Jaden Hair’s colorful photos draw thousands to her popular food blog
By Jeff Houck
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
BRADENTON, Fla.

For Jaden Hair’s 34th birthday last year, her husband, Scott, bought her a 35mm Canon EOS Rebel digital camera. Even though she was thrilled with the extravagant gift, she took one photo, got intimidated by all the buttons and knobs, and put the camera back in the box.

Hair, who was born in Hong Kong, teaches modern Asian cooking classes, using tips and recipes she learned from her mother while growing up. In February, she created a food blog, Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen, to serve as an archive for her recipes. She wanted to dress up the site with photos of her dishes, so she picked up the camera and gave it another shot.
Soon, it became an established ritual: Before any dinner plate could be served to her family at their Bradenton home, it first made a stop at a piece of white foam board perched on her living room ottoman for a quick closeup in the soft evening light from her patio.
In less than six months, photos from Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen (SteamyKitchen.com/blog) appeared on such hip food Web sites as Slashfood and Chowhound. In May, RealEpicurean.com gave her a first-place award for a shot of Tropical Island Salmon. SeriousEats.com featured her German Oven Pancakes as its photo of the day in mid-July. YumSugar.com cooed over her frame of coconut rice.
Steamy Kitchen now attracts 3,000 unique visitors a day — a huge number considering the newness of the site and its niche topic.
The natural lighting in the photos provides an ethereal quality that adds to each frame’s visual flavor. And though the dishes are tastefully plated, they look like something almost anyone could mimic with a little practice. Far from being hyperstylized photos that culinary connoisseurs disdain as “food porn,” the pictures, nonetheless, have a professional quality. Nothing indicates that her photo studio is merely a piece of living-room furniture with an office-supply background.
“I have no photography training whatsoever,” Hair says. “Just like in cooking. I never went to culinary school. I’m self-taught. But when I get into something, I really, really get into something.”
The inspiration for many of her entrees, appetizers, desserts and beverages comes from necessity. A hot Florida day prompted Hair to concoct a glass of Lemongrass Ginger Ale. She just happened to have lemongrass growing in her backyard.
“It was one of those insanely hot and humid days, and I wanted to make a fragrant mixed drink that made me feel like I was on vacation,” Hair says. “When you’ve got two small kids, going away to a remote tropical island for a nice, quiet, relaxing vacation is as likely as my laundry getting folded by itself. ... You’ve gotta use your imagination.”
Even more impressive: She’s able to accomplish the blogging, the cooking and the shooting of portraits while sons Andrew, 4, and Nathan, 2, take turns scurrying through the kitchen and hanging on to her arms. Occasionally, they star on the site. Recently, Hair featured a sequence of photos showing Nathan taking a bite out of Andrew’s left shoulder as the boys fought for the first bite of Asian Lettuce Cups With Ground Turkey & Green Apple.
“The dish looks scrumptious; there’s no doubt about that,” commented Ariela, a 26-year-old graduate student from Connecticut who has her own food blog at BakingAndBooks.com. “But my favorite part of this post was the action shots of your little ones. I can almost hear the sound effects [as] they attack that food. Rawr! Chomp!”
Hair says the photos are what distinguishes the blog.
“Anyone can come up with a recipe,” Hair says. “The photography is why people come to the site. After all, you eat with your eyes first.”

Jeff Houck is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune in Florida.

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Posted in Gab in Print

By EMMA VANDORE
Associated Press
So your spouse loves auto racing, tennis or football.
And you don’t.

Here’s some real-life advice for living with a passion you don’t share:
~Yours is not to reason or ask why.
~ However, asking questions about the passion is allowed — good even.
Just don’t ask in the midst of the action.
~Never laugh if your spouse cries foul play by the opposing team.
Nod your head, look serious and remember they are the enemy.
~ Think of your spouse before an event as an athlete psyching up for the game ahead. Do not attempt serious discussion of a different subject.
~If you are looking for a “yes” answer to anything, a good moment is during the immediate aftermath of a victory.
~Do not attempt consolation in case of a loss.
There is nothing you can say or do to make it better.
~ If you are asked to record an event on television, consider this an important task or face the consequences.
~If you have children, be prepared for the passion to be come a family passion. Plan holidays accordingly.
~If you do tag along to an event, at least go through the motions of sharing the excitement. There is nothing less attractive than a wet blanket.
~ Speaking of blankets, consider bringing one. Whatever the weather is, you will have to stand in it. You may want to pack a good book, too.

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Washing hands is good, all bacteria isn’t all bad

By Apryl Blakeney

MORGANTON — Buffie Buchanan carries hand sanitizer in her car and pocketbook.

“In our family, we wash our hands all the time,” Buchanan says.

That is what it means to be a mother with kids in day care.

Buchanan’s tots are 2 and 4 years old. Both have spent half their lives sharing toys and germs with other children.

That can be good and bad for health, says Buchanan, who works as an ER Nurse at Catawba Valley Medical Center.

“My 2-year-old has a perpetual runny nose,” she says. “It is the norm rather than the exception that his nose is running.”

Day care germs may be partially to blame. That isn’t entirely bad, Buchanan says.

“I just keep in mind that every illness builds immunity for the future,” she says. “I hope when they go to grade school they won’t battle as many problems.”

When kids get sick they build antibodies to the bacteria, says Jackie McLean, child care health counselor with the health department.

“That means they are less likely to get the same thing,” she adds.

McLean recommends parents follow Buchanan’s lead and carry an antibacterial sanitizer. Washing hands is the best way to ward off germs. Even the ones that don’t bother you.

“Kids are little reservoirs,” McLean says. “They may not get sick, but they carry bacteria around all the time.”

Germs are the harshest when immunity is the weakest from birth to 1 year of age, says Dr. John Whalley with Mountain View Pediatrics.
If possible, he recommends children under 2 stay with family until their systems strengthen.

That usually happens around 2 or 3 years of age,  he adds.

They should also stay home if they are sick.

“It is never a good idea to intentionally expose kids to germs,” Whalley says.

Here are a few things to consider before sending your child to play with others. If they are feeling well but their nose is running, like Buchanan’s boy, they are OK to go to day care, Whalley says.

“The trick is about the fever,” he adds. “If it is a significant fever the child needs to be home.

“Many times kids run a fever at night, and in the mornings they go to school or day care. Then at 11 a.m. the fever comes back.”

Whalley says a child should be without fever for 24 hours before going back to his or her daily schedule.

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Posted in Health Gab in Print

By Apryl Blakeney

MORGANTON — At one point in your life a low cut blouse may have guaranteed drinks and dates.

Now your secret weapons hang like weights by the waist wondering what to do. Tell them to start looking up.
For her 40th birthday, Sue Howard joined Curves and trashed her underwires.

“Before I started working they would hang down from breast feeding,” Howard says. “Now I’ve thrown away those awful underwires and I have cleavage .”

Howard spent 30 minutes a day, six days a week working with weights. After three months she noticed improvements. Well, actually her husband saw it first.

“He noticed when I laid down that my boobs were actually on my chest instead of beside me in bed,” she says.

The workout also increased her cup size and decreased her band size. Plus it helped her drop 110 pounds from a size 28 to 18.
“It makes me feel more attractive and feminine,” Howard says.

That was four years ago. The 44-year-old says she hasn’t gained a pound back. Now Howard even works at Curves, passing along tips to others.
Howard helped one 71-year-old woman up her bust measurement to a bigger cup size.

“We told her we were going to get her a bikini too,” Howard jokes.

She says its never to late to improve the bust line. Here are a few tips that might help.

Try the fly
Working out can take years off your chest, says Tim Thomas, assistant manager at Body Tech Fitness.

Thomas says ladies of all ages come to the gym for a pick-me-up. Here are some tips you can try at home.

Thomas recommends building muscle with what’s called the dumbbell fly. This exercise firms the top part of the breast, Thomas says.

Lay belly-up on the ground with a weight in each hand. Keep the dumbbell’s parallel to your body.

Pull both arms straight up, keeping your elbows bent, so the weights meet over your chest.

Then, return the weights out to your sides at shoulder height, Thomas says.

He recommends 14-18 pulls followed by a 1 minute rest.

“It will work,” he says. “I guarantee results if people stick with it.”

But they have to do more than the dumbbell fly. That is just step one.

Step two follows the same format, only lying on an inclined surface. Hence the name incline dumbbell fly. This exercise works the middle part of the chest.

Each work out should include both phases at least two or three times.

Thomas says most people see results in four to six weeks.

Magic pills?
Nature’s Bounty sells two different bottles of pills promising to firm you up and fill you out.

“I’ve been selling them for years,” says manger Bob Feimster. “I wouldn’t keep stocking them if they didn’t keep selling.”
One product is called Great Curves. It sells for roughly $20 and each bottle is a month’s supply at two capsules a day.

Feimster says most women will probably see results after two bottles.

The other supplement is Miracle Breast. It retails for about $26. Each bottle holds 180 pills but the recommended serving is a bit higher: two tablets three times a day.

Feimster says both bottles add fluids to the breast, giving them a healthy appearance, like when a woman is pregnant.

Strap it on
The torture devices —  bras — actually are there to help.

“They work by preventing gravitational pull,” says Dr. David Kirk with the Women’s Health Group.

He says women who go without are the first to feel the downward pull of growing up.

But don’t go overboard by sleeping in your boulder holder. Kirk says that doesn’t offer additional support.

“Because gravity isn’t much of an issue when you are lying down,” he says.

The situation also is different when exercising, because of the added motion. That’s why Kirk recommends a good sports bra or one with added support.

Lather up
Soaking up the rays may give you a temporary tan, but it permanently ages your body. The sun weakens the elasticity of your skin, causing it to sag sooner, Kirk says.

“Sun exposure is the number one culprit in aging,” he adds.

Lather up when laying on the beach or when wearing anything low cut, he says. Especially in the South.

A daily moisturize on your neck and chest also helps skin stay firm, he adds.

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