Pizza 101 - Tested: Does a Pizza Stone Really Make a Better Crust? - "The difference was subtle, if it was any difference at all. Yes, it seemed the pizza stone (left) was able to give the dough that first blast of heat faster than the pan did (right). If I really thought about it, the stone-baked pizza might have been slightly more evenly cooked. But that was only if I forced myself, upon each bite, to think about the properties of heat transfer of each of the materials—and not, as is my want, to be more concerned about enjoying the pizza as I wolf it down."
Drivers in Beijing get fake married for a licence plate (really) to beat wait of up to nine years caused by rationing | South China Morning Post - "How far would you go to obtain a licence plate for a car?In Chinese cities, the rationing of plates to limit car use – as a way to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion – has spawned a cottage industry of entrepreneurs who offer ways of jumping the queue.The capital, Beijing, with its notorious smogand jammed streets, has strict limits on the number of licence plates it issues – meaning there are over 3,000 applicants for every plate for a petrol vehicle.Those seeking a licence plate for an electric car through the official channels can be kept waiting for up to nine years, the local traffic authority says... Phoney marriages are also used widely in China by people claiming compensation when residential buildings are demolished, as the country undergoes rapid urbanisation. Many single people get hitched in a hurry after being notified their homes are to be torn down, because an extra inhabitant earns the household more compensation from the developer or the government. These couples typically split the money, then split up.Last year, 11 members of an extended family in eastern China reportedly married and divorced each other 23 times in a fortnight to cash in on an urban renewal project when their village was earmarked for demolition. This entitled 13 more of them to claim a government payout."
Curry puffs: how a Portuguese snack arrived in Southeast Asia in the 1500s and became a hit across the region | South China Morning Post - "Sweet or savoury, enjoyed as appetisers or snacks, tiny puffs with a variety of fillings are a delicacy across Southeast Asia. From Malaysia and Singapore to Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, various types of puff are based on a popular colonial import.Curry puffs – called epok-epok and karipap in Singapore and Malaysia and a street-food staple – comprise curried potato, chicken and other ingredients stuffed in fried or baked pastry.British colonialists in Asia came up with the name “curry puff”, but the dough pockets have been influenced by the colonial cuisines of several European nations down the centuries.The puff’s most important ancestor is the Portuguese empada, a meat, fish or vegetable pie... In her doctoral paper “A Culinary History of the Portuguese Eurasians: the origins of Luso-Asian cuisine in the 16th and 17th centuries”, Boileau explores the heritage of the Portuguese-Asian community after the fall of Portugal’s empire, and how its members preserved a culinary legacy in many Asian countries.Epok-epok and similar turnovers, called pastel in Indonesia, empadas in Macau and empadinhas in Goa, are likely all descendants of the Iberian empada. The latter is also the name of a Macanese dish traditionally served in Macau at Christmas. It’s an exotic, slightly sweet fish pie in a rich pastry crust that would not be out of place at a medieval Portuguese banquet, Boileau points out... “The basic form of the filling encased in dough is the Portuguese model that arrived in the early 1500s, but the empada changed over time as the result of other cultural influences,” Boileau says. “British influence is much later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, and this is likely when the change to a shortcrust pastry made with butter took place.” The original Portuguese empadas were big pies baked in communal ovens that never got cold, she adds, so the transition to small baked or fried turnovers is a reflection of the different cooking methods used in the Asian countries where the Portuguese settled. The big monasteries had large ovens, but individual households either cooked by frying or created an oven using a box that could sit over coals. So the pastries needed to be smaller and have shorter cooking times to conserve fuel... Many ingredients for Malaysian pastry puffs came from the New World via Portuguese traders, including potatoes, chillies and the sweet potatoes sometimes used in epok-epok. Chicken, potatoes, a hard-boiled egg, curry powder and sardines are typical puff fillings in Malaysia and Singapore. As the street food style evolved, many innovative stuffings flourished.“A Singaporean curry puff, with a rich shortcrust pastry made with butter, is more like a Cornish pasty than anything Portuguese, and was most likely influenced by the British presence in Singapore. The filling with coconut milk and curry powder shows the influence of local ingredients and the trade route spices,” Boileau says.Goa’s empadinha has a pork filling, a legacy of the Catholic-Portuguese tradition... “The similarities between banh goi [pillow cake], banh xep [wrapped cake, also called banh quai vac, meaning bronze cauldron handle cake] and Portuguese empadas are striking,” Linh says. “At the same time, banh goi resembles a combination of the Chinese crispy wonton, Vietnamese nem [deep-fried spring roll], and the Vietnamese version of bao [banh bao]. This suggests that there is perhaps an older, strictly Asiatic history behind the form of banh goi.”"
US jail staff charged with cruelty for making inmates listen to Baby Shark song on loop | South China Morning Post - "Two former Oklahoma jail employees and their supervisor face misdemeanour cruelty charges after investigators found they forced inmates to stand handcuffed for hours and listen to the children’s song Baby Shark on repeat... “It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said. “I would have preferred filing a felony on this behaviour.”"
Did fish sauce in Vietnam come from Ancient Rome via the Silk Road? The similarities between nuoc mam and Roman garum | South China Morning Post - "“There is insufficient evidence to readily support the idea that the recipe for fermented fish travelled across the Silk Road and influenced nuoc mam. It’s not impossible, but there isn’t a historical smoking gun that would prove this theory,” says Trinh Khanh Linh, a doctoral student of Vietnamese culinary history at the University of Michigan in the United States, who instead sees a potential link between the Vietnamese staple and China’s soy sauce, which is also a product of fermentation... Acclaimed chef Peter Cuong Franklin, owner of Anan Restaurant and Nhau Nhau Bar in Ho Chi Minh City, believes nuoc mam “may trace its origin back to garum” given that the Vietnamese version is also made by interleaving layers of anchovies with sea salt and letting it ferment in wood or ceramic containers for about 12 months."
Japanese vs Indian curry battle begins as CoCo Ichibanya opens first store in India, birthplace of the famous dish | South China Morning Post - "The debut of a foreign curry chain in India – the birthplace of curry itself – is being hailed by some as intrepid but by others an unnecessary move, the gastronomic equivalent of “carrying coals to Newcastle” for parent company Ichibanya... In a nod to local Indian cultural and religious beliefs, the chain has eschewed the pork and beef curries so popular in Japan, instead selling chicken, seafood and vegetable curries... Japanese curries tend to be sweet and milder than Indian ones, and they usually contain fruit, vegetables, honey, cornflour, wheat starch and vegetable fat, instead of onion, garlic, ginger, garam masala, chilli and turmeric... India is known for its flavour-charged versions – from the vinegar-infused Goan vindaloo to the tomatoey-garlicky dopiaza and the eye-watering bhuna. A range of regional variants add more heft to the curry catalogue. Japan is no curry amateur, however, despite its cuisine being better known for its subtlety. The country has a number of regional varieties, while contemporary twists include curry with sausage or seafood. Japanese curry is usually spiked with onions, carrots, potatoes and meat, usually pork, beef or chicken, and served with white rice.Indian food historian and author Dr Pushpesh Pant, a fan of Japanese cuisine, says that he enjoys both Indian and Japanese curries despite that they are like chalk and cheese.“I was flabbergasted when our friends in Tokyo took us out to eat curry instead of an expected sushi and sashimi dinner. But our experience at a local curry house simply bowled us over. We loved the dish so much that the next day we queued up to eat more curry at the same outlet at our own expense,” he recalls. The base of Japanese curry, Pant says, is usually hearty and peppery.“It looks more like a thick stew than what Indians might consider a curry. And while the base can be spicy, it is typically very mild and lacks body. Indian taste buds are accustomed to a range of curries – from the mustardy macher jhol of Bengal to the fermented-fish-paste-based curry in the northeast to Kerala’s uppu curry – so I reckon the acceptance level of Japanese curry in the country will be high.”... “For years, Indian palates knew only the sushi-sashimi-ramen triumvirate [when it came to Japanese cuisine]. But with globalisation, peripatetic lifestyles and a vibrant eating-out culture, we’re getting experimental and relishing all types of foreign curries. In fact, Thai curries – yellow, red, green – are now part of urban home menus these days.”... Sareen Madhiyan, executive chef at Punjab Grill, an award-winning pan-India restaurant in New Delhi famous for its curries and kebabs, says “no curry in the world can beat the Indian one”.“The complexity, the flavours, the texture and the taste – hallmarks of a quintessential Indian curry – are unparalleled,” he says."
Japanese man slashed woman’s car tyres outside supermarket then came to her rescue | South China Morning Post - "Police in Japanhave detained a man who slashed a woman’s car tyres outside a supermarket, before following her and posing as a Good Samaritan.Yoshito Harada, 32, was on Friday detained by police in the town of Higashiura, in the central Japan prefecture of Aichi. He was questioned about an incident involving a 43-year-old woman who was forced to pull over with a flat tyre while driving away from a supermarket... His lawyer told police his client had used the same ruse to meet women “about 1,000 times”
Columbia prof: I snort heroin regularly for 'work-life balance' - "Carl Hart is a Columbia University professor of psychology and neuroscience. He chairs the psych department and has a fondness for heroin – not only as a subject of scholarly pursuit but also as a substance for personal use... the experience leaves him “refreshed” and “prepared to face another day.”... It’s not just heroin that keeps Hart centered, he claims. The prof is also a fan of the effects brought on by MDMA (better known as Molly or ecstasy) and methamphetamine (a drug that has caused the most overdose deaths in nearly half the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In describing MDMA, he recalled “intense feelings of pleasure, gratitude and energy."
GenerationIntact restoration 4 victims! on Twitter - "A nursing student, who presumably may assist with circumcisions someday, confirms circumcision is painful but says boys deserve that pain. Medical staff deriving sadistic pleasure from the violence of circumcision - one wonders how common is this? If it's a joke, it's a sick joke"
"Her account's gone protected, so here's the original tweet for context:
"watched a baby get a circumcision today- boys you DO deserve that pain right after birth ️"
A Michigan Man Has Been Acquitted by a Jury for Criticizing a County Judge on Facebook - "In 2017, Vanderhagen petitioned the court for sole custody over his 2-year-old son, Killian. Vanderhagen believed Killian's mother to be an unfit guardian. Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Rachel Rancilio, the presiding judge, denied the request and Killian was permitted to continue living with his mother. Killian passed away that September while in his mother's care. Authorities concluded that a preexisting medical condition contributed to Killian's death. Vanderhagen, however, blamed Rancilio's custody ruling for contributing to his son's death, which he believes would not have happened had Killian been in his care. He used his Facebook page to say as much. For two years, he posted about Killian's mother, the court system, and Rancilio—at times using Rancilio's own public Facebook posts and Pinterest pins to criticize her ruling. Rancilio was made aware of the posts and an investigation was opened against Vanderhagen. "At no point does [Vanderhagen] threaten harm or violence towards Rancilio," Sgt. Jason Conklin of the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, the investigating officer, concluded in his case report.Nevertheless, Vanderhagen was charged with the malicious use of telecommunication services, a misdemeanor, in July. "Malicious use" means that Vanderhagen was accused of using a telecommunication service with the intention of terrorizing, intimidating, threatening, or harassing Rancilio. Vanderhagen was ordered to refrain from engaging in direct or third-party contact with Rancilio, including sending "inadvertent messages by way of Facebook."Prosecutors and presiding District Judge Sebastian Lucido used the following post to accuse Vanderhagen of violating his bond conditions later that month. The Facebook post features Vanderhagen holding a shovel with the initials R.R., standing for Rachel Rancilio. The post's caption read, "Dada back to digging [and] you best believe [I'm] gonna dig up all the skeletons in this court's closet."In addition to the Facebook post not being threatening, Nicholas Somberg, Vanderhagen's lawyer, told me that the post was created three days before Vanderhagen received his bond conditions.Somberg also argued in an emergency bond hearing that Vanderhagen had a First Amendment right to criticize legal authorities. Judge Lucido replied that there were "limits" to free speech. When Somberg asked Lucido to clarify which of the Facebook posts presented to the court were threatening, Lucido said that they 'alluded' to the judge and did not explain his reasoning any further. Lucido raised Vanderhagen's bond to $500,000, an amount Somberg told Reason was tantamount to a bond "you would expect for a murderer or rapist.""
