Category: In the News

buying all the most expensive cheese

Novak Djokovic meme - donkey cheeseThe world’s #1 ranked tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has bought the world’s entire supply of donkey cheese.  It’s the world’s most expensive cheese, and it’s called pule.  It’s made in one farm in the world, and it takes 25 liters of donkey milk to make 1 kilogram of pule.  It sometimes sells for over $500 per pound.  It supposedly has 60 times more Vitamin C than cheese from cow’s milk.

Djokovic is opening a chain of restaurants which will feature this cheese, so he bought the upcoming year’s supply of it for his own use.  Supposedly this cost him millions of dollars, but he can afford it.  He’s been a top 3 tennis player in the world for several years now, and last year he made $19.8 million.

The Buffet o’ Blog staff has talked about opening our own restaurant, but we’ve never considered cornering the market on a single ingredient.  There’s an obvious reason for that — it takes beaucoups of money.  Instead, we’ll just have to create the most awesome restaurant, which I’m confident we could do, given a reasonable amount of investment.  Somebody out there has more money than ideas, and we’re still waiting for their people to contact our people.  If you know one of these people, give ’em a swift kick or light a fire under ’em (not literally), to push them in the right direction.  I know there’s already some great restaurants, but it’s clear that many places just don’t get it.  For example, I know of restaurants that don’t use any bacon… for anything.  Obviously, you don’t have to, but given the fact that bacon makes almost any dish considerably better, why would you not have bacon in your restaurant?  These things seem like common sense to us, but as the saying goes, common sense isn’t.

breathing to get healthier

As is typical when the new year rolls around, people are making resolutions to be healthy and to lose weight.  This is a good thing, although continuing to follow through with them is a good thing, too.  (Good intentions don’t make you lose weight.  I wish it were that easy, but let’s not fool ourselves.)

take a deep breath, enjoy natureAlong those lines, Mango-Man sent me an article called “Healthful Resolutions: Breathing”, with the summary saying breathing exercises are portable, free, and help you manage unhealthy stress.  I couldn’t be bothered to read the article, because I’m already pretty good at breathing, if I may say so.  I’ve been breathing successfully for, um, a number of years now.  The actual number isn’t so important.  It’s been a lot of years, with the caveat that it’s not a LOT.

I’m not saying certain breathing techniques can’t help you feel better, especially if you’re exercising — there are techniques that can help.  But there are better ways of removing stress than just breathing.  For starters, laughing does the heart good, like a medicine.  That’s the primary purpose of this blog: to enjoy life more.  So if you want to feel better, deal with your problems as best you can, and find ways to laugh more.  I was going to say “and don’t forget about the breathing part”, but you don’t have to think about it, because it happens naturally already.

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BTW, while searching for this image, I came across an article that says:

Deep breathing exercises are a great way to lose tummy fat around your waist and get slim without strenuous workouts that seem to do more harm than good that or portable, which mean you can do them anywhere you go.

long breath dietThat’s the actual text to start the article.  Then on the same page was this image, explaining that you can get ripped abs in only minutes a day, that some 50-year-old Japanese guy lost 28 pounds and 5 inches from his waist in only 50 days with this diet.  And supposedly it’s “similar to Bruce Lee’s dragon breathing technique”. So that’s how he was so fit!  I never knew it was so easy!  So if I just do this 1 minute long breath diet, I’ll have ripped abs like Bruce Lee.  Amazing!  I always figured he had to do hours of weightlifting and fitness training to be so buff.  There’s no telling what you’ll learn just from surfing the Internet a few minutes a day…  That same page also had a Karaoke Diet.  Maybe we need to invent our own diets!

it’s time to save the world again

explosion - Licorne shot, French Polynesia, 1970, 1

cookieAccording to the Mayans, the world is about to end.  I reckon I better get busy saving it.  (Yeah, I procrastinated.  Besides, last-minute heroics are much more dramatic.)  If we’re all here on the 22nd, then I was successful.  In appreciation, I’ll accept homemade chocolate-chip cookies.  Other forms of gifts may be considered.  Now, I have a job to do…

holiday eating is not making you fat

In recent years I’ve heard some “experts” on TV say you should eat light on Thanksgiving so you don’t become obese.  First of all, that’s stupid, and second, the research doesn’t support such tomfoolery.  According to a study, the average weight gain for the holiday season (including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s) is just 0.8 pounds.  That’s not a typo.  For all the hype from the media outlets, you’d think people were becoming instantly obese from a couple of big meals.  0.8 pounds is nothing — you can gain that just from eating normal, or if your regularity is not as regular.  I figured the number would be higher, given the big holiday meals, the extra cookies, and the parties.

Obviously some Thanksgiving meals are more fattening than others, but a traditional feast shouldn’t be that bad.  I figure a normal Thanksgiving dinner wouldn’t be more unhealthy than some of the things you can get at restaurants, particularly all-you-can-eat buffets.  Plus you might be eating less processed food, which could make it healthier.

To diet on Thanksgiving day and Christmas day is foolish, if you want my opinion.  It’s hard enough to diet and eat right, particularly if you enjoy eating.  To miss out on the most special meals of the year would be depressing.  If you’re seriously trying to lose weight, one way to approach it is to eat healthier in the days leading up to the big meals, to rationalize eating a lot at the family get-togethers and parties.

Of course, common sense disclaimers apply.  For example, if you’re on the verge of a heart attack or some other severe health problem, maybe you shouldn’t eat a huge meal, but in that case, you should do something about it NOW.

Let’s get back to the study, if I may rant for a minute.  The health “experts” shouldn’t try to make people feel bad during the holidays if the research shows that the holiday eating isn’t the problem.  Here’s what irked me most about the article:

In the study, 14% of overweight and obese individuals gained more than five pounds during the holiday. In the abstract, the researchers wrote, “holiday weight gain may be an important contributor to the rising prevalence of obesity, even though absolute values for weight gain in this study were less than anticipated.”

Okay, so obese people gained more weight than average.  That’s not exactly breaking news, since they’ve obviously been gaining weight before then, so they’re just continuing the trend.  But notice the quote from the researchers, which basically says they’re still sticking to their hypothesis even though the statistics don’t support it.  Hopefully some people were reprimanded over that kind of junk.

So in conclusion, don’t feel bad about eating a few big meals during holiday feasts and parties.  The obesity problem isn’t caused by a couple of big meals here and there.  (Shouldn’t that be common sense?)  And the next time a news person on TV says to cut back during the holidays, eat another piece of pecan pie… or pumpkin pie… or cookies… you get the idea.  🙂  Eat, drink, and be merry.