Umami

Some time last week we slow-roasted a chicken: 250F for about five hours, and it came out really luscious and tender. It was a good-sized roaster, and we had only eaten about a third of it between us that day, so yesterday we turned it into soup with dumplings. Also luscious, warming, comforting... just what you want on a chilly winter evening (although this winter has been decidedly on the warm side, with only a handful of nights below freezing so far).

Some other time last week we slow-roasted a pork shoulder: 200-250F for about seven hours. It came out reasonably tasty, but full of connective tissue, and not the falling-off-the-bone-tender we were hoping for. So we put the leftovers in the fridge, planning to do something else with it eventually. Eventually was tonight: when I took it out of the fridge, it looked fairly desiccated, so I put it in a covered stockpot on the stove with about 1/4" of water and let it simmer while I cut, cleaned, and baked delicata-squash rings. Success! After about half an hour of steaming, the connective tissue had mostly melted away and the meat was indeed falling-off-the-bone. And I got the timing right for the squash rings: about half an hour (turning them over several times) at 400F left them slightly caramelized but not scorched. Too much olive oil on the pan, though, so some of them got soggy.

Whoa. That was weird.

So I follow a link in somebody's LJ post to a Washington Post blog entry. And over on the right side of the page is a panel labeled "Your Friends' Activity", listing Washington Post pages that have been liked, linked to, etc. by a bunch of people I know. How does the Washington Post know this? And which of my various social-network identities is it using to figure out whom I "know"? I mouse-over some of the entries, and they show Facebook URL's. Wait: I don't even have a Facebook account (that I know of)! Oh, I bet shalmestere didn't log out of her Facebook account the last time she used this computer. Still, a bit scary. I guess this is the "frictionless sharing" thing they were talking about.