Grasping Reality with Both Hands

When Espresso Machines Attack!

Hmmm...

I just seem to have made myself a quadruple espresso...

Maybe I will now have a very productive morning...

Coffee Today Keeps Dementia Away

Time to drop the decaf for the real stuff.

MedHeadlines:

Coffee Today Keeps Dementia Away | MedHeadlines: A collaborative team of researchers from Sweden and Denmark enrolled 2,000 adults in the study 21 years ago.  Participants self-reported their dietary habits, including their daily coffee consumption.  After over two decades, more than 70% of the participants could be tracked for follow-up evaluations.  That the research team could find 1,409 now-middle-aged participants out of the original 2,000 is considered an unusually high number.

During those 21 years, 61 people developed dementia.  Of those 61, 48 developed Alzheimer’s disease.

After evaluating the effects of many health and socioeconomic factors, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol counts, the research team concluded the participants who drank between three and five cups of coffee a day were 65% less likely to develop dementia than those who drank less.  Drinking even more than five cups a day was also associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia but the number of participants drinking this much coffee was too small to be statistically significant.

While not advocating someone start drinking coffee as a preventive measure, Dr. Miia Kivipelto...

Why not?!

Oats: A Grain that in England Is Fed to Horses, and in Scotland to People...

...which is why England has such fine horses, and Scotland has such fine people.

Harry Brighouse lowers his cholesterol:

Recipe Corner: Staffordshire Oatcakes: Talking of made up family traditions, Staffordshire Oatcakes a la Brighouse Mothersname household are a nice light-ish alternative to regular pancakes. I was first served them as a teenager by the Leek, Staffs, native parents of a friend of my sister’s; then completely forgot about them until coming across them in a children’s story several years ago. You’re supposed to use half medium oatmeal (scottish oatmeal in the US) and half regular flour, but I prefer to use oat flour with just a couple of spoons of medium oatmeal for texture. I make them when my eldest has friends over for sleepovers and they are always popular; I make the batter the night before, and its all ready to cook in the morning. You can serve them with butter and syrup (Golden Syrup is best, but maple is fine); or, for a light lunch, with grated cheese on top (fold the pancake to melt the cheese, gruyere is best).

1 teaspoon dried yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups oat flour and 3 tablespoons of medium/scottish oatmeal
2 cups water and 2 cups milk
(or 4 cups of liquid, with milk and water in whatever proportion you want, really).
2 tablespoons of melted butter

Dissolve the yeast and sugar into the liquid, and leave covered for 10 minutes. Add all the other ingredients except the butter, and whisk thoroughly so there are no lumps. Leave in a mixing bowl, covered with plastic wrap, for at least an hour (overnight is fine; 2 days is fine, frankly) in a not-too-warm place.

Just before cooking, mix in the melted butter. Cook like pancakes on a moderate griddle in butter. Serve immediately (or keep them in a hot oven, but don’t stack them, please). You can add more flour, or more liquid, any time you want, to get the consistency you prefer; this recipe should make the consistency a bit thicker than crepes.

It is somewhat remarkable how much many of the recipes the foodies are now recommending resemble those eaten in the years of dearth before the coming of the Black Death...

The Cucumber Factor

Matthew Yglesias:

Matthew Yglesias: The Cucumber Factor: Ta-Nehisi Coates is getting ready to foreswear the smear against white people that we eat cucumber. And yet just yesterday here in Finland where the white people are twice as white as back home (Nordic ancestry + subarctic winter = pale), I was in fact served a sandwich of cucumbers and cheese on a croissant.

And here in Vienna while seated next to Dani Rodrik I was just served not a cucumber sandwich but an egg salad sandwich on white bread with the crusts removed.

It did have Hungarian peppers on it. And the Hungarians do claim to be Huns, after all--name their children Attila, et cetera...

Ask the Internet: Berkeley High-End Lunch Restaurants

So at the start of the semester I took Jim Hines (visiting from U. Michigan as we try to persuade him and his family to leave his underfunded public university in a place with absurdly low house prices for another underfunded public university in a place with absurdly high house prices) out to lunch at Adagia.

At the end of the semester he has escalated by taking me out to lunch at Chez Panisse Cafe.

I now have to re-escalate next semester. But to what? I don't believe the French Laundry serves lunch--and it is a Berkeley restaurant only by pure legal fiction. What are my other options?

Thanksgiving Recipes

A message from Elisabetta Addis, who is trying to save us and has only our good in her heart: Against turkey:

Robert's Stochastic thoughts: I dont remember ever having braised just turkey in my life...!!! If it is just turkey, there is no doubt that your ONLY choice is to broil. I do it "porchettato" which is very similar to the person who broils it after a massage with butter and herbs.

The idea is to bone it, to fill the inside with a conspicuous amount of lard or un flavoured bacon chopped up very thinly together with a lot of fresh sage thyme laurel and rosemary, salt and pepper, make a roll, all tied up with the turkey skin out, rub the skin with olive oil, and cover it with a powder made up of sea salt, dry herbs same as above plus some cumin and coriander.

Then broil, broil, broil till the skin is crispy and the inside is all white but still juicy, which you know by testing, i.e. pricking with a fork and check the amount and color of the outcoming juice. Can be done with an upper leg, with a breast, and even with a whole turkey. Can be done without boning, but it does not come out well unless you fill the cavity with some moistenable material, like for example unseasoned bread crumbs mixed together with the herbs and pork fat above, and some pre-boiled potatoes, or even oranges or non-sweet apples.

Even then, it is barely edible, come on, it is turkey!!! do you know why they call a dumb person turkey? Because it has no taste!!!!

Braised turkey alone is not fit for human consumption, even if it is braised with wine and herbs. Chunks of turkey meat broiled together with onions and peppers, or onions, potatoes and carrots, plus white wine and herbs, maybe...but still, one does it because turkey is cheap and nutricious, not because of the great taste, come on!!!

Tell the blogosphere.

A message from Walter Jon Williams: For bacon and sausage:

Angel Station: Death By Stuffing: "Well," I can hear you saying, "we may eat too much turkey over the holiday weekend, but at least turkey is low in calories and cholesterol!" Pah! Not if you have Thanksgiving at our house! Not if you are served Uncle Walter's Bacon and Sausage Stuffing!

Start by cutting up a POUND OF BACON into strips. Cook the bacon in the bottom of a large stock pot until it renders up its fat. Then throw a POUND OF SAUSAGE MEAT into the pot, and cook it until it renders up its fat. Then throw in THREE CHOPPED ONIONS and HALF A DOZEN CHOPPED GARLIC CLOVES. Cook until the vegetables grow all wilty. Add ONE WHOLE STICK OF BUTTER. When the butter melts, add A POUND OR SO OF BREAD CRUMBS, HALF A DOZEN CHOPPED, HARD-BOILED EGGS, ONE CUP CHOPPED PARSLEY, TWO TEASPOONS RUBBED SAGE, SALT & PEPPER, and the CHOPPED GIBLETS, assuming you're not doing anything else with them.

Cook until the bread crumbs no longer crunch when you bite them.

(And, come to think of it, when you have this, why do you need a turkey exactly?)

This may send you into the hospital for your second bypass, but you'll be smiling as you go.

Mit Schlag

Via Malcolm Gladwell:

gladwell dot com - java man: "There was a little known Russian émigré, Trotsky by name, who during World War I was in the habit of playing chess in Vienna's Café Central every evening," Bealer and Weinberg write.... A typical Russian refugee, who talked too much but seemed... a pathetic figure.... One day in 1917 an official of the Austrian Foreign Ministry rushed into the minister's room, panting and excited, and told his chief, "Your excellency... Your excellency... Revolution has broken out in Russia." The minister, less excitable and less credulous than his official, rejected such a wild claim and retorted calmly, "Go away... Russia is not a land where revolutions break out. Besides, who on earth would make a revolution in Russia? Perhaps Herr Trotsky from the Café Central?"

The minister should have known better. Give a man enough coffee and he's capable of anything.

Death by Chocolate

Where would we be without the internet and wikipedia?

Theobromine poisoning: Chemists with the USDA are investigating the use of theobromine as a toxicant to control coyotes that prey on livestock. Humans are also susceptible to chocolate poisoning if enough is ingested. The lethal dose is placed at around 10 kg (22lbs).

Uh-Oh...

I have been In Teh Zone for the past three hours, furiously writing and finding connections falling into place with the effortless grace that comes about when one is In Teh Zone.

But at some point during the past three hours--I cannot remember doing it--I went to the refrigerator and grabbed the large iced coffee I was saving for breakfast tomorrow.

The glass is now empty beside my computer--I don't remember drinking any of it. The problem is:

• It was caffeinated.
• I have not had caffeinated coffee in three months.
• It's 11:30 PM.
• I am now bone-tired and exhausted from having gotten up at 5 AM.

I don't think I can sleep. And my brain is now too fried--I've come down from Teh Zone--to do anything serious.

I think that I have just flunked the Turing Test. This isn't the kind of thing that a sentient intelligence would do to itself, is it?

Maybe I'll go buy Steven Brust's Jhegaala on the kindle and read it until dawn...

These Are the Tomatoes We Have Been Waiting For!

Heirloom tomato season is at its peak:

Wedding Blogging

Patrick Nielsen Hayden informs us that Fred Clark and his S.O. are now Slacktivist and Slacktivixen, which is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency... which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought, in Cana of Galilee; and is commended of Saint Paul to be honourable among all men: and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly... like brute beasts that have no understanding; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God; duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained... (i) for the procreation of children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy Name... (ii) for a remedy against sin... [for] such persons as have not the gift of continency might marry... [and] for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity...

Hors d'oeuvres

I had never known before of anybody else who thought that "hors d'oeuvre" was "orderve."

Now I find that I have a fellow-sophont: John Scalzi, who actually uses "orderve" in a publication...

Hoisted from Comments: The Sinister Arab-Hispanic Joint Pizza Menace

Hoisted from comments: Leila Abu-Saba writes:

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The Semi-Daily Journal Economist Brad DeLong: Oh wow, I totally missed the earlier Hispanic Pizza Menace post linked above. It's too rich that the pizzeria owner is Lebanese. Yeah right he says he's Italian-Lebanese, all my Lebanese-American relatives claim to be Italian in order to dodge the usual racist/ethnicist/anti-Arab hysteria. Since they're Christians and many of my cousins do in fact own pizzerias, the Italian dodge usually works.

Anyway. That a man named Krikorian would kvetch about a Lebanese man named Swad selling Hispanic-flavored pizza in the USA is just too hilarious for words. Mr. Krikorian's ancestors I assume managed to get out of Armenia alive, and from there might well have made their way to Lebanon (Iraq, Syria, Egypt) in order to emigrate to the States. I wonder if he's concerned about the cuisine at La Mediterranee in Berkeley, which to my Lebanese palate mixes flavors a great deal and is not at all authentic Lebanese. It's sort of a mish-mosh of Middle Eastern flavors and dishes. And they have Greek (Armenian Greek?) album covers on the walls.

PS the Lebanese love pizza in Lebanon, too. They eat it in recognizably American forms; they also make a relative of pizza that's drizzled with thyme/sumac/sesame seed/olive oil paste instead of tomatoes. Manaqeesh. Excellent.

Oh yes, and if you go to The Rock kebab joint across from the main police station in Byblos, you can get a hamburger with the french fries served on the patty, between the buns, with lettuce and tomato. Yes, they serve an American burger and fries (excellent fries BTW) BUT THEY PUT THE FRIES ON THE BURGER! The tour guide told me The Rock is where the guides and cops go - not for tourists. Just a word to the chow hounds bound for Beirut...

Ask the Weblogosphere (Hispanic Pizza Menace Edition)

Is it a good idea to succumb to the Hispanic Pizza Menace and use Trader Joe's roasted tomato salsa as the tomato-sauce base for a pizza, given that we have a mysteriously understocked cupboard?

I assume that jalapenos then have to feature in the supra-cheese layer of the topping. But what do I do with the leftover teriyaki chicken?

I'd Have a Very Hard Time Explaining This to My Last Ancestors Who Lived in Africa...

Yet more evidence the Singularity is not in our future but in our past:

Why was I late? Oreo cookies were all over - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star: Traffic is backed up in Morris after a trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos overturned, spilling boxes of cookies into the median and road.

Illinois State Police Sergeant Brian Mahoney says the truck’s driver was traveling on I-80 near Morris around 4 a.m. today when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into the median, spilling some of the 28,000 pounds of treats.

The crash about 50 miles southwest of Chicago remains under investigation.

Mahoney says no charges have been filed but both lanes of traffic remain closed while authorities remove the cookies.

Emergency Culinary Hazard Warning!

The shaker next to the cinnamon shaker in the Berkeley business school cafeteria is not, repeat not vanilla, but instead garlic powder.

After that, I definitely don't need the caffeine--the am-I-poisoned?-flight-or-fight adrenaline rush was enough all by itself, thank you.

That is all.

Tomato Escalation

First we had cherry tomatoes. Then we had grape tomatoes. Now we have strawberry tomatoes.

What comes next?

Farro di Lucca

This looks like--well, they called it a zuppa but I would call it a porridge--from the North Beach Restaurant this evening:

Recipe: Farro Soup with Beans.

Jacob T. Levy Will Live Forever and Be Sharp as a Tack Until the Day He Dies

Jacob writew:

Jacob T. Levy: I'm going to live forever, part XXVI: Caffeine's health benefits, continued:

Daily caffeine 'protects brain' Coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests. The drink has already been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's Disease, and a study by a US team for the Journal of Neuroinflammation may explain why. A vital barrier between the brain and the main blood supply of rabbits fed a fat-rich diet was protected in those given a caffeine supplement. UK experts said it was the "best evidence yet" of coffee's benefits.

The Tudor-Era Fall in the English Standard of Living

Hoisted from Comments: Bloix quotes from:

William Harrison (1577), "A Description of Elizabethan England": The bread throughout the land is made of such grain as the soil yieldeth; nevertheless the gentility commonly provide themselves sufficiently of wheat for their own tables, whilst their household and poor neighbours in some shires are forced to content themselves with rye, or barley, yea, and in time of dearth, many with bread made either of beans, peas, or oats, or of altogether and some acorns among, of which scourge the poorest do soonest taste, sith they are least able to provide themselves of better-- For, albeit that there be much more ground eared now almost in every place than hath been of late years, yet such a price of corn continueth in each town and market without any just cause (except it be that landlords do get licences to carry corn out of the land only to keep up the prices for their own private gains and ruin of the commonwealth), that the artificer and poor labouring man is not able to reach unto it, but is driven to content himself with horse corn %u2014 I mean beans, peas, oats, tares, and lentils: and therefore it is a true proverb, and never so well verified as now, that "Hunger setteth his first foot into the horse-manger."

William Harrison (1577), A Description of Elizabethan England XXXV:3 The Harvard Classics (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1909) http://www.bartleby.com/35/3/

Jeff Weintraub Goes for Chinese Food...

A San Franciso tradition I keep wanting to get to some year:

Holiday theater offerings: Kung Pao Kosher Comedy Shelley Berman headlines the 15th annual celebration of Christmas in the traditional Jewish manner, in a Chinese restaurant with Jewish comedy, with Lisa Geduldig, Scott Blakeman and Esther Paik Goodhart. Dec. 22-25; New Asia Restaurant, 772 Pacific Ave., San Francisco; (925) 275-9005, http://www.koshercomedy.com/

Jeff Weintraub comments:

Jeff Weintraub: Jewish Christmas - The Chinese connection: My friend Andy Markovits passed along to me a very funny YouTube video that has been making the rounds. It touches on an intriguing aspect of American social history--the curious affinity of Jews for Chinese food. Ever since Eastern European Jewish immigrants began arriving in large numbers about a century ago, they showed a special inclination to go to Chinese restaurants whenever they went out to eat non-Jewish food.

There was always something a little odd about this, since many of them normally avoided non-kosher food, and Chinese food is anything but kosher--certainly no more kosher than, say, Italian or Irish or generic-American food. (In recent years some Chinese restaurants have adapted by going kosher, but such cases used to be vanishingly rare.) Perhaps the sauces that smothered and disguised the food, which also tended to be finely chopped up, made a certain degree of denial easier? (Through most of the 20th century, the kind of Chinese food that American Jews were eating was usually some version of gloppy American-Cantonese.) And perhaps the special attractiveness of Chinese restaurants had something to do with the fact that Chinese--unlike a number of other ethnic groups in the US--had no history of, or reputation for, anti-semitism? One can only speculate.

Here are some informed socio-historical speculations by two Jewish sociologists, Gaye Tuchman & Harry Levine, in "'Safe Treyf': New York Jews and Chinese Food". (For those of you who come from the dominant culture, "treyf" or "treif" means non-kosher.):

Three themes predominate. First, Chinese food is unkosher and therefore non-Jewish. But because of the specific ways that Chinese food is prepared and served, immigrant Jews and their children found Chinese food to be more attractive and less threatening than other non-Jewish or treyf food. Chinese food was what we term "safe treyf." Chinese restaurant food used some ingredients that were familiar to Eastern European Jews. Chinese cuisine also does not mix milk and meat; indeed it doesn't use dairy products at all. In addition, anti-Semitism, anti-Chinese racism, and the low position of the Chinese in American society also (perhaps paradoxically) made Jews feel safe and comfortable in Chinese restaurants.

Second, Jews construed Chinese restaurant food as cosmopolitan. For Jews in New York, eating in Chinese restaurants signified that one was not a provincial or parochial Eastern European Jew, not a "greenhorn" or hick. In New York City, immigrant Jews, and especially their children and grand-children, regarded Chinese food as sophisticated and urbane.

Third, by the second and third generation, Jews identified eating this kind of non-Jewish food--Chinese restaurant food--as something that modern American Jews, and especially New York Jews, did together. "Eating Chinese" became a New York Jewish custom, a part of daily life and self-identity for millions of New York Jews.

As they sum it up:

Chinese food was attractive to Jews in part because its ingredients were somewhat familiar, and because it did not instinctively repel. [....] Jews were also attached to Chinese food because they perceived it as sophisticated, non-Christian, and a bargain. In subsequent generations, these associations then became overlaid with memories of family meals in Chinese restaurants--where, after 1950, New York Jewish families ate far more often than they did in Jewish restaurants. In different ways, for different reasons, for four generations of New York Jews, Chinese restaurant food has continued to be part of what Federico Fellini called "the soft and gentle flavors of the past."

Whatever the reasons, this connection between American Jews and Chinese food has long been a solidly established social fact. (I don't know whether this has also been true for Jews in Montreal & Toronto, or whether there are any parallels outside North America.) And I am told by people who know about such things (not just professionally, but from relevant sociological research) that this connection has long been a self-conscious part of Chinese-restaurant lore as well. If someone wanted to start a Chinese restaurant, the best bet was to have a Chinese community nearby--but, failing that, everyone knew that the second-best situation was to open the restaurant near a supply of Jewish customers.

As part of this pattern of ethnic symbiosis, one special Christmas custom (we might almost call it a tradition) that emerged among American Jews was to go out to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas. Again, the explanation is no doubt complex. Since most Chinese didn't celebrate Christmas as a religious or family holiday, Chinese restaurants were likely to be open when other restaurants were closed. I would also guess that it's easy to get a reservation at your favorite Chinese restaurant when the goyim are mostly having Christmas dinner at home. And the movie theaters are often emptier, too--so why not go to the movies while you're at it?

Christmas Eve Grocery-Shopping Dungeness Crab Inventory Management Blogging

"Father Christmas, why are we waking up at 5:52??"

"Because we want to be at Whole Foods at 7:00, when it opens."

"Father Christmas, why do we want to be at Whole Foods at 7:00, when it opens?"

"Because it's Christmas Eve!"

"And what's at Whole Foods at 7 AM on Christmas Eve? I know! Santa!!"

"No, not Santa. You are punchy."

"You took me to see Before the Devil Knows You're Dead last night--a movie without an ounce of redemption or even a hint of a happy ending."

"But [character X] and [character Y] get together and escape to Rio with the money at the end, and live happily ever after."

"They do?"

"Well, they might. At least, we are not certain that they are dead."

"Not being sure that they are dead is not quite we see them find true love."

"True."

"And so I couldn't get to sleep until 2 after that. And now I'm up at 6:12. And I get to see Santa!"

"No. If we hit Whole Foods at 7, we get to see it and we will get to not see all the people who will be at Whole Foods at 2 PM are. We will get a parking space. And the lines will be less than hours long."

"But no Santa."

"Let's take the dog. We can walk the dog around Whole Foods and its parking lot before it opens. The smells will be a vision of heaven for the dog..."

---

"This seafood line looks to be half an hour long already."

"Well, the store has been open for fifteen minutes."

"You were the one who wanted to bring the dog--which meant that we were fifteen minutes away on foot when the bell sounded."

"But one of us can stay in line, and one can run about the store."

"Grated Parmesan, two cups Mozzarella, and a little Gorgonzolo..."

"I'm on it..."

---

"Well this looks like a convivial seafood line. Are they passing out shrimp cocktail? Or mimosas?"

"We're talking about what we will make if we get to the front and discover that there's no crab for us sluggards and slatterns--that there's only crab for the do-be pre-orderers."

"And is their crab for the non-do-bes?"

"They don't know. The crab is being unloaded right now. They're not sure how much there is--whether there is just enough for the pre-orderers or whether there's extra."

"Oh."

"They are envious of my runner though. They compliment me and talk about what tasks they would assign if they had a runner."

"Well, in this culture, if you are a man, you don't have to do very much to get a lot of credit."

"You got it."

---

"Did you get the lasagna noodles?"

"Whole Foods doesn't seem to be a lasagna place. They don't seem to think that lasagna fits their ethos. The lasagna demographic is not their demographic."

"Did you get the lasagna noodles?"

"What I could find was brown rice gluten-free lasagna noodles. So I got those."

"Oh."

"But I did get Bible spaghetti! Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted whole wheat spaghetti!"

"Oh."

"'In the year that George W. Bush's Secretary of State Condi Rice said that the Western Alliance had never been in better shape, I saw also the LORD seated upon a throne. Around him flew the seraphims: with two wings each covered his face, and with two wings each covered his feet, and with two wings each did fly.'"

"You are having so much fun I won't tell you that's not Ezekiel but Isaiah."

"'And one one of the seraphims cried unto another, and said: "Swipe your credit card now..."'"

---

"What number are they on?"

"They called 54. But then they called 51."

"We're backtracking. People don't hear or have wandered off. And they are really upset if they find that they've missed their number."

"Oh."

"Yesterday I had somebody completely break down. They were gossiping by the cheese counter when their number was called. They were distraught. We nearly had to call the paramedics."

"It is loud in here. And many of these customers look like their ears are not the sharpest."

"True. So we backtrack."

52? 52? 53? 53? 54? 54? 55?"

"55!! WE'RE 55!! WE'RE HERE!!"

"Actually, we're 57."

"Oh. Don't mind me, I'm punchy."

"We don't mind."

"55? 55? 56? 56? 57?"

"WE'RE 57!!!"

"We're refugees from Whole Foods, where they have crab only for the virtuous pre-orderers, not for the likes of us sluggards and slatterns. Do you have any crab?"

"If so, could we get one big one?"

"They're not too big, and they are already cracked and cleaned."

"Two small ones, then."

"Here at Diablo Foods we cleaned and cracked 6000 lbs. of crab yesterday to get ready for this day."

"For this one store?"

"For this one store."

Academics-in-Training: Sports Medicine Glycemic Index Department

Hoisted from Comments: Glory Liu writes:

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: Economist Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: Thanks for the refreshments! I definitely met my sugar quota for the rest of the month. In terms of the sugar spike/crash, I definitely didn't have that problem because I also had a clif bar for "dinner" which optimizes your glycemic response withs low-release carbohydrates, which is always good right before exam time.

The exam wasn't terrible at all; it was exactly what could be expected. The only bad part was that my entire right hand and forearm was sore for the next day from writing so furiously for three hours nonstop.

Gotta build up those lower right arm muscles...

Neolithic Agriculture Blogging

Spelt Soup:

3 tbs. olive oil
4 cups water
8 oz. spelt

Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you have managed to trade with the herdsmen, add salt and butter before serving. If not, not.

Being Administrator of China's FDA Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Justin Rohrlich reports:

Minyanville - NEWS & VIEWS-Article: The Speedy Execution of Zheng Xiaoyu: China "proves" to the world that they’re serious about product safety. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court carried out the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of China’s State Food and Drug Administration, yesterday. He was sentenced to death for taking $832,000 in bribes to approve drugs that led to at least ten deaths. 

China Daily said: “Zheng’s death sentence was unusually heavy, even for China, and likely indicates the leadership’s determination to confront the country’s dire product safety record. The unusually harsh sentence and its prompt enforcement reflect the resolve of Beijing to fight against corruption and ensure consumer (sic).” With the recent spate of recalled Chinese goods further tarnishing the export market upon which the country’s growing economy largely depends (China’s exports in June rose 27.1% year-on-year to $103.27 bln), the government set out to “prove” that they’re serious about product safety. The state-run Xinhua news agency estimates that more than 330 tons of fruit and vegetables, 131 tons of meat, 82 tons of seafood, 21 tons of cheese and 3 million bottles of beverages will be consumed during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and officials are desperate to stave off a quality-related disaster.

Though Zheng’s sentence was described as “unusually heavy,” China carries out more court-ordered executions than the rest of the world combined. The Globe and Mail of Canada quoted Chinese legal expert Liu Renwen as saying that China is executing about 8,000 people each year...

But who, exactly, is the monkey here? Is this for foreign consumption, or the beginning of a drive to seriously alter the incentives of domestic regulators? And how would this be accomplished--independent testing laboratories and grassroots riots in response to adulteration would not seem to be the direction that China's State Council would choose.

Captain Blythers, First Street, Benicia

Capitain Blythers: "Do you want a table with a downstream view of Carquinez Strait and the bridge or a table with an upstream view of the Martinez refinery?"

"We have a dog with us..."

"You'll be wanting the upstream view, then..."

Both the cioppino and the mixed seafood grill were excellent. The dog appreciated scraps of Icelandic cod and broccoli.

September 1, 2007 Is the DAY OF THE LORD--for the Raccoons, that Is

Yes, the Basileia of the raccoons is arriving on September 1, 2007:

City of Lafayette -- CCCSWA Presentation on the Lamorinda Food Scrap Recycling Program: Staff from the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority (CCCSWA) will make a presentation on the new food scrap recycling program scheduled to begin Sept 1, 2007. Information on participation and options for kitchen food waste collection will be discussed...

Five days a week, 1400 green carts each day, green carts formerly filled just with grass clippings and branches, now filled with a week's food waste, including tea bags and coffee grounds. Unlatched green carts. Green carts made from reasonably tough plastic, but not plastic strong enough to resist the teeth of a family of raccoons with a whole night to work in and... motivation...

Meanwhile, in Kassel, Federal Republic of Germany:

'Nazi raccoons' in Europe: Waschbaeren, or “wash bears,” are raccoons, which habitually wash their paws. In 1934, Nazi official Hermann Goering received a seemingly mundane request from the Reich Forestry Service. A fur farm wanted permission to release a batch of exotic bushy-tailed animals into the wild to “enrich the local fauna” and give hunters something new to shoot at. Goering approved the request and set off an ecological disaster that is spreading across Europe.... Raccoons... range from the Baltic Sea to the Alps....

No place in Germany has more of them than Kassel, a city of about 200,000 people in the central state of Hesse. It has plenty of leafy suburban backyards that border large tracts of public forests. The city lies less than 20 miles from the Nazi fur farm that is usually blamed for Germany’s raccoon explosion.... Five years ago, a family of raccoons got into a house belonging to Ingrid and Dieter Hoffmann of Kassel. They settled into the chimney and — despite efforts to smoke them out — ruined their roof, which cost tens of thousands of dollars to fix. The Hoffmanns also spent $1,300 to raccoon-proof their residence with electrified gutters and other measures.

“The little ones look cute and have a pretty face,” said Ingrid Hoffmann, 70. “But their mother can bite your finger off.” Dieter Hoffmann wagged a finger: “We like the United States of America, but we do not like your Waschbaeren!”

Roasted Red Lentil Curry

I would pay serious, serious money for the recipe, so that we could reproduce this at home for a price of less than the $10 a pound we currently pay:

Roasted Red Lentil Curry: Made with roasted red lentils, curry, and certain spices.  This is a delicious meal that could be served warm and over a plate of steamed rice.  Keeps for about a week in the fridge.

From:

Bolani and Sauce: East and West Gourmet Aghan Food
108 B Medburn St.
Concord, DA 94520
925 497 0538
service@bolaniandsauce.com
http://bolaniandsauce.com/serv01.htm

Matthew Yglesias Is Insecure!

Matthew Yglesias worries:

Matthew Yglesias: The Starbucks Factor: Is it a bad thing that Feist's The Reminder is on sale in Starbucks? I'll admit that when I saw the album there I was disturbed. Upon a moment's reflection, though, this is just snobbery. I don't like the idea that, in the future, if I praise Feist this may indicate to other people that I'm the sort of person who gets his music recommendations from Starbucks rather than the sort of person who knows a lot about Canadian indie music...

It's too late, Matt. You have revealed that you are the kind of person who fears that other people may think that you are the kind of person who gets his music recommendations from Starbucks.

It would be much better for you if you were to fear that you might be turning into the kind of person who fears that other people may think you are the kind of person who gets his music recommendations from Starbucks.

Benjamin Barber Hates Us for Our Freedom

Benjamin Barber hates us for our freedom: ur freedom to go to restaurants named "Stuff Yer Face" on Easton Ave. in New Brunswick, NJ, that is. Tyler Cowen and his mesnie get properly medieval on Barber:

Marginal Revolution: Benjamin Barber's Consumed:

There is actually [sic] a restaurant in New Jersey called Stuff Yer Face, and fast food generally is about stuffing your face: about nutrition, fueling up, taking in the calories, food as instrumentality, eaters as mere animals responding to biological imperatives.

The subtitle of the new book is How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantalize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole. Here is the restaurant's home page, with sound.

Posted by Tyler Cowen on March 28, 2007 at 01:44 PM in Books | Permalink

Comments

The title works even better if you replace "Markets" by "Socialism". Posted by: dearieme at Mar 28, 2007 1:50:41 PM....

Even more surprising is that stuff yer face isn't bad, at least for college food (it's right next to rutgers). It's one of the few places on easton ave serving food that you would eat while sober. The beer selection is pretty good as well. It's not a fantastic place, but it's better than the name suggests. Posted by: Anonymous coward at Mar 28, 2007 3:09:39 PM

Stuff Yer Face was also Mario Batali's first cooking job, while attending Rutgers. As the Anonymous Coward points out, it's decent enough for a stromboli and beer place (it was one of the places where we sent our out of town relatives who came for our wedding and were looking for something to eat the night before the wedding) Posted by: Bg Porter at Mar 28, 2007 3:48:26 PM....

Benjamin Barber is an arrogant gasbag. He believes in replacing his preferences in place of everyone else's. He thinks that "we" should be exporting more jazz and less Britney Spears. His view of markets is more-or-less neo-Rousseauian. He believes in sort of "directed democracy" even though he won't admit it. Barber is the type of dude who gives political theorists a bad name. He's typical of the reason that many of the smarter ones go into PHILOSOPHY departments so that they can be free of his ilk. The dude is a sophist and a very, very, VERY poor man's Michael Walzer. Posted by: Jeebus at Mar 28, 2007 3:50:21 PM

I don't know the context, but at face value it seems really odd to complain about people having an instrumental view of food. Is food supposed to be an end in and of itself? I suppose if you viewed getting pleasurable sensations from consuming food as being an non-instrumental usage of food, he'd kind of have a point, but it can hardly be argued that that is a vice of fast food resturants, which tend to make food that a good chunk of the population does enjoy eating. Posted by: MattXIV at Mar 28, 2007 3:59:43 PM

about nutrition, fueling up, taking in the calories, As opposed to anorexia, malnutrution, and throwing-up? food as instrumentality, As opposed to food as an object of mere aesthetic contemplation? eaters as mere animals responding to biological imperatives, As opposed to space aliens responding to cosmic imperatives? Barber is a sententious twat. And I mean that in the best way possible...

Another Sign of the Impending Apocalypse

At the Ferry Building at the bay end of Market Street, Peet's sells a "Scharffenberger mocha freddo" for $4.30. Can the fabric of the universe sustain the existence of the $5 coffee drinks that are clearly only a year or two away?

The Turnip Disambiguation Page

Patrick Nielsen Hayden sends us to the Turnip Disambiguation Page of Wikipedia:

Turnip (disambiguation) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Scientific term	Brassica rapa rapa	Brassica napus or B. napobrassica	Pachyrhizus
Southern England, most Commonwealth countries	turnip	swede (= Swedish turnip)	yam bean
United States	turnip	rutabaga or yellow turnip	jicama
Ireland and Northern England	turnip	swede
Scotland	swede, tumshie or white turnip	turnip or neep
Cornwall	white turnip	turnip
Malaysia, Singapore, and Philippines			turnip
Atlantic Canada		turnip	jicama
also called	white turnip or summer turnip	yellow turnip or winter turnip	sweet turnip

Brassica napus and B. napobrassica are called swedes (a shortening of Swedish turnip) in England, especially in the South, and in most dialects of the Commonwealth. Rutabaga is mostly an American word. The rutabaga or swede differs from the turnip (Brassica rapa) in that it is typically larger and yellow-orange rather than white.

However, in some dialects of British English the two vegetables have overlapping or reversed names. In the north of England and Scotland, the larger, yellow rutabagas are called neeps (from an Old Norse term, not a shortening of "turnips"), or turnips from folk etymology, while the smaller white turnips are called swedes.

Being Omnivorous

We turn left coming out of the driveway, and we are immediately confronted with: quail, seventeen adult quail, and deer, two adult does. The quail do not quail at the car: instead, they run aimlessly in rapid circles as the car approaches, and then take wing with a whir. The deer stare at us, as if wondering whether or not to approach the car for food. And then they amble off toward the lawns. In the distance there is the gobbling of turkeys--refugees seeking sanctuary from the retirement community of Rossmoor, where sharpshooters are hunting them with silenced rifles. My wife tells of once being in the car and running into a male turkey on the driveway, which looked at her and spread its tail feathers in a testosterone-crazed dominance display--thinking that it could drive off a Subaru, and thus preserve his exclusive sexual access to the hens. Truly a bird of very little brain...

Ever since my wife learned that I was on a committee with Michael Pollan, author of the truly excellent if slightly Berkeley twee The Omnivore's Dilemma, she has been pressing me to invite him to dinner. I have resisted, being scared that she would greet him at the door with a net, and say: "We're having quail this evening. Would you please catch us a dozen? They're under the blackberry bushes" or "Here's the dried corn, the mortar, and the pestle: would you please make us some masa?" or even worse, "Would you please evolve us some maize via selective breeding from this teosinte plant?"

But do go read The Omnivore's Dilemma. It is truly excellent.

Tame Valley Thyme

Spice Islands thyme does not have a shaker top.

An emergency thyme containment and removal team has been called.

The recipe may not survive.

Is John Scalzi Completely Sane?

I fear for John Scalzi's sanity:

The Two Most Awesome Words That Are Awesomely Awesome in Their Awesomeosity: Are you ready for them? Really ready for them? Really really?

Here they are:

Caffeinated Doughnuts.

Has there ever been a better time to be alive then now? A better place to be alive than here? Clearly, the answer would have to be: No.

Adults Eat Peanut Butter!

Amanda Marcotte confesses: American Thai food is really a way for adults to eat peanut butter without shame:

Food, fear, meandering commentary at Pandagon: I make an awesome Pad Thai. I don't make it with peanut oil. I use... peanut butter. If you use peanut oil like you're supposed to, for some reason it doesn't taste as peanut-y as it should.... Most people like the way I make it, but mentioning this in a public forum brings upon me the cringe of shame....

The reason I bring this up is because I was all excited about this interview in Salon with Barry Glassner about some of the fear and morality issues that have cropped up on food politics and why they skew people's priorities.... I wanted to see what Glassner would say about the search of authenticity in food, because I think in a lot of ways such a search is both doomed and can be intimidating to people who are learning to cook.

Religious-Themed Yuppie Food Products Blogging

We return from Trader Joe's bearing Ezekiel (that's a Hebrew prophet) bread, Maranatha (that's a prayer asking Jesus to come back soon: "Come, Holy Lord), but nothing named after the Islamic or Buddhist traditions--no Imam pistachios or Avelokiteshvara microwaveable rice dishes. This seems vaguely un-Californian...

Mad San Francisco Scientists! (Applied Organic Chemistry Division)

The people at Semifreddi's are mad. Mad, I tell you:

Odessaroggenbrot: We know this is heresy; but this rye bread is better than any New York rye you have ever tasted. It is a long-standing favorite among our European customers...

When Electronics Attack...

Meanwhile, we are looking forward to The Christmas without an Oven, as the electronics malfunctioned last week and blew out the bake heating elements in both the upper and lower ovens. Oven repair has been called but...

Any connection between the blowing-out of the oven heating elements and the continued crashing of MarsEdit when it tries to access blogger is still speculative at this time.

And perhaps our information stream itself is being corrupted. I mean, a crab cioppino recipe that calls for eight pounds of crab and only half an onion?

We successfully got out of Whole Foods by 11:00 AM on Christmas Eve morning. We wouldn't want to be there now. We didn't really want to be there then, but where else can you get grass-fed organic antibiotic-free crabs?

Annals of Cooking

We continue to strive to duplicate the tandoori salmon recipe from Breads of India.

Cachaca! And Free Trade. And Intellectual "Property"

It sounds like moonshine rum--ferment for 24 hours and then boil to 80 proof. Drunk at Cafe de la Paz in Berkeley:

Cachaca: TED Case Study #721 - Brian Morgan: Unknown to many outside Brazil, the cultural significance of cachaça, a distilled liquor, ranks among soccer, carnival, and samba. Although non-Brazilian’s compare cachaça to rum, their only similarity is that they both originate from sugarcane. Cachaça first gained popularity among slaves and peasants during Brazil’s colonial period but the spirit has recently become a favorite domestically and internationally regardless of the drinker’s class. Also, Brazilian cachaça exports to Europe and the United States have been aided by the trendy drink caipirinha. The cocktail’s global success has inspired other Caribbean and South American states to produce their own cachaça-like alcohols. Consequently, the Brazilian government has initiated protectionist measures at home and abroad to preserve cachaça’s foreign markets. These developments bring together cachaça’s trade, cultural, and environmental aspects.

No one knows for sure who began cachaça production.... [S]ugarcane had been introduced to Brazil as a cash crop by their colonial motherland Portugal. Slaves... were given leftover cane juice... let it ferment... plantation owners often promised slaves this fermented cane juice once they had completed their work. Eventually, someone realized that by boiling the fermented juice a more potent libation was produced, marking the birth of cachaça. At this point, wealthy Brazilians regarded cachaça as a poor man’s drink and thus preferred European alternatives. However, this did not stop cachaça from becoming an integral part of Brazilian culture. It is estimated Brazilians consume close to 350 million gallons of cachaça per year – about two gallons per person.

There are roughly 30,000 small producers.... Because the distillation process is relatively easy... because sugarcane is so abundant in Brazil, the business can be is open to anyone. Sugarcane is... milled... fermented for about 24 hours... boiled... 80-proof.... Regardless of the variety, cachaça should not be confused with rum, which is distilled from the molasses left over after sugar refinement....

Cachaça’s export capability was uncertain until the caipirinha became a bestseller in bars across Europe, United States, and Japan. The cocktail combines crushed limes, sugar, ice, and cachaça to produce a sweet and zesty flavor packed with alcoholic intensity.... Germany has become the largest consumer of cachaça outside Latin America, constituting about one forth of the foreign market.... The Brazilian government has also helped promote cachaça by providing caipirinhas at social functions.... Ambitious export programs aim to increase cachaça exports to 40 million liters per annum by end of this decade. In addition, Brazilians hope that cachaça and caipirinha will become what tequila and margaritas have become for Mexico: an internationally recognized image associated with the Brazilian lifestyle....

However, since sugarcane is such a homogenous good and since the distillation process does not impose geographic limitations outside the wood used to age cachaça, imitation cachaças have been increasingly manufactured... the imposters could crowd them out of foreign markets... the quality or unique taste of a cachaça is barely noticeable once it is mixed into a sugar-rich caipirinha.

To protect its cachaça industry... President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva... sent the issue to the World Trade Organization in hopes that cachaça will gain protection under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement (TRIPS). Moreover, Brazil is currently involved in bilateral negotiations with the European Union to ensure that the cachaça name will be used only with Brazilian products within member states.... Under the TRIPS agreement of the WTO, cachaça could potentially gain protection as provided by Article 22 and 23. According to Article 22, “geographical indications are, for the purposes of this Agreement, indications which identify a good as originating in the territory of a Member, or a region or locality in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the good is essentially attributable to its geographical origin.” In the case of cachaça, Brazil is arguing that the drink is unique to its territory because of the liquor’s history, origin, and its ties to Brazilian culture. If cachaça qualifies for geographic indication, it would also receive the higher level of protection granted by Article 23, which states that signatories of the TRIPS agreement would need to prevent the use of the name cachaça, “even where the true origin of the goods is indicated or the geographical indication is used in translation or accompanied by expressions such as “kind”, “type”, “style”, “imitation” or the like.”...

If cachaça attains protection for geographic indication in both of these negotiations, it would create two additional avenues for dispute settlement. First, Brazil would be able to file complaints through the WTO, which would allow the country to target Caribbean and Central American nations, such as Colombia and Martinique, that illegally produce cachaça. And Second, Brazil could resolve conflicts directly with the EU regarding cachaça....

Brazil has not yet officially disputed any instances where other countries have tried to sell their drinks as cachaça...

When Vegetables Attack!

Avoid the spinach:

Blood & Treasure: these vegetables kill: Oh yes they do...

Once it gets in our bodies, E. col O157:H7 starts causing serious trouble. It builds a needle that it can jab into the cells of our guts. Through it they inject a cocktail of molecules. One of the first of these molecules is a receptor, which inserts itself into the wall of the intestinal cell. In other words, Escherichia coli makes our cells part human, part microbe.

Remember your Cronenberg. From Shivers: "Disease is the love of two alien creatures..." And there's more:

As its genes are manipulated, the cell begins to behave oddly. The skeleton-like fibers that support the cell begin sliding over one another to create a new shape. A pedestal-shaped cup rises from the top of the cell, offering Escherichia coli O157:H7 a place to rest. The cell also begins to leak fluids, which rush past the microbes....

These changes cause blood diarrhea, but they are not the worst of Escherichia coli O157:H7's symptoms. Sometimes a few of the bacteria swell with toxins and burst. Their toxins enter our own cells, where they jam up the cellular factories that build proteins. Unable to make new proteins, the cells die and burst open. These toxins can slip into the blood vessels lining the intestines and soon spread to other organs. The kidneys are especially vulnerable to their attacks.

Apparently you should avoid the spinach.

FYI

Alice Waters has not, repeat not, made it to the Campolindo High School cafeteria:

BIG & BOLD BBQ BASH WEEK: Today's special is 2 corn dogs, juice popsicle, chips, & watermelon for $5.

Mickey Kaus Is Right!

Mickey Kaus's claims that high numbers for "Brokeback Mountain" in Plano, TX did not tell us that Texans in general were broadminded because Plano was an oasis of liberal yuppiedom find strong support from... Wal-Mart!

WSJ.com - To Boost Sales, Wal-Mart Drops One-Size-Fits-All Approach: Thinking Local To Boost Sales, Wal-Mart Drops One-Size-Fits-All Approach World's Largest Retailer Will Target Six Groups in U.S.; Changing Product Mix Guns Out, Home-Fitness In. By ANN ZIMMERMAN. September 7, 2006; Page A1: To appeal to affluent shoppers in Plano, Texas, Wal-Mart staffed the new store there with consumer-electronics specialists called "know-it-alls." And it geared the sporting-goods section toward children, on the theory that well-heeled adults tend to buy their tennis and golf gear at country clubs, not discount stores....

Enter Mr. Castro-Wright. The 51-year-old native of Ecuador had conducted a test run of his localization theories during his stint running Wal-Mart's Mexican division from 2000 to 2005, first as chief operating officer, then as chief executive. Wal-Mart's Mexican stores had six different formats before he arrived. Mr. Castro-Wright refined their merchandise mix to better target different income levels.... While the Mexican localization was based purely on shoppers' incomes, Mr. Castro-Wright concluded the U.S. was a more complex market and segmentation would involve ethnicity and lifestyle as well....

The Plano store has about 3,000 different items -- or about 3% of the total -- targeting the well-heeled. It has twice the number of organic products and a wine section with 1,000 bottles, at prices ranging from $4 to $500. Wal-Mart removed the gun department and expanded the home-fitness equipment area. "I normally do not shop at Wal-Mart, but I really like this store, because it is much nicer than the typical Wal-Mart," said Charlotte Ackley, an employee-benefits specialist, on a recent visit to the Plano store. "It is clean, has a good selection of wines, and the service is fast"...

Yes, in Plano, TX, it is a selling point that the local Wal-Mart has "a good selection of wines."

Game to Mickey Kaus!

Now--for the set--does Mickey Kaus read past the jump in the Wall Street Journal news pages? Does he read Wall Street Journal stories about retail at all--even if they are on page A1? Does he read page A1 at all?

How long will it take Mickey Kaus to discover this strong support for his Plano hypothesis? And how will he discover it?

Place your bets ladies and gentlemen...

---

UPDATE: It's Friday morning. Not only does Mickey Kaus not read far enough in the *Journal* to discover that the yuppie-friendly Plano, TX Wal-Mart has no guns-and-ammo section, has "a good selection of wines" at prices ranging up to $500 a bottle, and "has geared the sporting-goods section toward children, on the theory that well-heeled adults tend to buy their tennis and golf gear at country clubs"; nobody who emails Kaus reads that far into the *Journal* either.

---

UPDATE II: It's Friday afternoon. Not only does Mickey Kaus not read far into the *Journal*; not only does nobody who emails Kaus read far into the *Journal*; but nobody who emails anybody who emails Kaus reads far into the *Journal*. This is depressing.

Cliff House

The renovations of San Francisco's Cliff House have been completed. The grill where you could get execrable hamburgers is gone. The gift shop where you could buy plastic crabs and cheap China-made cookie jars in the shapes of Victorian Painted Ladies is gone.

In their places are:

• A very, very tasteful (and much more expensive) giftshop.
• Restaurants that serve dishes with names like:
  • Bouillabaisse "Thai style."
  • Pan-Seared Day-Boat Scallop Salad. (How you pan-sear a day boat is something that I will never know.)

Is this progress?

Wonders of International Trade

Wonders of international trade. Belle Waring's recipe calls for coarse polenta--that is, corn mush--that has been incompletely ground by preindustrial stone-grinding technology in Oregon, 10,000 miles away from her kitchen, by the Bob's Red Mill company and then shipped by containership all the way across the Pacific to Singapore.

How much does Bob's Red Mill coarse stone-ground polenta cost in Singapore, anyway?

John & Belle Have A Blog: Fried Shrimp: I invented these last month, and each time I cook more, and each time at the end of the meal John starts looking around the kitchen vainly. "Did we eat them all?"

• 1 1/2 lb shrimp
• 2 T teriyaki sauce
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c coarse polenta (the Bob's Red Mill stone-ground one is nice, and if you live in Singapore you can get it at Tanglin Mall!)
• 2 T flour
• salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
• vegetable oil for deep-frying

1. Take the heads off the shrimp, peel them leaving the last section and tail on, and butterfly them. Let them marinate with the teriyaki sauce and garlic in the fridge for 40 minutes or whatever.

2. Put polenta, flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne in a bag and mix. Take the shrimp out of the fridge. Heat oil in a dutch-oven over high heat until it gets rilly, rilly hot. Let's say, until a bluish haze starts to form over the oil and a cube of bread put in is well-browned in 30 seconds.

3. Drain any extra liquid off the shrimp, and then put them in the bag with the polenta. Shake to coat. You can fry them all in one batch. I'd say it takes 1-2 minutes. More like 1 minute. Take them out with a skimmer and put on brown paper. EAT. Try not to burn your fingers too much.

Sauce:

This is pretty flexible, you could put whatever. Substituting Greek-style yogurt for part of the mayo is nice.

• 3/4 c mayonnaise
• juice of 1 lemon (or limes)
• 1 T dijon mustard
• 4-5 chopped cornichon pickles, or go for sweet and put drained hot dog relish, also nice
• 2-3 serrano chilis, chopped into extremely thin rounds on the diagonal
• salt and pepper and chili flakes
• chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, cilantro, sweet basil, flat-leaf parsley
1. Make like Sir Mixalot.

This is really very tasty and I recommend it to you all. It would be a nice party snack, though I don't know how it would hold up keeping warm in the oven. All fried things are good party foods, but all fried things are best eaten right away; it's like some kind of paradox, man. Its the big nubbly bits of fried corn grits that make it good...

---

And here's Bob:

Bob's Red Mill - Whole Grain and Gluten Free Products and Recipes: Bob's Red Mill also produces over 50 different certified organic products, including Steel Cut Oats, Whole Wheat Flour, Cornmeal, and Flaxseed Meal. At Bob's Red Mill, our grain buyers search for the best organic grains in the world, providing our customers with high quality, whole grain organics.... Bob's Red Mill is the nation's leader in stone milling and offers the widest diversity of whole grains found anywhere. We are dedicated to producing natural foods in the natural way. Try our outstanding products today and we guarantee that you will not be disappointed....

Organic Steel-Cut Oats are freshly milled from high protein, organic oats and cut into neat little pieces on a steel buhr mill. Organic Steel Cut Oats are one of the healthiest foods you can eat and they make a delightful full-bodied hot cereal with an appealing texture. Try some Organic Steel Cut Oats today!

Bob's Red Mill - 800-349-2173

At this point, I have to channel the loa of Friedrich Hayek, and marvel at the wonders of the market--that, like a god, knows that in Singapore there is demand by Belle Waring for Red Mill stone-ground coarse polenta, and that diverts bags of the stuff to be carried by truck, train, containership, and porter to her local store. How wise is the market! How its information dwarfs that of any conceivable electro-mechanical-electronic-positronic-gluonic brain!

Into the Frying Pan

It says:

Vous venez detrer en possession d'un ustensile de cuisson Le Creuset de haute qualite en fonte emaillee, qui vous apportera de longues annees de satisfaction...

These are truly serious frying pans that my mother has given us...

A Warning

New Tab Energy drink:

1. Is pink.
2. Contains ginseng.
3. Bears no resemblance at all to my memories of the drink formerly known as Tab.

Under no circumstances should anybody drink it. None.

That is all.

The Washington Post Disses the Right

Back in the 1980s, the Wall Street Journal editorial page's most effective and devastating right-wing columnist was left-wing nut-boy Alexander Cockburn: everyone (well, almost everyone) reading his columns would think, "If that's the left, I belong on the right."

Now comes the Washington Post pulling the same trick: hiring Ben Domenech--a man with no policy or analytic or reportorial qualifications save a couple years as a right-wing speechwriter, an unarmed man in a battle of wits--to be its right-wing weblogger. It's funny:

Red America: Since the election of 1992, the extreme political left has fought a losing battle. Their views on the economy, marriage, abortion, guns, the death penalty, health care, welfare, taxes, and a dozen other major domestic policy issues have been exposed as unpopular, unmarketable and unquestioned losers at the ballot box.... [T]he mainstream media continues to treat red state Americans as pachyderms in the mist - an alien and off-kilter group of suburbanite churchgoers about which little is known, and whose natural habitat is a discomforting place for even the most hardened reporter from the New York Times.

During the discussions about the launch of this new blog, the good folks at washingtonpost.com spent far too much time in sessions with markers and whiteboard, trying to settle on a name for the column. The suggestions were all over the map - but one suggestion provided a reminder of the sociopolitical divide in this country. "What about 'Red Dawn'?" said one helpful editor.

"Well, only if you want to make people think it was a gun blog," I said, to puzzled faces.

"Red Dawn? You must know it - the greatest pro-gun movie ever? I mean, they actually show the jackbooted communist thugs prying the guns from cold dead hands."

Any red-blooded American conservative, even those who hold a dim view of Patrick Swayze's acting "talent," knows a Red Dawn reference. For all the talk of left wing cultural political correctness, the right has such things, too (DO shop at Wal-Mart, DON'T buy gas from Citgo). But in the progressive halls of the mainstream media, such things prompt little or no recognition. For the MSM, Dan Rather is just another TV anchor, France is just another country and Red Dawn is just another cheesy throwaway Sunday afternoon movie...

Hate to break it to you, Ben, but "Red Dawn" is just another cheesy throwaway Sunday afternoon movie--and one that's not nearly as visually interesting as "Dirty Dancing." "Red Dawn" is currently #2883 with a bullet among amazon DVDs, behind such wonders of the cinematic art as "Don Knotts 4 Movie Reluctant Hero Pack (The Ghost And Mr. Chicken / The Reluctant Astronaut / The Shakiest Gun In The West / The Love God?)," "Simple Life 3 - The Interns," and "Arrested Development--Season 2."

This is going to be fun.

Results from the Great Cinnamon Experiment

Results from the great cinnamon experiment:

Coffee, tea, anything having to with apples, and bread are greatly improved by adding lots and lots of cinnamon.

Otherwise, caveat emptor.