A blog about food, history, data visualization, and more
One of my favorite posts featured a set of chocolate chip cookie charts, which built on an idea from Megnut’s Mean Chocolate Chip Cookie post. For her “mean” post, Meg collected a bunch of chocolate chip cookie recipes, calculated the mean (average) for each ingredient to create a new recipes, and then baked cookies. Her […]
Let’s face it: a cup of tea can taste great and be a relaxing ritual, but the caffeine might be the biggest attraction. And if you want to get the most (or least) in your cup, scientific articles can be a valuable resource. In particular, some of the papers by a group from the University […]
(Updated 10/15/16: fixed broken links, removed two photos. 12/10/16: update on candy cap cheesecake) Some time ago I heard about a mushroom that smells like maple syrup, and given my interest in fenugreek’s maple aroma (Fenugreek’s Flavors, When Fenugreek Leads to a False Diagnosis), I had to find out more. A quick search in […]
It’s a busy night in the maternity ward, babies being delivered left and right. While changing the diaper of a newborn, one of the nurses smells maple syrup, an unusual occurrence. And after a few seconds of memory searching, mental alarm bells go off: “It must be Maple Syrup Urine Disease! This is a big […]
January 1, 2013 marked an important day in California for sharks, as it is the next step in implementation of AB376. Back in 2011, the State of California approved the law, and as 2012 became 2013, it became illegal to import shark fins into the state. Later in the year, on July 1, possession and […]
(Updated 10/26/16: new maple leaf image) Now and then, fresh fenugreek leaves appear at the farmers markets that I frequent (usually at the Vang Farms stand at Berkeley’s Saturday market). When this happens, I buy a bunch and then get some potatoes from another stand to make my version of a recipe in Julie Sahni’s […]
A few weeks ago, I reviewed an academic paper on tea brewing — how brewing technique and tea brand affect caffeine and dissolved solids levels. In that paper, the authors demonstrated that the highest level of dissolved solids (which correlates with flavor and possibly anti-oxidants) come from loose leaves or a well-agitated tea bag, and […]
(Updated 10/23/16: new image, fixed broken links) Sometimes, when afternoon fatigue weighs me down at the office or on groggy weekend mornings, my mind drifts to thoughts of tea and caffeine. How could I brew the most potent cup of tea to break out of the doldrums? What are the flavor trade-offs? Among the many […]
The other day, I cracked open an egg from Glaum’s Farm (organic, free range, member of CAFF) to use in a cookie recipe. The yolk was a searing yellow but the white was really cloudy. “Uh oh,” I thought, “that doesn’t look good.” So I went to my bookshelf and started looking in Harold McGee’s […]
My personal food philosophy has room for both local foods and artisanal foods from far away. Parmigiano-Reggiano — the magnificent cheese from Northern Italy — and Gruyere — an AOC cheese from western Switzerland — are two of the latter. A little bit of Parmigiano can vastly improve a bowl of pasta or salad; and […]