I bought a box of angel food cake mix. Despite my adherence to making things from scratch I do buy cake mixes….(but I don’t buy brownie or muffin mixes… so I don’t know why I don’t make cake from scratch, anyway.) So after I popped it in the oven I quickly glanced at the ingredient list because I was curious how powder + water + mix = FOAM?

The reason folks, is that they put potentially cancer causing soap bubbles in it. Pfft. For the love of all that is holy…..shit, I guess this Iowa girl is going to have to become a FREAKING John-Deere tractor driving FARMER because the grocery store no longer sells FOOD anymore. They sell products that are food-ish. Gah….its scary….no I mean it, its seriously, seriously scary. WHAT THE HELL ARE WE EATING?

I’m reading Michael Pollans “In Defense of Food” and it is outstanding. His whole point was driven home tonight with the Devil Angel food cake debacle. Im also working on a cookbook…who knows if I’ll ever get around to finishing it but if I do, you might want a copy. I think I might title it “Eat This if You Want to Survive.”

Thanks Betty effing Crocker for putting soap bubbles in my cake mix. I fed that TO MY BABY TONIGHT.

We went about our morning and I kept going over in my head what I could have possibly eaten or taken to cause this. I can’t even describe the awfulness of it. If you’ve ever had Goya- thats about the best I can liken it to… or imagine if you were to spray 409 on your tongue (not that I’ve done that) but I imagine this is what it would taste like. I have taken medicine before that can cause a metallic taste in the mouth, but this was more bitter than metallic. But I haven’t taken any medicines. I haven’t eaten anything out of the ordinary. I haven’t done anything with any harsh chemicals that maybe got on my hands before I ate something. I was totally stumped. So, I did what any smart individual would do and consulted Dr. Google for advice. This had Dr. Google stumped too.

Of course all the usual horrific things came up, cancer, neurological disorder etc. but this is the only symptom Im having (at the moment….Im sure if I kept reading all sorts of other symptoms would have started to “appear”). There were several fish type poisonings that could cause it, heavy metal poisoning, tooth decay, GERD, peptic ulcer….none of these were it. Then finally, I found it. On about page 3 or 4 of my initial Google serach the word pine nut caught my eye. Holy Mother Lord. The freaking pine nuts- those seemingly innocent little crunchies that I had in my pasta. Who knew? Here is what wikipedia has to say:

Risks of eating Pine Nuts

The eating of pine nuts can cause serious taste disturbances, developing 1-3 days after consumption and lasting for days or weeks. A bitter, metallic taste is described. In general, a minority of pine nuts on the market present this problem. Though very unpleasant, there does not seem to be a real health concern.
This phenomenon was first described in a scientific paper in 2001.[6] Since the article, experiences of the phenomenon have been reported by hundreds of people worldwide (US, Canada, South Africa, Finland, Iceland, Germany, and many more).[7] [8]
The pine nuts involved typically contain triglycerides formed by 16-18° unsaturated fatty acids. No contamination with pesticide residues or heavy metals was found.
Some of the pine nuts involved were imported from China. However, in many countries packaged pine nuts are not required to state the country of origin or the species, and thus it is impossible to conclusively link the effect to a particular species or source country.

If you just google “bitter taste from pine nuts” there is a whole plethora of people that have had this happen to them. Unfortunately there isn’t much as far as real evidence or research, just a bunch of people who have had the same thing happen. I looked on my package of Diamond brand pine nuts and lo and behold, they are a product of China. I’ve had pine nuts many times before and never ever have had this happen. Its awful and wretched and tastes disgusting. Eating makes it worse. Eating something sweet makes it much worse. So, word to the wise- avoid pine nuts from China. Has anyone had this happen to them?

-You’d think this was our first time traveling ever (well, in our defense its the first time we’ve traveled with 2). We got to the airport where we had a hell of a time getting our luggage pre-screened what with all the WATER I tried to bring (for the baby). Then we realized our re-entry stamps for Japan had expired and PC had to go to another building and deal with immigration so we could, you know, return HOME. Then there was a bit of confusion with Mackenzie not being on our original orders/traveling/leaving the country (surely she is not the first American to be born in Japan). Then we got totally ripped off on her ticket. You know the “infant in lap” deal? When we bought our tickets online (via the carrier’s website) we couldn’t purchase an infant ticket on there and were instructed to buy it at the airport (only place it could be issued) where it was supposed to be 10% of the adult fare ($400-ish is what ours cost). We get there and they are all, “that will be $200.” And if it weren’t for the fact that its JAPAN and you cant really get mad at the sweet Japanese girl trying to help you I would have laid down some law with whomever was in charge. Because we had to pay 10% of the LAST MINUTE adult fare of $2000. Unbelievable. And I love how both she and the supervisor kept asking “so….is ok you want to purchase?” Um….yeah, is there a choice B? Like, we just leave the baby with you for the weekend? So, what are you going to do? Yes, we paid $200 to hold a baby ON OUR MY LAP.

-The flight went well and we had two amazing travelers. And because we are STILL beginners at this, PC took Nathan to go to the bathroom and I stood up to let them out and noticed there were ROWS, many, many rows that were entirely empty. So instead of being piled on top of each other crunched into three seats Mackenzie could have had her own seat and we could have spread the hell out. Awesome. Its like we’ve never traveled a day in our lives before. And also, Fancy backpack was awesome, the individual who packed it was not so awesome which resulted in him getting all frustrated and just so you know- I kept my mouth shut, I didn’t even say “I told you so” because I think he got the message loud and clear that we will never pack the night before a trip again (score 1 for me).

-We checked into our hotel which is actually quite nice (I agreed to try something a little less expensive this time, because normally we gravitate to the Shangri-La when we travel but was seriously disappointed with them when we went to Bangkok so I agreed to let PC take over the hotel planning). Upon check in we were upgraded to a bigger room (hmmm…..?) and we look out over the harbor towards Kowloon. Hong Kong is a beautiful city at night.

-Today was a non-stop day and the kids were amazing. Breakfast at the hotel, lunch at an outstanding Vietnamese restaurant (that we found in the magazine on the airplane- it piqued our interested because it discussed coffee and how next to Italian, Vietnamese coffee is supposed to be the best in the world. Um, the jury is still out on that. Tasty but strong- even for me.)

-Speaking of coffee–I got the cutest Starbucks mug(s).

-We went to the space museum today and Nathan informed me that he likes Hong Kong better than Thailand because there are more planes to buy and more space museums. When asked what the best part of the space museum was? The fountain outside. The fountain he wanted to watch in the pouring rain.

-Oh yeah- it rained all day long.

-Dinner was at a totally disappointing Thai restaurant. The area that it was in was very cool….very much a expat locale. Makes me wonder what it would be like to live in a place like this without the comforts of “on base” like we have in Japan. I think Hong Kong would be a really neat place to live- its really clean (more than I had remembered) the people are friendly, everyone speaks at least some English, lots to do….

Ok, husband has returned with some snacks, kids are sleeping, we’ve got CABLE (I watched the Discovery channel for like an hour this morning. Fascinating I tell you.) I dont know where the camera cable is, so maybe tomorrow you’ll get pictures. Or maybe just a long boring update like today!

Whenever I make this PC and Nathan shovel it in, and despite the fact that it makes a decent amount, PC has requested that I never ever make it again unless I double it.  So, because Im so nice and because I love you all: here, have some junior high chili.

1lb ground beef

1 can kidney beans (juice included)

1 can tomato juice

1 (small) can tomato sauce

1 T. dried onion

1 T. brown sugar

1 tsp. chili powder

Brown beef. Add everything else. Cook (sometimes I crock pot it all day, sometimes I make it all up in 15 minutes so, do what works). Eat.