Kareyeansor

A few weeks ago I got a second kitten. His name is Maxwell, and he's only got three legs. They don't know how he lost his arm, but I assume it was a shark attack, like that surfing girl in Hawaii.

I've been making tiny hats for him out of construction paper, because I don't know what else to do with all this damn construction paper. So yeah, I'm not just a writer and illustrator, I'm also a friggin' milliner. Are you jealous of my skills? Are you impressed I know the word milliner? I thought so.

I regularly upload new hats to my Instagram. Gimme a follow!

Bonjour, Mes Amis! We are heading to the City of Lights today for a luncheon at one of Epcot’s most iconic eateries, Les Chefs de France!

The bistro, located in the France Pavilion, has been a fixture of World Showcase since Epcot’s earliest days. It’s served thousands of meals to Epcot guests, and you’ll still find its tables full if you visit today.

Les Chefs de France has had the happy distinction for me of providing consistently decent food and friendly service — something that can’t always be said about Disney restaurants. Since I’ve had some truly fine meals here, I was ready to head back for lunch with AJ’s Mom and Dad (whom many of you know!).

Atmosphere

The food has been good to great during every visit that I’ve made in recent years to Les Chefs de France — but that’s only part of the story. Because I would be in love with this restaurant based upon looks alone.

That’s because I personally think that Les Chefs de France represents some excellent restaurant themeing. If it weren’t for the kid in Mickey ears at the next table, it’s very possible that you’d forget you’re actually in Florida.

We visited during the day, but I just couldn’t help but show you this gorgeous view of Les Chefs de France at night.

It reminds me so much of my first trip to Paris that I wanted to share it with you.

And that’s the beauty of this restaurant. If you’ve had the pleasure of a trip to Paris, you will probably have eaten in (or at least seen) a spot that looks Just. Like. This.

Photos of the original “Les Chefs de France” team — Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenotre, and Roger Vergé — line the walls. These days, Chef Bocuse’s son, Jerome Bocuse, runs the France Pavilion restaurant empire. (Check out the photo of Chef Bocuse on opening day in front of Les Chefs de France that hangs upstairs in Monsieur Paul. You can see it in our review here.)

The color palette in Les Chefs de France tends toward rich neutrals, featuring beige and gold, with accents of burgundy and dark wood. Within the dining room, there are three distinct seating areas.

In the front, there is a sun room, lined with a wall of windows, that is perfect for people watching as you dine.

These are some of our favorite tables, as they offer plenty of light and scenic views of World Showcase and the water across the walkway. Someday I’ll sneak in a solo dinner here and just people watch as things start heating up on the World Showcase in preparation for IllumiNations.

The front sunroom was once patio seating, but was enclosed, presumably to offer a more comfortable place to dine year round. It’s a pity, since outdoor seating would be lovely. However, sweltering while eating soup?…not so much. So I definitely get it. (If only Imagineers could control the weather!)

The interior of the restaurant features comfortable mixed seating, which utilizes banquettes and chairs.

The side of the restaurant, wrapping around to the back, is also an enclosed sunroom and is sunken toward the back. (Or rather, the ground outside rises. Either way, it’s an interesting perspective — both from inside and outside.)

The decor is true to the theme here, and offers the feeling of a vintage Parisian dining spot.

I had to include one more night time shot, just so you can see how truly magical the restaurant is at night. Just beautiful.

But we are back to daytime, and ready to take a look at the menu. Let’s head back inside and see what looks good.

Eats

The menu for Les Chefs de France continues to present some classic French fare. After all, there’s a reason those dishes are favorites.

Like most of the World Showcase restaurants, diners can order from the a la carte menu, or they can choose the prix fixe menu and select courses from a list of some of the most popular options.

While the menu is on the small side, lovers of traditional French food will find many of their favorites here. Less adventurous eaters will also find a few American options hidden among the French menu items.

To begin, our server brought us a fresh, crusty Demi-Baguette to enjoy before the rest of our meal came. These are truly fantastic. Even if you don’t have an advance dining reservation scheduled for Les Chefs de France, be sure to grab one from Les Halles around the corner.

And it’s a given that if I’m enjoying a baguette in a French restaurant, there will also be cheese involved.

The Plateau de Fromages de France has changed a bit since our last review. During our last visit, we enjoyed large portions of three different cheeses. This time, we enjoyed smaller (but still bigger than what you get on most Disney cheese plates) portions of five varieties: Brie, Gruyere, bleu, Gouda, and goat cheeses. (You’ll find a very similar cheese plate at Les Halles.)

In other words: Heaven.

They’re served with a few slices of Fruit and Nut Bread and some Walnuts and Grapes. Personally, I really enjoy the cheese with the baguette more than the other accompaniments.

My husband ordered the Salade Maison. It was tossed in a light Vinaigrette, and was very fresh.

We also ordered the Bisque de Homard — Lobster Bisque. It had the smooth, rich texture and beautiful color of a classic bisque, and was garnished with pieces of Lobster. This was a good version of the classic favorite.

Although we had sampled the Escargot at countless Food and Wine Festivals throughout the years (and the dish is back at the France Booth for 2013!), we had never ordered the dish at Les Chefs de France. Deciding there was no time like the present, we took the plunge. I absolutely adore the classic presentation!

The escargots are nestled in the indentations of the plate, then covered with an herbed butter before they’re broiled. They’re then topped with golden toast rounds to soak up all of that wonderful flavor. They were really delicious, and such a fun little luxury!

When it came time to order, we decided to go slightly Americaine for our first option. After all, this was a new menu item that I’d never experienced before!

Steak Hashé Angus is kind of a funny way to say hamburger, since most of the time, it’s really just called hamburger in France. (With an accent, of course.) Still, it’s a fun little way to keep the theme alive.

The burger is definitely served with some French-inspired toppings, however. Mushroom Duxelles (basically, a flavorful chopped mushroom topping or filling), Onion Confit, and Bearnaise — BEARNAISE!!!! — made this a pretty enticing choice.

Served with your choice of Salade ou Frites…guess which one we chose? Don’t those frites look glorious?

The meat is a little more well-done than I prefer, but the toppings make this a tasty choice. And that fresh bun is simply gorgeous!

We also decided to have a go at the Crêpe Florentine, another new-to-me menu item, and the only savory crêpe option available.

The thin crêpe basically covers the filling of Chicken, Mushrooms, and Spinach, which are served in a Béchamel Sauce. The dish is covered in Cheese, and is then broiled to a golden brown. The effect is sort of similar to a pot pie, but with a very thin, very cheesy crust.

This looked, in a word, incredible. I would totally have eaten every single bite all by myself.

But what’s a trip to a Parisian bistro without at least one Croque Monsieur at the table? My mom beat me to it and ordered this one.

It’s a substantial affair, piled high with Ham and Cheese, and doused generously with Béchamel Sauce inside, before having more Cheese added to the top. It’s broiled as well. Are you sensing a trend here?

I also could not pass up the opportunity to order one of my most favorite meals in the universe — the Tarte a la Flamme Alsacienne.

So, basically, I had sort of an addiction to these in my Switzerland days.

A (very pretty) flatbread topped with Crème Fraiche (yes please), Onion, and Bacon. Complete poetry.

Unfortunately, this one was a bit too brittle and dry for me. Definitely needed more Creme Fraiche, so I was a little disappointed.

No meal is complete at Les Chefs de France without seeing a rat. No, I’m not kidding.

But ça va! Because it’s that lovable, interactive, animatronic star from Disney-Pixar’s Ratatouille, Remy. Serious cuteness. I always love when he comes to the table!

After a delightful visit from the little guy, it was time to turn our attention to dessert.

We looked over the menu and the after-dinner drink options and made our selections.

I have been sampling my way through the fine selection of Disney sorbets lately, and decided to keep that good thing going by ordering the Assiette de Sorbets du Jour, which was garnished with a very puffy Madeleine.

The presentation was beautiful and the dish was delicious and refreshing — the perfect end to a rich lunch.

But that doesn’t mean I didn’t stick my spoon in and get a bit of the Profiteroles au Chocolat! Because these are — to quote Robert Palmer — simply irresistible. (See? We’re hip here at DFB. Whatever.)

Cream Puffs are filled with Vanilla Ice Cream and then covered and pooled in THE BEST Chocolate Sauce ANYWHERE. Strawberries and some White Chocolate Shavings provide a pretty contrast. Such an amazing dessert, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why it isn’t on more dessert menus!

The Crème Brûlée was a vanilla variety, so it still isn’t as interesting to me as some of my favorite versions of this classic, like Flying Fish Cafe’s peanut butter and jelly one.

Still, there’s something to be said for the perfect execution of a classic.

With its crisp sugar shell and perfectly creamy center (no curdled eggy mess here!), this is practically the poster child for this well-loved custard dessert. I think it belongs in the Crème Brûlée Gallery — don’t you?

Overall

Another fantastic lunch at Les Chefs de France is in the books. If I had to choose only one meal to exemplify the experience of eating within Epcot’s World Showcase, this would probably be it. It’s fairly affordable (as Disney standards go), and it has everything: friendly service (notice that I didn’t say the service is necessarily GOOD, but it IS friendly!), reliably good food, and perfect themeing.

If you are on the fence at all about whether or not to book Les Chefs de France, I say go for it. Anyone who has ever wished for a weekend getaway to Paris should enjoy their sojourn in this little corner of it in the States.

Is Les Chefs de France one of your favorite spots for lunch or dinner? Leave us a comment and tell us about your experience!

Disney Food Blog Fans, be sure to:

• Subscribe to our Newsletter
• Follow us on Twitter
• Become a Facebook Fan

Orlando Restaurant Picks

• La Luce by Donna Scala - Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek
• Bull and Bear Steakhouse - Waldorf Astoria Orlando

Related posts:

1. Review: Les Chefs de France Restaurant in Epcot
2. Dessert Aux Chefs de France
3. Chefs de France–A Photo Review

Earlier lessons: 1 – 5, 6, 7

Do you like reading maps and infographics? Personally I like reading them and have always learned a lot while reading the thick atlas. I’m particularly into the interesting maps that show more than just the geographic locations. Yes, you can in fact learn many mind-blowing facts from the maps listed below! Understand more about the world and fun facts around the globe now:

WORLD-WIDE

1. Where street view is available on Google Map

2. The longest straight-line you can sail in the world

3. The distribution of 9 different types of outlet and plug

4. Flag map

5. Driving orientation by country

(Red – right side, Blue – left side)

6. 12/24 hour time format used around the world

(Blue – 12, Yellow – 24, Purple – mixed, Grey – not defined)

7. McDonald’s around the world

(Red – countries with McDonald’s, Blue – countries without McDonald’s)

8. Map of when McDonald’s first arrived the country

9. Coffee consumption worldwide

The darker the color, the higher the consumption of coffee.

10. The only countries Britain did not invade

11. Map of countries that do not use the metric system

12. Religions of the world

13. Map of world poverty by country

*percentage of population living on less than $2 per day

14. Drought risk around the world

The lighter the color the lower the risk.

15. In 1992, approximately 29,000 rubber ducks fell off from a cargo ship in Pacific Ocean. This is the route they flowed.

16. Riskiest areas to ship where the pirates rule the seas

17. Average age at first sex

(Red and Orange – Age 15-18, Yellow – Age 19, Green – Age 20-23)

UNITED STATES

18. Racial segregation in New York

(Blue – White, Green – Black, Red – Asian, Orange – Hispanic)

19. The most popular actress from each state

20. The most popular actor from each state

21. Maximum speed limits In different states

22. The highest paid public employees by state

23. Map of the 7,000 rivers that lead to the Mississippi

24. Map of the most iconic fast food chain in each state

25. Size and distance comparison between Alaska and the contiguous USA

26. Obesity rate in different state

27. US state unemployment rate by April 2013

28. Most common religions by state

29. U.S. zip code distribution

AUSTRALIA & EUROPE

30. A comparison of Australia and U.S.

31. Where 2% of Australia’s population lives

32. Kissing norms in France

33. What the UK calls the playground chasing-game

34. The shortest route through all European capital cities

35. Number of teams in the European football leagues

36. Map of most common surnames in Europe

37. Map of European countries coat of arms

38. Map of recycling rates across Europe

EXTRA

39. The route of a pizza delivery driver on an ordinary day

40. Map of where Disney movies’ set

41. Map of the bed from a cat’s perspective

And finally…..

42. World map tattoo with the visited countries colored

Eager to know more about the world? 18 Images Shown Where Children Sleep Around the World

The post 42 Mind-Blowing Maps We Have Missed in The World Atlas appeared first on Lifehack.

From Apartment Therapy → How To Build a Play Kitchen from IKEA Components

More

Joshua Katz, at NC State University's Department of Statistics, compiled a series of simple, striking maps that visualize the words Americans use—and where they use them. The data was compiled from a survey conducted by Bert Vaux at the University of Cambridge. Below are just a few to whet your appetite for the full set of 122.

Hockey’s pretty violent. It’s not quite as violent as war, or the systematic extermination of a race of people, but it’s still pretty violent.

It’s so violent, in fact, that I hereby nominate hockey as a replacement for war! International border disputes? Settle it on the rink! Looking to instigate a terror attack? Drop a puck outside a government building and challenge those bureaucrats to a pickup game! This would be a proactive and fun way to violently impose your will on others. And the people who’d be the best at viciously domineering the path of history? The Canadians! Everyone wins.

-Tony

Oh my gosh, I LOVE this news!!!! Epcot has introduced yet another new funnel cake!!!

And it’s CHOCOLATE!!!

Yup — the Funnel Cake Stand in Epcot’s America Pavilion is wowing us yet again with another new flavor for our favorite “elephant ear” treat in the Showcase… .

I’m thinking this is anotherfun seasonal flavor. In the past, you could find Pumpkin Spice in the fall and winter months, and Strawberry in the spring and summer. But I’m pleased to share that the Summer flavor is now, apparently, Double Chocolate!

Double Chocolate Funnel Cake

As soon as I saw the menu I knew right away what I was having as a snack that afternoon. (For research purposes, of course.) Besides, I was really intrigued by exactly how they were going to get two kinds of chocolate into my fried dough.

I took it as a good sign when they waved me off to the side and told me that it would be a minute or two as they made my funnel cake.

It emerged from the little serving window, piping hot, and covered with chocolate syrup and powdered sugar. So there was the answer to my question — it was chocolate dough and chocolate sauce. Voila! Double chocolate.

I started to tear it apart by hand, getting a bit sticky in the process, and taking care not to burn my fingers. (I still think this is a good thing when it comes to fried dough.)

Once I had my first taste, I could tell that the dough itself wasn’t overly sweet, but definitely tasted of cocoa powder. This was perfect, as the combo of chocolate sauce and powdered sugar on top was plenty sweet enough. It reminded me of a chocolate-chocolate doughnut.

I thought this was really good! Now that I think about it though, I think it would have been great — bordering on the fantastic — had I ordered it with a slab of ice cream. Throw some strawberry sauce on top and it would have been awesome.

Still, if you like chocolate, I have a feeling you’ll enjoy this one.

Will you be trying the double chocolate funnel cake on your next trip to Epcot? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Disney Food Blog Fans, be sure to:

• Subscribe to our Newsletter
• Follow us on Twitter
• Become a Facebook Fan

Orlando Restaurant Picks

• La Luce by Donna Scala - Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek
• Bull and Bear Steakhouse - Waldorf Astoria Orlando

Related posts:

1. Things I Learned at the Funnel Cake Stand
2. Snack Series: Seasonal Funnel Cake Flavors in Epcot
3. Snack Series: New Carrot Cake Cupcake at Wilderness Lodge

Dan Keating and Darla Cameron for the Washington Post mapped commonly used languages in the US household.

More than a quarter of counties in the United States have at least one in 10 households where English is not the language spoken at home. Spanish is, by far, the most common language other than English spoken in the home, especially on the West Coast, in the Southwest, the Eastern urban corridor and other big cities. Native American languages are also common in the West, as is French around New Orleans and in some counties in the Northeast. German is a common language in some Midwestern and Western areas.

Be sure to pay attention to the legend in this one. I bet a lot of people read this map as the most commonly spoken languages by county and thought Spanish is about to become the national language.

[Editor's note: Len and Laurel Testa co-write the amazing Unofficial Guide series, including the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland]

My partner Laurel and I bought a mid-century modern house last year. (It's the second house listed here.) We finished a Space-Mountain/Disney-Cruise-themed remodel in March and it's on a couple of upcoming house tours in August and October.

The home was built in 1968 and had the latest technology at the time: a General Electric low-voltage lighting system in the kitchen and master bedroom, which controlled lights throughout the house through a series of dials and switches; a NuTone intercom/AM/FM whole-house radio system, and a built-in UHF/VHF TV antenna connected to every room in the house, among other things. It's also got sliding “pocket” doors to save space, skylights, and a bunch of other design details you don't see enough of these days.

Both Laurel and I are big fans of the Disney theme parks, so we decided to keep the house's "retro-future" theme while incorporating classic Disney attractions. Our kitchen mimics Walt Disney World's Space Mountain post-show scene, including the banquette, cabinets, LED lighting and table centerpieces. It was built by Ted Endriss of TeamGreenWorx in Greensboro, NC.

Here's another view, at night:

The table's centerpieces are the same as those found in Space Mountain:

Laurel spent a lot of time looking for those.

Here's the supplier list:

Ice bucket - Waiter's Tools by Nuance
White Acrylic Tray
Water Bottles - Kor One Hydration Vessel Ice Blue

The Sputnik light fixture isn't from Space Mountain but is period appropriate. It's from PracticalProps.com.

Behind the table are four 60-inch plasma displays, inspired by the Skyline bar on the Disney Cruise Line's Dream ship. These are set to pull random images from the Web, and we use VLC to stream video.

We also updated the rest of the kitchen. One of the original appliances we kept was a built-in Nu-Tone Food Center, which I repaired with spare parts from eBay:

Our bathrooms are an interpretation of the Senses Spa on Disney Cruise Line's ship, the Fantasy. Laurel's bath is done in a glass green tile:

The shower doors slide back, so it opens like a tube. Mine is similar, in red:

The picture frame in that photo is a Raspberry Pi-powered LED monitor, and it was the prototype for the kitchen setup. I wrote some Javascript (available here) to pull random images based on user-defined keywords, using the Flickr API, so the images change constantly.

Our fireplace's air return was turned into an Enchanted Tiki Room tribute, complete with tikis from Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and enhanced by red and orange LEDs to simulate flames:

You can't see it in this photo, but the guys from Oak Ridge Electric added a blower motor and silk sheet beneath the tikis to emulate the flame effect at Pirates of the Caribbean. It was entirely their idea and I think they were as excited as we were to see it running.

We had a great architect in Jill Spaeh of Spaeh Architecture + Environments and a fabulous construction team in Kevin Jones Design-Build. Neither of them were even a little bit fazed with our requests. And the amazing thing about this project's budget was that the custom work - getting exactly what we wanted - only added about 12% to the overall cost.

We were fortunate to have Sam Gennawey, Disney author and urban planner, to translate "Disney-speak" to our architect as we went along. When we told our architect that the landscaping needed to pull people along the walkways by incorporating "weenies" - Disney's term for something of visual interest - Sam was able to translate "weenie" to "view terminus" for Jill.

Next year's project includes a garden for the lot next door. If anyone has a spare replica of the IllumiNations globe, let me know.

Do you like making mistakes?

I certainly don’t.

Making mistakes is inevitable. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could be at ease with them? Perhaps there is a way to think of them differently and see their benefits.

40 Things You Learn From Making Mistakes

The post The True Benefits of Failure appeared first on Lifehack.

On September 11, 2001, passenger jets struck the Twin Towers, leveling them, killing thousands of New Yorkers, and traumatizing tens of thousands more. Among those directly affected, but not killed, by the attack were 1700 pregnant women. Some of those women developed post traumatic stress disorder, some did not. When the PTSD-positive group had their kids, their cortisol secretion was lower and stress response to novel stimuli was impaired. Although as fetuses they weren’t conscious of the chaos, it affected them as if they had directly witnessed the blast. The affected children were no different genetically – they didn’t have “the stress gene.” Rather, the activity of the genes that regulate the stress response had been altered by an environmental input.

This was epigenetics in action.

Epigenetics isn’t just relevant to pregnant women and their offspring, either. Dads matter too. In one recent study (PDF), male mice were subjected to ongoing chronic, intense stress. They were placed in cages with and beat up by larger, more dominant males. Essentially, they were bullied for ten days straight. This gave them the mouse versions of PTSD, depression, and severe anxiety. After, they bred with normal females. Their pups were born “stressed out” and anxious, uninterested even in sugar water when subjected to stressors. The anxious pups avoided social contact with other mice as much as possible. The pups’ mothers weren’t exposed to stress during pregnancy; only the dads’ life experiences before conception could explain the differences, which correlated with changes to gene expression in the pups.

Epigenetic shockwaves can reach far into the future, too. Until the 20th century, the people of Overkalix, Sweden were at the mercy of the elements. Winter brought total isolation, with every route into and out of the municipality completely frozen over and inaccessible. That meant if the harvest was poor, the people flirted with starvation. If the harvest was good, they prospered and thrived. It was either famine or feast. In 2002, Swedish researchers analyzed the extensive birth, death, and health records of the area to see how this feast and famine cycle of the 19th century might have affected the health of the population. Amazingly, they found that boys who ate very well during late childhood were more likely to go on to have grandsons with health issues like heart disease, diabetes, and early mortality later in life. On the other hand, boys who experienced famine during late childhood had longer-lived grandsons with fewer health problems.

What does this all mean?

That our choices are bigger than us. It’s easy to see how the foods we eat, the exercises we do (or don’t), and all the other choices we make can affect our own health, in this lifetime. Anyone who’s ever made a positive change to their lifestyle and seen the subsequent health benefits can attest to that. But these stories indicate that those very same life experiences can send epigenetic shockwaves to your offspring – and in some cases your offspring’s offspring. There’s more to it than bullied mice, Swedish famines, and terrorist attacks, though, as you’ll see below. The life experiences of both moms and dads can exert a wide range of powerful effects. But how, exactly?

Maternal Epigenetic Transfer

Moms transfer epigenetic effects via two routes. First, as an epigenetic factor herself. After all, the mom is the primary environment for the fetus. Anything that happens to the mom – famine, stress, overnutrition, undernutrition, chronic sleep loss, terrorist attack – also happens to the fetus, sometimes even if it occurs pre-conception. Second, when a woman is pregnant, she’s not just carrying the fetus and transmitting epigenetic changes to the fetal genes from her life experiences. She also carries the fetus’ reproductive cells which will either develop into eggs or sperm. Any changes to the gene expression of these reproductive cells during their development in the fetus may also affect subsequent offspring. So at least three generations are affected by the environmental input during pregnancy: the mom, the fetus, and the fetus’ future offspring.

Paternal Epigenetic Transfer

Dads transfer epigenetic inheritance through changes to the sperm. If a male fetus is subjected to an epigenetic input in the womb as his reproductive cells are developing, he may grow up with forever altered sperm that in turn affects his progeny. As seen in the case of the Swedish village, male sperm may also be vulnerable in late childhood right before puberty, which is when sperm cells are maturing and “finalizing.” And then you’ve got the mouse studies that suggest inheritance can transfer even when the father’s experiences happen as an adult. The amount of research into paternal epigenetic transfer pales in comparison to that of maternal epigenetics, but it appears to play a role just the same (if perhaps not as prominent).

It’s easy to get bogged down in epigenetic mechanisms, but what you’re really here for is to learn how we can shape our offspring’s health. Let’s explore, shall we?

Nutrition

Nutrition – the types of foods we eat, the numbers of calories we consume, and our overall metabolic state – plays perhaps the biggest and best studied epigenetic role in the health of our offspring. A few examples:

Among isogenic (identical, genetically) mice, those born to obese and diabetic mothers showed changes in liver gene expression that predisposed them to obesity when faced with a Western-style diet. In other words, mice born to leaner mothers weren’t just leaner, they were somewhat epigenetically resistant to the obesogenic effects of the Standard American Diet.

Lesson? Avoid obesity and diabetes during pregnancy (and always, really). You can’t force your kids to eat Primal, but you can set them up for metabolic robustness. 

In contrast to the earlier example of grandfathers who spent the formative years of their childhood in lean times siring grandsons with better metabolic health and longevity, mothers who experienced undernutrition during pregnancy gave birth to offspring with altered hypothalamic gene expression, a propensity to overeat, disrupted glucose tolerance, and lowered energy expenditure – the kind of gene expression that would help someone survive starvation. Those same epigenetic changes to gene expression were also found in twin lambs born to both underfed (a period spanning 60 days prior to and 30 days after conception) and well-fed sheep, suggesting that it’s the “perception” of famine (whether actual or imagined) that triggers the starvation epigenome.

Lesson? Don’t try to diet and restrict calories while pregnant. Weight gain is totally normal, healthy, and necessary when building a tiny human inside your body.

Male mice who were fasted for a day or two a few weeks before mating sired offspring (both male and female) with consistently lower blood glucose levels than controls. It isn’t clear whether this is a positive alteration, however, as too low a blood glucose level can hamper growth and development.

Lesson? The occasional skipped meal, or series of meals, doesn’t just affect your health (in a mostly positive way), but the health of your offspring. Whether lower blood glucose is a good or a bad thing is conditional.

Pregnant women are advised to increase their intake of folate and other vitamins to prevent birth defects and make up for a substandard diet. This is generally good advice, but there is such a thing as “too many vitamins.” In one study, pregnant mice fed a high-folate diet (10 times the normal amount) had offspring with an epigenetically enhanced propensity for obesity unless they were weaned on a similarly high-folate diet. Another study found similar obesogenic epigenetic changes in male offspring of rats taking ten times the normal amount of a multivitamin.

Lesson? Get most of your nutrients from food whenever possible, and don’t overdo the prenatals (also, make sure you take folate, not folic acid).

In pregnant mice on an imbalanced diet (wildly variant ratios of folic acid and B vitamins), maternal omega-3 intake ameliorated some of the negative epigenetic effects normally caused by the nutrient imbalance.

Lesson? Get your omega-3s.

Even the source of maternal dietary protein during gestation seems to affect gene expression in the offspring. In pregnant mice given soy as a protein source, offspring were fatter and had elevated insulin when compared to offspring from casein-fed mice, an effect mediated by an increase in gene expression in the area of the brain that controls food intake.

Lesson? Skip the soy protein shakes.

Some pregnant women are advised to restrict dietary protein. In animal studies, this appears to have negative epigenetic effects on the fetus, including the “programming of hypertension.”

Lesson? Eat protein to satiety when pregnant. 

Maternal choline affects the expression of cortisol regulation in the fetus. This likely explains why mothers with a high intake of choline during pregnancy have kids who appear to be protected against stress-related disorders through epigenetic factors.

Lesson? Eat your liver and egg yolks.

Stress

Maternal (and paternal) stress is one of the largest area of study in epigenetics, probably the largest besides nutrition.

Using a mouse model of prenatal stress, researchers were able to epigenetically trigger neurological and psychiatric disease states in the offspring. Prenatal stress induced microRNA regulation at sites in the fetus that affect and/or induce multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, brain inflammation, and bipolar affective disorder.

Lesson? It’s not like a traffic jam in the 2nd trimester is going to give your kid schizophrenia, but it does illustrate the worst-case scenarios associated with prenatal stress.

Even the mom’s mood during pregnancy exerts an epigenetic influence on the outcome of the pregnancy. If a mom was depressed or anxious during the 3rd trimester, her offspring was more likely to have altered cortisol regulation, including increased cortisol responses to stress at three months.

Lesson? Relax, kick your feet up, and try not to let daily stressors consume you during pregnancy. Easier said than done, I know. Also, don’t let the stuff from the previous section – what you’re eating – turn you into a ball of stress. Eating anything can be hard when you’re pregnant. Just make the best choices you can, and make your “bad” choices better.

Six weeks of chronic stress were enough to alter the microRNA (a regulator of gene expression) of sperm in male mice, whether the stress occurred in adulthood or childhood. When those mice later bred, they sired pups with dysfunctional stress responses reminiscent of neuropsychiatric disease. Another stressed out mouse dad study had similar results: altered stress responses in the offspring.

Lesson? Stress matters for dads, their sperm, and their offspring, too. Not just the moms are vulnerable.

Other factors

Research into the prenatal or preconceptional epigenetic effects of other lifestyle factors is limited, but we can still make some predictions. Let’s take a look.

Exercise – One recent study found that exercise can affect the quality of sperm and upregulate gene expression across generations. Both maternal and paternal exercise, for example, improve memory and spatial learning in the offspring (paternal exercise only seems to benefit male offspring, but dads should probably still work out just to be on the safe side). A word of caution: though exercise is generally “a good thing” for your offspring, remember how vulnerable the fetus is to maternal stress. Don’t do too much!

Sleep - We know that melatonin (the “sleep hormone”) is an important player in “fetal programming,” and a recent study found that rats who were sleep deprived during gestation produced offspring with reduced antioxidant activities and/or altered homocysteine levels, so sleep clearly plays an important role in fetal epigenetics.

Sun - While there’s nothing that explicitly looks at the effect of sunlight exposure on fetal development, there are links between maternal vitamin D levels – a fair proxy for sunlight – and epigenetic regulation of fetal bone development and osteoporosis later in life.

Dirt – “Maternal exposure to animal sheds” and other farm environments during pregnancy might actually make the offspring more resistant to allergies right out of the womb.

Much of this is still up in the air, of course. We haven’t identified every lifestyle factor that triggers epigenetic changes in offspring, nor will we (likely) ever. But most of the evidence that we do have suggests that being healthy is good for our offspring and being unhealthy is bad for them. So, being an obese dad or mom? Not so good for the kids and grandkids. Being a healthy weight mom or dad? Probably good for the kids and grandkids. Smoking during pregnancy? Bad. Going for nature walks during pregnancy? Probably good. Getting a good 8-10 hours of sleep while pregnant? Good. Staying up late watching bad TV with a kid in your belly? Not so great, most likely. Playing? Good. Even if there isn’t a study for everything, it’s already been shown that most lifestyle modifications affect us on the epigenetic level. I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that they’re also affecting our children on the epigenetic level.

Some of you may find this a bit scary. You may even feel helpless, as if decisions were made concerning your longterm health before you were born, or even before your parents were born. For my money? It’s the opposite. It’s empowering, because knowledge truly is power, and now you have the power to not just transform your own health, but also the health of your unborn progeny’s progeny. That may sound like a lot of responsibility – and it is – but it’s not anything you aren’t already doing for yourself. Just stick to what you know works, eat right, stay active, avoid unnecessary stress, get plenty of sleep, get away from the city now and again, laugh everyday, give and get massages, walk a lot, lift heavy things, eat lots of plants and animals, and all that epigenetic stuff will take care of itself.

Most importantly, remember that you have just as much power to create lasting health benefits in your children with the choices you make. It’s not just about avoiding unhealthy outcomes, but creating healthy ones!

Anyway, that’s it for today. It was a long but important one; thanks for sticking around. Leave your thoughts, questions, concerns in the comment section, as well as any other bits of evidence you’ve found that shows how we can affect our offspring.

Thanks again!

Cake Crumbs’ talented Rhiannon sure knows how to make cakes. A while back, she turned heads with her multi-layered cake replica of the planet Earth. Now she’s at it again and this time, she’s going bigger. I’m talking Jupiter big. Combining her love of astronomy with her love of baking, she’s tackled the largest planet in our solar system.

In the end I settled on Jupiter predominantly for one reason: its Great Red Spot. The giant anticyclonic storm has always been one of my favourite things and continues to be a subject of great fascination for me. At thrice the size of the Earth it’s bewildering to comprehend the actual magnitude of it. If I absolutely have to choose a favourite planet, it’s got to Jupiter for that storm alone.

After eight hours of meticulous detailing, tons of fondant and edible ink, she was able to replicate the Great Red Spot and all the other intricacies surrounding Jupiter’s atmosphere.

The center core of the planet is made out of mud cake with a surrounding layer of Almond Butter cake, then a layer of tinted vanilla Madeira sponge above that. Just below the fondant, the sphere is covered with a vanilla buttercream crumb coat.

If they had used cakes like these in grade school science, I would have paid much more attention. This Jupiter cake looks to be yet another successful project for Cake Crumbs. Hopefully we’ll be seeing something just as cool with the same amount of care, detail and creativity from this talented baker.

PicThx CakeCrumbs

The post Here’s a Gas-tronomically Accurate Cake Model of Jupiter appeared first on Foodbeast.

Winning something on eBay is such a thrill — except when you didn’t realize that you were even bidding because your toddler got her hands on your phone and oh my god, we own a car now that we didn’t before? That’s exactly what happened to one family after a little tyke got her hands on her dad’s smartphone, complete with the eBay app.

The dad tells ABC News he had no idea his daughter had done anything but play on his phone, until eBay sent him an exciting email.

“I didn’t realize until I got an email from eBay, basically saying congratulations,” he explains.

So what did he and his wife win? A 1962 Austin Healey Sprite, a small sports car. Gulp.

While at first the dad says they were a bit panicked, all’s well that ends well: Instead of getting out of it, the family decided heck, why not keep the car? It was only $225 after all, and will make for a great 16th birthday present for their daughter.

A lot more rewarding than say, a five-year-old kid accidentally spending $2,500 in online games on his parents’ iPad, right?

This one’s dedicated to Bonnie – happy birthday to you!!

Here are more library cartoons.

Happy Canada Day! Here’s more Canadian content for the occasion!

The saying is ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. If you can’t reduce your waste, try to reuse it in another way to save having to throw it out (which is still what you are doing when you recycle… though it has a prettier name). So in the spirit of re-using kitchen gadgets and items to bring new life to them, I present:

If there is hope for this cake pan… there is hope for anything.

Filed under: Frugal Food, Inappropriate, Random Posts

Are you in the mood for some motivational quotes from Albert Einstein today? If you’re into motivation and inspiration, then you should be!

It’s likely that nearly everyone in this world knows who Albert Einstein is. As the proclaimed Father of Modern Physics, most people would consider Albert Einstein as a huge source of their motivation as well. After all, no-one believed in his abilities when he was a young kid; his teachers rejected him and his classmates mocked him, and yet, all his discoveries are foundations of the teachings in our science curriculum and seemingly everyone sings songs of praise about him today.

Isn’t that motivating enough for you?

Well, you might also be surprised to know that it isn’t only his life that is highly motivating: his quotes are truly inspirational and life-changing, too!

To get you more motivated, here are 19 quotes by Albert Einstein. Read them, absorb them, and most of all, live them in your day-to-day lives.

What’s your favorite among these motivational quotes from Albert Einstein? Mine’s number 11—I also believe that life is a long journey filled with experiences. Once you’re able to make sense of these experiences, you’ll truly be able to live life to the fullest.

No one can argue with the fact that Richard Branson has made his life a success: 12 Inspiring Quotes from Richard Branson that Enrich your Life

The post 19 Motivational Quotes from Albert Einstein appeared first on Lifehack.

OK – I realise that I am leaning out the window here and may well receive hate mail and letter bombs in response to this – but here we go…

This week, The Atlantic features a most provocative cover story by the science writer David H. Freeman, who, in just under 11,000 words (!), plainly and persuasively argues that less unhealthy “junk food” may be the only realistic and feasible solution to the obesity epidemic.

In his article he not only most eloquently fires a broadside the “Pollanites” and orthorexic whole food enthusiasts, deploring what he terms their elitist food ideologies, but in fact calls them out as being a major part of the problem – now that IS new!

As Freedman notes, while companies like Coca-Cola and McDonalds have (for the most part) quietly sneaked in lower calorie and otherwise healthier (read – “less unhealthy”) fare into the daily menus of millions of consumers, those opposed to any other than wholesome fresh-from-the-farm foods continue to scream and shout about the evil doings of BIG FOOD.

As Freedman points out,

“McDonald’s has quietly been making healthy changes for years, shrinking portion sizes, reducing some fats, trimming average salt content by more than 10 percent in the past couple of years alone, and adding fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, and oatmeal to its menu. In May, the chain dropped its Angus third-pounders and announced a new line of quarter-pound burgers, to be served on buns containing whole grains.”

In his article he quotes Jamy Ard, an epidemiology and preventive-medicine researcher at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina:

“Processed food is a key part of our environment, and it needs to be part of the equation. If you can reduce fat and calories by only a small amount in a Big Mac, it still won’t be a health food, but it wouldn’t be as bad, and that could have a huge impact on us. Fast food became popular because it’s tasty and convenient and cheap. It makes a lot more sense to look for small, beneficial changes in that food than it does to hold out for big changes in what people eat that have no realistic chance of happening.”

Freedman also nicely explains why we are not hearing much about these changes at McDonald’s – it has painfully learnt its lesson from the McLean debacle. Now, he says, they prefer to just sneak in the healthier stuff – their sales pitch is that their “new” foods taste great and are as enjoyable as the old stuff – taste sells – health does not!

As for the use of food processing technology,

“If the food industry is to quietly sell healthier products to its mainstream, mostly non-health-conscious customers, it must find ways to deliver the eating experience that fat and problem carbs provide in foods that have fewer of those ingredients. There is no way to do that with farm-fresh produce and wholesome meat, other than reducing portion size. But processing technology gives the food industry a potent tool for trimming unwanted ingredients while preserving the sensations they deliver.”

He goes on to describe some of the fascinating science and technologies  being used to reduce fat, sugar and salt in processed foods without compromising on taste and mouth feel. There is simply no realistic way to get millions of people to eat less unhealthy without such advances.

Freedman is not against regulation or even taxation to help move things along – he also recognises that BIG FOOD needs to make profits and is ultimately only accountable to its shareholders – however, his conclusions are clear: it is simply naive to believe that anyone other than BIG FOOD can change how the vast majority of people eat – to sell less-unhealthy foods (even if that is not always what consumers want) is in their own best interest - farmers’ markets will not solve the obesity problem nor will raising chicken in your backyard.

But why not grab a (processed) coffee and a Tim Horton’s Alberta Rose donut (to support Alberta’s flood victims – you don’t have to actually eat it!) and read for yourself.

@DrSharma
Edmonton, AB

Thanks to a blog reader who wishes to remain anonymous today I'm presenting to you what was presented to her at her baby's 1 year checkup.

It's a patient education pamphlet on feeding your 1 year old and it includes the admonition to limit sodas to no more than 1 can each day.

Ummm......what?

The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdős, written by Deborah Heiligman and illustrated by LeUyen Pham, is a kids' book on the life of the prolific mathematician and a boy's love of numbers.

Most people think of mathematicians as solitary, working away in isolation. And, it's true, many of them do. But Paul Erdos never followed the usual path. At the age of four, he could ask you when you were born and then calculate the number of seconds you had been alive in his head. But he didn't learn to butter his own bread until he turned twenty. Instead, he traveled around the world, from one mathematician to the next, collaborating on an astonishing number of publications. With a simple, lyrical text and richly layered illustrations, this is a beautiful introduction to the world of math and a fascinating look at the unique character traits that made "Uncle Paul" a great man.

Heck yeah. [via Boing Boing]

The great green room and the purple crayon are here; so are the wild things and the poky puppy, Charlotte’s web and Alice’s wonderland, the very hungry caterpillar and the stinky cheese man. It is a reunion of creatures, characters and creations, gathered from memories of childhood and parenthood, and celebrated in “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter,” a remarkably rich new exhibition at the New York Public Library.

Story and slide show from the New York Times.

Are you tired of trying to be extraordinary? Hate standing out from the crowd and achieving more than those around you? Well then, this cartoon can help show you how to stop reaching for the stars and start living your life as yet another totally unremarkable, average citizen.

Of course, if you read Lifehack, then chances are, you’re probably actively trying to improve yourself and your life on a regular basis so this cartoon doesn’t really apply. But it does show you what not to do if you want to be above average -not to accept things at face value, not to accept rules just because they’re rules, to be productive and challenge yourself at work, and, most importantly, to have dreams and strive to achieve them.

Original Source -Geeks Are Sexy

As a rule, thinking is a good thing and while some people don’t do it enough, some over-think everything.: How to Stop Being an Over-Thinker

The post How to Be Unremarkably Average appeared first on Lifehack.