Author: Mark Linton

Russian troops have retrieved 10 tonnes of beer trapped under the Siberian ice after a week-long operation.

A lorry carrying the beer was lost while crossing the frozen River Irtysh, near the city of Omsk, about 2,200 kilometres (1400 miles) from Moscow.

The driver managed to jump out after the ice gave way, but the lorry and its cargo sank.

Six divers, 10 men with electric saws and a tank pulled the beer kegs — but not the truck — to safety.

With temperatures reaching -27C, the rescue mission was fraught with problems.

Russia’s Tass news agency reported that the recovery team eventually managed to pull the vehicle through a hole in the ice.

They retrieved the kegs of beer but the rope snapped and the truck slipped back under the water.

The Rosar brewery in Omsk said the freezing temperatures probably kept the quality of the beer from deteriorating and said it will still take the delivery.

It plans to sell the beer at a discount. [BBC News]

There are three basic kinds of rubber: natural rubber, which comes from latex, the sap of the tropical tree Hevea brasiliensis; synthetic rubber, which comes from a chemical plant; and silicone rubber, which comes from, well, a different chemical plant.

The last two were dreamed up by chemists to duplicate some of natural rubber’s unique properties and improve upon others. A synthetic rubber called neoprene was first marketed by DuPont in 1931, while a wide variety of silicone rubbers have been manufactured by General Electric and Dow Corning since the 1940s. These two man-made products inherited the silly name “rubber” from the natural material, which was so-christened by the English chemist and clergyman Joseph Priestley in 1770, when he found that it would rub out pencil marks…

Silicone bakeware has a remarkably useful set of properties. First, the material is inherently translucent, so a veritable kaleidoscope of bright colors can be incorporated into the products. (KitchenAid’s line of muffin pans, loaf pans and cake pans comes in red or blue.) They can withstand high temperatures without melting (i.e., without their molecules flowing apart from one another) because the molecules are very long and tightly intertwined, like a cold, leftover plate of Spaghetti with Glue Sauce. That’s also why you can take them directly from the oven to the freezer or vice versa without any fear of cracking; the molecules, while individually flexible, are so rigidly fixed in place that the material can’t expand or contract very much with changes in temperature.

Silicones don’t absorb microwaves, but like all microwave-safe utensils they can get hot in the microwave oven from contact with the heated food. Because silicones are chemically inert, the pans are dishwasher safe; caustic detergents can’t touch them. Also because of their nonreactivity, they are more or less nonstick; cakes and muffins release easily — most of the time — since you can flex the pans to pop them out. [Food 101]

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of mixed fruit — orange, pineapple, and banana. I weighed in at 157 pounds.



<ins datetime="2004-01-21T12:28:00-05:00">Lunch was an orange. No walk &mdash; I had a 1:00 meeting.</ins>

<ins datetime="2004-01-21T19:49:00-05:00">Dinner was a serving of Gretchen&rsquo;s terrific butternut squash and vegetable gratin. We were both still hungry so we made some <a href="http://www.bigsteer.biz/page/page/640487.htm" title="2-Minute Microwave Chocolate Fudge Mix (Retail Price)">Rich &amp; Famoose Microwave Fudge</a> (with added walnuts) &mdash; the last of the Christmas gift food &mdash; we each ate about 3 ounces. It is pretty good, looking and tasting a lot like fudge, especially when it is still warm. It comes in a burlap bag with a cute moose holding it closed. Apparently the <a href="http://www.columbusrealtors.org/9912.cfm" title="Holiday Gifts for clients">Columbus board of realtors</a> recommends it as a gift for clients &mdash; not that that would have anything to do with me.</ins>

After months of weeknights of blearily waiting well past midnight for batches of stock to cool and weekends spent simmering similar but critically different batches side by side, I answered the questions myself. And I learned quite a lot more than what most recipes reveal.

• It’s not a bad idea to befriend a butcher if you want the traditional chicken necks and backs for parts.
• If you don’t like parsley, don’t put it in your stock. Same goes for celery. They contribute bitterness and pungency that detracts from the chicken. On the other hand, whole cloves impart an undercurrent of sweetness that nicely enhances the poultry flavor.
• Stock made from freshly dug organic carrots and onions doesn’t taste appreciably different from stock made with limp carrots languishing in the vegetable bin and trimmed onion ends that were destined for the trash.
• Fat adds flavor. You can leave that skin on the chicken and then skim the rendered fat when the stock has cooled.
• Never turn your back on stock during the crucial early moments. Boiling, rather than simmering, stock is an irreversible mistake, resulting in a cloudy appearance and a correspondingly murky flavor.
• Stock is mindful of no one’s schedule but its own. Think twice before beginning a batch past 8 p.m.
• The thought of cleanup (the bones and chicken parts, the fat, the grease) inspires more dread than the mess itself merits. (But after flopping raw chicken parts about, I feel like both the kitchen and myself need to be sanitized.)
• It’s not a bad idea to keep some chicken parts in the freezer. (I confess that after the hurricane last September, while neighbors were altruistically throwing ad-hoc dinner parties inspired by the contents of their freezer, I made chicken stock by candlelight.)

And I learned one other thing. The outcome is not exactly as resplendent as, say, a chocolate souffle or as spectacular as something like cassoulet. You’re left with a layer of fat to skim, a bowl full of gray scum and a vat of pale, clear broth. Understated? Perhaps. Worth the effort? Absolutely. [Schettler]

People tell us all the time that they want to start taking notes on wines, but they fear they won’t know how to describe them. They’ve read so many highfalutin and nonsensical winespeak descriptions that they’re paralyzed with fear about putting something down on paper. We recently encountered a Pinot Noir described by the winery as “buxom.” Yep, we know some wines have legs, but we’re having a hard time getting our heads around the notion that they have, well, you know.

Of course, there are some descriptors whose usage and meaning have been embraced enough to give them currency. One classic description of the smell of Sauvignon Blanc, for instance, is “cat’s pee” — that’s how it’s always put — though we’ve never sensed that ourselves, perhaps because we’re dog people… Here’s what’s important: The only notes worth keeping are notes that bring back tastes and memories to you. Only you know which words can do that for you. [WSJ]

&ldquo;Across America, it's the proverbial morning after for the people born in the two decades after World War II. For the last 30 years, they&rsquo;ve let their tongues lead them around the globe in a hedonistic quest for the most exotic dishes, the best boutique wine and the babiest of baby lettuce. Saddled now with thickening waists, acid-reflux and high blood pressure, Boomers are waking up and realizing it&rsquo;s time to pay the tab.&rdquo; <cite><a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/14/FDGEV4735K14.DTL" title="DIET &amp; DEMOGRAPHICS / EATING AT 50 / At midlife, it's not looks or loot that counts, It's diet.">[SF Gate]</a></cite>

These could be interesting for storing home grown and dried herbs.

Our tins are practical for sealing in the natural flavors and aromas of spices, herbs, and teas. They’re ideal for storing everything from bath salts and vitamins to paper clips and rubber bands. They also make unique packaging for small gifts. Choose from seven sizes… To prevent rusting, we recommend our Seamless Tins for storage of dry products only. [The Container Store]

For some reason Gretchen decided that we should have a big breakfast this morning. We had scrambled eggs, hash brown potatoes, maple sausage, a slice of toast, and a glass of orange juice. I weighed in at 158 pounds.



<ins datetime="2004-01-21T07:20:00-05:00">Lunch was an orange and a four mile walk after a warm up of 10 toe-touchers, 10 squats, 10 pathetic push-ups, and 10 really pathetic sit-ups. Dinner was a salad and a slice of whole wheat raisin bread.</ins>

I had hesitated to download the photos from our camera while I was rebuilding my machine. Now that it is back to health, I downloaded these photos last night, they go back a little ways. The first two are pictures of our cats. Apparently they do not think we keep the house warm enough and always want to sit in my lap to warm up in the morning.



<img src="http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/h/mhl100/images/minby-lap.jpg" height="256" width="341" alt="Photograph of our cat Minby, sitting in my lap on a cold morning." />



<img src="http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/h/mhl100/images/sierra-lap.jpg" height="256" width="341" alt="Photograph of our cat Sierra, sleeping in my lap on a cold morning." />



These two pictures are of the deer that survived the hunting season. There were nine all told. Four of them were bucks. It seemed to me that they were displaying surprisingly un-buck-like behavior.



<img src="http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/h/mhl100/images/three-bucks.jpg" height="256" width="341" alt="Photograph of three bucks standing in our yard one cold morning." />



<img src="http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/h/mhl100/images/two-bucks.jpg" height="256" width="341" alt="Photograph of two bucks, one grooming the other, in our yard one cold morning." />

Meatless Sloppy Joe’s

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray, as needed
• 2 cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 cup chopped green peppers
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. ketchup
• 1 tbsp. mustard
• 1 can kidney beans – (15 oz), mashed
• 1 can tomato sauce – (8 oz)
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• Cider vinegar, as needed
• 2 sandwich rolls, halved

Directions:

Spray large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium heat until hot. Add onions, peppers and garlic. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in ketchup and mustard.

Add beans, sauce and chili powder. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently and adding up to ⅓ cup vinegar if dry. Top sandwich roll halves evenly with bean mixture.

Nutrition info per serving:

Calories 217, Carbohydrates 42 gm, Protein 10 gm, Fat 2 gm, Saturated Fat 0 gm, Unsaturated Fat 0 gm, Sodium 953 mg, Fiber 8 gm, Calcium 84 mg, Iron 3 mg [Meatless Monday]