Random Collection of Stuff

Sometimes, when I'm too busy to post, I keep every interesting food news item I come across in its own little Firefox tab so I don't forget about it.

There are a couple of downsides to this, the most significant of which is that I can't turn off my computer until I suck it up and write a blog post. Since I apparently haven't turned the machine off since May 30th (sorry Don), I think it's time for a food news roundup...

~ The first item that caught my eye was about a beer, made by the Japanese company Sapporo, that will use barley descended from grandpa and grandma barley seeds that spent time on the international space station. They're calling it "space beer," and are planning an initial run of 100 bottles. The biz isn't sure how they will dole out the brew, but don't plan to sell it...for now. I presume they eventually will, and for an, umm, astronomical price.
    I hate this kind of meaningless gimmick. After all, the beer is gonna taste exactly the same as any similar brew. Do you think in the Wright brothers' day, companies made special products from ingredients that had flown on planes?  "Stratosphere beer," perhaps? Or maybe folks could take sandwich ingredients to the bottom of the Mariana trench and made "submarine submarine sandwiches!"
    What I do find interesting on the space beer frontier is this article on the NASA website, which indicates that it may actually be possible to brew beer in a gravity-free environment.

~ But surely the space beer couldn't possibly cost as much as a 17-pound, black-skinned watermelon that was sold for $6,100 at an auction. Less exceptional specimens of the  "Densuke" variety, which only grow on the island of Hokkaido, often go for nearly $200.
    But these babies got nothing on a pair of cantaloupe, which sold together for $23,500.

~ A new book, Sex & Bacon: Why I Love Things That Are Bad For Me, sounds like fun. Here's a Q&A with the author, Sarah Katherine Lewis. What I appreciate most is her stance on pseudo-foods: "You know, fake foods are really like fake orgasms. They don't do anyone any good at any time. Eating fake food is basically a self-loathing and pointless activity that results in constant hunger..."

~ Although I'm not big on the Stovetop version, I am fond of various types of poultry stuffings. I make a mean one from roasted-poblano cornbread, and an even better, sage-laced version studded with bits of sausage and freshly roasted chestnuts.
    But unlike Simsbury, Connecticut's finest, I've never seen a chicken stuffed with an explosive. Last week, an innocent bystander discovered a "roaster a la pipe bomb" by the side of the road. Luckily, the fowl was detonated by the cops before anybody could be hurt.

I think that's enough for now...time to give my computer a well-deserved nap.

Comments

If you turn off your computer without shutting firefox, the next time you open firefox, it will ask you if you want a new session or to restore the old session.

[kayla]

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[kayla]

Thank you so much for all your useful information it is greatly appreciated.

[kayla]

Thank you so much for all your useful information it is greatly appreciated.