Mjx

Seasoned peanuts. The MSG is like crack.

The fabric is really pretty, but to me, covering anything always looks like you're trying to hide it; I think committing to whatever properties something has tends to work best. I didn't mention, but all the shelving in our flat was the Metro stuff, and even in the living room, where it functioned as bookshelves, it worked (this is down to personal taste, obviously). The white just sort of blended into the walls, and our things sort of floated, visually. It looked minimal, but not aggressively so.

Where did you get them? I hunted all over NYC for a set of these, and couldn't find them (although quite a few places had the supplementary set with 1.5 T, and so on).

It's a possibility (but in the case of the milk, I hadn't noticed a cardboard-y taste until I switched back from glass, it wasn't something I'd noticed previously, so I wasn't expecting that at all).

My gut reaction is NO. I have to suppress nearly-homicidal feelings if people chew with their mouths open, make repulsive sounds while eating, talk with their mouths full, or engage in post-prandial oral hygiene at table. Also, at my end, my TMJ makes a bizarre creaking noise when I chew, which is audible if it is quiet (not usually a problem in a place with communal tables, but still), and I prefer to not have to explain this/subject others to a sound that is not unlike someone briskly snapping small chicken bones. In actual fact, however, the few times I have shared a communal table have been perfectly pleasant, so I'd have to say, that I'd take this on a case-by-case basis.

It may not make sense, but I've definitely experienced what you describe. The threshold for perceiving these substances must be very, very low. I remember noticing a distinct cardboard flavour to milk packed in a carton, when I'd been drinking milk bottled in glass for a while; that made no sense, because the cardboard carton is sealed in plastic, so if any off-note was detected, it should've been that.

Have you already bought the shelving? I had Metro shelving in one place I, but it was the white enamelled version (we wanted the shelving to sort of merge into the white walls behind them), which doesn't look particularly industrial. We got some plywood with a white industrial finish, and cut it to fit the shelves very precisely. You could also try shelf boards in various colours, which would further soften the shelving units' industrial edge.

If this is an extra fridge (not your daily use unit), try letting it air out (unplugged, door open) for a week or so. Unless it's applied directly (difficult on slick, vertical surfaces), neither baking soda nor activated charcoal can do much.

One option for adding the scent of the beans to a recipe would be to wrap them in a thin piece of paper (e.g. a square of toilet paper), and put the little packet in a jar with the sugar to be used in the recipe, then letting that sit for a couple of days; only the aromatic compounds would infuse the sugar.

An idea although I'm not sure where to get one where I live. It might be something which I'll get around to...or not. Thanks. The folks at Indigo Instruments should be able to set you up (they appear to be located at the NY/Ontario border).

Get a graduated 25 ml pipette, and use that to measure the volumes into your spoons.

Denmark does not seem to be a particularly well-known country, especially outside of Europe (the best response I got, when I mentioned to someone at Newark airport that I'd just come from Denmark was 'Oh... yeah... the capital of... Amsterdam?'). Even those who know perfectly well where Denmark is, are unlikely to be familiar with any of its cities other than Copenhagen (although Odense, home of H.C. Andersen and an internationally familiar brand of marzipan is its 3rd largest city). Danish restaurants? 'Noma, of course! What do you mean, "other restaurants"?'. This is not so surprising, because Denmark is small, has about 5.5 million people, and by and large, Danish food is... edible. Anybody who thinks that Noma is even remotely representative of Danish cuisine needs to try shopping for food in Denmark. However, there are other restaurants in Denmark that are reputed to be innovative and excellent, including Malling & Schmidt, in Århus (the 'Å', alternatively written as 'Aa' is pronounced like the 'a' in 'draw'), Denmark's second largest city. I haven't eaten there yet, since my dining-out budget is in the takeaway sandwich bracket, but my boyfriend did (business dinner given by a deeply satisfied manager), and was duly pleased and impressed. We were discussing it the other day, and I wondered whether Malling & Schmidt is known outside of Denmark; I had my doubts. However, my boyfriend felt fairly certain that among those who take food and dining seriously, the name would be familiar, at least on their radar. What say you? Have you heard of Malling and Schmidt? And if so, where are you located? For the curious, they have a blog, where most of the updates to their menus are posted (also a video of them in action at Madrid Fusion 2010; that's Rene Redzepi of Noma, there at the beginning); English language option is in the black bar at the very top of the page.

I always bring a bag. In Denmark, this is almost inevitably a rucksack, with an extra shopping bag tucked inside, in case I come across something not on the shopping list, but that I don't want to pass up (in NYC, just the shopping bag, because the rucksack poses is a problem for security staff). I've never brought hard containers to fill, but often do reuse bulk bags when I'm anywhere that sells bulk (very rare, here). I also save a goodish number of tiny spice bags, which I refill with bulk herbs at Integral Yoga, when I'm back in NYC.

Depends on the adhesive: some respond best to heat/moisture, some to oil and organic solvents (not so many these days, in my experience), others are best carefully scraped off with a blade (you may want to test before applying a solvent like lighter fluid to plastic). I usually start by soaking the sorts of things you describe in hot water, if the label doesn't peel off, or peels off incompletely. Then I just rub at the label or spot of residue, which takes care of most cases.

The influence is massive: There is is virtually nowhere you can go, without encountering the US influence on food. It may not be a good influence, but it is ubiquitous. In terms of generating actual controversy, I'm thinking Sandra Lee, or Rachel Ray: It seems impossible to mention either one (to anyone who's heard of them) without people taking sides and shouting. I admit that I cannot recognize either, and don't care, but every time they're being discussed, you get significant partisan reactions. This isn't to say that either one has the least significance, in actual culinary terms.

What?! 'cog-nak' is wrong..? I think if the pronunciation of a foreign word is natural to someone, you can tell, and then it doesn't seem pretentious or affected. I speak four languages, with varying degrees of proficiency, and scraps of several others. Since I grew up speaking Italian, my Italian pronunciation is correct, but when I use Italian words while speaking English, the 'r's are anglicized, and the vowels become less crisp, so they don't 'stick out' from whatever I'm saying; it isn't a conscious effort. Similarly, my pronunciation of English words tends to be seriously violated when I'm speaking Italian or Danish. It has to do with the feel of a language, I think. Perhaps, with words like 'absinthe', instead of thinking of this in terms of correctness, it's most accurate to note that[, among English speakers,] pronunciation varies, and more than one pronunciation is regarded as acceptable (after all, similar discussions could be had over English words, such as 'route' and 'greasy').

Darwin, among others, hypothesized that the human appendix may have once played a role in the enhanced digestion of cellulose (e.g. that found in leaves), but there does not appear to be anything that supports this as being more than a possibility.

If you want a more precise idea of hardness, there's the Moh's Scale. There may be products/handling guidelines that are specially intended for softer and harder stone

Watermelon AND green apple Jolly Ranchers. And I have no idea whether Tang still exists, but I remember liking it better than orange juice.

Pizza is the first thing that comes to mind. I grew up with pizza that had a modest amount of sauce and cheese, and restrained amounts of traditional toppings. Pineapple, candied cherries, large chunks of vegetable, kebabs, marshmallows (mini or jet-puf) double layers of crust, excessive toppings of any sort... the list of things that I feel do not belong on a pizza is very, very long.

How did he pronounce it?! The English pronunciation isn't that different from the Italian one, it's just... sort of sloppier. I've e-mailed some people I know, who actually drink absinthe, since I'm curious as to their pronunciation; they may be more accurate in their pronunciation.

She might have done, even if it wasn't directly; I think women who were confident of their ability to cook (not to mention their daughters) would be more likely to consider training as chefs, going to culinary school. I'd argue that, ultimately, Julia Child was most significant as a teacher, and teachers often inspire their students to pursue what they're teaching, rather than their profession (of teacher).

That was my mistake: I meant 'latter'. But among those I know, the only ones who inevitably use the French pronunciation are, in fact French. A large part of this may be due to the fact that, among those I know, the word generally occurs in the sentence 'I've never tried absinthe.' Among connoisseurs, I would not be surprised to find the situation otherwise.

I go with the former, although I know the latter is correct; this holds true for pretty much everyone I know who doesn't actually speak French. The people I know who do speak French (= fluently enough to have a phone conversation in the language) tend to go with the latter. Sometimes. My impression is that to most people, the French pronunciation sounds pretentious from someone whose grasp of French is limited to a few words, but it seems natural from someone whom they've frequently heard holding conversations in French (this seems to extend to foreign language pronunciations ins general).

I'm trying to feel embarrassed about the fact that thinking about Shirley Temples (my grandfather used to get me these when I was very small, and he took me to the heavily masculine restaurant in the cellar of the the building where he had his office) has made me crave one. I'm thinking that if you used a decent ginger ale and Maraschino (instead of grenadine and a alleged 'maraschino' cherry), it might not even be that degraded of a drink..?