Archive for May, 2023

Of Chocolate and Strawberries

May

31

2023

I’m not a fan of the traditional chocolate-dipped strawberries. I know they’re supposed to be all fancy and gourmet and special, but they’re not good.

Of course if they’re offered I’ll take them, because strawberries are good and chocolate is good, but the way they’re usually done makes the sum worse than the parts.

And I finally figured out why – it’s a mismatch of textures. Maybe textures is the wrong word – it’s mainly the ratio of brittleness to squishiness.

The problem I have with chocolate-covered strawberries is that when I bite one, the chocolate breaks off in random-sized chunks and the strawberry retains its form. So I either get a mouthful of chocolate bits and no strawberry, or a smidgen of chocolate and a full bite of strawberry. Halfway through, most of the chocolate has broken off, so it’s just an awkward way to eat a strawberry on a stick with some chocolate crumbles.

For those materials engineers out there: using the Shore 00 hardness scale, the strawberry is in the 5-15 range and the chocolate is in the 85-95 range.

What caused me to figure it out is that we were gifted a bag of chocolate-covered freeze-dried strawberries. This one was TruFru brand, maybe there are other brands that are similar. But I had those and it was a problem trying not to eat too many at once.

What makes those good is that the textures are similar. When you bite into a chocolate-covered freeze-dried strawberry, they both break off together.

Also, they are a reasonable size, so I usually just eat them whole. As contrasted with the traditional concept of a fresh strawberry with dried chocolate – they seem to pick the largest strawberries they can. They’re going more for looks and presentation than for edibility.

Note that I do like fresh strawberries covered in chocolate, but fresh strawberries need to have a very soft chocolate, mainly a fondue. For a fondue or a chocolate fountain, the chocolate is softer than the strawberry so it works. I can take a bite of the strawberry and the chocolate comes along too, instead of trying to run away.

Also note: I did try some chocolate-covered freeze-dried raspberries, and they were not as good as the strawberries. I usually like raspberries better than strawberries, but in this context the raspberries were more bitter than the strawberries, so I didn’t like them.

But in the fifth year you shall eat its fruit, so that its yield may increase for you

Leviticus 19:25a

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NFL in April, 2023

May

24

2023

In the last week or so, we had the announcement of the 2023 NFL schedule. Now that we know who will play whom and when, we can start predicting wins and losses.

I keep my predictions over at Some Fun Site. View results of previous football seasons.

2022 Summary

Last year, I predicted that

  • Arizona Cardinals = 9-8
  • Baltimore Ravens = 10-7

How they actually did was

  • Arizona Cardinals = 4-13
  • Baltimore Ravens = 10-7

Ravens was right on, Arizona was not even close. Record prediction is not very reliable

(more…)

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Baby Names 2022

May

15

2023

Subtitle: in which I improve the government’s records

Allow me to introduce to you the 2022 SFS List of Baby Names that Combine Similar Pronunciations. That baby name list is the place to go in case you are wondering what are the most popular baby names in 2022 regardless of how they are spelled. The Social Security baby name list does not adjust the rankings based on alternate spellings (like Catherine/Katherine), but SFS does.

It was just Mother’s Day, so the SSA released the name rankings for 2022. Last year’s champion, Liam has repeated as the most popular boy’s name in the US, for the second year, so last year was not an anomaly. Liam gained a little bit, but Jackson is really falling off now.
No controversy for the girls – it’s Sophia again, and by a similar margin as last year.

Some Stats

  • In the top 9 names for the boys, 2 and 3 switched spots, 4 and 5 stayed the same, then there is more shakeup with Aiden dropping fast.
  • The top 14 names for the girls are the same as 2021, and in much the same order. The only difference is that Amelia jumped ahead of Olivia for 2nd place, and Isabella moved up 2 spots, jumping back ahead of Charlotte.
  • Again, Liam has the title of the highest-ranked boy’s name that has no spelling variations, at number 1.
  • Again, Emma is the highest-ranked girl’s name that has no spelling variations, at number 4.
  • Girl names still have more spelling variations than boy names (255/1000 vs. 172/1000 alternates)
  • Kayson once again took the prize for the most spelling variations for the boys at 9.
  • For the girls, Adaline once again took the prize for the most spelling variations at 6.

2022 Improved Baby Name List

Click on the link above and peruse to your heart’s content!

Abraham named his son who was born to him, the son whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

Genesis 21:3

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Just Peachy

May

10

2023

The Kroger line of stores has a couple of store-brand options for various foods. They have the basic cheap brand, the healthy brand, then the fancy brand – Private Selection.

We are fans of the Private Selection ice cream. Gamma likes the Black Raspberry Chocolate Chunk flavor, and I like the Extreme Fudge Chocolate Moose Tracks.

They had a good deal last week, $2.99 for a carton, so I grabbed a couple normal flavors and then I wanted to fill our the order with a flavor we don’t normally get.

Since the weather was turning warmer, my eye was drawn to the limited-edition peach flavor.

image of private selection peach crisp ice cream

I bought it, and next time I had ice cream I tried it.

Not a fan.

In general, I like peach flavored things. Exhibit A: Snapple Peach Tea. Exhibit B: Peaches themselves

But this ice cream, despite prominently featuring peaches on its packaging, had no peach flavor.

Public service announcement: It is a peach crisp flavor, not peach flavor.

What that means is that it tastes mainly of cinnamon and oatmeal. I suppose the oatmeal is more of a texture. But the main idea of the ice cream seems to be the flavor of the crumb topping.

In fact, they could capitalize on that. Because they could take the same recipe, package it as apple crisp ice cream, and it would work as that too. They’d just have to remove the coloring so it was apple colored rather than peach colored.

It’s not a total loss, though, as Gamma really liked it. So I’ll let him eat the rest of it

Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household; and many of the Corinthians, as they listened to Paul, were believing and being baptized.

Acts 18:8

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The 5 Hows: Rummikub

May

3

2023

This is a guide for how to play the board game Rummikub. This is an older game, I think our set is from the ’80s. If you’ve played the card game Canasta or Rummy, you’ll have no problems.

Our game came from my wife’s side, and they pronounce it as “rummy-cube”, although I am always tempted to call it “rummy-cub” because that’s how it’s spelled.

1. How do I win?
By being the first one out of tiles.

2. How do I get rid of tiles?
By playing them, from your hand onto the table.

3. How do I play them?
If you can make a set or a run (I just remembered, Phase 10 experience will also help with this game), or if you can extend someone else’s set or run.

4. How do I make a set or a run?
A set is 3 or more tiles of the same number but different colors. Note there are 4 colors, so the biggest a set can get is 4. A run is 3 or more tiles of the same color but in order numerically (and sequential). There are 13 numbers, so you can get a run as large as 13.

Once you have “broken in” by playing your first set/run, you can them play on other people’s sets/runs. Once tiles are played, it doesn’t matter whose they are.

5. How does it work if I can’t play anything, do I just pass?
No, then you draw a tile, and then your hand gets bigger, and it takes longer for you to win.

It is a simple game, really. A smidgeon of strategy, but more luck of the draw, so you can just play the game. But it is still fun.

There, now go play Rummikub.

It shall be square and folded double, a span in length and a span in width.

Exodus 28:16

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