Summer’s Bounty: Bet You’ll See Something New

Purple Scallions, Rainbow Chard, a Bevy of Berries, and More

Just a few photos from a recent trip to the farmers’ market at Copley Square in Boston. So much good stuff there, including a few vegetables and fruits I’ll bet you’ve never seen before…

You can often buy hanging plants at the market alongside fresh produce, if you’re into that kind of thing.

While some like their flowers, I personally prefer berries. A very patriotic presentation, yes? (Those are yellow raspberries, btw.)

I love radishes, and the greens are delightful when sautéed with a bit of EVOO and garlic, so you can use the whole plant thus minimizing food waste.

Swiss chard comes in a rainbow of colors...

Swiss chard comes in a rainbow of colors…

… as do carrots. (Remember: the more brightly colored your produce, the more beneficial phytonutrients – powerful health promoting and disease preventing chemicals found in plants – you’re getting.)

I’m wild about scallions, and the purple variety pictured here are particularly delightful. First time I’ve seen them, too.

And purple pole beans, too! (Commonly known as “green beans,” because most are, but now you see that’s not an accurate name.)

Nothing says summer like squash, which is among the most abundant vegetables. The “5 a day” message is outdated, though; you really should be eating a lot more than that. So, in this case at least, er, more is more.

Actors aren’t the only ones who can be a diva, apparently. A well-deserved name, these cucumbers are terrific and only in season a short while.

Not only is squash prolific, there are so many varieties from which to choose. Pictured here is so-called “specialty squash.” Adorable, and so pretty on the plate.

More flowers, the happy, sunflower-y kind: a virtual bouquet to brighten your day.

Quite the palate of brilliantly hued fruits and vegetables, yes?

I’m willing to bet that you a) saw at least one thing here you’ve never seen before and b) cannot get such things at your local supermarket. Am I correct? Do let me know. (I love it when I’m right.) Nevertheless, if you are lucky enough to have access to a local farmers’ market, I implore you to check it out. There’s no better time than the heart of summer to get the freshest and most interesting produce to add intrigue and beauty to your next dish. And you can feel good about supporting your local businesses and farmers, too.

What’s not to like?

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public healthShe brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twittercheck out my food porn (and pics from other farmers’ markets, too) on Pinterest, watch my cooking videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!

Healthy Food Porn is Here!

Food porn five!

Where else but my blog do the words “healthy,” “food,” and “porn” come together? The words are here, and the porn is on Pinterest.  

And if you’re not into that (yeah, right) there’s always Facebook and Twitter for you literary sorts.

I’m behind on my writing this week, you’ll note. I hate it when that happens. However, perhaps that’s given some of you a chance to catch up on what you’ve missed here at The Nutrition Doctor. I’ve had several readers ask me to write less, actually, to better manage their reading load. Well, I never! To them I’ve explained that I write as much a possible because, um, I’m a writer. In fact, I consider myself a very lucky woman that I rarely run out of things to write. Or say, not surprisingly. Oftentimes my husband wishes I had less to say, but that’s another story.

Further, if you don’t have time to read my posts, perhaps you’re spending too much time reading uninteresting drivel elsewhere? I’m kidding. Sort of. I’m so not kidding. I mean, we all know that it is critical to filter carefully what we read lest we consume (mis)information all the day long. Some of which may cause indigestion, I might add, due to terrible writing, bad grammar, spellling errors, crap poor content, uninformed opinion, and bogus anti-science. (Not that I have strong opinions on this, or anything.) Then again, it may just be empty calories to fill your head, and that has a time and place, too.

Well, that metaphor went too far, and was certainly too strongly worded, but you get the point. See what happens when I don’t have time to write for days on end? I’m all about the funny, but my dry wit can on occasion tend toward acerbic and approach caustic; it gets bottled up and spews out uncontrollably, people get offended, and next thing you know – Bam! No more readers or followers. (Or friends.) Which is the last thing I want, given it’s actually the purpose of today’s post.

Yes, Viriginia, there is a purpose.

How Do I Connect with Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

I share your struggles in determining what to read, who to follow, and so forth. And that is why I am incredibly grateful to all of you who read my blog. Thank you so much. Yet, there is a multitude of ways to meet online and acquire information these days such that I wanted to take a moment to list the different venues where we can connect. The methods are centered on the same themes - food, nutrition, science, sustainability, and cooking - but the format and content do differ somewhat. Here’s the deal.

1.  Food porn on Pinterest.  All the cool kids are on Pinterest these days, and I’m a follower, so I wanted to do it, too. Yeah, not really. Quite simply, Pinterest is a great way to connect with visual learners. (That’s my professorial way of saying “people who like food porn.”) I thusly gathered all my food photos and organized them onto pinboards, including salad, seafood, sweets, sauces, soups, and other categories that don’t begin with the letter ess. Pinterest makes it very easy to search some of the main categories that are here on my blog via food images. If you find something that looks tasty, just click on it and – Voilà! – you’ll be linked to the post with the story, recipe, video, and whatnot. Click here for porn! Food photo quality varies more than I’d like, you’ll note; the photographer is a dilettante. (And yes, that’s how you spell ess, as all you Scrabble players out there well know; not often you get to use it when not playing the game, though.)

2. News and more on Facebook; it’s not just about me. After years of never being on FB (I’m actually rather introverted), I took the plunge as a necessary step of the social marketing for this new venture of mine. This is a fan (professional) page, not a personal page, and it’s where I connect with people about current events by posting links to recent articles, reports, other blog pieces, etc. And, yes, I occasionally mention my outings to the farmers’ market or some scrumptious thing I cooked for dinner, but it’s mainly about highlighting interesting stuff on the interweb relevant to why what we eat matters. If you’d like to be a part of the conversation, visit the page to see what it’s about and become a fan. I post between 0 and 3 times a day, in case you were wondering about volume.

3. Blessedly succinct on Twitter.  I’m now part of the Twitterverse, as it’s called (I’m told). It’s like FB, as you probably know, only shorter. Some of my tweets are posted as wordier FB status updates, but I have many more daily tweets than FB posts (1 to 7 per day or so, I’d say.) My tweets do not currently automatically feed into my FB page to avoid redundancy and information overload for my FB fans. So, if you want less of me more frequently (or something like that), follow me on Twitter. And check out the awesome video called “Eat It, Don’t Tweet It” by American Hipster if you missed it last month for food porn, twitter style.

By the way, don’t forget that Earth Day is this Sunday, April 22. I even have some earth porn on Pinterest! Yeah, that phrase really doesn’t work, I agree, but the NASA photos are gorgeous and are also part of my space, food, and the final frontier post – an apropos mention given the upcoming holiday.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to making my Earth Day decorations.

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public healthShe brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twittercheck out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my cooking videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!

Food+Art+Music+Comedy=Awesome

What a Foodie Does for Love of Art and Science

Do you know how many cold dinners I’ve served in my quest to get great photos for my blog? Or how much of a complete douche idiot I feel like for pulling out my camera in a restaurant? But good food porn photography takes time and patience, people, it doesn’t happen on its own. You do it, do what it takes.

Whether you enjoy taking food photos yourself, mock such people relentlessly (or, er, your wife) for their poor restaurant manners, or just have a wicked sense of humor, watch this video. Watch it NOW. Because when food porn photography meets retro rap, it’s nothing less than legen – wait for it – dary.

Thank you, American Hipster, for turning an otherwise mundane Thursday into day Awesome. It’s not often my passions for food, music, theatre, and comedy come together so brilliantly. Now, if I could just bring in the science and cooking pieces… hmmm… I do know a bunch of rappers…

Challenge accepted.

On Language

Apologies if my colorful language today has offended you. This particular post veers a bit from my otherwise-utterly-professional personae that is my usual voice on this blog. (Well, mostly professional. Kind of professional. Let’s not split hairs, shall we?) But I know enough of my readers will appreciate this video such that I truly couldn’t resist. If today’s post pushes your limits and sensibilities, stay with me, I humbly request. I’ll soon return to squash soup.

Minus the rap.

Minus the awesome.

See now why I needed to post this?

P.K. NewbyDr. P. K. Newby is a nutrition scientist and educator with expertise in the prevention of obesity and chronic diseases through diet and the relations between agriculture, food production, and public healthShe brings together her passions for food, cooking, science, and sustainability through her writing and videos to help people eat their way towards better health, one delectable bite at a time. If you like what you see here at The Nutrition Doctor is In the Kitchen, please subscribe to my blog from the home page, become a fan on Facebook, follow me on Twittercheck out my food porn on Pinterest, watch my cooking videos on YouTube, and peruse my recipe page for soups, salads, seafood, sweets, and more. Thanks for reading!