Should we Give Processed Food Another Chance?

This is one of the posts I wrote last year and I forgot to press the " Submit" button :(

The content is still valid and  irrelevant of time though.

“Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.” Michael Pollan.

As extreme as this notion might be, it does hold some truth. The debate about processed and wholesome (natural) food has always been raised. Some scientists claim that processed food offers convenience, saves time money, transportation costs and makes food available all year around over all the globe. While others argue that processed food has been the major cause of diseases due to their low nutrient content, high artificial ingredients, and high caloric value. World health organization states that the increase in obesity levels and chronic diseases (diabetes, heart diseases) are attributed to processed foods. Increased risk of cancer is also due to the amount of chemicals in these types of food. Also hyperactivity and attention deficiency disorder in kids were caused by consuming food loaded with artificial colorants and flavors such as candies and soda drinks.

Pearl's Powder Turns 4!

Happy Birthday to my Blog! 

Happy Pearl's Powder Day! 

Pearl's Powder turns 4 now!

I admit I promised that i'd do major graphical design changes to the blog and logo, and I haven't been loyal to this promise. I am putting it on hold.
Time moves so fast indeed!
I cant believe that I started this blog when I was in USA, to write about my Ithaca, NY experience. And then I wrote about the normal things : love, science, famine,peace, war, and music...

Later in 2010,  I  focused my blog mainly on food.
Pearl's Powder was not just  a recipe sharing blog but it was more about experimenting and experiencing food in a different perspective combining memory, psychology(sensory) , and science!

It was a blog to unveil the hottest trends and events in the food and beverage industry, the latest scientific discoveries in the field of food science and technology, as well to untangle all the myths that people think about food , safety, nutrition and eating. 

When people ask me why Pearl's Powder,  I tell them I want to create a culture that appreciates and values food, not just as a necessity but also as a blessing we often disregard and take for granted.
" Appreciate, Moderate, Eat with love. Then thank God and the cook" is my mantra.

Now back to the cliche speech I want to share :P
" Thanks for all my friends, family, fellow bloggers, social media experts, and visitors of this blog for reading, commenting, sharing about Pearl's Powder.  And believe me I really want your opinion to change. Change is what makes us move on and improve!

I want to thank the F&B syndicate and industry in Lebanon for having inviting me for  food events, conferences, restaurants...etc and for trusting me in being part of their valuable events!"
And if there is only one great advise that I would give for all the newbie bloggers out there : "Never Postpone a Blogpost!" Like never! Seriously. Dont put it drafts. Post it.

Even if it werent perfected, didn't have the improved quality pictures, or the better resources to back your ideas up, just write and post it.

If you prepared it, hesitated and kept it in draft, like I do most of the times, it will stay in drafts FOREVER! I have 30 posts in draft!! :S
Now back to celebrating my blog's birthday!
Gifts and Cakes are welcome.
You can also like my Facebook Page or just comment down below!
Or you can welcome my new 6 month old baby blog  ( spirituality) : The Guarded Pearl !

Happy Pearl's Powder Day! 

Statistics on Pearl's Powder:
Number of Unique Visitors: 97,000
Number of Posts: 173
Top Visited Post: Red Velvet Cake Dilemma (3000)
Top Country: USA ( 32,000)

No Average Eyes

She grows up with a dream, a "wild dream". A dream she thought she will never lose. 

She never wanted to be a doctor, or a teacher or a lawyer like all the girls she used to  play with.

Her mom wakes her up for the morning bath. She watches the ants walking around, while she is sitting in the bathtub. The ants were searching for food in a place that had  nothing.  But look how they were naïve when she poured water or stepped on them. She wanted to have their stamina, their endurance, but she wanted to be witty and sophisticated at the same time.

She went outside to shout at her cat that was ruining the flowers her mom planted. A bee comes around her. She heard it doing its symphonic humming sound to scare her off. Yes, she wanted to hum like a bee..but she didn’t want to sting though. 

A butterfly came roaming around. Then, the little girl thought I wanted to grow up like it; to wander freely, but I want to have a purpose in my roaming.  

She went back inside her house, to the work room of her father, with all the papers thrown here and there …What a mess! Usually, she sneezes alot when she enters this room, it is so dusty and her dad doesnt allow anyone to clean it. She screamed. She found a spider hopping around with his thread.  How fast he was, and how cunning!! She wanted to be like it , fast and light, but she didn’t want to make webs and let people fall for them . 

It is dusk now. Her mom was dressing her up her pijamas, when a moth entered the room searching for light chaotically. The little girl started looking at the light as well, she wanted to be driven by light but she didn’t want light to burn her like that poor moth.  

She is tucked in her bed now. She heard an annoying noise. Here comes the mosquito! Ahh, how she uses the perfect time during the night to get her food. "I want to be smart like it, seize the perfect moment when it comes ", said the little girl."  But I don’t want to live on people." 

 She eventually asked her father to get her a magnifier. Yet she was always afraid from them. 

Perhaps, one time in her life those insects inspired her. Yes, she wanted to be something different. 

Perhaps her dream changed by now, like all the girls who wanted to be doctors, teachers or lawyers...Their dreams changed too. So she is no different than them. But she still holds this aspiration deep inside, that nature will always be her idol, and she will always learn from it.

She is a grown up now. Sitting in bed , reading a book for Rumi , when she comes across this part: “Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still."

She knew her childhood eyes were never average. 

Trick or Treat Time?

In one of my previous posts , I talked  about time in just a  few lines, as it is something that can never be denied.True.

But I never elaborated , thinking that it is such a truism issue  that is discussed by billions of people. It is really not a special topic anymore, neither a very interesting one. 

Despite that fact, I still want to talk about time. It is indeed something that I can never deny.

I learned how time takes time.

But time can never give us time.

Time is a miser , piling and stashing. But never bestowing us.

And the paradox is that you realize that if there is no time in our lives, things will happen altogether at once.

Or even worse, things will change just haphazardly, with no control.

If there is no time, a rose can shut and be a bud again. So we can no longer enjoy a rose.

If there is no time, we can be kids anytime we want, we can be old anytime we want. Philosophizing a bit? maybe.

But there are tricks you learn in life to deal with time. I have a friend who  once taught me a fantastic thing to do with time. 

Cliche-ing The Three

Here i am. Cliche-ing again.
I hate it when my mind is full of cliches things to write.
But i guess life is a cliche thing for all of us.
Maybe not routine. But cliche. Something that is experienced, said, done , and made by million people before us!!

A cliche thing that i was contemplating about today was about 3 things.

Three elements of life we can never deny. Have a guess??
.
.
.
.
.
Well they are : Time , Truth and hearts.

Time can never be denied. It is a always the factor in our lives.Everytime you think or act, you think of time and time .And, It is time that makes all the differnce.


The second element is Truth , no matter how you conceal, it always has its ways to show up- sooner or later.

And ofcorse, hearts, the third element. How you feel towards a person, can never be concealed. Whether hate, love, lust,anger,admiration or envy...They eventually loom out . And it is, as if our heart was an external organ, not an internal one!

Some might argue with that by saying how come some people are able to hide their feelings, or to act infront of others.. But then this makes me come back to element 2: Truth.

Your feelings have a truthful nature. And truth cant be denied, consequently, feelings cant either.

It is a closed loop between these 3 elements, and they can never be denied.

I remembered a wonderful quote that combines those 3 elements :
"They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and that's true. What they don't tell you is that when it starts again, it moves extra fast to catch up. " Big fish movie.