- How one obscure sentence upset the New York Times by Renata Adler. A great and revealing story. My explanation of the Times’ s over-the-top hostility to Adler’s book (Gone: The Last Days of The New Yorker) differs from Adler’s. She says it was due to her lack of deference, whereas I suspect currying favor with Charles McGrath, the editor of the New York Times Book Review, was a big part of it. In Gone, Adler criticized McGrath, who was apparently very upset. Gone is the rare critique that combines negativity and deep familiarity. Usually you have one or the other.
- fish oil and joint pain
- life and death consequences of job choices
- one more reason for health care stagnation. Innovations excluded by hospital purchasing groups.
- pickled vegetables and cancer. Alas.
- On the other hand, yogurt linked with lower risk of colon cancer. This study points in the same direction.
Thanks to Dave Lull and Alex Chernavsky.
Speaking of yogurt, did you ever happen to read Abbie Hoffman’s yogurt-making tips from _Steal This Book_? They sound pretty sensible to me, but I’ve never tried to use them to the letter:
“…Begin by going to a Turkish or Syrian restaurant and buying some yogurt to go. Some restaurants boast of yogurt that goes back over a hundred years. Put it in the refrigerator. Now prepare the culture in which the yogurt will multiply. The consistency you want will determine what you use. A milk culture will produce thin yogurt, while sweet cream will make a thicker batch. It’s the butter fat content that determines the consistency and also the number of calories. Half milk and half cream combines the best of both worlds. Heat a quart of half and half on a low flame until just before the boiling point and remove from the stove. This knocks out other bacteria that will compete with the yogurt. Now take a tablespoon of the yogurt you got from the restaurant and place it in the bottom of a bowl (not metal). Now add the warm liquid. Cover the bowl with a lid and wrap tightly with a heavy towel. Place the bowl in a warm spot such as on top of a radiator or in a sunny window. A turned-off oven with a tray of boiling water placed in it will do well. Just let the bowl sit for about 8 hours (overnight). The yogurt simply grows until the whole bowl is yogurt. Yippie! It will keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks before turning sour, but even then, the bacteria will produce a fresh batch of top quality. Remember when eating it to leave a little to start the next batch…”
That pickle thing sounds fishy. They’ve got clearly elevated cancer rates but when they try to isolate the pickles the results are mixed? Sounds like they’ve identified a non-factor.
Well I was laughing all the while reading the pickles study.
Live with the fear, your days are cucumbered!
Those suggestions do not agree with my experience. You can get really thick yogurt using milk — no need to use cream. Use a long fermentation time, such as 24 or 30 hours, at constant temperature. And I found that my yogurt improved when I used less starter. I use 1/4 teaspoon — much less than Hoffman’s 1 tablespoon. However, you can certainly get thin yogurt using this recipe.