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Meet The Loafwich: "A sandwich made with the majority of a 400g fresh loaf, and about £10 worth of filling." I don't know that I could eat a sandwich this big, but I'm enjoying thinking about what I would put in it. What would you make a loafwich out of? Tell me in the comments!
(Previously on AFB: We love sandwiches.)
Bob the Angry Flower on soy milk. I don't care for it much either, it's too thin and too sweet. I like the taste of full milk! Luckily for me I'm not lactose intolerant.
Vegan marshmallow scandal! AFB's favorite marathon-running vegan librarians Kate and Jenny couldn't find their beloved vegan marshmallows at Whole Foods or Teany and eventually discovered that the marshmallows weren't vegan after all—it turns out that Emes Kosher-Jel, the popular alternative to gelatin used to make them, contains protein.
Garfield Candy! Garfield Junk Food! Matt of X-Entertainment samples all sorts of licensed Garfield edible products, including Garfield and Friends Fruit Rolls: "As was and remains the norm, kids could pull different character/item shapes off the rolls. In this case, of course, you get to pull off Garfield, Odie, Nermal, Jon and whatever other characters seemed conducive to a 6x6" sheet of flattened fruit crap." The piece is hilarious from start to finish, so please go read it, but the best part has got to be the scan of Garfield teaching fruit roll etiquette. If Garfield Fruit Rolls were still on the market, I would go out and buy some RIGHT NOW.
Taco Doritos. Gael of Pop Culture Junk Mail can't find this elusive in Seattle and discovers that not all regions of the US are equal when it comes to Doritos flavor distribution. I don't think I've seen Taco Doritos in NYC but again then I don't eat Doritos very often, so that doesn't mean much.
Speaking of pigs, Going Whole Hog is a new blog devoted to savoring the whole hog. 4 oinks!
When hosting your next wine and cheese party, don't splurge on an expensive vintage because your guests won't be able to tell the difference. A recent study found that cheese deadens the taster's perception of wines' flavors, perhaps by binding to flavor molecules in the wine or the fat from the cheese may coat the taster's mouth.
The Saveur 100 is one of my favorite lists, featuring 100 favorites (food, drinks, restaurants, people, places, things) from the world of food. NPR spoke with the Colman Andrews, the magazine's editor-in-chief about the list. Listen to the interview and view the complete list on NPR's website. (Saveur Magazine website)
Salvor Kiosk is a new store offering products from around the world, one country at a time and "an antidote to over-design." This is a concept I can get behind! Currently featuring inventory from Japan through February, two of my favorite items are the insulated hot/cold bag (this looks like the perfect thing to take along to the farmer's market), and the Sakura Kosen (smoked cherry blossom beverage) -- pour hot water over it, and the flower opens fully and ressembles a cherry blossom.
In NYC? Visit the offline store, 12-7 Wed.- Sun. , 95 Spring Street.
Fido's raw food diet. "Raw Feeders" argue that the best diet for their pets should consist of raw meat because that's what their wild cousins eat. Most vets do not recommend a raw food diet because of the health risks (contracting salmonella and e-coli, choking on bones), and the challenge of creating nutritionally balanced meals.
Trader Joe's to Open in New York. "At 15,000 square feet, including the wine shop, the new Trader Joe's will be less than a third the size of the Whole Foods that opened last year at 4 Union Square South."
What's wrong with the NYTimes Crusty Macaroni and Cheese recipe? No white sauce.
The truth about cutting boards and bacteria: "What, then, is the truth about cutting boards? Both plastic and wooden boards can hold on to bacteria for long periods of time. Both plastic and wooden boards allow for transference of bacteria to other foods. Luckily, we found that scrubbing with hot soapy water was an effective (though not perfect) way of cleaning both kinds of boards; the USDA also recommends the regular application of a solution of 1 teaspoon bleach per quart of water. Simply put, maintenance, not material, provides the greatest margin of safety."
RFID cooking: A pan, cooktop, recipe card and RFID. "Each pan handle is embedded with an RFID chip that uses a proprietary signal to communicate with coordinated chips in the cooktop and special recipe cards that monitor each cooking step for a partcular dish." Available in Japan.
Ask MetaFilter: Any good Mexican restaurants in NYC? + a few more answers on Gothamist.
Can't say I'm an expert on Mexican food as I prefer Tex-Mex and hate beans but I've had fantastic meals at El Maguey Y La Tuna on East Houston and Pequeña in Fort Greene. I keep planning to hit up Cafe Juanita on Rivington, which comes very highly recommended by friends I trust. Where do you go for good Mexican food? Let me know where I can find the tasty shrimp tacos I crave in the comments!
How to judge a good sushi restaurant. "While it's possible to have inexpensive Japanese food, sushi is by nature expensive because the fish is expensive, and it's also very labor-intensive. So, in my opinion there is really no such thing as a cheap sushi restaurant. You can have acceptable sushi at a reasonable price in a city with a lot of sushi places, but you can't have good and cheap sushi."
More food-inspired jewelry: the little dumplings collection from Paglieli. Cute and tasty, just like the real thing. Perfect for you favorite dumpling lover (hint! hint!). [via Kathryn]
My friend Selva had some fugu in Seattle and lived to blog about it. I didn't even know fugu was legal in the US but apparently there are 17 restaurants with fugu licenses, 11 of which are in NYC! My birthday is coming up later this month, maybe I'll have some then.
NYC Tomorrow, Thursday January 12th, catch Restaurants from the Inside Out, a discussion of what makes a restaurant great featuring Rocco DiSpirito, Steven Shaw and Calvin Trillin moderated by Leonard Lopate. 8 pm, 92nd Street Y, $25.
Things you miss out on when you don't have cable: Iron Chef New York: Batali vs. Dufresne, full report here. Highlights include Alton Brown exclaiming, "Oh, my, dear Lord! Chef Dufresne is extruding! Oh! He's extruding . . . right into that vessel with the controlled heat!"
Consumer Reports on when it pays to buy organic: "The truth is, not all organic-labeled products offer added health value. We found, for example, that it’s worth paying more for organic apples, peaches, spinach, milk, and beef to avoid chemicals found in the conventionally produced versions of those items. But you can skip organic asparagus and broccoli because conventional varieties generally have undetectable pesticide levels. You can also pass on organic seafood and shampoo, which have labels that are often misleading."
Adam Kuban, that persistent ringing in your ears? It's all this pizza bling calling out to you...
deSignet International's pizza jewelry is available in a few styles. The pizza charm on the left comes in different sizes and with synthetic or real rubies, or as earrings. There are full pie charms and pizza slice bracelets, rings that come either as a normal triangle slice or a square slice, but I think my favorite piece by far has got to the pizza cutter charm, which you can get in silver or gold. So cute!
How to eat San Francisco style tacos. "Step 1. Boggle at the sheer size of the taco. Two San Francisco tacos at a mexican fast food place = at LEAST four tacos at a Los Angeles mexican fast food place." I love the closeup photos of salsa and shrimp, they're making me so hungry right now.
The Japanese Tradition: Sushi. Great video primer on sushi and sushi customs and etiquette. [via FP]
SF This month is Dine About Town month in San Francisco, which means 3-course prix fixe menus ($21.95 lunches and $31.95 dinners) at participating restaurants. Before you make your reservations, you may want to refer to this post on Chowhound, DAT cheatsheets, for the best values.
kokblog. Johanna Lindvall, a Swede living in NYC, accompanies each of her posts with the loveliest of illustrations. Like Loobylu, but for food instead of crafts. My favorite drawing is the one for Body Cakes (Kroppkakor), it's just too cute!
Ask Metafilter: What do you think is the cheapest, healthiest, tastiest, easiest meal to prepare? Lots of good answers, although I've found that if you live alone in New York, like to eat meat fairly frequently and have variety in your meals, getting takeout or delivery can very well be cheaper, healthier, tastier and easier than doing the groceries and cooking for yourself.
kiplog reviews Nobu 57's Omakase, with photos. The good: "Every dish was perfection." The bad: " But if I'm going to pay a hundred dollars for a meal, a dish should NEVER arrive before I'm done with the one I'm eating. And it happened with every course, a staff member either holding my next plate in full, impatient view, feet away, or rushing in to get me to move my current dish aside." Poor service will leave a bad taste in your mouth after the best of meals.
Hawai'i in a bottle for only 2 dollars. Surprisingly enough, it's not liquified Spam but bottled deep sea drinking water. [via Expired Foods]
How Much Is Inside Mustard? "A staple of summertime living, French's classic yellow mustard is the only suitable companion to hot dogs. However, while other websites delve into the buns 8-pack vs. frank 10-pack controversy, here at How Much is Inside, we wondered, how many hot dogs can you dress with one bottle of Mustard? On Friday night, we decided to find out." I heart you Rob Cockerham, you man of science, you.
Big US fast food chains like McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King have all sorts of awesome products and promotions in other countries, and Huai Bin of the infamous Malaysian blog sixthseal.com does a great job of keeping track of the ones available in his neck of the woods. My favorite product names are the KFC Tom Yam Crunch, Starbucks Coffee Jelly Frappucino, McDonald's Prosperity Burger Chicken and Prosperity Desserts, Pizza Hut Ocean Tempura King Prawn, Bubur Ayam McD (McDonald's Chicken Porridge), and the KFC Curry Crunch.
Mercats de Barcelona. My friend and favorite photoblogger Rion Nakaya was in Barcelona recently and wandered through one of the city's many markets with her camera. There are lots of other gorgeous photosets on her site; of the many food-related ones my favorite is of Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market.
Waiter Rant: How to order wine without looking like an asshole. "25. Merlot is a perfectly good wine. Don’t believe all that “Sideways” crap. God I hate that movie!" [via The Girl Who Ate Everything]
Where to eat in 2006: New York Magazine's 101 Best Restaurants. Written by Adam Platt, Le Bernardin takes 1 and AFB fave Momofuku comes in at a respectable 101, with 99 great places to eat in between. Platt's introduction explains both the method used to select the restaurants and what each of the stars in New York Magazine's new review system mean.
2006 Foodie Calendars. Slashfood's short but sweet list of food calendars that don't suck. Get Dog Food: Play With Your Food for dog lovers and food lovers alike! *cough, cough*
Ready for dinner on Mars? Alain Ducasse's company was one of two tasked by the European Space Agency to develop delicious recipes for astronauts to prepare on long duration space missions. "The menus were all based on nine main ingredients that ESA envisions could be grown in greenhouses of future colonies on Mars or other planets. The nine must comprise at least 40% of the final diet, while the remaining (up to) 60% could be additional vegetables, herbs, oil, butter, salt, pepper, sugar and other seasoning brought from Earth." Guess this means I won't be going into space till the science of fake meat has advanced a considerable deal.
The Year In Eater, 2005. Of the new restaurants listed, I've only been to Cookshop (for Thanksgiving, recommend it highly), and would like to check out Fatty Crab, The Modern and Gusto. My 2005 standbys were the same as 2004's (Grand Sichuan (the St Mark's branch), New Green Bo and Crif*Dog) with one addition (Momofuku, home of the most heavenly pork buns and chicken wings), all but the newest a place where a full meal will set you back the same as a dessert at most of the places mentioned on Eater. I love my cheap eats, what can I say?
Five terrible fake entrees from the dotcom era. My personal favorite is #3: "Polenta cash register, filled with walnut-barley rice pyramids, lightly dusted with Tang® ($67)"
Coca-Cola offering coffee-infused 'Blak' drink. Launching in France this month and other markets including the US later this year, "Coca-Cola Blak will be a mid-calorie drink, similar to Coca-Cola C2, which was launched in April 2004 and contains half the sugar, calories and carbohydrates of regular colas. The formula for the new beverage is expected to vary based on local tastes."
They recently phased out Vanilla Coke and Diet Vanilla Coke in the US and should be shipping their replacements, Black Cherry Vanilla Coke and Diet Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, to stores right about now. Fancy shmancy flavors but I'll stick to Classic, thank you very much. [via Pop Culture Junk Mail]
