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• Greek yogurt experiences a revival

• A tour through Oxford's pubs

• A meat eater sings tofu's praises

• What is a mangosteen?
  

• Need some spice? Try piri-piri sauce

• When you get a craving for noodles and cannoli ice cream cones...

• Forget chocotinis, these are the real deal

I've never been a big fan of food that looks back at me when I'm looking at it. I was in a supermarket once and I saw an entire sheep (or maybe calf) head wrapped in plastic in the meat department. It not only still had its eyes attached it also had its teeth. Freaked me out.

I thought of that after seeing this Edible Flying Spaghetti Monster. The eyes are made with gelatin capsules, rainbow nonpareils, and malted milk balls! Then you attach the eyes to the "spaghetti," which is actually various noodles and marshmallow. I bet kids would get a kick out of this.

[via Boing Boing]

Move over Ferran Adrià. Northern China has its own version of molecular gastronomy: hand-pulled noodles. Well not quite, but the above clip of Chef Mark Pi is fascinating not only because of the sheer craftsmanship required to, er, pull off such a feat, but because of the science lesson the narrator gives.

Physicist Philip Morrison gives us noodle making as a way of discussing the size, particularly the thickness, of atoms. He states: "We approach the division of matter...by halving and halving and halving it again." This point is clearly demonstrated by Chef Pi's demonstration of hand-pulling dragon's beard noodles. After folding the noodles a dozen times he's created 4,096 ultrathin strands. Morrison points out that if the venerable chef had managed 42 times his noodles would have reached atomic thickness.

Incidentally, this vid comes from a 1987 PBS program The Ring of Truth: Atoms. I found another great and hilarious clip featuring Julia Child. Without giving too much away, all I'm going to say is it involves her isolating pure carbon.

Perhaps calling this bowl "perfect" is a bit of a stretch, but it is designed for both utility and beauty, so it must be getting close. The Udon Noodle Bowl is reminiscent of a giant shell, with spiraling layers that fit perfectly into your hand. At the top, there are grooves to hold the included chopsticks in place when you're not eating. Every bowl is handmade and will vary from the next ever so slightly. All are both microwave and dishwasher safe.

If soup, rather than noodles, is your comfort food of choice, you might want to consider the buddah bowl instead. Also designed to fit ergonomically into the palm of your hand, this bowl can double as a giant mug for large cappuccinos in the morning and a soup cup in the evenings, or even as a dessert bowl for ice cream.

Pasta is easy to cook. All you have to do is open up a bag and pour as much as you want into salted, boiling water, bring it back up to a boil and wait until it is done. The tricky thing about pasta is cooking it to the right consistency.

Al dente, a firm but not hard texture with a small amount of "bite," is usually what is desired and is rarely achieved by following the instructions on the packaging. A more reliable method of cooking pasta is to let it boil for several minutes and then testing pieces of pasta at 30-60 second intervals until you reach your preferred consistency. For this to work, however, you have to stand over the stove the whole time, so another option, this time in the form of a gadget, might present the perfect solution. The Pasta Per'fect Timer is dropped into the pot along with your noodles and changes color according to the level of doneness of the pasta. It gives three indicators, from thin (angel hair) to thick (lasagna noodles) and it will only take a couple of batches before you find exactly the right level of donrness and can hit it every time.

For anyone new to Thai cooking, pad Thai seems like a good dish to start with. There are many variations of the dish and even an inexperienced cook can throw together a simple peanut sauce to toss with some noodles, which provides a great starting point to expand on later. After all, doing some seriously "authentic" cooking is all well and good, but it's nice to know how to make a relatively quick dinner, too. This pad Thai, from What do I know? was described as an "on the fly" recipe, so it seems to fall into that latter category. The recipe is actually quite easy and it sounds delicious. It has sauteed tofu, garlic, broccoli, onions and carrots mixed in with noodles, bean sprouts, cilantro and peanuts. The whole thing is tossed with a very easy peanut sauce before serving and, from start to finish, it probably takes a lot less time than ordering takeout.

• Like Tofu? Here are some recipes, including Tofu with Shiitakes and Bok Choy.
• A profile of three Boston area companies making boutique wines.
• Oktoberfest isn't just a beer festival, it's a style of drink.
• What, pizza again for dinner? How about making calzones for the family instead?
• A cool project: recreating recipes from old notebooks, scraps of paper, and journals.
• The advantage of a Dutch oven.
• This week's recipes: Noodles with Pork and Hot Bean Sauce, Salt-roasted Beets, and Chocolate Graham Toffee Fingers.
  

On a vacation trip from Guam to Los Angeles, Santos of The Scent of Green Bananas made a mini-tour of Thai restaurants around the LA area, based upon recommendation made by others on their food blogs. One place Santos stopped is Yai in Hollywood off the 101 freeway. Her high-contrast photo of the barbecued duck noodles is fantastic, is especially with the red chopsticks across the bowl. Yai is located at 5757 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028. (323) 466-0153.

Sarah recently posted about the fact that sales of spaghetti are down at the leading supermarket chain in England because "younger British diners lack the same culinary skills their parents have." That doesn't hold true in the US, where long, thin spaghetti is still the best selling pasta shape. Since most people buy their spaghetti premade and dried (even restaurants, according to Waiter), Real Simple magazine took the opportunity to taste test fifteen common store brands and pick out their favorites. They judged the pasta on flavor and texture, looking for a slight nuttiness and noodles that didn't get mushy after cooking. Dressed in simply olive oil and salt, the spaghetti went to a tasting panel and they picked out their top three: (1) De Cecco 12, (2) Barilla,  (3) Colavita. De Cecco is twice as expensive ($2/pound vs. $1/pound) as the other brands, but tasters thought it was clearly the best choice, with great flavor and texture.

Maybe if they switched to one of these brands, the spaghetti-challenged diners wouldn't mind a chance to practice their fork-twirling skills.

I know that there are plenty of people who enjoy ramen noodles, but I can't help but associate them with the image of a "starving student." Many college-age men and women still rely heavily on this ultra-inexpensive packaged meal. While none can really be considered "health food," they still make a better and more economical meal than relying on McDonald's to get you through lean times.

If you're going to eat it, you may as well make an effort to pick out a good one. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has done a very comprehensive taste test of one dozen different flavors of Ramen across a range of different brands. Their favorite was the Myojo Chukazanmai Soy Sauce flavor, while the Ve Wong Peppered Beef is one to be avoided at all costs, especially since one taster described it as "the worst instant noodle I've ever tasted in my life." Read the whole review for a rundown of the all options, with critiques of the various flavorings and noodle quality.

Just as in so many other places around the world, obesity is on the rise in Japan. While some nutritionists are advocating that people follow a Japanese diet to lose weight, many in Japan are eating more foods more of the time, including traditional foods in addition to junk foods. 24% of Japanese over the age of 15 are overweight or obese and the number is rising. The same pattern can be seen in children, where 10% are obese or at risk for becoming obese. Children are more likely than their parents and grandparents to indulge in a diet of hamburgers and french fries on a regular basis, though the highest obesity statistics are seen among middle-aged men.

Mi Goreng means fried noodles in Indonesia. Not being anywhere near a real Indonesian restaurant when I was growing up, I had to resort to the Indomie instant Mi Goreng noodles (which, I would have to say, I prefer over regular instant ramen). But this photo, my friends, is of the real thing. A visit near Denver with my parents to a small grocery store that they scoped out yielded authentic Indonesian cooking. This simple fried noodle is made with ketjap manis, a thick sauce made from soy sauce, brown sugar, and aromatics. Typically, an egg, chicken, or tofu are added, and you've got one of the tastiest noodle dishes under the sun. I've tried a recipe from Recipezaar, and it's pretty easy to make.