Post #399,689
3/4/15 8:21:33 AM
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What is different about Indian food?
Interesting article in WaPo. But behind the appeal of Indian food — what makes it so novel and so delicious — is also a stranger and subtler truth. In a large new analysis of more than 2,000 popular recipes, data scientists have discovered perhaps the key reason why Indian food tastes so unique: It does something radical with flavors, something very different from what we tend to do in the United States and the rest of Western culture. And it does it at the molecular level.
Alex
"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
-- Isaac Asimov
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Post #399,693
3/4/15 10:36:01 AM
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Cool, I've got to spend some time with the source articles
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Post #399,706
3/4/15 5:37:13 PM
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Re: What is different about Indian food?
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Post #399,709
3/4/15 6:15:09 PM
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Asafoetida
Most food writers are completely at a loss on how to describe the smell of asafoetida, but it's not so hard for people with wider expeience. It smells just like SAE 90 Weight hypoid gear oil - the oil that made low slung cars possible.
The resemblance is because both asafoetida and hypoid oil are high in similar sulphur compounds. In Indian cuisine the stench is destroyed by a second or so frying in hot oil before adding other ingredients.
The Romans had to turn to asafoetida when the sylphium plant went extinct - not as good, but something, at least.
In India asafoetida is much used because large numbers of Indians are forbidden onions, garlic, shallots, or other aliums. These are high sulphur vegetables, and asafoetida, once deoderized by a brief fry, provides a similar sophistication to the flavor of recipes. Really, you NEED one or the other.
If a recipe for 4 people calls more than 1/8 teaspoon, it means "hing powder", the variety heavily cut (2/3) with rice flour. Personally, I use pure auravedic grade ground hing, that way I know exactly what I'm getting.
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Post #399,711
3/4/15 7:03:53 PM
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I'm not at a loss.
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #399,716
3/5/15 4:41:36 AM
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Hmmm havent smelled that yet.
[Testimonials] Some years back, a person did an exhaustive test of the commercial litters (concerning some bad side-effects, thus: which is actually superior, least harmful.)
Fresh Choice is what I've used since. Via usual bizness acquisitions, it's now called "[Pro Pet] Fresh Results" Dunno sales regions; apparently HQ is at Cincinnati OH, at (800) 645-5154. FWIW Made from corn cobs, only faintly 'nice smelling', clumps well; they say, "Our patented Triple-action On Demand odor control is the most advanced system with high absorbency effective odor control and long-lasting fragrance."
Ad-speak aside, it appears to deliver on that. It ain't the cheapest (as Ruskin says, about that) but because it lasts a while, it may still be most economical.. Dunno where mine pee when outside, but I've smelled nada, all along.
'Course if ya gots a one like Fat Freddie's, pissing in boots? ..so far I'm lucky. A neighbor did find a solution to that, though: Folex™ (no rinse) carpet spot remover. $-back guarantee (800) 253-6102 (One (ill) cat did pee once.. fortunately I saw it/when fresh, no odor.) Stuff worked, as none developed.
HTH
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Post #399,720
3/5/15 10:39:49 AM
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We use TidyCat Breeze
4 cats in the house and no smell at all, which did not used to be the case.
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #399,721
3/5/15 11:17:45 AM
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We went for the DeadCat NoReplace option
Dogs that don't shed and don't mind being bathed don't smell.
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Post #399,722
3/5/15 11:35:48 AM
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We spend a lot of time out of the house.
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #399,731
3/5/15 6:26:41 PM
3/5/15 6:37:23 PM
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Re: We use TidyCat Breeze
Guess you didn't have this problem, then... Earlier, some foofarah about clay-based litters seems to have been resolved as: mainly involving early kittenhood and per ASPCA, Any cat older than that detected eating litter should be taken to a veterinarian, since this behavior often indicates anemia or other dietary deficiencies.MrroWWWrrr. Dunno the smells you were describing (formerly) whether from odors on shedded fur (?) or some other source. Obviously cats are innately self-grooming (unless ill, mentally or physically). At least the dozen plus I've lived with over the years, even when sniffed through their fur ... have fit that reputation of clean-smelling. And when one is sleeping on your arm, your nose Knows. Even the in/out pair, when picked up and sniffed around neck fur, sometimes seem to have had a slightly-perfumed aroma!--which I cannot explain--but there you are. (My sniffer is broken or ..maybe needs to sniff 100 more, so I can employ Stats? the 21st Century's substitute for experience.) ;^> There's so too-Much "info" out there now--many suggestions eloquently presented/but bogus--that I conclude that, especially on a diet of only dry food, (all now employing pheromone research to formulate a spray-on attractant that's very effective) ... it's impossible to separate the marketing-BS from any truthiness. (Not only re such horrors as Meloxicam and some other vet-nostrums.) Luck to your kittehs; it's a crap shoot learning how to keep them healthy: they Never tell or show problems: pure survival-in-wild camouflage. We have to look damn close at eyes, *mouth!, fur condition, gait, mood changes ... and most in our manically distracted kultur ever have or take the t i m e , in-time. Meanwhile Vets charge just like meds-in-Murica taught. * Squamous cell cancer occurs often, IMGuesstimate: because of the huge/profitable expense of anaesthesia at most vets. And fact that so few ever look closely, when we see one yawn.. for the red-gums that foretell mouth problems (kittens can be trained to let one use a 'finger-toothbrush' periodically.) Mine have all been 'old'; lost Sierra to that, at 16. May your mileage Vary. Ed: add
Edited by Ashton
March 5, 2015, 06:37:23 PM EST
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Post #399,735
3/6/15 9:41:24 AM
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Nope.
And the previous smells were definitely from the litter boxes. 4 cats (6 back when we started with it) make a lot of waste, and even with daily waste management the urine smell would become overpowering. Breeze manages it by soaking it all up into a pad that kills the smell.
The feces can be ripe when first deposited, but it's very easy to just bag those immediately if so.
We buy replacement pads/pellets via Amazon's Subscribe And Save, which keeps the cost down. As another benefit of the system, no more litter being tracked all over the house, and no more litter dust coating everything.
The cats themselves smell very clean, as you have noted.
I hear you on cat health. We have two elderly sisters (15-ish?), one with diabetes and the other with thyroid and kidney problems. The former gets an insulin shot twice daily and the latter gets a pill and subcutaneous fluids daily. Long term maintenance for the kidney issues, so we've bought an IV stand and everything. Neither of them let on that anything was wrong; diabetes shows from intense water consumption, the thyroid issues made the cat race around and caterwaul, and we finally got to the kidney problems by taking her in after she developed a gait imbalance.
All are doing much better now with treatment.
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #399,758
3/6/15 8:10:43 PM
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Thanks..
A pleasure to hear an account that well informed. Have done many a sub-Q, too. A friend's cat really loved the relief it gave her: she would [I saw this..] jump up on table--the chandelier was the IV-stand--and wait impatiently for her treat given at conclusion. But unnecessary.
(When I feel a need to weep.. it's for humanity puppehs n'kittehs, those not nearly so fortunate as to be cared for by informed staff-Persons. They know-not what they Do Do, so often by feeding Friskies and other disguised %high of meat by-products, signified by what comes in the first two or three items in Ingredients list. {sigh}
Curse the Chinese providers of anything meant to be eaten by mammals! (Stay happy/don't read Food Pets Die For.) The Refs alone would trigger any slightest tendency towards Depression. (On skimming a copy, I decided against buying it.. It just intensifies misanthropy via intense greed-awareness.)
Rilly nice to hear that the IGM's collective talents include bitchin animal care, too..
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Post #399,766
3/7/15 8:18:13 AM
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I wish she liked the sub-Q
It's a bit of a fight at the moment.
Regards, -scott Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #406,731
12/4/15 3:37:13 PM
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Mineral deficiencies
"...Any cat older than that detected eating litter should be taken to a veterinarian, since this behavior often indicates anemia or other dietary deficiencies." Yes, I found that my cat loves salty things (sodium-deficiency?) such as Doritos. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/would-you-like-side-dirt-eating-soil/"Elephants, gorillas and bats eat sodium-rich clays when they do not get enough sodium in their diet. One elephant population is known to continually visit underground caves where the animals dig up and eat salt-enriched rock." This may be, according to one theory, one of the causes of Ebola escaping into modern life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitum_Cave"...The walls are rich in salt, and animals such as elephants have gone deep into the cave for centuries in search of salt. The elephants use their tusks to break off pieces of the cave wall that they then chew and swallow, leaving the walls scratched and furrowed; their actions have likely enlarged the cave over time." (and possibly exposed the Ebola virus in the cave to other things, such as Monkeys and bats. A fairly decent book that I've read: (There may be others, your library may have this one.) http://www.amazon.com/Lots-Wife-Salt-Human-Condition/dp/0805009205/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449261260&sr=1-1&keywords=lot%27s+wifeHardcover: 14 cents.
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Post #399,718
3/5/15 7:59:28 AM
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ICLRPD
Personally, I use pure auravedic grade ground hing, that way I know exactly what I'm getting.
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