Sudoku Time
Posted by Stephen Waits Sat, 24 Dec 2005 02:30:00 GMT
Ouch! Today’s puzzle took me 34:18! Am I getting dumber?
Sudoku Time
Posted by Stephen Waits Fri, 23 Dec 2005 04:59:00 GMT
I finished today’s puzzle in 6:12.
Meanwhile, I was messing around with some really difficult puzzles in Susser Sudoku, a great freeware (Mac, Windows, and Linux) sudoku solver; and, holy hell. Puzzles that I was certain required backtracking (i.e. “guessing”) don’t. You really can figure them out. It seems like you can solve most puzzles with naked pairs, hidden pairs, intersections, and pinned numbers - but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
On the USA Today puzzles I rarely need more than a single naked pair, and I never need to write out and track all of the possibilities. Easy.
Contrasting that are the puzzles in a book my sister-in-law got me called Second-Degree Black Belt Sudoku. I started a puzzle in this and quickly concluded that these weren’t “true” sudokus, but instead required guessing. Bottom line, I’m wrong. They’re just hard as hell. But that makes it fun!
May the days get longer!
Posted by Stephen Waits Fri, 23 Dec 2005 04:38:00 GMT
The northern hemisphere winter solstice has passed. Finally the days have stopped shrinking. We won’t really notice for a bit, sinusoids and all, but still, it’s nice to know we’re on our way. I remember our friend Lonna telling us years ago how happy she is when we get past this day! So, Happy Winter Solstice Day Lonna!
Perfect Scrambled Eggs
Posted by Stephen Waits Fri, 23 Dec 2005 04:17:00 GMT
Ok, I’ve been mentioning this to enough people (face to face) that it’s finally to the point where it will be easier to just post it here and point them to the blog.
Anyway, on to the point of the post: perfect scrambled eggs! Mr. Breakfast’s “Perfect Scrambled Eggs” recipe claims to be just that, and I’d have to agree. It differs from my own in the following ways:
Uses a light cream.. lowfat milk, or even water! I tended to use a heavier cream, such as sour cream or cream cheese. This is weird, but it works very well. Note: My friend Rob swears by whipping cream; however, I have yet to try it myself. The lowfat milk thing is going to be hard to beat.
Uses less cream. Again seems counterintuitive, but works.
Uses a hotter pan. He allows his pan to heat (at Medium+) for at least two minutes, while getting the eggs, milk, and salt together, and beating them.
Beats eggs longer. I guess this was probably just laziness on my part.
When it gets to the “flip them all” part (i.e. first side done, or not enough runny egg left to continue “Martha Stewart” technique), he only cooks them for a short time on the new side. This leaves them with a perfect texture.
Oh, and if you aren’t sure what the “Martha Stewart” technique is, I’ll try to explain. I’m pretty sure she didn’t invent this, because it’s how I’ve always done my eggs, and I don’t watch her. Basically, you need to be patient. Let the eggs cook. Then with a spatula, push all of the edges into the center. As you do this, pick up the pan and tilt it so the runny, uncooked egg will fill in the edges again. Repeat, repeat, repeat. This should leave you with nice big chunky curds.
Now read Mr. Breakfast’s recipe well, follow it closely, go cook some eggs, and please do tell me how it works!
Via reddit.