Monday, May 18, 2009

Starting the day right

Reading an old newspaper I saw that a very bright young man just graduated from the University of Minnesota at the ripe old age of 13! Congratulations to Caleb Kumar for becoming the UM's youngest graduate ever.

Wow, and I thought I was precocious for having graduated from high school at the age of 15!

I don't know about Caleb, but I was the victim of a very harsh upbringing. Instead of getting to eat donuts and junk food like all my friends, my mother made me start the day by eating her special salmon dish. On our menu it is known as My Mother's Salmon because it's exactly the same recipe as what I ate each morning as a schoolgirl in Thailand.

Did it work? Well, none of my donut-eating friends graduated until they were 18 and by then I was off to America to study business at Kentucky Business College.

As for salmon, we now know that it is a great way of getting Omega-3 fatty acids into your diet. These are excellent for your brain, and they also have anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce joint pain. Minnesotans are already familiar with these health benefits as the next best sources of Omega-3 fatty acids are sardines and herring!