Entry 7

Yo!

Please excuse my tardiness again with this Blog; I just got in from doing some serious yard work, and BOY are my legs tired! .............................Um, anyway, a FINAL addendum to my Pokemon rant from 2 weeks ago: I just found out that the big 10th anniversary special ("The Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon") that The Pokemon Company is using to pilot the new season 9 voice cast is airing on US airwaves THIS SATURDAY. Click HERE to get to Kids WB's Pokemon page to see the trailer. This means that now we finally get to see-- er, hear, exactly what these guys have up their sleeves to carry the show forward. Here's hoping they don't screw it up. ........too badly.

........Moving on, this week, I want to talk about a commercial I saw Friday night about this new butter spread by Shedd's Spread (I think that's how it's spelled), called "Country Crock Spreadable Butter." What they mean by "spreadable" is, even after you get it home from your grocer, you can refrigerate it for days on end, get it out, and it'll be perfectly spreadable on--- ah darn, what's an example of really weak bread for spreading newly solidified butter--- white Wonder bread, as if it had been sitting out in a room temperature environment for 25 minutes or so, but without those isolated areas of yellow goo that looks like someone cracked open a raw egg over the butter and didn't grab a spoon to dig the stuff out. I haven't had a chance to get to a supermarket this past weekend to find that stuff and check the ingredients, but if I had to guess, whatever alien mutagen is responsible for this culinary concoction, can't be good for regular human consumption.

Think about it: with the exception of good old fashioned milk (which is already liquid anyway, so it can't get softer than that), no dairy product is supposed to actually get (and stay!) soft in a very cold environment. This leads me to believe that whatever kind of stuff made that actually possible, needs FDA evaluation again, and this time, Shedd's Spread, no bribes to get it through. To me, a feat like this, while admittedly, looks great on TV, sounds like a good idea, and must've been astounding on paper, on second thought, just sounds kinda nasty to me. I can already imagine the different kinds of preservatives and additives they used to make that happen.

Plus, as far as those preservatives specifically, next time you get a chance, people, get to your grocer, go straight to the dairy section, pick up a spreadable butter (that's right, I said "A spreadable butter." After Googling Shedd's brand, I found out that, apparently, Land O'Lakes has a spreadable butter out too), and compare the listed ingredients with those on a regular, un-"mutated" brand, such as Smart Balance. I personally have a rule about ingredients like these: If I can't pronounce it, I won't eat it. Period. When you get your hands on this new butter, try reading aloud some of those ingredients (especially the ones that end in "-ose" or "-ame". Those are REALLY fun). Just ignore any awkward stares you may get from other shoppers. If any store staff asks you what you're doing, just tell them you're doing a public health study. I think you'll be surprised. Bottom line: Dairy (except milk) doesn't soften when it's cold, Weird crap that's modified, manipulated, manufactured and (insert 4th similar "m-word" here) does. That's not dairy, it shouldn't be passed off as dairy, and that kind of misleading product, I'm sure, can't be all that healthy for you anyway. ...............But that's just me. See ya next week!

-D.