gold tone, so I bought it.  Probably paid way too much for it, but I've worn it many times and have always gotten compliments on it.  It's very sparkly, and a little too flashy (fake or not) to wear on the road.  But when I do wear it, I feel like I have on a piece of my grandmother's costume jewelry.  I think it's a real find. 

I came across it recently when I was looking through my jewelry box and took a picture so I could peek at it every now and again. I like it not just for the color and shape, but it reminds me of the day I got it; shopping with my friend from Arizona but in New York with him for my cousin's wedding.  A great memory for me.

Maybe I'll break it out again for our cruise in January, for "dress up" night. Until then, I'll just visit it here on the blog.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: Shopping Hysteria
2010: We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Blogging For A Word From Our Blogger
2009: Here, Let Me Get You A Tissue For That Eyeball
2008: The Secret Lies With The Twinkies
2007: Where In The World Are You Carmen Sandiego?
2006: Paraskevidekatriaphobia
2005: Love’s Language

Prime Viewing

For $79.00 a year, I am a member of Amazon Prime.  And I'll tell you, it's worth it.  I get free or two day shipping on most of my orders, and I get to watch unlimited streaming movies.  As many as I want. 

I have the app on my iPad, and I can also watch videos through the internet setup on the TV.  It's pretty freakin' cool.  In the last month, while we were sitting around waiting on others to do their jobs so we could do ours, eating dinner, or just lounging around, Ed and I watched the following films (the blurbs are all from IMDB.com):

Affliction:  A deeply troubled small town cop investigates a suspicious hunting death while events occur that cause him to mentally disintergrate.  (Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, James Coburn, Willen Dafoe)

From Prada to Nada:  A Latina spin on Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility," where two spoiled sisters who have been left penniless after their father's sudden death are forced to move in with their estranged aunt in East Los Angeles.  (Camilla Belle, Alexa Vega, Wilmer Valderrama)

The Answer Man:  A reclusive author of spiritual books, is pursued for advice by a single mother and a man fresh out of rehab. (Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham)

Rare Birds:  A down-and-out restaurateur and his neighbor hatch a plan to lure luminaries to their small Newfoundland town.  (William Hurt, Andy Jones, Molly Parker)

The Lightkeepers:  Set in the year 1912 on Cape Cod, a lighthouse keeper who has disavowed any association with females, must deal with the appearance of two attractive women who move into a nearby cottage for the summer.  (Richard Dreyfuss, Mamie Gummer, Blythe Danner) 

Henry’s Crime:  Released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, an ex-con targets the same bank he was sent away for robbing.  (James Caan, Keanu Reeves, Vera Farmiga)

The Conspirator: Mary Surratt is the lone female charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination trial of Abraham Lincoln. As the whole nation turns against her, she is forced to rely on her reluctant lawyer to uncover the truth and save her life.  (Robin Wright, James McAvoy, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood)

Killers:  A vacationing woman meets her ideal man, leading to a swift marriage. Back at home, however, their idyllic life is upset when they discover their neighbors could be assassins who have been contracted to kill the couple.  (Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Selleck)

The Hunter:  Martin, a mercenary, is sent from Europe by a mysterious biotech company to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger.  (Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill)

Le Grand Voyage:  Reda, a young French-Moroccan guy and his old father drive from the south of France to Mecca in order for the father to do his pilgrimage. At first distant, they gradually learn to know each other.  (Nicolas Cazalé, Mohamed Majd)

The Romantics:  Seven close friends reunite for the wedding of two of their friends. Problems arise because the bride and the maid of honor have had a long rivalry over the groom.  (Katie Holms, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Malin Akerman, Dianna Agron)

Lbs.:  A 315-pound man decides to kick his food addiction by moving to the country.  (Carmine Famiglietti, Michael Aronov, Miriam Shor)

Defiance:  Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe escape into the Belarussian forests, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavor to build a village in order to protect themselves and about 1,000 Jewish non-combatants.  (Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell)


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: Still Flowering
2010: Wishing I Could Trade My Feet For Wheels
2009: And The Winner Is…
2008: Palm In The Dirty South
2007: Ed Makes Out With Fair Fluff Friday
2006: Blue Light Special
2005: Blue Collar

Splendid Fantasy Road Trip

Last year I wrote about some of the podcasts I listen to while I'm driving.  One of them is The Splendid Table, hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper.  It's fabulous. 

When I was little, my grandfather had a grape arbor in the backyard.  We played underneath it and ate the grapes from it.  They had a very distinct smell and taste, and were not like any of the grapes you normally find in the grocery store.  It was probably 35 years before I tasted that grape again - in the form of wine I found in Tennessee; a sweet dessert wine, only tolerable in small quantities.  Muscadine wine.  I'm not a wine drinker, but the smell of the wine brought me right back to my childhood.

I smelled that smell again recently when I was in a grocery store in North Carolina. They were selling Muscadine Grapes - both the black and the bronze variety (the bronze are also called scuppernong grapes) - and I was shocked, as I had never seen them anywhere before.  I bought the black ones, because those are the ones my grandfather had in his backyard, inhaling their smell through the vents in the plastic container.

They're a very big grape, the size of a kid's gumball, the ones you get for a quarter out of those machines you see in grocery stores or restaurants, and they're very round. 

When I got my find back to the truck, I bit into one of those grapes, through its tough, almost rubbery skin, and let the weird sweet earthy taste fill my mouth.  I don't know that I'd say it's the most delicious grape I've ever had, as I think it's an acquired taste, but it's got something.  It's also got pits. 

I couldn't really think of what to do with them, as I've only seen then made into wine or jam, and I wasn't going to be making jam or wine in the truck, so I needed another idea.  I knew immediately who to turn to.  The Splendid Table. 

So I went to the website and sent them an email asking what I could do with Muscadine Grapes.  Not long after, I got an email back asking me if I would be willing to call in and be on the show.  I get to talk to THE Lynne Rossetto Kasper??  Uh, hell yeah.  That's a no-brainer.

I was given a date and time to call, and at the appointed time I dialed the number I knew by heart, as I heard it recited numerous time each week when I listened to the podcast, 1-800-537-5252, and waited to be put on the line with the host of the show. 

We talked, we laughed, she did what she does best, and we said goodbye.  I was a little starstruck.  I might have babbled.  Or giggled.  I didn't even care if my call ever made it on the air, because I got to actually speak to LRK!

But my call did make it on, airing a week ago on the October 6, 2012 show.  You can listen to the entire show on the website, but if you want to just hear me in the phone calls segment, click on the embedded link below.  My call starts at the 37:19 mark.



Now if only I could really get Lynne Rossetto Kasper to come on the road with me!  What a dream trip that would be!


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: Hard To Get Close To
2010: Lunch In Fossombrone
2009: Taking Carving To A Whole New Level
2008: Is There Enough Yellow In THIS One For Ya?
2007: I Didn’t Realize Railway Workers Were So Frisky
2006: Individuality
2005: Text Me

*  All photos courtesy of Google Images.

Go Ahead, Judge Me

I'm going to tell you what I'm watching this season, and you can either cringe (like I would if you told me you were watching NASCAR, or The Walking Dead), or you can celebrate the fabulousness of my TV viewing choices. 

I don't always watch these on the nights they air because sometimes I'm "working", which means driving, which means no TV watching.  If we're driving and I can't stop (or Ed is cracking the whip), I'll watch them at a later time online or on my iPad.  The only one I NEVER miss on the night it airs, is Glee.

Here goes...

MONDAY
The Voice:  I can't get enough of singing shows and what I love most about this one is that when the judges choose the contestants, they can't see them.  And even the people that aren't they great, are still fabulous.  I have so many favorites this season already, I'm going to have a hard time choosing a winner.

Perception: I love Eric McCormack from his Will & Grace days.  This is a completely different role for him and I love him in it. 

Major Crimes:  A spin-off of The Closer, I watch this only if I remember.  It's not a must, but if I'm flipping and see it on, I'll stop and watch.

TUESDAY
The Voice:  See above.

WEDNESDAY
Modern Family:  I can't quite decide who I love most on this show but I think I'm going to have to go with Cam,.  But Phil's a close second.  I love this kind of TV show because it keeps me laughing almost all the way through. 

Nashville:  A singing show set in my favorite city of all time??  I love that I know the places I see in the aerials of the show.  I love that I know where Tootie's and the Ryman is.  I love seeing the batman building in the opening of the show.  I love the drama and romance and music.  Although Hayden Panettiere and Connie Britton are the names we know, I think Clare Bowen and Sam Palladio are going to be breakout stars on the show.  Oh!  Also - my friend Vicki's kid's swim coach is also on the show.  Right now he just has a minor role, but I got to see his scene and there he was, front and center.  Hi, Jack!

THURSDAY (my favorite night!)
Grey’s Anatomy:  This I've been watching for so long, I can't give up.  Sometimes the story line is lame, but most of the time I wind up crying.  Ed thinks I'm crazy when that happens.

Scandal:  Another series by Shonda Rhimes that I just LOVE.  I'm not a huge Kerry Washington fan, but she's growing on me.  It's very edge-of-your-seat.

Project Runway:  This is crafty on steroids.  These people are talented under pressure and turn out some fabulous (and sometimes horrible) creations.  Sometimes, I think I could be on this show.

Glee:  There's nothing more I can say about Glee that I haven't said already.  I love this show.  EVERY SECOND of it.

SUNDAY
The Mentalist:  Simon Baker.  I don't think anything else needs to be said.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: Con Los Años Que Me Quedan
2010: Ten. Ten. Ten. A Perfect Score!
2009: Lighting The Testosterone Torch
2008: Eddie Helps The Economy Friday
2007: Talk About A Thorn In Your Side
2006: My Sentiments Exactly
2005: Mason? Dixon? Line? BELOW It.

I Made It Because I Like The Word Schnitzel

Feta Schnitzel with Tomato Chutney
Photo courtesy of WindsetFarms.com

I wrote about this recipe in my post last week about the tomato farm we delivered to.  Their company website had some pretty delicious dishes.

I really loved the chicken, although I don't feel that the addition of feta was flavorful enough, believe it or not.  I guess it was the same as tossing grated parmesan into the breadcrumbs, but since the feta crumbles were a little bigger, each bite was noticeable.  I loved the fresh thyme taste too.

The tomato chutney was good too, but a little too sweet.  If I make it again, I'll reduce the amount of sugar and the amount of vinegar.  While it was boiling down, the vinegar made the truck smell like an old shoe.  Otherwise, it was pretty delish.  And we have enough chutney to last us two weeks.

If you want to try it for yourself, click here for a copy of the recipe.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: I May Be Old, But I’m Not That Old
2010: Today’s The Day!!
2009: Ed Getting Jiggy Among The Sunflowers
2008: The Bridge To Everywhere
2007: Scared Into Anorexia
2006: A Good Hot Cup Is Desperately Needed
2005: Am I The Only One Who Noticed This??

Approaching Talladega

As I said on Facebook earlier this week:  "You can tell it's a race day at Talladega - the Walmart is empty and they're all out of confederate flags."

When we passed by the Talladega Superspeedway this week, from the interstate I was able to see hundreds, if not thousands, of tents, RVs, and pickup trucks crowded onto the field around the track.  People camping at a NASCAR racetrack.

Some things are just beyond my comprehension.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: Music Sets The Stage
2010: Tacky Prevails
2009: Not As Hot As It Looks
2008: Burst
2007: Stockholm Syndrome
2006: Playing In A Dream Near You
2005: The Greatest Story Ever Told

Unlimited

I saw this quote on the internet and thought it'd be perfect to use on the picture of the moon that Ed took in California. 

I've tried many times to take a picture of the moon, unsuccessfully, and he recently took this one, and although it's not as "moony" as some of the ones I've seen on the internet, it's pretty good.

So good, you can see the footprints, can't you? 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: Autumn Leaves Begin To Fall
2010: I Wonder What Color The Ancient Estruscans Wore?
2009: You Ask, I’ll Answer
2008: You Can’t Hide From The Eyes Of A Truck Driver
2007: Flurry Of Ruffles
2006: A Bag Full Of Dicks
2005: Go West Young Man!! Uh, I Mean East. East.

A Difference As Big As The Grand Canyon

Car seen in Tucson - the blue zone in the red state - where a small number of democratic, progressive, tolerant, open-minded, humanistic, tree-huggy type of people live. 

Proof that not everyone who lives in Arizona is an asshole like Jan Brewer.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: Not Even Technology Can Fix Stone Cold Stupid
2010: Three
2009: Not Exactly “Daily” By Definition
2008: I Almost Married This Man
2007: Greeting Fair Lovers For Over Fifty Years
2006: The Infinite Wisdom Of A Grandfather
2005: Swingin’ Good Times

Scenes From An Italian Kitchen

The scene at my grandparent's kitchen table, September 1962. 

I'm not sure why everyone looks so wiped out, it must have been a long day.  My uncles and my father (from left to right - Uncle Tony,  Uncle Augie, my father) look so Italian and so Guido in their white t-shirts, gold crosses around their necks, and slicked back hair.  Of course, I think my father is the most handsome of the group!  And my Nanny and Poppy (my mother's parents) look exhausted. 

But where are my aunts and my mother??  And where is the food??


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2011: Living Deliberately But Not Without Scars
2010: Maybe They Just Don’t Like Oklahomans
2009: Mexico? Derecho.
2008: Juxtaposition
2007: Eddie Sports Pigtails Friday
2006: Gambling Under The Big Sky
2005: Sleeping Beauty

Giving Everyone A Heads Up

I've written two posts about the low clearances in New York - this one about the sign I saw heading to the Hunt's Point Market (see photo above), and this one about the signs on I-278, which snakes along the edge of Brooklyn, the famous bridge in full view as you travel along the interstate.

I did my posts for entertainment value, and to show the ridiculous conditions we often face while on the road.  My friend Marlaina, on the other hand, did an extremely serious post about a recent investigation spearheaded by Chuck Schumer, a New York State Senator. 

He's essentially blaming truckers for hitting bridges in New York.  Granted, it's kind of hard to deny any driver involvement, but in an area that's confusing when driving in a car, having to navigate in an 18-wheeler should be made easier by clear and visible signage, telling us where to go. 

She contacted both the Senator's office - who actually read her post while she was on the phone - and OOIDA's magazine Landline, who interviewed her and wrote up an article about her post on their website.

If you're a trucker, you're probably already aware of the low clearance situation in New York.  If you're not a trucker, you're probably going to be checking signs now, wherever you go, just to see what we're talking about.

In either case, if you see a confused trucker - give them a wide berth, don't ride their ass just in case they have to make a last minute move, and try to understand that you're not the only vehicle on the road.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: A Big, Delicious Mess
2010: Race To The Finish
2009: The Way To A Man’s Heart Isn’t Only Through His Stomach
2008: The Monarch Of Style
2007: I Walked Around The Building For An Hour Looking For That Door
2006: Home On The Range: It’s Not Just The Place Where The Deer And Antelope Play
2005: Mina Clarkson

Summoning The Readers

My new friend, Amy "Willow" Allen, has written a book.

We met via the internet, because prior to finishing her book, she was driving team with her husband Karl, and contacted me through my blog.  She's since left the road (Karl is still driving) and is working locally in North Carolina, while concentrating on promoting her book. 

Although we talk frequently through emails, and had a nice, lengthy conversation on the phone, we still haven't met in person.  I did have the pleasure though, of reading her book prior to its publication (I feel SO special!).  She even put my blurb about it on her back cover!  It's the first one - go ahead, click to make it bigger and you'll see my blurb!

 

OK, back to Amy and what her book is actually about - walking the Appalachian Trail.  In order to really understand the feeling of what it's like to spend six months of your life WALKING, you'll have to read the book to share in her experiences as she tells the story of her journey.The Appalachian Trail, if you're not aware, runs from Springer Mountain in Georgia, to Mount Katahdin in Maine.  It's approximately 2,184 miles long and passes through fourteen states.  And Amy walked it.

There are lots of places where you can find out more about Amy and her book. 

You can buy it here and here, or check out her website, you can like her page on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter, and even delve a little into her old trucking blog. 

I'm going to go take a nap now, because just writing about walking over 2,000 miles has made me tired!


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: The Power Of Gold
2010: Where’s The Beef?
2009: If One Could Love A Convenience Store
2008: Eddie Home On The Alien Range Friday
2007: N Is For Nanny. Oh, And Negligent.
2006: The Answer Will Be Revealed In Nine Months
2005: Lipgloss And Cocoa Puffs

Tomatoes Under Glass

We recently delivered some equipment to Windset Farms in Santa Maria, California.  It's a huge facility, and they're adding more greenhouses to their operation.  They already have two 32-acre greenhouses in place - three million square feet on 64 acres!  Under glass.  According to the CEO of Windset Farms, this facility is the most sustainable greenhouse in the world, with no carbon footprint and the recycling and reuse of water.

Ed spoke to the guy who was loading the equipment on our truck, a Dutch guy from the Netherlands, who said he travels around the world installing the greenhouses their company designs.

You can see the facility, far in the distance. It starts on the right side, where the spot of red is, and continues to the left side, past the edge of the photo.  I took this shot from the truck, as we drove down the road adjacent to the field.

Workers were diligently following the tractor, periodically bending over to pick up or place items in the dirt - I couldn't exactly figure out what they were doing. 

And even though it was hot, they were bundled from head to toe in long pants, long-sleeved sweatshirts, hoods, bandanas and hats, to shield themselves from the sun.  I can't imagine how miserable doing that job must be.  All so we can have a few tomatoes.

The article states the tomatoes here are hydroponically grown, without the use of most herbicides and pesticides.  But according to the guy who loaded our equipment, the one who travels all over the world to install these greenhouses, the tomatoes grown in them aren't even worth eating.  He said, "If you knew how they grew these things, you wouldn't even eat them."  He said that people think the tomatoes are grown in gardens, like we know them to be, but that many of these are grown in bags, with 10% dirt and 90% chemicals. 

That seems to fit with what Barry Estabrook, the author of Tomatoland has to say about tomato production.  I've started to read the book and it's fascinating.  It also makes me never want to eat another tomato.  This is what the blurb from Amazon.com says about the book:

"Supermarket produce sections bulging with a year-round supply of perfectly round, bright red-orange tomatoes have become all but a national birthright. But in Tomatoland, which is based on his James Beard Award-winning article, "The Price of Tomatoes," investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry.

Fields are sprayed with more than one hundred different herbicides and pesticides. Tomatoes are picked hard and green and artificially gassed until their skins acquire a marketable hue. Modern plant breeding has tripled yields, but has also produced fruits with dramatically reduced amounts of calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C, and tomatoes that have fourteen times more sodium than the tomatoes our parents enjoyed. The relentless drive for low costs has fostered a thriving modern-day slave trade in the United States. How have we come to this point?

Estabrook traces the supermarket tomato from its birthplace in the deserts of Peru to the impoverished town of Immokalee, Florida, a.k.a. the tomato capital of the United States. He visits the laboratories of seedsmen trying to develop varieties that can withstand the rigors of agribusiness and still taste like a garden tomato, and then moves on to commercial growers who operate on tens of thousands of acres, and eventually to a hillside field in Pennsylvania, where he meets an obsessed farmer who produces delectable tomatoes for the nation's top restaurants.

Throughout Tomatoland, Estabrook presents a who's who cast of characters in the tomato industry: the avuncular octogenarian whose conglomerate grows one out of every eight tomatoes eaten in the United States; the ex-Marine who heads the group that dictates the size, color, and shape of every tomato shipped out of Florida; the U.S. attorney who has doggedly prosecuted human traffickers for the past decade; and the Guatemalan peasant who came north to earn money for his parents' medical bills and found himself enslaved for two years. Tomatoland reads like a suspenseful whodunit as well as an expose of today's agribusiness systems and the price we pay as a society when we take taste and thought out of our food purchases."

If you're interested, this is the article the book was based on, and it's quite eye-opening.  Since reading part of the book, I've taken to really looking at tomatoes now, but even if they're tagged "locally grown", it doesn't matter much if "local" means the greenhouse up the road in Santa Maria, or any of the other place that grow fruits and vegetables in this manner. 

I eat almost anything, from anywhere, but the way our food is being treated, as the years go by, and the more I learn about it, the more I've become wary of almost everything.  Lately, the only fruit and vegetables I feel comfortable with, are the ones I see at roadside farm stands.

That said, there are some pretty fabulous recipes on the Windset Farms website, and I'll be making this one over the weekend; with store bought tomatoes!


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: The Best Seat In The House
2010: Countdown To Pisa
2009: Eddie Goes Waaaay South Friday
2008: Port Of Long Beach
2007: Layers Of History
2006: Would I Be Cheesy If I Said I Wanted To Drive THIS Rig??
2005: Paper Glow

Craving Italy

Lately I've been thinking a lot about going back to Italy. My Rosetta Stone Italian language program is calling to me from the cabinet where it sits in the truck, and I've come across some articles which have me bitten with the Italy bug again.

This time, I think I really want to explore the Northern regions - Piemonte, Valle D'Aosta and Lombardia.  I want cooler climates, Italian style.  This time though, the trip seems like more of a need, like a craving, that if I don't satisfy it, I won't be right inside. 

We've done too many tropical vacations, too many beaches, too much sand.  I want to see small villages, snow capped Italian alps, rolling hills, and no beaches anywhere.  Even if I head to the Southern portion of the boot, I pledge to stay away from sand! 


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2011: A Perfect Way To Start A Month
2010: Old School
2009: Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
2008: The Clubhouse Girls
2007: Morning On The Air Train
2006: The Other Side Of The Tracks
2005: Vicki Bin Laden