PAULA DEEN - VEGAN QUESTION - MAD LOBSTER SKILLS

PAULA DEEN

First off, I'll go ahead and throw my two cents worth into a pile that is ass deep to a ten foot man with pennies already. Paula Deen is a shit... there, I said it. No, it's not because I think she causes diabetes. No, not because she kept it secret for three years either. Paula Deen is a shit because of a comment she made to USA Today "I knew when it was time [to tell], it would be in God's time." Well apparently "God", is working for Novo Nordisk and not only did he (yes, yes I know...or She) think it was a good time, but he also gave her a big wad of sweaty money and produced a drug that was heaven sent just for her little ole' disease y'all! (Like the "As Good As It Get's" reference...I do)

I for one, do wish Paula Deen all the best for a long, healthy and happy life. People that are blaming her for her own or others diabetes, or,  praying for her demise are just silly. No doubt there is cause and effect, IF, her diet is of the high fat high calorie, don't be afraid to add more butter variety. What really chaps my haggis about this whole thing is, to wait in hiding until she could figure out a way to profit from it. Had she come out from the start and announced her disease, promoted new ways of looking at food, she could have avoided most of this firestorm. Now she just looks greedy, self centered and frankly, unconcerned about the folks she has been feeding "Piggy Pudding" to. http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/01/18/paula-deen-ten-crazy-unhealthy-recipes-photos.html#slide7 I think one of the saddest things is that people will now be knocking each other over in the near future to get her eating healthy cookbooks....The saddest thing....you Paula. I just wonder if Food Network knew about this. Just spit balling here, but if they did, did they encourage her to keep her silence being as popular a show as it was? I don't want to give Paula an out, or lay any blame... she most probably kept it to herself... it was just... a little fat to chew on.

VEGAN QUESTION

I've asked this question on another site but I figured I'd post it here as well just because I am truly curious and don't know if this is even considered a paradox amongst vegans. Being a vegan for two whole hours myself didn't allow time to reflect on this question...I was too busy planning for that spicy pork sausage and bean cassoulet that evening!!!The points that I am interested in, and I'd love to get clarity from the vegan contingent are as follows:

Are you ok with chemical based fertilizers?

Can you be truly vegan if you eat organic vegetables that are fertilized with, bonemeal, manure, fish meal, bloodmeal, compost, guano or worm castings?

If you're ok with with the latter, how do you justify the exploitation of animals for the purpose of growing your vegetables?

Thanks in advance for your responses.



EATING LOBSTER

My parents would take my brother and I up to my uncle's cabin in Old Orchard Beach Maine once a summer for a weekend. We would wake up at the crack of dawn with my uncle David (the second biggest inspiration in my cooking life as he was a chef for a lot of years) asking if we wanted to go out body surfing. Anybody who has been to Maine can tell you, even on a 100 degree day in late August, the best you can hope for from the North Atlantic is maybe 65 degrees, blue lips and a generous amount of shrinkage. (see Seinfeld) But what a great way to wake up! Looking for shells and making sand castles. Sandwiches and cold sodas from the cooler for lunch and riding the tilt a hurl on the pier until it was time for suppah (dinner to you dear city people).

The Clambake... this is your typical Coastal New England fried fish/fried clam/fried shrimp/ french fry and last but not least LOBSTER restaurant with the whole nautical theme, if you were from say... Kansas, and had never seen anything Nautical themed...But rather what you imagined to be nautical themed. The very first time we went to the cottage, we ate there, and every time after that it became a bit of a tradition. I had never had lobster before, and this was the 70's so you didn't have to mortgage the house to get one so I ordered it. I knew what it was, and I knew what they looked like, but I had no earthly idea what to do with one. I guess I envisioned I'd be eating it like Daryl Hannah in the movie Splash. The moment arrived, AHOY LOBSTER! Now what...I could see my father and mother were a bit nervous. I was about six or so and even thought lobster wasn't pricey, it still wasn't a hot dog and fries cheap either. I think my Uncle Gerry sensed their nervousness and came over to help, and he brought his lobster to demonstrate.

"Grab an antennae" wait what?! um...ok, must be some meat in there....I started chewing. "No, (laughing) you just suck on those." Ah, um....ok. "Now we move to the little swimmers, the little legs." He pulled off a leg and broke it into smaller pieces, then he showed me how to squeeze the lobster meat out. We worked through the knuckles and then the claws. then he pulled off the tail and set it aside, pulled the back off to reveal the tomalley, (that's the green stuff landlubbers) which gave me pause, but I tried it and loved it. Uncle Gerry explained there was a lot of meat inside the lobster, and showed me where to look for it. When we finally got done and got to the tail meat, he said to me...."that's what you've been working so hard for....now it's time to eat!" he pulled off the little flippers getting each morsal of meat out and then poked his finger through and pushed the tail meat out...WOW! He showed me how to devein it and then it was lobster heaven!


After that is was time to retire to the beach where we would jump off the breaker wall into the sand playing lighthouse tag, kicking jellyfish and picking up sand dollars....just waiting for next year when we could return to the Clambake for more Lobster. I perfected my Lobster eating skills over the years and can have one stripped in pretty much two or three minutes. I have my own technique of pulling all the meat out and piling it up before enjoying it all at once. When going out in a group of friends for lobster I anxiously wait, for "That Guy" the one who eats the claws and tail and thinks he's done....yeah, "That GUY", I love to see their faces when I ask if I can pick theirs over, and they see all the meat you can actually get out of it piled in front of me! Oh, all except for my friend Kris, He's from Maine and his grandmother Ruby showed him how the native Micmac Indians eat lobster....maybe Uncle Gerry was Micmac....either way, Thanks Uncle Gerry....for my mad lobster skills! 

Lobster Anyone?! Have a great weekend...
Pav