September 2004 – Brush Valley Brewer

bjork.com : medúlla special : interview

I am awakened before noon by the telephone. On the other end is a man asking me to go to Greenland that evening and observe a herd of rare bison in the midnight sun. I agree to this and am on my way back to bed when the phone rings again. “Hello, my name is Björk,” says a friendly if somewhat shy sounding voice on the other end. It was going to be one of those days. She asks me to meet her in a coffeeshop for an interview, as she has an hour off while her new album downloads for the mastering process to continue. As editor I have one basic rule. No interviews in coffee shops. It seems every Icelandic interview starts with a meeting in a coffeeshop, the journalist dutyfully reporting what both order before moving on to the Q and A. The subject then answers the questions he wishes the reporter has asked, and the reporter writes down the answers he wishes the subject had given.

But this is Björk. Of course I agree. I hastily try to buy batteries for my dictaphone and run down there. I’m shown into a backroom. There sits Björk, with a bowl of salad in front of her. She orders cappuchino. So do I. We move on to the Q and the A…

Is there need for a new musical revolution, then?

“In a way there has been, with bands like Múm and Sigurrós. They’ve turned their backs on the rat race, and they’ve also turned their backs on who has the biggest stack of Marshall amps race. It’s not about who can shout the loudest, but its still aggressive music. Passive-aggressive, if you will. It’s their way to give everything the finger.”

Björk gives me the finger to express her point…

So Björk is not superstitious then?

“You know, its ironic that just at the point the lawyers and the businessmen had calculated how to control music, the internet comes along and fucks everything up.” Björk gives the finger again, this time waving it into the air. “God bless the internet,” she adds.

And what about you, then?

“I’ll still be there, waving a pirate flag.”

When I went to interview Björk, this was precisely what I hoped to hear her say.

And so she did.

One-Pot Cooking

One-pot cooking used to be the exclusive domain of bachelors, campers and college students just moved away from home. Meals were quick, simple and often right out of the box. The concept was great — just one pot to wash, but the meals could be quite uninspired.

Here are a few variations on the “one-pot” theme, which broaden the possibilities for creative cuisine, while maintaining the simplicity and energy savings of one-pot cooking.

Economics of running a restaurant

Perhaps you make a smashing risotto or a crème brûlée to die for.

Now you’re fantasizing about opening your own charming bistro, where you’ll whip up delicious meals, reap praise from grateful patrons and watch the money roll in just by throwing a dinner party every night.

But if you consider the grim realities of running a restaurant, you may run screaming for the exit. Food prices are volatile. Profit margins are razor thin. Restaurants are among the most labor-intensive of businesses.

A quarter of all new restaurants in the United States flop in the first year, according to a study by Cornell University and Michigan State. That rises to 50 percent after three years, and 70 percent after 10 years…

Of every dollar a full-service restaurant brings in, it spends roughly a third on food and alcohol; another third on salaries, wages and benefits; up to 10 cents on rent; and up to 20 cents on other costs such as marketing, according to studies by restaurant associations. That leaves about 4 cents of pretax profit.

Food Log, Laboratory Notes for BIO 1003

Every human being requires food from the environment. In this exercise you will collect data on your own food consumption, estimate its nutritional content, and evaluate its nutritional adequacy.

Collecting Data: Keep a record of all food and drink (other than water) consumed by you during 7 consecutive days. Try to estimate quantity of each food consumed. Obtain data from food labels where available, i.e., such information as grams of total fat and protein, grams of saturated fat, etc.
Estimating Nutritional Content: Look up the nutritional content of the foods you consumed during the 7 day period in the tables provided. Based upon your estimate of the serving size you consumed, calculate: (1) grams of protein, (2) grams of carbohydrate, (3) grams of total fat, (4) grams of saturated fat, (5) milligrams of cholesterol, (6) milligrams of sodium, and (7) milligrams of calcium in that serving. Then calculate your average daily estimated intake in each of these seven categories.

For each item of food, calculate the number of Calories (kilocalories) derived from protein, carbohydrate, total fat and saturated fat. (Note that proteins and carbohydrates provide 4 Calories per gram, but fats provide 9 Calories per gram.). Also calculate the total number of Calories (add the Calories from protein, carbohydrate and total fat), and then calculate the percent of total Calories derived from protein, carbohydrate, total fat and saturated fat.
Evaluating Nutritional Adequacy: Evaluate your diet in light of the following dietary recommendations based on guidelines established by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.
1. Keep your total fat intake at or below 30 percent of your total calories, and limit your intake of saturated fats — which contribute to high blood cholesterol levels — to no more than 10 percent of your total calories.
2. Limit your intake of dietary cholesterol to no more than 300 milligrams per day.
3. Get at least 55 percent of your total daily calories from carbohydrates, preferably complex carbohydrates — the starches in grains, legumes, vegetables and some fruits. These foods provide fiber, vitamins and minerals.
4. Protein should make up no more than 12 to 15 percent of your daily calories — and the protein should come from low fat sources.
5. Included 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetable per day.
6. Balance the calories you consume with the calories you expend in physical activity, to maintain a desirable body weight.
7. Avoid too much sugar; it contributes to tooth decay, and many foods high in sugar are also high in fat.
8. Limit your intake of sodium to no more than 2400 milligrams per day, the equivalent of about a teaspoon of salt.
9. Maintain an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals (especially iron and calcium). Most adults should try to consume 800-1000 mg of calcium per day.
10. If you drink, do so in moderation. (Moderate drinking is generally defined as no more than one or two alcoholic drinks per day.)

How to be a good (weight) loser — Part 2: using a food log

Awareness of Your Patterns Helps You Know What to Change

Making lasting changes in your weight calls for a change in your eating behaviors. But before you can change your behavior, it is important to become aware of what you eat, when you eat and why you are eating. A food log, also called a food diary, can help you with this.

Many times we are not even aware of how much we actually eat or the circumstances under which we eat. Some people may also underestimate how much they have eaten at a meal. Add to that the fact that we all have varying definitions of what we consider to be a portion. Was that “one portion” of mashed potatoes actually one cup or two? A food log also helps you nail down these areas of ambiguity with regard to portion size.

While a food log is not a form of “treatment” per se, it is a very useful tool for becoming aware of your eating habits, and is a part of current psychological approaches to weight loss. (For more information on how psychology can help you lose weight, please see link below.)

What is in a Food Log?

A food log consists of the dates, times and places foods are eaten. It reads like a list, and includes the food that was eaten, the amount that was consumed, the time of day it was eaten, how long it took you to eat something, and the social and emotional circumstances under which the eating took place. (Please see link at end of article for a printer ready version of a food log.)

Designing an Individualize Food Plan

The first realization you must face is that there is no 30-minute sit-com solution. In the beginning you’ll feel like all you’re thinking about is food and what you’re eating and when you’re going to eat it. This is an annoying, but necessary evil. After a short time, it will become a no-brainer and a very natural part of your life. You will be able to “eyeball” different foods and portions without counting and measuring. Take it one meal at a time, one day at a time. Don’t worry if it doesn’t all work out perfectly immediately, and don’t concern yourself if you slip up and eat something that’s not on your “list.”

How to Achieve Your Best Body!

Combining regular exercise with a healthy and balanced diet is a proven formula that can not fail. This requires planning, discipline, and determination. If you want to be in the best shape possible AND as healthy and fit as possible — you have to make up your mind that you’re going to do it. In other words, you have to have an intense desire to accomplish your goals.

Here is a partial checklist of some of the most important steps.

Are you consistently weight lifting (intensely) 3 times per week, for about an hour?
Are you consistently doing 20-30 min. of high-energy aerobic exercise, 2-3 times per week on the days that you have off from weight lifting?
Are you giving 100% at every workout?
Are you keeping an exercise log?
Are you eating a balanced and healthy diet?
Are you keeping a log of your daily food intake?
Are you keeping your daily overall caloric intake at or slightly below the desired level?

If you’re not taking ALL of these steps then you will not achieve your Best Body.

Track Your Exercise and Eating Habits

To condition your heart and lungs, you should bring your heart rate to a certain point called the “target heart rate zone.” When you stop exercising, quickly take your pulse to find out your heartbeats per minute. Figure your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Your target heart rate is 50-75% of your maximum heart rate.

How Much Fat Should I Eat?

The average American gets approximately 45 percent of his/her calories just from fat. For most of us, this is too high!

If you are trying to lower the fat in your diet, exactly how many calories and how much fat should you eat? Find out here right now!

Conquering the Exercise Excuses

Most of us make excuses at one time or another for our behavior, and the reasons vary widely. In our busy and often stressful lives, we convince ourselves that there simply isn’t time to be physically active. If we examine our days more carefully, however, they are most likely filled with all sorts of “unplanned time robbers.” Phone calls, requests for assistance, deadlines, etc. are common time robbers. Before long, the needs of others begin to far outweigh our own needs — our need to be physically active.

At times, small disruptions can derail our commitment to be more active. For example, tending to sick children or working late at the office can ruin a well-planned day. Unfortunately, many people view exercise as one of the first time-consuming activities to be abandoned during stressful or busy times. This is an unfortunate choice since exercise is one of nature’s best remedies for stress.

Excuses not to exercise appear more frequently when motivation begins to wane or boredom sets in. While one missed exercise session may feel insignificant, it may signal the beginning of an important motivational lapse. These excuses are the most dangerous — they signal a critical change in the individual’s commitment to a healthier lifestyle. It’s normal for commitment to be stronger at some times than at others. Changes in commitment, however, must always be taken seriously. When motivation begins to fall, your exercise program may be becoming too arduous, boring, or routine. It may be time to revamp your routine to keep it fresh and interesting.

What food storage tips can help prevent foodborne illness?

The first rule of food storage in the home is to refrigerate or freeze perishables right away. The refrigerator temperature should be 40°F (5°;C), and the freezer should be 0°F (-18°C).

Approximate pH of Foods and Food Products

The pH and/or acidity of a food are generally used to determine processing requirements and the applicability of GMP regulations for regulatory purposes…

To assist readers in determining the product pH levels, the approximate ranges of pH values are complied below. Considerable variation exists between varieties, condition of growing and processing methods, etc. Data is presented for the edible portion of foods in their normal and natural state, unless otherwise designated.

Potato Enchiladas

3 pounds Potatoes, diced
1 Small Onion, chopped
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
2 tablespoons Tomato Sauce
1 Large, Fresh Diced Tomato
1 Small Can of Green Chiles, drained
3 cups Shredded Cheese (monterey jack, cheddar)
1 Package of Tortillas — either corn or flour
Enchilada Sauce

Saute diced potatoes in a non-stick skillet in a tablespoon of cooking oil until golden brown on all sides, adding chopped onion after five minutes or so. Add a teaspoon of chili powder, tomato sauce, and diced tomato, cover, and cook 10 minutes. Meanwhile, warm your corn tortillas in a skillet if you are using them and preheat oven to 375°F. After potatoes have cooked ten minutes, mix in small can drained chiles and 2 of the 3 cups of cheese. (Fresh spinach would also be a nice addition). Stir until cheese is melted, taste for salt and spiciness level, top tortilla with a few spoonfulls of the mixture, roll up, and place with seam down in a baking dish smeared with enchilada sauce. Pour enough enchilada sauce on top to form a light coating, sprinkle remaining cup of cheese over all, cover with foil, and bake 25-30 minutes until heated through.

Creme Anglaise

Thin Custard Sauce:

2 cups (480 ml) Light Cream or Half and Half
1 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise (can be found specialty food stores) or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
⅓ cup (66 grams) Granulated White Sugar
5 Large Egg Yolks

Makes about 2 cups (480 ml)

Thick Custard Sauce:

1 cup (240 ml) Light Cream or Half and Half
½ Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise (can be found specialty food stores).
¼ cup (50 grams) Granulated White Sugar
4 Large Egg Yolks

Makes about 1 cup (240 ml).

Optional:

These ingredients are added after the sauce has been cooked.

1 tablespoons Liqueur (Grand Marnier or Kirsch)
¼ cup Raspberry Pure
2 ounces (55 grams) Semi-sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate, melted

Have a fine medium-sized strainer and bowl ready near the stove.

In a stainless steel bowl stir together the sugar and yolks until well blended, using a wooden spoon. (Do not let this mixture sit too long or a film will develop on the yolks.)

In a small saucepan heat the milk and vanilla bean just to the boiling point. Whisk a few tablespoons of the milk into the yolk mixture; then gradually add the remaining milk and vanilla bean, whisking constantly.

Pour the mixture into a saucepan over medium heat and gently heat the mixture to just before the boiling point (170-175°F) (77-80°C). Steam will begin to appear and the mixture will be slightly thicker than heavy cream. Do not boil or the eggs will curdle. Check by holding a wooden spoon sideways that is covered with the custard and run your finger along the back of the spoon. If the streak remains without the cream running down through the streak, it is ready.

Immediately remove from the heat and pour through the strainer, scraping up any thickened cream that settles on the bottom of the pan. Remove the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the sauce. Stir until seeds separate. For maximum flavor, return the pod to the sauce until serving time.

Sauce can be refrigerated covered with plastic wrap for a couple of days. Sauce will thickened as it cools and may be lumpy when removed from the refrigerator. Whisk over a saucepan of simmering water to remove any lumps.

Makes about 1 cup (240 ml).

Note: If sauce was overheated and curdling occurs, pour instantly into a blender and blend until smooth before straining. If necessary, add a little heavy cream to the mixture before blending.

Coleslaw

I tend to think of coleslaw as a quintessential American salad, don’t you? How could one not given that it is served in almost every cafeteria in the country. Apparently though, “coleslaw” comes from the Dutch word, “koolsla”, “kool” meaning cabbage and sla, salad. The word entered our English language from the Dutch in New York in the late 1700s.

Laying the groundwork

Our Stone Age forebears figured out how to “process” food long ago, and the technology they invented still beats our modern gadgets in many ways.

Yes, I’m talking about bashing stuff with rocks. The fact is, when you pound food in a mortar, you have far more control than when you push a button. Textures can be smoother. Spices yield their all. Nothing gets overheated.

Cooks around the world have their own styles of mortar, each with its own virtues. One of the pleasures of the modern world is that we can choose from so many.

Chicken Stock

Chicken Stock

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Recipe Summary

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 8 hours

Cook Time: 6 hours

Yield: 5 quarts

User Rating: ★★★★★

4 pounds chicken carcasses, including necks and backs
1 large onion, quartered
4 carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2
4 ribs celery, cut in 1/2
1 leek, white part only, cut in 1/2 lengthwise
10 sprigs fresh thyme
10 sprigs fresh parsley with stems
2 bay leaves
8 to 10 peppercorns
2 whole cloves garlic, peeled
2 gallons cold water

Place chicken, vegetables, and herbs and spices in 12-quart stockpot. Set opened steamer basket directly on ingredients in pot and pour over water. Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains low, gentle simmer. Skim the scum from the stock with a spoon or fine mesh strainer every 10 to 15 minutes for the first hour of cooking and twice each hour for the next 2 hours. Add hot water as needed to keep bones and vegetables submerged. Simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 hours.

Strain stock through a fine mesh strainer into another large stockpot or heatproof container discarding the solids. Cool immediately in large cooler of ice or a sink full of ice water to below 40 degrees. Place in refrigerator overnight. Remove solidified fat from surface of liquid and store in container with lid in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months. Prior to use, bring to boil for 2 minutes. Use as a base for soups and sauces.

Episode#: EA1G11

Copyright © 2003 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved

Potato Latkes

Potato Latkes

Serves 4

Serve these with a side of Caramel Applesauce and a dollop of sour cream.

2 all-purpose or Yukon gold potatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds), peeled
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 medium white onion, finely grated
8 scallion greens, finely slivered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil, for frying

Over a large bowl of cold water, grate potatoes into long strips, using the largest holes of a box grater. Transfer grated potatoes from water into another bowl. Pour off water from first bowl, reserving sediment. Add sediment to potatoes.
Add eggs, onion, and scallion greens. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well by hand.
Fill a large heavy-bottomed frying pan with 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch of oil until very hot, about 385°F.
Drop 1 heaping tablespoonful of potato mixture into the pan. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes; the pan should hold five or six latkes per batch. Turn latkes over, and cook on the other side until golden brown, about another 3 minutes.
Latkes can be transferred to a baking sheet and kept warm in a 200°F oven for up to a half hour before serving.

You Say Prosciutto, I Say Pro-SHOOT, and Purists Cringe

Outside a butcher shop in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, recently, Mrs. Gustafson said that her language lessons were conducted at the kitchen table. “Everything I know about Italian is food-centric,” she said, adding that her grandmother was not educated and could not spell the words as she wrote down her recipes, which ended up half in Italian, half in English…

Stefano Albertini, who is the director of New York University’s Italian cultural center, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, agreed. “Generally speaking, Italians are rather grateful to anyone who speaks in Italian,” he said. “They think Italian comes in so many varieties and accents.”

In fact, in some parts of Italy, the dropping of final vowels is common. Restaurantgoers and food shoppers in the United States ended up imitating southern and northern dialects, where speakers often do not speak their endings, Professor Albertini said…

And Gregory Pell, an assistant professor at Hofstra University who teaches Italian, said that because of the way double consonants were spoken, such as the double “t” in manicotti, Americans might not clearly hear the last “ee” sound…

The rest of us can improve by following some simple rules. “In proper Italian, you always pronounce every letter and the double consonants,” Ms. Dussi said. “The only letter you don’t pronounce is the silent h.”

That is, pronounce all final vowels, including the final sound in manicotti.

What to Eat on the Way to Mars

“We don’t know all there is to know yet about nutritional needs on a long-duration space mission,” said Michele Perchonok, a food scientist working for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “We do know that the crew will require less sodium and iron and higher calcium. What we don’t know is will the crew need a diet higher in antioxidants as a countermeasure to the higher radiation levels they may receive.”

Besides nutrition, there are also mechanical and psychological issues to consider. Comfort food takes on a whole new meaning when you know you’re not going to see Earth again for 2.5 years — maybe more if an emergency keeps the mission going longer.

Drinking Doesn’t Appear to Raise Bladder Cancer Risk

New research suggests that drinking alcohol does not increase the risk of bladder. In fact, the investigators found that beer may actually reduce the risk, according to their report in the September 15th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute…

Total alcohol consumption was not significantly associated with bladder cancer risk nor was drinking wine or spirits in particular. In contrast, beer seemed to reduce the risk. Subjects who consumed more than four drinks of beer per week were 50 percent less likely to develop the malignancy than were non-drinkers…

The results support previous studies showing no link between alcohol intake and bladder cancer, the researchers conclude.

Further research, however, is needed to confirm that beer really has a protective effect, they add.

Top 10 Cholesterol-Fighting Foods

Snack on nuts. Drizzle a little olive oil on your salad. Dine on salmon. Have a little chocolate–guilt-free! These, and more, eating strategies can help lower “bad-guy” LDLs, maintain “good-guy” HDLs, AND help you reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.

What follows are Prevention’s choices for the top cholesterol-fighting foods. If you’re already eating plenty of them, keep up the good work. If not, begin adding them into your diet today.

Soy
Beans
Salmon
Avocado
Garlic
Spinach
Margarine¹
Nuts
Tea
Chocolate

¹ The article’s recommendation to eat margarine is highly qualified and applies only to two products:

Two margarines are proven to help lower your cholesterol numbers: Take Control and Benecol. They do so by blocking the absorption of the cholesterol contained in your food and bile.

In general, I do not recommend margarine — nor any other manufactured foodstuff. I recommend only Olive Oil, with the highest proportion of monounsaturated fats — the kind that lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol — of all of the natural cooking fats.

Revealed — the meaning of life

It is perhaps surprising how often it is assumed that a look back to our origins will lead us to the meaning of life… [But] knowing why your creator made you does not settle the question of life’s meaning, which is one reason why believing in God does not make as big a difference to how we understand the meaning of life as may be supposed. Not that there is much reason to suppose the creator had a purpose anyway: if we take a long, cold look back to our origins, we just find ape-like ancestors and an evolutionary trail that leads back to the big bang.

That doesn’t mean life has no meaning. It just means, as Jean-Paul Sartre argued, that human life does not come with any pre-assigned meaning. Life’s purpose, if it has one, is not given to it by its creator.

Perhaps, then, rather than answer the question of why we are here by looking backwards, we should look forwards. What future purpose or goal would make this life worth living? The problem with this line of inquiry was identified more than two millennia ago by the patron philosopher of common sense, Aristotle. His point was that we do many things for the sake of something else… But unless at least one thing is done for its own sake, there is no point in doing anything. Not everything can be a means to an end: there must be ends which are valuable in their own right. So if living must at some stage be valuable in itself if it is to be worthwhile, why not here and now?

To put it rather dramatically, what [you] really wanted to know was the answer to what Albert Camus claimed was the only serious philosophical problem: why shouldn’t we kill ourselves? Why should we think that this life, with all its problems and pressures, really is valuable in itself?

It’s an excellent question and it doesn’t take a philosopher to answer it. We all of us know of things that give life value…

This is why there can be no final answer to the question of life’s meaning. There are many things that make life worth holding on to and savouring. But life is unpredictable and we are often mysteries even to ourselves. We think success, happiness, helping others, or surpassing ourselves will make life worth living, but we can always be wrong or frustrated by events… So we can be clear enough about what it means for life to have meaning and value, but when we put down our philosophy books and actually get on with living, meaning and value can be elusive. Living well is more art than science or philosophy.

‘We can implant entirely false memories’

Alan Alda had nothing against hard-boiled eggs until last spring. Then the actor, better known as Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, paid a visit to the University of California, Irvine. In his new guise as host of a science series on American TV, he was exploring the subject of memory. The researchers showed him round, and afterwards took him for a picnic in the park. By the time he came to leave, he had developed a dislike of hard-boiled eggs based on a memory of having made himself sick on them as a child — something that never happened.

Alda was the unwitting guinea pig of Elizabeth Loftus, a UCI psychologist who has been obsessed with the subject of memory and its unreliability since Richard Nixon was sworn in as president. Early on in her research, she would invite people into her lab, show them simulated traffic accidents, feed them false information and leading questions, and find that they subsequently recalled details of the scene differently — a finding that has since been replicated hundreds of times…

“We can easily distort memories for the details of an event that you did experience,” says Loftus. “And we can also go so far as to plant entirely false memories — we call them rich false memories because they are so detailed and so big.”

Enhancing the hominoid brain

The birth of a gene that fueled neurotransmission may have been a key advance in the evolution of the hominoid brain, according to a study in the October issue of Nature Genetics. The study reveals that a human and ape brain gene involved in glutamate metabolism was retrotransposed from a widely expressed housekeeping gene in the beginning of the hominoid lineage.

Henrik Kaessmann and Fabien Burki of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, detected the gene… in humans and apes, but not in Old World monkeys, indicating that the gene appeared after monkeys and hominoids went their separate ways — about 23 million years ago — but before the gibbon lineage split from humans and great apes around 18 million years ago.

After the retrotransposition, the new glutamate metabolism enzyme… went through several million years of positive Darwinian selection, say the authors. By combining these new genetic data with previous functional analyses of [the gene], they show that [it] acquired amino acid changes that increased glutamate flux, possibly enhancing cognitive function in the hominoid brain.

Hazelnut

Hazelnut (Corylus americana)

A deciduous shrub from the Birch Family (Betulaceae)

Hazelnut, one of several related large shrubs known for their tasty nuts that provide food for humans or wildlife, is found throughout Ohio along roadsides, in fields, at the edges of forest, and in fencerows, in dry or moist sites. Also known as American Filbert or Hazel, it develops a broad, rounded, strongly suckering growth habit with age. Hybrids have been developed with European Filbert that combine its superior nut quality and yield with the cold hardiness of Hazelnut. Hazelnut will reach dimensions of 15 feet tall and15 feet wide, becoming arching and spreading with age, but new vertical suckers keep its middle interior canopy dense. As a member of the Birch Family, it is related to the Alders, Birches, Hornbeams, and Hophornbeams, in addition to other Hazelnuts and Filberts.

Long Walks Stave Off Dementia, U.S. Studies Say

Elderly people who take regular walks are less likely to suffer dementia than those who take little exercise, a pair of studies said on Tuesday.

Keeping active has already been proven to lessen the risk of heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Now moderate daily exercise such as long strolls has been found to keep elderly minds healthier, said the authors of studies published in this week’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“We now have evidence that regular walking is also associated with benefits that are related to cognitive function later in life,” said Robert Abbott, a biostatistician at the University of Virginia Health System…

“What is most striking is that for older women who are able to engage in several hours per week of physical activity (for example, walking at least six hours per week), their cognitive function seemed to be comparable to that of a woman several years younger,” said study author Jennifer Weuve of the Harvard School of Public Health.

More active people also tended to have a healthier lifestyle and eat a better diet than sedentary people, which could also help preserve mental acuity, Abbott said.

“There is also the possibility that people who walk are less likely to get diseases later on in life that could lead to dementia versus people who are inactive,” he said.

Turn Off TV, Live Longer?

Turning off the television and tuning into a more active lifestyle will boost life expectancy, Italy’s Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia said on Monday.

“Abolish the television and you will have a longer and healthier life,” he was quoted by Ansa news agency as telling a conference of elderly people in Milan.

“Don’t give in to the couch-potato life of television because it’s unhealthy,” he added.

Maple Syrup Grades

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) assigns grades to the maple syrup sold in the the U.S. These grades are: Grade A Light Amber, Grade A Medium Amber, Grade A Dark Amber, and Grade B. The grading of syrup sold in the United States is voluntary (like USDA Beef Grading).

Grade A Light Amber (or Fancy) is very light in color and has a faint, delicate maple flavor. It is usually made earlier in the season when the weather is colder. Many people use this grade for serving on pancakes. It is also widely used for making maple candies.

Grade A Medium Amber is darker and has an easily discernable maple flavor. I like using this grade for serving on pancakes and waffles. I also use it for baking since it has a stronger flavor than Light Amber.

Grade A Dark Amber is very dark and has a strong maple flavor. Some people like the stronger flavor and use it as a table syrup, but this grade is mostly used for cooking and baking.

Grade B, sometimes called Cooking Syrup, extremely dark in color and has an extremely strong maple taste as well as hints of caramel. Because of its strong flavor, this is predominantly used in baked goods…

In general, maple syrup can be substituted for granular sugar in baked goods by following these rules of thumb:

For each cup of granulated sugar, use 1½ cup of maple syrup.
Reduce other liquids in the recipe by about one-half.
Add ¼ teaspoon baking soda for each cup of maple syrup.
Decrease oven temperature by 25°F.

Eggs can prevent you from going blind

A compound in eggs may help in keeping macular degeneration, one of the leading causes of blindness in the world, at bay, according to nutritionists.

Leutine, a plant chemical found in green leafy vegetables and egg yolks, helps protect the eye against damage from ultraviolet and other light.

“Leutine is the only compound the body concentrates in the macular region of the eye, and it does that because leutine absorbs blue wavelength and ultraviolet light and so protects that region of the eye from the damage,” US biochemist and nutrition researcher Donald McNamara said, before speaking at a conference in Sydney.

“When you don’t have sufficient leutine in your diet, you run a greater risk of macular degeneration, in which you’ll start to see a black spot in the middle of your vision,” he added.

Smokers, people with blue eyes, older people and those with a family history are most at risk. “People at higher risk should get leutine from a variety of sources, but you optimise your intake of it from eggs,” Dr McNamara, was quoted by The Age as saying.

Leutine in yolks is more easily absorbed than most other sources. “You get almost three times more into the blood stream from eggs than from spinach and other vegetables,” he added.

Nut Growers Handbook

The following reference guide for hazelnut growers was prepared by Jeff Olsen, OSU Extension Agent. It is intended as a guide for growers throughout the year and is an annual feature of the Nut Growers Society Proceedings. Each year the information is updated to current conditions and practices.

Ham Stuffed Manicotti Recipe

14 manicotti shells
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbsp. butter or olive oil
3 cups cooked cubed ham
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 green pepper, chopped
6 Tbsp. butter or olive oil
6 Tbsp. flour
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Cook manicotti as directed on package. Drain, rinse in cool water and set aside. Meanwhile, cook onion and garlic in 4 Tbsp. butter or olive oil until tender. Add ham and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in ¼ cup Parmesan cheese.

Cook green pepper in 6 Tbsp. butter or olive oil until crisp-tender. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture bubbles, about 3 minutes. Add milk, and cook, whisking constantly, until sauce thickens. Stir in cheese. Mix ¼ of cheese sauce with ham mixture.

Fill manicotti shells with ham mixture. Place in greased 13×9" glass baking dish. Pour remaining cheese sauce over filled manicotti. Sprinkle with ½ cup Parmesan cheese and bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes until bubbly.

Serves 8

Easy Enchilada Sauce

Easy Enchilada Sauce

Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

Recipe Summary

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 2½ cups of sauce

User Rating: ★★★★★

3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 tablespoon Flour
¼ cup Chili Powder
2 cups Chicken Stock
10 ounces Tomato Paste
1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
½ teaspoon Salt

In a medium saucepan heat oil, add flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook for 1 minute. Add chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add stock, tomato paste, oregano, and cumin. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken and smooth out. Adjust the seasonings. Serve atop your favorite enchiladas.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

All warfare is based on deception.

Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.

If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.

If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.

Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.

These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.

Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.

Bread Machine Calzone

1¼ cups Water
2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
1½ tablespoons White Sugar
3 cups Bread Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Powdered Milk
¾ cup Sliced Italian Sausage
¾ cup Pizza Sauce
1¼ cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2 tablespoons Butter, melted

To Make Dough: Place water, yeast, sugar, flour, salt and powdered milk in the pan of the bread machine, in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle. After cycle is completed, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface.
Meanwhile, brown sausage for about 8 to 10 minutes in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain excess fat and reserve.
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Shape dough into a 16 inch by 10 inch rectangle. Transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet, and spoon pizza sauce lengthwise down the center of the dough, followed by the browned sausage and the cheese. Make diagonal cuts 1 1/2 inches apart down each long side of the dough rectangle, cutting to within 1/2 inch of the filling. Criss-cross cut strips of dough over the filling and seal edges with water. Brush top of calzone with melted butter.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 35 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

Roasted Garlic

1 head Garlic
1 teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Remove the outer papery covering of the garlic. Slice off the top of the head so most of the cloves are exposed. Place on a square of aluminum foil for easy cleanup, or select the smallest baking dish you have. Drizzle the oil over the cloves. Fold the foil over the head to completely enclose it, or cover the baking dish with foil.
Roast for about 45 minutes, until the garlic is completely soft and lightly browned.
To serve, separate the head into individual cloves. Allow your guest to squeeze out the softened garlic as needed. Or squeeze out the cloves into a small serving dish. If you have leftovers, squeeze out the pulp into a small dish, cover with olive oil, and store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

The Ketchup Conundrum

Many years ago, one mustard dominated the supermarket shelves: French’s. It came in a plastic bottle. People used it on hot dogs and bologna. It was a yellow mustard, made from ground white mustard seed with turmeric and vinegar, which gave it a mild, slightly metallic taste. If you looked hard in the grocery store, you might find something in the specialty-foods section called Grey Poupon, which was Dijon mustard, made from the more pungent brown mustard seed. In the early seventies, Grey Poupon was no more than a hundred-thousand-dollar-a-year business. Few people knew what it was or how it tasted, or had any particular desire for an alternative to French’s or the runner-up, Gulden’s. Then one day the Heublein Company, which owned Grey Poupon, discovered something remarkable: if you gave people a mustard taste test, a significant number had only to try Grey Poupon once to switch from yellow mustard. In the food world that almost never happens; even among the most successful food brands, only about one in a hundred have that kind of conversion rate. Grey Poupon was magic.

So Heublein put Grey Poupon in a bigger glass jar, with an enamelled label and enough of a whiff of Frenchness to make it seem as if it were still being made in Europe (it was made in Hartford, Connecticut, from Canadian mustard seed and white wine). The company ran tasteful print ads in upscale food magazines. They put the mustard in little foil packets and distributed them with airplane meals–which was a brand-new idea at the time. Then they hired the Manhattan ad agency Lowe Marschalk to do something, on a modest budget, for television. The agency came back with an idea: A Rolls-Royce is driving down a country road. There’s a man in the back seat in a suit with a plate of beef on a silver tray. He nods to the chauffeur, who opens the glove compartment. Then comes what is known in the business as the “reveal.” The chauffeur hands back a jar of Grey Poupon. Another Rolls-Royce pulls up alongside. A man leans his head out the window. “Pardon me. Would you have any Grey Poupon?”

In the cities where the ads ran, sales of Grey Poupon leaped forty to fifty per cent, and whenever Heublein bought airtime in new cities sales jumped by forty to fifty per cent again. Grocery stores put Grey Poupon next to French’s and Gulden’s. By the end of the nineteen-eighties Grey Poupon was the most powerful brand in mustard. “The tagline in the commercial was that this was one of life’s finer pleasures,” Larry Elegant, who wrote the original Grey Poupon spot, says, “and that, along with the Rolls-Royce, seemed to impart to people’s minds that this was something truly different and superior…”

Tomato ketchup is a nineteenth-century creation — the union of the English tradition of fruit and vegetable sauces and the growing American infatuation with the tomato. But what we know today as ketchup emerged out of a debate that raged in the first years of the last century over benzoate, a preservative widely used in late-nineteenth-century condiments. Harvey Washington Wiley, the chief of the Bureau of Chemistry in the Department of Agriculture from 1883 to 1912, came to believe that benzoates were not safe, and the result was an argument that split the ketchup world in half. On one side was the ketchup establishment, which believed that it was impossible to make ketchup without benzoate and that benzoate was not harmful in the amounts used. On the other side was a renegade band of ketchup manufacturers, who believed that the preservative puzzle could be solved with the application of culinary science. The dominant nineteenth-century ketchups were thin and watery, in part because they were made from unripe tomatoes, which are low in the complex carbohydrates known as pectin, which add body to a sauce. But what if you made ketchup from ripe tomatoes, giving it the density it needed to resist degradation? Nineteenth-century ketchups had a strong tomato taste, with just a light vinegar touch. The renegades argued that by greatly increasing the amount of vinegar, in effect protecting the tomatoes by pickling them, they were making a superior ketchup: safer, purer, and better tasting. They offered a money-back guarantee in the event of spoilage. They charged more for their product, convinced that the public would pay more for a better ketchup, and they were right. The benzoate ketchups disappeared. The leader of the renegade band was an entrepreneur out of Pittsburgh named Henry J. Heinz…

There are five known fundamental tastes in the human palate: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. Umami is the proteiny, full-bodied taste of chicken soup, or cured meat, or fish stock, or aged cheese, or mother’s milk, or soy sauce, or mushrooms, or seaweed, or cooked tomato. “Umami adds body,” Gary Beauchamp, who heads the Monell Chemical Senses Center, in “If you add it to a soup, it makes the soup seem like it’s thicker — it gives it sensory heft. It turns a soup from salt water into a food.” When Heinz moved to ripe tomatoes and increased the percentage of tomato solids, he made ketchup, first and foremost, a potent source of umami. Then he dramatically increased the concentration of vinegar, so that his ketchup had twice the acidity of most other ketchups; now ketchup was sour, another of the fundamental tastes. The post-benzoate ketchups also doubled the concentration of sugar — so now ketchup was also sweet — and all along ketchup had been salty and bitter. These are not trivial issues. Give a baby soup, and then soup with MSG (an amino-acid salt that is pure umami), and the baby will go back for the MSG soup every time, the same way a baby will always prefer water with sugar to water alone. Salt and sugar and umami are primal signals about the food we are eating — about how dense it is in calories, for example, or, in the case of umami, about the presence of proteins and amino acids. What Heinz had done was come up with a condiment that pushed all five of these primal buttons. The taste of Heinz’s ketchup began at the tip of the tongue, where our receptors for sweet and salty first appear, moved along the sides, where sour notes seem the strongest, then hit the back of the tongue, for umami and bitter, in one long crescendo. How many things in the supermarket run the sensory spectrum like this?

…Small children tend to be neophobic: once they hit two or three, they shrink from new tastes. That makes sense, evolutionarily, because through much of human history that is the age at which children would have first begun to gather and forage for themselves, and those who strayed from what was known and trusted would never have survived. There the three-year-old was, confronted with something strange on his plate — tuna fish, perhaps, or Brussels sprouts — and he wanted to alter his food in some way that made the unfamiliar familiar. He wanted to subdue the contents of his plate. And so he turned to ketchup, because, alone among the condiments on the table, ketchup could deliver sweet and sour and salty and bitter and umami, all at once.

How to make moonshine

Whenever I hear the word “moonshine,” I think of Barney Fife throwing the town drunk Otis in jail on The Andy Griffith Show. But moonshine is not a thing of the past. In fact, there are plenty of people still making moonshine. Some of them have even gone and hooked themselves up to the “internet,” whatever that is, so they could share their recipes with the world.

How to Keep Your Job

For people who view this as a career, engineering is in worse shape now than it’s been in years.

LeEarl Bryant, IEEE President, 2002

Meatballs

Meatballs

Recipe Summary

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 20 meatballs

User Rating: ★★★★★

1½ pounds Ground Top Sirloin
¾ pound Ground Pork
¾ pound Ground Veal
2 tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 cloves Garlic, pressed
½ teaspoon Coarse Salt
¼ teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper
½ cup Freshly Grated Pecorino Romano
2 tablespoons Finely Chopped Flat-Leaf Parsley
3 Large Eggs, lightly beaten
1 slice Italian Bread, soaked in water
¾ cup unseasoned Dry Bread Crumbs
½ cup Light Olive Oil

Line a baking sheet with paper towels; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine top sirloin, pork, veal, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Add cheese, parsley, and eggs. Squeeze water from bread. Tear into small pieces and add to meat mixture. Add 3/4 cup bread crumbs; stir to combine.

With damp hands, form 1/4 cup of the mixture into a ball. Repeat with remaining mixture.

Heat light olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is very hot, add meatballs in 1 layer. Cook until golden brown all over, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to prepared baking sheet to drain.

Month: September 2004

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Hazelnut (Corylus americana)

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