Tying your shoes

Sound interesting?  Probably not.  But you too may be a victim of incorrect shoe tying.

It started with the shoes I bought for my dad's second wedding.  The thick laces always looked crooked when tied.  One day a few years ago I sat down to solve the problem and discovered another way to tie my shoes - pushing to loop up instead of down made all the difference.  Plus, the knot was tighter.

My wife laughed at me when I told her the story but it turns out that a lot of people get it wrong.  (the last link is from Sesame Street))

And yesterday I saw a TED talk on the same topic.

Two things:
1. Some dumb things really aren't; and
2. I could have given a TED talk.

Before writing this post I tested it out on a friend and it turned out he was doing it wrong his whole life, which required him to double knot.

Who's laughing now?

Probably you.  At me.  I'm okay with that.

Raspberry Jam Smackdown: Resurrection

We have a new contender in The Great Raspberry Jam Eat-Off of 2012.

My mom, after reading the previous post, was both intrigued by the possibility of making jam without pectin and the prospect of winning a cooking challenge.  Greaves Jam, as I'm sure you recall, did not list pectin in the ingredients list but I assumed it was included.  As it turns out, jam can be made pectin-free, which translates to less sugar and much more finickiness in the cooking process.

Mom entered the contest.  And things just got interesting.

So let's have a look at our new contender and Greaves, the undisputed winner of our last round:

Greaves	Sugar Raspberries (I assume it has pectin)
Mommy-san's	Sugar Raspberries (order assumed as there was no label)

From last time, we judged the jams on the following factors:

• Aroma
• Taste
• Consistency
• Sweetness
• Raspberriness
• Existence of little bits

And here's how it turned out.

Greaves	Light aroma A little sweet Good consistency Rich raspberry taste Has bits	Wife: Good Me: Good
Mommy-san's	Almost no aroma Good color A little thick Extra rich raspberry taste Lots of bits Perfect sweetness No label	Wife: Good Me: Great

Mommy-san's is the only jam that wasn't too sweet for me.  The first taste that hits your tongue upon eating Greaves is sweetness, and the raspberries come later.  With Mommy-san, the raspberries come first, and they linger wonderfully.  My wife likes the punchiness of Greaves' taste, though I find it a little fake on account of the sweetness.  My hat tips towards Greaves for aroma, little bits (M-san has a bit too many), and consistency.

Wife's ranking: Greaves, and almost tied, M-san's, with a big gap before the other 5.
My ranking: M-san's, Greaves 'cause it just tasted so much better.

On average, I'd have to give a slight victory to Mommy-san's, or at least that would have been the verdict had my mom not warned me about hers becoming thinker when cold.

So in the fridge they went.

And two days later, a retest.  Same great taste but much thicker - unfortunately unspreadable.

With the unexpected new post-refridgerated spreadiness factor, Greaves wins slightly.  Sorry, mom.  I will accept further entries in the future, if you are so inclined.