Magic Spot Flowing

I found something interesting on BoingBoing today. I don’t usually repost stuff that I see elsewhere, but this one intrigued me. A German site bought 100 different packaged food products, photographed the image of the food on the packaging, and compared it to the actual food (the linked site isn’t the original, but it’s easier to see what they were doing in the setup at the link).

I think we all know that what we see on the package isn’t that likely to be what we get — after all, the photos of food in fast-food restaurants always set you up for disappointment with the real thing. But what surprised me was how consistent the differences are.

1) The color is enhanced so that things look brighter and warmer.
2) If there’s an especially yummy part of something (it has raisins, or a caramel or cream or mint filling, or meat inside of a pastry) the yummy part is shown in high detail and larger than in reality.
3) The form is always portrayed as symmetrical and unvarying, where the real food might have varying amounts of dark and light pastry, or an uneven swirl of chocolate on top. If there are layers, the layers are shown thicker and more even than they actually are.
4) The texture is enhanced. Rice is separated instead of gluey, noodles curl pleasingly, rice pudding is thick and lumpy instead of a smooth gunky cream.
5) If the food comes with sauce, there’s much more sauce in the real food than in the picture, where the sauce is usually used decoratively and sparingly.
6) If the food comes with vegetables or meat along with noodles, rice, bread, broth, or sauce, the pieces of vegetables or meat on the packaging are larger, brighter, and more plentiful than in the real item. (Where are the fleischballen in the real Kartoffelsnack? Look at that tiny meatball on the right!)
7) If the food is presented nicely on a plate, it’s usually either in separate compartments or all mushed together. Any decorations on the package (parsely, onion curls) are definitely not in the real food.

Candy and simple snacks are usually more accurately presented than soups and entrees. For example, the Wasa cracker sandwiches, pistachio nuts, and the Corny Milsch bar, among others, look a lot like the real things, plus the standard color balance and texture enhancement.

Some of them look just terrible. The green beans look awful on the package and even more awful in reality, and the dull white block of noodles in the very first picture, accompanied by meat swimming in sauce, just looks dull and nasty. Several that look like they have texture and substance on the package (Currybrustensalat, Eiersalat, Herringsalat, Fleischsalat, and Krabbensalat, along with the “spaghetti carbonara” and “pizzeria salami” — whatever that is!) are just textureless junk in tons of sauce. The Herringsalat, being pink in reality, is especially nasty. Maybe Germans just don’t understand that salad should not be drowning in sauce…

Today I decided that I wanted to ride Meg (the Terry Madeleine) and Maia (my LeMond Alpe d’Huez) right in sequence to do a closer comparison, because after a few more (utilitarian) rides on Meg, I wondered if maybe I was too stretched out actually. The utilitarian rides were interesting because they were rides I would actually do in real life. I could really feel how much faster I would go on a regular basis if I used Meg as my commute bike, and I also noticed that I will really need to invest in a mirror that I’m comfortable wearing, because it’s very hard to see behind you in a road-bike position with a backpack on. (Of course, I’ll likely install a rack and use panniers many times instead of a backpack, but still.)

It turned out to be a really interesting comparison. I just rode around my neighborhood, experimenting with some rough road nearby and some starting, stopping, and turning, using different gears and hand positions.

The verdict is that neither Meg nor Maia is exactly perfect in size. Maia is just a tiny, tiny tad small. I’ve always felt a little bit, not cramped exactly, but like I was slightly large for Maia. It’s not something you notice objectively, and after riding her for a while I feel completely comfortable, but it’s there.

Meg is a little big, but not too big. Mainly, I need to bend a little more at the waist when riding Meg, instead of trying to cover the difference with my arms. When I bend properly, the handlebars fall in line with my nose and the brakes, which is the same positioning as I use on Maia, and my arms feel better. For a while I was concerned that there was something wrong with the front wheel, but it turned out just to be a little looseness of the reflectors, which went away when I adjusted them. There is a kind of sound when pedaling, though, that bothers me a little. I think it’s probably just the way she sounds, since all bikes sound a little different, but obviously I’m going to get it thoroughly checked out once I decide whether to keep her for sure.

I also reaffirmed that the gearing on Maia is better for around-town stuff. On Meg I’m always pushing up to the upper middle gears, but I imagine this wouldn’t be true after 30 or 40 miles with a loaded rack, so I think the gearing is correctly chosen for the application.

They perform noticeably differently on rough pavement. Meg softens more of the bigger jolts with the thicker tires and sturdier wheels, but transmits more of the small vibrations through the frame to my hands. Maia is the opposite, with little insulation from the road bumps but with the carbon in the frame cutting out most of the small vibrations and making the ‘feel’ flatter. I remember this same issue from when I was test-riding all-carbon bikes like the Ruby and Synapse, both of which felt flat to me.

One other interesting difference is that the drops on Maia are deeper. I really noticed that those on the Salsa handlebars are shallower (since they’re called short & shallow this makes sense). When I put my eye level with the top tube at the point where it joins the fork, the top of the drops on Maia is level with the top of the top tube, whereas on Meg half the bar is above that point. I prefer that positioning, given I’m more heeled over on Meg in general, so I need to be aware that if I do replace the bars, the drops won’t be as well-positioned unless I find a bar that is as straight as the Bontrager but as shallow as the Salsa. I also just noticed that part of the problem may not be the fact that Salsa bars angle out, but that they angle DOWN, whereas the Bontrager bars are nearly flat until they make the sudden turn down just at the hoods. Either way, those bars are just not as comfortable for me.

The more I ride Meg the more I’m thinking I’ll keep her, despite the small issues she does have. No bike is perfect, and Maia is probably the closest I will ever find to a perfect bike for me — so in a way the comparison is unfair. But I know I’m not looking for the same thing out of them, so hopefully my evaluation is accurate for the uses I’ll be putting them to.

I certainly would be delighted to replace my current commuter with Meg and take pounds off and ride a bike that’s better suited in almost every way to my daily and potential long-term recreational touring needs, and that’s probably the most important measure, not whether I love Meg as much as Maia. I’ll always delight in going out lightly laden to fly up and down Sand Hill or Portola Valley loop, but I also love the utilitarian pace of life at 12mph and the idea of cranking out the long miles with everything I need to live for a few days on the back of my bike!

I read a lot of food blogs, and my choices of what to read sometimes seem eclectic even to me. I like blogs with pictures and recipes. All pics and no recipes means you get a sure drop from my list, and no pictures is a bit boring and makes it hard to visualize the food. (This is why I don’t food blog — my pictures of food are terrible. I haven’t picked up on presentation for the most part yet, despite my bentos.) But lots of chattiness and posts on technique or food-related items (and even the occasional personal life tidbit) is fine too. It doesn’t matter whether I can eat all the recipes (that is, not all the blogs I read are vegetarian), as long as they’re presented in an interesting way.

But one thing I don’t like is food blogs that preach to you. There are two blogs I’ve rejected on that basis — one is Fatfree Vegan Kitchen and another, which I found through Vegan Dad, is Happy Herbivore. They both have lots of good recipes, but I find the fat-freeness weird because it often results in them remaking what to me are perfectly good recipes, and in some cases not in ways that make sense to me. And then there’s the attitude (more from the latter than the former, but it comes through in FFVK too).

THIS IS A FOOD JOURNAL of what two health conscious athletic vegans eat each day. Our diet is high in fiber, full of protein and low in fat. We rarely use oils, we avoid processed foods and we try to eat raw foods when possible. Refined carbs, nutritionally dense food or anything “hydrogenated” is out of the question!

I don’t know what’s so wrong with nutritionally dense foods — I mean, nutritionally dense sounds good to me, because it means lots of nutrients in the food, right?

And overall I just find the “my/our diet is better than YOUR diet” overtones really irritating. If they want to eat that way, that’s awesome for them, but I can do without the preachiness. Is it so bad to put shortening in pie crust, if otherwise you replace it with a half cup of sugar? Who’s to say fat is better or worse than sugar? Oh right — they are! And that’s why I don’t read preachy food blogs. Getting constantly assaulted by descriptions of fat as “unnecessary bad” stuff that we are “spared” from just doesn’t make reading fun.

Today is a glorious bike day for two reasons.

One, it’s the first time I’ve been on a bike in a week and a half, due to my flu. I’m still coughing, but I’m feeling pretty decent otherwise, so I decided that I was ready. I managed to ride two miles at a decent clip without collapsing coughing, and I feel pretty good now, afterward.

Two, today was the day to pick up my new Terry Madeleine at Mike’s Bikes! They called on Wednesday, but I wasn’t really well enough to ride until today anyway, and it’s easier to get there if I don’t try to hurry and go after work. They were nice enough to put some pedals on for me (the bike does not come with any) and help me adjust the seat height (I foolishly didn’t bring my multi-tool).

I love my new bike so far, and I’m almost sure I’ll keep it. (Terry allows you to test-ride for two weeks before you decide for sure, but apparently they are not joking when they say love at first ride!) It feels almost perfect. It’s light but sturdy, with responsive but not twitchy steering. The ride is a lot smoother than I expected for an all-aluminum bike — I have to say that I think the gals at Terry really know what they are doing in the construction of these bikes.

I was surprised to see that it has road-style sidepull caliper brakes rather than touring/commuter-style cantilever or linear-pull brakes, so that it won’t take the kind of full fender install I have on my current commuter. However, the literature for it says that there is enough space for fenders, so I’ll have to see what exactly that means. There is a bit more clearance than on my LeMond. At any rate, the braking feels solid and smooth. Shifting is not as smooth as on my LeMond, but it shifts without any trouble.

Looking at the two bikes (Maia and the Madeleine, who I plan to name either Meg or Manisha) side by side is very interesting. The Terry has a completely flat top tube, and is a bit taller in back (at the standover) for that reason, but I can still stand over it easily in shoes. They’re otherwise almost identical in size and length, with the Terry being just a tad longer and taller (0.5-1″). The frame style of the Terry is more traditional, without the aero-shaping of the carbon areas on the LeMond, and the gearing is a bit smaller. I felt really comfortable riding the Terry and not stretched at all, though getting on and off smoothly is a little harder because of the slightly taller profile.

The one problem I did find is that the Terry uses a handlebar called the Salsa Moto Ace Short & Shallow. On examination compared to the Bontrager, you can see that the angle on the turn outward to the hoods is a little obtuse rather than 90 degrees, and I really felt that when I was riding with hands in this position. It doesn’t interfere with braking, but I can’t ride long with my hands curved like that, so it’s very likely I’ll have to change the handlebars for the Bontrager that I have on my LeMond. And I plan to try to slide the seat forward a bit, because I felt that I kept sliding off it a little.

Other things I plan to do once I decide for sure to keep it:
- Install a rack & fenders
- Put a generator headlight & battery taillight on
- Possibly buy Pedalite pedals for it, or else decide whether to put on standard pedals or SPDs

I’m so excited!!! A true touring bike at last.

For a long time I was reluctant to switch my bills and statements to electronic, because I like to get the bills in the mail and have a physical record of them, and leave them sitting until I pay them so I don’t forget. But I got really tired of all the junk they send you with the bills, which makes it a substantial waste of paper, so I’ve moved a bunch of my stuff over now, and it’s quite easy to print them out myself if I want (everyone I use seems to have a good printable statement with reasonably itemized information), and make sure to keep the e-reminders in my inbox until I pay. So I’m quite happy to have made the switch.

While re-reading The Right Attitude to Rain, I came across several quotations I thought about memorializing in my Facebook profile, including this one:

How many people in the United States believed that they had been abducted by aliens? It was a depressingly large number. And the aliens always gave them back! Perhaps they were abducting the wrong sort.

This is so emblematic of what I love about Alexander McCall Smith. He’s full of these funny little observations that are expressed in the compact, deadpan way that British people have of saying things. Perhaps they were abducting the wrong sort. It’s lovely.

In the end I decided that pickled onions were probably enough Alexander McCall Smith for one Facebook profile, but I did want to add a lovely little poem about Scotland that’s quoted closely following the above gem. When I searched for the poem, though, one of the results that came up was from an SNP (Scottish National Party) news release, about SNP MSPs wearing the white rose of Scotland to the opening of Parliament. I was concerned that maybe the poem has nationalist associations that I wasn’t aware of, but I couldn’t find anything else that suggested that it’s more than a longstanding image association made famous by nationalist poet.

To make sure I was spelling the poet’s (pen) name correctly, I looked him up in Wikipedia, and found this gem:

He was instrumental in creating a truly Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century. Unusually for a first generation modernist, he was a communist. Unusually for a communist, he was a committed Scottish nationalist.

The parallel there sent me into gales of laughter, closely followed by coughing. There can’t have been that many Scottish communists, anyhow, I would think.

I also found this bit amusing:

MacDiarmid listed Anglophobia amongst his hobbies in his Who’s Who entry.

Not that Anglophobia is funny, per se, but having Anglophobia as a hobby in your Who’s Who entry strikes me as strangely hilarious.

For what it’s worth, I’m neither a Scottish nationalist nor an Anglophobe, but I do think it’s a beautiful little verse, expressive of the love I feel for Scotland.

The rose of all the world is not for me.
I want for my part
Only the little white rose of Scotland
That smells sharp and sweet — and breaks the heart.

House Democrats have some vertebrae left in their spine, at least, having refused to rubber-stamp telecom immunity. Good for them, even if the whole issue of warrantless wiretapping in general is still a mess. If you’re less lazy than me, you could write to your House rep congratulating or reproving them, but I’m going to go rest now.

I’m still coughing over here, but less so, and whatever nasty little bug is causing my illness has now diversified into sinus crud, but I felt like cooking today (VeganYumYum’s Hot and Sour Cabbage Soup — tasty, easy, and sinus-clearing!) and should be back at work tomorrow, so life is returning to normal.

I don’t remember if my parents ever gave me cough medicine as a kid (they probably did) and it’s been a while since I was sick enough to need it, but let me tell you, I had no idea dextromethorphan was such a freakin’ miracle drug. I slept (if a bit restlessly) all through last night after a good dose of it, even though I have The Cough From Hell.

Wikipedia has some fairly interesting info on it.

The promised post with tan food bentos! Very exciting, I know.

Soup bowl: Gravy
Main bowl: Mashed potatoes
Large bowl: Chickpea cutlet
Small bowl: Chocolate chip cookie

This is probably the most tan bento. The chickpea cutlets are from Veganomicon. They’re made with chickpeas, wheat gluten flour, and some tasty seasoning. The lemon zest makes them super-cool. The cookie recipe was from Vegan with a Vengeance, though they got a little overcooked. It’s almost like a kid’s school lunch, except totally vegan and much tastier since it’s all made from real food.

Soup bowl: Peerless Pureed Cauliflower soup (veganized)
Main bowl: TJs three-seed sourdough (probably to dip in soup)
Large bowl: Apple
Small bowl: Macadamia Nut Blondie

The soup is from Almost Vegetarian, but I veganized it by using soymilk instead of milk/cream and replacing the egg yolk with a potato (both are thickeners in this context). It was really good that way; I probably never would have noticed the difference had I not been the one making it. The Macadamia Nut Blondie is from Vegan with a Vengeance. It’s like a brownie, but not chocolate. And incredibly rich from the macadamias. Very big hit at cookie parties and work birthday celebration!

Soup bowl: Roasted Bell Pepper Soup
Main bowl: TJs whole-wheat pita (for hummus)
Large bowl: Kasha varnishkes
Small bowl: Hummus

This hummus was homemade to be more like the TJs kind, as an experiment. I put more water and tahini in than normal. It probably still needed more tahini and more garlic, but it’s good. I’m still eating the leftovers this week.

The Roasted Bell Pepper Soup is also from Almost Vegetarian, but it’s vegan with no alteration. And tasty and easy, as long as you have the bell peppers roasted already. It’s just a mirepoix, plus bell peppers, a potato, and broth. I put more bell peppers in than called for because otherwise you taste the potato and celery too much.

And the non-tan bentos:

Soup bowl: Mashed sweet potatoes
Main bowl: TJs whole-wheat pita
Large bowl: Sauteed greens and caramelized onions
Small bowl: Falafel

The falafel are homemade from the VwaV recipe. I liked it, but it could have used more kick and less liquid. I prefer the recipe from my British Tasty Vegetarian book. The greens and onions were a good mix.

Soup bowl: Lentil stew
Main bowl: Pineapple-cashew-quinoa stir-fry
Large bowl: Apple
Small bowl: Pineapple right-side-up cupcake

This was leftovers from the Valentine’s Day celebration. The theme was supposed to be cashews, but the original cupcakes we inteded to make (Cashew-Cardamon) required soymilk powder for the cashew butter icing, which I couldn’t find, so we went with pineapple as a theme. The PCQ stir-fry, from Veganomicon, was innovative and tasty, with basil and mint among the ingredients. The pineapple cupcakes, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, were lightly sweet and tropical. The lentil stew is an old recipe of my mom’s and kind of got thrown in there a bit.

All bentos in this post are totally vegan. Yay!

In the year or so that I’ve had service with Comcast, they’ve screwed up my billing at least three different times. I’m getting pretty frustrated at this point. I thought it was pretty basic to set someone up on a plan and then let it go for a few months, but evidently not.

The first time, somehow my properly-set-up internet payments weren’t going through consistently. A (wonderful, very persistent) rep from my credit union had to call them multiple times over the course of several weeks in order to find the lost payments. They never explained what the problem was, so now I pay them through another mechanism.

The second time, they billed me more than they said after I started getting internet with them. I was supposed to be getting the deal where cable combines with internet, but they billed for full charges on the internet instead.

Then recently I dropped my cable. Conveniently, doing this allowed me to enter into a new deal for Internet, where I was able to get “better” service for less money. I say “better” because I don’t notice any difference. The first month they had all the corrections on it, so I ended up overpaying, and now they’ve tried to change it to $29.99 instead of $19.99.

They keep telling me I should just pay the full amount and they’ll credit it back. Like hell. At this point, they don’t get my money until they prove that they’re supposed to.

I have to say though, almost every time I’ve complained, I’ve been able to resolve things on their live chat, and the people are always quite willing to admit the error and give me my money back. So it could be worse.