CRChemist

What a fun weekend and I'm glad that I finally had a chance to attend and meet everyone that MelissaH has gotten to know. Here's the group photo and a link to another 95 photos from the conference. Flickr Album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjZnYU7

I tried the Apple Jack Rabbit a couple of days ago. It was nice, but when I made it a second time at added a small dash of cinnamon, which I believe gave a nice touch to the flavors. It is a nice balance though.

Ray, As a long-time woodworker I agree that any loose clothing or fabric around moving parts can be a danger. The face-shield was my demand. This video was from the first run and the towel was drawn down away from the spindle. We've since trimmed the towel to width of the average squash and it lies very flat across the platform giving ample space between it and the moving parts. Again we continue to draw the ends down to keep it taunt over the platform, too. Cheers, Casey

I learned about Bibimbap (there are as many spellings as recipes, I think) when I lived in Evanston, IL. It's Korean comfort food and if you ever see it as Bibimbap dol Sot, order it! The difference is that it is prepared and served in a heavy clay bowl which has been heat. The result is that the rice in the bottom gets brown and really crispy. The egg on top is very common also and I've had the whole range from fried over well to freshly cracked (raw). In the latter case, the Korean-way to eat it is important. Imagine, this nicely arranged bowl of different items on rice is intended to be tossed by the diner into a jumbled mess. In the case of the raw egg, the heat from everything else cooks it and you get a nice sauce. We learned this technique from the Korean restaurant owner in Evanston. We were eating parts of our nicely arranged bowl and she walked over and said "You really need to toss it." We looked at her puzzled and she grabbed my spoon and chopsticks and tossed away. "There, that's how it's done" This brings up something we learned latter, the Koreans usually eat with their spoon and use their chopsticks to pick up items to serve themselves. Did you also get some of the spicy red bean paste to add to your bibimbap?

Nope, sorry. Doesn't work. Freezing is actually a common way to keep enzymes and other proteins good and active. My husband (actually some of his students) did an experiment where they froze pineapple in liquid nitrogen, and then brought it back up to room temperature. It still kept gelatin from setting because the enzyme was still able to chew up the protein. MelissaH ← Melissa's right, freezing doesn't work. The students used liquid nitrogen (–320 deg F) and the enzyme still works. They also tried various forms of heat, all of which worked depending on the amount of heat applied. One group soaked the pineapple in car battery acid, which turned the pineapple black and stopped the enzyme from working, but I wouldn't suggest eating it. Another group used bleach, which deactivated the enzyme and turn the pineapple completely white. I suppose that you could wash it very well with water afterwards and it might be safe to eat. On a related note, Heston Blumenthal suggests that adding chili peppers deactivates the enzymes in pineapple, but I'm skeptical. I currently have an undergraduate student performing experiments to check this out.