A Salty Question

Salt Mounds - Bolivia

Have you noticed how many commercials speak to "natural sea salt: as a delicious, nutritious - and much better than common salt - addition to their product? Campbell's Select Harvest Soup is one example.
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What is the deal with that?
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The claim, at times, is that their natural sea salt contains less sodium than salt. What they're probably saying is, the "sea salt" they are putting in the product is actually potassium chloride - not sodium chloride. However, if you read all of the ingredients on the can of soup - for example, the Maryland-Style Crab Soup you will see "contains less than 2% of lower sodium natural sea salt" and then you will see salt listed twice as an ingredient after that.

So they still add salt. The potassium chloride may have been added separately to the meat and/or vegetables as a normal everyday processing agent. They may have been adding it all along - for years. Then someone started thinking out of his stupid box (I hate that phrase) and came up with the bright idea of calling the potassium chloride "natural sea salt".

Salt crystal magnified 200x

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Salt is sodium chloride from the sea. Mined salt (called halite), that becomes table salt is in the ground because an old salt sea dried up bazillions of years ago. Would that not make it ....I'm going out on a limb here...sea salt??? The area was later covered by silt and dirt and whatever else covered the land over the years. Mined salt - think Morton's - is processed to remove impurities. Iodine is sometimes added and sometimes a drying agent is added to keep it from caking up.
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"Natural sea salt" is an ambiguous and overused term for salt that has been obtained by evaporating sea water. The sea salt will be (hopefully) processed to remove impurities. Then flavoring ingredients may or may not be added, and the salt may/or may notcontain other minerals and elements that are resident in the sea.

Some "natural sea salt" is colored by minerals and elements indigenous to the area that the processors choose to leave in with the salt. Like black lava salt. It has lava in it. Nice dinner table conversation for Mister Wine Label Snob, but who wants to eat lava. Voluntarily?

This "natural sea salt" has flavoring agents added. 3.5 lbs of these assorted salts are just a mere $59.95.

Some people say they can taste the difference between table and sea salt. I suppose if they are using more than they should, or dipping radishes in it they are able to taste it. Or if things like truffles, peppercorns or cayenne are added, of course they can taste the difference.

Consistency is noticeable when you sprinkle kosher salt or unevenly grained sea salt on top of your focaccia instead of table salt or when you sprinkle popcorn salt - which is finely ground table salt on your popcorn. But once salt is added to soups, sauces or dressings it is liquefied and other ingredients are the flavoring agents. You will not be able to attribute anything but "salty" to the taste of the salt.



The thing is, we are supposed to be watching our salt intake.


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Dietary Salt (sodium) Intake
"Normal" salt diet ... ... 1100 - 3300 mg/day
"High" salt diet ... ... 4000 - 6000 mg/day
"Low" salt diet ... ... 400 - 1000 mg/day


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Getting back to my can of soup, it contains 480mg of sodium per serving (serving size is another incendiary subject, as many companies adjust serving size for their own benefit when reducing the volume or weight of a product rather than or in addition to raising the price or to lower the fat or sodium per serving - like saying my can of soup contains 2 servings instead of one normal human being sized serving.


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A normal person, eating just soup for lunch or dinner may very well decide to enjoy the entire can - a bowl of soup instead of a cup of soup. In that case, you are eating 960mgs of sodium - 40% of your daily food value. If you are on a low sodium diet, you are done for the day.

So, what I ask you, is the point of highlighting the nutritious sea salt? Or any salt at all when processed foods are bringing far too much sodium into our diets?

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The one ingredient these salts are missing - unless listed as an additive - is iodine. Iodine a necessary nutrient for a healthy thyroid, but is available in vegetables and seafood. The upside to the Select Harvest Soups is they do taste good, and the Crab soup contains only 80 calories per serving 160 calories per can. (you did know there is a give or take of 20% on the number of calories stated, didn't you?)
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"Lot's Wife" salt pillar - Dead Sea

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Quick history of iodized salt: Iodine was first added in minute amounts to salt in 1924 to prevent iodine deficiency - especially in in the Great Lakes Region and the Pacific Northwest. The deficiency was first noticed during the draft for WWI. Many men from these area suffered from goiter and were ineligible for the service. The variety of foods available today makes it easier for us to consume the amount of iodine we need without depending on iodized salt.

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Magnified Kosher Salt Crystals - this is the preferred salt for brining and curing because the uneven edges of the grouped crystals attract moisture. (75x)
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Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland - Chapel of St. Kinga

Even the chandeliers are made of salt

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You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses it's saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by man. - Mt. 5:13 NIV

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Note: Most of the salt used in Israel came from the Dead Sea and was full of impurities. Too many impurities lessens the volume of salt and renders it useless for preserving and curing.

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So what do you think? What happens to that little "gotta go shopping and get some" area of your brain when an advertiser says "mmmmm! natural sea salt!" ?

The Calendar Says Spring But the Trees Say Fall

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Contrary to popular belief, we do have seasons here in Florida. Really. We have Summer, Football, Winter and Live Oak Fall - in that order. Summer is about 8 1/2 months long - April through October. Then it's Football season, then Winter sets in for a few weeks and then, near the end of February Live Oak Fall starts.

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Those Huge beautiful graceful live oaks with their lovely tendrils of Spanish moss start dropping their little leathery leaves. Billions of them. They sound like rain and they fall and fall and fall some more. Then, while the leaves are still falling, they flower - tiny insignificant blooms on long green tendrils. Trillions of them. The pollen from the flowers is incredible - green powder that gets in and on everything. Everything takes on a green patina - walks, streets, cars and anyone who ventures outside to rake the leaves. As you rake, puffs of green pollen rise up and you start looking like Gumby. Meanwhile, those trillions of tendrils start to turn brown and fall and fall and fall some more. Those that aren't raked up or that fall on the roof disintegrate into what looks like coffee grounds - right around the time the rainy season starts and they gather in puddles and gutters and the first few minutes of a rain storm looks like Maxwell House French Roast dripping off the house.

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We started the raking this weekend and filled 5 heavy duty industrial sized bags. The area that we raked is about 1/10th of our yard. The pile behind the tree in the above picture is just what the Mister blew off that corner of the roof. You have to go up on the roof first and blow the leaves out of the crevices, they don't fall voluntarily.

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The pictures don't do the volume of the piles justice.

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You can see some of the tendrils mixed in with the leaves in this picture. That's just the beginning of the stringy brown stuff.

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This morning the area that we raked was covered again - like we were never there.

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In the meantime, the new leaves are are growing - the trees are never actually bare because everything happens simultaneously. In a month or so the trees will quit dropping stuff on us - until November when the galls that grow on each of the leaves and the acorns start falling.

Happy Fall, Floridians!

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Rehydrating an impudent anole

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We brought the orchids in the house twice this winter because of cold weather. The last time was over a month ago. The little anole you see in the picture came indoors with the orchids - two or three always do - and hopped impudently behind the sofa just as we were taking the plants back outside. I have excellent success hunting down the stragglers and letting them back outside, but this lady was fast and elusive. I eventually forgot all about her. I finally saw her last week, chased her down and set her out in the sun on one of the orchid tables. She was dehydrated , so I sprayed her with the mister. Meanwhile THE Mister is asking me why I'm being mean to the anole - spraying it and all.
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She appreciated my efforts - she stayed right there for about 15 minutes basking in the sun and lapping up water before going off to do whatever it is anoles like to do. She let me stand around and watch her and take pictures.
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I am far more in tune with nature than the Mister

Shiny!

Oooh Shiny!

Blicky is finally out of the sick bed! He ever so graciously thanked Li'l Cindi in Saturday's post for stopping by with words of encouragement.

The inspiringly impudent L'il Cindi
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The Blick then went on to offer some incredibility intelligent advice on how to get out of
sticky conversations by saying things like "What is that shiny thing over there...?

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This all hit home, because I have always been easily distracted by shiny stuff. Why, as a young child I once stepped on my own fingers when I stopped in mid run to pick up a shiny gum wrapper. It doesn't matter that I was being chased by a rabid mongrel dog at the time. It was shiny!

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I was especially inattentive at church. Talk about shiny stuff: candles, lights, gold, stained glass windows. Oh, is mass over already? Really? Did I go to communion? ....Ouch!
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Shiny!

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The Mister and I toddled off to Bed Bath and Beyond today. We were in the service line - he wanted to exchange something that he bought last year. He had neither original packaging nor receipt so we were there for a while. Meanwhile, something shiny caught my eye. Really shiny! Glittery! There was a whole box of "Non-Toxic Bouncy Glitter Balls" Gold, red, lavender... lots of colors! It would be like having a snow globe without any people in it and you could shake it and bounce it off the floor and it wouldn't break into a bizillion pieces and no one would smack you for it. After checking out several colors I decided on a lavender one.

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The Mister sees what I am up to and he just gives me an impudent look. I asked the cashier if I could pay for it right here at the service window. She says yes of course so I say to the Mister "She says I can buy it. He laughed and paid the $3.

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So I'm thinking, this could be a life saver if most people are mesmerized by shiny stuff as I am. Just keep something shiny with you when you are walking through empty parking garages and vacant buildings. Like one of these balls. Then if someone looks the least bit threatening you just toss the ball off to the side and they're all "ooooh shiiiinyyyy".

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Heeeeeres .......oh! Shiny!

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Just think how differently things would have turned out in The Shining if Wendy had flashed a mirror at Jack? Or better yet caught the light on that huge butcher knife she had in the bathroom with her while Jack busy axing down the door. She could have handed him the mirror and walked right past him. No REDRUM!.

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I mesmerized the Mister by making this shiny strawberry jam


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It even tastes shiny!

Save The Words And A Thank You!

I was browsing around in Blogland, and came upon a post that had one of these fine certificates on it. You know I love certificates and awards and stuff. I went right over to the site, Save The Words (and then promptly had complete and total amnesia about where I was when I saw this so I can't give my bloggyfriend credit. Doh!) Anyway the premise of Save The Words is there are many words that fall into disuse and eventually are deleted from the dictionary to make room for new words. Visitors are asked to browse through a very long list, find a word you would like to adopt and then use the word as often as possible to bring it back into common use.

Those of you who have attended Catholic schools or catechism classes can imagine my shock and awe when I came upon the word "impudent." This word is among the top 10 words uttered by nuns - as in - "Mary Catherine, you impudent child, stop smirking this moment or I shall have you stand in the aisle for the rest of the class.

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A covey of impudent Dominicans

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Sister Mary Blackendecker in shop class used this word so often it was among her top 4, falling just below God, Jesus and class dismissed. Sr. Mary Colorpalette in Art Class preferred "saucy" to "impudent", so it probably hovered around #29 in her commonly used word list. Anyway, you get the idea. Impudent getting dissed from the dictionary so Webster can add dissed?

I think NOT!


I have adopted the word impudent, and plan to use it as often as possible. The Mister is in for a surprise. If I reply or comment and use the word impudent, you will know why. If you don't, I'm in trouble and my followers box will be sorely affected. I love followers as much as I love awards and certificates.
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Sr. Mary Alphabeta and her impudent English Class
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If you will also use impudent in conversation and writing we may be able to save it. Catholicism is at risk. Nuns will be at a loss for words. So please so your part.

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Saucy, impudent, or just plain ignorant? You decide.

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My dear and fabulously artistic bloggyfriend, Soulbrush has given me this wonderful Sisterhood Award! I love awards. Did I mention that? Thank you so much, Soulbrush, I shall wear it proudly. I did not read the rules - on purpose- because I would like to present this award to all of the Sisters ( some of whom are also SITStas) who traveled with me on the Orient Express! This means I am awarding one right back to Soulbrush. (Her trip was particularly distressing - Senita and Joe missed the train and had to stay home with the crying quads all day.)

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I hereby present the Sisterhood Award to my adventuresome, impudent and saucy Sisters!
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Bibi (Belgrade) @ http://yankee-in-belgrade.blogspot.com/
Lavinia @ http://birdbathchronicles.blogspot.com/
Stevie @ http://alittlebirdietoldmeso.blogspot.com/
Sparky @ http://redbirdacres.blogspot.com/
Janeen @ http://chachaneen.blogspot.com/
Marie (Paris) @ http://www.cpaphilblog.com/
Debby @ http://lifesfunnylikethat.blogspot.com/
Poetickat @ http://hyggedigter.blogspot.com/
Debra Kay @ http://serroscotty.blogspot.com/
Petra Michelle @ http://petramichelle.blogspot.com/
Soulbrush @ http://soulbrush.blogspot.com/
Nihal (Istanbul) @ http://nihalcrossroads.blogspot.com/
Mim @ http://ammdh.blogspot.com/
Melody @ http://teatimewithmelody.blogspot.com/
Karna @ http://www-karna-sassylass.blogspot.com/
Lyn @ http://ellerochelle.blogspot.com/
Linda @ http://lifesacallingwhoisthis.blogspot.com/
Karla @ http://ramblinroadstoeverywhere.blogspot.com/
Rebecca@ http://differenceayearmakes.wordpress.com/

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BTW - Rebecca is still on the train! She is writing adventurous installments - so stop on by.

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Have a blessed Sunday! Behave in church, but feel free to be impudent for the balance of the day!

Saturday Salubrious Signs - Sagittarius

Sagittarius

Sagittarius Horoscope for March 14:

If you have been losing confidence in your intuitive powers, your faith in them will be restored by an offhand comment someone makes later in the day (you knew they were going to say that!). This episode of de ja vu will put you back in touch with your gut, and you will be ready to predict what's coming down the road for you and your family members. Don't be surprised if you sense big changes. And listen to your gut when an invitation comes your way late in the day. Saying 'no' might be the best path.

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Don't kid yourself - Carnac The Magnificent was not a Sagittarius
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An unpleasant level of workplace stress could spur you to overeat but you must resist this impulse if you want to emerge from this tense period with your health and sanity intact. Say no to the double chocolate doughnut bites! Reject the friend candy bars! If you want a snack, try a carrot -- it's good for you and the chewing motion will relieve jaw tension! And listen to your gut when an invitation comes to you late in the day. Saying No might be the best path.

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Saggitarians have some sense of direction

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Your Real Advice:

Don't worry about being intuitive because my intuition says you're not. If you have any sense of de ja vu at all it's only because you're so busy reading travel magazines and art auction house catalogues that everyone has to tell you everything twice. Of course it sounds familiar!

Like the 2nd time Veronica Saltstein had to ask you to hand her some toilet paper under the stall. You're all "Ver-on-ih-cah! I knew you were going to ask me for that cuz I have ESPN." Veronica, in the meantime is all "Just hand me the paper you idjit and it better not be a page of that magazine you're reading in there."

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Stand on Your Own Two Feet, Sagittarius.

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And put a little poison on that arrow of yours.

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And that's where the second paragraph comes in. Everyone is stressing you out with their uppity attitudes and snorting at your claims of mystical powers and the next thing you know you are shuffling through your purse for one of those S'more flavored power bars. Did you see where it said to resist those urges?

These are hard times, Saggi! Why should you deprive yourself. If you have enough loose change at the bottom of your purse go get yourself some of those Sno-Ball cakes out of the vending machine. Give the aforementioned carrots to Veronica. She needs them more than you do.

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And that final sentence - say no to an invitation? Hello ! At least find out if they're buying first. Nothing tastes better to a Sagittarius than a free meal - except maybe the dessert after.

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A street for Saggitarians

The Journey Continues!

Rebecca, of Difference A Year Makes 2 has a continuing adventure on the Orient Express! She has just posted Orient Express Adventure, Part III - The Departure. I would imagine lunch is being served by now, so please stop by, have a bite to eat, catch up on her posts and pop into by her stateroom to say hi!

Postcard Friendship Friday #7

Band Concert, Belle Isle, Detroit Michigan

Happy Postcard Friendship Friday! Today's postcard was postmarked on March 4, 1917 and pictures a scene from Belle Isle, a Detroit City park located in the middle of the Detroit River.
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Known as Wah-na-be-zee(Swan Island) to the Chippewa and Ottawa Native American tribes, today Belle Isle reflects the late 19th century movement to create metropolitan parks begun in Paris and emulated in America by landscape architects like Frederic Law Olmsted.
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Ownership of these six hundred acres in the Detroit River passed over time to the French and then to the British before ending up with American settlers. The city of Detroit finally acquired the island, whose name had changed from Hog Island to Belle Isle in the middle of the century, in 1879.

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Soon citizens were calling on the city to create a public park on Belle Isle that would emulate the parks and tree-lined boulevards of Paris. In 1883, the city secured the services of Frederick Law Olmsted, the prominent landscape architect and planner responsible for famous urban parks in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston. After Olmsted's design was completed, other buildings were slowly added to the island.

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Canadian Geese at Belle Isle (This picture is for Shelly and Sandy)

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The most famous structure on Belle Isle is undoubtedly the Aquarium and Horticulture Building. Inspired by the Naples aquarium, the firm of Nettleton & Kahn designed a building with a highly articulated brickwork facade, copper roof, and a huge interior space to hold the great aquariums, where diverse marine habitats are displayed.

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Conservatory

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The Horticulture building, also called the Conservatory, includes a fernery and a tropical plants sections, and is surrounded by three acres of formal gardens, lily ponds and greenhouses.
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Orchids, bromiliads and other tropical plants

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Another noted building is the Belle Isle Casino, designed by Albert Kahn in 1908. Once said to be the finest casino in the United States, ornate towers frame the building's four corners, and verandas provide picnickers with shelter.

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Casino

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A beautiful public park of memorials, fountains, athletic fields, man made lagoons, and dramatic buildings, Belle Isle is a green oasis near the city's center.

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The beautiful Scott's fountain

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Circa 1934, this is just one of thousands of pictures taken with Scott's fountain as a backdrop

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My family and I made many trips to Belle Isle. We went ice skating on the canals in the winter, swam in the Detroit River in the summer and enjoyed concerts, picnics and all that the pretty island had to offer.

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The postcard was mailed from Detroit to St. Louis, Mo, while the Big War, WWI was still being fought.

It reads:

Detroit, Michigan
March 4, 1917
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Say you folks down there has some of those St. Louis Germans killed you all or what the dickens is the matter you don't write. We have all been sick, one of the worst winters I ever saw. Some of us down all the time. Nothing but cold and snow. How is that big boy Chas. those girls and and Jack. Write soon.
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Your brother Clarence.
204 Antietam Street, Detroit.
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The street Clarence lived on was just about 3 miles from Bell Isle. It no longer exists, and was probably razed on the 1950's to make way for the Chrysler Freeway. The address in St. Louis still exists.
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The back Story:
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Clarence, heh, heh, the big kidder, is trying to get a rise out of his sister Bohemia Mae. He took the trolley over to the casino on Belle Isle to buy this post card. He would like Bohemia to pick up her PDA and text her favorite peep.
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Bohemia is lax in her writing as she is very involved with the war effort. She volunteers at the local USO at the Civic Center three afternoons a week. She fills cups with fruit punch and plays patriotic songs on the flute. Sometimes she takes the kids along. That big boy Chas. recites "Hiawatha" and "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and the girls, Gertie and Millie hand out home made butter cake with boiled icing and sing "Goin' Down By That Wide River" in two part harmony.
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Bohemia is not concerned about "all the sick " people that Clarence is writing about as she knows very well he lives alone and has multiple personalities. Dinner table conversation with him is just impossible and makes her heart race until she fears she will faint dead away. She and her mother contrived the story that Clarence was adopted so as not to ruin Bohemia's chances of finding herself a husband. A.J. fell for it - and Bohemia - hook line and sinker.

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For more Postcard Friendship Friday fun stop by and visit our PFF hostess, Marie at Voila! Vintage Postcards!
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I would like to say Thank You! To Cynthia at Oasis Writing Link (OWL) for this beautiful Premio Dardos award!

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Cynthia's blog, in her own words is "a place for commentary about life and culture in Puerto Rico and beyond; experiences with yoga, and literature -spiced with a strong dash of appreciation for nature, art, film and music. " It is a delightfully interesting blog. Stop by and say hello!
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