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wine psych April 25, 2008

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Via Mind Hacks, an article from The Psychologist about wine — plenty of stuff in there regardless of whether you’re more interested in vino than in psych, or vice versa.

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weekly photo #75: Sunset March 19, 2008

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Sunset
I took this photo as the sun was setting over the Cheptsa River, which is in the Republic of Udmurtia, part of the Russian Federation. We were on a long (which means three weeks on-site) arms control inspection. This was our first Saturday on-site, or, rather, off-site, since we drove out to spend the day at a picnic. Sure, I remember the long hours inspecting, the tensions of cabin fever with nothing to do but read, play cards, or table tennis. But what I really remember is the slow-grilled shashlik and home-made strawberry compote — hands down some of the best food I have ever had.

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Got sauce? February 19, 2008

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South Kakalaky* bbq regions from Strange Maps.

*No, I don’t know how to spell it…

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good news / bad news February 13, 2008

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So, I had a sip of Johnnie Walker Blue tonight…

Good news: best whiskey I’ve ever had, without a shred of doubt.

Bad news: now even The Macallan just doesn’t taste quite so good…

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a handful of links on… January 15, 2008

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EconoSpeak on legal personage.

FP on the dangers of Russian wordplay.

Freakonomics has an insider on the perils — for the voters — of US electioneering.

Overcoming Bias on when not to trust a mathematical proof.

Marginal Revolution on perception as reality.

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perception and reality January 14, 2008

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Over at Mind Hacks, a post about how our perception of wine impacts how good we think it is (not a big surprise). But there’s a bit more:

“Interestingly, there was no difference in the brain areas directly related to experiencing taste, and the researchers suggest that the belief that the wine is more expensive probably doesn’t directly change our sensory experience, but leads us to think that the experience is more ‘valuable’.”

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food forward January 1, 2008

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I can’t believe I’ve never heard of this. Here’s a Pop!Cast by Homaru Cantu, of Moto restaurant in Chicago. Basically, it’s him and his crew doing crazy things with food, including lasing vanilla beans, making frozen pancakes with liquid nitrogen, and creating edible menus.

Here’s an example description of their ‘donut soup’, given by Ben Roche:

“I’m not suggesting that you try and put donuts into a juicer, ’cause nothing’s gonna come out of that, but if it did, it would be that stuff.”

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do dna (dohd nah) January 1, 2008

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Via A Blog Around the Clock, here’s a great post at Sunday Night Dinner on how to drink vodka the right way (hint: Red Bull is for pussies). I’m gonna have to request some of this Marusya stuff next time a colleague heads to the ol’ rodina.

I must admit, though, I’m surprised she didn’t mention anything about dark Russian rye bread…

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brain food December 26, 2007

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One of the conundrums of early human evolution is what led to our break from the ancestral form — and specifically, to our big brains. An upcoming story in Scientific American discusses Richard Wrangham’s idea that it might have been cooking. Some quotes to whet your appetite from the interview:

“So the average human diet has, even in the more fibrous hunter-gatherer types, 5 to 10 percent, say, indigestible fiber. With our chimp studies, they eat 32 percent indigestible fiber. So that is something that the human body is not designed to handle.”

“I tend to think of the advent of cooking as having a huge impact on the quality of the diet. In fact, I can’t think of any increase in the quality of diet in the history of life that is bigger.”

And from the article:

“In the 10 years since coming on his theory, Wrangham has stacked up considerable evidence to support it, yet many archaeologists, paleontologists and anthropologists argue that he is just plain wrong… Furthermore, archaeological data does not support the use of controlled fire during the period Wrangham’s theory requires it to.”

And a hat-tip to MR.

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