My regular readers know how much I enjoy a food challenge. From friendly recipe challenges to figuring out what is the name of that exotic vegetable I bought at some ethnic grocery store with the illegible (to me) item sign, I have fun pushing my kitchen limits. So when I was asked to participate in a watermelon carving contest how could I resist!

Only problem is I have never carved a watermelon before. I must have a good 15 to 25 pumpkin carvings under my belt since my parents let me hold a knife, but a watermelon carving, this is a first. And the design must be original. OK time to roll-up the sleeves.

The National Watermelon Promotion Board was kind enough to supply a set of paring knives, a double ended melon baller (one round scoop and one v-shaped cutting tool) and a small watermelon. Thankfully we could get a different  watermelon then the one provided as it was too short for what I had in mind.

I had sorbet on my mind, yep watermelon sorbet. Ever since I saw Emily Maloy’s post for a watermelon sorbet recipe I have been salivating for a cold spoonful of this sorbet. Now all I had to do was come up with a way to combine a carving and sorbet. Finally I had a vision for my submission for the Watermelon Blogger Carving Challenge. How about building an art deco inspired stage showcasing the watermelon sorbet? I can almost hear Bessie Smith sing.

Yes, the Halloween pumpkin tradition was too strong, I had to incorporate a candle in there. Unlike a pumpkin though, watermelon gives off a gorgeous neon pink glow. What a great way to show case Cheap Ethnic Eatz, or CEE. I really liked my watermelon carving experience. Perhaps you think my Watermelon Sorbet Stage was a difficult and time consuming exercise but it was actually quite simple, as long as you mentally picture the architecture of your design.  Let me walk you though the steps…

With the watermelon standing make a horizontal cut halfway up, then cut out your piece by making your vertical cut a bit further to the back then half way.

With the v-shaped cutting tool I cut out an accordion pattern which would represent my stages background, very art deco and linear. Oh and I LOVE this tool, so easy to cut.

Next I drew my letters CEE with a marker and cut them out. My first cuts where at an inward 45 degree angle so they could pop out easily. Then I cut my lines clean. I turned my watermelon around and I cut out the place where my candle would be. I fleshed out the interior with the scoop melon baller carefully to have a thin flesh layer remaining where my letters were. I adore the pink color it gives off.

Finally I added a bit of decoration with the paring knives by cutting out 2 hearts on each side and cutting a thin line below the stage to give a floating floor effect. That is it. See! It was not that difficult.

And now I have all this beautiful watermelon flesh left over for the sorbet. But before make a few pretty watermelon balls with the scoop tool.

Ξ Watermelon and Basil Sorbet Ξ
adapted from Cleanliness is Next to Godliness

Ingredients:

4 cups pureed watermelon
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 tsp fresh basil

Directions:

1. Puree watermelon with basil.
2. Boil 1 cup of the pureed watermelon with the sugar for 3 to 5 minutes, making a syrup, and allow it to cool completely.
3. Add to remaining pureed watermelon and and process for 25 minutes in an ice cream machine.
4. Freeze for 3 hours or up to overnight.

Place some sorbet balls on the stage, add a few melon balls and a couple of basil sprigs.

And the final touch: light the candle and dim the lights! A natural electric pink neon light!

A few watermelon health facts:

• Watermelon has 92 per cent water content and is an excellent hydrator. So take some with you on your hike.
• Watermelon is low in fat and cholesterol-free.
• Watermelon is an excellent source of an important amino acid, citrulline. The human body uses citrulline to make another important amino acid – arginine – which plays a key role in cell division, wound healing and the removal of ammonia.
• Watermelon contains high levels of the antioxidant lycopene – a 2 cup serving of watermelon contains 18.16 mg.
• Watermelon is low in sodium and a source of potassium.
• Watermelon is a good source of the following (per 250 mL or one-cup serving):
• Vitamin C
• Thiamine (vitamin B₁)
• Vitamin B₆
• Vitamin A

Thank you to The National Watermelon Promotion Board for hosting this great challenge and introducing me to the fun art of watermelon carving.

So I am on like day 12 of being obsessed over new smartphone. It is my first one and it is an Android with the touch screen plus bells and whistles. It is freaking AWESOME. And than there are all the applications you can add, called app for short. Wow those are fun: there are games to play alone or with others, you can link up to you bank, check when the bus will past next, listen to music, etc.

Than I fell on the Drinking Water App. It asks you how many glasses you want to drink in a day, asks when you want to have your first drink (like 9 am) and the latest time to drink. When it is time to drink the phone makes a noise of a glass being filled. It’s a fun app for someone wanting to drink more water than they already are. If you achieve your daily goal a crowd applauds and cheers you. This is what the app screen looks like…

That got me thinking about articles I vaguely remembered reading some time ago: do you really need 8 glasses a day?, what is the size of a glass?, do your other beverages count and which?, and what about the water in the food we eat?

Oh gees, all I wanted was an app that may help me incorporate a healthier habit and inspire me to do more maybe? But now I am bombarded with existential questions about liquids. ENOUGH. Let’s get to the bottom of the glass and find the answers.

So according to wiki…

The human body is made of between 55% to 78% water. Now how much you need per day depends on so many factors one cannot give a specific amount that fits every human being. Factors include on body size, level of activity, temperature, humidity. Some people may need one liter while another person needs  seven liters of water per day.

Who said 8 glasses a day?

We used to think that approximately 2 liters (6 to 7 glasses) of water daily was the minimum to maintain proper hydration. Where did this number come from? It goes back to 1945 when a recommendation for water intake was presented to the Food and Nutrition Board of the United States National Research Council. Since then many studies have been done to prove the claim, all have failed. In the US, the reference daily intake (RDI) for water is 3.7 liters per day (l/day) for human males older than 18, and 2.7 l/day for human females older than 18,  including water contained in food, beverages, and drinking water.

What does water do for you?

What is the size of a glass?

This one they all seem to agree on: eight fl oz each (240 ml).

What about the water in the food we eat?

Normally,about 20% of water intake comes from food, while the rest comes from drinking liquids. This means that with the current US recommendations, after eating you still need on average 3.0 liters (13 glasses) for a man and 2.2 liters for a woman  (9 glasses). Wait a minute that is even more then the old false recommendation of 8 glasses? Now I am really confused.

So how much do we really need per day?

Medical literature favors a lower consumption, an average sized adult with healthy kidneys needs no more than one liter of fluid (4 glasses). Another article I read recommended 1 liter of water for every 1000kcal you expend. If it is hot and humid, drink more, if you exercised drink more. If you sit all day and no nothing in a cool comfortable room there is no need to add more.

The “loose average” kcal burned in a day is 1800 ( an average people…some are at 1400, some are a 2200). So let’s take off 20% because that water was in our food. Now we have 1440 kcal which would be 1.4 liters or 6 glasses.

This is another formula (apparently) to learn what your liquid daily needs are:
To determine how much water you should drink, weigh yourself each morning for 3 to 4 days in a row (ladies not during your PMS or period cause you are bloated). If you lose a whole pound in a day, it means you came up short on liquids the day before. Drink a pint of water or juice first thing in the morning for every pound you’ve lost and adjust your daily intake until your weight is steady.

Do other beverages count?

Water is water is water? Actually no, beverages such as milk and juice are composed mostly of water. Same goes for beer, wine and caffeinated beverages. Of course I won’t recommend you only drink beer, but if you have a glass of milk in the morning, a coffee at work and a beer at night…if you are that average 1800 kcal person you just knocked off 3 of your 6 glasses.

In the end I decided to set my Drinking Water app to 6 glasses and I count all my liquids as water. So far so good.

A final note

I read a couple of sites that said you are your best judge of how much water you need to drink. I actually totally disagree with that because most of us misinterpret “I am thirsty” brain signals as “I need to eat something”. Yes most of your pangs of hunger are actually your body saying it needs fluids, not food. When you are really hungry you will know it – like you might want to steal the sandwich from that kid and run because you are starving.

Also some people only recognize thirst when they are already dehydrated. If that is your case better drink by prevention before you feel thirsty. Dehydration can be life threatening.

And yes you can die from drinking too much water too, although that is rare. It is referred to as water intoxication or hyper-hydration. If you drink so much water that your normal balance of electrolytes go out of wack your muscles and brain will stop functioning. Nearly all deaths related to water intoxication in normal individuals have resulted either from water drinking contests.

Now we have all be reading and slowly taking an interest in healthier food, not only do many of us now opt for organic food, they must also be properly certified, specify where they came from, how the product was treated, etc. Now one of the latest quest to make the world a better place is focused on Fair Trading. What does that mean exactly?

We you get your organic chocolate bar at the local Health Store and feel better buy a chocolate that is better for you. But how did the chocolate bar get to you? Someone manufactured it, where did they get their ingredients, such as the cocoa bean? They bought it probably in a poorer country. These cocoa beans where grown by local farmers with limited tools and means. Now how fairly was that farmer paid for the organic chocolate bar you are going to eat? Hence come in the Fairtrade International, a global organization working to secure a better deal for farmers and workers.

Since the concept is somewhat new it can be hard to find fair trade products. Luckily wonderful companies such as Premcrest Fair trade wholesale are in the business of getting these wonderful product to you. For 40 years Premcrest Fair Trade has been involved in ethical market practices. They supply stores with such products as candies, chocolate, juices,  coffee, tea, cakes, snacks. But they also offer many Fair Trade foods you can use in you everyday cooking such as pasta, rice, dried fruits, nuts, sauces, jams, olive oil…the list goes on.

Would it not be wonderful to know that when you are cooking your ingredients came from farmers that were treated and paid fairly for all their work, hence buying such food encourages giving the poor a better life. It’s a win-win situation. How do you know if a product is from a real Frairtrade source. Well that is easy, just look for he official Fairtrade certified logo which looks like this:

If you look on Premcrest Fair Trade website in the product selection you will find all packaging includes this logo: here you see it in the upper left corner.

So next time you are out shopping why not take a closer loo as to what you are putting into your food basket? Would you not like to make sure your products you eat also help improve the lives of farmers contributing to your food be treated and compensated fairly, like proper human beings.

This is going to be really off topic but I do believe everyone can benefit from this. I find myself once again at home sick with a bad cold this time. I also have been going through a lot of personal changes in the last months. I won’t be going into to many details but it has been a roller coaster ride and I am getting stronger.

A perfect example is what happened to me tonight: a situation which brought on  a feeling of being overwhelmed with life and a few specific points. But instead of trying to sweep the feelings under the rug I sat there and took in the pain and sadness. I experienced and felt it as an observer. And then I let it go. I felt relieved, so relieved. The issues have not disappeared but I am calmer about it. I turned a negative into a positive. I communicated with myself.

I also made what I felt was a desperately needed comfort food, a craving brought on by my trip to NC this summer and a fellow blogger this week, Banana Pudding. This pudding is a powerful comfort food indeed!

Small glasses Big comfort

But back to communication. I looked online for advice on dealing with a conflict…whether it be with a friend, lover, husband, even yourself. Oh boy there is a lot of crap out there. But I did come across a goldmine article and I just had to share it with you all. It was written by By Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D.

Ten rules for friendly fighting:

1. Embrace conflict. There is no need to fear it. Conflict is normal, even healthy. Differences between you mean that there are things you can learn from each other. Often conflict shows us where we can or need to grow.
2. Go after the issue, not each other. Friendly fighting sticks with the issue. Neither party resorts to name calling or character assassination. It’s enough to deal with the problem without adding the new problem of hurting each other’s feelings.
3. Listen respectfully. When people feel strongly about something, it’s only fair to hear them out. Respectful listening means acknowledging their feelings, either verbally or through focused attention. It means never telling someone that he or she “shouldn’t” feel that way. It means saving your point of view until after you’ve let the other person know you understand that they feel intensely about the subject, even if you don’t quite get it.
4. Talk softly. The louder someone yells, the less likely they are to be heard. Even if your partner yells, there’s no need to yell back. Taking the volume down makes it possible for people to start focusing on the issues instead of reacting to the noise.
5. Get curious, not defensive. Defending yourself, whether by vehemently protesting your innocence or rightness or by turning the tables and attacking, escalates the fight. Instead of upping the ante, ask for more information, details, and examples. There is usually some basis for the other person’s complaint. When you meet a complaint with curiosity, you make room for understanding.
6. Ask for specifics. Global statements that include the words “always” and “never” almost always get you nowhere and never are true. When your partner has complaints, ask to move from global comments of exasperation to specific examples so you can understand exactly what he or she is talking about. When you have complaints, do your best to give your partner examples to work with.
7. Find points of agreement. There almost always are parts of a conflict that can be points of agreement. Finding common ground, even if it’s agreeing that there is a problem, is an important start to finding a common solution.
8. Look for options. Fighting ends when cooperation begins. Asking politely for suggestions or alternatives invites collaboration. Careful consideration of options shows respect. Offering alternatives of your own shows that you also are willing to try something new.
9. Make concessions. Small concessions can turn the situation around. If you give a little, it makes room for the other person to make concessions too. Small concessions lead to larger compromises. Compromise doesn’t have to mean that you’re meeting each other exactly 50-50. Sometimes it’s a 60-40 or even 80-20 agreement. This isn’t about scorekeeping. It’s about finding a solution that is workable for both of you.
10. Make peace. An elderly friend who has been married for 68 years tells me that she and her husband made a rule on their wedding day never to go to bed angry. They agreed from the outset that the relationship is more important than winning arguments. Sometimes this meant they stayed up very, very late until they came to a workable compromise. Sometimes it meant that one or the other of them decided the issue wasn’t really important enough to lose sleep over. Since they both value the marriage, neither one gave in or gave up most of the time. When one did give in or give up, the other showed appreciation and made a peace offering of his or her own. These folks still love each other after 68 years of the inevitable conflicts that come with living with another person. They are probably onto something.

Banana pudding is food for the body, proper communication skills – even if it is a fight -  is food for the soul!