Boiled is a Misnomer

A properly soft-boiled egg

Here is a link to a site that goes over the time/temperature numbers for a hard-boiled egg. (along with a collection of bad puns) For whatever reason, service was left out. After you've bought the egg to the proper temperature, toss it into ice water. This stops the reactions, gets the egg's temperature ready for salad, straight sale, or garnish. If you're going to peel the egg yourself, knock it around in the hot liquid, cracking the shell on purpose, before its ice bath. This allows water to seep in between the membrane and the white, making the peel easier.

If your going to sell the eggs as out of hand food, say a basket of hard-boiled by the register, don't crack them. While it might make things easier for the customer, they tend to pass over eggs with blemishes or cracks. This is the time to use vinegar in your heating liquid, not because it effects the inside, but because of how it makes the shell look.

I know there are a million shortcuts, and there is always a handy tap of boiling water, and you can make them quicker (even though it takes you just as long when measured by a clock) but the result is a chewey egg with a green sulfide ring around the yoke. Mayo just doesn't cover that taste up, and it looks like the stuff you couldn't eat in grade school. Get a timer and don't wait until you have to hammer the process.

Regarding Thorstein Veblen

This unique knife has a nonstick silicone "blade" for spreading mayo, peanut butter, jam, cream cheese and more. The serrated stainless steel edge slices tomatoes, cheese, bagels, baguettes and finished sandwiches.10.5"-long to reach the bottom of jars.
Holes in the blade prevent sticking. Nonslip silicone grip. Dishwasher safe. - Bookofjoe -

Oh for heaven's sake, at $25.00 this tchotchke is going to provide you with breakfast-time status? A good cook uses a few good tools, not a parade of gadgets. I'm a tad bit unsure how a fluoropolymer (teflon) coating and some holes in the side qualifies it as green. Get a $1.39 spreader from the supply store and save your money for a proper pan or knife.

Nasty Dan

Late Night with whomever is o.k., The Smothers Brothers Show was pretty good, but the top of the line guests do Sesame Street.

Otaku Patrol Group

Last week I stumbled across an old tribe. We were setting up our communication system: phone for the ship, phone for us LAN for us, LAN for Navel security, internet, and radios-o-rama. A fellow delivered our land mobiles (walkie-talkies) while I was watching a shark. (the gulls had scored a baby shark and were busy fighting over it) The units (ICOM IC-F4) had a keypad, but were already preset. Now who can resist test driving a programmable, so I looked up the rental company on the intertubes to see if they had instructions in a PDF. Nope, but I found something else.

The Otaku Patrol Group started as a group of early adaptors (video). In the ham tradition, they specialized in radio and emergency services. Otaku means people with obsessive interests. So we have a Goth tribe of communication specialists. Who better to rent your gear from? And as a personal recommendation, the radios survived the worst storm SF has seen in quite some time with nary a squawk.

Hello - Goodby

La-Z-Boy Mods

La-Z Hotrod

This one is just too good. The guy must be a heck-of-a shade tree mechanic. Old weird America still has some life in her.

Dennis LeRoy, 62, of Proctor, Minnesota, pled guilty to driving his tricked-out, motorized easy chair while drunk. After leaving a bar where he had at least eight beers, LeRoy smashed his chair into a parked car. The chair features a lawnmower engine, built-in stereo, headlights, and some sharp pinstriping

Mirrored from BoingBoing

Watermelon

I know it's fall, but the atypical, or new typical, weather we've been having means local watermelon will be in market along with the first pumpkins. (tomatoes with flavor are still rare, though) If this keeps up we could see Jack-o-melons and Father Christmas-lanterns. Watermelon, when presented as a salad, usually serves as cheap bulk, providing something to set the berry on. Even at the peak of its season, watermelon rarely ends up as more than a wedge in the corner of the plate. (putting a sprig of mint on it is tasty, but you know what I mean) Here is a salad, in the little of this, little of that, California style, that you can build on.

• Watermelon cubes
• Seeded cucumber
• Goat cheese
• Saba vinaigrette
• Mint

Notes: Size the cuts so that you can get a mix of ingredients on your spoon, but not so small that their texture becomes indistinguishable. The goat cheese provides tang and creaminess, but serves as a secondary note. Use the good stuff, but ramping up to an artisan brand is an expense that might be better spent when the cheese is the center of attention. Saba is specialty shop expensive. If you have an Italian neighborhood in your town, it might be more reasonably priced in some of the shops catering to the locals. If not, you can use a balsamic reduction. Again, use the middle tier vinegar. The subtleties that mark an excellent aged balsamic are volatiles that are lost in the reduction process. (but boy, does the kitchen smell good) Another approach might be to use pomegranate syrup. Change the cheese to a yogurt curd and you've bought the salad back to its Saharan roots. Mix and match, but leave the ingredient list short. The watermelon should be the predominant or center note in a watermelon salad.

Now we're left with the seeds and rinds. Waste not, want not...
• Collect the watermelon seeds and dry them out in a colander. Wash off and toss in a hot pan until almost roasted. Prep a cup of salt water and pour in. Stir until the water is gone and the salt coats the seeds. Eat like pumpkin seeds.
• Peel the green part off the rinds. Cube the remaining white part and soak in brine overnight. (3 cups rind, 1cup water, 3/4 T pickling salt) Rinse and cook in clear water until tender. Prepare a pickling liquid made of 1 tsp. whole cloves, 1 tsp. whole allspice, One 2″ piece of cinnamon stick, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup plus 2 T. granulated sugar. Cook the rind in the syrup for about 30 minutes and can or fridge. This recipe is from Lillian's Cupboard, and you can see photos of the process on her site.