This information bubbles to the surface

Posted December 27, 2011 1:48 PM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: chemistry, International Year of Chemistry, Agricultural Chemistry

I’ll always remember my first champagne toast. The Dodgers, my favorite Major League baseball team, had just won the World Series. My best friend and I lifted our champagne goblets, clinked them, and drank the contents –– ginger ale. It was our first toast, to be sure, but being kids, we couldn’t go to the liquor store, so ginger ale had to do. And it did.

In the years that have passed, I have always reserved champagne for special occasions. I have not, however, limited my intake of carbonated beverages. I like carbonation and, I should add, I hate poorly carbonated soda or, even worse, flat glasses of beer. If you want a flat drink, try water, that’s my philosophy.

After sharing that nugget, you won’t be surprised that I was fascinated to watch a super American Chemical Society Bytesize Science video that was released today.

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My cup of tea

Posted October 6, 2011 2:23 PM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: International Year of Chemistry, Health, Food Chemistry, Agricultural Chemistry

Some people go with the flow when it comes to food. If their mashed potatoes are not piping hot they won’t ever complain to their server. If their coffee could be a little warmer, they drink it anyway. If their entrée doesn’t really look like it was described on the menu, they let it go.

And then there’s yours truly: The wait person’s nightmare. If my food is only warm, look out! If the fish sauce doesn’t taste quite right, I’m on it.

And added to this philosophy about food, I have very special likes and dislikes. Let me give you just one example: I like ice tea, provided it isn’t diluted with 150 ice cubes. But I don’t like hot tea, unless it’s chai. And I like my chai with milk, the English way.

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A bee in my bonnet

Posted September 21, 2011 3:04 PM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: chemistry, International Year of Chemistry, environmental science, Agricultural Chemistry

Anyone who reads the blog knows that I’m a mosquito magnet. As I’ve written, one minute near the woods and I get bitten. A few days ago, in broad daylight, I was showing a carpenter something next to our house and in about 30 seconds I had a first: A mosquito bite on the palm of my hand.

Unfortunately, mosquitos aren’t the only insects that have taken a liking to me. When I was about 7, I turned over a detached slide in a neighbor’s backyard and a nest of hornets chased me home. And then there was the time I was picking my daughters up at a babysitter’s and several bees flew into my open car window and stung me on the ear lobe. I was minding my own business. These experiences coupled with several occasions when yellow jackets have stung me as I sat quietly in the grass or simply walked through the woods make me wonder if Mother Nature has it in for me.

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Wearing my heart-healthy food on my sleeve

Posted September 14, 2011 3:16 PM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: International Year of Chemistry, Health, Food Chemistry, Agricultural Chemistry

Sometimes I like to live on the edge. Don’t get me wrong: I’m probably not likely to climb the Washington Monument (when they fix the earthquake cracks) without a net. But when I’m feeling good and the stars are in alignment I might just surprise some people.

Let me give you an example. Even when I’m wearing a nice new white dress shirt and my favorite tie I have been known to visit an Italian restaurant and, rather than go for the safety of the penne or the corkscrew pasta, I order the spaghetti. And I do this this after my history of twirling the long strands around my fork and splashing myself with the rich red sauce more times than I can remember. Once, I cleverly kept my shirt and tie spotless with a linen napkin tied around my neck. I was very proud of myself.

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Here today, gone a month later

Posted September 7, 2011 3:29 PM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: International Year of Chemistry, Food Chemistry, Agricultural Chemistry

Get ready for a sad tale about mushrooms. Well, actually, a sad tale about me and mushrooms.

I was ogling the seafood at Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market one bright, sunny day (yes, it was sunny) some years ago when I came upon a table laden with beautiful chanterelle mushrooms. It just so happened that the night before I had eaten a side order of these most delicious veggies for the first time at a local restaurant. I had never had such mushrooms before. So flavorful.

So I bought a large box of them, stored them in my hotel room fridge and packed them in my suitcase the next morning and flew home. I rushed them to the fridge when I walked through the door and looked forward to a nice plate of them, sautéed in olive oil or, maybe, even butter. I eat very carefully, but one dollop of butter surely couldn’t hurt this one time!

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A new heart-healthy treat from the sea

Posted July 21, 2011 11:20 AM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: International Year of Chemistry, Health, Food Chemistry, Agricultural Chemistry

When it comes to eating heart-healthy foods and avoiding high-fat delicacies, there is no halfway for me. It’s a cool day in August in Washington, D.C. when I will tackle a plateful of red meat twice in the same month. I had my last donut in 1986. The last time I had fried chicken was sometime in that decade. That’s right. You heard me.

I also take several fish oil vitamins, rich in omega-3 oils, as the ads say, every day and have kept my weight to within a few pounds of where it was when I came back from basic training, eons ago. And, yes, I use our treadmill regularly and do a lot of walking.

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Poplars may soon become more popular

Posted June 9, 2011 8:57 AM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: chemistry, International Year of Chemistry, Health, Agricultural Chemistry

I’ve always been a big fan of the scientific breakthrough. I guess one reason why I am so impressed with the talent of researchers is that even working in this field for years, I have realized that I still could never match that of the scientists who publish in ACS’s 39 scientific journals. Let me give you just one example of the level of my analytical abilities. It took me approximately four years to realize that if I took an enclosed walkway from my Metro station to the parking lot, it would be faster than taking the streets, and I would stay dry when it rained. I’m not kidding about this.

So I was flabbergasted this week when I read about a very surprising breakthrough in the ACS Weekly PressPac. It was one of those wonderful studies that prompts you to ask: How did they ever think of this one? It involves poplar trees. Poplar trees? I can see majestic oaks or colorful maples in the fall, but who talks about poplars, with all due respect to poplar-lovers?

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Honeysuckle: There's more to it than the aroma

Posted June 2, 2011 11:14 AM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: chemistry, International Year of Chemistry, Health, Agricultural Chemistry

This is the time of year when that deliciously sweet aroma of honeysuckle fills the warm evening air in our Maryland neighborhood, just outside of Washington D.C. You also can smell the rich aroma in the daytime, of course, but there is something even nicer about it after dark.

And when the honeysuckle blooms, I think of my youth, growing up in West Hartford, Conn. More precisely, it reminds me of the dark, juicy wild grapes that grew on vines twisting along through the trees in the alley behind my friend’s house, near the honeysuckle. I can still taste those grapes.

But I do enjoy smelling the honeysuckle when I take walks these days and I was most interested in a new study about a unique use of honeysuckle extract.

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This bread should be a real winner

Posted May 26, 2011 9:32 AM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: International Year of Chemistry, Food Chemistry, Agricultural Chemistry

When it came to one subject, Pepper and I were diametrically opposed. Pepper was our wonderful Sheltie. The subject was bread.

As his one doggie snack, we gave him a piece of bread with dinner. No other table food. It didn’t matter if it was whole wheat or white. He gobbled it down. I, on the other hand, go to great lengths to find breads I like, a fact you would know if you read an earlier blog. I have dragged multiple, dense loafs of sourdough home on the plane from San Francisco, carried heavy corn rye on the train from New York back to Washington, D.C., and loaded the backseat of our Sonata with a variety of breads on a recent drive home from Richmond, where they have an excellent bakery.

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The virtues of red wine

Posted May 5, 2011 9:50 AM by Michael Bernstein
Related Categories: Alcohol, Health, Food Chemistry, Agricultural Chemistry

Please don’t divulge to anyone what I’m about to tell you: I haven’t had a glass of merlot since September of 2004. That was when my wife and I saw the neat comedy, Sideways. If you saw it, you will remember that the star, Paul Giamatti, playing a nerdy wine maven, literally turned his nose up at this variety. True, I had grown a bit tired of the smooth, serviceable red wine, but it was the movie that pushed me over the edge. To those of you who do enjoy a nice glass of merlot, I apologize. There’s really nothing wrong with it. I just get tired of things sometimes. One day, for example, I decided it was too much trouble to use the nutcracker to open those walnuts and pecans and hazelnuts you see in the stores every fall, and have never picked up the implement again.

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