I'm entirely with johnald. She makes so many leaps in logic, like dragging out the tired old "cosmic spiral power" bollocks to make moving your hips seem like some deep spiritual action, when it's just a good, effective exercise for women giving birth. Or trying to establish a demonstrable link between babies conceived and born in love, and calm, self-assured, healthy children with good leadership qualities. I think it's more likely that people who do the research and choose natural birth over a surgical hospital procedure are a self-selecting group, and the way their children are raised after that has more of an impact on their personalities than the conception or birth itself. That's why I don't like what she's saying. But, the medium being the message, I do like how she talks. She sounds loving and caring, and if I understood no English at all, I would certainly understand the point of the movie from watching it and hearing the tone of her voice alone.

This vid opened my eyes about why babies, traditionally, cry as soon as they're born. I used to think it was just natural and normal, but now it seems so obvious that being yanked by the head from a moist, warm, dark and embracing place into cold air in a bright room with my arms and legs suddenly out would scare the shit out of me and make me cry. Totally unnecessary.

I saw a monkey give birth in a zoo once. I didn't know what the heck the mother was doing until the baby popped out. Amazing how they did it without a hospital or a doctor! Egads!

Human flesh cooks much like pork. It doesn't need to be aged as long as beef, once the blood is drained out, 6-8 days of aging in a cool room is sufficient. Because humans are omnivorous, the flesh is a bit drier and tends to be tougher- it is best to select vegetarian or vegan humans for consumption.

Obviously the more tender cuts such as the loin will be prefered, but be sure to cook to an internal temperature of at least 150 degrees fahrenheit or medium. The larger muscles such as the glutes tend to be stringy, and can benefit from brining. These cuts are best for slow, moist heat cooking such as in a stew or a braise.

Because the federal government of most countries does not inspect human meat, be sure that your supplier is reliable and sanitary, and selects only the healthiest humans for harvest. As with all mammals, humans should be in a relaxed state when slaughtered, as adrenaline in the muscles converts the sugars into atpdepletes the muscles lactic acid after death which has a bitter taste causing a tougher meat which spoils more readily.

Let's see... Choggie's stock question is definitely worth an entire article. The pros and cons of homemade stock, what to look for and what to avoid pre-made stock, and a discussion of the necessity or not of stocks in the home. Bottom line for me is that I hate canned stock, and I make homemade stocks very rarely.


Karaidl
Microwaving Turkey is a pretty dubious idea to say the least. It is certainly possible, but it is not as simple as just time*weight.

According to my McGee, the dynamics for oven roasting are weight to the 2/3rds power per time, or thickness squared per time.

There are a few things you have to appreciate about microwaving- cooking things properly in the microwave is a complicated and subtle process, and misunderstood by most chefs. Firstly, microwaving is neither moist heat nor dry heat cooking. The microwaves directly excite the all the molecules in the food that are approximately the size of water molecules. This is why the microwave is so efficient at reheating already cooked food.

For cooking things from raw, on the other hand, there are a number of reasons why a microwave oven is less than ideal. Because the energy is able to penetrate a few centimetres into the flesh, it is impossible to get a nice crispy skin. By the time the skin is at a correct temperature to render the fat properly, the meat beneath it has already lost so much moisture that it is impossible to remain crispy.

If your heart is really set on trying it, I wish you luck, and my best advice is to buy a meat thermometre and check the internal temperature every few minutes. And watch out for flaming turkey. You'll want around 175 degrees fahrenheit for your turkey.

Dag
The first thing you need for pro-chef like knife skillz is a sharp chef's knife. I prefer an 8 inch Henkel for most of my chopping, but the santoku knives seem to be gaining quite a lot of popularity in the kitchens where I've worked.

There was a terrible, terrible video about sharpening knives on the sift a while back- one of my first downvotes, actually, but in my rant about how much I hated it, I linked to this article about how to sharpen knives properly.

Knife Maintenance and Sharpening By Chad Ward is an absolutely fantastic resource, and actually is the place where I learned how to sharpen my knives.

Here's a big secret though- good quality knives aren't all that expensive! You can pick up a yellow handled Henkel at a kitchen supply store for less than $20. Your knife will be wicked sharp.

I think there was a video on the cooking channel that showed how to properly cut up an onion. Ah yes- Knife Skills 101 My feelings on that video are mixed, which is why I haven't upvoted it yet, but it's handy to know the right steps. For one thing, I think I remember disagreeing with him on what exactly constitutes a "small dice", but I'll have to watch it again to remember precisely.

After that, it's just like getting to carnegie hall- Practice, baby. Practice.

maatc
ooh, I got a bunch of tips like that. that is a fun article, which I definitely have some comments on.

OK! Good first round, I'll be posting my article about Stocks in the next day or so. Keep the questions coming!

There are lots of amateur opera singers, folks.
Just because no one who'd watch "Britain's Got Talent" has any clue about opera doesn't make it fantastic; this is more a case of the little guy getting his shot than anything else.
And that's not the first time I've seen a woman get moist listening to opera.

My fries are finger-length, slim-cut, and extra-brown along the edges and corners. Every area of the surface is lightly crispy, while the inside of the fry is soft and moist. I shake sea salt on them and serve in a bowl lined with a brown paper bag. You get a dish of vinegar, and a dish of slightly warmed ketchup (cold ketchup is nasty). My friends are seriously impressed because the fries are better than any fast food place.

These days instead of popcorn I cook up a big bowl of french fries before a movie. Gonna watch one tonight after some work, can't wait!

Feel fresh. Feel moist!