Homer Simpson longs for beer. Photo: rodricg, Flickr

Homer Simpson (OK, a human in Homer duds) will cut the ceremonial opening ribbon at this year's Great American Beer Festival, event founder Charlie Papazian revealed on his blog this week. "Giving Homer Simpson a pair of scissors at a beer festival is pretty risky," Papazian quipped, "but it might be worth the risk if we can teach him a bit about respecting beer."

Can Homer learn to "respect" beer? He's spent 20 years drinking Duff, Springfield's fictional Budweiser-esque macro equivalent, in quantities a live-action human would consider excessive. For years though, the GABF -- which takes places in Denver this September -- has served to introduce new stateside brews to folks from all over the world. As appreciation for craft brewing has grown in recent years, so has festival attendance. Part of that growth must come from people who previously preferred big-time brands. Maybe Homer will be the next convert?

Just as long as he doesn't get stuck drinking Fudd (the rival beer drunk by denizens of neighboring Shelbyville)!

Saturday was the 13th day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, so I decided to celebrate by visiting a Malaysian burger shack. And I didn't need to hop on a plane to do it either. Thanks to Dave Cook of Eating in Translation I learned of Bazaar Ramadhan just hours before the event kicked off. It was held in the Banquet Hall of the Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations. There was all manner of Malaysian home cooking on offer, including several varieties of the famous rice dish, nasi lemak. In addition to the traditional accompaniments of salty dried fish, peanuts, cucumber and hard-boiled egg I got some sambal sotong, a dark black mess of squid that had been cooked in the pungent Malaysian paste, sambal. It was good, but as you've no doubt guessed by now the food that excited me most was Malaysian hamburgers.

I first heard of Malaysian hamburgers from my friend Zak Pelaccio whose restaurant Fatty Crab slings some wonderfully juicy and well-spiced Malaysian-inflected sliders. He'd always told me they were inspired by the Ramly Burger, a traditional Malaysian street food. Until I saw this video detailing the construction of "The Sloppiest Burger in Malaysia," I had no idea what a Ramly Burger was. Apparently it involves grilling an egg in a pool of margarine dropping a slice of cheese on top of the egg and enfolding a patty inside.

When I approached the cheerful group of kids working the Burger Shack stall my heart skipped a beat as I saw copious amounts of margarine being spread on to whole-wheat buns that were being griddled alongside beef patties and eggs in ring molds. "Ramly burger?," I asked. There was no response but the kid in the blue shirt kept calling out, "Get your genuine Malaysian fast food right here."

Leptin is the Homer Simpson hormone.

That's the finding of scientists at Cambridge University. Leptin is what makes up feel full after we eat a meal, but these scientists have discovered that it also affects the pleasure zone of our brain. In short, if you don't have enough Leptin, it can cause you to overeat. People who didn't have enough leptin were shown pics of pizza and cake. Their pleasure centers went off. People who had enough leptin only had this happen when they were actually hungry.

This could give a huge boost to doctors and others who are trying to find ways to battle obesity.

[via TV Tattle]

This sounds like something Homer Simpson would have a wet dream over. 

1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3 tablespoons dried buttermilk powder
2 large eggs
3 oz. IPA beer
4 tablespoons melted butter, cooled

The recipe seems rather easy to make. Just make sure you pay close attention to the directions (especially when it comes to making sure you don't overmix and don't overbrown the donuts).