Have Ya Heard?

If you checked out the New York Times today, imbedded deep in the Health Care Legislation is a new law requiring every chain restaurant with more than 20 locations to clearly post calorie/nutrition info on drive-thru signs and menus. These restaurants have about a year to get this done.
New York is already known to do this, and now Obama would like the rest of the country to catch up. How do you feel about actually knowing how many calories your favorite fast food meal is putting a dent in your daily intake? Would you rather just NOT KNOW? Perhaps not knowing is a blessing in some sense, but I think it's fair to say that we should have the option to know to make wiser decisions about our eating habits. I don't think it will make a big difference in the obesity epidemic, as there are several factors contributing to it, but atleast people will be more aware of how much they are eating!

Panama

Panama was an awesome trip!

I am getting back to the swing of things (work schedule, laundry) and healing from a bad fall off a bike down there (EEKKK!!). Panama was indeed a beautiful country from what I was able to see of it. My friend and I moved a lot between 3 spots: Panama City, Boquete, and Bocas Del Toro.

The food everywhere was delicious! We ate out at restaurants a lot, which I love doing (especially on vacation), and a fancy schmancy dinner there was no more than 20 dollars a plate- something you'd never find in the states! We ate a TONNNNNNNN of Ceviche, where you can find at most restaurants in Panama.

Ceviche is either a fish (corvina), octupus, shrimp, or a mix of all three. The diced fish is marinated in a citrusy-lime dressing. There is no cooking involved, in fact the lemon-limey dressing denatures the proteins in the fish, in a sense "cooking it".

In Panama, most Ceviche was mixed with chopped onions and seasoning..mmmm

Sounds nast, but its DELISSHHH and refreshing, especially when you get really fresh fish from the fish market! I got a ton of protein and Omega-3's during this vaca!

The juices there were also unbelievable. Most smoothies were from natural fruits (mango, guava, pineapple) and "fruit punch" tasted natural and not too sweet, unlike any 'fruit punch' you'd get here. There was a lot of "american-type" foods everywhere as well, including cheeseburgers, french fries (papas fritas), but there was not a lot of pasta or pizza anywhere which was a good change! For breakfast we usually had egg omelet's and fruit :)

Panama is beginning to become a touristy spot, which is why I would recommend going before it becomes too commercial. Also, The Panama Canal & it's museum was quite impressive if you ever make your way down there.