Google

This was supposed to be a post about my fabulous discovery that Google now runs its own transit system (biodiesel, no less!) to help its employees commute more efficiently.

Instead, I want to express my insane jealousy of Google Culture, Googleplex in particular. And I quote:

• ...baby grand piano...
• ...Healthy lunches and dinners for all staff...
• ...Snack Rooms - Bins packed with various cereals, gummi bears, M&Ms, toffee, licorice, cashew nuts, yogurt, carrots, fresh fruit and other snacks. Dozens of different drinks including fresh juice, soda and make-your-own cappuccino...

Free food at a workplace would be so incredible. I appreciated any opportunities I had for free food as a student, and continue to do so today. If I worked at Google, I would probably save a lot of money on rent because I would never go home.

Bonus link - Life in the Googleplex Photo Essay

Chocolate lava cake

I had a craving for chocolate lava cake all last week. Since I own ramekins and was due for a trip to Bulk Barn anyhow, last night some chocolate was obtained, melted with butter, mixed with sugar, eggs, and flour, and made into lava cakes using a recipe I found by searching Google. B did most of the work, and quite well. 2 of the 4 cakes turned out perfect. The other 2 stuck, with 1 eventually coming out onto the floor and the other eventually onto a plate. B suggests that using flour instead of cocoa to "flour" the ramekins might have lessened that issue. Today I chipped only 1 of the ramekins while washing them, which could be a record for me.

The cakes tasted amazing. This is what they looked like, essentially, except that we had them plain without ice cream or raspberry coulee or any of the other fancy restaurant gimmicks. It's a little gross if you think really hard about it, that the reason the inside is runny is because those 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks in the batter haven't fully cooked on the inside. Still though... they tasted great.

Pancakes

Oh no, my pancakes!!

Warmer-than-usual winters are throwing things out of kilter, causing confusion among maple syrup producers, called sugar makers, and stoking fears for the survival of New England’s maple forests...

There is no way to know for certain, but scientists are increasingly persuaded that human-caused global warming is changing climate conditions that affect sugaring.

The New Pollution

I am completely ecstatic that Degree's Diner at my alma mater has switched to "completely biodegradable take-out containers, coffee cups, lids, utensils and straws".

It’s one of the first university restaurants in Canada to make the switch and the move earned the U of M headlines and news coverage across the country.

Now when you order food to go from the University of Manitoba Students’ Union run restaurant you can toss your package material into recycling bins on campus where it will be composted by the Campus Compost Program.

It gets better though... the company distributing the biodegradable materials is based in Winnipeg.

I would especially love to see areas with a cluster of restaurants under one roof, such as The Forks, latch onto something like this.

Unhappy Meals

There is a very interesting article about food and nutrition in the New York Times called "Unhappy Meals" (it's not about McDonalds). It's very long, but it's worth the read.

Home grown foodstuffs

Remember how I was hoping someone would put together a list of Manitoba-produced food?

Well, the government went and did it. Yay government!