Mike Nolan

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 15 posts - 5,656 through 5,670 (of 7,705 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • in reply to: Daily Quiz for May 16, 2019 #16108
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      I literally spent hours on the UNL site yesterday, lots of interesting stuff there. FFA has meat grading competitions for high school students and there are also college-level competitions, this is serious stuff!

      in reply to: Ruby Chocolate #16107
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        Apparently Kit-Kat is using it in some products:
        Kit-Kat Ruby

        in reply to: Ruby Chocolate #16105
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          I got a notice about this when it came out, but I haven't seen it yet. It was not one of the chocolates we tasted when I took Chocolate Boot Camp, but that was several years ago now.

          You'd have to order it from a bakery/restaurant/chocolatier wholesaler, Barry Callebaut doesn't sell retail. The supplier I usually buy from doesn't appear to carry this yet. I don't know if the Chocolate Academy is doing anything with it yet. If they are, I might be able to buy a small bag the next time I'm in the Chicago area. It appears it tempers pretty much like any other chocolate.

          If you're really curious about this, here's one place you can order it:
          ruby chocolate

          in reply to: $75 for a cup of coffee #16093
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            Sams Club has a bottle of scotch for $1200, which works out to $48-$75 a shot (depending on whether you pour a one ounce shot or a 1.5 ounce shot.)

            But I'm neither a coffee drinker nor a scotch drinker, so the subtleties of either would be totally lost on me. I can appreciate a good cup of tea but I wouldn't pay the crazy prices that the high end teas get, either.

            in reply to: Daily Quiz for May 15, 2019 #16092
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              Tomorrow's question is a hard one, but I learned a lot researching the answer, which has multiple references.

              in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of May 12, 2019? #16091
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                We had take-out last night and again tonight. I'm planning to make some buns for burgers tomorrow, I don't know if I'll make them tonight or in the morning, it's supposed to be in the 90's here tomorrow. I gave up and turned on the A/C last night, it was in the mid-80's in the bedroom.

                in reply to: Daily Quiz for May 15, 2019 #16078
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  When we were in Portland Oregon two years ago for the International Master Gardener's Conference, the hotel restaurant had an excellent soup made from Jerusalem artichokes. I can't say I noticed any gastric distress from it, and I had it at least 3 times.

                  Based on the research I did, this is not a plant I'd want to try to grow, though.

                  in reply to: Blood Oranges and Regular Oranges #16071
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    According to the web, one of the varieties of blood oranges is available through May but the other variety (which I think is the more common one) only goes through March.

                    Aside from tasting them in the grocery store a few times, we've never bought them. I have no idea what difference they would make in an icing aside possibly from color.

                    My wife is a big fan of the cara cara orange, which also has a short season.

                    in reply to: SNL satire of Chopped #16070
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      Chopped is about the only thing I still watch on the Guy Fieri AKA Food Network these days. I watch it in part for the strange ingredients they keep coming up with (which SNL nailed!) and to see what the chefs do with things that are every day ingredients for many home cooks but which many of them wouldn't normally touch on a bet.

                      How many of us would know what a durian was without Chopped? (BTW, there was a story recently about a college library in Australia that was evacuated because someone left a durian in a trash bin.)

                      I agree with the lament that I'd like to see a bit more of the actual cooking, like how they make their sauces. (Having read several books on stocks and sauces, I think I can connect the dots a bit, though.)

                      in reply to: SNL satire of Chopped #16068
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        I seldom watch SNL any more, most of the time it just isn't funny, this was one of the best skits I've seen in years, though.

                        in reply to: Daily Quiz for May 13, 2019 #16056
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          The water in a dishwasher is hot enough that it helps melt grease and dissolve food. The studies referred to by the quiz answer didn't deal with removing dirt or grease, just bacteria.

                          I've had my doubts about just how good the 'sanitizing' cycle is in a dishwasher.

                          According to various reviewing organizations, any home dishwasher made in roughly the last 5 years is going to be less efficient at cleaning dishes, in large part because of governmental restrictions placed on the amount of water that a dishwasher is allowed to use. The cycles are longer, too, probably in the hopes of compensating for the water restrictions.

                          I'm glad I haven't had to replace a dishwasher lately. As I understand it, commercial dish washers have not been affected by these regulations, because there are requirements placed on them as to how well they have to clean, so they're allowed to use more and hotter water.

                          in reply to: Daily Quiz for May 13, 2019 #16052
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            Newsweek used to have a regular column called 'Conventional Wisdom' in which a recurring theme was that the CW was wrong more often than it was right.

                            If you're trying to clean things with grooves in them, hot water will usually make the material expand, making the grooves smaller and harder to clean.

                            in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #16051
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              I've got a number of silicone brushes, the one I like best is a small one I got at a Le Creuset shop. I use them mostly for applying butter to pans and breads and the bigger ones hold too much butter and/or release it too quickly, so things get too much butter on them.

                              in reply to: Daily Quiz for May 13, 2019 #16044
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                As opposed to air dryers, paper towels are much healthier. (Whether they're better for the environment is another matter.)

                                in reply to: Daily Quiz for May 13, 2019 #16039
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  I agree with you on the comfort factor. My wife thinks grease comes off easier in warm water, but that really depends on the type of grease, because some of them have pretty high melting points. I keep a dispenser of Lava liquid soap by the kitchen sink, because it works better on greasy hands than anything else I've found. A friend of ours works as a diesel mechanic, I bought him a case of Lava dispensers as a Christmas present a few years back.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 5,656 through 5,670 (of 7,705 total)