Healthy Procrastination 3

This week’s reading, shopping and general time-wasting. 

1. In case you were feeling smug about how well your kids eat, take a look at the lunch boxes of Food 52 co-founder Amanda Hesser’s children and weep. (And there are some pretty good ideas to steal too).
2. While you are on Food 52, if any American (or anybody else) reading this makes one of these flag cakes for their 4 July celebration, I will give you ten English pounds sterling. Yes, £10. Maybe even twenty if it’s really good.
3. Can we talk about clothes briefly? Yes? if you have never come across the blog Le Catch, get thee over there. Written by a former Conde Nast fashion editor, it is devoted to finding awesome pieces from online ‘high-street’ stores like H&M, Zara, River Island and ASOS, along with some more ‘investment’ style things from Net-a-Porter, J Crew and the like. The links are to the US stores but I have found most of what I have wanted on the UK sites too. Those brilliant abstract animal print River Island skorts are winging their way to me as I type.
4. Some fancy vegetable-heavy recipes from the great Bruno Loubet via the Guardian website (ages ago). His second London restaurant, Grain Store gives seasonal vegetables top billing and these are the sort of the posh ‘entertaining’ options you can wheel out for your discerning vegetarian dinner guests. But I have really just included it for the asparagus, aubergine & miso suggestion which is top of my list to make.
5. “Research has shown that if you eat super broccoli or any other cruciferous super vegetable everyday, you can control insects with your mind”. This list of Super SuperFoods from McSweeneys Internet Tendency made me Laugh Out Loud. Like, actually.
6. And now for some Serious Face time: this piece by Alice Waters in Time magazine this week on the importance of good school lunches and engaging and educating children in what they eat. She is writing about the situation in the US but a lot of what she says is as important here.
7. It’s summer! This Zoku ice-pop maker is one of the best kitchen things I have bought. Sure, you could make them in Ikea plastic moulds for a fraction of the cost but that requires advance thought, which I fail to manage at the best of times, much less when I can be dossing around in the garden. This makes ice pops in 7 minutes from start to finish. You do need to remember to keep it in your freezer though for when the whim strikes (but they now do an even smaller one if you have a very tiny freezer like me).