Filed under: Cheese, Food Oddities

I find that those slices of individually wrapped American cheese are always disappointing. I can't remember the last time I bought them, but occasionally, when I'm at a cookout or barbecue, I forget and get them on my burger. One bite in I regret the choice, as while they have amazing melting properties, there's really nothing redeeming about them. You get a mouthful of tasteless cheesy food product that coats your tongue like liquid plastic and ruins a perfectly good piece of grilled meat.

Because of my disdain for these slices of faux cheese, I was particularly delighted to discover a far more interesting and creative use for them. Cheese racing. This is a practice in while people (mostly like while they are under the influence of alcohol) toss the still-wrapped slices onto a grill, in order to see who's slice will puff up the fastest. Apparently the plastic doesn't melt or burst and the cheese gives off inflating gas. Who knew!

[via Neatorama]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Chocolate, Comfort Food, Celebrities, Bread

Wonder what foods those amazing, incredible, ever-so-unreachable celebs crave during their pregnancies?

The same things everyone else does, duh.

Apparently, Angelina Jolie, who is rumoured to be pregnant with twins, has been eating, well, like a pregnant woman. At a recent dinner outing with Baby-Daddy Brad Pitt, she ate: penne arrabiata, two starters, several rolls, profiteroles for dessert, and took an apple pie to go. Earlier during her pregnancy, she Angelina craved mustard-smothered onion rings and cinnamon chilli chocolates, and has since been eating cupcakes made by her kids.

I bet I could eat all of that - onions rings included - and I'm not even pregnant!Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Food Gadgets, Fast Food

Before I get into this post, I want to readily admit that I am not the target audience for this particular gadget. While I do own a car (a green 16-year-old Subaru Legacy Wagon that I adore), I live a block and a half from my office and so don't need a vehicle to cover that distance (I drive once or twice a week and should really sell it, but I'm attached). Back in the days when I did drive more frequently, my car was so old that it didn't have integrated cup holders (although my dad did bolt a makeshift one to my dashboard). Add on to that the fact that I rarely eat fast food, and you result with a girl who has no working need for a French Fry holder that fits into a cup holder.

However, I can see how there are people who might just find this product appealing. To you I say, if you think you need this "accessory" you eat far too many French fries. If you choose to eat fries while driving, you should accept that your fingers are going to get greasy and that you're your going to have an oil-spotted paper bag in your lap.

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Filed under: East Coast, Asia, Pork, Raves & Reviews, Comfort Food, Local Eating

Ladies and gentlemen ... I've traveled over half of New York City's East Village slurping ramen noodles and broth. From Minca Ramen Factory to the city's first truly Japanese ramen-ya, Ramen Setagaya, to David Chang's self-professed "... crappy Pan-Asian ramen made for round-eyes," I have been on the front lines of New York City's so-called ramen wars. So ... ladies and gentlemen ... if I say I am a ramen man you will believe me.

As a ramen man I had been steadfastly waiting for the opening of the East Village outpost of Japan's Hakata Ippudo ever since reading about it on Rameniac. I longed to taste the much heralded soup of the Ramen King Shigemi Kawahara. Ladies and gentleman ... let me assure you it was worth the long wait for Ippudo NY to open. Upon my first visit I was so overcome by the springy noodles and the richness of the long-cooked pork-bone broth in the Shiromaru ramen that I was unable to take a photograph, lest I be separated from my first encounter with ramen ecstasy.

Continue reading There will be ramen: Ippudo NY

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Filed under: Recipes, Newspapers, in sixty seconds

Here's what you can find in Today's Los Angeles Times Food Section (Wednesday, May 14, 2008)

Former mayor Richard Riordan already runs two iconic L.A. restaurants -- downtown's Original Pantry and Malibu's famous Gladstone's for Fish. But never one to rest on his laurel's, he's added three more to his lineup: Riordan's Tavern, the Oak Room and the Village Pantry.

Love cheesecake? So does Amy Scattergood.

Who needs cooking school? Learn how to cook online.

Cooking with tomatillos.

The wine memoir is becoming drinkable. Three wine writers swirl their memories in book form; Alice Feiring, Neal I. Rosenthal and Sergio Esposito.

Reseda...or Istanbul? It's hard to tell the difference sometimes. A review of Sako's Mediterranean Cuisine.

Wine of the week: It's still possible to find a good bottle of white burgundy for under $30.Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Books

It started as an innocent hobby. I'd pick a cookbook or two up at thrift stores and used bookstores when I was traveling or visiting my parents. Then I got a real job and had a bit of disposable income and so started filling the gaps in my cookbook collection, buying the ones that I had always longed for. Then I acquired books from the collections of others, including my aunts Flora and Anne, reader Kate and the mother of a friend of a friend. Suddenly my apartment was overflowing with cookbooks. I love the abundance of cookbooks, but at times it makes walking through the living room challenging.

So I was thrilled to discover on Shuna's blog that the Southern Food and Beverage Museum is in need of cookbook donations. They are located in New Orleans and lost more than half of their collection to Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. They are looking for new and used cookbooks that have something to do with Southern food, cooking and culture. I plan on culling my collection in order find anything that they might be interested in and putting together a package for them.

If you have some appropriate volumes in your collection, you can send your (fully tax-deductible) donations to:

Southern Food & Beverage Museum
attn. Liz Williams
1 Poydras Street, #169
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

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Filed under: Wine, Newspapers, in sixty seconds

• 
• Think foraging in a grocery store is hard work? Try tromping into the wilderness to find your dinner
• Siberians eat plenty of raw meat...but are they still healthy? The answer is surprising
• Is "conscious carnivore" the new vegetarian?
• In the D.C. area over the summer? Check out the interactive map of farmers markets
• Warm up to springtime with this warm chicken salad with grapefruit
• Learn about cab sauv, and how to pair it with your favorite warm weather meals

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Filed under: Asia, Recipes, On the Blogs

How cute is this: an online Chinese take-out party. Hong Kong-based blogger Mocochocolata Rita invited all her food blogging friends to contribute recipes and pictures for Chinese dishes, which she posted together, menu-style. What a feast!

There are several Hong Kong 'set meals' - a main with noodles and soup; a multi-course dinner for friends - potstickers, beef braised in chou hou sauce, pina colada milk pudding; sides of kimchee gyoza and baked tofu; several different takes on kung pao chicken; desserts of sweet peanut soup and homemade fortune cookies.

The recipes all look delicious - I'm particularly keen to try the pineapple sesame chicken recipe. It's also a great introduction to a lot of neat food blogs - Rita must have a lot of friends.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Bread, Food News

You know those tourists who walk around big cities and feed the pigeons? Know how utterly annoying it is if you're trying to enjoy your lunch in the park and huge swarms of birds are invading your personal space?

Now you can tell those tourists to cool it, lest they want to harm their squawky friends. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds claims that bread serves as a "filler" for birds and doesn't leave room for the nutrients they need to thrive, especially when they are trying to feed their chicks.

What should we be feeding them instead? Why, "a healthy mix of seeds or worms, grated cheese, porridge oats or soft apples, bananas or strawberries," of course.

But, wait: so is feeding the birds bread actually harmful? Well, no, the Society admits.

Dude: is chocolate cake good for is? No. Could we be eating more nutrient-rich foods? Of course. Is it okay to indulge once in awhile? Yes.

But just to be clear: I'm not condoning feeding pigeons in crowded public spaces. That's just wrong on so many levels.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Dessert, Dairy, Comfort Food, Cookbook of the Day

The official start of Summer is rapidly approaching. That means it's nearly time for trips to the beach, backyard cookouts and lots of homemade ice cream (preferably eaten outside with friends and family). Whether you've got a hand crank ice cream maker, one that attaches to your stand mixer or a fancy one with its own compressor, you can always use some fresh ice cream inspiration.

That's where Sally Sampson's new book Recipe of the Week: Ice Cream comes in. As the title suggests, Sampson has written a fresh recipe for every week of the year, making it possible for you to always be experimenting with new recipes, while still going back to your favorites. She has included recipes for ice cream, granitas and gelatos in the book, so no matter what your preference, there's something here for you.

One of the nice things here is that Sampson has worked to lower the amount of sugar in her recipes over more traditional ice cream recipes, so if you are one without a strong sweet tooth, you may find this book particularly appealing. The only problem I've found with this volume is that Sampson doesn't give any advice as to how to go about choosing an ice cream maker if you don't already have one. She assumed a certain level of prior knowledge, which is good for someone with ice cream experience, but isn't particularly helpful for the novice.

However, if you are excited for fresh ice cream inspiration and you have a bit of ice cream making experience, I would recommend this book without hesitation. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: On the Blogs, Celebrations

Have I mentioned how much of a geek I am? Well, just in case I haven't, now you know. I just love it when two of my passions cross over each other, especially when the results are this great!

Check out the post on Gizmodo for the whole story, but this is a wedding cake for, you guessed it, a Star Wars wedding. It's hard to tell how much of it is edible, exactly, but some of the details are amazing. The chef who made this cake used camera lens with a blue bulb behind it for R2's sensor for added realism. Have you ever seen a geek-y cake this awesome? I'd love to hear about it!Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: On the Blogs, Stores & Shopping

If you're in the market for some new knives, especially if you're new to the professional knife world, OnlyKnives has some great advice for you. Seriously, check it out. The article talks about how many knives you actually need, knives in different price ranges, what to really look for in knives, and even a little (tiny) bit of kitchen knife history.

My favorite piece of advice is that you don't actually need to go with the biggest knife set available. You can get along wonderfully with a smaller set, if you don't have any yet. Actually, you can get along wonderfully with only a few knives. I work in a professional kitchen, and I end up using the same few knives for everything (not counting specialty knives like the oyster knife and such).

If you want to get your collection started, this is a good place to start. If you want to replace a few knives, this may be a good reference source. Either way, it's some good advice and interesting reading.Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: East Coast, Recipes, Books, Newspapers, How To, America, in sixty seconds

Cookbooks for children are hot, and they're not just about mac n' cheese either. We say great, just don't let the kiddies slice their fingers off dicing pancetta for that veal daube.

Vegetable and fruit carving, fallen out of vogue, is experiencing a renaissance. Check out the amazing watermelon blossoms and too-cute-for-words lemon bear.

The Minimalist shows us the easy way to stuff chicken breasts. We're a little bit in love with the Minimalist.

Olives and almonds go together like rainbows and unicorns. With a recipe for roastred bass with orange, olive and almond gremolata.

Eric Asimove defends the lowly Soave.

Florence Fabricant loves her Prepara Trio peeler. I want one too.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Microwaving, Health & Medical, Soups/Salads

I feel like I'm revealing some deep, dark secret, but here goes: I microwave my salads.

Now, this isn't because I like my lettuce and carrots and salad dressing really hot, it's because of bacteria. I started doing this a couple of years ago, when we had all those recalls and scares involving pre-made bagged salads and spinach. I make my salad on a plate then zap it for about 20 seconds. Just enough to kill something but not make the salad get hot and shrivel.

Now, I have to stress that I have no idea if 20 seconds in the microwave will even do anything to destroy bacteria, but it makes me feel good anyway.

I now return you to your normal Slashfood posts.

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Filed under: Vegetables, Feast Your Eyes

The CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) season is starting to pick up and so many of us will now be getting boxes and baskets of gorgeous fresh produce on a weekly basis (Scott and I are splitting a share with a friend and our pick ups started last week - delicious!). I don't actually know if this picture, from What Geeks Eat is actually a CSA share, but it has that look, since it's a large amount of beautiful, fresh produce (I guess it could also be the result of a trip to a Farmers' Market). Regardless, it's a beautiful picture that has a way of getting me even more excited for season of fresh eating that is now upon us. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Vodka, On the Blogs, Comfort Food

What did you do to mark Victory Day this year? Well, some members of the US Navy and the Russian naval force got together for a friendly sandwhich competition. According to the BBC, sailors from the USS Stetham, which is visiting the Russian port of Vladivostok, battled their Russian colleagues in a tasty challenge.

Turns out a Russian won for best tasting sandwhich, while an American won for most creative presentation. More importantly, everyone got a welcome party with traditional Russian food and vodka. The American winner got a bottle of vodka and handed out USS Stetham hats and sweatshirts. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Business, Fast Food

Whether the motive is to get word out to consumers about how a new product tastes or to lure customers into a restaurant with free food in the hopes that they'll buy other stuff, too, the practice of "sampling" is becoming more and more popular. Sampling used to be restricted to smaller companies that couldn't afford million-dollar advertising campaigns, but now even huge corporations like Starbucks and McDonald's are doing it.

How this affects social psychology, business, and marketing, we'll leave to other blogs, but here, we're just concerned about the free food! The last few months, especially in April when consumers' wallets were hit with taxes, companies gave out everything from free burritos to frozen yogurt.

Coming up, both McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts will be giving away free samples on May 15.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Dessert, Food Porn, Dairy, Raves & Reviews

I think perhaps I have been living under a rock for the last 30 years of my life. Because until last Sunday, I had never heard of the awe inspiring Carl's and I had never tasted frozen custard. First, some history on how I discovered this delicious gem. My husband and I decided to take a road trip to Fredericksburg, Virginia. The hour long drive was inspired by the opening of a Sonic Drive-In. I know this may sound silly to some, but I am originally from Texas, and Sonic is my lifeblood. Since moving to D.C. in 2000 I have desperately longed for a Sonic within driving distance.

After stuffing ourselves with Sonic's cheeseburgers, cherry cokes, tater tots, and a coconut cream pie shake, we thought it might be prudent to do some walking. We made our way to charming historic downtown Fredericksburg, which is filled with a multitude of antique and junk shops. After perusing the shops and walking off our calorie fest we decided it was time to head back to D.C. On our way out of town we saw Carl's, or should I say, the line to Carl's. We slowed down to see what could be causing this group of about sixty people to stand in the hot sun. One look at the top of the building and we knew this place was special. I slowed down and my husband grabbed a place in line as I found parking.

Continue reading Frozen custard cult

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Filed under: Health & Medical

And we're not talking about your mental health because you haven't looked at anything but spreadsheets for four days. We're talking about your physical health.

As you wind down your day in front of your computer sitting at your desk, take a moment and look down at your keyboard. You could be looking at something that is dirtier than the toilet seat in the bathroom down the hall. This means eating lunch in front of your computer might be a health hazard!

According to British microbiologist James Francis four of 33 keyboards he tested were potential health hazards and one had germs at a level five times higher than that found on the toilet seat.

Makes me want to dip my laptop in a bleach solution and never eat at my desk again.

Of course, that's not possible when your boss's demands are forcing you to wolf down a sandwich at your desk through lunch. Just make sure to wash your hands, don't let other co-workers touch your keyboard, and my best advice is to eat lunch with utensils, not your hands.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Recipes, Fruit, Holidays

My memories of fruit cocktail mostly consist of eating the stuff from the cans of Del Monte or Libby's (when it says "Libby's Libby's Libby's on the Label Label Label"), and I haven't had it in years. Is it any better? I mean, it was OK, but the syrup was too sweet and thick for me. I like fruit bowls with just big chunks of fresh fruit, though the idea of a retro-ish fruit salad with Cool Whip on top sounds rather inviting.

Today is National Fruit Cocktail Day. Here's a recipe for Fruit Cocktail from Garden Guides that is heavy on apples and cinnamon. RecipeZaar has a Fresh Fruit Cocktail recipe (cooking involved). Here's another recipe from RecipeZaar, for Fruit Cocktail Cake.

And for those of you who like your fruit cocktails in liquid form, here's a recipe for a non-alcoholic Fruit Cocktail drink.

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