Tulip City Dispatch

 I saw an ad on my Instagram page for a chocolate-covered Payday bar.  Jokingly, I took a screenshot, and posted it on my stories asking the question "Isn't this just a Baby Ruth?"  A friend responded by saying that no, a Baby Ruth is peanuts surrounding caramel and chocolate-flavored nougat; the chocolate-covered Payday is peanuts in caramel-flavored nougat, dipped in chocolate. Now, candy bars are made from a few common ingredients:  Chocolate, peanuts, nougat, and caramel.  Chocolate and nougat is something like a 3 Musketeers.  Chocolate, nougat, and caramel is something like a Milky Way.  All 4 makes a Snickers bar.  Chocolate and Peanuts is a Mr. Goodbar.  Chocolate and caramel is either a Caramello or a type of Milky Way.  Peanuts and caramel (no chocolate) is a Payday.  And, chocolate, peanuts, and caramel led to the confusion that took me down the road to writing this article in the first place. I did what any sane person w...

From the McDonald's website, the Travis Scott combo is as follows: Quarter Pounder®* with Cheese, plus lettuce and bacon. Medium Fries with BBQ Sauce for dipping. Ice-cold Sprite. Get all of Cactus Jack’s favorites for just $6.* $6 isn't bad in 2020 bucks at McDonald's.  I was intrigued, when I pulled up to the drive-through lane, and saw that price!  A normal QPC meal rings out at about $8, so if thriftiness is your thing, you can pick off the bacon and lettuce from the Travis Scott burger! Now, I have no idea who Travis Scott is.  I'm aware that he's some kind of pop culture personality, probably from The Internet, and in my headcanon, he's a videogame streamer.  Second guess would be a Soundcloud mumble-rapper, but I honestly have no idea.  Point is, I'm old and out of touch. First bite of the burger brought about a severe crunch - McDonald's fried the crap out of the bacon, to the point where it felt like a crunchy tortilla shell.  The lettuce was a ...

I've grown my own peppers in a garden for several years now. After preparing fresh habaneros in a salsa recipe, I noticed that there was an incredible reduction in the spicy flavor of the peppers after I'd soaked them in a cup of vinegar while waiting for some of the other ingredients to cook. I'd taken another pepper from the same plant, cooked it in my eggs for breakfast a few days later, and nearly burned my face off. This led me to wonder what the exact mechanism was to break down capsaicin, and therefore, the perceived heat and spice of habanero peppers. I did some rudimentary research on the Internet and found that certain compounds, such as alcohol, can break down capsaicin oils. Question/Problem : How effective are various solutions in reducing perceived heat and flavor of a habanero pepper? Hypothesis: Various solutions can indeed reduce perceived heat and flavor of a habanero pepper; the degree of efficacy is unknown Material List: 3 fresh habanero pepp...