23 Comments

Food look fab! nice post

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Hi David & welcome! I try to always respond to messages and somehow missed yours. Food seems to be one of the last things left that can unify people. Of course, for many, it is not enough to not eat bacon, they feel the urge to tell you why you shouldn't :) I will carve out some time and check out Tumbleweed Words.

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Lovely thoughts - and thank you Mark - enjoying your work :)

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Like the food poll. I started using them too. Not sure about the web chat feature

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Thanks for reading and commenting De! I start and finish every post about the same. I always make a silly poll and share some music that I either listened to or thought about when I was writing. I'm not sure of the count but I have a link on my homepage that allows people to listen to all the music I've posted. No one knocking down the door for my playlist :) -- I haven't tried the WebChat yet either and not sure I will.

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Yeah I guess a lot of folks have so many music playlists loaded on Spotify ect. Some writers here ya have to download the media first. I prefer your format just click and enjoy. For me music always works 😊

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It's all available on YouTube and the video is icing on the cake. My playlist is point and click also. It was fun to build!!! If the song is REAL GOOD (IMHO) I just paste the link and Substack auto-formats it pretty nice.

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That's weird... I wrote a comment, but I can't see it now. It's probably for the best. It might have come across a little aggressively, because I started it like this: BAGELS ARE THE BEST BREAKFAST! 😂

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Thanks for your thoughtful comment even if only you ever got to see it :) I would have considered such a comment HIGH QUALITY. I have always loved bagels and bialis. For me, alas, bagels were the best breakfast, specifically an everything with either salmon cream cheese or chive and onion. The adjustments for type-2 diabetes are not so good sometimes :) -- While I still love them, a bagel is now a carb freight train.

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Mr. Dolan! TWO purple things in one breakfast? I know spring is coming, but wow!!

Very glad you are again ready for the apocolypse.

I took the long version of the survey. You are right, it was fun though I sort of already knew everything it told me about myself.

As for your poll, there should be an “all the above option” but since there wasn’t I picked “something else” which wasn’t quite right but close enough!

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Thanks for commenting. Always enjoy your take.

(1) I am glad you voted anyhow. If Substack allows more than 5 options I will adjust. Anything to please a loyal AND opinionated reader

(2) A lot of separate plates though and I know that is questionable for some.

(3) I was not surprised by the answers I got either. I just like the bold idea of referring to your survey as primal -- sort of clickbait from the Ivy League

(4) Once I am through the week I will be rapture-ready once the beans are cooked. Dry beans are poisonous mostly until they are cooked. Nature knows how to keep those crows away.

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I wanted Japanese sweet potatoes to be a poll option! I’m so excited you appreciate them too. They were the breakfast that powered me through graduate school!

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Mar 13, 2023·edited Mar 13, 2023Author

I almost added it but figured no one would know what they are. I have them as a treat now. As a diabetic I am careful about carbs and they are lower carb, higher fiber than white, yellow and red as they have thicker skins. As a result I limit myself to 1/4 at a sitting. The Japanese sweet potatoes became a staple for us when my son was in Okinawa and later when he married a woman from there. Considered a superfood but I usually make fun of that sort of thing. You know from reading my posts that I can spoil some things with too much science. The anthocyanin and their separate benefit make it sensible to always eat the richest color of anything including potatoes, cauliflower, onions, grapes and the like. When I can get it at the farmer's market, purple cauliflower is awesome. Not for everyone, but I did an early post with a clickbait title https://markdolan.substack.com/all-hail-crucifer -- it is worth it to take a look and skip the writing and just take in the photo of cauliflower!!!

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Oh, I love purple cauliflower!! And I'm happy to know about anthocyanin. I'll think about it next time I eat a purple sweet potato.

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Its a good intimidation word too...you can just as easily tell people it is a precursor to LSD -- once I learned about it I now buy red cabbage...tastes the same, better for you -- https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/anthocyanins/

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Thanks again Mark for the wonderful shoutout; I can't wait to hear more about the course you took. I don't have time to do the survey right now, but I'm saving the email so I can come back to it.

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I have book club tomorrow night discussing Eleanor. If any of the members who read my Newsletter are there I'll pass along the feedback. A third party survey is a lot to ask of people but this one, is worthwhile. I enjoyed it.

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Have fun at book club tonight!

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Thanks Gayla! I expect the book we discuss to be one of the very best reviewed books the club ever read.

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There is a butcher shop we used to frequent in upstate New York that had a T-shirt reading, "Bacon: The Gateway Meat."

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Thanks for reading Antonia. Everything and every topic can be interesting. I read a good explanation of how the pandemic distorted the bacon market for over a year. Ridiculous but sensible at the same time. In the Midwest there are many who make the pilgrimmage to Nueske's. Their bacon is FAMOUS! https://www.nueskes.com/

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We have a local pork provider, which is nice because at least you can visit the farm and see what it's like there. And I can barely eat anyone else's bacon anymore!

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Mar 14, 2023·edited Mar 14, 2023Author

At the beginning, becoming intentional about what you eat seems a large commitment. IMO what has happened for me is I am more peaceful in my choices. Sometimes I just want bacon but being thoughtful in what we do can bring a lot of serenity. I think lots of people missed the point of my chicken and egg posts. Maybe it was poor messaging on my part. My sense is when we do as you do in the case of pork, the experience changes and the intentionality, all by itself. can make something taste even better!

In my recently completed class, we watched "The Best Little Farm". Change starts with one person, even if they live in Montana and are thoughtful about where their pork comes from.

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