2.28.2013

Which Fresh Vegetables Last The Longest?

If you're like me, you may buy fresh veggies and fruits with the best of intentions, just to forget about them and find them weeks later, rotting in the crisper drawer.

My own onions, taking matters into their own hands after being ignored for a while.

Thankfully, OrganicGardening.com compiled a list of the top 11 longest-lasting types of produce and how to keep them fresh. Here's the rundown (click on the address link to see more details and tips):

1. Apples: they can last for weeks sealed in a bag in the crisper drawer of your fridge.

2. Beets: remove the stems and they can last 2-4 months in your fridge.

3. Cabbage: they can last up to 2 months wrapped in plastic in the fridge.

4. Carrots: keep them as dry as possible by putting paper towel in their bag, and they can last several weeks to a couple of months.

5. Celeriac: as long as you keep it moist (or wrapped to preserve its own moisture) and in the fridge, it will last a couple of weeks, even after being cut.

6. Garlic: it will last the longest in a dark kitchen cabinet or in a brown paper bag in the fridge.

7. Onions: keep in a cool, dark location in a mesh bag and they can last for up to a month or longer.

8. Potatoes: they will last usually between 2-4 months in a cool, dark location, like in a basement cabinet.

9. Winter Radishes: remove the greens and store them like you would carrots and they'll last for about a month.

10. Winter Squash (Pumpkins, Butternut, etc): these can last for 2-6 months when kept in a dark place.

11. Rutabagas: store them as you would celeriac and they'll last several weeks.

Of course, as the website also recommends, you can also opt for frozen veggies, which are frozen within hours of being picked (so they are always fresh!) and will never go bad. :)

2.18.2013

How To Chop An Onion

According to Lifehacker.com, knife accidents led to 33,000 ER visits in 2011. The following video shows how you can chop or dice an onion safely and effectively, so you save kitchen time and hopefully don't become another statistic. :)

(thanks to Debra Shigley, Lifehacker contributor and chopper extraordinaire!)

12.26.2012

Huey Lewis's "Back To The Future" Cameo!

I might just be the last person alive in the 1980s to learn this!

But do you remember that pivotol scene in Back To The Future, where Marty's band, The Pinheads, is trying out for their school's Battle of The Bands? And they are doing a great cover of Huey Lewis & The News' "The Power of Love"? And the stiff nerdy adult judges stop them to say "it's just too darn loud"?


In case you need a reminder!

As it turns out, the judge with the megaphone is Huey Lewis, my brother informed me on Christmas day! What's a fun ironic part for him.

That movie is brilliant. :)

11.26.2012

Original Titles For Classic Novels

Sometimes authors go through several novel names before landing on one. Below are some examples of title "first drafts" of books whose names have become part of our culture.

Doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

1. The Strike by Ayn Rand

2. The High-Bouncing Lover by F. Scott Fitzgerald

3. Atticus by Harper Lee

4. The Last Man In Europe by George Orwell
(1984)

5. Fiesta by Ernest Hemingway

6. First Impressions by Jane Austin

7. Catch-11 by Joseph Heller

8. Mistress Mary by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I would imagine some of our slang would have been much different if some of these titles ended up getting published. Would we call a no-win situation a "Catch-11", you think? :)


9.28.2012

Your Left Side Is Likely Your "Good Side"

Straight from September's issue of Reader's Digest:
Your "good" side is more science than pose. Scientists at Wake Forest University showed research subjects photographs of 20 male and female faces taken from opposite angles. The participants uniformly found the left side of the faces more appealing than the right. 
Since the brain's right hemisphere is better at signaling emotion than the left - and controls the left side of the face - facial expressions tend to be stronger on the left. 
Perhaps that's why iconic paintings like Vermeer's Girl With The Pearl Earring lead with the left side.

Which photo of Angelina do you think looks better? 
Science says the one on the right!