bookofjoe

Helpful Hints from joeeze: Olive Management

Some years ago it occurred to me that it would be a lot easier to drain a new jar, then simply shake out a few olives, than to repeatedly fish within, initially with my fingers and later a spoon or fork to get the last few.

There's more than enough moisture in the olives themselves to keep them plump and succulent until you've finished the jar — unless you're the type who keeps them around for months or longer.

In which case please ignore this hint, worth — like everything here — precisely what you paid for it.

Tip: Peloponnese is by far the best brand widely available in the U.S.

What is it?

Answer here this time tomorrow.

Ring Roads of the World

"This poster is designed as a sort of calling card for Rice School of Architecture, located in Houston. We collected ring roads from 27 international cities and layered them all at the same scale. As it turned out, Houston was the largest system of those we surveyed (Beijing was second)."

[via Strange Maps and thumb]

Ferran Adrià does beer

Here's Florence Fabricant's "Food Stuff" feature on his new brew (above), from today's New York Times Dining section.

••••••••••••••••••

From a Revered Chef, a Beer That Behaves Like Wine

Ferran Adrià, who is widely credited with starting the trend of foam on food, has turned his attention to another kind of suds: beer.

Mr. Adrià is the chef of El Bulli, the Michelin three-star restaurant in Roses, Spain. He and his partner, Juli Soler, plus two of his sommeliers have created a beer for the 100-year-old brewery Estrella Damm of Barcelona. “The idea was to make a beer to drink with food, from a wineglass,” Mr. Adrià said last week during a visit to New York.

The successful result has a floral aroma that hints of citrus and spice, and a flavor that is mild, fruity and balanced, like an adolescent chardonnay. Its name, Inedit, means “original” in French.

It actually starts as two beers, Mr. Adrià said: a straightforward lager and a German-style weissbier that is seasoned with orange peel, coriander and licorice. Because each ferments at a different rate, the beers are not blended until just before bottling in black 750-milliliter wine bottles. The marriage undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, like Champagne.

The beer is unfiltered, making it slightly cloudy. It has 4.5 percent alcohol and delicate yet persistent carbonation. Inedit is sold at Whole Foods markets for $9.99 a bottle.

The meaning of 'Captcha'

What, you thought it was a cheeky turn of phrase to describe technology separating bots from nots?

How naive you are.

In fact, it stands for "completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart."

You could look it up.

Plug Mug with Anti-Theft Device

Love it.

4"H x 3"Ø.

Ceramic.

$18.99.

[via brogui]

All Things Digital app

It went up on May 17 but I only learned of it when I happened on the full page ad for it in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.

On my iPod touch it looks and works great, nicely organized with tons of content in all media, including video, photos and text.

Excellent.

And free, the way we like it.

Non-marking nylon-jaw pliers

Where have these been all my life?

Turns out they're used by jewelers.

That makes sense.

$15.99.