We made a Safeway gingerbread boy tonight.  I think everyone thought it was a Superboy gingerbread boy but nope it was a Safeway boy.

Christina and I went to Plouf on Friday night because our friend is now an Executive Chef there.  According to its website: “The trendy French seafood bistro on lively Belden Alley in the Financial District. Specializing in mussels, unique appetizers, salads, seafood dishes, and meats, we invite you to join us for a truly Parisian dining experience.”  The mussels were absolutely fantastic (forgot to snag a picture) and the steak (hey I did get some mussels and oysters…so I got some seafood) was awesome.  If you are ever in San Francisco and love seafood I hope you check it out!

Anthony, Brian, and I went to a food truck mafia event today at the mall parking lot.  A food truck mafia (I learned today from Brian) is a group of food trucks in one location.  I had fish tacos from Cabana Dave’s Food Truck (Twitter) and a maple bacon cupcake for dessert from That’s Sweet!  Dessert Truck (Twitter) .  I felt horrible about myself after eating the cupcake for about 5 minutes.  Life is short and man was that cupcake good!  Time to exercise so I can get another cupcake some day!

MMM The Haunted Hamburger was one of the best hamburgers I’ve ever had!  We’re having lots of fun and have had some great food if you can’t tell.

Six Rivers Brewery in McKinleyville, CA makes a mean Chili Pepper Spicy Ale.  I was picking up a few more bottles of wine for the upcoming wedding yesterday and any time I make a trip to BevMo I make sure to visit the beer aisle.  I love spicy foods but woah it is actually a very spicy beer!  I think it will likely be a one time purchase for me but love trying out new varieties of beer every now and then.  If you try it or have already tried it, let me know what you think.

I’m a big fan of lemonade and have tried a good number from many companies.  The other day I got a chance to try Hubert’s Original Lemonade and I have to say it was absolutely amazing.  Try it!  That is all.

http://www.hubertslemonade.com/

My favorite restaurant, or at least a top 10.  They have one in Stockton, CA so I try and convince everyone to go there any chance I get as we’re passing through.  Today it was after a celebration of life and I think it helped cheer everyone up at least a little.

Christina and I went to Red Rock Coffee yesterday in Mountain View and they served up a fantastic latte.  I say easily one of the 10 best lattes I’ve had, and I’ve had a good number!

Website: Red Rock Coffee

Twitter: @redrockcoffeeaz

One of the best things about coming back to Portland is a fantastic Stumptown latte.

Back in October I received this email from Eventful, a site that tells you what events are going on in your area each week.  The “A Happier You: 10 Simple Ways You Can Learn It” event struck me as interesting.  Has anyone else noticed that more and more Americans are unhappy?  According to WalframAlpha 1 in 164, or just over 2.5 million Americans are diagnosed with depression every year.   Also according to the same source, the US average age for depression is 44 for males and 47 for females.  There doesn’t seem to be a correlation of age, weight, and height to depression either.

I watch a lot of travel and food shows so when I discovered Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations I was instantly hooked.  I saw him at a Phoenix airport a few years ago and he gave me a cool “yeah I know you know me” look.  In one particular episode he travels to an extremely remote African Zarwulugbo Village that rarely gets visitors from the “outside world”.  The very first thing that struck me was how happy the African tribe was despite the material possessions we have learned to cherish here in the Western World.  They don’t have fancy houses, they live in huts with thatch roofs, the don’t have cars, or stoves, or any modern day amenities.  What they do have is happiness.  All the kids and adults alike had huge grins and maybe it was just for the cameras but to me they seemed genuinely happy.  When was the last time you heard about a villager that was depressed?  Granted not too many of us have traveled to remote villages to see these things for ourselves so many of us get our first glimpse of other nations through television.

If you stop and think about it, if you are over 30 years old when have you been the most happy?  For many of us it is when we had minimal material possessions and minimal responsibilities.  As material possessions grow, so do the responsibilities and some may argue that causes people to feel trapped, isolated, and maybe even depressed or sad.

What is it that makes people happy?  It doesn’t appear to have too much to do with race, although those with “mixed” race do have a higher percentage of depression in the US.

Wolfram Alpha also allows you to see how frequently various words are used in the US.  Sad is the 2,959^th most common written and 1,5,96^th word spoken in our language. Happy is the 896^th most common written and 433^rd most common word spoken.  We therefore tend to say happy things more often than sad.  At the same time there are many more people who do not suffer from depression so the word happy should be used more than sad.  Also, just because someone is depressed may not mean they use the word sad either but it was just interesting to me that people tend to use happy more than sad  here in the US.

WebMD.com has a slideshow on depression and why it occurs isn’t yet fully known.  According to the article, “a prominent theory is altered brain structure and chemical function. Chemicals called neurotransmitters become unbalanced. What pushes these chemicals off course? One possibility is the stress of a traumatic event, such as losing a loved one or a job. Other triggers could include certain medications, alcohol or substance abuse, hormonal changes, or even the season.”  I can understand or somewhat subscribe to this logic because arguably one thing the remote African villages don’t have is medications, alcohol (at least the type we have), or chemical influences in their food supply.

Source: http://curetogether.com/

CureTogether.com has a chart (above) that shows how effective and popular various depression treatments are.  Meditation, talk therapy, sleep, and exercise are the most popular and effective treatments.

One thing I’ve noticed is those who lose hope tend to lose themselves.  Why aren’t more Americans happy?  Does anyone have more stats or interesting studies to add to the conversation?  Talk back…

Christina made me chocolate chip pie which is my all-time favorite dessert (besides ice cream) for Thanksgiving.  Colonel Sanders had his finger licking good chicken but the Person family has its chocolate chip pie.  It isn’t very open source of the Colonel to keep his chicken recipe all to himself.

I’m going to fill you in on this incredibly good dessert so you and your family can also enjoy it:

• 1 Cup Milk
• 20 Large Marshmallows
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Almond Flavoring
• 1 Cup Whipped-Whipping Cream
• 1/2 Cup Shaved Unsweetened Chocolate
• 1 Baked 9″ Pie Shell

Heat milk & marshmallows and stir until marshmallows dissolve.  Add salt & flavorings.  Chill, fold in whipped cream and shaved chocolate and enjoy!  OK so sharing is caring, what family recipe can you share with me (and the world)?

I love Chipotle’s brilliant marketing programs and have become a huge fan of their natural ingredients.  I’ve recently been on a natural food kick and you can ask anyone at work how passionate I’ve become on the topic.  This Halloween Chipotle is doing a Boorito contest.  “Come into Chipotle after 6pm this Halloween dressed as a horrifyingly processed food product (think snack foods, cheese goo & wieners) and we’ll give you a burrito, bowl, salad or and order of tacos filled with freshly cooked, naturally raised ingredients for only $2.  The proceeds, up to $1,000,000, will benefit Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution – a non-profit campaign working to educate people about the importance of eating unprocessed food made with simple, fresh ingredients.”

Jamie Oliver is dressed up in the photo above like a chicken nugget. I seriously can’t eat a chicken nugget ever again without thinking about the pink goo they make them with.

Why Cut Processed Food:

1. Processed foods are an illusion, often appearing to be healthy (with claims like low fat, low carb, vitamin fortified, no trans fat, contains omega-3s, etc.) when these foods are in fact the very thing making a lot of Americans unhealthy, sick, and fat.
2. Coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer – four of the top ten chronic diseases that kill most of us – “can be traced directly to the industrialization of our food” according to Michael Pollan.
3. Making smarter (and sometimes more expensive) food choices now may reduce your healthcare costs later in life.
4. Why would one want to eat a processed food-like substance that is scientifically designed to never rot?
5. The food industry has proven that it is not very good at seasoning our foods by adding way too much salt, sugar, and/or oil to almost everything.
6. When you eat white bread and other foods made with white flour (which is a highly processed version of wheat) you are basically consuming empty calories with far less nutrition than the whole-wheat or whole grain alternatives.
7. It is estimated that up to 90% of processed foods* in the supermarket contain either a corn or soy ingredient in the form of an additive under a variety of different names. Now how is that for eating variety?
8. Cutting out processed foods could lead you to experience a variety of personal health benefits such as having more energy, losing weight, improving regularity, or just feeling healthier overall.
9. Rather than counting calories, watching fat grams, or reducing carbs for “healthy eating”, simply eat whole foods that are more a product of nature than a product of industry. It certainly is less complicated.
10. It just makes plain old sense to fully understand what you are eating, be able to pronounce everything on the list of ingredients (if there is a list), and know exactly where that food comes from…don’t you think?

>> Source: * Statistics courtesy of a food scientist interviewed on the documentary “Food, Inc”

If anyone tries this before me, let me know what you think.  >> View the recipe

Instructables has a recipe for homemade Snickers bars!

I took the day off today to rest up, and to get ready for my parents who are visiting from Oregon tomorrow.  Christina’s sister was talking the other day about couch to 5k which is an iPhone app “as seen on ABC News and featured in the Best iPhone Apps book.  Couch to 5K has been helping thousands of people ease into running and incrementally build up their running strength in just 9 weeks.”  I tried it out this afternoon while Mr. Tyler was taking his afternoon nap and I must say I love it.  Their website also has lots of podcasts which you can listen to while you run.  I went just over two miles for thirty minutes and burned a little over 300 caleries.  As you can see from the video, your iPhone starts giving you instructions (when to warm up, when to walk, when to run, and when to cool down).  You can even listen to music from your iPhone while using it (I didn’t because I had to listen for Tyler but still really awesome).  If you are into running or if you’re thinking about getting into running check it out (I paid $2.99 for it).

Christina and I went to Mr. Pickles for lunch today which is supposed to have the best sandwiches in Livermore.  I had the “Italian Stallion” which has ham, salami, pastrami and dressing.  It was a giant sandwich and we got a chocolate chip cookie and sat outside in near perfect weather so it was tough to beat.  The ratings on Yelp are mixed but I liked it.

Ironically I was drinking tea when I saw this video from Kevin Rose showing off a programmable electric water kettle on steroids, the BTM800XL is for the true tea enthusiast. A 1500 watt quick boil element brings your water up to your chosen temperature.  The coolest part, however, is the automatic basket that lowers your tea for a specified amount of time making your perfect cup time after time after time.  At $299.99 you have to be a serious tea lover to justify spending that much on it.

Other features include:

• 60 minute keep warm function
• Time since brew function to monitor freshness
• Stainless steel tea basket with glass jug
• 51 oz max when used to heat water
• 41 oz tea max when used to make tea

Want to know the best thing about having a toddler?  I get to eat gummy vitamins in the morning with him.  Two for him…two for me.  Why don’t adults get gummy vitamins?  We have horse pills we have to swallow.  When I was a kid I had Flinstone vitamins but now kids get gummy vitamins?  Awesome…

My favorite color for clothing is gray but my favorite color overall is lime green which is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day next week.  I bought these shoes on Zappos and they are either the ugliest or coolest shoes ever (still deciding).  :)

Anyone who has been to StumpTown Coffee will say it is better than Starbucks (including myself).  Agree or disagree?  Read the Time Magazine article here.