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mandybrown's Profile

Website: http://www.aworkinglibrary.com

Location: Brooklyn

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The Ten Most Recent Posts By mandybrown

From Talk

Christmas dinner sides?

I'm making a roast duck and can't decide what to make with it. Any suggestions?

The Ten Most Recent Comments By mandybrown

From Serious Eats

The Mystery of the Disappearing Honeybees: A Serious Eats Buzz-ementary

Very nicely done. More docs like this please.

From Serious Eats

Risqué Orangina Ads Stir Controversy

This ad as been around for a while, actually. I must say I love it. Bizarre, original, and totally weird and creepy. It's great!

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Margaritas, Mojitos & More'

olives! i particularly like olives stuffed with garlic or anchovies in a martini. not for the faint of heart, but so good!

From Serious Eats

Meat CSAs in the San Francisco Bay Area

My CSA in Brooklyn allows us to order meat once a month. We can choose from chicken, lamb, beef, pork, and farm-raised tilapia. All delicious. Most NY CSA's have probably already closed registration for the new season though (I paid for this year's share back in March).

From Serious Eats

The Microwave Oven: Do You Actually Cook With Yours?

Ok, so here's why you should be careful of metal in the microwave:

A microwave isn't like a standard oven, in that it doesn't cook food by getting it "hot". Microwaves (the waves, not the ovens) are short electromagnetic waves. When a microwave passes through food, the food is exposed to the alternating magnetic field in the wave. Water - the major component in all our food - is a polar molecule, meaning it has a magnetic north and a magnetic south pole. When a water molecule is exposed to the alternating magnetic field in the microwave, it vibrates as it tries to align itself with the magnetic field. Lots of water molecules vibrating together cause friction, and friction heats up your food.

if a conventional oven cooks your food with heat, a microwave oven cooks your food with friction. That also explains why sometimes microwaved food seems to cook from the inside out, or why half your potato can be cooked but the other half is cold; the waves bounce around in the oven and can leave dead spots where the magnetic field doesn't reach. (Ergo: the invention of the carousel that spins your plate around.)

Getting back to metal: the same microwaves that cause water molecules to vibrate can start a current in metal. The sparks you see flying off the ends of a fork? That's a sign that an electric current is moving from one end of the fork to the other, looking for ground. (Or a fire, whichever happens first.)

After a bachelor's in Physics, I've never put metal in the microwave and never will.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Pisto Manchego (Spanish Ratatouille)

Some pimenton instead of cumin could be nice here.

From Serious Eats

In Videos: Suicidal Cadbury Creme Egg Commercials

Also related: video of several ways to melt a chocolate bunny, including the hairdryer trick, plus a few others:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCrGnd3ljqA

From Recipes

Broccoli Soup

Cauliflower makes for a much more flavorful soup. Same basic principles apply, though it's also good with a some lime and cumin.

From Talk

greenbags

I've used Evert Fresh greenbags. My CSA handed out a couple to each household at the beginning of the season. I think they extended the shelf life of most vegetables somewhat, but not sure about the 4x claim. They were most useful for the most delicate veggies - baby greens, that would usualy only last a day or two could last a week instead.

From Serious Eats

Fresh Fruit: Nutrient-Packed or Not?

Nutrients or no, there's ample evidence that people who eat lots of fruits and vegetables live longer and are healthier.

Responses to Comments by mandybrown

From Serious Eats

The Mystery of the Disappearing Honeybees: A Serious Eats Buzz-ementary

Well done, Ed, and well worth doing. I had been wondering why my garden was so deficient this year -- the squash blossoms never set fruit, the tomato plants had very few tomatoes, even the cherry tomatoes, etc. What did bear heavily was the blueberry and blackberry bushes, and now I'm wondering if something other than a honeybee was helping.

From Serious Eats

The Mystery of the Disappearing Honeybees: A Serious Eats Buzz-ementary

We take so much for granted. My father raised Honey Bees most of my rearing years. I would help him make the frames that sat in the hives. We would extract the honey and cone once the bees did their nature thing. It was a blast. I am sadden that today with all the pesticides floating in our air, it has taken down this beautiful insect. I live in the heart of Texas. I fight the Ag office here regular. We live on a farm on the river. There are fields all around us. Every year I have to fight the planes roaring and taking the top of my home off. One year they sprayed a pesticide that was removed from the market years ago. I started getting dizzi and sickly feeling. Once calling around and finding out what they sprayed I tried to go to all lengths to have the Government do something, which as usual, I always come to a dead end. If this does this to humans, what is it doing to these insects. We need a phone number or organization that you can call and complain to and maybe if everyone works together to protect what God put on this earth and the purpose they and we all serve, maybe it would be a better world for our children and grandchildren.

From Serious Eats

The Mystery of the Disappearing Honeybees: A Serious Eats Buzz-ementary

That is a riveting piece of information to have to digest. Thank you for this highly informative subject and a way to try to help, again Thank You. One day here thenext gone I have a hard time grasping that. God Bless Dona.

From Serious Eats

Risqué Orangina Ads Stir Controversy

Strange maybe, but that makes it a great advertisement.
"Is that a bottle of Orangina in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

From Serious Eats

Risqué Orangina Ads Stir Controversy

it is odd but I still liked it, very sexual

From Serious Eats

Risqué Orangina Ads Stir Controversy

this objectifies animals as sex crazy beasts, i am offended!

From Serious Eats

Risqué Orangina Ads Stir Controversy

Yep, definitely creepy and strange, but I pick animated shimmying zebras in ads over real shimmying women in music videos any day.

From Serious Eats

Risqué Orangina Ads Stir Controversy

I don't think there's actually anything wrong with this ad, but it's definitely pretty creepy and strange.

From Serious Eats

Risqué Orangina Ads Stir Controversy

Euw. This is just vile. Stripper deer tweaking figleaf bear's privates? Strippe-critter's chest sprayed with orange-yellow liquid? ZEBRA strippers?
@ fluffnik, I agree "Scantily-clad gazelle" is a deal-breaker.
I'd rather see a French naked yogurt ad than this nasty foolishness.

From Serious Eats

Risqué Orangina Ads Stir Controversy

Fetish high heels on a pink, what is that, octopus (ok, they're not tall enough for fetish wear, i guess, but ANY spike heels make me wince)? Ick. The bear with the six-pack abs is creepy enough. I so don't want to see the video with the soda exploding. Sexual exploitation to sell crap is offensive. Still. Always. Making it look like orgasm is so unfunny. Yeuch - who wants to drink THAT? (don't answer that - it's rhetorical.) And just the phrase "scantily-clad gazelle" is enough to stop me. i so don't want to go there!

I agree with folks who think that the ad agency was really scraping around the bottom of the idea barrel.

And yes, these might be a big hit at a furry con.