Enjoy the Outdoors this Summer! Check out my nature photos taken yesterday in the NJ Pinelands #Happy4th @ConserveNJ

Enjoy the Outdoors!
 

Another great weekend to explore South Jersey and take a walk in the NJ Pinelands. And, as always we took our cameras.

Our happy place is Franklin Parker Preserve with its pristine wetlands. Below are a few of my photos taken on our walk yesterday. Harry took some photos too. He may post some of his on Fine Art America. 

Take a look; the clouds really add to the photos; what do you think? There was a lot of bird activity too, especially in the wetland grasses; even baby birds being fed.

As the sky was darkening, we made our way back to the car before another round of much needed rain.

Franklin Parker Preserve Wetlands - by Diana Wind

Preservation Mirror - by Diana Wind

Wetlands Wonder - by Diana Wind

Free as a Bird - by Diana Wind

That's all for now. Stay well. Enjoy the holiday!

Happy Fourth of July!

ps: Also, just fyi, the email blog post service will be stopping soon from Blogger. I'm not sure what other service to switch over to. Any ideas, please let me know. In the meantime, to read future posts, you may have to log on.Thanks for reading! -DW

Related Links

Franklin Parker Preserve

Photos and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

5th Annual Cape May Dragon Boat Race 2016 #capemay #dragonboatrace @letsmove #paddle

Hooked on Paddling!
Cape May Dragon Boat Race 2016 

Back in the day, I enjoyed paddling at Boat House Row in Philly and racing my Sunfish sail boat at Cooper River Yacht Club and in the International Sunfish Class Association races. Dragon boat racing is a whole new ball game that depends on timing, technique and teamwork sync and coordination. It's all about the team vs a solo venture. I knew when I got an email of a team forming at work, this was something I wanted to try. 

Inspira Health Network took home 2 medals for 1st and 3rd at Cape May's annual Dragon Boat Festival, which was held September 24th. Traveling teams came from all over, including the University of Maryland and the Philadelphia Police Dragon Boat Team, who won 1st place overall.

Inspira entered two dragon boats with 3 heats (races) planned. And, it just so happened it was my birthday weekend!

We decided to stay overnight and took Mom with us.

Dragon boats have a drummer who sits up front to set the pace and a helmsman who steers. This year was unusual - boat captains were given special instructions: 1) to forgo the traditional, festive dragon boat heads and tails; 2) to not use a drummer and 3) to reduce boat weight even further by cutting back to 16 people vs the usual 18 to 20 people per boat. 
       
Weather conditions were less than ideal. We experienced heavy winds, which made the harbor choppy, splashing water up over the sides and into the long boats. The Coast Guard assisted in bailing water out of our boats just before launching us off the beach.  

As my team stood on the beach waiting our turn watching the end of the previous race, we were surprised to watch a boat fill with water and sink below the water surface! That team managed to stick together, holding on to their boat as they drifted back to shore. 

We got in our boat and set off as waves washed over the gunnels. Luckily, the water was warm. After our winning race, it was disappointing, but not a surprise, that the 24-mph winds caused a race delay followed by cancellation of the remaining races. 
The conditions reminded me of the overcast, windy, rough bay with white caps at the Sunfish North American Championships with Derrick Fries on a megaphone shouting directions when I raced at Rehoboth Bay Sailing Association in Delaware back in 1987. Nothing like dating myself... but, I'll never forget it. I never sailed so fast in all my life! I was on a high for days after that event. 

Now, I'm hooked on paddling and am proud that I was able to participate and be part of Inspira Dragons. 

Harry made the above video that features Inspira Dragon's 2nd wet practice at Harbor View Marina and our boat taking first place! We wore blue T-shirts - I was in the last seat in the back right of boat #3.

The wheelchair we snagged at a yard sale came just in time to give Mom a tour around Cape May. 

On our way home we visited Cape May Lighthouse. I loved spotting a few migrating monarch butterflies, and Mom loved the Lighthouse; but I'm sure 'Ole Barney' is still her favorite.  

We also traveled to Cape May Point. Harry guided Mom to a bench on Sunset Beach while he reminisced of family visits to look at the concrete ship USS Atlantis. I remembered when my Dad was alive and my sister and I were kids collecting Cape May Diamonds...

See you again soon Cape May!

Related Links
Cape May Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat History
Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Adirondack Mountain Hiking @ADKmtnclub #ADK #Adirondacks @LetsMove

Adirondack Mountain Hiking

New York's Adirondack Mountain hikes will reward you with one of the best cardio workouts you'll ever experience! This year we met friends for a warm up on Mt. Jo, which was a great family hike. Elevation: 2,876 feet; 700 foot ascent; 1.3 miles. We enjoyed the beautiful view of Heart Lake and Algonquin and Wright peaks. 

Driving to get to the ADK Loj we passed beautiful wild flower meadows with milkweed.

On the way back to our car we stopped by a small garden plot to learn more about native wildlife and plants in the Adirondack region.

The next day we decided to climb Noonmark Mountain. Elevation: 3,556 feet; ascent 2,575 feet; 2.5 miles each way. It happened to be one of the hottest days of the summer in the Adirondacks. We packed a lunch and plenty of water to stay hydrated. 

The short distance gave us the impression that Noonmark would be a fairly easy hike. WRONG! It was a steep, challenging climb. We had a few vistas that we hoped were the summit, only to find out we had more to go to get to the top. Several people passed us that didn't make it to the summit, but we kept on hiking. After a few scrambles over rocks we finally made it. No one else was at the top but us. We had a fabulous 360 deg. view of the Adirondack Great Range. 
Related Links
Hiking Mt. Jo 
Noonmark Mountain
My unedited iphone Video of Noonmark 360 view from summit
Photo and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Hiking with Harry in the Adirondacks #ADK #Keenevalley #wildblueberries

Blueberry Mountain
4.8 miles round trip day hike

Hiking Adirondack mountains will surely get you back in shape within a few days, assuming that you start off somewhat prepared to hike by eating right and keeping yourself as fit as possible during the year. This year I planned to be better prepared than last year and worked out weekly at a gym. It did help. You don't think of it when you're young, but can't help but notice that as you get older - the climbs get tougher!

Most trail books accurately describe Blueberry Mtn. as an easy short hike with a beautiful view of Keene Valley. Harry and I left from Marcy Airfield to Blueberry Mountain, 2.4 miles: 4.8 miles round trip. The trail also lead to the summit of Porter Mountain, but we only wanted to climb Blueberry: 2,890 feet, which was enough for us for the first hike this trip. 

The August weather was comfortable and cool; not unseasonably hot like summer of 2013. And, yes, there were lots of blueberries and shrubs on Blueberry Mtn. Wild blueberries are noticeably smaller than commercial blueberries. 

RIP Pat Quinn who passed away May 2012. Her family closed the Bed and Breakfast 'Mountain Meadows' located in Keene Valley. She always gave us advise on good hikes and was an inspiration. I loved her cottage gardening style. Harry says it was like "going home,"  which it was. We miss her and the hospitality of her family. I think of her on mornings that I refill our hummingbird feeders and especially when we visit Keene Valley.

Trail-head located center of Keene Valley

Harry taking a photo of wild blueberries

Photos and blog post (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Have you gotten a copy of the First Lady's new #garden book yet? #GardenCuizine @LiveKelly

Iron Chef
Cooking with Veggies 

from the 

White House Garden

We will have to try Iron Chef Forgione's recommendation for slicing broccoli or cauliflower after the heads are chopped off to a grain-like texture similar to cous cous - sounds delicious! As for the candied rhubarb...sounds amazing too! We better get more rhubarb planted!

All proceeds from the sale of Michelle Obama's new book American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America go to the National Park Foundation. We have the book and I can't wait to read it.

Related Links  

Cooking with Produce from the White House Garden 

Revel's American Cut by Marc Forgione is a new kind of steakhouse

Fight Obesity * Eat Lean * Eat More Green * Exercise! * Beware of Portion Distortion @letsmove @atlanticcape

 Chefs Move to Schools

This video was a delight to watch after a long day on the job counseling adults and children in the fight against obesity. Prevention is far more desirable than having to try and regain control of an already overweight or morbidly obese body that has or may soon be at health risk for: 

• high blood pressure
• heart disease
• hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol)
• aching knees and joints that may require knee replacement surgery
• GERD (reflux disease)
• diabetes
• the list goes on...

Now in it's second year, The Chefs Move to Schools program - a major component of the First Lady's Let's Move initiative - continues to provide an opportunity for thousands of chefs (so far 3,400 chefs and 3,350 schools) around the country to help solve the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation. 

Chefs Move to Schools pairs chefs with schools in their communities to make learning about fruits and vegetables fun. The program brings messages from the cafeteria to the classroom, teaching kids in an interactive way about food, nutrition and healthy cooking. 

My former Academy of Culinary Arts pastry chef/instructor Chef Chelius (known as the "Queen of Lean" in the video) adopted Mrs. Spangler's, family and consumer sciences teacher (aka the "Queen of Green") 6th grade food class from Ocean City Intermediate School in South Jersey. They share their approach to MyPlate in the classroom and how they are helping in the fight against childhood obesity in New Jersey. Enjoy the video!

Great job to all; the teacher, all the participating 6th grade students, the school - OCIS, and of course the Chef!
Related Links
Let's Move Chefs Move to Schools Sign up
MyPlate

Healthier School Lunches on the Way @USDANutrition @theIOM @letsmove @Fruits_Veggies

USDA Ruling Now Official for

Healthier School Meals

The new USDA nutrition standards for our national school lunch and school breakfast programs will benefit the nutrition and health of 32 million school-age kids nationwide.The final ruling was announced this past week on January 26, 2012 by the US Department of Agriculture. The revisions update the meal patterns and nutrition standards in school food service to better align the foods provided with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Most schools will be required to increase their availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and to provide fat-free and low-fat milk. The levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in meals will also have to be reduced. School meals will also have to meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements. 

The improvements to the school meal programs were largely based on recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The new rules take effect March 26, 2012. Schools will have until July 1, 2012 to comply.

Related Links: USDA Nutrition Standards for School Meals 
IOM School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children
USDA Healthy Meals and Healthy Kids 
The National School Lunch Program

White House Squash Soup #GardenCuizine @letsmove @ObamaFoodorama

Squash Soup with
French Espelette Pepper

Check out White House Chef Cristeta Commerford's seasonal recipe for Roasted Pumpkin Squash Soup With Pepitas And Greek Yogurt. Chef Commerford adds Espelette pepper powder in just the right amount for medium heat and delicious flavor. 

Learn more about nutritious Espelette peppers from France. Read my article "Warm Up Your Recipes With Espelette" coming this Friday, December 9th on Dave's Garden. The link for Chef Commerford's nutritious squash soup recipe is posted below.

Photo credit: Piments sur les façades and Piments - France - Espelette - Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64) - 2005-08-05 taken by Pinpin courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. GNU Free Documentation license. 
Related Links: Roasted Pumpkin Squash Soup with Pepitas and Greek Yogurt Obama Foodorama blog
Pepper, Pepper, and Espelette pepper. The Basque pepper. With a touch of Armagnac thrown in. FrenchFoodFreaks blog 

Homemade Ground Pepper Spices by Diana Wind, RD

First @LetsMove Tweetup @WhiteHouse Garden @ObamaFoodorama @patchesmagarro #WHTweetup #GardenCuizine

First @LetsMove Tweetup 

Wednesday, October 5th

First Lady Michelle Obama will be hosting local students and some privileged Twitter guests to the first White House "tweetup" for their 2011 Fall Garden Harvest - October 5, 2011.

Students from Bancroft Elementary School and Harriet Tubman Elementary School helped get the garden started in the spring. They planted spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, peas, beets and Swiss chard. White House Horticulturist Dale Haney may have added even more healthy veggies to the garden too. 
 
 

What does the White House do with their Garden Harvest?  
Jesse Lee posted on the White House blog (March 2009) that the delicious veggies grown in the White House garden are cooked in the White House Kitchen and given to Miriam's Kitchen, which serves the homeless in Washington, DC.
 

Who does the Cooking?  
In the White House kitchen, you'll find Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford and her Assistant Chef Sam Kass, who is also Senior Policy Adviser for Healthy Food Initiatives. William "Bill" Yosses is the White House Executive Pastry Chef and coauthor of the book Desserts For Dummies. I had the pleasure of assisting his successor, Thaddeus DuBois, at Borgata the Event, which was held at the Supper Club in NY city, before he took the job at the White House. It was great fun and an honor to arrive by limousine with the Dean of the Academy of Culinary Arts, Mays Landing, NJ.
 
Happy and Healthy Gardening!  
During all the White House garden excitement, I’ll be studying for the RD exam and planting arugula, lettuce and harvesting what seem to be an endless supply of Serrano peppers, as well as Thai peppers, tomatillos and basil. Unlike TX, we've had lots of rain the past few months. I only wish we had planted okra this year.

Related Links:  
Let's Move
Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative
Let’s Move Start a Community Garden
Chefs Move to School  
Let's Move! 'Followers' Invited to White House for Annual Fall Harvest by Takia McClendon 
Photo White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford courtesy of Tina Hager, Wikimedia Commons
Blog Article and Tweetup pic Copyright 2011 D.Wind. All rights reserved.

A Taste of Celtic Festival Music @CelticClassic @glengarrybhoys @Solasmusic @Bbridgetcleary @girsamusic

A Taste of Celtic Festival Music

The Celtic Classic attracted over 250,000 visitors to downtown Historic Bethlehem, PA,  this past weekend (September 23, 24 and 25th ). The Celtic festival was presented by the Celtic Cultural Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Celtic culture and heritage through education, music and traditional competitions in athletics, piping and dance.

The festival provided plenty of food vendors who offered primarily fare typical of outdoor public events. Finding fruits and vegetables in the sea of funnel cakes, nachos, fries and the like, was a bit challenging. Highland athletes, musicians and dancers would all benefit from eating energy dense foods, low in saturated fats, such as: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, lean meats, fish, whole grains and pasta. Some healthful offerings were available and included: roasted corn-on-the-cob, water ice, fruit smoothies, water, fresh squeezed lemonade, milk, turkey legs, cinnamon glazed nuts, baked potatoes, baked sweets, baked beans, Shepherd's pie, Irish soda bread and Irish stew. And, for those willing to walk beyond the fairgrounds, just up the street, were several restaurants and shops. We discovered Thai Thai II, a wonderful Thai restaurant on Main Street during our stay.

Every concert, with the exception of Solas, was free. Solas tickets were only $10.00 pp - a mere token for the top quality performance they put on.

Related Links: Celtic Classic 
Irish Food, History and Traditions

#NOLA Street Music like you've never heard before...#GardenCuizine #Music #Guitar #Jazz #Violin #Blues

NOLA Street Music 

like you've never heard before...

On our recent visit to New Orleans Louisiana on a walk through the French Quarter, we discovered this fantastic violin and guitar duet playing on Royal Street. Meet violinist Tanya Huang and guitarist Dorise Blackmon. Check out their website for more information: www.tanyandorise.com.

Related Links: Tanya & Dorise Cooking Up Some Good Music by: Terri-Dumas
Gardens of New Orleans by Diana Wind

What a Weekend in #NOLA Vieux To Do June 2011 #GardenCuizine #LASeafoodFest

What a Weekend in New Orleans!

You can expect to find good food, fun and festivals all the time in New Orleans. We always try to experience different restaurants when we go too. This visit we checked out Chef John Besh’s brasserie restaurant ‘Lüke’ and Emeril’s Delmonico where we enjoyed a delicious garden salad, perfectly cooked Cajun seasoned redfish with roasted red pepper veloute and cinnamon beignets with chicory coffee crème anglaise. On the weekend we attended ‘Vieux To Do’, a festival trio of the Louisiana Seafood festival, Cajun-Zydeco music festival sponsored by the Jazz and Heritage Foundation and the Creole Tomato Festival sponsored by the French Market. Along the way we admired magnificent artwork: paintings, drawings, portraits and sculptures by the many artists surrounding the park at Jackson Square. The festivities stretched eight city blocks from Jackson Square to the old U.S. Mint. My distress for the hard working carriage horses in the hot southern sun lessened as the festive music penetrated my soul. A highlight of the festival included New Orleans top chefs and their food demonstrations. 

Some of the top chefs at the festival were: Chef Chris Lusk, Café Adelaide; Chef Patrick Henry, Taste and See Catering; Chef Tory McPhail, Commander’s Palace; Chef An Howard, Rouses Market; Chef Diana Chauvin, La Thai Cuisine; Chef Brian Katz, Red Fish Grill; Chef Keith Frentz, LOLA and Chef Ryan Gall of Salu.  

New Orleans Culture
                                                
Horse and mule-drawn carriages are an integral part of New Orleans culture. They can be boarded in the heart of the French Quarter, on the side of Jackson Square throughout the day. We always see them; I saw the carriages on Friday taking tourists around to see the sights. It was a hot day, over 92 degrees, but not as hot as New Orleans gets in July and August. One of the horses caught my attention because he was heavily frothing at the mouth. Globs of white foam dripped to the hot street beneath his harnessed mouth (not an acceptable small amount of foam indicative of a wet mouth). I asked myself, am I the only one to be concerned by this? Why is the carriage rider just sitting back and ignoring this? The horse appeared to be breathing heavily too.

Vieux To Do
                                                  
The next day began the big weekend in New Orleans - three festivals rolled into one, known as the Vieux To Do. The streets were packed, the day was sunny and hot - the carriages were busy. The horses tongues were hanging out, some were breathing harder than others. I saw the same horse I had seen the previous day, still frothing at the mouth, but not as much. I had to approach the carriage driver. He leaned forward as I approached. I looked at him - then at his horse, “He doesn’t look too healthy,” I said. “He’s fine,” the carriage driver replied. “I do this every day for a living,” he added in a somewhat arrogant tone. I walked away feeling helpless and said a prayer for the animals.

Upbeat Zydeco music filled the air as we approached the French Market Creole Tomato festival. The market was packed with visitors from around the world. The Creole tomatoes weren't quite ripe yet, but hey, the show must go on! A huge fan blew a cooling mist to anyone who stood in front of it. We cooled off and enjoyed some music before strolling to the neighboring tented area featuring chefs doing cooking demonstrations. Top U.S. food bloggers were invited to sit in the front row, we sat in the back as we listened to Chef John Folse talk about the history of New Orleans cuisine. He also mentioned ‘Restaurant R’evolution’ his new business with former executive Chef Rick Tramonto of ‘Tru’ (a Chicago restaurant offering progressive French cuisine) set to open in 2011 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans. 

Photo collage copyright (C) 2011 Wind. All rights reserved. 

Editor’s comment: Regarding the carriage horses: As a former small business owner, I by no means wish to negatively impact anyone's livelihood. All I hope for is humane and fair treatment for all animals.

Memories of MyPyramid® #RDChat #GardenCuizine

Memories of MyPyramid®

Today, obesity and inactivity are at the highest rates America has ever seen. This is causing great concerns for the future health of many Americans. Obesity often results in unwanted complications like inactivity, knee replacements, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, non alcoholic fatty liver disease and heart disease.

Weight loss is especially desirable after the pounds are on and complications are lurking. Obese individuals may find themselves tempted with what may appear to be an easy solution, bariatric surgery.  “The annual rate of bariatric surgery in the United States increased nearly six fold between 1990 and 2000.” [1] Bariatric Surgeries include Gastric bypass, LapBand® (laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding) and Gastric Sleeve (vertical sleeve gastrectomy), a procedure in which the surgeon permanently removes more than half of the patient’s stomach, leaving the remains in a tube or sleeve shape. These weight loss surgeries are increasing at an alarming rate.

Time for a Change!

With all these unhealthy statistics on the minds of our nations leaders, it seems change is in order for better ways and teaching tools that may have an impact on improving and maintaining a healthy body weight, better diet and more fitness. Today, the USDA will be presenting a major image change by replacing their controversial MyPyramid® logo to what they hope to be a more useful and effective one. 

As I wait to see the First Lady Michelle Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin unveil the new food icon that will serve as a reminder to help consumers make healthier food choices, I've been reminiscing to when the first food guide pyramid was released. The first USDA food guide pyramid was published in 1992. I had my award winning health food store and restaurant, Garden of Eden Natural Foods and Country Kitchen, Inc. in Mt. Laurel, NJ. Ahhh…we had some good times back then and served up some great wholesome food too. The food guide pyramid was the focus of attention in my eatery. I hung it smack in the center of the dining room on a wall of fruit adorned wall paper just above the chair rail that lined a row of oak slatted booths.

It was during my nutrition studies at Rutgers University in 2005 when the USDA introduced their new version of the pyramid. It had vertical bands of solid colors representing the food groups. I remember being a bit shocked, because I had just studied and learned all about the old version. Relearning about the new MyPyramid® wasn’t that bad though. I liked the fact they added a silhouette walking up steps to symbolize the need for exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. And I liked the fact the USDA introduced a Kid's version of MyPyramid® too.

The 2005 logo maintained the pyramid shape, but excluded pictures of foods that people were accustomed to seeing in the first pyramid - many people complained about not understanding the new pyramid and found it confusing. To add to the confusion, serving sizes were not clearly stated like they were in the previous version. To find out nutrition recommendations, an individual would have to log in to the MyPyramid.gov website to find out. Although nutrition needs vary per individual and this was personalized nutrition information, it caused even more trouble because not everyone had a computer and frankly, it was too much work and trouble - some lost interest - some just didn't care. 

MyPyramid® was deemed unsuccessful in terms of reaching the majority of Americans. 

• Tune in to USDA Live coverage June 2, 2011  10:45 AM EDT for news of the new food icon
• or Twitter #RDChat for more on the new USDA logo coverage

Related Links:  
Let's Move
Dietary Recommendations and how they have changed over time  
Here it is!!! Check out the new food icon
American Heart Association comments on the new icon

References: [1] Trus TL, Pope GD, Finlayson SR; National trends in utilization and outcomes of bariatric surgery; Surg Endosc. May;19(5):616-20. Epub 2005 Mar 11