Blair P. Houghton

Um...no. With CERN's power, you could transmute the nuclei to make new elements from the existing ones (yes, we're talking alchemy). All you need to ionize atoms is a few hundred or a few thousand volts. About the potential of a typical static shock, though to do it continuously to a large volume of liquid takes an apparatus about the size of the ones in the pictures. The theory seems to be that the current creates different hydration structures more rapidly than the random collisions and adsorptive catalysis that might take place in the bottle or a cask. The question is, are they stable, and is the wine output differentiable from that input? And is it really better? Because if you can create good stuff you can also create bad stuff (compare the process of hydrolyzing oil by bubbling hydrogen gass through it; you get shelf-stable shortening, but you also get trans-fats, which are something that natural hydrolyzing methods - catalysis in plants and animals - do not produce). I don't doubt that the taste is altered. I doubt that it's really as good as they say it is. However, I'm game, and if I could put a few clams into the investment end of this gadget, I'd do it. I'll lose no sleep over making overpriced old wines redundant.

I presume you want one prepared for you at a restaurant...or did you simply miss the page where they show you where to find them? http://www.saugy.net/find_our_product.htm

Always read the sidebars. --Blair

Interesting usage of the word "ragtag"...

Obligatory link to link between kecap manis and ketchup: http://itotd.com/articles/385/

Astonishing. I never knew that Miller Lite is what became of Gablinger's...

90 lbs in 8 months...34 weeks...about 2.5 to 3 lbs per week? Mighty close to starvation mode. You probably clipped off a lot of muscle in the process. Which may or may not be a bad thing, depending on how you were proportioned as a fat person. For your nutritional knowledge needs, go to www.burnthefat.com and buy the e-book. Ignore the tacky hype. The book is an excellent tutorial on how food works. You can look at the back of a package and know exactly how that food will fit into your daily diet. An 85-gram (dry) package of ramen, has 56 grams of carbs, 8 grams of proten, and 15(!!) of fat. For me, that's too much fat for one meal, too little protein, but just about the right amount of carbs. Say you can find a brand that doesn't come with a half an ounce of fat in it. Then you add something with low fat and a lot of protein, like a couple of ounces of modern ham (about 6 grams fat total) or turkey (2g fat). You'll have a meal with 50 grams of carbs, almost 30 grams of protein, and 4-6 grams of fat, totalling 350-400 calories. With a nominal amount of exercise, you can eat that 5 times a day and still lose weight. (Eating 5 times a day is part of the idea; it levels-out your blood sugar, keeping your adipose tissue in a constant state of depletion).

If you're going to do bag tea, go the do-it-yourself route: Get a really good whole-leaf tea and a box of T-sac teabags. The trick to a T-sac is to put a coffee stirrer in it with the tea, to keep the top open so that it doesn't seal shut in the water and constrict the leaves. You can also use the stick to stir it around, to get out air bubbles and improve the water flow. And because you just throw the whole setup away, it's actually a lot less trouble than dealing with a pot or a tea-ball or one of those reusable cup-filter things. Filling them can be a bit of a three-handed trick, but it's learnable.

i like any good single-crop estate darjeeling where the astringency doesn't detract from the sweetness. makaibari, poobong, puttabong, goomtee, that sort of thing. www.specialteas.com is my usual source; they have a wide selection and they sell a very tasty decaf darjeeling (#881; essential if i want to sleep at all). i like getting the sample sets, comparing several estate teas i'd never try anywhere otherwise. as hobbies go, trying new tea is cheap. sorry if this sounds like spam. it's not. i may take a look at a few things from www.kyelateas.com soon; they've got a number of estate names i've never heard before. some day i expect i'll want to figure out chinese green teas as well. i've had pu-erh, and, well, it's an experience and probably an acquired taste. looks like dark coffee, tastes like a fresh stout (not a bitter one), smells like, um... a farm... but a very well-kept farm... and white tea is actually very interesting. subtle and sweet. almost like it's not there.

a quesadilla with offal chorizo a steak, egg, and cheese sub kamonegi kushiyaki (duck and scallion skewers, grilled) fried shrimp original recipe ben&jerry's dastardly mash ice cream diet coke with a splash of root beer roasted, salted almonds a fresh samuel smith's old brewery pale ale ...i'm sure this is a partial list...i'll think of a few more before i die...

As I've always said, the Chinese will eat things even the French won't eat. The only times I've ever had chicken feet, they were breaded and fried, then, unfortunately, served in a sauce that made them not so crispy as I'd have liked. I bet the skin is extra tasty when it's crispy. Until I find it crispy-fried for real, another char-siu bao for me.

amen. it's truly pathetic how bad espresso service is in even good restaurants ← What's really sad is that you can go into a place like Torrefazione Italia (or maybe not; their website, www.titalia.com, is gone and maybe their stores are too) and get acrid, poorly made espresso.

Yes, bizarre, but, the way I diet (it involves a spreadsheet and knowing the carb/protein/fat grams of every ingredient of every food I ingest), there might be times that I could justify the whipped cream by deleting the fat in the milk. And once you're used to the nonfat milk formerly known as "skim", you start to like it and find full-fat or even 2% to be too thick, not "fresh" enough. Still. White chocolate? No such thing. It's cocoa butter. Puh-leez.

Thanks, percy. I used to think I could be a bodybuilder, but, well, plain reason got in the way. You can work out all you want, but genetics determines how big you will get and how it will be shaped, and some of us just don't have the genes for competitive mass, proportion, and symmetry. Being relatively clueless about nutrition also holds us back. This time around I'm just losing weight, exercising and eating correctly in order to maintain muscle while the fat melts off (at a non-blistering but very healthy 0.92 lbs/week). The carb/protein/fat balance in this breakfast fits nicely into my daily ratios, and the vitamins reduce the number of variables I have to control through food selection. It's hearty, it's hot, and it's damned tasty, especially after my daily workout. It's a bit high in calories at 561, as I'm eating 5 meals aiming for 2100-2300 calories each day; but, tapering both calories and simple carbohydrates from breakfast_1 to second-dinner is a minor strategy for managing blood sugar levels to encourage fat catabolism. The major strategy is to eat well even while you're ingesting less than you're expending, so that you can keep it up by enjoying it instead of stressing over it. And, because of this breakfast (and the twelve other details that become the right way to go about it) I have hit my goals: single-digit bodyfat reading on the calipers, and sub-185 lb total bodymass by xmas. I've lost over 65 lbs since my peak in 2001, and 30 of it since April of this year. Hit a goal? Reward yourself! I gifted me a super-nifty new camera, and Now Are The Pictures:

IIRC, I once saw the formula, and it's 9 parts rum, 1 part tequila, and just a little lime. (That's where I started experimenting and learning that the exact character of the rum and tequila are critical; I can guarantee that Cabo Wabo Reposado and Pusser's aren't a match, so I'm still stuck finishing those straight...) Lime has a little sugar in it, and of course Rum is cane-sugar based and sweet by nature, but this is no pre-fab boat drink. The stuff in the bottle is clear, thin (save for its legs), and high in alcohol content. Pretty nearly straight booze. It seems to be designed to let people who really can't tolerate the intense flavoring of straight tequila do shots that taste like tequila. Although as we're all noticing it's probably better as a mixing agent. If anything is pushed, I'd bet it's the color. Too close to a corn-fed tequila to be natural. But at least it's not a minty blue... Your best bet if you want to try it is of course to troll your better-stocked bars and sample a shot. The distros were placing it in most of the bars I go to, although well after I'd "discovered" it at the supermarket. (Such an adventurer, huh?)

Picture this: Protein shake: 2 scoops XRated (stupid name; great taste) Fast-Mixing Whey powder, Triple-Chocolate flavor, mixed in 12 oz nonfat milk with a stick-blender (it's much less tasty when done in a shaker, for some reason). Oatmeal: 1/3 cup McCann's Irish Quick (steamed and rolled) Oats boiled 2 min. in 2/3 cup water (I don't get the steel-cut oats; they taste really metallic to me). Banana: a big, ripe one, sliced into the oatmeal with a spoon. Pills: 2 Centrum vitamins, 2 coral calcium, 1 chondroitin/MSM/glucosamine (which may or may not actually do anything) 561 calories, 68 grams carbs, 61 grams protein, 5 grams fat, delicious and nutritious.

Ciclon isn't real special straight, but I make these to go with popcorn and a movie: 1.5-2.5 oz Ciclon (depending on mood) ice diet 7-up wedge of lime Fills a 12-oz glass. I haven't thought of a good name for it. I was calling it a Crevasse for a while, but that doesn't really fit. Too alpine, not Bahamian enough. I tried once knocking off my own blend, but I couldn't get it close, even with several kinds of rum and tequila to choose from. Someone at Bacardi knows something we don't.

Just to note: the British Navy didn't serve Rum straight (at least, not to lower-grade seamen; petty officers could get it straight, and officers weren't given an official issue, though certainly they could probably purchase or cadge some). Regulation "Grog" was one part rum with 4, 3, 2, or 1 parts water (depending on the time period), totalling from 1.25 quarts per day (in 1740) to 6 oz per day (where it was when the RN quit the practice in 1970). Either colonial-era Rum was weaker stuff, or colonial-era sailors were tougher stuff, or the RN was the party school of the 1700's. Try mixing down your Pusser's with some good water and see if it's better. I did, and, well, nominally...