Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

As a respite from the heat and inspired by jensmile's recent post, I thought I'd share the making of a grape sno-cone  using my nifty sno-cone machine (a glorified ice shaver, but don't spoil the fun).  Now all I need is a cotton-candy machine and I'll be all set.

(Thanks to Bookmole for this quiz.)

Lufthansa is apparently thinking about introducing bunk beds in Economy class on its Airbus A380 aircraft.  I would love this for any long-haul or overnight flight--there's nothing like being able to lie flat and stretch your legs, and I'd be able to sleep so time would just, er, "fly" by. 

OK, it does look a bit scary in the picture, but how much more scary is it than the sardine-like seat arrangement in coach class now?  Though I'm not sure how the folks on the upper bunks would get up and down.  Still some kinks to work out.  But this is progress!

Philippine Airlines used to have bunks in its First Class section on the upper deck of its 747s in the early '80s.  Each bunk had a curtain for privacy/light blocking, mattress, blanket, pillow, and a large seat belt that wasn't bothersome at all.  It worked perfectly on the upper deck because it was smaller and easier to keep dark and quiet--a "sleep only" zone.  They even had a little changing room in a corner of the upper deck.  At the time, the airline's 747s were used almost entirely for long-haul flights from Manila to/from Europe and the U.S., so it really made sense.  (We're talking 20+ hour flights)

Now that Lufthansa is considering beds for economy class, not only is a great idea finally coming back, but it's going to be available without shelling out first- or business-class fares.  So sign me up!

Had a chuckle about French President Nicholas Sarkozy scolding a couple of AP photographers for invading his privacy while he was on vacation in Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.  I guess the stories about his temper are true after all. 

But anyway, it made me think about our U.S. presidents' vacations.  Why do none of them ever vacation abroad?  The closest I can think of was the Clintons' vacation in the Caribbean, and even then I think it was the U.S. Virgin Islands.  Yet the French president vacations in New Hampshire (and has previously vacationed in Canada), the Blairs vacationed in Florida... 

Anyone care to posit a theory?

I've not been terribly impressed with most eco/green/earth-friendly products, but I came across one in New York magazine recently that just strikes me as a really great idea.  It's a small sink that's built into a toilet tank lid replacement, that spouts clean tap water for you to wash your hands (post-tinkle), then all the "grey" water drains into your toilet bowl, filling it up for the next use.  How clever is that? 

Most "grey water" solutions I've read about are ugly, awkward, and/or hard to do unless you are the type who burns yak butter for electricity, but this one is quite an elegant idea, methinks. 

Listen up, caffeineholics.  (shin{k}aide, this means you)    Energy Fiend has a handy calculator that will figure out how much of your favorite caffeinated beverage it would take to kill you.  And if you call in the next 10 minutes, you'll also get this nifty calculator that'll do the same for your favorite snacks, like Penguin Mints or Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Recently the New York Times Select had an article (below) about how U.S. versions of British candy bars like Kit Kats and Cadbury Dairy Milks taste very different ("sour," to the British palate).  Having lived in England in the '70s-'80s, I can remember eating what were called Marathon bars, which here in the States are called Snickers bars.  Now, of course, they've made it more confusing by having Snickers Marathon bars, which are like energy bars for athletes.  And apparently, the U.S. had also had a Marathon bar (no longer made) that was entirely different from a Snickers bar.

Anyway, found this snippet from Wikipedia about the renaming of the UK Marathon bars to "Snickers":

In the UK and Ireland, Snickers bars were originally sold under the name "Marathon". In October 1989, Mars standardised many of its global brand names, and the name was changed to Snickers.

M&M Mars used an aggressive advertisement campaign with memorable portrayals of irate foreign visitors attempting to order "Snickers" from confused shopkeepers. For eighteen months thereafter, both names were retained on the wrapper— first with "Marathon" in large letters, then with "Snickers" in even larger letters. This caused a certain amount of derision, as the unfamiliar "Snickers" was, to Irish and British ears, meaningless, and sounded a little like "knickers" (e.g. the tongue twister "Granny Snickers").

The change of name attained some prominence in British and Irish popular cultures. As of 2006, it still occasionally appears as the subject or punchline of comedy routines.

But I was fascinated to read about the different versions of Kit Kats for different countries--who knew?  And shame on me for assuming that Smarties were just like M&Ms.
 

July 11, 2007

The World's Best Candy Bars? English, of Course

By KIM SEVERSON

A TELEVISION news producer from recently made a deal with her boss, who was traveling in . The producer promised she would submit her script for an investigative story ahead of deadline in exchange for two British Kit Kats and a Curly Wurly bar.

The woman, who did not want her name revealed for fear of being teased endlessly by her colleagues, so loves her British chocolate that she takes an extra suitcase when she travels to just to bring back a haul.

''Should I admit I am carrying two U.K. Kit Kats with me in my briefcase right now, just in case I get into a bind on my trip?'' she e-mailed this reporter from the road.

At this point, it would be easy to take a long, clichéd side trip into a discussion of the relative inferiority of British food. But for the rarefied palate that can appreciate the soft, immediate pleasure of an inexpensive candy bar, it's not difficult to give the edge to sweets from the realm of the queen.

That's why Malcolm Smart takes his son, Rowan, for a stroll to Blue Apron in Park Slope, , twice a week for a proper British candy bar. Rowan is 6 years old, and tends toward the mint Aero bar.

Mr. Smart, who grew up in Birmingham, England, home of the chocolate manufacturer Cadbury-Schweppes, is a Flake man himself. The Cadbury Flake, a crumbly bar of compressed ribbons of chocolate, was invented in 1920. It is thrust into swirls of soft ice cream at parks all over London, creating a dessert called a 99.

Alan Palmer, who is an owner of Blue Apron, said the British candy bars have been strong sellers since he opened the shop five years ago.''Anybody who went to school there or had any kind of business or family connection over there is totally addicted to them,'' he said.

Mr. Smart, who has lived in the United States for 25 years, learned early on in his life here that British and American chocolate bars are different, even if they share a name and a look.

''One day I was eating a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk and I thought, this has absolutely no flavor,'' he said. ''I looked at the label and saw it was made by Hershey. I was outraged.''

Cadbury Dairy Milk is the iconic British candy bar, the one most likely to be tucked into the suitcase of a Yankee tourist looking for an inexpensive souvenir. Versions are filled with caramel, whipped fondant, whole nuts or pellets of shortbread cookie.

It's a different bar from the Cadbury bar available in the United States. According to the label, a British Cadbury Dairy Milk bar contains milk, sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, vegetable fat and emulsifiers. The version made by the Hershey Company, which holds the license from Cadbury-Schweppes to produce the candy in the United States under the British company's direction, starts its ingredient list with sugar. It lists lactose and the emulsifier soy lecithin, which keeps the cocoa butter from separating from the cocoa. The American product also lists ''natural and artificial flavorings.''

Tony Bilsborough, a spokesman for Cadbury-Schweppes in Britain, said his company ships its specially formulated chocolate crumb -- a mash of dried milk and chocolate to which cocoa butter will be added later -- to Hershey, Pa. What happens next accounts for the differences.

''I imagine it's down to the final processing and the blending,'' he said. After consulting with chocolate manufacturers in each country, Cadbury tries to replicate the taste people grew up with, he said. In the United States, that means a bar that is more akin to a Hershey bar, which to many British palates tastes sour.

Kirk Seville, a spokesman for the Hershey Company, declined to explain the manufacturing process, saying the company preferred not to take part in a discussion about the manufacturing differences between a British and an American Cadbury bar.

For people here with a taste for British candy, no explanation is necessary. Their opinions are already formed.

''Hershey's tastes like ear wax,'' said Kevin Ellis, a Canadian-born designer with Adobe Systems in San Francisco. Mr. Ellis, who says Canadian and British chocolate bars are comparable, anticipates with delight the boxes of imported chocolate bars his family sends.

The appeal of British chocolate is powerful. When the Ellis family moved not long ago to another Bay Area house, a burly man from Birmingham who was helping to haul the sofa spied a box.

''Do you mind if I have a Curly Wurly?'' he asked with the tenderness of a hopeful child.

The Curly Wurly, a thick strip of braided caramel covered in chocolate, is a sibling to the discontinued Marathon bar, which any American who was in high school when Jimmy Carter was president will remember fondly.

The Curly Wurly is not as popular in Britain as the Crunchie. With its crisp honeycomb interior, it's what a Butterfinger might be if it went to finishing school and married up.

But neither rivals the Mars bar, the prom queen of British candy bars. About three million of them are made daily in Slough, just west of London. It's like a less sweet version of the American Milky Way, rather than the almond-stuffed American Mars bar. The smart set in London melts it over ice cream for a fast dinner party dessert. Mars bars are also fried in the same sort of batter used to coat cod.

And then there is the television producer's beloved Kit Kat, invented in York, England, in the early 1930s and available in versions that match the tastes of, variously, Japanese, Germans, Australians, Canadians and Americans.

Nicky Perry has sold chocolate bars from her home country for more than a decade at her store, Tea and Sympathy, in Greenwich Village.

Her theory is that the bars from the United Kingdom are made from a better recipe, containing fewer stabilizers. They melt more quickly than a Hershey bar, which is why she cuts back on the amount she stocks in summer.

''I can't afford to keep the A.C. on all night or a chocolate bar would cost $10, wouldn't it?'' she said.

At the London Food Company in Montclair, N.J., about 17 percent of the store's sales are British chocolate bars, said Samantha Codling, the owner.

Ms. Codling, who is from Essex, offers a range of Cadbury Milk bars, including the mint crisp, whole nut and Turkish delight with rose jelly. The British Smartie, which resembles an M & M but has a thicker shell, and the Malteser malt ball, also sell well.

''All the ex-pats definitely know the difference already and the Americans soon figure it out,'' she said.

Bryn Dyment, a Web developer in the Bay Area who grew up in Canada, said he was shocked when his parents took him to a candy counter in the United States. He found out that not every child in the world was eating the same chocolate bars he was.

It wasn't until he moved to the United States as an adult that he realized just how vast that divide is.

''You get in these religious arguments with people,'' he said. ''I haven't met a Canadian who likes a Hershey bar, but Americans think you're crazy when you say that, because they think everyone loves a Hershey bar.''

From Popular Mechanics:

Survival rates for various parts of the passenger cabin, based on all commercial jet crashes in the United States since 1971 where detailed seating charts were available. (Illustration by Gil Ahn. Diagram courtesy of seatguru.com.)