Thursday, April 23, 2009

Cousteau and the Orcas, $15 Dare and Wolfgang Puck

Last night on PBS Matt and I watched a fantastic programme, Jean Michel Cousteau's Ocean Adventures: Call of the Killer Whales. At the end of it we both felt it should be mandatory to show such this programme in schools everywhere and also to adults (particularly politicians). The programme described in detail the harm we have done and are still doing to our oceans with emphasis on salmon farming which needs a lot more regulation as, in its current form it is causing so many problems. If you would like to read more, and I urge you to do so, go to Jean Michel Cousteau where there is a video advertising the programme. We actually watched for two hours. If you get the opportunity to do so, please watch it, it is so important for the health of our planet. They linked a lot of what they showed to Keiko the world's most famous killer whale (Free Willie) who was released at the urging of the children of the world. They carried out some health tests on the Cousteau team who are fairly representative of regional upbringing and diverse diets from Jean Michel who eats everything to one crew member who is a vegetarian together with her son who eats the same food. They traced the presence of PCBs in their systems and another chemical which I'm ashamed to say I don't recall. Even though PCBs have been banned for a long while now, there are still heavy concentrations in both the oceans of the world as well as on land and appeared in the subjects tested as shown on the video which is quite horrifying. The biggest concentrations were in the mother and son who are vegetarians which concerned her very much as you would expect. I am hoping to buy a copy of the programme in the near future but as usual they will not ship to Canada. This morning it was Wolfgang Puck who was given the challenge on Good Morning America and his recipes will be on their web site tomorrow. This morning you can see yesterday's African inspired recipes from yesterday. They sounded really good so I shall be taking a close look at them. Wolfgang had pork chops to work with and a load of fruit and vegetables as well as pounds of potatoes. The recipes are being posted at GMA Recipes where you can find all the information. As you know, I get lots of ezines on food, cooking and health. Yesterday I picked up a recipe on DLife which is a diabetes ezine. I thought it looked good so I made it for supper last night and we enjoyed it. I somewhat increased the ingredients when I made mine. I have never heard of grapeseed oil spray, so I used Pam instead. If you go to the DLife website at this address there is a section on the left called Cooking with DLife where you can pick out the video of the chef making this recipe. Below it talks about making it in the microwave, he made it in a fry pan which is what I did as you can see from the picture. Tonight we are trying out a recipe from the local paper which I will post tomorrow if we enjoy it. Spicy Egg Casserole 1 grapeseed oil cooking spray 1 Tbs minced onion, heaping (or frozen) 1/4 cup fresh mushroom slices (about 2 button mushrooms) 1/2 cup canned unsalted diced tomatoes, drained 1 tsp capers 4 eggs 1/8 tsp minced garlic 1/8 tsp hot pepper sauce (to taste) 1 pinch kosher salt 1 pinch black pepper, freshly ground 1 Spray a microwave-proof casserole dish with cooking spray. Cook the onion and mushroom, covered, for 1 minute on a high setting in the microwave. Add the tomatoes and capers and cook for another 3 minutes on a high setting. 2 Mix in the eggs, garlic, and hot pepper sauce, and cook uncovered for 3 minutes on a medium setting. 3 Season with pepper and salt (if desired). Let sit for 2 minutes before serving. Serves 2 Have a great day.

9 comments:

  1. I an glad to know that Jean-Yves Cousteau is continuing with his father's work (Commandant Jacques Cousteau).

    Cooking spray is the new thing here too. I have an olive oil spray.

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  2. Oh dear - fingers on the wrong keys!

    I meant to say 'I am glad ...'

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  3. Jean-Yves, they said Jean-Michel on the programme. Boy does he look like his dad. We have loved the Cousteau programmes and their work in general for many years. I hope the daughters will carry on.

    Cooking spray is not new here, but grapeseed spray is. We too have olive oil spray.

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  4. His name is Jean-Michel. He has two kids, a son named Fabien and a daughter named CĂ©line. They are also involved in Ocean Exploration, both on their own and with their father.

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  5. Thanks, I appreciate the information

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  6. Why I typed Jean-Yves I do not know. Maybe there is a Jean-Yves too because Commandant Cousteau did have two sons.

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  7. Yeah, but one of his sons got killed by the blade of a helicopter quite a few years ago, very tragic accident.

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  8. I checked the Cousteau family.

    Commandant Jacques Cousteau's full name was Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

    His eldest son (at that time said to be the one to take over from his father) was Philippe Cousteau. He died in a flying-boat accident.

    The second son is Jean-Michel, yes.

    Philippe and Jean-Michel's mother was Simone. She died in 1990 when Jean-Michel learned that his father had a 'mistress' and had fathered two children by her - Diane and Pierre-Yves. It was very big news here, seeing that Simone, part of the Cousteau team, was so liked by everyone. The Commandant then married the mistress and on his death the mistress and Jean-Michel had a 'mammoth' of a fight over who will carry on with the Commandant's work.

    Real drama ... but oh so very very French ...

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  9. I remember when Phillipe died, quite a shock at the time. Didn't know about the mistress. But as you say, very French.

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