Thursday, February 21, 2008

Let's Go Bananas

I took my Girl Scout troop to the newest culinary school in Granger called Let's Go Bananas. That's right, the entire place is for kids. It's full of cool kitchen gadgets for parents to use with the help of their children. I love including my kids in meal prep. I think it teaches cleanliness, teamwork & especially math!

The cost for the trip was 9.50 per girl. They made a crisped tortilla topped with sliced fruit and ice cream. The girls got to use a real knife ( good intro to meal prep while camping). The girls enjoyed the treat and had fun together, that's the most important thing.

I initially had a difficult time getting a return phone call. They never did send me menu choices or the price until the day of the event. The owner, Tyfanny, was great with the girls, but her helper...not so much. Not enough patience to work with young kids.

All these things aside, my main reason for not coming back and not suggesting this place to others is the juice. They are using Crystal Lite, actually the Wal-mart equivalent, for their pink lemonade. For a school that is teaching dietary health, how horrible is it to give their clients something so full of chemicals and could possibly kill them.

There are so many studies out that show the link between aspartame and many, many brain conditions. Aspartame is made of 10% methanol and when that methanol breaks down in your system, it turns to formaldehyde. How are soda manufacturers allowed to market this stuff? They are required by law to post the dangers. It's apparently done in a non-descript sort of way.

Anyway, when I saw the punch being served I asked what it was and when I was told, I refused it for my own children. Of course, she asked why. When I explained that my Mom had suffered from a brain aneurysm and the doctors believe it was from an excess of aspartame, Tyfanny was obviously concerned. The other woman could have cared less, I believe she was there for a paycheck.

Overall the store is adorable. I will probably go in to purchase stuff, just not to cook. I'll save that for my own granola, organic, pureed vegetable culinary stylings. =)

Oh, and if I hear one more person say "Well the soda I drink is sweetened with Splenda, and it's totally safe", may get smacked. They said that saccharin was safe, and now they say it can cause cancer (sweet n low). They said aspartame was safe, and now they say it causes major brain conditions (Equal & Nutrasweet). And your oh so precious Splenda is made from sugar, it's made using sugar and treating it with trityl chloride, acetic anhydride, hydrogen chlorine, thionyl chloride, and methanol in the presence of dimethylformamide, 4-methylmorpholine, toluene, methyl isobutyl ketone, acetic acid, benzyltriethlyammonium chloride, and sodium methoxide, making it unlike anything found in nature. Oh, and it also contains chlorine. It was discovered while trying to make a new insecticide.

Mmmmm....doesn't that sound yummy?

1 comment:

Jen (a.k.a. motor mouth) said...

Sounds like a cute place, but I agree with the aspertame. I am trying to get marty to cut back.
There's a place here that doesn't serve soda, but serves Wine, while the kids play the moms can get tanked. Then drive home, great!