The Frying Pan

Mien

10:00 PM

@Cerberus do you have baking beans?

Cerberus

Ah OK.

Mien

Or rice?

Cerberus

@Mien Nope.

@Mien Yes.

derobert

@Cerberus If you have a nice modern recipe, it'll give you the target temperature at the center. If not, when you shake it a little, it should still jiggle a little in the center

Mien

You can use that :)

Cerberus

10:01 PM

@derobert Ah OK, good tip. And is that for a custard topping or a regular lemon-cake topping? eyes dazzled

rumtscho

Or he can use a starch-containing recipe. It will stabilize the custard up to cooking temperatures.

I guess it is easier for a newbie.

Cerberus

Oh right, the lemon squares had that.

Mien

I was really surprised that most recipes I've seen now did not contain starch.

rumtscho

@Mien the taste is a bit better without starch

Actually, it depends on your definition of better.

Mien

Of course it does.

Cerberus

10:02 PM

@rumtscho The thing is, last time I think I just threw everything in without paying too much attention, just by intuition and loosely following a recipe, and it was great.

rumtscho

It is more... dainty. :P

Mien

There there.

Cerberus

And the time before was probably the same.

Sobachatina

@rumtscho Unlike your bloody man-hands?

Mien

:D

rumtscho

10:03 PM

@Cerberus It depends on 1) your definition of great and 2) your ingredients and 3) some luck.

Cerberus

So I don't think this is a hard kind of cake.

Mien

There is no luck in baking.

@Cerberus the time you talked about it could've made you a pie already

or tart, whatever.

rumtscho

@Sobachatina My prof already punishes me enough if I don't label a figure (or an axis in a diagram). Do you have to do it too?

derobert

There are three different procedures that are used for custard pies (technically, tarts). (1) cook custard entirely on stove top, pour into tart crust, done; (2) cook custard partially stove top, pour into tart crust, bake some more, done; (3) do not precook custard at all, pour into tart crust, bake

Cerberus

@rumtscho Well, what could go wrong if you're paying a bit of attention?

@Mien Haha true.

Sobachatina

10:03 PM

@Mien Unless your oven is old and injects a large random variable. :)

Cerberus

@derobert OK that makes sense.

Sobachatina

@rumtscho Sorry. I forgot you were sensitive about that. :)

rumtscho

@Cerberus If you are using a pure custard recipe and overheat it, you can end up with a mass of miniscule egg grains suspended in whey

You can still eat it, if you want to

My mother has never in her life made pastry cream which didn't reach this stage

Sobachatina

@rumtscho It's probably a delicacy somewhere.

rumtscho

She believes that this is what pastry cream should look and taste like.

derobert

10:05 PM

@Cerberus the Cooks Illustrated lemon tart recipe I posted is (2)

The most likely reason they picked (2) instead of (3) is the note at top about cooking immediately; the acid in the lemon also denatures proteins, but apparently not in a texturally appealing way

Mien

My mom never tried to make pastry cream.

She did make pudding from those sachets. :p

derobert

... so, probably, it takes too long to get up to temperature in the oven and would turn out grainy

Mien

In the microwave;

Cerberus

@rumtscho Hmm I see.

derobert

@Cerberus I'll note that Cooks Illustrated recipes are generally very well tested. I doubt it'll fail as long as you follow it

Now, if you want something easier, lemon bars are easier :-P

Cerberus

10:10 PM

@derobert Hmm I'm a bit scared of the preheating of the filling, and I don't have a thermometer.

@derobert Yeah, easy = good!

But looks great, you other pie/cake/...

rumtscho

@Mien My mother is afraid of microwaves

Mien

Mine too.

rumtscho

She thinks they make food unhealthy through their radiation, or something like that.

Cerberus

Haha why?

Mien

Yep.

rumtscho

10:11 PM

So we don't have a microwave.

Cerberus

I baked bacon in the microwave today.

rumtscho

@Cerberus I think that this was a real concern back when microwave ovens were new

Cerberus

Easiest way to prepare bacon.

rumtscho

By now, it has been proven that it is not the case. But the news haven't reached my mother.

Cerberus

@rumtscho Oh, I see. I mean, I have heard it before.

derobert

10:12 PM

@Cerberus Lack of thermometer will make that harder, you'll have to go by the consistency, which of course is easier to miss...

rumtscho

And if they do, she won't believe them.

Mien

I'm just saying:

1 hour ago, by Cerberus

I want to make a lemon pie/cake.

That was one hour ago.

:D

Cerberus

@derobert Hmm yeah I think it's more prudent if I follow a simpler recipe like I have in the past.

@Mien Haha you win.

rumtscho

@Cerberus Nothing wrong with that

But throw in some starch, to be safe

derobert

@Cerberus well, let me screencap the CI lemon bars. Can't get much simpler...

rumtscho

10:13 PM

A tbsp should be enough for one tart

Cerberus

@rumtscho Hmm OK will do.

@derobert I have your linked recipe open.

derobert

@Cerberus oh, do you actually have a CI account? Or do you mean the other screen cap?

Cerberus

@derobert No, I mean that other link about squares.

But if the CI recipe is even better/easier, please!

derobert

I don't think I posted a lemon squares recipe before. But whatever, one sec, almost got the screencap ready

Cerberus

allrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-square-bars/…

derobert

10:18 PM

Cerberus

Thanks!

rumtscho

@derobert how much does a CI subscription cost?

derobert

@rumtscho web membership is $34.95/yr

@rumtscho magazine is $24.95 in the US, no idea how much it is internationally.

rumtscho

@derobert This is additional to "web membership"?

What do you get for web membership only?

derobert

Web membership gets you access to the recipes, taste tests, equipment tests, etc. online

The magazine gets you the printed magazine in your mailbox. The two are completely separate, AFAIK

rumtscho

10:22 PM

@derobert The same ones which appear as articles in the magazine?

derobert

yes, same ones which appear in the magazine

rumtscho

Is there content in the magazine which isn't available online?

derobert

Not sure.

Never had the magazine subscription

Mien

So, do you guys still have the energy to help me choose a recipe as well?

derobert

There is a free trial, after which you can normally get a discounted first year

Mien

10:24 PM

Or too tired? I can ask it tomorrow as well.

derobert

@rumtscho if you go to cooksillustrated.com there should be a free trial thing somewhere

Cerberus

Okay I've read it.

I'll have to convert the measurements...

rumtscho

@derobert Oh, I have had some looks at what is in the online database

The things you posted now, a test or two somebody else posted

Sadly, I can't use the equipment tests

But the rest seems quite useful.

But I won't make an abo now anyway

Can't afford to spend the money right now.

derobert

abo?

rumtscho

abonnement

subscription, sorry.

I decided that it is time to say goodbye to Maemo

derobert

10:27 PM

lol

you sent me to the dictionary there :-P

rumtscho

Because my battery doesn't hold through the day now, and there is no sense in getting a new battery for a phone which can't even sync my calender

So, ETA of the HTC One X is the 11.4.

Beautiful thing, but my budget for luxuries is spent for quite some time.

Cerberus

You've bought a new phone?

rumtscho

@Cerberus ordered it

Cerberus

Ah OK.

rumtscho

It gets here next wednesday

Cerberus

10:29 PM

Android?

The newest one

Icecream Sandwich?

The HTC One X (codename HTC Edge and HTC Endeavor) is a quad-core smartphone designed by HTC. It runs Android 4.0 mobile operating system with an HTC Sense graphical user interface. The HTC One X was announced on the 26th February, 2012, at the Mobile World Congress. Currently HTC's flagship device, the One X comes with a Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core while a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 One S is also available in the One series line-up. Hardware Processor, memory, and storage The international version has a 1.5 GHz 4-Plus-1 quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 with a fifth Battery Saver Core. I...

derobert

Heh. I've stil got my good ol' Droid X.

rumtscho

Yes, it has ice cream sandwich, a 1200x720 screen and so on

Cerberus

10:30 PM

Very nice.

rumtscho

@derobert I hadn't planned to replace my old one so soon

Cerberus

I would like to have that.

How much does it cost?

rumtscho

600 Eur

Cerberus

OK.

derobert

I need to replace mine... Just haven't gotten around to it

rumtscho

10:31 PM

But it just came out.

Cerberus

That is a bit more expensive than the Galaxy Nexus.

rumtscho

You can expect it to drop a lot in the next few months.

Cerberus

Which should be around 450ish?

Right.

rumtscho

The GN used to cost the same when it was brand new.

There is a smaller One.

Cerberus

I can't believe anyone would buy an Iphone, which has much worse specs for a higher price.

Ah OK.

derobert

10:32 PM

@rumtscho Yeah, that'll do the budget in for a bit

rumtscho

It doesn't have worse specs.

It is just the ecosystem.

Cerberus

Sure it does.

rumtscho

I used to have a Palm T|X

Mien

@rumtscho GSII was also about that price.

Cerberus

I think it has a slower, dual-core CPU.

rumtscho

10:32 PM

I am tired of not being able to touch my own data

Mien

But that's almost a year ago now.

Cerberus

I am on Windows Mobile, if you want to have a laugh.

rumtscho

I don't think the quadcores are quicker - nobody writes multithreaded phone apps right now

Cerberus

@rumtscho Well OK. But it is a better spec.

rumtscho

Actually, most mid range android phones today are still single core

Cerberus

10:33 PM

Sure.

rumtscho

@Cerberus yes, but it is half a year newer

Half a year is lots of time in the current smartphone market

Mien

This is mine:

rumtscho

Also, I mostly buy for display

Cerberus

@rumtscho Isn't there always an Android phone newer than the latest Iphone, except perhaps in the month in came out?

Mien

rumtscho

10:34 PM

Can't stand a display on which you can't fit stuff

Cerberus

Hahaha.

rumtscho

And my old one was 800x480, I wanted something better now that I upgrade

derobert

@Mien Oooh! I used to have that phone. Except, it said "Nokia" on the side.

rumtscho

There are only 5-6 phones available now better than 800x480

Cerberus

@rumtscho I believe the largest Android phones are always considerably larger than the latest Iphone. Display size + res, I mean.

rumtscho

10:35 PM

@derobert I still have one

Mien

@derobert Yes it's a Nokia :)

1800 I think.

rumtscho

I use the smartphone for Internet mostly

Mien

I bought it as an emergency.

But it does not break.

rumtscho

Because the other one has a plan for cheaper talking.

Cerberus

My phone.

rumtscho

10:36 PM

@Cerberus Oh, one of the older Windows phones?

Cerberus

The volume buttons are buttons because the wheel was not invented yet.

@rumtscho Yes, Windows Mobile 6.0.

rumtscho

I didn't laugh, because they say that the current mobile Windows is quite good

Cerberus

It is from 2007.

rumtscho

@Cerberus I would love to stay with one phone for so long

Mien

@rumtscho I thought you had a Nokia?

rumtscho

10:37 PM

But the models they keep making just aren't good enough for my high requirements :P

@Mien yes, the N900

Great software, crap hardware.

Cerberus

@rumtscho Well, WM is not, at least, it was good until the first true touch-based OSs came out: then everybody saw how much WM sucked. I am using 3rd-party software for nearly everything, including the dialler. With that, it is quite OK.

Mien

Anyway, I'm off.

I'm tired like... something very tired.

Nn.

derobert

Annoying. You can buy an unlocked Galaxy Nexus for around $450–500. But Verizon wants $650.

Cerberus

@rumtscho Actually it was my brother's old phone, three models ago.

rumtscho

And nobody cared to write apps for this great software, because nobody uses this phone and no other with the same OS exist.

derobert

10:38 PM

And of course, the unlocked one won't be CDMA

Cerberus

@rumtscho Ah so you're high maintenance.

@Mien Night!

rumtscho

@derobert yes, I heard about that. It is terrible.

Cerberus

Slaap als een os!

Of als een roos!

Sobachatina

@Mien Goodnight.

Mien

aan?

rumtscho

10:39 PM

I wouldn't go back to buying locked phones.

Mien

Maar dank je

@Sobachatina Thanks. N.

Sobachatina

Too many vowels!

Too maany vooweels!

Cerberus

Hehe.

derobert

@rumtscho Even with a 2yr contract, they want $300. Bloody ridiculous.

rumtscho

@Sobachatina this is funny

Cerberus

10:40 PM

@Sobachatina The ee in een is actually pronounced as a schwa.

rumtscho

Because, to me, the "w" is a vowel

Cerberus

W/u and j/y/i are often considered semi-vowels.

rumtscho

@derobert yes, these contract phones are actually an expensive credit

derobert

Yep. But its basically the way the entire cellphone market works in the US :-(

rumtscho

In Bulgarian, U is considered a normal vowel

And we transcribe W in English words the same way as an U

So to me, there isn't really a difference in pronouncing "vowel" or "vouel"

Both have three vowels in a row :)

Cerberus

10:42 PM

I understand.

derobert

Verizon is still selling it for its introductory price. Hasn't had a price drop yet.

rumtscho

@derobert I thought all your markets worked on credit, not only the phones

Cerberus

Can't you buy it elsewhere for less?

rumtscho

@Cerberus they don't sell unlocked phones in the US

Cerberus

Just in some internet shop?

rumtscho

10:43 PM

And they can't buy the European version because the US cell networks use a different protocol

Cerberus

@rumtscho Right, then unlock them? Or buy them abroad?

Ohh...

That sucks.

derobert

@rumtscho Well, we buy a lot of things via credit cards, but those work quite a bit different. E.g., if you pay off your credit card bill every month, you don't actually pay any interest

rumtscho

Actually, there One X isn't even sold that way in the US

The quadcore processor doesn't work with the chip for their network

Cerberus

Ohh...

Well, telephone companies here suck big ass too.

derobert

@Cerberus Well, Verizon is CDMA, not GSM.

rumtscho

10:44 PM

And so they have the same phone, with another name, and with another processor, which can work in their network.

Cerberus

How much do you think 1 MB of data is on my friend's subscription (she doesn't have a data bundle)?

rumtscho

@derobert I thought you had no GSM providers at all

derobert

@rumtscho no, we have GSM providers

rumtscho

@Cerberus probably a lot

Cerberus

@derobert OK, that is inconvenient...

rumtscho

10:45 PM

Especially on old subsctiptions

derobert

@rumtscho Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile are all GSM

Cerberus

@rumtscho € 2.

rumtscho

@derobert OK - I didn't know that. But they use different bands, right?

Cerberus

So a simple YT video would cost € 100 or so.

rumtscho

@Cerberus yes, here it is the same thing.

At least for old plans.

derobert

10:46 PM

@rumtscho some of them, yeah. But a lot of phones work with all of the bands

Cerberus

@rumtscho And that sucks, right?

rumtscho

The terms of plans change every 3-4 months or so

Cerberus

I have 2 GB a month for € 15.

I don't want a bundle, I just want to pay for what I use, and a reasonable price!

rumtscho

And the newest ones include a few MB free even for talk-oriented plans

Cerberus

Hmm.

rumtscho

10:46 PM

I looked at new plans for mine, but won't change

Cerberus

I have a plan from 2006.

rumtscho

My old plan is 8.50 a month for 200 MB

The new ones are different

Cerberus

Because it allows me to call outside my bundle for € 0,08 / minute.

rumtscho

There is one for 15 Eur, capped at 1 GB, and I would have taken it

But it is also half the speed only, 3.6 mb

Mine is 7.2 Mb

Cerberus

So do you often go over 200 MB? And do you notice such a speed difference?

rumtscho

10:48 PM

And for the normal speed, you have to take the 5 GB included - plan

Cerberus

I don't.

It depends greatly on your phone.

rumtscho

And this costs 25 Eur, which is a big difference.

@Cerberus I don't go over 200

Cerberus

In any case, it sucks!

rumtscho

But this is because my old phone can't do many things I want to do

Cerberus

I mean, try using Google maps just 200 km from here, in Belgium.

rumtscho

10:49 PM

OK, roaming is a completely different story

It is expensive everywhere, no matter what the distance

Cerberus

That's just part of the story.

derobert

Well, at least roaming here isn't such a problem, as the US is so large.

Cerberus

They make about 500 % profit on that, I believe.

@derobert Exactly.

rumtscho

As for my usage, I never watch videos on my phone - but I might want to start now, with better software support and a bigger display.

And this would take me over 200 MB very soon.

Or streaming web radio.

Cerberus

I watch videos sometimes, always whenever I want, and I never go over 200 MB.

rumtscho

10:51 PM

But good videos are large

OK, some traipsing kittens on youtube can be small

Cerberus

Heh.

rumtscho

But if you go to the more beautiful stuff on Vimeo, they don't stream it below HD - or if they do, the scaling is too slow I think

Cerberus

Web radio can also use up a lot of bandwidth if you listen to it a lot.

rumtscho

It is easily 50 MB for a 2-3 min video.

Cerberus

Right.

rumtscho

10:53 PM

But the most offending thing was the one month when I went over the 200 MB

Our old Internet contract had run out, without the girl in whose name it was telling us

Sobachatina

I have a T-mobile prepaid phone that I pay about $100 a year for. Just about right.

rumtscho

We just woke with no internet and when we called tech support, heard that there is no contract any more

Cerberus

You know, I don't want to pay € 15 for a cap of 2 GB: I just want to pay € 15 / 2000 = € 0,75 per MB.

rumtscho

We decided to get another provider with better terms, and stayed over a month without Internet until the switch was made.

Cerberus

@rumtscho Oh no, they just end your contract??

rumtscho

10:55 PM

And in this time, I hit my barrier.

@Cerberus It was a four-year contract, and the four years were up

Cerberus

But why would they do that?

It automatically goes on until you formally end it here.

derobert

Odd. I've never heard of an Internet contract that ends when the time is up, instead of just continuing month-to-month

Cerberus

Very foolish of them.

@derobert Same here.

rumtscho

And after I hit the limit, they made my mobile connection much slower - I think 64 kb

Cerberus

Yikes yes.

rumtscho

10:56 PM

And I didn't notice much change!

Cerberus

Heh.

rumtscho

Turns out that my phone hardware was so slow rendering pages

Cerberus

Hmm really?

derobert

But I'm not sure how you survive a month w/o Internet access. At least not after, say, 1998.

Cerberus

Oh, yes.

rumtscho

10:57 PM

That this was the bottleneck, not the connection speed.

@derobert I had Internet at work

Cerberus

In browsing, there won't be that much of a difference.

I have that too.

rumtscho

And also some at the phone, for browsing

I don#t know how the neighbours survived, I think they don't have smart phones

I also bought a prepaid data plan for my computer

Cerberus

And I seriously doubt whether you would notice 7.2 Mb/s v. 3.6 Mb/s on a modern phone.

derobert

@rumtscho Well, other than living at work, I'm not sure how you did that...

rumtscho

I could pay 2 Eur per day to use Internet

Cerberus

10:58 PM

Yay!

rumtscho

@derobert yes, I stayed in the office after my work was done.

But the problem with the prepaid thing was that it needed a special software to activate each day

And the software was Win and Mac

So I had to bring the laptop home if I wanted to have Internet

derobert

WTF, they couldn't just have a web site?

rumtscho

I found out how to tether the desktop to the laptop

But still, it was cumbersome. Because I normally leave the laptop in the office.

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