Earlier today while I was making the filling for perogies, Gidget sent one of the boys inside with a large handful of fresh parsley from the garden.

After cleaning it, I chopped up about quarter of a cup and mixed two-thirds of it into the ham, garlic, potato, and cheese filling. I added the rest directly into the dough as I was rolling it out.

To say those perogies were delicious was an understatement. There is nothing like ingredients fresh from your own garden.

Did you know?

Parsley is the world’s most popular herb and is a relative of celery.

Parsley is native to the Mediterranean region of Southern Europe.

Parsley contains volatile oil components myristicin, limonene, eugenol, and alpha-thujene which qualify it as a “chemoprotective” food, which helps neutralize particular types of carcinogens, like the benzopyrenes that are part of cigarette smoke. Volatile oils such as myristicin have also been shown to inhibit tumor formation.

Parsley also contains flavonoids apiin, apigenin, crisoeriol, and luteolin which function as antioxidants and help prevent oxygen based damage to cells.

Parlsey is an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin K, iron, and folic acid.

Parsley helps protect you from rheumatoid arthritis and cleanses your palate and freshens your breath.

In our fast paced world we sometimes forget about the simple things in life. So the next time you’re sitting down in a restaurant to grab a meal and you notice that parsley garnish on your plate, remember, it might be the most nutritious part of your meal.

When we moved into our house, almost four years ago, there was a small section of our backyard that was overgrown and wooded. We left it in it’s natural state, partly because it was pretty to look at, and partly because it was full of so many briars we just never felt like tackling that project.

In previous years, we have worked a little at a time to “clean it up”, by removing some of the underbrush, but never really making any headway. This year we had planned to get in there and pull out all the briars. I am sooo glad we didn’t.

Today, while we were outside doing other things, we noticed the entire wooded area is inundated with blackberries and muscadine vines.

Below is a picture of the four cups of blackberries we picked in about 15 minutes. They have since been washed and are currently being made into homemade blackberry jam.

I can hardly wait for fall (aka muscadine season). Life in the sticks is a good thing.

Joel Siegel, a longtime movie critic for WABC-TV and “Good Morning America” who racked up five New York Emmy Awards for his insightful work, died Friday, the television station said. He was 63.

The station said Siegel, who was famous for his weekly reviews, had been battling colon cancer.

“Joel was an important part of ABC News and we will miss him,” ABC News President David Westin said in a release. “He was a brilliant reviewer and a great reporter. But much more, he was our dear friend and colleague. Our thoughts and prayers are with Joel’s family.”

Siegel was known for his sense of humor, movie acumen and sharp judgment. He never let an actor off the hook if the performance was lackluster.

…

He survived by his son, Dylan, and wife, Ena Swansea.

Rest In Peace, Joel.

Having three kids, I was shocked when I read the headlines this morning. Not because “Veggie Booty” had been recalled, but because, having three kids, I had never heard of it.

State and federal public health officials warned consumers today not to eat Veggie Booty snack food. An ongoing investigation has identified Veggie Booty as the source of a multi-state outbreak of salmonellosis, with cases occurring as far back as early March.

The makers of Veggie Booty, Robert’s American Gourmet, today announced an immediate recall of all Veggie Booty products.

Having no idea what the heck this was, I pulled up Google.

In 2002, the company who makes Veggie Booty, as well as Pirate Booty and Fruity Booty, came under fire for having nutritional information that was incorrect. For example, they claimed Fruity Booty was mostly fruit when it in fact contained very little. At the time the nutritional panel claimed Veggie Booty contained 5 grams of fat, when in fact, an independent lab found that it contained up to 10 grams.

Then I found an article from back in 2005, where one person decribed Veggie Booty in more detail.

Veggie Booty is basically crack for babies. Which is exactly why parents buy it.

As with most recreational substances, I first encountered Booty at a party. We were at some friends’ apartment celebrating their son’s first birthday when I noticed a cluster of diaper-clad revelers hovering near a bowl of bright green nuggets. Never one to miss out on a good thing, my daughter crawled over and shoved a handful down her throat. The look that crossed her face that moment told me instantly that she had kissed the sky.

I sniffed at the bowl skeptically. It smelled funkier than day-old poop. On closer inspection, I discovered that it was powdery, and left a delicate green calling card on everything it touched. I gingerly deposited one on my tongue. It tasted like dirt.

Blech. Now I’m not so upset that I never heard about it. Anyway, if you have any Veggie Booty in your cupboard you might wanna toss it, before you find yourself ingesting salmonellosis.

Salmonellosis is a bacterial infection that can cause diarrhea, fever and vomiting. Symptoms usually develop within one to five days after eating contaminated food. Most people get better without the need for medical attention, but Keene advises anyone who has eaten Veggie Booty and is ill with bloody diarrhea or diarrhea with fever to contact their health care provider.

Enjoy your day!

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced a broader import control of all farm-raised catfish, basa, shrimp, dace (related to carp), and eel from China. FDA will start to detain these products at the border until the shipments are proven to be free of residues from drugs that are not approved in the United States for use in farm-raised aquatic animals.

This action by FDA, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will protect American consumers from unsafe residues that have been detected in these products. There have been no reports of illnesses to date.

“We’re taking this strong step because of current and continuing evidence that certain Chinese aquaculture products imported into the United States contain illegal substances that are not permitted in seafood sold in the United States,” said Dr. David Acheson, FDA’s assistant commissioner for food protection. “We will accept entries of these products from Chinese firms that demonstrate compliance with our requirements and safety standards.”

During targeted sampling from October 2006 through May 2007, FDA repeatedly found that farm-raised seafood imported from China were contaminated with antimicrobial agents that are not approved for this use in the United States.

The contaminants were the antimicrobials nitrofuran, malachite green, gentian violet, and fluoroquinolone. Nitrofuran, malachite green, and gentian violet have been shown to be carcinogenic with long-term exposure in lab animals. The use of fluoroquinolones in food animals may increase antibiotic resistance to this critically important class of antibiotics.

None of these substances is approved for use in farm-raised seafood in the United States, and the use of nitrofurans and malachite green in aquaculture is also prohibited by Chinese authorities. Chinese officials have acknowledged that fluoroquinolones are used in Chinese aquaculture and are permitted for use in China.

The levels of the drug residues that have been found in seafood are very low, most often at or near the minimum level of detection. FDA is not seeking recall of products already in U.S. commerce and is not advising consumers to destroy or return imported farm-raised seafood they may already have in their homes FDA is concerned about long term exposure as well as the possible development of antibiotic resistance.

The FDA action includes conditions under which an exporter can be exempted from FDA’s detention action by providing specified information to the agency This information must demonstrate the exporter has implemented steps to ensure its products do not contain these substances and that preventive controls are in place. The additional import controls placed on seafood from China will last as long as needed.

FDA may allow the entry into the United States and subsequent distribution into the marketplace of individual shipments of the Chinese farm-raised seafood products if the company provides documentation to confirm the products are free of residues of these drugs.

[Source: FDA]

And that’s why we only purchase American seafood. Who wants seafood that came to the United States on a slow boat from China, anyway?

Today, after the failed cloture vote on the immigration reform bill, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) took to the Senate floor to talk about his age.

Sen. Robert Byrd has addressed hundreds of issues in his 49-year Senate career, but his speech Thursday was unusually personal. It dealt with his own advanced age, tremors, slow gait and delegation of duties he once held close.

Byrd, 89, stood on the Senate floor to defend his energy and mental acuity, even as he acknowledged that aging takes a toll. The West Virginia Democrat said he wanted to respond to recent accounts of his Senate work, including a June 14 Associated Press article noting that aides or fellow senators sometimes prompt him to respond to colleagues’ questions or remind him of their names.

Tonight, after reading this article, I remembered that I had recorded the Senate happenings all day today, because of the immigration debate and the cloture vote. While some people will just browse this post and move on, I thought some of you might want to hear his entire speech. So here it is.

Captain Ed asks, “Now what?”

Noam Askew has some post-cloture vote analysis.

The death of the Amnesty Bill is a defeat for the Senate Democratic leadership. If Scary Harry hadn’t agreed to pushing this bill by unorthodox means, we might still be debating it.

Michael Illions has a summary of candidates and how they voted. You need to remember this information come election day.

Ted Kennedy kept asking, “What are you for?” We kept responding, “Secure borders”, but he wasn’t paying attention. Even after the vote, he had no idea how many people opposed it.

Sam Brownback had trouble following the leader. Maybe he couldn’t decide which vote would be most popular until the end. Tsk tsk. He probably wishes now that he missed the vote. Not quite the type of person we need in the White House, is it?

“The American people won today”.

The immigration quote of the day comes from Vince Lombardi, via John Hawkins,

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious.”

President Bush looks like he could cry.

I guess President Bush is going to have to wait for that bill signing after all…

We, the people, made a difference today. We stopped this bill for the second time. We refused to surrender, and we made an impact. Heck, we even brought down the Senate phone system today.

I want to thank those U.S. Senators who had the backbone to stand up and object to the way Harry Reid was conducting the debate (or lack thereof). I want to thank them for knowing what was right and not backing down when almost everyone else in the Senate seemed to be opposed to them. I want to thank them for representing the people, not only of their home states, but of the entire United States Of America.

A few weeks ago, President Bush asked the Senate to find the courage to do the right thing, and today as a group, they finally found it. Yes, we sent them to our nation’s capitol to handle the tough issues, but we did so with the idea that they would listen to our opinions, and not special interest groups, when it was time to make those tough decisions. We have a lot to do on matters pertaining to immigration, and I recommend that the Senate start with securing our borders. President Bush was able to find $4.4 billion to sweeten the immigration bill with. If he is serious about immigration reform, and securing our borders, maybe he will recommend that Congress appropriate that $4.4 billion for border security and enforcement of our current laws.

Most of all though, tonight I want to thank you, my readers, for doing your part to kill the Amnesty Bill. Whether you called your Senators, emailed them, faxed them, or just helped spread the word so others would know to call theirs. You made a difference. You saved our country.

For that, I am eternally grateful.

Every time they announce another Democratic debate, a hairdresser receives his $400.

From Johnny Isakson’s website:

“It is clear we have a crisis in confidence among the American people over our commitment to secure the border,” Isakson said. “Because past promises have yet to be fulfilled, the confidence level in the Congress and in the Administration to secure the border and to pay for enforcement measures is too low for immigration reform to proceed.”

…

“We pass emergency supplementals for various things in this body. We’ve done it in response to Katrina. We’ve done it in response to Iraq. I would submit that the American people would tell you there’s no greater emergency right now than securing our border,” Isakson said. “An authorization is a promise, and an appropriation is a commitment. It is time that Congress makes a commitment and makes border security a reality.”

I am still quite peeved at both Isakson and Chambliss, but seeing that Isakson is not up for re-election in 2008, he has a little more time to prove he will actually start listening to the people from the State of Georgia again.

From Senator Chambliss’ website:

A lot of people have asked me why I became involved in this process initially, and there is a very simple answer: folks in Georgia sent me to Washington to engage in the issues that are important to America, and if we don’t secure the border and fix our broken immigration system our children and grandchildren will suffer the consequences of our failure to act.

Senator Isakson and I participated in the process early on because we wanted to ensure that our views and concerns were expressed and that, first and foremost, the border security triggers were included in the bill. I believe our contribution to the process was critical in strengthening key components of the legislation. While it wasn’t incumbent that everybody agree with the overall bill presented to the American people, it was important that we have a meeting of the minds to allow a full and fair debate on this critical issue. Unfortunately, the parameters that the Majority Leader set for this historic debate did not allow all senators the opportunity to offer and vote on amendments to the legislation. I believe this is too important an issue to restrict the rights of senators and the voices of their constituents.

Too often politicians talk and don’t listen. Georgians made their voices heard loud and clear and we have listened. The resounding opinion we heard was: we do not trust the federal government to enforce the laws in this new legislation because it has never enforced our immigration laws in the past; we need to secure the border the first and then deal with the collateral issues. Due to the tremendous response from Georgians, Senator Isakson and I communicated to President Bush that Congress must pass, and he should sign, a supplemental appropriations bill to fully fund the necessary expenditures to secure our borders first and separately from larger immigration reform legislation.

The debate must continue, because the status quo is not working. I will continue fighting for border security and I will continue to oppose amnesty for those who have broken our laws. Georgians demand no less than our fullest commitment to this critical issue.

I must say, I was quite disappointed with him during the first Amnesty Bill battle, but he came around before the second battle ensued. The question now is, do I support him come election day? We’ll see what he does between now and then.