Sun melts steel

Remember Mythbusters tried to work out if Archimedes really did defeat an invading navy by setting fire to their boats with a parabolic mirror. Behold the power of the sun …

Our toilets - one of the top 10 best gadgets for 2008

We get a lot of comments about our new toilets - those that ‘get’ the concept applaud the innovative water saving design. Those that don’t understand what’s happening complain that the tap won’t stop running. I noticed that at popular mechanics, the caroma smart flush is one of the top 10 best gadgets for 2008 - a huge accolade for an Australian invention.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a video that explains what all the fuss is about:

King Richard II’s recipe book goes online

The Forme of Curry was written in 1390 in middle english containing over 200 recipes used in the royal court. It is an extremely rare manuscript that the library of Oxford are about to digitally copy and put online for all to see.

Luckily for you, I’ve found a great text only version of this book and surprisingly, middle english isn’t that hard to read - not as bad as Beowulf at least.

Here’s a recipe for cooking geese: (seems the middle aged people loved a hot pot):

GEES IN HOGGEPOT [1]. XXXI.

Take Gees and smyte hem on pecys. cast hem in a Pot do þerto half
wyne and half water. and do þerto a gode quantite of Oynouns and
erbest. Set it ouere the fyre and couere [2] it fast. make a layour
of brede and blode an lay it þerwith. do þerto powdour fort and serue
it fort.

The Introduction to the book written in 1780 made some great observations of what our Anglican ancestors ate around roman times:

The Aborigines of Britain, to come nearer home, could have no great
expertness in Cookery, as they had no oil, and we hear nothing of
their butter, they used only sheep and oxen, eating neither hares,
though so greatly esteemed at Rome, nor hens, nor geese, from a
notion of superstition. Nor did they eat fish. There was little corn
in the interior part of the island, but they lived on milk and flesh
[11]; though it is expressly asserted by Strabo that they had no
cheese [12]. The later Britons, however, well knew how to make the
best use of the cow, since, as appears from the laws of _Hoel Dda_,
A.D. 943, this animal was a creature so essential, so common and
useful in Wales, as to be the standard in rating fines, &c. [13].

More interestingly is the sheer range of exotic spices available to the royal court. Here’s a sauce that uses galangal, a spice that really only became widely known here with the interest in Thai cooking:

SAWSE MADAME.

Take sawge. persel. ysope. and saueray. quinces. and peeres [1],
garlek and Grapes. and fylle the gees þerwith. and sowe the hole þat
no grece come out. and roost hem wel. and kepe the grece þat fallith
þerof. take galytyne and grece and do in a possynet, whan the gees
buth rosted ynowh; take an smyte hem on pecys. and þat tat [2] is
withinne and do it in a possynet and put þerinne wyne if it be to
thyk. do þerto powdour of galyngale. powdour douce and salt and boyle
the sawse and dresse þe Gees in disshes and lay þe sowe onoward.

Which in modern english reads: Take sage, parsley, hyssop and savoury, quinces and pears, garlic and grapes, and stuff the geese with them. Sew the hole so that no grease comes out, and roast them well, and keep the dripping that falls from them. Take galyntyne [sauce or jelly of meat juices] and grease and add to a posset; when the geese be roasted enough, take and smite [cut] them into pieces, and that which is within and add to a posset and put wine in it if it be too thick. Add powder of galingale, powder-douce and salt, and boil the sauce and dress the geese in dishes and put the sauce on them.)

If you love food and history, grab a coffee and spend half an hour skipping through the text version of this amazing book.

Once again in the introduction there’s an amazing detail of the various spices used at the time, the entry for sugar shows just how intricate the trade routes were back in the middle ages:

Sugar, or Sugur [103], was now beginning here to take place of honey;
however, they are used together, No. 67. Sugar came from the Indies,
by way of Damascus and Aleppo, to Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, and from
these last places to us [104]. It is here not only frequently used,
but was of various sorts, as _cypre_, No. 41. 99. 120. named probably
from the isle of Cyprus, whence it might either come directly to us,
or where it had received some improvement by way of refining. There
is mention of _blanch-powder or white sugar_, 132. They, however,
were not the same, for see No. 193. Sugar was clarified sometimes
with wine [105].

Spices. _Species_. They are mentioned in general No. 133, and _whole
spices_, 167, 168. but they are more commonly specified, and are
indeed greatly used, though being imported from abroad, and from so
far as Italy or the Levant (and even there must be dear), some may
wonder at this: but it shouid be considered, that our Roll was
chiefly compiled for the use of noble and princely tables; and the
same may be said of the Editor’s MS. The spices came from the same
part of the world, and by the same route, as sugar did. The _spicery_
was an ancient department at court, and had its proper officers.

As to the particular sorts, these are,

Cinamon. is the Italian _Canella_. See Chaucer. We have the flour or
powder, No. 20. 62. See Wiclif. It is not once mentioned in Apicius.

Macys, They are used whole, No. 158. and are always expressed plurally, though we
now use the singular, _mace_. See Junii Etym.

Cloves. No. 20. Dishes are flourished with them, where we have _clowys gylofres_, as in our Roll, No.
_Powdour gylofre_ occurs 65. 191. Chaucer has _clowe_ in the singular, and see him v. Clove-gelofer.

Galyngal, 30. and elsewhere. Galangal, the long rooted cyperus [106], is a warm cardiac and cephalic. It is used in powder, 30. 47. and was the chief ingredient in _galentine_, which, I think, took its name
from it.

Pepper. It appears from Pliny that this pungent, warm seasoning, so much in esteem at Rome [107], came from the East Indies [108], and, as we may suppose, by way of Alexandria. We obtained it no doubt, in the 14th century, from the same quarter, though not exactly by the same route, but by Venice or Genoa. It is used both whole, No. 35, and in powder, No. 83. And long-pepper occurs, if we read the place rightly, in No. 191.

Ginger, gyngyn. 64. 136. alibi. Powder is used, 17. 20. alibi. and
Rabelais IV. c. 59. the white powder, 131. and it is the name of a
mess, 139. quare whether _gyngyn_ is not misread for _gyngyr_, for
see Junii Etym. The Romans had their ginger from Troglodytica [109].

Slow Motion Lightning

Amazing view of lightning shot with a high speed camera:

Leaves and spray paint = art

Not food related but very cool - grab a cheap chinese canvas from a hobby shop and some spraypaint and you’re ready to make some high end art. Well at least that’s my plan for my 8 year old niece and I this weekend. This video shows you how:

How much food does your family throw away?

The daily mail has an interesting article that really made me think about just how much food we buy and how much of it ends in the bin. The image below shows a weekly shop for one of the participants in the survey - half of it will end up in the bin.

What a waste… my family is throwing away �1,800 worth of food a year | the Daily Mail

How important is spelling… really

I have to confess that I don’t have the greatest attention to detail. But what I saw next really proves that spelling isn’t that necessary.
Read these jumbled up words for the full story:

History of religion

A really cool animated map showing the spread of religion - 5,000 years in 90 secs. While not food related I found it quite interesting to see the spread of ideas over the millenia.

Viamapsofwar.com

Bizzare Japanese Lunch boxes

Earlier we blogged about those weird Japanese ice-cream flavours… and now I know how the Japanese get their kids to eat this weird stuff… they make it look cool. Root Coffee has fabulous photos of Japanese Bento Boxes - A bento is traditionally made in a 4:3:2:1 ratio: 4 parts of rice, 3 parts of the side dish (either meat or fish), 2 parts of vegetables, and 1 part of a serving of pickled vegetables or a dessert. However, almost anything can be used to make a bento. And here’s how you get a kid to eat raw fish:

Wouldn’t you love a mum who made a lunch box like that?

Bangkok’s ghost buildings

On our tag-along tours we often pass semi-completed sky scrapers that have been abandoned after the money dried up during the Asian financial crisis. With no money to complete the buildings (most are structurally unsound due to exposure to the elements) and costs of demolition too high, these buildings dot the skyline. Here’s an interesting video taking you on a tour of these ghost structures: