How have I missed these before? Is it because I tend to skirt the snack section of TJ's? I mean.....Providing you can exercise culinary self-control, a must for TJ cookies, pumpkin ice cream, et al, buy these. I eat 3-5 a day, if so moved. They crunch, the salt level is perfect, and my best pal, olive oil, is involved. Yes!
Photo via French Fry Diary
"Researchers in China believe they have found a way to produce and harvest large quantities of human serum albumin (HSA) -- a blood protein that is widely used in drug and vaccine production -- from ordinary grains of rice.
"It looks like an interesting technological step forward," Dr. Richard J. Benjamin, chief medical officer for the American National Red Cross, told FoxNews.com. "It could potentially produce large quantities in a reasonable time."
Via Discovery News
ps For travel to rice paddies, have a look here.
Who knew that there was a World Nutella Day? But yes. It's coming up this winter, but I'm not telling when. Keep your hands off the stuff until then. Mona clearly is a fan, bigtime. This particular intersection of food and culture delights me, gotta say.
Ah, the bounty of Florida! Fish so fresh it smells like Febreze, new spuds in winter, real-tasting strawberries, plump tomatoes, Cuban cigars and sandwiches, oysters, spiny lobsters, crawfish, tropical fruits like mangoes, starfruit and lychees, and so it goes. It even has Ikea--but, alas, still no Trader Joe's.
So it is with special pleasure that we return to TJ-land here in New Mexico. And this morning we breakfasted on scrambled eggs ( from the growers market) and TJ Whole Wheat Croissants, baked in our fave old countertop convection oven. Flaky, tasty, light, divine.
And healthy as can be, especially with a generous addition of Irish butter and boysenberry jam. Yeah!
For those to whom the breakdown of foods into carbs, fats, calories, proteins, etc., holds a special fascination, take a look at this site that evaluates Trader Joe's products. It's from Livestrong, Lance Armstrong's non profit foundation. ( Did he or didn't he? And do we care?)
It's called many names -- sailor boys, Eskimo cookies, hockey pucks and qa-qu-lik-daqs (something "like bread).
The new, new, thang, apparently is fast, fast, blogging---longer than a Tweet, sometimes, faster than a guy in a red/blue casing, easy, multi-media-ish, etc. So your very own Foodie signed up on Tumblr to create The FOOD Museum's latest offering, EATSAlaska, an ADHD blog in re the aforementioned.
Still navigating it, so bear with me.
The odd thing about this is that the coherence of the narrative, so to say, begins at the end. So take a look by scrolling down.....and hitting Older--aren't we all?---and take a deep breath and keep going. If you feel like it.
Pictured: a classic serving of Alaska halibut & chips, devoured last summer by Foodie & Co. at the Flight Deck right on Juneau's harbor.
4 April 2011
Sweet success for Lindt in chocolate Easter bunny case Lindt says other firms must not confuse shoppers with similar rabbits.
Row over Easter bunny turns sour.
The Swiss chocolate firm Lindt and Spruengli has won a marathon court battle to protect its golden Easter bunnies from an Austrian rival.A Vienna court has told the Hauswirth company to stop making its own chocolate rabbits wrapped in gold foil.The legal battle dates back to 2004. The Lindt bunny, sporting a red ribbon and bell, first appeared in 1952 was given EU trademark status in 2000.The Vienna court said Hauswirth's bunny could be confused with Lindt's.A Lindt manager, Adalbert Lechner, said the judgement had confirmed his company's view that "Hauswirth harmed our trademark"."We hope the legal proceedings are finally closed with this judgement," he said.Hauswirth had argued that Lindt was using its trademark clout to crush competitors.
via www.bbc.co.uk
Bunnies fight back, softly.
David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
via www.boston.com
"In a move intended to inject more pizzazz into the Boston Common, city officials announced today that they have chosen a Florida-based sandwich chain to operate the Pink Palace, a long-vacant historic structure originally built as a restroom."
The 11 Earl of Sandy, Mr Montagu, apparently is distantly involved in this venture by Earl of Sandwich, Inc. based in Orlando, FL. His gaming, too- busy-to-sit-down-to-eat ancestor, the 4th Earl threw the meat between two hunks of bread in 1762, thus setting in motion the carb-ridden anxieties we experience today.
( Left: "The Full Montagu" hot sandwich, from the Earl chain.)
Should you wish to invest in a franchise....see below.
Well, yes, but I am paying close attention. Not just to the pie/ice cream combo, either. I like the speech, the " we are not doing this alone," theme. The world as a group of nations may finally be getting together to stand up to the bullies.
The ice cream, back to that, is a combo of vanilla, pomegranate, and fruit called ( I did not know this,) Freedom!, and it's produced by a company called Sheer Bliss, out of Florida, of all places. ( Did not know that, either.) My favorite flavors are pomegranate dark choc chip, and dark choc itself. SB declares it is the first ice cream company ( real) to produce pomegranate ice cream.
And--get this--this is Ultra Super Premium ice cream, my friends! ( Whatevah, it is fab....) And the most unique unique-tude of this brand is that the i.cream is sold in tins. Yes. We hover over them, debating whether to save for leftovers, or recycle. It's a nifty tossup.
Now, as to the pie. There it was, with no nasty additives, unbleached flour, punkin, calling to me from a display at Whole Foods. Reasonably priced! Maybe the baker suddenly went all pumpkin pie-y, during the March Madness/Mud season, not your usual p. pie season, and the Whole Foodsians had to flog the pies as best they could. So, I bought one.
And now, having eaten a slice with Freedom! a la mode, and having approved the Prez' remarks, noting his oddly fatigued-looking right eye---Michelle?---I am a happy patriot, a peacenik in favor of Special Ops, the targeting of bullies, and the American public library system.
Via AP/Canadian press TOKYO - "Japan's biggest instant noodle maker Nissin says it will deliver 1 million packets to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in the northeast.
Nissin Foods Holdings Co. Ltd. said Sunday it will also deliver "kitchen cars." These are vehicles equipped with gas-powered kitchenettes and running water for cooking noodles.
Japanese beverage maker Suntory Holdings Ltd. says it will deliver 360,000 bottles of water in the disaster zone."
Nissin employs 22,000 people worldwide.
At right, typical ramen cart in Japan, perhaps the "kitchen cars" suggested in the AP piece.
Two years ago a battery-powered, remote-controlled tiny ramen cart replica was introduced in Japan. A must have for The FOOD Museum collection!
Back in New Mexico, I rarely hit a traditional ordinary supermarket. A quick pickup of toilet paper or tissues, maybe, or to snag a bottle of wine when my cache of Trader Joe's vino is empty, but...Here in Florida, I buy decent bread and fizzy water in one, and some minimal organic veggies, wine, and eggs, in another. The "health" stores are pricey, though I get apples and chard there, there is no Trader Joe's, the local stands rarely have organic, and....sigh.
The fish market in Gulfport, on the other hand, is reasonable and superlative. (See fishy post from Feb.1) Mazzaro's Italian Market in St Pete is fab! ( See post Feb 5.) And, we have IKEA a few miles away in Tampa.....just sayin'.
But as I wander the vast aisles of a supermarket, in search of unsweetened apple sauce, I marvel at the crap that people, some people, must buy. Acres of cereals, candies, and cookies. Canned string beans! The often lamented ( by me) multiple rows of sodas, the freezers filled with icky prepared meals. The bakery still turning out products loaded with partially hydrogenated oils. The fake butters, the diet foods, the tabloids and crappy chemical-laden gum at the checkout....AAAAGGGHHhhhhhhh! ( OK, there are still some dry pastas I might buy...)
Rant over.
ps Cute piece in WaPo today on people who have, or try to get dates at Wegman's, an unusual supermarket, extremely-people oriented, featuring multiple in-store cafes, in NY, NJ, PA, Virginia and Maryland. Wegman's is exceptional. ( See photo, folks!)
I know, messing with the Fah Noth accent, but I'm allowed, as a descendant of many such folk, my mothah bawn in Springfield, MA, which is not as Fah Noth, but, oh well.
Chez nous we love extra sharp cheddar, period. But when Cabot Cheese--"owned by dairy farmers since 1919"--markets Seriously Cheddar, along with all the others, Private Stock ( extra sharp,) and Extra Sharp, and NY Extra Sharp, well, one wonders. Apparently "Seriously" can be sharper than Extra, in a mistakey kind of way..."It's a cult thing," says the website. Hmmm...1200 dairy farmers working together.
Seriously, count me in.
The farmers of Cabot co-op worked together from 1919, but it wasn't until 1930...
In fact, in 1930 cows outnumbered people, 421,000 to 359,000. It was at this time that the company hired its first cheesemaker and cheddar cheese entered the product line for the first time.
If you are in Cabot, you can take a factory tour, sample cheese, demand to be taken seriously.
BTW This co-op's full fat Greek-style yogurt is...Fabulous!
For those with a fascination with names, read on:
"As far as can be discovered, Cabot is the only town in Vermont to have been named as a result of a romantic attachment. Major Lyman Hitchcock of Connecticut and Miss Sophia Cabot fell in love while Lyman was still in the Continental Army. Sophia's father refused to let his daughter marry a soldier, and the lovers were thwarted. Then Lyman got in on a Vermont grant in which he was the next-to-largest land buyer. Sophia's father went north with a survey crew to inspect the holdings of his would-be son-in-law and liked what he saw. He gave the couple his blessing, and the other grantees of Lyman's Vermont town agreed to let him name it for his fiancee. After the Revolution, the young couple settled on their Vermont land, and the 1790 Census (actually taken for Vermont in 1791) listed Lyman Hitchcock as head of a household of four people."
From virtualvermont.com.
If yesterday your sweetheart gave you Sweethearts--the little heart-shaped wafers with writing on them-- then you have partaken of a still made-in-America original. Stamped with sillinesses such as "game on," "race me," and "hold hands," Sweethearts could soon be marked with your own pithy statement. "Tweet me," apparently has been done.
Each year we add a few new sayings to our Sweethearts. We are happy to accept suggestions for sayings from our consumers. Each saying can be no longer than two lines of four letters on the small hearts and two lines of six letters on the large motto hearts. You can either e-mail your suggestion or mail it to Sweethearts, NECCO, 135 American Legion Highway, Revere, MA 02151
NECCO wafers were standard in my youth--at least they ring a distant bell--but I recall not liking their chalky-ness all that much. Incredibly, until today I had no clue the name derived from New England Confectionary Company, based in Revere, Massachusetts, home of this nation's oldest public beach.
From the company history:
1847 "Oliver R. Chase of Boston invents and patents the first American candy machine, a lozenge cutter. This marks the founding of the nation's candy industry, the beginning of commercial manufacture. With his brother, Silas Edwin, he founds Chase and Company, the pioneer member of the NECCO family."
NB Containing artificial flavors, colors, corn syrup et al, nonetheless, Sweethearts are "lovingly made in the USA."
Time: 4:00 pm
Even on a nippy Florida afternoon, women, men, cyclists, and dogs, are making the gelati scene. Paciugo was started by a family from Torino, Italy in 2000, their first shop in Dallas, TX. Today they have over 30 stores in the US, plus three in Mexico.
Amazing speed? Yes. But done right.
"Here at Paciugo, we uphold our Italian roots by making our gelato with whole milk and all-natural ingredients. Our sorbets are made with fresh fruit, sugar, and water. To ensure the freshness of our gelato, we also prepare all our ingredients by hand."
We can confirm the taste. And the ambience works, too, inside and out. Many a Tampa Bay Rays fan has hung about inside watching a game. Outside, on Beach Drive, the view is of massive banyan trees and just beyond, boats moored in the inner harbor of Tampa Bay.
There is evidence that the Chinese may have made the first devices for freezing frozen fruit desserts, and the Romans, who sensibly had plumbing, also had these delights. Arabs likely brought sharbat or fruit sherbet to southern Italy much later, along with sugar cane products, and then the joyful Neapolitans began adding milk, and then, and then...
Let's just cut to the chase here. This weekend is when you go out and buy the best champagne you can afford for your Valentine, ok? End of story. Forget the jammies, the chocs, the heart-festooned balloons-- OMG $1 at the Dollar Store--diamonds, and other dreck. Got that? FYI We favor a modestly priced, superlative product born in the aridity of New Mexico, any of the Methode Champenoise offerings from Gruet, a company established and run by actual French people.
"In 1984, Gilbert Gruet, whose Champagne house, Gruet et Fils had produced fine Champagne in Bethon, France, since 1952, made the decision to plant an experimental vineyard, exclusively planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. His children, winemaker Laurent and daughter Nathalie, and family friend Farid Himeur then relocated to the great state of New Mexico to begin their American wine making adventure.
At 4300 ft. the vineyards are some of the highest in the United States, so regardless of how hot the days might be, the temperature at night can drop as much as thirty degrees, cooling the fruit and slowing down the maturation process on an otherwise short growing season. Sandy and loamy soil, and a lack of humidity that might contribute to rot, give us a consistency of fruit year in and year out, and allow us to produce our award winning wines without the use of pesticides."
In other news, yesterday was George Washington's actual birthday. Today is Abe Lincoln's birthday. Today also is the birthday of the illustrious founder of The Potato Museum, and co-founder of The FOOD Museum On Line. The day began with an offbeat combo of buckwheat pancakes, blueberries, and a pregnant squirrel hanging upside down from the bird feeder--oh, and with giddiness still emanating from Tahrir Square.
On with the celebrations! (Strict non-imbibers, maybe try some chocolates, but not the rum-laden ones my beloved teetotaling Grandfather adored...)
According to a piece in today's Wall Street Journal, protest rally organizers selected 21 centers from which activists would begin to walk to Tharir Square. The 21st cite was kept utterly secret.
"They sent small teams to do reconnaissance on the secret 21st site. It was the Bulaq al-Dakrour neighborhood's Hayiss Sweet Shop, whose storefront and tiled sidewalk plaza—meant to accommodate outdoor tables in warmer months—would make an easy-to-find rallying point in an otherwise tangled neighborhood no different from countless others around the city.
The plotters say they knew that the demonstrations' success would depend on the participation of ordinary Egyptians in working-class districts like this one, where the Internet and Facebook aren't as widely used. They distributed fliers around the city in the days leading up to the demonstration, concentrating efforts on Bulaq al-Dakrour."
Protesters in small groups made for the sweet shop, with no police oversight.Then, the article goes on to say:
"The lack of security prompted neighborhood residents to stream by the hundreds out of the neighborhood's cramped alleyways, swelling the crowd into the thousands, say sweet-shop employees who watched the scene unfold."
What exactly are Egyptian sweets? Here is what Egypt Sweets has to say:
Assorted Egypt Sweets: (6 pieces)
1 piece of semsemia (sesame, sugar, glucose).
1 piece of homosia (chickpea, sugar, glucose).
1 piece of fouleya (peanut, sugar, glucose).
1 piece of bassima (coconut, butter, sugar, glucose).
2 pieces of malban with walnut (starch, sugar, glucose, walnut).
I referred in a Super Bowl post to the Grilled Meatloaf Sundae, coming to the Florida State Fair, Tampa. Well, how about Mashed Potatoes and Gravy fried on a stick? The Ice Cream Burger? Or that perennial fave, Deep Fried Dryer Lint w/White Truffles and Caviar? ( I only made up that last one...)
Apparently returning to the Fair, from The Cupcake Spot in Tampa, are these: the Maple-Bacon Cupcake, and that most popular snackish choice, the Kettlecorn C.C.
The Cupcake Spot apparently uses actual decent ingredients, such as butter and vanilla. Unlike the 37-ingredient Twinkie, brought to us by Hostess Brands, makers of Wonder Bread.
Photographer Dwight Eschliman decided to photograph all 37 ingredients, and we found his work here. Be sure to click on the teeny-tiny arrow at top left to "play" this project.
What is it with Marines and Yale grads? On encountering this category of persons, in my experience within minutes one learns either that Semper Fi reigns, or that an individual “went to school in New Haven.”
OK, fine. The guy who sold me 14 pieces
of freeze-packed ahi tuna caught in Indonesian waters from his little
pickup truck, right on the street outside my house, the Semper Fi
guy, is forgiven. The tuna is superlative. And the ex-Marine is a
hard-working flogger of frozen meat and fish, a facile talker with
charm.
Right up until he said I reminded him of his mother. Surely he was too old to have a Mom my age... But I digress—perhaps this is the wave of the economically-challenging future. Guys, and gals, selling goods from their trucks, launching websites, sticking business cards in our doors, quoting their mothers, tossing in their Semper Fi-ness. Alluding to their Yale-ness. Whatever.
Bread—a decent multi-grain baguette, warm from the oven, leaning up against my door in the mornings, every day or so? I could go for that.
Half and half from cuddly, healthy, undrugged cows? Once every 2 weeks. Yep. Add it to my order.
