National Nutrition Month

March is National Nutrition Month! National Nutrition Month is a campaign sponsored annually by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. It's designed to focus attention on the importance of developing good eating and physical activity habits. The Washington Post has 8 ideas to help you and your family celebrate! Here are some of those tips:

1. Keep healthful foods in the kitchen so they're available and easy to grab. Even bring some with you on the go!

2. Make an effort to fit in fruit and vegetables. Keep some in the car for when you get hungry or start your lunch off with some raw veggies before you eat your main dish. You can also sneak them into your meals, such as diced onions, raw squash, and zucchini in spicy barbecue chicken nachos, or spinach into pasta with tomato sauce.

3. Eat more at breakfast. Americans tend to eat a light breakfast or skip it, grab lunch on the run and eat the bulk of our calories from dinner on through the evening. Your body will stay energized longer with your largest meal earlier in the day, and then metabolize better with less food in the evening.

4. Fit physical activity in so you earn your calories: walk, run, go to a gym, play team sports, use fitness apps or videos and burn calories by taking stairs and parking farther from your destinations.

For The Washington Post's complete list, click here.

Or, for more ideas on nutrition and health, check out some of the books below:

Kids:

Body Talk: The Straight Facts on Fitness, Nutrition & Feeling Great About Yourself! by Ann Douglas and Julie Douglas

Yummy!: Good Food Makes Me Strong by Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly

Food by Celeste A. Peters

Eat Right!: How You Can Make Good Food Choices by Matt Doeden

The Food Pyramid by Christine Taylor-Butler

The Monster Health Book: A Guide to Eating Healthy, Being Active, & Feeling Great for Monsters & Kids! by Edward Miller

Teens:

Body Fuel: A Guide to Good Nutrition by Donna Shryer

Ask CosmoGirl! About Nutrition and Fitness from the editors of Cosmogirl

The Scoop on What To Eat: What You Should Know About Diet and Nutrition by Kathlyn Gay

Food Choices: The Ultimate Teen Guide by Robin F. Brancato

Food for Feeling Healthy by Carol Ballard

Food for Sports by Neil Morris

The Fault In Our Stars... CUPCAKES!

Have you ever considered the idea of making a cupcake based on the details of a book? Well "Have Your (Cup)Cake And Read It Too", a collaboration between Huffington Post Books and BookBliss.com, has done just that! And this month they read one of my favorites, John Green's The Fault In Our Stars and made cupcakes to go along with it. Watch the segment below and see which of the details you remember from the book.



What parts of the story would you focus on if you were making your own The Fault In Our Stars cupcakes?

Games on cupcakes?

Do you recognize what games are pictured on the cupcakes above? I somehow stumbled across THIS AWESOME WEBSITE filled with game-themed cupcakes. And they're not just cute pictures- they're a GAME!

Browse through the 100 cupcake pictures and see what you know. Then roll your mouse over the question marks to see if you're right. I had a good time admiring the frosting-masterpieces as well as testing my game-recognition in the 100 Games Cupcake Game.

Modern Toilet

Ok, don't think I'm crazy, but ever since I heard about this restaurant a few months ago, I can't stop thinking about it (2 thumbs up for the Travel Channel). Anyway, I figured if it made such an impression on me, maybe it'll make an impression on all of you too... so I'm going to share it, but please, don't think I'm crazy.

It's called Modern Toilet and it's a bathroom-themed chain restaurant that is based in Taiwan, but expanding into China and other parts of Asia too (There are 12 branches in total, currently). The seats are toilets, fancy, stylish and acrylic with the lid down, of course. The tables are a layer of glass with a sink underneath. And the BEST part is that the food comes in a a mini toilet bowl and the drinks come in a mini urinal! Also, the REAL BEST part (and this is what started it all), the soft-serve ice cream comes to you in a dish shaped like a squat toilet!

Before Modern Toilet was a full restaurant, its owner, Wang Zi-wei, 29, had an ice cream shop that began selling chocolate ice cream swirls on paper squat toilets with tons of success. He got the idea for it from a Japanese robot cartoon character, Jichiwawa, who loved to play with poop. Grossly awesome, yes?

According to this article in TIME, the restaurant's menu includes curries, pasta, and fried chicken, as well as several shaved-ice desserts with gross names that are just a teeny bit too descriptive (read the article).

When I saw this on the Travel Channel I immediately thought, "If the dining room is full of toilets, what's in the bathroom?" Actually it made me a little bit anxious to think about, but luckily the restaurant does have proper bathrooms and they are, apparently, very well marked (so no mistakes). However don't think you'll get to wash your hands in a regular sink. Nope, their sinks are in toilets too.

Want to see more pictures? Here's some on Fun Fever, and here's some on Spot Cool Stuff Travel.

I hope one of these restaurants comes to New York! Otherwise, does anyone want to go to Taiwan?

Oh, and folding chairs and normal dishware are available if you really can't handle all the toilets. But what's the fun in that?!

Peeps as...

This week is (was?) officially Peeps Week 2010 and, in honor of this delicious holiday week(end), I thought I would share with you some fun and interesting ways to eat and serve Peeps. I got ALL of them from awesome Serious Eats website, which also has all kinds of other interesting and yummy recipes.

Here goes...

(1) Peeps as Peeps Krispie Treats



Apparently, although these are made the same way regular rice crispy treats are made, Peeps Krispie Treats taste sweeter that regular ones (sprinkly sugar on top, maybe?). Plus, they're so pretty and colorful! I'm thinking of giving these a shot myself actually, because they look so easy to make. Click the link above for instructions.

(2) Peeps as Peepshi



You can make Peepshi (Peeps Sushi!) with just some peeps, rice crispy treats, and Fruit by the Foot. But you have take a picture before you eat it, because this one's all about the image. Click the link above for a Beginners Guide to Peepshi.

(3) Peeps as S'meeps



Seems so obvious, but I didn't think of it! Apparently these taste just like regular s'mores, but have an extra (and delightful) subtle crunch. I'm also considering making these.

(4) Peeps as Fluffernutter



This one has a surprise! It's not just a regular fluffernutter sandwich with a marshmallow swap. Nope. Instead of ordinary bread, this sandwich is made with 1" pieces of POUND CAKE. Mmmmm!

(5) Peeps as Peepza



Okay, I'll be honest, when I first stumbled upon this I let out an, "Ewww!" But then I gave it a bit of actual consideration and yep, I can see this giving me the exact salty/sweet combo I am always craving (you know, like chocolate covered pretzels do). You're actually supposed to melt the peeps, and when you think about it (really) pizza with a little extra sweet... probably pretty okay.

(6) Peeps as Chocolate Covered Peepsicles



I don't know how you can go wrong with this one, really. Plus it seems totally easy to make. I'd imagine that, in addition to coconut, you could probably cover these guys in sprinkles or even maybe a caramel drizzle or something.

Happy Peeps Week, guys!

Bento Boxes

Have any of you guys ever made a bento box? I just got really into them a few weeks ago.

A bento box is a takeout or home-packed meal that is meant to serve one person. It started as a part of Japanese cuisine, but has recently taken off in other places and all over the Internet. A traditional bento box usually consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. But they can really be anything you like! The whole idea is that it's packed efficiantly and utilizes all of the boxes space. They're so economical! Bento containers can range from disposable and mass produced to fancy and hand crafted. Often, the box is partitioned, which helps it to be packed and stay put. I found the picture to the left on Boing Boing this morning. It shows a really awesome Care Bears bento box, but a quick Internet search will come back with tonssssss of different cute and themey bento boxes.

The first day that I discovered the bento box I attempted to make my lunch for the next day in bento form. See the picture to the right. It didn't include rice, fish, meat, or any pickled or cooked vegetables. (It does have an assortment of tiny things and vegan meats, however.)

On the bottom sides, there is a cut-up vegan bologna sandwich on a round sandwich thin, cut in half and facing out. Then I threw a few pieces of vegan pepperoni on top (to attempt to make it pretty. Fail, right?). Then I cut up a chocolate Vitamuffin and put it in a cupcake baking container and I did the same with a box of raisins below it. Then, because I thought it needed something to hold it in place, I dumped handfuls of Cheerios in all the gaps, and voila! Bento!

Welllllll, by the time I had driven my bento box to work and taken it out at lunch time, it had all jumbled up and the Cheerios were soggy and gross. So, wompwomp. But it was my first try and I had limited ingrediants, and it tasted good enough (other than the Cheerios), so I'm still pretty proud of myself!

Anyway, there are a few books on bento boxes in the Suffolk County Library System. If you're interested, put one or two on hold and maybe YOUR bento box will turn out better than mine did.

501 bento box lunches : 501 unique recipes for brilliant bento
Bento boxes : Japanese meals on the go
Simple menus for the bento box
Face Food : The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes