bookofjoe

Blue Moon Ice Cream — Invented in Milwaukee around 1950 but I never heard of it when I was growing up there

I guess my childhood was even more deprived than I thought.

How else am I to make sense of what I learned in M. L. Johnson's May 30, 2007 Associated Press story about Blue Moon (above) and other unusual ice cream flavors peculiar to various regions of the U.S.?

Here's the article.

Grape-Nuts, Dates, "Blue Moon" Make for Regional Ice Cream Faves

Grape-Nuts in New England. Blue Moon in Wisconsin. Red bean in Hawaii. Date in Palm Springs.

Vanilla and chocolate may rule America's collective palate when it comes to ice cream, but regional - some would say unusual - variations nevertheless thrive throughout the country.

These are ice creams loved as much for their familiarity as for their exotic taste. It's a comfort food thing. Breakfast cereals and beans may seem odd additions, but for the right people they provide ties to regional or ethnic flavors from childhood.

Which is why when Roger Gifford and his brother, John, began making ice cream at their family's Skowhegan, Maine, dairy in 1980, they turned to decades-old recipes saved from their grandparents' ice cream business in Connecticut.

One of their original flavors, Grape-Nuts, ranks behind only vanilla and chocolate in supermarket sales for the company, says Mike Brandt, sales and marketing director for Gifford's Ice Cream.

"Grape-Nuts is a phenomenon," he says.

Many people combine it with another New England staple, drizzling warm maple syrup over ice cream.

"It is a northern New England traditional flavor," Brandt says. "You won't see that outside of northern New England."

Blue Moon ice cream is popular in Wisconsin and Michigan, where it is made by several small dairies. The bright blue ice cream with a taste reminiscent of Froot Loops breakfast cereal was created in Milwaukee around 1950, says Andrew Plennert, owner of Chicago's Edgar A. Weber & Co., which now owns the formula.

Many adults who grew up with it still love it, making it a top seller not only in the region, but also on Internet ice cream dealer IceCreamSource.com.

"It's a very Midwestern flavor, and why it's so popular with us is that you can't find it anywhere else," says Steve Sauter, founder of IceCreamSource.com.

His company's top seller is black licorice, a popular flavor from the 1930s and 1940s. Many orders come from senior citizens who remember it from their younger days, Sauter says.

Lappert's Ice Cream, of Richmond, Calif., makes red bean ice cream with the azuki beans used in Asian cuisine. It sells well in Hawaii, where Asian influence is strong, "but you can't give it away on the mainland," says sales manager Bob Marker.

Ray Ford, who owns Christina's Homemade Ice Cream in Cambridge, Mass., has had success with Asian flavors such as green tea, ginger and red bean, as well as Hispanic-influenced varieties, such as ancho chili (it's a mild heat).

Specialty flavors often develop from food already found in a particular area.

Mike Lappert, who owns Richmond, Calif.-based Lappert's Ice Cream, says he hadn't considered making date ice cream until he opened a new shop this year in Palm Springs, Calif.

"I had never heard a request for date ice cream, but all the sudden, we were getting requests for date milkshakes," he says, "so we started making them and throwing some dates in."

Now his company makes date ice cream that it sells only in Palm Springs.

Many Northwest berries, such as loganberry and boysenberry, have a similar limited appeal, Lappert says. When he goes to Seattle, he finds a number of desserts made with huckleberry, but he wouldn't try to make that into an ice cream.

"Nobody would even buy it, nobody would even know what it is," he says.

See-Through Travel Bags — 'Hide in plain sight' goes upscale

We all know the easiest way to get through airport security is to put everything into clear Ziploc bags — but the fashionistas among us blanch at the thought.

What to do?

02H (which stands for "zero to hide" — 2 clever by 1/2?) has come up with a solution.

Andrea Sachs reviewed its offerings in today's Washington Post Travel section "It Came In The Mail" feature, as follows.

What: See-through travel bags.

Aimed at: Travelers who want to be utterly transparent at airport security checkpoints.

How much? $24 to $48.

But do they work? We see you... ratty passport, Harlequin romance novel, chewed pens, half-eaten granola bar and all. The line of bags by 02H, which cryptically stands for Zero to Hide, makes public our most private carry-on items. The satchels come in five styles — all but one are carry-on appropriate — and are made of clear plastic with shiny black accents.

Only an open window offers better views. With the back bag sling, for example, our striped shirt created an interesting backdrop for our anthill of contents.

If you're a messy packer, you might feel sheepish trotting through the airport with an exhibitionist bag. However, at security, what you lose in privacy you might gain in boarding time. For more discretion, choose the messenger bag. The top flap bares all, but the covered inner compartment hides your more secret self.

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$24-$48.

American Icon — Episode 2: Crystal Clear

Not 35 minutes after Episode 1 went up yesterday, Los Angeles bookofjoe correspondent Russ Thomson commented, "Here is another great icon resource."

Created by Everaldo Coelho.

Experts' Experts: World's Best Garlic Press

In a wonderful demonstration of its relentless approach to evaluating things, the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen krew drilled down deep — really deep — into the subject of garlic presses, reporting on its findings in the new (July/August 2007) issue of the magazine.

Here's the story.

In Search of the Perfect Garlic Press — Update

Can your choice of garlic press affect the flavor of your dishes? You'd be surprised.

We have a crush on garlic in the test kitchen. It appears in more than one-quarter of our recipes, and in most of those we suggest using a garlic press. This is heresy to some professional chefs. Why not just mince? Over the years, we’ve learned that for the average home cook, a garlic press is faster, easier, and more effective than trying to get a fine, even mince with a chef’s knife. More important, garlic’s flavor and aroma emerge only as its cell walls are ruptured and release an enzyme called alliinase, so a finely processed clove gives you a better distribution of garlic and fuller garlic flavor throughout the dish. Even our test cooks, trained to mince with a knife, generally grab a garlic press when cooking. And here’s the best part: With a good garlic press, you don’t even have to stop and peel the cloves.

Americans are using more garlic than ever, and it seems that every kitchen-tool manufacturer is trying to build a better garlic press. Many offer two or three models, traditional and innovative, hoping to catch the eye or the budget of every cook. Prices can range from less than $5 to more than $60. While you might imagine that the garlic press, which has been in America since the 1950s, has a pretty well-established design with all the kinks worked out, our tests quickly revealed that this is not the case. We rounded up nearly two dozen models and bushels of fresh garlic to find the best press for your kitchen.

Flavor Find

But then it occurred to us: Beyond how easy it is to squeeze, does your garlic press really matter in your cooking? Will the right garlic press make your food taste better? We were skeptical, but a quick test revealed a surprising answer. We chose seven representative presses and used them to make seven batches of our Pasta with Garlic and Olive Oil . It was remarkable to note the wide range of garlic flavor, from mild to robust, when the only difference was the press used to prepare the garlic. Larger chunks of garlic tended to drop to the bottom of the bowl, making most of the dish too bland. And when the pieces were uneven, tiny fragments overcooked to bitterness. Tasters overwhelmingly preferred the samples with the finest and most uniform garlic pieces, which produced a well-developed garlic flavor and consistent texture throughout the dish.

We decided that a garlic press’s most important attribute was the ability to produce a fine and uniform garlic consistency. We also wanted a press that was simple and comfortable to operate and did not require the hand strength of Hercules. It should be solidly built, with no contest between the press and the garlic about which is going to break first. It should be able to hold more than one clove and should crush the garlic completely through the sieve, leaving little behind in the hopper. It should handle unpeeled cloves with ease. Finally, it should be simple to clean, by hand or dishwasher, and not require a toothpick to get the last pieces of garlic out.

A Pressing Problem

The more creative garlic gadgets were not successes. The Garlic Twist by NexTrend, a plastic pillbox-shaped device that you twist to chop the garlic inside, could only cut through a peeled, roughly chopped clove. The Genius Garlic Cutter (and a similar model by Moulinex) and the Chef’N Garlic Machine work like a peppermill. We found them slow to use and hard to clean. Such gimmicks sent us back to traditional lever-handled garlic presses. As we squeezed piles of pungent cloves, we began a process of elimination to decide on the 12 presses in our final lineup, (see related chart).

We had been satisfied with our previous favorite presses, the Zyliss Susi 2 and Zyliss Jumbo, until we noticed that the nonstick coating had peeled off each one in the test kitchen, particularly around the hopper; a tiny amount of black liquid was sometimes extruded along with the garlic. We sent a damaged press to an independent laboratory to determine what was happening and whether it could be unsafe (See “The Case of the Peeling Press,” below). As we waited for the lab report, we tested the 12 finalists, including brand-new Zyliss presses. Since all were labeled dishwasher-safe, we ran them through a home dishwasher for 10 cycles. One model, by Amco, fell apart after just six cycles, leaving two halves and a missing hinge pin. And the nonstick coating on the brand-new Zyliss presses peeled—yet again.

We downgraded models with removable parts. The Cuisinart’s hopper was too easy to put back in the wrong way or lose. We rejected designs such as the potato ricer-style Giant Garlic Press, which offered good leverage with its long handles but was cheaply executed, and the ridiculously expensive Eva Solo Garlic Press with Glass Container ($64.95), which was difficult to squeeze and quickly jammed up.

So which press is the best? Kuhn Rikon’s Epicurean Garlic Press ($34.95) was the top performer, producing fine, uniform garlic with minimal effort. Made of solidly constructed stainless steel, it has a luxurious feel, with curved handles that are comfortable to squeeze and a hopper that smoothly and automatically lifts out for cleaning as you open the handles. However, at nearly $35, it’s costly. At one-third the price, we found the chrome-plated Trudeau Garlic Press produced uniform pieces of garlic, had a generous hopper, and was easy to clean. It’s our Best Buy.


The Case of the Peeling Press

When we first noticed that the coating had peeled off in patches on all of the Zyliss garlic presses in the test kitchen, we didn’t worry. Recently, however, we noted that a tiny amount of black substance sometimes oozes onto our garlic as we press it. After some digging, we discovered that when the nonstick coating peels off, copper and iron in the aluminum base metal react with the air and sulfur compounds in the garlic to create oxides and sulfides, which we sometimes see as a black substance on our extruded garlic. It’s similar to the discoloration from an old-fashioned carbon steel knife, and it’s not toxic, according to science experts we spoke to. Patrice Gerber, director of product development international at Zyliss USA, concedes, “It doesn’t look nice, for sure, but it’s not dangerous.” He said some peeling is normal inside the hopper, where the plunger “scratches against the basket.” It might be normal, but it’s not very appealing.

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Nothing but the best for my readers: the only garlic press recommended without reservations, the Kuhn-Rikon 2315 (below),

is $29.99.

'10 serious problems with touchscreens that you should know before 29th June'

From redferret, always insightful, it appeared last Sunday, June 10, 2007, and follows.

10 serious problems with touchscreens that you should know before 29th June

So the Apple iPhone is coming on 29th June, eh? Exciting. But just in case the whole anticipation thing is becoming a bit too much for you to bear, here’s a small list of things to ponder while you’re waiting.

1. Sunshine is not your friend — Don’t bother trying to dial from that sunny beach. It’ll be a wash out. Of course you can always turn the screen brightness up full and watch your battery life plummet.

2. Grease is your enemy — Get yourself a good cleaning cloth immediately because you’ll need it. How do the the words ‘smear & smudge’ sound? I recommend Calotherm (www.calotherm.co.uk/branded/index.htm).

3. Fat fingers fumble — Get used to mis-hitting keys if you’ve got stubby fingers. It’s fair to say that touchscreens don’t like chubby people.

4. Pockets get picky — From now on your pocket holds one device only. Forget about throwing your keys, coins and assorted knick-knacks in with your new touchscreen gizmo, because that’s a recipe for disaster. Scratch, crack or worse.

5. Resolution, what resolution? — Prepare yourself for lots of repeated key presses. Stylii or fingertips will both need lots of work to select the thing you want first time. Patience is a virtue eh?

6. Forget about one hand SMS texting — Your new screen needs two handed love for any form of complex text input, stylus or no. Live with it.

7. Screen protectors have a price — Remember that glare washout and grease smear? Add on a screen protector sheet and watch the problems triple in intensity. Safety costs, people.

8. Trapped dirt hurts — Bad luck if you get dirt or dust trapped underneath the screen surround. You’ll recognise the symptoms of ‘touchscreen trauma’ when it starts selecting items for you by itself.

9. It’s complex baby — Touchscreens are very complex items. Unlike keypads there’s a lot of things that can go wrong. Deteriorating response, unruly calibration, lock outs. Be prepared for some interesting and annoying problems.

10. The eyes have it — Touchscreens give no tactile feedback, so you’ll have to look at the screen constantly to operate your device. No fast SMS texting on the move, no quick call from a single press of the green button, no dial by touch operations at all. Enjoy.

• Bonus point — Speedy it ain’t. All that eye candy comes with a speed penalty, folks. Clicking through a keypad sequence is always going to be at least twice as fast as via a touchscreen interface. Learn to slow down and smell the icons, why doncha?

Q. The Eames chair, the Aeron chair, and the Barcelona chair: what do they have in common?

A. They all cost a fortune and are uncomfortable as heck.

I remain perplexed by people who buy chairs based on reputation instead of comfort.

Nutty.

My Gymnic exercise ball has been my working desk chair of choice since the early 90s and I have yet to meet its match.

I paid $20 for mine and as of today it's $24.95.

Using one of these balls for sitting is a whole different ballgame.

Ahem.

They require "active sitting," that is, constant, unconscious movements of the back, torso, and legs to stay comfortably atop them; this is the best possible remedy for back pain and disc problems, as well as being an excellent prophylactic device against same.

In addition, venous stasis can't happen, since you are always moving just a bit, flexing and extending the muscles in your lower legs.

And, it's tremendous fun to just bounce up and down while you work.

People will think you're nuts: I know several attorneys who've tried and loved my chair but haven't put one in their offices because of its apparently frivolous nature.

Too bad!

These balls were originally developed and perfected in Switzerland, then used for decades in physical therapy throughout Europe before making their way to the U.S. about 20 years ago.

Even so, they're still rather an underground phenomenon here.

Bonus — back in the day when I was part of the academic medicine establishment, I took my extra chair out of my office and substituted a second ball: instantly, the number of people stopping by to shmooze and hang out dwindled to nearly zero.

Take it from a doctor, this is the way to go.

Helpful sizing hint: adults from 5'3" to 6' tall will find the blue 65 cm version just right.

Bonus: They come in heart-stoppingly bright colors — who could resist?

Does your insurance company scan your grocery store receipts?

Quite possibly.

This past Friday, June 15, from Dallas bookofjoe correspondent Chris Kling came the following email:

Joe,

Two fears held by most Americans, i.e., (1) there a great computer in the sky and (2) retailers share the information from use of their loyalty cards, have been confirmed.

See "The Dark Side of Customer Analytics" by Davenport and Harris in the May 2007 edition of the Harvard Business Review.

The case study in the article is an insurance company purchasing loyalty card data from a grocery store chain to use in making actuarial predictions and undoubtedly to set premiums.

When the public finds out that their purchasing pattern data is being sold and how it is being used loyalty card usage will evaporate.

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Well, Chris, it will if word gets out but if the deafening MSM silence on the subject — at least, as this post goes to press — continues, that may never happen.

I do what I can, nonetheless.

Here's the abstract of the article.

The Dark Side of Customer Analytics

Health insurer IFA and grocery chain ShopSense have formed an intriguing partnership, but it threatens to test customers' tolerance for sharing personal information. For years, IFA's regional manager for West Coast operations, Laura Brickman, had been championing the use of customer analytics — drawing conclusions about consumer behaviors based on patterns found in collected data. She came away from a meeting with the grocer's analytics chief, Steve Worthington, convinced that ShopSense's customer loyalty card data could be meaningful. In a pilot test, Laura bought ten years' worth of data from the grocer and found some compelling correlations between purchases of unhealthy products and medical claims. Now she has to sell her company's senior team on buying more information. Her bosses have some concerns, however. If IFA came up with proprietary health findings, would the company have to share what it learned? Meanwhile, Steve is busy trying to work out details of the sale with executives at ShopSense. Many have expressed support, but COO Alan Atkins isn't so sure: If customers found out that the store was selling their data, they might stop using their cards, and the company would lose access to vital information. Though CEO Donna Greer agrees, she knows that if things go well, it could mean easy money. How can the two companies use the customer data responsibly?

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I stopped using my Valued Shopper card and its ilk many years ago for precisely this reason, but when I try to explain why people always say, "You're just paranoid."

"Even a paranoid can have enemies."
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Note added at 1:29 p.m. the day of this post, from Mike Harney's comment on it:

"Commenting on this fictional case study in R0705A and R0705Z are George L. Jones, the CEO of Borders Group; Katherine N. Lemon, an associate professor of marketing at Boston College; David Norton, the senior vice president of relationship marketing for Harrah's Entertainment; and Michael B. McCallister, the president and CEO of Humana."

Did you miss the word "fictional" in this paragraph of the abstract? I'm not suggesting that such smarmy data sharing couldn't happen or won't ever happen, but neither should it be suggested that this case did happen. It's a "What if...?" scenario.

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Good pickup, Mike.

joesoft.com — Official Software Supplier for bookofjoe

The company achieved this exalted status yesterday afternoon, about one yoctosecond after I received Brian Davis's email with a link to the joesoft website.

Brian wrote, "FYI. There's even a special offer for Joe Stirt... ;^)"