jsolomon

The FDA has problems with people who act with blatant disregards to bacterial safeguards because they can "filter in quality", or in this case irradiate in quality. For good reason, too. Clean, well-maintained shops don't drop 10W40 oil into your food, but no amount of irradiation will remove it. Unfortunately, a devil-may-care attitude that fosters lack of proper bacterial hygiene fosters a lack of chemical hygiene, too. bkinsey, I know, but having a chemistry education gives me a unique privilege to play fast and loose with facts.

slbunge, you're right, via irradiation, all you're doing is killing what is already living on the food. That does nothing to stop other things from colonizing again. But, if we rendered the food antiseptic as well as "sterilized" it wouldn't be nutritious or appetizing to people, either. You would have cooked it radiatively to char, essentially.

The irradiation process causes no different chemical changes than leaving it under strong UV light for a period of time. There is painfully little difference than eating something that's been under a tanning lamp for a long time. You're just using more energetic photons. Edit to add: keep in mind there is another process of irradiation using electrons instead of photons which handily removes the creation of radioactive waste. It's very similar to the process by which X-rays are generated. No cesium, no persistent waste, and no weird storage requirements (aside from the high voltage perspective).

As long as you're talking about equilibrium thermodynamics (read: everything has come up to temperature properly) mass is mass. You could smash your pizza stone into sand and it would still provide the same thermal performance. For that matter, you could put a bunch of sand between two aluminum pizza pans, weld them together, and still have a good pizza pan, thermal-mass-wise.

Have you checked here? The US Center for Disease Control And of course, everyone's favorite... Google Search string

Hear, hear! Add Lincoln, Nebraska to that list. I don't even eat bagels here. Sawdust and hardtack.

I have much the same issue at home. My family makes awful coffee. Truly, monumentally bad coffee. But, they don't mind it. I am the only one in my family who takes his coffee black. So, I bring my own filters, cone, coffee, grinder, etc. I use the teapot and make my own one cup at a time. The kicker is, one of my aunts reuses my grounds! Gah! But, they're family

You could always make some anatomically appropriate gingerbread men and emasculate one with the warning that he was the next SOB that took your knife w/out permission.

If she's a beer drinker, to help her let her hair down, she could always see if there is a kennel of the Hash House Harriers close to assist her in loosening up

Coming from a not-well-known-for-cooking state in the US, I've had one amuse bouche in my lifetime. It wasn't bad, but it was in a rather pretentious establishment. I have to agree with one concept, but with much less bile. If your server can't describe it adequately, it definitely detracts from the experience. But, free as in beer stuff? Bring it on. The worst I'll say is, "no, thanks".

Ouch. That's hard to come back from. I don't understand your wife's concept of what "will make me fat". But you could try things like stir frys which are relatively easy and high flavor with no visible fat. Brining the boneless skinless chicken breasts and roasting them as Barbara Kafka recommends at 500F for 20-25 minutes will also assist in making them edible. Granted, my girlfriend has pulled the "you're going to make me fat" concept several times on me, and my only response is: "Great! Fat is happy!" and I continue to cook what I want to cook, and she can eat however much or little she wants. Unfortunately, this is a little more difficult when you've been in a relationship with someone for a while and there are pre-made comforts and habits. When you made this resolution, what was your wife's response? I'm not suggesting tossing it back in her face, but you can always use the "crawl, walk, run" type of argument that you have to do some of these "higher fat" but "less advanced" types of cooking to be able to get the experience to cook things more like what she wants...

You could sell your wife's car and buy her a bicycle, "because you're worried about how much exercise she's getting" Her increased caloric needs might make her CRAVE those short-ribs

You could also take a page out of the M*A*S*H book and ferment it, then make vodka/gin. *make sure it's legal in your locale*

Divide into 1 cup portions and use those portions in your bread dough. The yeast goes nuts over the potato starch.

I have to concur. Dude's received warning letters from the FDA. Edit to add: more stuff from quackwatch.org

<insert animal> fries... lamb fries, turkey fries, bull fries... edit to add: I thought sweet breads were pancreas, not testicle

Dude, swing by my house. We'll have some grilled, untrimmed meat things with appropriate sides, a couple of beers, and we can kvetch about the insanity of the "Nutrition Gestapo" in America.

Serrated knife, 4-6 inch chef's or paring knife, steel, cork screw, pepper mill, good skillet, good saucepan. Those are the things I find myself and my friends most often lacking. Perhaps a cutting mat, too.

Outside, in the sun, with beer.

If I remember correctly, the amount of turkey that was purported to give that much tryptophan was on the order of 10 ounces which should be enough of a bolus to cause post-prandial-depression (sleepiness after eating) in nearly anyone. That's a lotta fowl to satiate you.

What is probably just as likely as anything to have caused the headaches I have two theories on: One is simple hydration. I'm not sure what the time frame we're looking at, but dehydration can cause headaches, and so can overhydration. The movement of water and salt with the digestion of these foods which are not normally in the people's diet can cause this. The other is if these people are used to having some form of caffeine over their lunch and aren't with the chinese, then they might get a withdrawal headache.

My brother gets a little pissed off when I call my nieces the "snack-sized adults" I may have to start calling the four-year-old a jigger before too long.

It doesn't quite fit the Slow Food concept, but there is a sheep dairy local to where I grew up that makes soap by hand from their excess sheep's milk... Shepherds Dairy

Grasshopper, that road leads to mass-made soup and square meals from boxes... it is the dark side. Easy, inviting, seems it. Resist it, you must. edit: for humor

If I even attempt to touch that question, I'll never be allowed back on eGullet! Congratulations, and Felicitations to Bebe Esme, and both of the parents! I won't go into the great numbers of advice tidbits that you've undoubtedly received over the past 8 months or so, but I will give you two missives: have fun, and raise a little monster that loves food! Congratulations, mom is positively glowing with pride. You better be too, bub.