Fall Back

Good morning, all. The first snows have fallen here in London, Ontario and we have given up on saving daylight. As far as I know, the two events were unconnected. We have "fallen back" into our previous view of time, which is again Standardized, but still dependent on the relative speeds of observers' reference frames, according to special relativity. That extra hour of sleep last night was delicious and some might say it disproves the "time dilation" phenomenon missing in objects at rest. Coffee is the countervailing argument which explains how objects begin their state of motion in the first place. Maybe it's too early for physics.

On the other hand, perhaps the time has come for warning labels on junk food - and not a moment too soon! Right here in our home province of Ontario, the Provincial Medical Association is recommending we put the same health warnings on junk food products that we currently print on cigarette boxes. Included in the recommendations is a call for increased taxes on junk food, something which Mark Bittman of the New York Times has also been calling for in his recent columns. The best way to change people's bad habits, we found out from our approach to tobacco is to hit them in the wallet first, with increased taxes, and then show them disgusting pictures of the effects the product will have on their internal organs. Yummy!

And maybe it's time to consider a related question: How many e coli germs can dance on the head of a pin? According to Health Canada and the Canada Food Inspection Agency, any non-zero answer is also deserving of a warning label. In the wake of the XL Foods massive beef recall, the role of mechanical meat tenderizers came under scrutiny, as the machines pierce the meat with hundreds of tiny needles, which can push e coli deeper into the meat, sometimes beyond the reach of bacteria-killing heat. Given that each daily serving of red meat comes with a 13% increased risk of premature death, we at MRM headquarters would like to humbly suggest the warning could simply say, "WARNING: CONTAINS MEAT."

Our recipe of the week requires no warning, as it contains absolutely no meat. It brings back fond memories of our previous trips to Ireland, as we first had this dish at the Avoca Handweavers cafe. This soup and really everything we ate there was so delicious, we had to buy the Avoca Cookbook and we recently rediscovered and adapted this recipe we had so enjoyed all those years ago. Soups are a great Fall favourite when the weather turns colder and lentils are high in iron, fibre and molybdenum. There is nothing like getting 198% of your daily molybdenum requirements in one steaming bowl of comfort. Good times.