Miracle fruit review, “New Hope #31″

Miracle fruit or miracle berries have a very interesting property - they’re capable of making sour and bitter foods taste sweet. They can also enhance the sweetness of sweet foods. Yesterday I received my order of freeze-dried miracle fruit from www.miraclefruit.co.uk. My best friend Tom came over for some GTA IV and a miracle fruit food tasting.

The miracle fruit comes in a powdered form, so you have to let it dissolve on your tongue for about a minute prior to eating anything else. The taste-altering effect can last up to 2 hours…your stomach should be full by this time anyway. The powder tasted fruity but was nothing special on its own. I assembled a spread of various food (mainly fruits) for us to try, and here’s what we thought of them.

Lemon - Sweet and delicious like lemonade. I couldn’t believe how edible these were. No puckering at all.

Lime - Same as the lemons, but lime flavored. I ate a lot of these.

Grapefruit - Not bitter! I can’t believe it! I tried some this morning to make sure this was really grapefruit, and it tasted disgusting in its natural unsweetened form. I enjoyed being able to eat this without putting mounds of sugar on it. It smelled wonderful.

Kiwi - Excellent. Slightly sweeter.

Pineapple - Tom thought it was great, but I felt that it was much too sweet.

Grapes - Like candy. Very sweet and delicious.

Strawberries - My favorite. They tasted like they had been rolled in sugar.

Granny smith apple - Less tart and sweeter. I prefer these as sour as possible though.

Rhubarb - Tom’s favorite. I tried the rhubarb before the tasting since I hadn’t tried it before. It was bitter. After the miracle fruit, it tasted like sugar!

Dark chocolate - No huge difference, still delicious though.

Coffee with skim milk - Still needed some sugar, but was a little bit more drinkable.

Dill pickle - Tasted like a sweet pickle but with dill flavor. Not sour at all.

Tomato - Sweet and super-ripe.

Overall, Tom and I were very impressed. I should point out that Nes also participated, but more on a spectator level since he doesn’t have an affinity for fruit. Next time pehaps I’ll prepare a spread of pork products for him to sample. So, how does it work? From the www.miraclefruit.co.uk website:

“Although the berry itself is not sweet, it contains an active glycoprotein molecule, with some trailing carbohydrate chains, called miraculin. When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, this molecule binds to the tongue’s taste buds, causing changes to gustation - in particular bitter and sour foods (such as lemons and limes) consumed later to taste sweet. This effect lasts up to two hours.”

I have to recommend miracle fruit to anyone who wants to experience the food-eating process in a fun new way.

“New Hope #31″ will be listed tonight:

“New Hope #30″ and a copycat

I’ve had a fairly busy week…lots of errands/loose ends to tie up, some new paintings, a few commissions, and of course I had to make time for GTA IV.  For those of you not into gaming, GTA IV is the videp game that allows you to virtually steal cars, deliver drugs, beat up hookers, and shoot cops, etc.  It’s lots of fun. 

I haven’t made much progress on the website.  I wanted to have it fully functional by now, but I still don’t know how to turn it into a site that showcases my work.  It seems like I’ve reached the point where every undertaking is going to be overwhelming.

Koopa is sleeping in the corner and I’ve been trying to convince him to eat some superworms, to no avail.  Prior to his hunger strike he would scarf down 10 or so in a sitting.  Now, there isn’t any interest at all.  He continues to eat the fruits and veggies I offer.

Tonight I’m listing “New Hope #30.” 

One more thing…I found out that an “artist” is copying the style of my “Garden of Hope” series.  Same exact idea and execution…floral pieces with breast-created flowers.  I guess I’m supposed to feel flattered, but instead I’m extremely miffed.  To me, being an artist means finding and exploring your own creativity, not stealing the ideas of others.  It would be too much of a coincidence for this person to have the same idea only 3 weeks after I listed the first of my series.  What do you guys think?  Am I justified for feeling bitter?

11 subscribers!  YAY!

“Demolition”

To be listed tonight:

Sorry, not much new to report here.  Me and Nes were in Boston yesterday to see a Sox game, which was a lot of fun as always.  I didn’t bring my camera because I was expecting the game to be rained out.  Lousy meteorologists!

“Garden of Hope #3″

This series is starting to get more detailed, and this one in particular took a long time to complete.

I hope you’re all having a great weekend!

Blue Man Group and “New Hope #29″

The BMG show was a very cool experience, but even after seeing it I’m struggling to come up with a fitting description. It was a combination of music, comedy, audience participation, and visual effects. The performance is impressive, although their style of music isn’t really “my thing.” The way it’s presented definitely makes up for it.

DJ/VJ Mike Relm was the opening act, and he was excellent as well. Relm manipulates music and video from popular movies, TV shows, etc. Here’s a poor-quality clip from one of his shows:

“New Hope #29″ will be listed tonight:

Koopa update 5/1/08

I haven’t talked about Koopa in a while, but I wanted to let everyone know that he’s doing OK and I’m taking good care of him.  He ate and drank today, and now he’s in the closet (literally,) sleeping under some pants.

THANK YOU to everyone who visits this blog, comments, or e-mails me - you guys are keeping me going!  I’m sure I would have quit posting a while back if I felt that nobody was bothering to visit.  Hugs to all of you for your words of wisdom and support.   Even you lurkers…I know you’re there, so thanks to you too! 

I’m heading out the door to see the Blue Man Group with my dad.  He insisted that I find us tickets because the show is supposedly amazing.  I know absolutely nothing about them, except that they’re blue, and they did those Intel commercials a while back.  If they’re any bit as entertaining as smurfs, I’m sure they’ll be great.  I guess I’ll be posting about that tomorrow.

“Moonlit Kiss” is scheduled to be listed tonight, but you’ll be too busy watching “Lost” to even notice.  I need to catch up…I still haven’t seen last week’s episode!

“Moonlit Kiss”

I just wanted to share the painting that I’ll be listing tomorrow night…

“Moonlit Kiss”

12″ x 24″

Acrylics & oils on canvas

“New Hope #28″ and mixed feelings

Here’s “New Hope #28,” to be listed tonight:

Koopa’s paintings are faring well on eBay…perhaps too well.  While it’s nice that I won’t have to stress over money for a couple of weeks, it somewhat bothers me that my paintings are selling for so little in comparison.  In my brain there’s an issue because everything about our paintings is so similar…the colors, the support, and the attention to composition.  I’m really pleased with the way they turn out, and it seems like the buyers have been thrilled with them also.  Is it that I don’t have a shell?  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Insomnia, stickpile, octane, pickles

It’s way past my bedtime, but I don’t feel tired.  This is all just random typing until I bore myself to sleep.

 My mom lives in a town (Old Wethersfield) that’s super-ultra-mega-proud about how frikkin’ early it was founded.  They have very strict housing regulations in an attempt to stay as Colonialish and touristy as possible.  Each residence is limited to one town-provided trash barrel, so any extra rubbish needs to be taken to the dump, where they charge by the cubic yard or something along those lines.  Incidentally, I was raised there, but turned out fine for the most part.

Where I live (Hartford,) this isn’t an issue.  I have a dumpster that I can fill to the brim, and anything left over can go on the curb.  It all magically disappears on Wednesday mornings, and then I can start filling it up again! 

Yesterday, Wethersfield’s dump had some sort of “promotion” where residents could throw away their stuff for free.  My mom was elated.  I happen to drive a pickup truck, so by default I’m required to help friends and relatives transfer large objects from one place to another.   Mom said she had a pile of sticks, leaves, branches, ornamental grasses, etc. that needed to be taken to the dump. 

Not a problem.

When I got to her house, I saw that the “pile” was more like a hill or small mountain.  In hindsight, I really should have brought my camera.  You would have loved it.  You would have left a comment containing “LOL” or “OMG.”  Even after my truck was filled, the pile looked untouched - that’s how massive it was.

We went to the dump, unloaded the branches and whatnot onto the town stickpile and went to get another load.  Fortunately for my aching back, the guy at the dump said he’d only let us make one more trip.  This time, we made sure to get only huge pieces of wood and not the sticks that were small enough to be shoved into contractor’s bags and ultimately wind up in my dumpster. 

The moral of the story is: don’t write blog entries that require photos if you don’t have the photos to supplement it.  I really need to take my camera with me more often. 

I’m feeling a little drowsy but have more to say.

On the drive home, I passed by the gas station that’s notorious for having the lowest gas prices in the area.  $3.79 per gallon!  Isn’t this getting a little out of hand?  And another thing…who on earth buys the 89 octane?  If your vehicle is too good for the 87 octane, then what would it need to do to deserve the 91 octane?  Do you even know what octane means?

I came home and painted the backgrounds for the next 2 “Garden of Hope” pieces.  I’m really going to take it to the next level for these.  I can’t wait to see how they turn out after breastification.  I also completed a very cute painting that I’ve been working on for over a week.  It’s almost too cute and I hate when I create something this adorable because I don’t want to part with it.  It will be listed shortly…maybe.

I don’t know how to smoothly transition into the next topic, so I’m just going to say that I found these photos deep within my hard drive:

I’m a pickle fanatic and connoisseur, so you can imagine my excitement when I happened upon these conjoined gherkins back in 2005!  They’re still in their original jar in my fridge. 

Here they are next to fifty Zambian Kwatcha (for size reference.) 

Guess what?  It’s time for bed!  I wonder if I’m the first person to use “octane,” “stickpile,” and “pickles” in a blog title.  My apologies for this entire post.

Woman’s World article, “Garden of Hope #2″

 Those of you wanting to supplement your Koopa documentation might want to pick up next week’s copy of Woman’s World (usually located amongst the tabloids.) I did the interview in January, so I assume all of the information it contains will be outdated. It’ll be about various artistic animals, not just Koopa.  I’m not one to complain, but it would have been really nice if they got this article out prior to Koopa’s retirement.

Last night I listed what will probably be the last Koopa painting that I’ll be offering on eBay. It’s #168, from August 2004.

Title: “Naked Singularity”

I received an email from only 1 of our e-Kiss winners, so I notified the other 2 today.  The winners are:

Julie L. (Wisconsin) - “Celebration #7″
Keith P. (Michigan) - “Duality”
Rachelle S. (Nevada) - “Conviction”

Tonight I’m listing the 2nd painting from the “Garden of Hope” series.  As you can see, there’s a bit more detail than the first, and I’m gradually learning how to control “the girls.”  I never thought I was going to become a turtle/breast painting specialist when I was a kid.