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Numi is great.

as a side note it is possible to freeze water without forming crystals at all, this is often done by submerging very small samples into liquid ethane (freezes things substantially fast than liquid nitrogen). This vitrifies the sample, effectively maintaining the disordered liquid state but as a solid.

Related to bitter tasting things I thought I would mention Phenylthiocarbamide. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylthiocarbamide interesting to see the genetics effecting how different people taste things entirely differently. edit: I keep thinking of more bitter things. One bitter ingredient I love in a dish is the white pith in lime peel. I add small pieces of diced limes with the skin to mieng kham. The sour of the lime with the bitter of the pith are great together - along with the many other salty and sweet flavors in the dish.

Quinine the primary ingredient in tonic water (notable for its use in treating malaria) is quite bitter. The bitter taste led to the invention of the gin and tonic, using the gin to cover up the taste of the quinine in the tonic water (the quinine concentration was once much higher - modern stuff would have little therapeutic properties). You might also be able to source some Cinchona tree bark from which quinine is isolated. As the previous poster mentioned bitter melon is extremely bitter, personally I can't stand it but maybe I don't prepare it well, even with a good amount of fatty pork. edit: cocoa/chocolate is also quite bitter when unsweeted wikipedia has a link to various bitter compounds here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bitter_compounds

I think charcoal makes a huge difference for hamburgers. For things like a dry-rubbed pork loin or marinated lamb chops the gas grill does a great job.

I find I just wash the sponge with hot water and it is okay. I also wanted to add that salmonella is a bacteria and not a virus.

you could try getting some copper sheet from something like McMaster Carr www.mcmaster.com and place some dry ice or liquid nitrogen in a sheet pan with a copper sheet placed over the top. -Lyle edit: you might want to get a styrofoam container to place the sheet pan in to insulate it

no photo sorry, it was a while ago, but there is a decent sweet/spicy thai roasted chili paste in a small jar. Made by thai kitchen. I've stir fried the beans up with some of that and it was really good. Also quick and easy to make. -Lyle