PlanetOddity.com » odd food

Remarkable Coffee Paintings By Karen Eland

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:48:16 +0000

Exquisite coffee art is a unique technique developed by a young artist from Tulsa where he achieves his incredible works of art by the use of coffee as her medium. By using coffee as the only art medium, the artist exhibits these exquisite talents in his divine works of art. The coffee art is the backstage pass into the world of bean selection, small batch coffee roasting and artisan quality brewing. He educates, advocates, inspires while at the same time giving a good dose of caffeine.

Exquisite Coffee Art forms an invaluable and indispensable reference source in coffee inspiration for all coffee aficionados and lovers of espressos, cappuccinos and lattes. Exquisite Coffee Art covers every aspect of making and choosing coffee from varying freshly-roasted Arabica beans to brewing to suit your taste. Exquisite Coffee Art also involves specialty coffee estates and flavor profiles, exquisite paintings of various cultures, crafts and arts. All thanks to Karen Eland for showing us this outstanding form of art.

Interesting Usage of Eggshells

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:15:24 +0000

I love eggs, and not just because I love the way they taste. Of course, part of my eggophilia is also due to the fact that eggs are an affordable, high-quality protein, usually costing less than twenty cents apiece. Despite much publicized cholesterol warnings, more and more research is revealing the many health benefits of eating eggs — everything from strengthening muscles to improving brain function — with most research now showing that an egg or two a day is just fine for most people.

Plus, eggs have clever packaging. I hate paying for packaging, but when it comes to the uber-chic engineering marvel known as the eggshell, I don’t mind the cost. Madison Avenue marketing gurus or MIT engineering professors could never design packaging as cool and functional as the eggshell. If eggs didn’t come in their own shell we’d probably package them in some form of plastic, which might be recyclable, but would never have the multitude of reuses attributable to Mother Nature’s own packaging.

Take a crack at these eggshell reuses:

1. Compost for Naturally Fertilized Soil
Eggshells quickly decompose in the compost pile and add valuable calcium and other minerals to the soil in the process.

2. Nontoxic Pest Control in the Garden
Scatter crushed eggshell around your plants and flowers to help deter plant-eating slugs, snails and cutworms without using eco-unfriendly pesticides. Also, deer hate the smell of eggs, so scattering eggshells around the flowerbed will help keep Bambi away from your begonias.

3. Less Bitter Coffee
Add an eggshell to the coffee in the filter, and your morning coffee will be less bitter. The spent coffee grounds, eggshell and bio-degradable filter are then conveniently ready for the compost pile.

4. Splendid Seedling Starters
Fill biodegradable eggshell halves with potting soil instead of using peat pots to start seedlings for the garden. And an egg carton on the windowsill is the perfect way to start a dozen tomato seedlings in shells before transplanting to the garden in the spring.

5. Eco-friendly Household Abrasive
Shake crushed eggshells and a little soapy water to scour hard-to-clean items like thermoses and vases. Crushed eggshells can also be used as a nontoxic abrasive on pots and pans.

6. Eggy, Crafty Projects
“Blow out” the inside of a raw egg and paint/decorate the hollow shell to make your Faberge eggs or other craft projects. Pieces of egg shell (plain or dyed) are also used in mosaic art projects.

7. Clever Jello and Chocolate Molds
Carefully fill “blown out” eggshells (above) with jello or chocolate to make unique egg-shaped treats; peel away the eggshell mold before serving, or serve as is and let your guests discover the surprise inside.

8. Natural Drain Cleaner
Keep a couple of crushed eggshells in your kitchen sink strainer at all times. They trap additional solids and they gradually break up and help to naturally clean your pipes on their way down the drain.

9. Membrane Home Remedies
The super-thin membrane inside the eggshell has long been used as a home remedy for a wide range of ailments, from healing cuts to treating ingrown toenails.

10. Treat Skin Irritations
Dissolve an eggshell in a small jar of apple cider vinegar (takes about two days) and use the mixture to treat minor skin irritations and itchy skin.

11. Egg on Your Face
Pulverize dried egg shells with a mortar and pestle, then whisk the powder in with an egg white and use for a healthful, skin-tightening facial. Allow the face mask to dry before rinsing it off.

12. The Fuel of Tomorrow?
Just when your brain was totally fried by all my ingenious reuses for eggshells, researchers at Ohio State University recently discovered that eggshells might be the key to producing affordable hydrogen fuel. I’ve heard of walking on eggshells, but maybe some day we’ll be driving on them too.

Fugu – The Most Dangerous Fish To Eat

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:16:36 +0000

Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish and is also a Japanese dish prepared from the meat of pufferfish (normally species of Takifugu, Lagocephalus, or Sphoeroides) or porcupinefish of the genus Diodon. Because pufferfish is lethally poisonous if prepared incorrectly, fugu has become one of the most celebrated and notorious dishes in Japanese cuisine.

Fugu contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in the organs, especially the liver and ovaries, and also the skin. The poison, a sodium channel blocker, paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. Currently, there is no known antidote, and the standard medical approach is to try to support the respiratory and circulatory system until the poison wears off.

As of 2008, advances in fugu research and farming have allowed some farmers to mass produce non-toxic fugu. Researchers surmised that fugu’s tetrodotoxin came from eating other animals that had the tetrodotoxin-laden bacteria, and developed immunity over time. Many farmers now are producing ‘poison-free’ fugu by keeping the fugu away from tetrodotoxin-laden bacteria. Utsuki, a town in Oita, became famous for selling non-poisonous fugu. No one has been poisoned eating it.

Fugu has been consumed in Japan for centuries, although its historic origins are unclear. Bones of fugu have been found in several shell mounds called kaizuka in J?mon period that date back more than 2,300 years. The Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868) prohibited the consumption of fugu in Edo and its area of influence, yet it became common again as the power of the shogunate weakened. In Western regions of Japan, where the influence of the government was weaker and fugu was easier to get, various cooking methods were developed to safely eat these fish. During the Meiji Era (1867–1912), fugu was again banned in many areas of Japan. Fugu is also the only delicacy officially forbidden to the Emperor of Japan, for his own safety.