Tag Archives: #a-good-idea

Sandwich break

York Avenue just north of 73rd

A recent article in The New Yorker lauded the breakfast sandwich. Helen Rosner expounded on the joys of a perfect balance between all its components. While fascinated by her well-expressed argument, I scoffed at the idea. A sandwich is something plus something between two pieces of bread. Breakfast is a plate of sunny eggs plus some toast.

Full disclosure requires I honestly tell you I enjoy the Starbucks 🌟 breakfast treat of an Impossible sausage many a morning. It’s a combo of egg plus cheese with the plant-based meat on a toasty lovely roll.

I appreciated its goodness, but thought it was just a fast food concept.

Enter an egg on a pita from Claire’s. Ta da! Its secret sauce is tahini poured over the scrambled egg plus pickles. All of this is set deep in the pita pocket, the eggs scrambled soft against the crunch of pickle. Talk about balance.

Sedentary

It’s increasingly apparent that leading a sedentary life is bad for the health.

When I say “the health” I mean yours and mine. But women’s health in particular. The statistics suggesting just how bad inactivity is- especially for women- are grim.

Now I recognize that this is not exactly news to any of us.

Movement is necessary.

Since the pandemic began, we’ve been introduced to a lot of online programs. We also have spent more time in our jammies and slippers.

I used a site strategically-named Fitness Blender to get in enough supervised push-ups, squats, and lunges.

With the return to a more conventional workweek, we have even fewer opportunities to stay active.

In the spirit of helping us to maintain a healthier body and mind, Melissa Painter’s women-founded Breakthru has developed an immersive, interactive app.

Breakthru: Movement Microbreaks for the Modern Workday are 2-minute long movements guided to inspire a mood.

A User’s Guide on How it Works

1. start by picking the mood you are looking for- confident, joyful, energized or centered. Each mood is accompanied by a color – the experience is interactive and multi-sensory, with spatial sound.

2. push away from the computer and follow the guide, created by motion capture from movement experts whose expertise ranges from akido, tai chi, physical therapy, yoga and dance.

There’s no right or wrong way to play- the movement of your body affects the sound and the visuals! Each mood contains a series of different break options – there is a world of movement behind each mood option, each of which hold an entire series.

Breakthru invites you to set custom reminders and allows you to see your history. It also uses interactive feedback – machine vision (AI) – so the movement of a user’s body changes the sound and visual.
You can set team challenges, send appreciation to a colleague, use Breakthru as an ice breaker in meetings, win streaks, and unlock new breaks over time.

For more information on Breakthru visit their site.

Hominids

The skull’s lower jaw has particularly confounded scientists because it combines features of Homo sapiens and another ancient human relative — the mysterious Denisovans. And like Denisovans, HLD 6 did not seem to have a true chin.
The find has sparked questions about a pivotal point in the evolutionary history of early human relatives, or hominins, that began in the late Middle Pleistocene.

CNN Science Wonder Theory newsletter

The human timeline has gotten so very much more complicated. As archaeologists uncover new finds, we are introduced to remote ancestors we never knew.

In my elementary school days, I had reason to believe that the evolution was simpler. I wasn’t paying much attention, of course, but history seemed within my grasp.

As I went on in my education, there seemed to be fewer links in the human chain than are being discovered.

There was always a mysterious “missing link” that I assumed scientists understood.

It’s not a complaint, but boy, is it puzzling. Who were great²⁰⁰⁰ grandma and grandpa? Wiil we ever really know them?

Crossover cookery

Greeks must have meandered into French kitchens in the last half century. Almost every little bakery seems to feature a small burek alongside the croissants.

Veganism, if it is an ism, seems to be going mainstream. My evidence? Tacos with vegan pastor. Likewise, there’s Impossible gone mainstream in the Starbucks breakfast sandwich.

Fine. Dining.

This morning’s wailing child breakfast interruption put me in mind of young parents’ dilemma. Does getting out of the house with your tot have to be disruptive?

How can those in possession of a small child enjoy a protracted fine dining experience? There is the simple “get a babysitter” way. Too simple, too costly. We like to shlep our kid everywhere.

Top chefs, here is your next frontier: 4 course tasting menu for 2+. Parents will wear snuggies and hold the baby during the entire course.