Writer's Block: Annals of Animal Warfare

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The giant squid's only significant natural enemy is the sperm whale.

The sperm whale grows up to 20 meters.

Megalodon grew up to 15 meters.

A fight between a giant squid and a sperm whale was nowhere near a forgone conclusion. Sure, the sperm whale could eat small giant squid no problem, and would GENERALLY win against a big one . . . but not always.

And Megalodon was only 75% the size of a sperm whale.

I'd give the advantage to the giant squid.

How wonderful my wife is.

Lis asked me if I'd blogged about how awesome she is recently enough. And, well, she was right -- I haven't done so recently enough.

She bought be an iSi ThermoWhipper.

Okay, compressed nitrogen whipped cream makers, right? You've got a container, you put cream in it, you screw the top on to make a pressurized seal, you clip a little container of compressed nitrogen into the receptacle on the top, which bumps the pressure inside the container up to a few atmospheres, you squeeze the handle, and the cream comes out of the container, whipped to whipped cream instantly.

And the best of these is iSi. Which was designed to be able to handle other things besides just cream. If it's got the ability to be beaten to a froth, it'll form a foam under this treatment. Instant meringue. Or, well, lots of things. Reference your On Food and Cooking for more ideas

And THIS one? The one Lis got me? Is designed to keep cold preparations cold for hours . . . or HOT ones for hours, too. It's designed to be able to make HOT foams!

I just used it for the first time. I took about a third mango nectar, a third whole milk, and a third cream. The proportions may need work, but it foamed up correctly. Yum.