In the market of rare and expensive Scotch whiskies, it’s not uncommon for people to invest in a cask with the idea of it accruing value over time as the spirit ages. But the industry for buying and selling barrels isn’t very heavily regulated, making it highly susceptible to fraud.
The victims of this particular scheme were duped into buying casks that were either overpriced, sold to multiple people, or didn’t even exist in the first place. The BBC report shared multiple accounts of individuals who have lost large sums of money in the scam, with some victims investing over £100,000 ($129,493). U.K. Whisky Barrel Scam Swindles Hundreds out of Their Life Savings – https://vinepair.com/booze-news/scotch-whisky-barrel-scam/
I’ve always preferred baking sweet potatoes over boiling and mashing sweet potatoes because my boiled version always turned out watery.
I just learned you have to boil the peeled sweet potatoes whole. After about 45-50 minutes check to see if the potatoes are cooked through. Then drain and return to the cooking pot. Turn the heat on to low and start smashing, and mashing while constantly stirring to avoid burning (I use a wooden spoon). After about five minutes a good amount of moisture will have evaporated from the potatoes. This is why sweet potatoes made this way aren’t too loose and watery. Add a splash of milk or half and half, a bunch of butter, salt and pepper to taste.
Memo to Self – buy more sweet potatoes, eat more sweet potatoes.
Behind Aspen’s international skiing luster lies a deep, competitive hockey culture that makes for a tough beer league. A drive to win the bragging rights to the battered Pell Cup turns architects, bartenders, contractors, lawyers, teachers, ski bums, and friends into fierce, fist-throwing rivals…former pros, Division I college players, and old goats—or, more accurately, has-beens and never-weres—battle away for what may be the hardest-earned, least-known trophy in nonprofessional hockey: the Pell Cup. Named after longtime Aspenite Peter Pell (a notoriously sharp-tongued player who never won the cup himself), this dented piece of pewter is a horrible, miniature replica of the Stanley Cup, the National Hockey League’s holy grail. If you look past the beer and whiskey stains, you will see nearly a half century of Aspen’s history etched in the names of its hockey clubs, sponsored by bars, camera stores, laundromats, and other long-gone businesses. Is Aspen a Hockey Town at Heart? – https://www.aspensojo.com/travel-and-outdoors/2019/02/is-aspen-a-hockey-town-at-heart
Current recommendations for protein intake are the same for all adults, regardless of age: 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass daily (g/kg/d). But estimates suggest that up to 30-76 per cent of older adults aren’t consuming enough protein.
Because older people’s muscles can’t use dietary protein as effectively as younger people to maintain muscle, experts suggest that older adults looking to keep their muscles should consume approximately 50 per cent more protein (1.2 g/kg/d).
I’ve always felt guilty about the times I didn’t feel like cooking, went to the store to buy a frozen pizza, then proceeded to eat the entire pie. I no longer feel the guilt. I ate 48 grams of protein! I’m combating sarcopenia. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23167-sarcopenia
In this new study, published in Nature Microbiology, Professor Anders Rosengren and colleagues have instead looked at prediabetes. This condition is a precursor to type 2 diabetes, with slowly rising blood sugar levels due to impaired insulin production.
The study encompassed 89 people with elevated fasting blood sugar, an indicator of prediabetes. Other criteria included the participants being overweight or obese and 35-75 years old.
The participants were randomly assigned sulforaphane or a placebo for twelve weeks. Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who was assigned which. A total of 74 participants completed all stages of the study.
The results show that participants taking the sulforaphane compound had a higher average reduction in fasting blood sugar than those taking the placebo. The difference between the two groups in the study was considerable.
Celery leaves. I always tossed them out until The Boss informed me she doesn’t like big chunks of celery in dishes I make that use celery for an ingredient. I recently discovered you can use celery leaves like a fresh herb, finely chopped and added to your creation in lieu of big chunks of celery. So far I haven’t gotten any complaints about the tiny green stuff floating in the soup.
Memo to Self – instead of buying celery with less leaves buy celery with more leaves, especially bunches with dark green leaves which have a more intense flavor than the stalks.
“These neurons are unlike any other neuron involved in regulating satiation,” says Alexander Nectow, a physician-scientist at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who led the research with Srikanta Chowdhury, an associate research scientist in the Nectow lab. “Other neurons in the brain are usually restricted to sensing food put into our mouth, or how food fills the gut, or the nutrition obtained from food. The neurons we found are special in that they seem to integrate all these different pieces of information and more.”
“Essentially these neurons can smell food, see food, feel food in the mouth and in the gut, and interpret all the gut hormones that are released in response to eating,” Nectow says. “And ultimately, they leverage all of this information to decide when enough is enough.”Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “Researchers discover the brain cells that tell you to stop eating.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/02/250205131107.htm (accessed February 8, 2025).
garyskitchen.net 