Jim's Pancakes

Jim's Pancakes

Jim's daughter Allie is so lucky. Her dad makes ridiculous pancakes for her consumption. They even come in 3D and Yo Gabba Gabba builds. If you're interested in trying, he posts tutorials every so often on his website.

(pictures via Jim's Pancakes through Reader Play)

50 Cent lost weight

50 Cent lost weight

Taking a break from practice LSATs to write this.

Personally, I don't care for 50 Cent much, if at all. It seems to me that all his raps are either about girls, money, or how he got shot 7 (or was it 8?) times. Given this negative bias, I'm not optimistic that his latest career move of losing 54 pounds (from 214 to 160) for a movie role (a starring role in Mario Van Peebles's Things Fall Apart)  was much more than a PR move. As EW notes, well-known and respected actors do drastically gain and lose weight often for movie roles: Johnny Depp, Renee Zellweger, Matt Damon, to name a few. But 50 is, in most senses of the phrase, not a respected actor. He's a rapper, and unlike Will Smith, I highly doubt that his skills will translate into Hollywood stardom. I mean, I guess it's to his credit that he's doing this to portray a college kid battling cancer (when did 50 Cent ever look "college-age" to you?). But I have a sneaking suspicion that this is a calculated move to get people to talk about him as a "serious" actor.

(via thisis50.com through EW)

Bill Nye on Deepwater Horizon

Bill Nye on Deepwater Horizon

CNN got everyone's favorite Bill Nye to take a look at iReports sent in about fixing the oil spill situation. Smart, and gets people to think twice about how easily their theoretical ideas could be implemented. I like when the last woman talks about her "media" to soak up the oil from the water, refuses to say anything more about what this "media" is, and Bill Nye just goes in and identifies it immediately.

(via Gizmodo)

Octopush

Octopush

Also known as UNDERWATER HOCKEY.  I didn't even know that was possible.

(via DavidUnderwater through Wikipedia)

















Pretty much the goal of this game is to move the puck on the pool floor across the pool into a goal using the hockey sticks (those tiny protrusions in the hands of the guys in the picture). But the more surprising aspect of this sport is that it's been around since 1954, currently enjoys "great popularity in... the USA", and yet I have never heard of it. In addition, I'm sure it's very difficult to play (you have to refrain from breathing if you want a chance at the puck, so that's already pretty bad), but 'octopush'? That is not exactly conducive to a sport being taken seriously.

A big contributing factor, I think, to its relatively unknown status (at least to me) is that you can't WATCH it. It's all underwater, and the only way you could ever really watch it is 1. get in the water yourself or 2. be a spectator of a tournament big enough to warrant live underwater filming. The observational aspect of it is probably much worse than watching water polo, because although there is a lot of splashing going on in water polo, making it difficult to see exactly what is going on, at least the players are above the water's surface. When the object you're putting around is on the bottom of the pool, however, there's really no point in keeping your head above water for any extended period of time.

Macarons and macaroons are DIFFERENT

Macarons and macaroons are DIFFERENT

I am sick and tired of reading posts about macarons where the authors of the post mistakenly write "macaroons" to refer to the French confection 'macaron'. Even the people who write on Tastespotting sometimes confuse the two, and these people are, more often than not, supposed to be foodies. The two are DIFFERENT ENTITIES. Now I understand that they have the same root, but macarons are NOT macaroons. Case in point:

1. Macaroon (via georgie_grd through Wikipedia)

Above: the common American macaroon. Made of egg whites, sugar, and shredded coconut. Often dipped in chocolate. NOT referred to in France as a "macaron", but rather as a "congolais". Delicious and soft (I'm partial to coconut), but nothing special. VERY easy to make (I swear, all you do is beat up some egg whites with sugar and dump some coconut in). Flavor profile: coconut. Obviously.


2. Macaron (via roboppy through Wikipedia)

The French macaron. Made of almond flour, egg whites, sugar, and any creamy filling you can possibly imagine. Notoriously difficult to make; you have to make sure the cookies rise and become airy and chewy, that your macaron have 'feet' (those little ruffled things around each cookie), that your cookies are flat, that their delicate tops don't crack during baking, that they don't burn (the horror). All this has resulted in numerous and varied accounts online on how to ensure the creation of a successful macaron. People go to great lengths to make a good macaron (sometimes aging their egg whites for up to a week, unrefrigerated!) Flavor profile: anything you can think of (above, as you can see, are fig-hibiscus macarons). REALLY expensive, but SO DELICIOUS. I must go to France, just for the authentic version of these. These and croissants.

Here's a link to arguably the most hyped confectionary selling macarons in business today, Pierre Hermé. Too bad his stores aren't open in the US; I would totally go EVERY DAY. Ladurée is also pretty well known (and their macarons are HUGE), but most people seem to prefer Pierre's. Now I know that Ladurée's English version website refers to macarons as "macaroons", but I forgive them because they are French and "macaroon" is the English equivalent word translation for "macaron", even though it doesn't refer to the same food.

If that isn't enough to get you to Paris, March 20th is France's NATIONAL MACARON DAY, meaning that patisseries in France give out free macarons (or deeply discounted macarons). Someone come to Paris with me PLEASE.

Hipster food round-up

Hipster food round-up

Flavorwire has put together an entertaining list of "hipster" foods for their fictional Hipster Cookbook Table of Contents. It includes Appetizers ("Things you can wrap in bacon", "PBR-battered tofu"), Entrees ("Organic, free-range, locally-sourced meats you can eat raw"), and desserts ("Artisanal ice cream: Who wants vanilla when you could have lime-basil-chili pepper?"). But my favorite category is Brunch: Because breakfast is too early. A sampling:

Yogurt: The expensive, foreign, unsweetened kind. Try spelling it “yoghurt”
Oatmeal: The chunky, Irish kind that takes two hours to make. Hey, it’s not like you have a job to worry about
Huevos rancheros: Mexican food makes you sound gritty and cultured at the same time
Grits: An easy way to convince people you’ve been to the South
The high-end Egg McMuffin: All the blue-collar street cred, none of the indigestion

You know they're talking about Greek yogurt and steel-cut oats. See more here. (via Flavorwire)

(photo via Bart Lacks through Wikipedia)

Hamster shows

Hamster shows

There are plenty of people who bring their dogs to dog shows, their cats to cat shows, and their horses to horse shows. But there exists as well a niche for those who only own hamsters: hamster shows. For $2 (if you are not a member and you are entering your hamster into a 'standard' class), you can enter your hamster into the California Hamster Association's hamster show, and you will receive a large rosette or medal if your hamster wins any of 8 standard categories, which include "Best In Show Dwarf" and "Best In Show Syrian". There are rules for showing: for instance, you have to have your award-winning hamster housed in a standard show pen to maintain anonymity in the judging process, and you have to have standard bedding for them as well. Of course, if you live in the UK, you don't have to be constrained by this US show; there are plenty of UK shows to choose from if you Google it.

If you're interested in entering your hamster into the CHA hamster show, their website is here. Alternatively, if you have a turtle that you would like to enter into a turtle show, you can enter the New York Turtle and Tortoise Society's annual show. Yes, there are turtle shows too.