dcarch

Sharp side up. If there is any moisture on the blade, by having the sharp edge up, there will be more room for the moisture to evaporate. Important especially for carbon knives. "---so weight of knife does not force sharp side into wood.--" ??? So you don't damage the wood or the knife? dcarch

"Cherokee Red" There are also Cherokee black, Cherokee green, and Cherokee purple. What do the Cherokees have to do with those tomatoes? Wonderful blog so far. Thank you! dcarch

Call me crazy. Split pea ice cream. You can find red bean ice cream recipes, just substitute red bean with split peas. It's a popular flavor, red bean ice cream in some parts of thew world. I get them in Asian stores. dcarch

Yesterday I boiled my steak (dry aged T bone) at 212F for 2 hours. It was not bad, a little dry, but very tasty. ---------------------------- I took the steak out from the refrigerator and put it in the bag, set the SV temperature at 129F. 2 hours later, I smelled some wonderful aroma and went to check the SV cooker. I realized that when adding hot water to the tub, I got a phone call and forgot to put the temperature sensor in the water. So the heater boiled the water because the sensor was telling the heater that the water temperature was at room temperature.. I was not about to throw the steak out. I guess I was a bad cook. dcarch

I don't feel that is expensive. They use free ranged asparagus. You know it takes a lot of labor to catch a free ranged asparagus? dcarch

A little off topic, but very interesting fact with lotus. Lotus leaf is better than Teflon in non-stick qualities. In science, it is called "Lotus effect" They now sell paint, using nano technology, to impart lotus effect to make the paint dirt and water repellent. I think they may be trying to make cookware with lotus effect. dcarch

Just tie a big balloon over the bottle, shake the bottle and check the volume of the balloon. dcarch

With people drinking 2%, fat-free. skimmed milk, low fat cheeses --- nowadays, I would think that butter would be plentiful and would be free. dcarch

Bubbles (fizz) in carbonated water are governed by the following: 1. temperature - the higher the temperature, the faster the CO2 escapes. 2. pressure - the higher the pressure the slower the CO2 escapes. 3. surface area - the larger the surface area, the faster the CO2 escapes. 4. agitation - the desolved CO2 in a solution is not stable, agitation will encourage CO2 to escape. 5. time - the desolved CO2 in a solution is not stable, CO2 is constantly escaping, except in a pressurized enclosed container. This is how I can have good enough fizzy tonic water, or other carbonated drinks all the time: All carbonated waters are over carbonated in the beginning, and half way through a large bottle, the remaining half will get kind of flat. So when a bottle is almost flat, I will open a new bottle and mix the flat tonic with some new tonic. And when the new bottle is half empty and flat, it's time to open another new bottle for mixing dcarch

That would be stealing. Not acceptable, it is a crime. I have seen people bent off part of asparagus so they get less of the tough part of stems. dcarch

Sounds like a major disaster for Singapore. Tourism is important to Singapore, but not that important for their economy as a whole. And tourism is not dying: General trends Singapore tourism Year Tourism Arrivals Percentage change from previous period 1965 99,000 1970 579,000 488.1% 1975 1,324,000 128.6% 1980 2,562,000 92.% 1985 3,031,000 18.3% 1990 5,323,000 75.6% 1995 7,137,000 34.1% 2000 7,691,399 7.76% 2005 8,943,029 16.27% 2010 11,638,663 30.14% Recent years Year Tourism Arrivals Percentage change from previous year 1997 7,197,871 −1.30 1998 6,242,152 −13.28% 1999 6,958,201 11.47% 2000 7,691,399 10.54% 2001 7,522,163 −2.20% 2002 7,567,110 0.60% 2003 6,127,291 −19.04% 2004 8,328,720 35.92% 2005 8,943,029 7.4% 2006 9,751,141 9.0% 2007 10,284,545 5.5% 2008 10,116,054 −1.6% 2009 9,345,054 −4.3% 2010 11,641,700 20.2% 2011 13,171,303 13.1% 2012 14,496,091 10.1% 2013 15,567,923 7.4% Singapore can be very boring, after you have been there 20 times. dcarch

Again, it is very expensive real estate costs for a good retail locations. There is a need to pack people as close as possible. Assuming you are in an open space, which is by definition 100% acoustic absorptive (no reflected sound what so ever), if you pack people close together, they will still try to out shout each other. The three most effective noise control methods, none practical: It has very little to do with design. 1. Tell people to shut up. 2. Acoustic barrier - A wall between noise sources. 3. Distance between noise sources. (inverse square law). Noise control may be old tech, but the science of acoustics, an adiabatic thermodynamic process, is difficult to be understood. dcarch

That article is full of errors, which is to be expected. Generally acoustic is a very difficult science, a typical writer will not be able to understand what are truths and what are myths. For instance: As far as I know, it is impossible to have practical "sound-absorbent paint". There are effective noise canceling ear phones using electronics, and noise reducing equipment for rooms for repetitive (machine) noise control, but I am not sure there are ways to control random noise in a room packed with noisy customers. dcarch

For a blender, I am not sure metal to metal transmission is necessarily good. I have not heard rubber connections breaking very often for blenders, for mixers yes. Mixers are very high torque machines. Metal to metal can be much noisier. A good mixer is the combination of these three factors: 1. Speed of RPM - A car engine can have 500 HPs, but it will make a lousy blender because it red lines at 7000 RPM, Some blenders can go above 30,000 RPM. Also, at the same RPM, the larger the diameter of the blades, the higher the blade speed (relative to the food being blended). 2. Power - RPM is meaningless without power. A Dremel rotary tool can have 37,000 RPM, but it will make a lousy blender because it is very low powered. 3. Hydraulics - The combination of geometry designs of the blades and the jar determines the effectiveness of blending results. If the blades rotate at the same RPM as the food, there will be 0 blending regardless of HP and RPM. Round jars are not very good. dcarch

"------ I think it can be proven that it stores more heat based on how long it takes it to cool down.---" Not correct. If you withdraw money from you bank account slower, that will not mean you have more money in the bank. dcarch

Go to Zabar's and make your own incredible sandwiches. Then walk a few seconds to Central Park and take all the time you want to enjoy your food and company. Then another few minutes of walk to all the museums. dcarch

It's a fungus, just spread the spores around. dcarch

Absolutely no! Don't try it yourself. Feed it to your husband first. dcarch

I have read sometime ago that Singapore is into urban roof top farming to supply local restaurants. I don't remember details. http://www.inuag.org/singapore%E2%80%99s-first-rooftop-farm-aims-supply-produce-food-beverage-outlets http://www.greenroofs.com/projects/pview.php?id=565 http://m.todayonline.com/worldcup/singapore/spores-1st-rooftop-farm-aims-supply-produce-fb-outlets dcarch

In any case, it would be interesting to see if there is a market for a smoker which only does briskets. dcarch

Not true. You can't compete in a MBN (Memphis BBQ Network) event. dcarch

Take a tour of New World Mall, (Main Street/Roosevelt Ave) and go to the restaurant on the top floor. After, take a quick tour of the food court in the basement. dcarch

They can't compete. This smoker is only designed and tested for one meat, briskets. No chickens, no ribs, no fish, no sausages, no bacon, no pulled pork, no turkeys, no steaks no ---------- dcarch

Thank you all for your kind words and "Like"s. Yes, Himalayan salt block. Yes, the salt block actually lights up with built-in illumination, no wires. I have always thought that the most important consideration about sashimi is the freshness of the fish. There is certain translucency of the meat when the fish is really of good quality. I decided the only way to show case the color, the texture and the freshness of the fish is to shine a light through it. Very dramatic in a dimmed room. The salt block was cooled in the refrigerator. It can keep the fish at a nice temperature for a few hours. Of course it will give a nice salty taste to the fish. dcarch

My smoker can cold smoke ( on a hottest summer day) , hot smoke, with an ultrasonic humidifier. It is PID controlled and can operate over 24 hours unattended. dcarch