Want to know what the coolest acting job in the world is? It’s getting to be Bobby Flay‘s body double for Iron Chef America. And guess who got the job? A friend of zaf’s, rj3’s and mine from college. You can hear more about it on his video log here and even see “his” apperances on the show.
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08Sep
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07Sep
The poor girl behind the counter at Gloria Jean’s today is a Midwesterner named Annalies. She’s been trying to explain why it’s impossible to boil a latte to a middle aged raisin who’s already sent the cup back twice. ‘Look, I know you can do it hotter because I have them hotter in San Francisco. I live in San Francisco. Why can’t you do it like in San Francisco?’
I can see the cup of frothy liquid steaming from here- I’d love to give this ridiculous hag a stern lecture on the specific heat for evaporation of various liquids, but Annelies is way ahead of me.
Apparently, what it comes down to is the heat at which coffee starts to burn. The shot of expresso has to be between 70 and 90 degrees Celsius to keep it from developing that rancid bottom-of-the-office-coffee pot taste. The milk has to be 130 to 150 degrees Celsius to bring out the sweetness, but anything above it might scorch the coffee (which is, when you get down to it, just some woody pulp distilled into water). It seems, from Annelies’s frantic gesticulations that anything above 160 degrees will just make a mess as the milk separates out.
‘Look, the standard is just how its made. If you want it hotter you must be used to having it burned.’ Grudgingly she brings the milk to a rolling boil and pours it into the cup with an audible hiss.
‘Well the standard is changing.’ The woman huffs as she snatches her spoiled latte and stomps away, sipping. I swear I can hear her lips singe as she goes by. -
05Sep
This post is by South Australian guest blogger Brooke, Age 13. Thanks Brooke!
There is a great new application out for Mac called Connoisseur, a cooking program which can do almost anything apart from cook. It is remarkably similar to iTunes, for those who are familiar to iTunes.
It can automatically alter the amounts of ingredients for a recipe to suit the serving size and amount. There is also a feature that when you select a recipe and click ‘shopping list’ will automatically display a window with the shopping items that you need for the recipe.
There is an inbuilt online browsing feature and this lets you select and download from hundreds of recipes online all for free. You can also import your own recipies but I found this a bit slow and it took me around 10 minutes to input one recipe. You can also select a recipe to be read out to you by your computer and it will read out the instructions for the recipe to you.
I rate this software 4 and a half star, a must for Mac users.
This Software is available to download for free HERE. -
02Sep
Despite enjoying the three months I spent there as a resident, there are many things I don’t miss about living in Takoma Park. My roach-infested apartment building. The mildly sketchy metro station. The 80 zillion speedbumps.
But there’s one thing I would be missing about the place, had I known about it while I lived there – its proximity to Samantha’s Restaurant, at the intersection of University and Piney Branch in Silver Spring.
I went to Samantha’s, which serves Salvadoran-influenced Mexican food, with my family last week, and we loved the place. A tiny dining room filled with loyal customers and featuring friendly, low-key servers, the place has a cozy atmosphere that contrasts with its more sterile storefront.
We started our meal with the pork pupusas, apparently the snack of choice in El Salvador. Boy were these things good: two tortillas fried and stiffed with a thin layer of spicy pork and gooey cheese. They were more filling than expected, so don’t order a ton, despite their cheap $1.50 price. But they’re a great, unhealthy way to start your
meal.
For the main course, my mother ordered a Cuban-influenced marinated pork dish that was melt-in-your-mouth delicious, assertively spicy without being overwhelming. My father and I though, fell prey to old ordering habits rather than being adventurous. If my dad sees surf and turf on the menu, he gets it. Luckily, Samantha’s delivered, with the lobster cooked perfectly and the meat seasoned just enough to give it mild Mexican influence. I was less fortunate with my old standby;paella is one of my favorite foods, and since I don’t cook it for myself very often, I find it hard to pass up if I see it, even when Samantha’s warned me of a 30 minute wait. The dish wasn’t really worth the extra time – the rice was flavorful and the serving was generous, but the seafood was subpar. Many mussels were still closed, and the scallops were rubbery. It was easy to eat around the problems, but I’m going for a more unusual choice next time.
Strawberry margaritas were small but satisfying, and my father argued that the flan he ordered was the best he’d tasted, and this is a man who’s been known to order three of the dish if they’re reasonably priced. Our meal was a little on the expensive side, overall, but if you stick to the more traditional Mexican choices, or avoid seafood, Samantha’s is a steal, with plenty of choices in the $10 range. I’m definitely planning a return visit next time I find myself in the People’s Republic of Takoma Park.
Samantha’s Restaurant
631 E. University Blvd
Silver Spring, MD
301/445-7300
–This entry was written by the very talented mjf who currently can’t post entries because the oh-so-brilliant Smorgasblog crack support team (err…me) broke Movable Type again…-amg
