"measurements" news and stories

I must have been living in a hole, because until yesterday, I never knew that there was a difference between an American cup and a Canadian cup. It can't be all that much, since I've used the two interchangeably for years, but it has ruffled my feathers and made me wonder if all of my baking would've been just a little bit better had I known this earlier.

It all came on the heels of me trying to transcribe a recipe that had everything by weight. Personally, I like weighing my dry goods, but I like to throw in a cup here or there when it's a liquid. But now I have to watch my cups, and figure weight, and be sure that my calculations are for the right ingredients. I get the differences between measuring systems, and I grumble my way through density and volume, but this is something different. A cup can't be a cup if the two sizes are different! That's just silly -- especially in an age where we get recipes from all over the globe.

And I wasn't even going to write about it until I read that Haagen-Dazs was shrinking their pints from 16 ounces to 14 ounces. You can't shrink a unit of measurement! What's wrong with people!?

A pint is not a pint unless it's a pint! A cup is not a cup unless it's a cup!

[via Serious Eats]

Ever hunker down to whip up a recipe, only to discover that measurements aren't using a system that you're familiar with?

Yesterday, I posted a graphic from The Kitchn, that was designed as a way to help people remember how many cups are in a pint, how many pints are in a quart and how many quarts are in a gallon. Lots of readers responded to that post and several of them brought up a different graphic that they remembered from school that had helped them learn their measurements.

This one was called Mr. Gallon and used cups, pints, quarts and gallons in order to create the body of a slightly misshapen man. Reader John was helpful enough to find the image and posted the link in the comments section. After getting a look at him, I thought Mr. Gallon was useful enough to get his own post, and so here he is!

Anyone else have another good trick for remembering measures? What about one that addresses teaspoons, tablespoons and increments of a cup?

Source

When you're baking for love, you need to have lots of heart(s). Why not add your measuring cups into the mix? I can't possibly think of anything but romance and sugar when I bake with these. I found them in the dollar section at Target - yes, $1! It's a delicious sweet silliness that's entirely worth the space on your gadget hooks.