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I don’t know about you guys, but I would love to try some Romulan Ale, although the maple bacon porter also sounds pretty tasty.
I know I urged you all to support a switch to Bear Week yesterday, but that’s not to say I don’t enjoy Shark Week. I particularly enjoy festivities of any kind when they are paired with delicious themed drinks and snacks. If you feel the same way, then be sure to enjoy these great food and drink recipes on BuzzFeed.
BuzzFeed has a great list of alcoholic drinks based on the Harry Potter series. Personally, I’m intrigued by the Gryffindor:
Ingredients:
1 part Liqueur, raspberry (Chambord)
1 part cranberry juice
1 part orange juice
1 Maraschino cherry
1 twist (of peel) orange Instructions:
‘Mix juices and Chambord with ice, strain. Garnish with an orange twist wrapped around a cherry with a sword-pick through it. Serve in a hurricane glass.’
Would you try any of these magically tasty treats?
Police in Timaru, New Zealand, pulled over a 15-year-old on State Highway 1 near Pareora and gave him a breathalyzer test. The unnamed driver registered three times the legal alcohol limit for teenage drivers. He was taken to the police station, where his mother was summoned to retrieve him.
She was subsequently stopped and arrested for drink-driving on Craigie Ave at about 2.14am, after blowing 776 mcg, nearly twice the adult limit of 400.
But it wasn’t over there.
The woman then rang her partner to come and pick them both up. He was stopped and arrested on North St at about 3am, when he blew 559mcg.
Supposedly the family was reunited -in jail. Link -via Arbroath
Eating food that is known to be poisonous is like playing Russian Roulette. Some people believe the thrill of flirting with death is worth the risk. Then there are those foods that we all eat, but didn’t know they were poisonous -like almonds!
The poison is present only in a specific species of almond, namely the “bitter” ones, which are a broader and shorter version of the sweet almond. Although each bitter almond only contains tiny amounts of cyanide, the substance is dangerous enough that it is illegal to sell raw almonds in the US. Nowadays all almonds must be processed through heating in order to eliminate germs and render the poison harmless.
Slate has written a great article about the usefulness and expectations of expiration dates on food and drink. I have always wondered about how reliable and/or accurate expirations dates truly are.
The fact is that expiration dates mean very little. Food starts to deteriorate from the moment it’s harvested, butchered, or processed, but the rate at which it spoils depends less on time than on the conditions under which it’s stored. Moisture and warmth are especially detrimental. A package of ground meat, say, will stay fresher longer if placed near the coldest part of a refrigerator (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit), than next to the heat-emitting light bulb. Besides, as University of Minnesota food scientist Ted Labuza explained to me, expiration dates address quality—optimum freshness—rather than safety and are extremely conservative. To account for all manner of consumer, manufacturers imagine how the laziest people with the most undesirable kitchens might store and handle their food, then test their products based on these criteria.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by KillerBee.
Vinegar and milk, together in one commercially-available drink in Japan. Only those who can read the Japanese label will see that it also contains grapefruit juice. Link -via Arbroath
This is part 2 to the soft drinks from around the world that was published earlier. Makes me miss Moxie and Vernors.
Vegitabeta. VegitaBeta is an orange-colored soft drink consisting primarily of water and sugar. The product contains 3mg of beta-carotene per 100ml serving; an entire bottle contains 4.8mg. Although the product contains less than 10% juice, the label is filled with pictures of vegetables such as carrots, and fruits such as oranges, apples, acerola, and, prunes that naturally contain beta-carotene. The label states “Easy way to obtain nutrition,” “VegitaBeta is a health-supporting drink that uses five materials [vegetables and fruits].” The beverage carries the trade mark “Daily Care” with an explanation that “Daily Care is a symbol of products that support a healthy lifestyle.” While VegitaBeta contains a small amount of juice from vegetables and fruits that contain beta-carotene, the 4.8 mg of beta carotene in one bottle of the beverage is added in supplement form according to company officials.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ninigoat.
After many years in grad school, Pauline Fujita of Litmus has had at least as much coffee as science, yet like most of us, she knew very little of the brewed beverage. So, Pauline decided to delve a little into the science of coffee.
Take, for instance, the science behind the aroma of coffee:
Most of the aroma we associate with coffee is created during the roasting process. Longer roasting times mean coffee that is more bitter and less acidic and darker in color (Fortin 1999). Green, or un-roasted coffee contains about 300 volatile organic compounds (Bonnländer et al. 2005 pp. 198) whereas over 1000 such compounds have been found in roasted coffee. The green bell pepper-like “aroma” of green coffee can be attributed primarily to the compound isobutylmethoxypyrazine. In contrast, the aroma of roasted coffee is thought to result from a combination of about 25 volatile organic compounds, the “aroma compounds”, found at a total concentration of only 1g/kg of coffee and ranging in individual concentration from the lower part per million range down to as little as parts per trillion.
So where do all these extra compounds come from? During the roasting process many different chemical reactions occur, the most important of which can be classified as one of two types of reactions. The first, Maillard or “browning” reactions, produce aroma compounds as well as colored compounds (melanoidins), and the second, caramelization reactions, involve the chemical reduction of sugar compounds, the same tasty process that, you guessed it, makes caramel.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by BMA.
BaR2D2 is a radio-controlled, mobile bar that features a motorized beer elevator, motorized ice/mixer drawer, six-bottle shot dispenser, and sound activated neon lighting. The robot is driveable so you can take the party on the road! It was created in my garage using standard hand/power tools and readily available parts and materials.
Jamie Price built this, and you can, too, by following his Instructable! Link -Thanks, Jamie!
(image credit: Kristie Stephens)
Photos: Rebecca Hale, NG Staff, Cathy Smith
National Geographic has an interesting article about some of the strangest hangover cures from around the world. Perhaps they mean "cure" in a way that you’ll never touch alcohol again if you’re forced to take these the morning after:
Germany: Pickled Herring
Pickled or marinated herring is the main ingredient in a sour snack Germans call Rollmops. Considered an excellent way to ward off a bad hangover, they’re made by wrapping fillets of the tiny white fish around bits of onion and gherkin. Rollmops can be a welcome part of what Germans call katerfrühstück, or the hangover breakfast.Romania: Tripe Soup
Tripe – aka cow stomach – is the go-to ingredient for many Romanians suffering from a hangover. It’s also a common "cure" in Mexico and Turkey, and no doubt many other countries as well. But in Romania, the edible offal is boiled in a greasy, salty soup of root vegetables, garlic vinegar, and cream.Poland: Sour pickle juice
Polish hangover remedies are all about the sour. Some say that soured milk (which is unpasteurized and has been left at room temperature for a day or tow) does the trick. Others favor sour – very sour – pickle juice, heavy on the vinegar.
Catherine L. Barker has the story: Link to interactive Flash page – Thanks Marilyn!
Activate is a new drink that stores vitamins and herbs as powder in a chamber inside the cap. When you twist the cap clockwise, a small plastic blade cuts the seal in the chamber allowing the ingredients to drop into the water below. Just shake and drink.
Link: YouTube
