Hasta La Gadget!

The act of sous-viding is a poetic affair. Like a flower blooming, the process is long and gradual and, watching it progress can be an optical illusion. Sous vide cooks long and low, yielding delicate results over time. So, after watching an egg submerged for an hour, you may want to blink a bit and take a closer look.

I recently bought a Nomiku — the home sous viding magic trick. With it, I found that you can cook almost anything, from seafood to a rack of lamb, and let the science of sous-vide do the work for you, delivering consistent results every single time. Because eggs are easily one of the most heat-sensitive ingredients, I decided to run a few tests. To sous-vide means to seal an ingredient in a vacuum-tight bag and immerse it under water at a consistent temperature. With the egg, a bag isn’t necessary since it has it’s shell. I was pleasantly seduced by each and every egg that came out of the water. It was #yolkporn at its best.

Here were my results:

The 62 egg: The white is of a halfway set gelatin consistency and the yolk runs like a hollandaise sauce.

The 63 egg: The white is noticeably firmer but still begs to be handled with care, and the yolk slowly peaks out but doesn’t travel far, similar to a custard.

The 64 egg: The white holds its egg-like shape and doesn’t seem to want to burst like the two proceeding eggs. The yolk retains a globular form, and where the knife cuts through, the edges round out.

The 65 egg: The white is pillowy and a little tighter, and the yolk more malleable than the 64 egg.

The 66 egg: The whites is creamy but can be held up with a fork, and the yolk can actually be cut through.

The 67 egg: The white is still slippery but creamier and the yolk takes after the consistency of play-doh or softened butter.

The 68 egg: The white has set and the yolk is slightly granular. It begins to look more like a boiled egg.

Slow-cooking eggs is a method preferred by those that have the luxury of extra time, but it is a technique that requires little effort. The differences of one degree makes endless varieties of eggs, from saucy to chewy, and its uses are limitless. Texture takes on an entirely different meaning, where the characteristics of each egg becomes strikingly distinct. I found that with sous vide, though I was a bit skeptical of a new-fangled cooking machine entering my kitchen, my appreciation for the simple egg reached new heights.

Today, I am giving away a Nomiku on my instagram: @theculinistas to spread the love.

Also, an intern wrote a poem about it!

An Ode to Sous Vide by Priscilla Kim
A marigold yolk unveils itself,
letting the white slip away. It oozes over a slice of bread
like a thick creamy sauce. My egg had been sitting
under water at 62 degrees Celsius for one hour.
A gently cracked shell exposes
a tender flesh that when slit exposes
a sunny yellow perfect for morning toast.

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Fujifilm is set to launch their newest compact system camera, the X-T10. Aimed at photography enthusiasts, this compact and lightweight camera boasts a 16.3MP APS-C X-TransTM CMOS II sensor, a 2.36million dot organic EL electronic viewfinder with an impressive 0.62×1 magnification ratio, a 3.0-inch 920k-dot tilting LCD monitor, an SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot, an HDMI output port and built-in WiFi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity.

Powered by Fujifilm’s EXR Processor II engine, the X-T10 has the ability to capture 1080p Full HD or 720p HD video at 60fps, 50fps, 30fps, 25fps and 24fps in MOV (H.264) format.

Coming in black and silver color options, the Fujifilm X-T10 will go on sale in the UK from mid-late June for 499 GBP / $780 (Body Only). [PhotographyBlog]

Photo Credit: Keith Allison

The “Deflategate” saga has moved into the penalty phase. Now, eyes are predominantly set on Tom Brady, star quarterback, and the on-field face of the New England Patriots. The verdict was a four game suspension to begin at the beginning of the 2015 season, which has garnered the support of most NFL fans, and the understandable ire of New England Patriots fans.

As expected, Tom Brady filed his appeal last week. The NFLPA made the letter public on Friday, making the main appeal points available for all to see. They make three points, one of which we are going to discuss. The letter mentions that the penalty is “grossly inconsistent with the League’s prior disciplinary treatment of similar alleged conduct, including lack of cooperation and not complying with League rules regarding game balls or other equipment.”

To put it into context, there really is no history regarding equipment and game ball rules. There just haven’t been issues and complaints with regards to players breaking these rules. It goes on to state, “Indeed, no player in the history of the NFL has ever received anything approaching this level of discipline for similar behavior.” But is that really the case?

If we look back into NFL history, the argument made doesn’t really hold water.

Back in 1925, Art Folz was a backup quarterback for the Chicago Cardinals. In the early days of the NFL, teams were responsible for their own schedules, so they would schedule weaker opponents in order to bolster their record. The Milwaukee Badgers were one of those teams, and they were on the late season schedule of the Cardinals.

Folz convinced four high school players to join the Badgers under assumed names in order to ensure the team being too weak to handle the Cardinals. This attempt to undermine the integrity of the game earned Folz a lifetime ban, although it was later rescinded.

In 1946, the Bears faced the New York Giants in the NFL championship game. Frank Filchock and Merle Hapes were members of the Giants, playing QB and RB respectively. Prior to the game, each were accused of taking bribes to fix the upcoming game. Hapes admitted guilt prior to the game, and was suspended for the game. Filchock denied it, played the game and later admitted guilt at the trial of the man accused of bribing the players.

Both Filchock and Hapes also received lifetime bans from football for clearly undermining the integrity of the sport.

Now, to compare the severity of these situations to Tom Brady is to be blind to reality. I am in no way saying that due to these previous incidents, Tom Brady should receive a lifetime ban from the NFL. Far from it. Looking at it honestly, even a full year ban for Brady would have been an overreaction.

Nor am I evaluating Tom Brady’s guilt or innocence. This is based on an assumed guilt, because that is what the report has found, whether you agree or not.
Based on that, these incidents are comparable because they all infringe on the integrity of the National Football League. Deflating footballs is not the same as taking a bribe, not even close. Deflating footballs is not the same as hiring inferior players to play for an opponent, not even close. But all three incidents, to varying degrees, have an impact on the play on the field.

Drawing that parallel, doesn’t Tom Brady deserve SOME suspension for being part of a scheme to commit conduct detrimental to the game? In context, a four game suspension is actually reasonable, and does have history to back it up.

For more from Alan Schechter, check him out at End Zone Score.

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In light of the recent terrorist attack that killed 45 people in Pakistan some find it hard to believe that energy scarcity might be the country’s greatest security threat. Yet electricity shortages have directly fed the extremist cause while undermining the legitimacy of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government, potentially more than any other factor.

Pakistan’s national power grid has an “installed” capacity of over 20,000 megawatts (MW) but because of poor infrastructure and the government’s inability to pay energy providers, shortages can run as high as 7,000MW during peak demand in the summer. Pakistan’s high population growth rate, to make matters worse, is expected to push demand to 100,000MW by 2030.

According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Water and Power, load-shedding, or rolling blackouts, have led to power outages that can reach 12 to 16 hours per day. During these periods up to 70% of the population lives on less than 300 units of electricity, enough to power a fan, two light bulbs and an electronic charger. Constant blackouts have sparked riots, a commonplace occurrence in Pakistan since 2008, that comprise of road blocks, strikes, attacks on utility offices and even the homes of politicians.

The root causes of the energy crisis can be found in Pakistan’s fuel mix, which is skewed towards expensive, imported fuels and the government’s policy to charge consumers less for electricity than it costs to produce.

Power companies rarely collect in full outstanding balances from customers, including the government, which means they can’t pay their own bills, thereby creating a “circular debt” crisis. Cash-strapped power generators lack funds to procure the fuel needed to run plants at full capacity, leading to perpetual outages.

Environmental stressors like water scarcity have exacerbated Pakistan’s energy shortfall. Pakistani officials predict that within 7 years the country will be water-starved, a foreboding prospect for a country that derives 30% of its energy from hydropower. The situation has grown so desperate that, at times, the government relies on monsoonal rains to increase inflow volumes and ease power shortages.

The severe black outs that ignite near term rioting only tell part of the story, however, because energy shortages have hurt economic productivity and cost Pakistan millions of jobs. In fact, the energy crisis shaves off up to 4%, or $9.2 billion, from Pakistan’s GDP on an annual basis.

Electricity shortages have led to factory shutdowns, rising unemployment and increases in poverty levels. Dislocated workers in Pakistan have grown alienated over the past decade because of the government’s failure to literally keep the lights on and businesses running.

Pakistan’s energy crisis, one former economic advisor argued, has provided a “fertile breeding ground for extremism and insurgency against the state.” Government failure to provide basic services like electricity and employment have allowed extremists to fill the void.

Disaffected young men are not only susceptible to ideology, they join insurgent movements because the militants can actually provide them with jobs. According to one survey, 75% of households in Pakistan said family members signed up with militant groups for the sake of employment.

Sharif, who came to power in 2013 on promises to resolve the energy crisis, has failed to implement fundamental policy shifts to effectively alleviate the problem. Predicted shortages this summer could provoke societal unrest that may pose an existential threat to Sharif’s government, which is already in jeopardy of being overthrown by the military, according to Wilson Center scholar Michael Kugelman.

Sharif has turned to Beijing to save the day, although some claim his recent moves are more about political show and geopolitical designs than they are about filling the electricity gap.

China will reportedly invest $45 billion in Pakistan, a large bulk of which is dedicated to doubling the country’s electricity output. This includes a 900MW solar power plant, two nuclear power plants that could add another 2,200MW to the national grid, in addition to a 720MW hydropower project targeted to go online by 2020.

But skeptics are fair to question the efficacy of these supposed solutions, considering that by 2022 Pakistan is expected to run out of water, a considerable amount of which is needed to operate hydropower as well as nuclear power plants.

To be sure, factors like U.S. drone strikes and Islamabad’s history of grooming terrorist groups to achieve regional security objectives have played a major role in the spread of extremism within Pakistan. However, there is little doubt that unemployed youth, dislocated as the result of electricity shortages, provide insurgents with a deep vulnerable pool from which to recruit.

If Pakistan fails to address the energy sector’s circular debt dilemma, irrational electricity tariffs, water scarcity and reliance on expensive fuel inputs, China alone will be unable to solve Pakistan’s energy crisis or save Sharif from a restless population weary of being left in the dark.

Mr. Hughes’ opinions are his own.

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Movie Review – Jackie K Cooper
“Where Hope Grows” (Godspeed Pictures)

“Where Hope Grows” is a heart-warming movie. Do people even say that any more? That something is heart-warming. I guess it is old fashioned to call it that but “Where Hope Grows” is an old fashioned kind of movie in that it harkens back to a time where movies promoted positive values. There are many messages in this film and they are all good ones. The story informed me – and warmed my heart.

The focus of the film is Calvin Campbell (Kristoffer Polaha). This man was once on the fast track to baseball stardom. He made it as far as the majors and choked. He just couldn’t handle the pressure. Now he is back in his small town home town living with his seventeen year old daughter Katie (McKaley Miller) and spending his time with his high school buddies.

Calvin doesn’t see much of a future ahead of him so he drowns his sorrows in the bottle. He lives on his savings and is unemployed. He is clueless as to what problems his daughter is facing, especially those concerning her overly demanding boyfriend Colt (Michael Grant). He is pressuring her for a sexual relationship and her defenses are getting weaker.

Everyone’s life changes when Calvin enters into a friendship with Produce (David DeSanctis), a young man with Down Syndrome who works at the local grocery store. Produce has a very positive outlook on life and it inspires Calvin to try to clean up his act.

There is a lot more to the story but it all centers around this basic plot. All that is added is both dramatic and inspirational, and all of it draws you into the story completely. You care about these characters, especially Calvin and Produce, and you want to know what the impact of all these events is going to be on their lives.

Both Polaha and DeSanctis are amazing in their roles. The chemistry and interplay between these two actors make the movie. Polaha has been seen on television and in the movies so a little bit of professional talent is expected from him. But for DeSanctis this is his first role and he is wonderful. You will not soon forget his performance.

The movie is rated PG-13 for adult situations and mild violence.

Where Hope Grows” is on a limited number of screens so if you want to see it you will have to seek it out. It is one of those movies that is worth the effort to find. Once you are viewing it time slips away and it is over much too soon. Now how many movies can affect you in that way.

“Where Hope Grows” is worth seeing for its story, its message, its acting and the actual beauty of the experience. That is what it did for me in addition to warming my heart.

I scored “Where Hope Grows” a thriving 7 out of 10.

Jackie K Cooper
www.jackiekcooper.com

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