dcarch

First, all electric heaters are 100% efficient, does not matter the design and how you use that electricity. One watt = 3.41214 BTUs. You can only get more BTU from watts by using a heatpump (reverse air conditioner)cycle. That's it. You can get better use of those limited BTUs by turning them into infrared radiation and direct the infrared at you. You will be using the heat on you and not on other things in the room and not heating up the air. Here is a nice use of electricity: Get a 1000 watt matal halide light fixture, you will have 1000 watts of heat, a room as bright as the sun is shining, and you can grow lots of herbs and tomatoes inside. Same BTUs. Same heat, same $. dcarch

The nicest thing about taking good photos for a non-professional is CFL bulbs. You don't need $1,000 1,000 watt studio lights that only last a few hours and that would also BBQ your food while you are taking pictures. BTW, slave flashes (very cheap)are actually wireless, a very good suggestion. Tripod tip: Get one that will allow you to reverse the center post (camera mount) up side down, so that you can take top views of your dish. Not all tripods can do that. This may also make it nice to have a camera with an articulated view screen. dcarch

I don't like the additional spit on my eggs. No thanks. dcarch

Short answer, no. A very small aperture (old pin hole camera) can eliminate some spherical distortion. dcarch

The shakes! Press the camera tight against you forehead, Set the camera on self-timer. Takes longer (3 seconds on mine) almost completely eliminate shaking. dcarch

There are no rules. A SLR camera allows you to play with different lenses. with computer designed aspheric lenses and better glasses of index of refraction, they are doing better to minimize distrotions. For food photos, a perspective correcting lenses can be useful, but they don't make that kind of lenses much anymore. dcarch

Short focal length (wideangle) lens has what's known as Spherical aberation, or, wine barrel effect. You never use wide angle lens for potraits. You end up with pictures of gigantic noses. Long focal length lenses will require a tripod, or spend $10,000 for a very fast lens. dcarch

Great photos Prawncracker (the food ain't bad either LOL). When selecting a camera, besides everything else, you need to consider focal length of the lens system. Professionals use long focal length to get that natural look. You can't get better perspective using wideangles. For instance, one is more natural looking: dcarch

Water. dcarch

No, I also use bacon bits. They taste the same, but give different texture, mouth feel and presentation on food. dcarch

I make bacon powder using coffee grinder. dcarch

"---dcarch, what are the things on the plate with the mussels? Sensational meal.------" Thanks rarerollingobject. It is a very healthy vegetable which you may be unfamiliar with, Brassica Rapa Chinensis (otherwise known as Bok Choi, LOL!) After I sautéed the beets, I stir fried the bok choi in some of the beet juice, and that’s the way they came out. dcarch

My kitchen towel strategy: 25 white 12’ X 12 “ cotton shop towels from HD. (cheap) 25 red 12’ X 12 “ cotton shop towels from HD. (cheap) Paper towels, whichever is on sale. (cheap) Paper towels are for really greasy and filthy wipes. After use, they go into the compost pile for the garden. They become next season’s tomatoes. White cotton towel for clean use (salads). Red cotton towels for dirty use (pork, chicken). After a few uses, they are quick rinsed in the sink and a few minutes in the microwave to be sanitized and dried. After many uses, to go in the laundry. My cotton towels have lasted many years. They don’t look bad in the kitchen. It is so good to have a pile of towels to use anytime you need a clean one. dcarch

I don’t know if I am the only one who has this experience. I am lucky that body weight is not an issue all my life. I enjoy eating and never exercise. I don’t eat breakfast, just the lack of time in the mornings. One day last week, no breakfast, skipped lunch because meetings, and 8:00 in the evening, I got to the Grand Central train station to take the train home. I was famished. Those of you in NYC know in Grand Central terminal it is food everywhere. I don’t know how many bakeries there are, a huge food court with international foods, restaurants, The Oyster Bar, the high end food store, cheese shops, wine shops, etc., etc. I missed the train and the next train was more than half an hour away. So I walked around the station and browsed all the food places. Obviously, I was very much drawn to all the amazing array of plentiful-ness of gorgeous, mouthwatering displays, but interestingly I had no compulsion to buy. I just walked around, perused, and smelled. Yes, by that time, the hunger in me was unbearable. I got home just before 10:00 and made a big dinner. The fact that I had no compulsion to buy, despite intense hunger in front of all the foods was not because of good self-control, there was nothing to control. The desire to buy was not there. I believe over eating can cause obesity, but not necessarily, and I am not sure the lack of self-control is the main reason why obese people is driven to eat. They don’t deserve to be ridiculed. IMHO. dcarch

Exactly. Very different feel of the dough if you watch the Chinese demonstrations of pulling noodles. Their dough will not break even the noodles are pulled Angel-Hair thin. dcarch

"----As mentioned before, I definitely don't claim to be able to hand-pull noodles, but I don't think it's out of the reach of someone who has the patience / determination. ---" I am not talking about the skills involved, which I can understand the need to practice. I am talking about the dough recipe. The many dough recipes I have tried, they were not strechy enough to make one single long noodle. They always break. I see the making of pulled noodles mostly just for fun and showmanship, not about taste, much like making pizza, it's a lot of fun if you can throw/spin a good size pie. Otherwise I can use my two pasta makers. dcarch

There are many videos and recipes out there. I have not seen recipes that really worked, including in the first video. Notice that he cannot pull the noodles as fine as in the typical Chinese pulled noodles with his recipe. I don't remember anyone here has done it. I don't remember having seen anyone done it successfully in other food forums. I have tried many different ways, I have yet to be able to pull very thin noodles. dcarch

The biggest issue with sous vide a 12 lb rib roast is having a tank that is big enough. I used a beer cooler. In the bag, nothing special, rosemary, salt, pepper, a little Liquid Smoke, soy sauce, sugar, bacon fat, garlic paste. I had the temperature set at 130F. I don't remember how long, 8 hours? After that, I put the whole thing in the freezer for 15 minutes, then I had my pet fire breathing dragon (my torch ) to give it the crust. dcarch

I am not an expert on body weight issues. I have always been curious on the following: 1. If you have a quart of ice cream, which way your body will gain more if you eat the ice cream all at once or if you eat the ice cream four separate times, in four days? 2. If you have one pound of beef, which way will your body absorb more, if you chew the beef very thoroughly, or if you swallow the beef in very large chunks? I can’t seem to find scientific information on the above. Thanks. dcarch

"dcarch, how did you get that beautiful skin on the duck? Last year I made Szechuanese duck three times at least, deep fried, taste was wonderful but I could never achieve a perfect coloration on the skin. " Franci, take the duck to a nice sunny beach to get a nice tan. OK, if I tell you the secret, promise not to tell anyone here? There are two kinds of soy sauces in general, light and dark. Two table spoons of dark soy sauce in the marinate will do the job. The rest is following Peking duck roasting method to get the skin cracklin crispy. Including this step, Me blowing up a duck: Have fun. dcarch

A high RPM motor generates a huge amount of heat. In general, all universal and PM motors have internal turbines to evacuate the heat quickly. That create a problem for a hand blender design. To avoid electric shock, the hand blender needs to be completely sealed. There are no air vents to vent the heat. To avoid overheating, they just slow down the RPM. Well, you are not supposed to run the thing for more than 5 minutes (doing so would void the warranty) and it does get very hot quite quickly. However, I'm not an electrical or mechanical engineer, so it is possible that the 19000 RPM is just a theoretical maximum that is not reached in practice. It is very easy for motors (not induction motors) to get to above 20,000 RPM, it is difficult for the motor to maintain 20,000 RPM under load unless it has the rated power. dcarch

You guys are funny. :-) I see art in all cookings posted here by everyone. Different styles, but art just the same. You have keith haring, Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, Grandma Moses, Henri Matisse --------. If you think my pictures blew you away, You ain't seen nothin yet!-------------------------------------------------- Christmas was too much. I am glad the next one is 360 days away. Cooking for a party is a big labor deal. It doesn't matter how efficient you are. It’s a good thing that two of the main dishes 12-lb rib roast and a duck both required no attention because of the sous vide method, and many of the other dishes were prepared ahead of time. Still, there was no time to take pictures. I apologize for the lousy cell phone shots. Appetizers were not shown, desserts were not shown. While the Rib Roast and the Crispy Roasted duck were spectacular, but guess what, they were not the stars of the show. I decided to make latkes, when you think latkes you think potatoes. My latkes were Mushroom and wild Rice Latkes. There are no rules that say Latkes have to be potatoes. Well, that turned out to be the star of the dinner. Everyone wanted more. I had to make some more in the middle of the dinner and was asked to make even more for the guests to take some home. (Secret, fat from the duck) Keep Cooking! Happy New Year! dcarch Squash Soup Beet Salad Fresh (swimming) Tilapia Chestnut Stuffing Okinawa Sweet Potatoes Sous Vide Mussels Roasted Crispy Duck Wild Rice Mushroom Latkes Sous vide Rib Roast

When two dissimilar metals are in an electrolytic (acidic or alkaline) solution, galvanic (corrosion) action can occur. You never know when you might have two dissimilar metal in the dishwasher. dcarch

Glass is not a solid, it is a liquid. As a matter of fact, if you store glasses up side down. 500 years later, the rim of the glasses will be thicker. dcarch. BTW I keep mine upside down because that minimizes breakage. The top is always heavier.

I wonder if I can hunt for a deer here in Central Park, Manhattan, NYC. LOL. That looks like many yummy meals. Thanks for sharing. dcarch