okay so I was reading a book and I learned something REALLY fucking cool
get the biggest potato you can get your hands on (a large russet is pretty good for this, and probably the easiest to get from the supermarket at any time of year. that's the kind that's usually sold as ideal for making baked potatoes). scrub it with a soft bristled brush to make sure the skin is free of dirt, but don't peel it yet. take out any eyes or imperfections, but try to keep the skin as intact as possible.
next, fill a bowl with about 1 can of ginger ale, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon and a half of baking soda. stir until it's all dissolved, and then take something metallic like a coin or a drawing pin and leave it in the bottom of the bowl (make sure it's clean, you might want to soak it overnight in a vinegar solution and then wash with dish soap). bring the solution and the scrubbed potato somewhere with direct natural light, and use a corkscrew or similar to make a long hole as deep into the middle of the potato as you can.
once you've done that, take a paperclip and open it all the way out so it resembles a short wire. bend this wire in half and push the two ends into the other side of the potato, opposite the hole you just made. dig a small hole, just large enough for the potato, and line it with baking foil. tuck the potato into the foil-lined hole with the paperclip side facing down (so the hole you bored in the potato is facing up) and carefully fill the potato hole with your ginger ale solution.
while you were doing all that, I learned something else really cool. haha now I'm two ahead of you, idiot.
