Fusion Power

As an engineer wot blogs, I usually try to keep away from technical comparisons and similes...like, say...
"When the band came on, the movements of the crowd suddenly changed from fluid to solid, like molten carbon steel cooling past its eutectic point."
or
"As the sun set through the haze over the plains, its shape curved sharply outwards on the horizon like a meniscus."
or even
"She stepped out of her building and tried to light a cigarette, but the wind had other ideas. It whipped in off the sea and channelled along the city avenues, accelerating in the process and elegantly demonstrating the Bernoulli equation. After trying and failing for five minutes, she bought a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup instead."

See? What it gains in technical accuracy it loses in respect from its more artsy-prosaic friends and family.
(Mmmmmmmm...Reese's Peanut Butter Cups...)

But it's been said often, with many intentional contexts, that alloys are stronger. So I don't feel so bad saying so now.
People have said this when pointing at nations, cities, and slides in metallurgy lectures, but the truth is that you can't always be sure what you're going to get when you start mixing things together.
Mostly I want to talk about food. Fusion restaurants take two previously disparate food styles and whack them together, usually with a little effort to make things good. You get curious little productions like Filet Mignon Spring Roll (French/Asian, Nolia), Split Maine Lobster with Dates and Garam Masala (Indian/American, Taj) and Viagra Salad (Korean/American (APPARENTLY) Kori).

These experimental places, borne along on a bed of vigorous enthusiasm at the wealth of opportunities presented to those daring enough to blend and fuse the cuisines of the world, lurk amidst the regular swathe of restaurants in New York, and sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between those who have taken the dive, and those who haven't.

Example; there's a pretty dingy cafe I pass each morning on my way to work that sometimes advertises Fish 'n' Chips as the daily special, alongside an appetising photo of traditional British style fish and chips. The same cafe advertises 'Mom's Old Fashioned Home Cookin''...which would, you'd think, apply to passers-by of an American persuasion. Then, very rarely, the special dish of the day is: