POSSIBLY, MY BEST STEAK MEAL EVER!

I'm monthly sent a Marukai membership newsletter.  From February 24 to March 2 they are featuring a Kyushu Fair.  What caught my attention was:

Miyazaki Wagyu feef cattle, raised in Miyazaki Prefecture (near Kagoshima--I'm familiar with Miyazaki because I now and then stay at the Ocean Resort there), have won various awards... including the most honored "National Wagyu Award," which is presented to the best beef cattle once every five years.

In short, their Miyazaki Gyu is superior to all, has a reputation for quality in taste and texture, and was the first Japanese beef to be exported to the US.  Although high in fat content, it is unsaturated, with exceptional flavor.  NO PRICE WAS QUOTED!

Remember, the best Japanese beef in the basement markets of Japanese department stores such as Mitsukoshi sell beef or $200/pound (only because the Japanese yen has fallen--this photo was taken when the yen was just below 100/$, making the price $250/pound).  I was curious what they would be charging here in Hawaii.  So I went to Marukai at Ala Moana and found out that you need to to show up when the product is made available.  And it was uncertain when they would appear, for it comes from the main store on Dillingham.  So I showed up soon after 8AM (when the store opens) yesterday at the main market, found my way to where this meat was sold, and they were all gone, at 8:12 AM.  But an old man was holding the final package, and seemed concerned about the price, so asked me if I wanted it, so I grabbed it and practically ran to check out before he changed his mind.

It says Kagoshima wagyu beef, but Miyazaki is adjacent and this had to be the authentic version.  As you can see, the price is $57/pound, a true bargain compared to $200/pound.  I added to the 1/2 pound steak some fresh shiitake mushrooms from Japan.

I cooked a Niigata rice and opened a bottle of Robert Mondavi 18-year old wine.  Why I still had it is a mystery because this is a cheap wine costing way less than $10/bottle.  

But I filtered it and poured into a decanter.  It was exquisite, if not fabulous:

Thus, if you have the time and space, consider storing some inexpensive bottles. That's my wine cellar to the left, keeping whites at 50 F and reds at 60 F.

I also splurged on some high quality yellow fin tuna for sashimi.  I might add that I had breakfast this morning, went to Marukai, came home,  then went golfing at the Ala Wai Golf Course.  

I walked all 18 holes, missed lunch, and by 5PM was very, very hungry.  Yet, my blood pressure measured 136/74, extremely low under these conditions.  At this stage of hunger I manytimes find myself as high as 180/100.  (An hour after dinner, my pressure dropped to 103/60, indicating that walking on a golf course must be good for my health.)  I'm standing next to Pearl's Gold Tree at the 17th tee.  Anyway, here was my lanai meal:

Perhaps because of the enhanced anticipation, but the steak was the best I've ever had in my life.

Maybe my most memorable steak was more than a quarter century ago at Trail Dust in Denver:

I tried, and could not finish, their 50 ounce porterhouse (Bull Shipper), for $18.99, which came with all the trimmings and free red wine.  Mind you, this was memorable, not tasty, but okay.

You never heard of the top 50 steakhouses in America, #1 being Cut (left, Four Seasons) in Beverly Hills, California.  No Ruth's Chris, Morton's or Hy's.  New York City, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Las Vegas seem to dominate the lists.  I've been to many of them, but the taste of U.S. beef cannot match the best wagyu from Japan.  A close #2 might have been two Matsusaka beef experiences.  For two nights in a row I had that steak at the Four Seasons in Chiang Mai.  In Matsusaka, the mayor of the adjacent town took me to a barbecue restaurant featuring their steak.  Omni beef is also excellent, Kobe seems absent from the the top, and Miyazaki is mentioned as the second largest producer.  

Why is Japanese beef so outstanding?

Japanese cows are said to live an emperor's life, which is why they produce the fattest and most succulent flesh in the world. Every cattle farmer in Japan has his own method of indulging their cows, from secret blends of soybeans, tofu byproduct or sake mash in the feed; mineral water to drink; and daily walks and supposed beer massages to encourage fat distribution. Some even play classical music to relax the animals, while making sure they receive plenty of time in the sun.

This quote also goes on to say that Kagoshima (Miyazaki) beef is the highest exported from Japan.  So, Marukai's ad was accurate.  Interesting that Kobe beef is all male, while Matsusaka is all female.  Anyway, my 15 Craigside lanai steak yesterday was the best I've ever enjoyed in my life.

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I REPEAT, SUGAR IS BAD, BUT EATING HIGH CHOLESTEROL FOOD, MIGHT, ACTUALLY, NOW BE OKAY

Every five years the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health/Human Services revise diet guidelines.  Yesterday, we heard that sugar was bad for your health.  Nothing new, but now the matter of taxing sugar products is being advanced.  The next step to is to sock it to, especially, fructose.  Get ready for some resistance from the corn industry, which, to a much lower degree, is where tobacco was  half a century ago.

As someone whose first job as a chemical engineer was a sugar factory engineer for C. Brewer in the southernmost community in the USA, Naalehu, the fall of this sweet toxin has been like a bad dream.  Fortuitously, that same half a century ago I essentially left sugar processing for research and graduate school, which resulted in a Biochemical Engineering PhD and a lifelong tenure with the University of Hawaii.

I still have an office on the Manoa Campus and almost can't believe my luck, for instead of having to suffer through the tribulations of life in a sugar factory if I never left Kau on the Big Island, I instead went on to  laser fusion with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence with NASA, helping draft original legislation for hydrogen, ocean energy, wind power and more for the U.S. Senate, and a professional lifetime developing renewable energy and sustainable ocean resources.  All this while traveling more than 2 million miles with United Airlines and taking a dozen around the world trips, dining at Michelin 3-Star and Pellegrino Best 100 restaurants.  Was this pure luck, or by design?

So today, I shift to the latest U-turn of the medical profession:  you now can essentially go back to eating foods with high cholesterol, like eggs, steaks, butter, lobster and shrimp.  The truly embarrassing part to all this is that our best scientific minds actually confused dietary cholesterol and serum (what is in your blood) cholesterol.  Incredibly, this same panel seems also to be backtracking on the dangers of salt (sodium) and eating read meat, in the sense that those current limits were left vague and uncertain.  Wow, it's a good thing I never listened to them and maintained a diet high in cholesterol and salt, while enjoying my steak, now and then.

Mind you, a high cholesterol count in your blood is not good at all.  It's just that, not the food you eat, but the following factors are to blame:

• Smoking
• Obesity
• Lack of exercise
• Genetic inheritance
• Diabetes

Ironically enough, FRUCTOSE, a sugar, can induce diabetes, which raises your cholesterol, leading to heart attacks and strokes.  So, enjoy your morning egg, but watch out for those corn syrup sweeteners.

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FRUCTOSE IS VERY BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH

The Federal Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee recently filed a report to eat less red meat, not particularly because it might not be good for your health, but more for the contention that cattle messed up the environment.  They also flatulate, contributing to The Venus Syndrome.  However, I'm the guy who last year posted on:  EAT BEEF FAT AND BETTER ENJOY LIFE!  Thus, our government agencies don't seem to be coordinating their message.  Mostly, though, the Committee recommended taxing sodas and snacks.  The increasing presence of sugars in your diet was of especial concern.

In some ways, this could be the beginning of what the tobacco industry faced half a century ago.  Today, New York City residents pay Federal, state and city taxes amounting to $5.85/pack of cigarettes, versus 17 cents in the state of Missouri, plus the mandated $1.01/pack, which is taxed nationwide.

Why this tax?  First, tobacco products are bad for your health, so it seemed sensible to make them so expensive that people would reduce smoking and chewing them.  Second, every government entity is looking for ways to get your money, and this one could be foisted on the general public with minimal resistance, except for Missouri and other mostly southern states.  

And these taxes worked, for smoking rates have dropped by 59% since 1964 and life expectancy has increased.  Ironically, in Hawaii, the drop has been so great that the budget of the University of Hawaii's Cancer Research Center is now in  jeopardy because their share of the smoking tax has subsequently fallen, putting the organization in jeopardy.

I might add that not only did we win the Cold War, the U.S. surely must have been responsible for the fact that Russia and former Soviet nations now smoke more cigarettes/capita (2861/year in Serbia and 2,786/year in Russia) in the world, with China trying to catch up (world's largest consumer and producer of tobacco):

We all saw those films where tobacco industry witnesses lied at hearings.  So they got what they deserved, and people now live longer.  Today, these companies are fighting back and are actually winning court cases to reduce their guilt in required ads.

Which leads me to what might, in fact, be now happening to the assorted sugar industries.  Certainly, they can't be so dumb as was the tobacco industry in attempting to deceive the masses and government, but don't be surprised to over the next decade witness something similar with sugar, especially with regards to fructose and the corn industry.

First a tutorial on sugar.  The sugar you get from sugar cane is sucrose.  Sucrose is formed of glucose and fructose.  Turns out that all are bad for your health if taken to excess, but fructose is really, really terrible.  The fructose you ingest generally comes from fruits and corn syrup, which are half fructose and half glucose.  Here are ten reasons why you should limit fructose consumption:

• Not only can't fructose be used by your body cells as energy, it is a toxin.  The liver tries to get rid of it mainly by transforming it into fat.
• Fructose, thus, damages the liver, leading to insulin resistance, somewhat similar to ethanol (or the alcohol you drink).  Diabetes!!!
• Fructose forms advanced glycation end-products seven times more than glucose, leading to inflammation and a host of chronic diseases.

• Fructose increases uric acid production, which can cause gout, kidney stones and hypertension (high blood pressure),

• Apparently, pathogenic bacteria in your gut are prone to increase because they can use fructose.
• Fructose is a direct cause of heart disease.
• Fructose leads to obesity.
• Cancer cells use fructose for energy.
• Fructose impairs memory.

What foods should you you particularly avoid?

• baked goods
• canned fruits
• dairy products (this is a big surprise!!!)
• carbonated drinks
• fruit, honey, syrups

What foods have little or no fructose?

• fresh meat and fish
• beans
• nuts

So, keep in mind that eating too much added sugar increases your risk of dying.  Study participants who took in 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease compared to those who consumed less than 10%.  Sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas and energy/sport drinks are by far the biggest sources of added sugar today.  Cookies, cakes, pastries and ice cream are also not so good for you.

Okay, so as you need to cut back on salt, alcohol, carbohydrates, red and organ meats, fats, dairy products, fish with mercury, and now sugar, what can you, then, eat?  Here is a food pyramid from Australia:

Note the walking/running around.  Don't be a couch potato.  At my age I consider all the above and eat whatever I want, with balance and moderation.  However, I might ingest slightly too much salt, as with sashimi or in poke and soups...more ice cream than I should...an alcoholic drink or two or three...a steak and even foie gras on occasion...tiny servings of rice, pasta and potato, usually, but Rainbow Drive Inn and Zippy's are unfortunate exceptions...some nuts...creamy blue cheese...a regular breakfast of cereal, fruits, milk and yogurt...and a whole lot of raw vegetables.  I walk on a golf course two or three time per week and now and then use the exercise machines in our center.  I recently fought off the flu in two days and feel healthy.  Yes, I minimize my fructose input and avoid those chemical sweeteners.  Life is great.  That's me at Rainbow Falls after the first ash tossing ceremony.

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THE TRAGEDY OF ALZHEIMER'S

The headline article this morning in the Star Advertiser was:

     Hawaii the best in nation

We are #1 in having the best nursing home care, with both Arcadia and 15 Craigside among those earning five stars, the  highest you can get.  I wonder what happened to Kahala Nui and One Kalakaua?

So for the next few days I'll focus on health and nutrition, updating my Chapter 2 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity on Eternal Life, which was reinforced in my posting of February 5, pointing out that scientists are getting close to finding the cure for aging.  In this upcoming series, I'll particularly focus on whether sugars will become the next tobacco, and the latest TRUTH about cholesterol.  Yes, the medical profession is again reversing courses.

Today, however, I'll take a closer look at Alzheimer's Disease.  I've, of course, been writing about this tragedy for some time.  Here is a quick summary and a shocking revelation that seafood could well induce dementia because of a natural chemical called BMAA.  

I recently saw Still Alice, a film starring Julianne Moore, who won an Oscar for Best Actress Sunday night.  Playing a brilliant Columbia University linguistics professor, afflicted with early onset Alzheimer's (EOA) in her 50's, a few interesting points might worry you.   There are many forms of this illness, and only 5%-15% of patients contract this ailment so early in life.  While most are already retired, EOA means you will retire early and 50% of your children will also be so affected.

While I had suspected so, because at 15 Craigside, it is the husband that seems to care for the wife with Alzheimer's.  Although the ratio must be 6:1 here, studies indicate that women are only twice as likely to contract this sickness.  To quote:

There are more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease, including 3.2 million women and 200,000 people under the age of 65 with younger-onset Alzheimer's disease, but Alzheimer's has far reaching effects that can plague entire families. There are currently 15.5 million caregivers providing 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care in the U.S., often at the detriment of their own health. The physical and emotional impact of dementia caregiving resulted in an estimated $9.3 billion in increased healthcare costs for Alzheimer's caregivers in 2013.

Late last year I saw a headline:

     Has Stanford University found a cure for Alzheimer's disease?

A drug has been found to reverse memory decline.  Then just this week, Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto used magnetic resonance imaging-guided focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier using micro bubbles, allowing drugs to be delivered to breakdown the amyloid plaques causing this ailment.  Again, though, only mice have been treated, so don't expect a sure cure anytime soon.

Further, the Stanford study might have been misinterpreted by the media.  It is reported that 73 Alzheimer's drugs are in development, but 101 aimed at treating the disease have already failed.  To indicate the research activity level, for every one that reaches any stage of being tested, 34 did not even get that far.  A few years ago Flurizan was discarded following Phase III clinical trials on 1,687 patients after an expenditure of $200 million.  The left graphic, however, argues for the application of a lot more funds in consideration of the actual cost of the ailment.  Actually, the Alzheimer's Association says that the cost in 2014 was $214 billion:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 15 to 18,225, breaking the all-time high record of yesterday.

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Tropical Cyclone Glenda is on the verge of attaining hurricane strength, and is expected to attain Category 2 force, but the current path towards Mauritius and Le Reunion is expected to veer south, than east:

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GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Part 3

This is my third posting on geothermal energy in about a week, and my final one for a long time to come.  My first renewable energy job was in biomass engineering with the sugar industry.  You would think something so natural and useful such as sugar would be a desirable market product.  Tomorrow I'll report on what is looming as a next crisis.  More and more, sugar is being identified as dangerous to your health, and a variety of taxes is being developed to dissuade you from consuming sucrose, glucose and fructose, especially the latter, VERY SIMILAR TO TOBACCO.

But today, I delve into my second renewable energy job, as one of the reservoir engineers for the Hawaii Geothermal Project way back in the mid-1970's.  That was the first flashing of our well to the right, where our bottomhole temperature was 675 F, the hottest in the U.S.  More specifically, I this morning saw in the latest issue of Renewable Energy World an excellent graphic on capacity factors, showing which energy sources are more dependable with respect to availability:

Click on the above if you can't quite read it.  Of course, nuclear and coal are online most of the time, and they all are in the range of 85%.  One of the comments, however, said:

Brian Donovan is correct. For example, the "capacity factor" for a nuclear power plant is shown as in the range of 90%. However, the decommissioning period for a nuclear power plant (e.g., San Onofre, CA) may take three decades at a cost of billions. So the plant operates at 90 percent capacity for part of its lifetime, and zero actual output for the next part. Because the decommissioning costs are most likely to be paid by electricity ratepayers or other taxpayers, thirty years or so of payments are being made for a plant that is not generating a single watt of power.

On the lower end of production down from 20% to 40% are wind and solar energies.  Geothermal power, however, is available from 85% to 95% of time.  This baseload capability makes geothermal especially valuable when policy decisions are made to determine the future mix of renewable options.

This was an extraordinary day on world stock markets today, for the USA, UK, Germany and Sweden all reached their highest levels ever!  In addition, Japan attained a number not seen since 2000 and France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands exceeded their 2008 peaks before the financial crisis.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared almost 100 to close at 18,209.   

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