It’s clear that the Internet is a stellar platform for going “vertical” to dig out and present information. In this case, I actually was looking for tofu-related clothing.
Somehow, I came across Henry Ford’s experimental ”Soybean Car.” And I thought: Look at this.
His vehicle from the early 1940s was not some squishy soybean cake mobile with a bean curd bumper and tofu top.
No, he used the roly-poly bean in an innovative formula to eventually make a 2,000-pound vehicle that featured a tubular steel frame and plastic panels, according to the Benson Ford Research Center.
The U.S. newspaper industry has taken a beating recently. The reasons are many, as we know, including the Internet and changing readership behavior.
Dozens of my colleagues and I lost our jobs in March after our former employer, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, ended its print edition. Certainly, I hope the industry can find some stability.
Among the hardest-hit media companies is the Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. But this week, reporters at the Los Angeles Times managed to fit into pixels, and I presume print, some nice articles about soybean cake.
They searched the Los Angeles area for tofu makers and filed a dispatch called The joy of soy (accompanied by a great photograph) and instructions on how to make bean curd at home.
If you think camera film is old school, it’s time to think again.
And if you believe the high end of China’s history, 5,000 years or so, stretches way back on the global timeline, well, shift continents for a moment.
And your thinking, too. Try seven times those 5,000 years.
Archaeologists in Germany have announced they discovered a bone flute – dating back at least 35,000 years ago, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Photo credit: Copyright Dan DeLong/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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I should start with a disclosure: That’s not me. Not even years ago.
In 2006, photographer Dan DeLong and I dropped by the University of Washington to watch some visiting Shaolin-trained monks give a martial arts demonstration.
They impressed a huge crowd by soaring through the air, twirling, bouncing and kicking. In short, good, amazing stuff.
It probably helped that most of the monks were either in their teens or twenties. But their training and discipline were evident.
The above photograph has never been shown publicly, at least to my knowledge. The next day’s print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had limited space and featured the image after the jump.
If GORE-TEX never looked right on you and you’ve always hankered for more bean curd in your life, the free market has an option.
Knitwit, a California-based women’s clothing company, announced Friday that its new “Tofu Cashmere Fall 2009 Collection” will be ready in late July.
The clothing line - which includes a printed zip hoodie, crew-necks and wraps – is made up of 15 percent cashmere and 85 percent soybean, the company said. Clothing pieces start at about $110.
The company touts that the clothing line comes from the unused protein of tofu, soybean milk and soybean oil.
I’ve always wanted to cook Chinese food with flames as high as this. The intense heat cooks the food quickly and can bring stronger flavors out.
But I doubt fire officials, especially in the United States, let people do this inside their homes.
And an obvious note: It’s probably not a good idea to try this on your own.
This image is from Malay Satay Hut, which has a popular restaurant in Seattle’s International District at 212 12th Ave. S.Â
By the way, the place has received a number of positive reviews. Several of the dishes are similar to Cantonese food – but the sauces pack spice, a really nice punch.
Depending on what you order, the total price can add up.
Tofu Robots - Original Extra Firm - strike a pose. Photo source: spicybrown's flickr account
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There must be something about humans and our relationship to bean curd that I still have not figured out. Perhaps, in one sense, my thinking is too literal.
When I hear the word “tofu,” I typically think of the food. Recently, I heard about TOFU, the owl-like robot created by a graduate student at MIT.
This week, I learned about the humpback whale whose tail was so white that it prompted biologists to name her after soybean cake.
Then, I read an article about a whale shark found off the waters of Taiwan. Its meat apparently is similar to tofu. People have dubbed it the “tofu shark.”
Now, thanks to an online search, I came across spicybrown’s playful collection of Tofu Robots – Original Extra Firm – on flickr.
Former Beatle Paul McCartney is encouraging people to stop eating meat each Monday as a way to curb greenhouse gas from farm animals and help the environment, British and U.S. media reported this week.
The United Kingdom campaign, called Meat Free Monday, launched June 15 with support from other celebrities, including Yoko Ono and Kelly Osbourne.
One reason for this campaign to address global warming, according to a Bloomberg report, is that:
Cows, pigs and sheep bred for human consumption discharge millions of tons of methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Livestock accounts for about 18 percent of greenhouse gases, more than all the world’s cars, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has said.
NOTE: SECOND OF TWO POSTS. RELATEDÂ POST IS ABOVE OR HERE.
Published on Nov. 12, 2000 in the San Jose Mercury News
By Brad Wong (Special to the Mercury News)
QINGDAO, China – Say the city’s name to most Westerners and they’ll think of the famous Chinese beer in the green bottle, the one with the pagoda on the label. But this northeast port city on the Yellow Sea has history extending far beyond the century-old brewery built to quench the thirst of occupying German soldiers.
To understand this history, stroll down Zhanqiao Pier, past that famous pagoda, and see where Chinese junks and foreign ships once unloaded cargo in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is where the city’s traditional and colonial past converges with its socialist and market-oriented present.
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