And you thought it was impossible to capture the essence of summer in a salad dressing, didn't you? Well... you were mistaken.

The inspired spirit of summer salad dressing:
-- Extra virgin olive oil
-- Granny Smith Apples
-- Super ripe heirloom tomatoes

-- Garlic (smashed with the apples, oil and tomatoes in a mortar and pestle)
-- Ripe oranges
-- Jalapeños
-- Green onions
-- Salt
-- Black pepper.

Blend all of this together in a blender and voila, you have spirit of summer in the blender jar. I recommend tossing kale, red-onions, roasted almonds and strawberries with this dressing for a super-awesome summer salad. :-)

I was getting ready to rant about how glycemic indices are not the whole truth for diabetics. However, I found that this fine woman has done it for me already and written it REALLY well.

I highly recommend that all of you check out her article when you get a chance. We may not all be diabetics but I can guarantee that many of us are living with some amount of insulin resistance.

The take home point is that the sooner we get rid of a good portion of pure carbohydrate sources in our diet (and replace it with raw/cooked produce), the longer we can expect to live without diabetes and other chronic diseases. There is no such thing as "good carbs" - it is just a euphemistic marketable term for carbohydrates that are complexed with more fiber. Why not then just consume more fiber sources (produce) that are complexed with natural micronutrients (minerals and vitamins)?

It's about time the food and dieting industry stopped misinforming and influencing the population. And by population, I do mean doctors and nutritionists as well.

Apparently this track has some of those.



What on earth is an unsyncopated ensemble beat? Do people outside of Pandora's offices even know whatever it means?

Unsyncopation aside, electronic musicheads on (e:strip) - any tips on finding music similar to this particular track? The track sounds a bit like Prodigy's staggered-big-beats-bass-line old stuff but I am not sure who else sounds similar - any clues?

PS: Yes, I know it's on the Matrix soundtrack but most of the other tracks are lame - perhaps they aren't unsyncopated enough. Who knows... I tried building a song-based channel but Pandora's similar music engine seems to be churning out pretty dis-unsyncopated music. I also sampled Rob Dougan's other stuff. But most if it is rather slow and puts me to sleep. The Rob Dougan radio on Last.fm switches to E. S. Posthumous and the rest of the neo-cinematic ilk - but this is clearly an underground big-beat club dance track.

I got a smashing haircut from an actual celebrity hairstylist today. Not just a celebrity in the hairstyling world in NYC but a celebrity in the true Hollywood sense. :-)

You can see him in the wedding scene in a recent film called "When in Rome".


He has cut and styled Robert DiNiro's and Madonna's hair and till recently, used to run a hair salon right in the heart of Union Square, NYC. However, ownership of a big and affordable house and westside Italian family roots beckoned in Buffalo and he moved here earlier this year.

So, if you are game for a celebrity hairdo and some riotous banter, head over to SuperCuts near Delaware and Amherst and ask for Roberto. I guarantee it will be an entertaining one. ;-)

I have a new breakfast favourite and recipe was a complete accident.

I had chopped granny smith apples and carrots for a salad yesterday but in a moment of distraction, I tossed them in when I was sautéing green onions and garlic today.

When I realized that it was not zucchini but granny smiths, I stopped sautéing. The onions were still translucent and not browned. I added cooked french lentils and kidney beans, brought it to a boil and purééd it all. Garnished it with powdered coriander, cumin and fresh coriander leaves and thinned it out with water and freshly-squeezed lemon juice.

And that's what I am having for breakfast - spiced and steamy lentil smoothie with carrots, apples and onions. It's delicious! :-)