I found the following image of somewhat twisted root vegetables yesterday evening. it was tweeted by a local grill enthusiast who goes by the handle "@uppercanuck".

RT @uppercanuck: Veggie porn...with beets! http://bit.ly/WN3i6

He's well worth the follow, both for his awesome sense of humour and his grill recipes.


Interesting Carrot and Beet Specimens
Source: Flickr

The root veg comes from the garden of someone who goes by the handle "bluescrubby" on Flickr.com and hail from 2007. According to the comments to the image, the carrot and beet may have been the result of being planted too close together or there being insufficient nitrogen in the soil. I'm wondering if there was too much clay or if the soil were too compacted.

These specimens actually remind me of a like-shaped red pepper from a while back.

Anyhow, happy planting to my green thumbed readers :)

Today, I went looking for one of Thomasina (Tommi) Miers' recipes from her Channel-4 mini-series, "A Cook's Tour of Spain." The particular recipe employs both authentic chorizo and ripe watermelon. Apparently, the spicy chorizo goes very well with the sweet watermelon.

Tommi Miers' Spanish Tostadas

While I was pondering the paired flavour contrast, I turned to the tech website, hardocp.com, and found the following slightly "provocative" image:

Pair of Melons
Source: alt.games.warbirds forum c/o hardocp.com

A quick google search, turned up the source of the image, the alt.games.warbirds forum, and another "pair of melons"

Another Pair of Melons
Source: alt.games.warbirds forum

These being "funny pictures for a dirty mind" aside, if I am to make Tommi Miers' recipe, I have to find myself a ripe watermelon when the fruit is in season (late summer for the Ottawa-area). Fresh chorizo can be easily had at the local Saslove's.

According to iVillage's Garden Web website's FAQ, there are numerous methods to determine if a watermelon is ripe. Some require you to have the watermelon on a vine. Others, make quick indicators when shopping at the farmers' market or mega-mart. Here is one method that Alton Brown also vouched for in an episode of Good Eats.

Look for the spot where the melon rested on the ground; a yellow-white, yellow or a cream-yellow color spot suggests ripeness and a white or pale green spot indicates immaturity. A green watermelon will have a white bottom; a ripe melon will have a cream- or yellow-colored bottom. Those fruit that show a change of color from green or olive-grey to yellowish brown should be considered ready to harvest. Also look for a breakup of green bands at the blossom end of the fruit. For best quality, walk the patch daily.

Of course, if "thumping", looking at the "ground spot", or checking for pronounced colour contrast between the watermelon's stripes are not definitive enough, there is always magnetic resonance imaging (MRI):

MRI machine for determining the sugar content of a watermelon
Source: Kobe Corporate Research Laboratory Electronics Research Laboratory

An MRI is the preferred method in Japan, where locally grown watermelons are highly sought after and very expensive.

BTW, I have absolutely no idea what the lady or gentlemen in the pictures above are doing. Though, I promised Jenn that she could take a picture of me doing the same next summer.

And here is the obligatory whimsical picture:

Puppy in a Bun
Source: "Funny Video and Picture Collection" blog

Welcome to installment three of "Funny Pictures for a Dirty Mind." FoodiePrints' first and second installments covered everything from candies to juicers.

Speaking of which, let us start with cookie cutters that maybe somewhat inappropriate for the holiday season:

Kama Sutra Cookie Cutters
Source: Boy'sStuff.co.uk

A little more appropriate, colour-wise anyways, is ketchup.

Apparently, Heinz, perhaps the most well known purveyor of the iconic red sauce, decided to embrace the tomato in 2007.

Seeds
Source: Shedwa Pop Culture and Advertising Blog


Slices
Source: Shedwa Pop Culture and Advertising Blog


Stem
Source: Shedwa Pop Culture and Advertising Blog

In 2008, Heinz introduced Hot Ketchup, Ketchup with a spicy kick. In the same vein, it put forward some spicy marketing:

Sizzling Advertising
Source: An old digg.com entry, whose link I have since lost.

And here's a less explicit, but equally creative advert for Hot Ketchup:

Hot Like Matches
Source: AdsOfTheWorld.com blog

As per the previous installments, here is a whimsical picture:

How to Cook Everything By Mark Bittman
Baby in a pot aside, Mark Bittman's cookbook is a treasure trove of recipes for "minamalists." While I do not consider myself a minamalist, I follow Bittman's New York Times column. The man is an everyday genius!

This just in:

Old Post Card
Here's a whimsical picture that more matches the previous installments. It is a scan of a postcard that my dad collected on his tour through Europe when he was a student.

Originally, I was going to just keep appending pictures to foodiePrints' original "Funny Picture for a Dirty Mind" post. Then, I decided that having a posting with too many addendums really doesn't make a good entry.

That said, during my latest visit to one of the oldest and most respected blogs on Chinese teahouses, chaxiubao, I found the following:

A pair of almond cookies labeled Pamela Anderson

A pair of almond cookes labeled Angelina Jolie
I'll just leave it at that.

The chaxiubao blog is maintained by a food journalist, named John Tse. As a foodie, Tse is held in such high regard that, in 2007, he appeared on Chef Anthony Bourdain's television show "No Reservations" when it visited Hong Kong. Here are photos from Tse's flickr collection of the shoot.

Chaxiubao must have recently undergone a layout re-design. I no longer see the photo slide show, originally powered by flickr images, that had me chasing to my local Chinese bakery. The new layout is however clean and Tse's prose is, as ever, informative. Keep up the good work!

More Follows:
Can you believe it's not butter?

Rich Buttery Taste, No Trans Fat, No Cholesterol

Just in time for Halloween, here are two questionably shaped gummi candies

Gummi Light Houses
Source: joeydevilla.com c/o seriouseats.com

Hannah Montanna Gummi Guitars
Source: joeydevilla.com

And here is the obligatory "whimsical picture" for people with clean minds.

Hot Dog

I found the following little gem on the web during a search for information on the Sun Micro System's purchase of MySQL. I've a feeling it was on digg.com under the article I was reading. Suffice it to say that I was taken aback and momentarily forgot what I was looking for.

Funny if you've a dirty mind
Source: funny.com

For those of you with clean minds, here's something more whimsical:

Hot Dogs
Source: Bayraider.tv

This just in: The Banana Guard - Yet another funny picture if you have dirty mind...
What lead me to this rather interesting contraption was one of those "products that look like something they're not" lists. Posted just 2 days before Valentine's Day, the good people at omglists.com included a "ribbed" model. And yes, the Banana Guard is real. It is an actual patented product with its own website, bananaguard.com.

Update: 2Juicy Orange Squeezer - Another mildly dirty funny...

2Juicy
For people who believe that orange juice should come from pairs.
Source: Gizmodo.com