Tag Archives: food

Knowing Doesn’t Always Save You From Yourself

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Yes, I know a lot of stuff. I am also human, though, so still fall prey to emotions over logic…

Last week I decided to buy a juicer to encourage consuming more vegetables than I currently do. After a friend’s recommendation plus some research I decided on an Omega 8004. I found a factory-refurbished-with-warranty one on Amazon, then looked at the seller’s own website, discovered that purchasing directly got me free shipping and ordered it.

The company quickly processed my order and the juicer arrived on Monday. I had pre-shopped for vegetables to juice and was anxious to try it out… but when I opened the box and inventoried the contents I discovered they did not include the brush for cleaning the filter screen nor the pusher for the feed tube.

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Friday Tidbits – 02-22-13

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In addition to the formal articles I post here, I also have a What Betty Knows Facebook Page where I sometimes post quick tips that don’t warrant writing an entire blog entry. So occasionally I will round those up and post here for future reference:

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Friday Faves 02-08-13

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With a major winter storm poised to bury my area in a couple feet of snow, let’s think of warmer days – check out this Kickstarter to build an urban farm on the roof of a building in downtown Boston:

 

This is kind of neat – a phone charging device that produces charge based on applying your hot or cold drink to it:

 

Local tip: if you are a resident of Cambridge MA with less-than-adequate or no health insurance (or even if you have some – there is no qualification other than residency) you can get a free card for discounts on prescription medicine at certain pharmacies. See all the information here.

Cold Brewed Iced (or Hot) Coffee

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It’s been close to 100°F for the past couple days, so rather than use my trusty AeroPress to make hot coffee for mid-morning at work (this needs its own post to document the tweaks I use) I made a batch of cold brewed coffee.

Hot brewing heats up the oils and can result in a much more acidic taste that gets bitter as it ages – so unless you plan to drink it immediately over ice, making a large pot of hot coffee then chilling is not going to be great the next day.

Cold brewing is a great alternative to making hot coffee and then cooling it, as long as you remember to start your batch about 24 hours before you want it to drink. Soaking the grounds releases flavors without becoming bitter, and the resulting beverage can be refrigerated for several days without deteriorating in taste.

You can buy many fancy and expensive special devices for cold brewing, but all you really need is a large jar (e.g., a 32 oz mason jar) and something to strain the grounds through, which can be a paper coffee filter lining a mesh strainer.

My recipe:

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