Okay. Terrible blog title. But I drew another maze. I’m just gonna keep posting these until someone does one & sends it back.
“Toybox” (Shpiez Remix) (via Ernie and the Berts)
Prepping for Food Allergy Awareness Week 2011
Okay, so I’m on a roll this morning. That Subway stuff struck a nerve. It reminded me that I would like to have more consumer-driven responses to food allergy issues, and less government mandates. Food Allergy Awareness Week is not for a few months (May 8-14, 2011), but it doesn’t mean that you can’t start getting ready now.
I just wrote to the Food Network, requesting some Food Allergy Awareness. I used their contact form, and this is what I had to say…
I’m a big fan of all the Food Network shows. I’d love to see an Iron Chef battle where they can’t use any of the “top 8” allergens. I am allergic to shellfish, and always recoil slightly when it’s a lobster or crab battle… or when the inevitable prawn works its way into a dish. There is a Food Allergy Awareness week every May. It would be great timing for such an event… and really help the allergy awareness and cross-contamination cause. There are MANY food-allergic foodies out there!
I’m sure you’re aware that the top 8 allergens are Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Fish, Shellfish, Soy, & Wheat. TO have an Iron Chef battle where they ahd to prepare meals without any of the top 8 allergens would be truly epic, and help show others out there that there ARE indeed alternatives & work-arounds when dealing with a life-threatening allergy. Food allergy awareness week this year will be May 8-14, 2011.
Thank you for your time, I hope to hear your thoughts on this matter!
-Eric
I’d like to ask that you also write your own letter or email. And, why stop at one? Please, share with me other places where you think we ought to write, and I’ll write to them too!
I’ll definitely be writing more, perhaps armed with statistics like the following (from Top8Free.com):
Prevalence of food allergies in the United States
Ninety percent of food allergies in the United States are caused by eight foods: Milk, egg, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, fish, and shellfish. This website is dedicated to a diet free of these allergens. Of course, it is possible to be allergic to just about any protein. In Japan, rice allergy is one of the offenders.
Just to give you a sense of how many kids are suffering from food allergies today, here is a table of the most common food allergies. This does not count children with milk-soy protien intollerance or Celiac disease, only children with Ig-E mediated food allergies.
Percentage of young children with allergy to:
- Milk 2.5%
- Egg 1.3%
- Soy 1.1% (There is little agreement on this number. Estimates range from 1 to 5%)
- Wheat 1.0%
- Peanut 0.8%
- Tree nuts 0.2%
- Fish 0.1%
- Shellfish 0.1%
- Overall 6 to 8% of population
Percentage of adults with allergy to:
- Shellfish 2.0%
- Peanut 0.6%
- Tree nuts 0.5%
- Fish 0.4%
- Milk 0.3%
- Egg 0.2%
- Soy 0.2%
- Overall 3.7%
Source: Hugh A. Sampson, MD. “Update on food allergy“, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, May 2004
While writing to politicians does gain some inroads, there are other productive avenues to explore.
Gluten-Free food at Subway?
I recently came across an article that is at once good news and quite annoying…
Food Allergy Daily | Subway Now Testing Gluten-Free
On one hand, it’s great news that they’re finally recognizing a food allergy. On the other, it almost angers me that they haven’t dealt with the shellfish issue that I have been telling them about for years. (Literally… over the span of more than a few years, and through dozens of letters and emails.)
This part is quite amusing…
Employees will be educated on how to cut the bread using a pre-wrapped knife to avoid cross contamination.
Perhaps they read my dog-turd analogy? In a response to that, My friend Ms. Gomez had assured me that they already wash all utensils to avoid cross-contamination. Apparently this is not the case… or they wouldn’t need new training and a “pre-wrapped knife”. (Besides the fact that I have seen the sandwich artists “wash” a knife after cutting a sandwich… with a dirty dish-rag. To me, this doesn’t constitute washing.)
Although, one of the past letters did say this…
Maybe I’m the one who got the ball rolling here?
My favorite letter to Subway: https://aixelsyd13.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/five-five-dollar-five-dollar-foot-up-your-ass/
Check out my review of a local Subway on UrbanSpoon: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/23/271709/restaurant/Dormont/Subway-Banksville-Plaza-by-Kuhns-Pittsburgh
I’m going to have to write to them again, and ask a few questions… like if they’ve already been trained in cross-contamination, what’s this new training for? And… why are they going gluten-free and ignoring the people with allergies to shellfish, peanuts, eggs, and the other “top 8“?
Yinz still ain’t drivin’ right.
Last night, it took me two hours to get home… it’s normally a 35 minute drive. The industrial park in which I work was in chaos. The roads weren’t that bad, but tires were spinning because of people flooring the gas… and the local cops stopped a bunch of cars… close together… on a slush-covered hill.
I took these photos while sitting still for quite some time, not while moving. Yinz are ridiculous.
Yinz Ain’t Drivin’ Right
I saw this video thanks to Twitter this morning… I’m pretty sure it’s the one I’ve heard talked about as being a clip on GMA yesterday. It sparked awe in me, and perhaps obviously this point, a rant.
I’m not even sure where to begin. I mean, I’ve been amazed for years about the lack of caution during hazardous road conditions from my fellow southwestern PA motorists… but this is beyond amazement. If I were in charge of public service announcements, my #1 topic/message would be that “AWD/4WD may help you go, but it doesn’t help you stop“… and to leave space between you & the vehicle in front of (or beside) you. Too many people just drive like nothing’s going on out of the norm as far as road conditions during inclement weather. Then again, you have the other end of the extreme… people driving like they’re afraid, and being so ‘cautious’ that they’re a danger to others. But that’s all general. I’d love to just point out the insanity in this video.
- The White SUV – Okay. I live not too far from here. It’s obviously quite a hilly area like most of southwestern Pennsylvania. I would avoid hills like this if at all possible when I knew there were icy or even snowy road conditions… To a certain extent in these neighborhoods all routes out involve some sort of hill, but there are less “extreme” grades around. I wonder what sparked the camera man to start taping at this point? What auto-acrobatics led up to a “wow, I should get this on video” moment? Think all 3 cars there were damaged, or just the 1st 2?
- The Speedy Sedan – Seriously? Did you just miss the twirling SUV… and the minivan that apparently decided to join the chaos only to make a futile attempt to clear a path for your louge-run? It almost looked like someone stepped on the gas trying to go down that hill, Speed Racer. I’d love to see the look on your insurance agent’s face when they see this pinball-machine like run, assuming you have insurance. I hope you had a change of underwear in the car with you. I feel bad for the poor guy who probably thought his car was safely parked in the front yard away from road hazards flanked by other vehicles… unless he ended up there just like this guy. What flew to the left there that started out behind the parked black SUV? A tree?
- The Concerned Citizen – Yeah, I get that you’re trying to help, but that may not be the best place to walk… in case, you know… someone else were dumb enough to slide down that hill. He’ll re-appear later with a construction cone.
- Sedan #2 – Adds injury to insult while you’re distracted by Brian Boitano trying to cross the road.
- SUV #2 – Won’t be outdone… it’s a almost a sedanwich, but it turns into a nice little road block. Maybe this will serve as a warning to other would-be travelers to turn around and go home?
- Sedan #3 – This driver likes a challenge, and decides to plow through the blockade just like in all those movies on Spike. Another bright idea is to get small children out of the car and on to the icy road.
I’d love to read your thoughts.
(Video & News story also available here.)
Hard Rock Cafe X Winter Rock Showcase (via Ernie and the Berts)
What do you call this hat?
I don’t think any other article of clothing causes so much confusion or has so many names. I’d guess the official name is “tuque“, but we always called it a “beanie”, “skullcap”, or “tossle cap”.
What do you call this kind of hat?
Wikipedia lists all these alternatives under the tuque entry…
- knit hat
- knit cap
- sock cap
- stocking cap
- watch cap
- skull cap
- skully
- snow hat
- snow cap
- ski cap
- tossle cap
- woolly hat
- chook
- beanie
- toboggan
I had a friend on Facebook recently call it a “snooki”. How many nicknames is Wikipedia missing? I was always annoyed by calling it a “toboggan”… isn’t that a sled?
At any rate, what do you call it?
School Board/Food Allergy Obsurdity in Illinois
This is ridiculous and an outrage on many levels.
http://twitter.com/#!/AllergyEats/status/24449565625163776
Please read the article at Allergy Eats (originally from Kelly the Food Allergy Mama), and let them know what you think. I’ll be commenting later most likely, after I’ve had time to gather some thoughts.
Apparently these people didn’t hear or care about Katelyn Carlson, who is in their own state.
I too, balk at government legislation on allergy issues, with the possibility of reaching too far… but really… all this legislation is calling for is a policy covering some instruction on food allergies, and maybe having some epi pens on hand. I would guess that these programs could be subsidized by pharmaceutical corporations looking to get their name out there and possibly better their image.
Lionize / Ernie and the Berts + More @ The Smiling Moose – Mon. 01/20/2011
Apparently Lionize was supposed to play across the street at Diesel, but that got canned… so they’re rocking out at the Smiling Moose with us and a couple of other bands. Yeah, it’s a Monday, but it’s an early show… starts at 7:00pm and we’re most likely on 1st. So, take out your Monday work day frustrations by rocking out with us:
The Bands:
- Lionize – Facebook / Myspace
- The Spiffies – Facebook / Myspace
- Reel A Peel – Facebook / MySpace
- Ernie and the Berts – Facebook / Reverb Nation / MySpace / Twitter / Yahoo! Group
The Venue:
- The Smiling Moose
1306 East Carson Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203-1510 - (412) 431-4668
- Facebook / Myspace
- Click here for directions from Google Maps.
The Details:
- Monday – Jan. 10, 2011
- 6:30 pm Doors / 7:00 pm Show – EARLY SHOW
- 21+
- $10
- Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=131457346918466
- It’s a Drusky Entertainment show. (Facebook / MySpace / Twitter)
- Drusky Event Details: http://druskyentertainment.com/calendar.php#649
World (and Lunar) Domination 