Sapere Aude
Month: March 2018
Are you so ramen-obsessed that you feel the need to publicly declare your allegiance to Menya Musashi’s tsukemen over rival Tokyo chain Setagaya’s? Of course you are. Now, Uniqlo has come to your rescue. The clothing chain just released a collection of tees with graphics honoring Japan’s top ramen shops, so you can now wear the logo of your favorite “world-renowned Japanese ramen shop” in a $15, 100% cotton design.
When E.A.K. Ramen opened, it stood out in this ramen-crazed city by serving iekei-style ramen. That style of soup — which submerges thick noodles in a creamy tonkotsu-shoyu broth blend, topped with spinach, seaweed, and chashu (roast pork belly) — was difficult, if not impossible, to previously find. “Shio ramen is often a category in Japan, but it can be boring. It’s too plain, so it needed a stronger flavor. We wanted to really differentiate our shio ramen option from the shoyu signature, since the differences are so subtle.” The team landed on the addition of butter and garlic oil, with an added aesthetic bonus of the stark broth-to-oil contrast for a “cute” visual. The body parts of a chicken (but not the wings) are added into this second-step broth pot, which also includes some previously made, fully finished broth from the day prior, kind of like the mother or starter used to make bread. “It’s not a 1-generation thing. It needs to ‘inherit’ older broth, to really change the flavor”. This 2nd, main vat of broth then cooks for 24 hours. There’s also a 3rd “sub-pot,” so when the main vat of broth gets too concentrated, some of this more-diluted broth can be poured in, typically every 30 minutes. “The broth really needs to be taken care of, almost like a baby”.
if you’ve ever wanted to dabble in robotics or motion control, but have been daunted by control theory and arcane driver protocols (like I’ve been), check out the IQ Position Module. They are crowdfunding now at CrowdSupply. I backed their campaign to reserve a few more Position Modules for my lab – by wrapping a smart computer around a dumb motor, they’ve created a widget that lets me go from code to physical position and back with a minimal amount of wiring and an accessible API.
Neighborhood pizzerias are the backbone of New York City’s vernacular cuisine — easily as important as hot dog carts, Chinese-American carry-outs, soul food cafes, and pastrami sandwiches in defining the city’s historic culinary landscape. Since the 1950s, these stalwarts have unceasingly provided delicious nourishment at astonishingly cheap prices to rich and poor alike, but their massive achievements have largely gone unsung.
Killer gets 180-day sentence for YouTube stunt gone wrong
They planned on taking the Internet by storm with footage of Perez firing a gun at Ruiz, who believed that he could stop a bullet with nothing more than a hardcover book. There were a couple of issues with this plan. First, trusting a book to protect you from death, unless you’re boning up on how to make an anti-venom, is insane. Second, the pistol that Perez fired at her beau was a .50 caliber Desert Eagle. For the uninitiated, this is an insanely powerful handgun. With the right load, a round fired from it can bop through a bulletproof vest or pierce light ceramic or steel armor. In short, there was a very high probability that a book wasn’t going to cut it.
Despite this, Perez stood 30 cm away from her man and fired a single round. It went through the book! It went into him! He was killed! She got it all on tape, with not one, but 2 cameras. When Ruiz went down, she called 911 and told the operator what had happened. In December, Perez plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter. She was sentenced to 180-days in jail for the crime.
Angelo Iezzi — an incredibly well-known and respected pizza maker in Rome — has teamed up with a restaurateur here to open a Roman pizzeria on the Upper East Side. Called PQR, it will sell what’s known as pizza al taglio, or by the cut. This square style of pizza has an airy dough with a crisp bottom and tender interior, and Iezzi is known as a modern master of it.
The Chinese have 2 different concepts of a copy. Fangzhipin (仿製品) are imitations where the difference from the original is obvious. These are small models or copies that can be purchased in a museum shop, for example. The second concept for a copy is fuzhipin (複製品). They are exact reproductions of the original, which, for the Chinese, are of equal value to the original. It has absolutely no negative connotations. The discrepancy with regard to the understanding of what a copy is has often led to misunderstandings and arguments between China and Western museums. The Chinese often send copies abroad instead of originals, in the firm belief that they are not essentially different from the originals. The rejection that then comes from the Western museums is perceived by the Chinese as an insult.
Té Company in the West Village is that rare tearoom known as much for its excellent food as for its focused selection of meticulously sourced teas and the care with which they’re served. Credit for that goes to Frederico Ribeiro, a Portuguese-born former Per Se sous chef who eschewed predictable finger sandwiches and scones for a daily-changing menu of seasonal, Iberian-accented small plates, and whole-wheat sourdough bread better than what you could find at the city’s top bakeries.
New York City has a tradition of selling property for only $1. This token transaction amount, as we mentioned in a previous post, is often used as a development incentive for potential buyers, who need to show they have plans and the funds to execute their vision. Now, thanks to the $1 LOTS project, we can see all of the city-owned lots of land sold to developers for $1 since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in January 2014.
A total of 13123 site years of field trials were conducted from 2005 to 2015 for the 3 crops (n=6089 for maize, 3300 for rice and 3734 for wheat), with sites spread across all agro-ecological zones. Each field trial included 2 types of management: conventional farmers’ practice (control) and ISSM-based recommendations (treatment; developed specifically for a given area). The recommended practices were discussed with local experts and participating farmers. Adjustments were made when necessary. Finally, the agreed-upon management technologies were implemented in the fields by the farmer; the collaborators provided guidance on-site during key operations, such as sowing, fertilization, irrigation and harvest. Campaign collaborators recorded fertilizer rate, pesticide and energy use, and calculated nutrient application rate. At maturity, grain yield and above ground biomass were sampled by the collaborators for plots with a size of 6m^2 for wheat and rice, and 10m^2 for maize. Plant samples were dried at 70 °C in a forced-draft oven to constant weight, and grain yield was standardized at 14% moisture for all crops.
Gregor J. Rothfuss 