"notes" news and stories

A group of scientists at Nestlé Research in Switzerland have come up with a machine that will rapidly taste and rate as many as eight different kinds of espresso. The ratings, they say, will be as accurate as if tasted by...well, actual people.

According to an article in Live Science, the machine analyzes the gases released by the espresso, and then interprets the data as "cocoa," "citrus," or "toffee," for example.

Sounds intriguing, and it could definitely save time. But do we really want to let a machine take the place of a task that people already perform well? It's not as if there is a sudden, increased demand in coffee taste testers, or that they are not adequately performing their jobs. ("Toffee?! No way. I distinctly detected citrus notes...you're fired.") I don't think that we're somehow missing out because our coffee isn't properly classified. Perhaps the machine is more discerning?

Cool invention, but for right now, I'm comfortable in the notion that my espresso has been categorized by humans, thanks.

Source

Still only existing in concept, this whiteboard/toaster could become the wave of the breakfast future someday soon. Need to leave a note for your partner, but you leave for work before they do? Just scrawl it on the toaster. If they don't see that note, then they'll surely notice it when it appears on their toast (provided they aren't following a low carb diet). I do see a couple flaws in the plan though, like the fact that the writing surface seems awful close to where the heating element would be. So you'd have to wait quite a while between toasts to write a message if you wanted to avoid burning your hand.

This isn't the first time that someone has designed a toaster that leaves an imprint on the toast. This very pink and white Hello Kitty toaster creates toast that has Kitty's image baked in and has the added bonus of being available now.

Thanks KF!

Recipe books aren't quite as popular as they used to be. More often than not, people buy cookbooks as gifts and pass those out to friends and family, not only because it's convenient (and the recipes are good), but because they don't necessarily have a collection of their own favorite recipes to pass on. Fortunately, as home cooking continues steadily growing in popularity, people are writing down what they like to cook. Often, these recipes show up on food blogs, but as gift idea, why not revive the idea of actually writing down those recipes to pass them on?

The Recipe Binder Set from russell+hazel includes two binders, each with recipe pages, recipe cards, menu planning sheets and measuring equivalent charts for easy referencing. There is room for photos and many computers will let you format recipes so they can be printed out directly onto the recipe cards. Alternatively, you might also have luck finding a blank recipe book at a stationary/card store, such as Hallmark.

I've recently returned from a local college library's book sale with a collection of hand-written recipe cards, pamphlets and other ephemera. All of it is bound together in a vinyl, red and white checked tablecloth notebook. In the spirit of such great found inspiration sites as Found Magazine, Grocerylists.org and Overheard in New York, I'm going to transcribe a particularly interesting gem from my new collection. On one side of the page, scribbled in blue ball-point pen ink is a recipe for "salmon loaf." On the other side of that page, the following note has been typed:

"November 21, Thursday

Adele:

Am returning your book and a "Cat Lover's Cookbook" ...

[Photo: Nick Vagnoni]