Reese Witherspoon Pays Grocery Bill For Woman

The picture you see here is not the photo of the actual event, but we like visuals, so we just used a picture of her opening her wallet.
Regardless, Reese Witherspoon, paid for a woman’s groceries at a Whole Foods store after she forgot her wallet.
Reese saw an upset and flustered woman who had forgotten her wallet and she picked up the tab.
The woman was so embarrassed, but Reese said she would gladly take care of the 70-dollar bill and no apology was necessary.
“She told the mom, ''I understand, I have kids too!''
Three cheers for Reese Witherspoon!!!

Illinois Braces for Higher Taxes at Grocery Stores

Well well well, it's happening in Chicago.
The increase in the state taxes paid on candy, soft drinks and some alcoholic beverages is now in motion and it's probably just the beginning.
Lovers of carbonated drinks, candy made without flour and alcohol will see price increases as revisions to the state sales tax go into effect.
The extra money is expected to pay for repairs to state roads, schools and bridges.

News of the increase confused consumers and some tax experts by the way certain candy items were re-categorized as general merchandise rather than as candy, which is taxed at a lower rate.

Under the revisions, candy items bought in Chicago without flour are subject to the full 10.25 percent general merchandise sales tax. Meanwhile, candy made with flour will retain its current 2.25 percent tax rate. Most carbonated soft drinks have also been tossed from the food category and subject to the 10.25 percent rate in the city.

Soft drinks and sweets are quickly becoming tax targets and the pretense that it's purpose to fight the fat is almost laughable because the new tax would probably have little effect on obesity.

The Water Catcher Robots

We can see it now, water balls flying around your neighborhood, only to return to you with fresh water.
A finalist in the 2009 Electrolux Design Lab competition has created the "Water Catcher" that sends out flying tennis ball-size robots into your neighborhood to collect rainfall.
Once full, the roving water balls automatically return to it's home base tray for filtration, from here, they may then be summoned to you to fill your glass with fresh drinking water.

The video, below, shows how the concept might work.

Mouthwatering Jellyfish Cookies Are A Hit

These incredible cookies are a joint effort developed by Obama Fisheries High School and Fukui-based gift retailer Keifuku Shoji Co.
After hitting the market last October, more than 20,000 Ekura-chan cookies have been sold, far exceeding expectations.
The baked goodies–made of huge Echizen kurage jellyfish that is a nuisance to fishermen–also hit the shelves at a department store in Osaka’s Minami district.
Looking for ways to commercialize the untapped goodness, students at the fisheries school’s food industry department have been developing tofu and fruit punch using jellyfish.
Then it happened, the students came up with the idea of turning jellyfish into a baking powder, which is odorless and tastes like bittern. (a class of wading birds)

At the same time, Keifuku Shoji approached the school to jointly commercialize products made from jellyfish.
The students whipped up jellyfish batches of cookies containing the baking powder and eventually perfected the recipe.
Their efforts paid off as customers say the cookies are delicious.
A box of 10 cookies costs 580 yen (almost $6.30 U.S.Dollars) and are sold at gift shops in Obama and at kiosks at JR Fukui Station.
The cookies were also sold at a department store in Osaka on March 10 as part of an exhibit of Fukui Prefecture products. The event was organized by the Fukui prefectural government and lasted from March 7 to 13.
Four second-year students from the fisheries school staffed the sales counter. They pitched the health-promoting collagen and minerals contained in the jellyfish cookies.
“Customers said the cookies tasted great,” says Marina Furukawa, 17, who helped with the sales.
Keifuku Shoji, which targeted sales of 10,000 cookies a year, has seen that figure double in just the first six months.
The fisheries school plans to begin in May developing desserts baked with jellyfish powder for such products as jelly and rice cakes.
Be sure to ask for them by name next time you go shopping.

UNIONS JOIN WHOLE FOODS BOYCOTT

Labor unions have joined the boycott aimed at Whole Foods Market, up in arms over CEO John Mackey’s criticism of President Barack Obama’s health care plan.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union and CtW Investment Group, an arm of several unions including the Service Employees International Union, are part of the boycott effort and say Mackey should be kicked out as CEO of Whole Foods.

They also are pushing for the Bravo cable network, owned by NBC Universal-General Electric, to drop Whole Foods as the sponsor of its popular “Top Chef” show.

They want CEO John Mackey fired for voicing his opinion or could have something to do with unionizing efforts?

What a shock it must be, a union joins the boycott of non-union Whole Foods - big surprise.
They probably don't even know why they are boycotting the chain, except that's it's non-union.
Can we say organized thugs?

Transient Tampers with Baby Food

San Jose police are alerting residents of a man who has admitted to crushing up aspirin tablets and putting them in baby food at two local stores.

Police officers went to City Team Ministries, a shelter for the needy after receiving a call from a 29-year-old man who said he "did a bad thing."

David Conklin allegedly told officers that about two weeks ago he crushed between seven and eight tablets of aspirin and put them in a jar of oatmeal apple flavored Gerber baby food in the Longs Drugs store.

Officers went to the store and found a jar that had been tampered with and had white powder inside, police removed the jar.

However, Conklin allegedly told officers he also crushed between five and six aspirin tablets about a week ago and put them in baby food at another store. Conklin told investigators it was a Walgreens store that was near a Target store and several Hispanic markets.

Police have not determined which Walgreens store it was or confirmed that it is definitely a Walgreens store where the incident occurred.

Aug. 30 UPDATE -- David Conklin 29, a bum has been charged in California with leaving two jars of laced with aspirin on shelves of San Jose drugstores. He was arrested at City Team Ministries.

Conklin identified one store where he said he had left a jar of Gerber's oatmeal baby food and gave directions to another store. Police found jars of baby food that appeared to have been tampered with at both stores.

San Jose police found two jars of baby food that had been tampered with, one at a CVS drugstore, the second at a Walgreen's store

So, David Conklin, the 29-year-old transient from Santa Clara — was being held on suspicion of possible poisoning, a felony.

What remains unclear how many jars of food may be affected, police said.

CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis released a statement Saturday saying the company was cooperating with police. "As a matter of precaution, we have removed baby food products from the shelves of our San Jose stores," DeAngelis said, "and we are inspecting these products. To date we have not found any additional tampered products."

The store manager at Walgreen's declined to comment.

Anyone who believes they may have found contaminated baby food may call 911 or the San Jose police at 408-277-8900.

The Really Perfect Sweet Wine

With are always on the lookout for the perfect dessert wine,
and we have found one.
The Pacific Rim Vin de Glaciere is for wine-lovers with a sweet tooth, if you don't like sweet this is not for you.
But if you do, this Washington-grown Riesling is a hand-harvested fruit, frozen then pressed near thawing point, concentrating the sugars. The resulting wine delights your tongue with the goodness of candied apricot, pear, green tea and orange blossom.
The concentrated juice is fermented until it reaches 16% residual sugar.
The wine is surprisingly light and aromatic and not syrupy or heavy flavor,
this has to do with the natural acidity which balances the sugar.

This is not a commercial, we have nothing to do with the Pacific Rim people,
except we do drink this wine.
If you like sweet wines, you needed to know about this.
We have prices as low as $16 and up around $20

HOTLIX - your edible insect candy shop

HOTLIX is the original edible insect candy shop. For over 20 years they have been making people cringe with with their outrageous candy using real insects right inside the candy!

Exceptional Food Art

We found this site with some great food art, Fabulous 40 and beyond.

Caught On Tape: Thieves Targeting Shoppers

Shoppers in Ventura County are being warned to keep their purses and wallets in their possession at all times while shopping.
We see it all the time, women wandering away from their cart with their purses still in it.
Here's lesson number 1. Don't trust anybody!!!

Theives are snatching purses and wallets all over the place,from Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley to Port Hueneme.

The good news is that they have videotape of the crimes taking place.

Potato Dreams Mashed?

It was the end of the 10-year reign of the eight-pound Manx Potato as the world's heaviest. The record has apparently been uprooted by a 25-pound spud from Lebanon, or has it?

"I didn't use any chemicals at all," Mr. Semhat said, "I've been working the land since I was a boy, and it's the first time I've seen anything like it."

The Manx's owner, Nigel Kermode of the Isle of Man, reluctantly conceded the crown: "We're still a world champion – we'll call it the second biggest potato in the world." His decade-old tater was reportedly "grey and brown" and hadn't been on display for quite a while.

But this is where it gets ugly, experts contacted by Scientific American say that Kermode has nothing to concede. Let's turn to Michigan State University potato expert David Douches for further explanation. He says the vegetable in Semhat's hands looks an awful lot like a sweet potato.
All of us in the Voodoo Kitchen took a closer look and we were just grateful it didn't look like the Virgin Mary.

To settle the matter, Kenneth Pecota, a plant breeder who has spent 15 years working on roots as part of North Carolina State University's (NCSU) Potato and Sweetpotato Breeding and Genetics Program was contacted.

So Mr. Pecota, what type of vegetable did Semhat dig out of his garden?

"It sure looks like a sweet potato to me. Everything about it, the skin color, the skin peeling off with the white underneath -- that's very common in big, sweet potatoes. When the sweet potatoes get big like that, that cracking is extremely common. You also have the veins, which are little fibrous roots growing under the surface, that's very common with sweet potatoes as well. We see stuff like that all the time at NCSU."
I don’t think he has a potato, I think he has a sweet potato. I'm guessing that there was confusion somewhere in the translation. It's probably a language thing.

Well then, according to Mr. smarty pants, perhaps it's a record-breaking sweet potato?
Go ahead, mash a man's dreams.

Electronic Coupons Help Save Money

Imagine, electronic coupons, arriving by cell phone, Twitter, e-mail and Facebook, that are helping new, younger customers save money.

Many shoppers have avoided coupons printed in newspapers and direct-mail booklets but times are changing.

Just think about all the extra cash you could have, saving ($300 to $500) with electronic coupons.

Coupon use has been dying since 1992 as consumers were somewhat embarrassed using them, besides they were a hassle.

But as the economy has tightened the old became new again, frugal became smart and it is no longer an embarrassment.

Use of electronic discounts and coupons more than doubled in the first half of 2009. They now account for more than 3 percent of all coupons used, up from roughly 2 percent in 2008.

That may represent a small part of the total coupons used but they have a strong potential, growing more popular and providing a new way for shoppers to stretch already tight budgets.

Users can print digital coupons from Web sites or e-mail, but many are entirely electronic. They can be uploaded to a store's loyalty card or arrive on a cell phone as a promotion code or image. There are also iPhone applications, hand held devices in stores and screens built into grocery cart handles that alert shoppers to deals in stores.

As retailers continue to reach out to potential customers and the ones they already have, electronic coupons offer the same benefits for retailers as any discount program: driving consumer traffic, building loyalty, increasing sales and attracting new customers.

And coupon aggregators such as Coupons.com and Cellfire say online coupon users tend to skew younger and more affluent than the traditional coupon user. Cellfire, for example, says 60 percent of its users are between 18 and 35.

Experts say both electronic and traditional print formats are likely to grow, though it will be a while before they match the all-time peak in coupon use of 7.9 billion in 1992. In 2008, consumers redeemed just 2.6 billion coupons of all types.

The Holy Trinity of Cured Pork

We are often asked about the Holy Trinity of Italian cured pork, prosciutto, pancetta and guanciale. So let's take a look at these wonderful cured meats.

All three are types of cured pork, which means that salt is used to draw the moisture out of the meat to preserve it, and then the meat is left to sit for a while to age.

Many pork products come from the belly of the pig, but guanciale,

pronounced:(GWAN SEE ALL EEE)

comes from the Italian "guancia" or cheek, comes from the jowls.

It has a strong, rich, intense flavor and is a celebrated delicacy in Central Italy. To make it, first the cheek is rubbed with salt, peppercorns and thyme, then it is hung to air-dry, and is ready to eat after three weeks. It’s rather fatty, but once rendered, you’re left with a strong, rich, porky flavor.

Pancetta, comes from the Italian "pancia" or belly, and is often called "Italian bacon."

That’s not quite accurate because pancetta is not typically smoked the way American bacon is. Like guanciale, it’s salt-cured, but it is seasoned with different spices that can include nutmeg, pepper, fennel, dried ground hot peppers and garlic, and then air dried for three months.

Pancetta is sold either rolled or in a slab.

It gives dishes a wonderful pork flavor without the overwhelming smokiness of bacon.

Prosciutto is the Italian word for ham, and describes a salt cured whole leg of pork that has been aged for up to two years. Proscuitto production takes just four ingredients: pork, sea-salt, air and time. There are no other seasonings. Nearly 70 percent of all prosciutto is Prosciutto di Parma, which comes from its birthplace in Parma, Italy. Prosciutto di San Daniele from Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region is also well-regarded.

PETA Takes Down "Save the Whales" Billboard

You may remember PETA's billboard ad in Jacksonville, Fla., calling fat women "whales" and asking people to "lose the blubber" by going vegetarian.

PETA stated, "Our goal is help overweight Jacksonville residents - the best way to do that is to go vegetarian. We're not trying to insult anyone. Vegetarians look and feel better than meat eaters. This is a life-saving message."When asked specifically if the billboard shames overweight people, Byrne stated, "If the billboard is shocking, hopefully it will gets people's attention, and help them improve quality of life for themselves and their families.... it's designed to help people."

PETA has taken down their controversial "Save The Whales" billboard, which drew intense anger across the country. They have replaced the ad with something less controversial.

It's Here, The Ice Ball Mold

All our wishes have come true, the perfect ice cube for your drink on the rocks.
Have you ever ordered a drink on the rocks, picked up the glass, and thought to yourself, “Hmm, something isn't right, of course! it's the ice cubes?"
The problem has been solved, your ice cubes can now be engineered to spherical perfection.

Introducing the Ice Ball mold from Taisin. The Ice Ball mold takes a chunk of ice melts it into a perfect, seamless sphere of ice happiness.
And to think you can get all this starting at $175, all the way up to over two grand.

Lawmakers Always Know Best

We were thinking about the "fat tax" or the "junk food tax" and we had this awful feeling in the pit of our stomachs. No, no, not from the the fat or junk but from the lawmakers who would decide what is best for us.

But what are we worried about, over the years lawmakers have always taken the next logical step, right?

Here are some of those laws:

In Boston: It is illegal to eat peanuts in church.

Rosemead, CA: Eating ice cream in public with a fork is prohibited.

In California: It is illegal to eat an orange in your bath tub.

Marion, OH: It's a violation to eat a donut while walking backwards.

Carmel, NY: It's illegal to eat ice cream while standing on the sidewalk.

Riverside, CA: One may not carry a lunch down the street between 11 and 1 o’clock.

Massachusetts: At a wake, mourners may eat no more than three sandwiches.

Greene, NY: It's against the law to eat peanuts and walk backwards down the street while a concert is playing.

In Lexington, Kentucky it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your pocket.

Gainesville, Ga., it is illegal to eat chicken with a fork.

Delaware, It’s illegal to fly over water unless you are carrying enough snacks and drinks.

Viewers Watch Food Shows in Record Numbers

The Food Network and Travel Channel are enjoying record viewership with shows such like "Man v. Food" and "The Next Food Network Star."

"Food can take away the pain,” said Shari Anne Brill, who analyzes audiences for New York-based Carat USA, which buys advertising for Papa John’s International Inc.

She has a point, when people feel uncertainity or face troubled times we tend to seek out those things that ease that discomfort, and perhaps expains the popularity of comfort foods and food shows.

The Food Network's ratings rose 20 percent in July from a year ago because of "The Next Food Network Star."

Since 2004, the prime-time audience for the Food Network has increased 55 percent to 1.06 million viewers nightly from 683,000, according to Nielsen Co. data.

In the 18-to-49 age group that advertisers target, Food Network is up 79 percent in five years.
Travel Channel’s ratings are up 35 percent in August from a year ago, boosted by “Man v. Food” and “Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern.”

The fifth season finale of “The Next Food Network Star,” drew the biggest audience of all time for the Food Network. The 3.8 million homes measured by Nielsen made it cable’s most-watched show the night of Aug. 2 and the sixth-biggest audience that week.
Travel Channel’s second-season start of “Man v. Food” — in which host Adam Richman highlights U.S. restaurants and competes in eating challenges — drew the largest audience for an original series premiere on the network. The Aug. 5 show was viewed in 1.25 million households.

Rare, Colbalt Blue Lobster caught off New Hampshire coast

What appeared as a shinny blue can in a lobster trap turned out to be a rare, cobalt-blue lobster. The 1 1/2 pound lobster was caught near the Isle of Shoals, about six miles off the coast.
New England Aquarium Research Director Mike Tlusty said only one in 5 million lobsters are blue.
Tlusty said blue lobsters are different in that they are better at processing astaxanthin, an antioxidant with a red pigment derived from algae. The substance bonds with proteins in the lobster's shell, resulting in the blue pigment.

So what happened to the lobster?

They said it was delicious...just kidding, the lobster was donated to the Seacoast Science Center.

Dig a little deeper, that Frappuccino will cost you more

Starbucks prices on beverages like the ever so famous Frappuccino, are on the rise— and for simple ones like a plain cup of coffee, the prices will decrease.

You are looking at price hikes as much as 30 cents.

The more basic beverages — the latte and plain coffee, among others — will see prices decreased by 5 to 15 cents.
Still, more prices are going increase than the ones that will be decreased.

Starbucks said the price hikes will eventually roll out nationwide in the coming months.

The big question is how the changes will affect the customer base or will it be an attraction for new customers?

Is 15 cents worth of savings going to change any one's mind?

Will an additional 30 cents stop customers from their buying habits?

Anthony Bourdain on Restaurants and the Economy

How do you see the restaurant industry dealing with the economy?

Bourdain: "The engine of gastronomy through history has been poverty and difficulties, from the days of dealing with lack of refrigeration or having to work only with second-best ingredients. These are things that force people to cook well because they have no other options.

On the other hand, there's going to be a very rude awakening for a lot of types of restaurants if they're not aware yet how drastically things have changed. ...

There is going to be an apocalyptic shakeout.

On the plus side, the bullshit will be the first to go."

Italian Banks May Accept Prosciutto and Wine as Collateral

Italian bank vaults may soon be well stocked with expensive wines and dry-cured Prosciutto as collateral on bank loans from crisis-hit producers.
The idea, which was suggested this week by an influential Italian bank chairman who also happens to be a wine producer, was also supported by an Italian minister.

This follows the tradition of Italian banks storing massive wheels of Parmesan cheese as loan collateral.
"We've done it with cheese, why not with prosciutto and good wines like Brunello di Montalcino and chianti classico?" said Gianni Zonin, chairman of the Banca Popolare di Vicenza and head of wine producer Zonin.
"This is a great idea, it has my blessing," said Luca Zaia, the Italian agriculture minister.
The Italian bank Credito Emiliano has long stored hundreds of thousands of Parmesan wheels, worth about $423 American dollars each, in warehouses as collateral while they age.
Because the bank can sell the cheese if creditors default, it can afford to offer low interest rates to an industry which is suffering from recession and supermarket discounting.
Legs of cured prosciutto, weighing about 10kg, can sell for hundreds of euros after months of curing in controlled conditions, while bottles of Brunello di Montalcino are regularly snapped up for the same amount.

Paper or plastic? Seattle voters reject 20-cent Tax on both types of grocery bag

Seattle saw the headlines back in April and now they have voted.

Their vote firmly rejected Referendum 1, which would have made Seattle the first city in the nation to tax both plastic and paper shopping bags.
The defeat — 58 percent to 42 percent, with more than half of the expected votes counted — means an ordinance passed by the Seattle City Council last year will not take effect.

Had the tax passed, grocers, convenience marts and drugstores would have charged shoppers 20 cents for each bag they were provided at checkout counters.

Adam Parmer, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax, said the results show the bag fee was "a costly, unnecessary tax" and the wrong approach to changing behavior.
"Seattle voters have made it clear that this is not the approach they want to take in protecting the environment," he said.
Observers predicted that a failure for the bag fee in an eco-conscious city like Seattle, such proposals would be an even tougher sell elsewhere.

In California, bag manufacturers successfully sued cities that banned plastic bags.
Several states including Colorado, Texas and Virginia debated bag bans or tax this year, but no statewide ban or fee has been enacted. Washington, D.C., passed a 5-cent fee on paper or plastic bags, and the Outer Banks region in North Carolina banned plastic bags this year. But New York City dropped a proposed 5-cent bag fee in June, and Philadelphia rejected a plastic bag ban.

Invasion of the bee eating Asian Hornets

France is facing an invasion of bee-eating Asian hornets which could end the honey-bee population and threaten bee-keepers' livelihoods.
Colonies of these Asian hornets, or Vespa velutina, are everywhere in southwestern France, and are likely to reach other European countries soon.
They multiply quite quickly, and they settle in a new area every year.
The hornet is not yet present in other European countries, but will probably spread across the continent.
Last week six people were hospitalized after being stung near a nest in southwest France, prompting local authorities to warn allergy sufferers to be on their guard.

It is feared that in three or fours years they'll be everywhere in France -- it's an invasion.
Three or four hornets can wipe out an entire beehive in 48 hours.
Scientists have already expressed alarm at the mysterious and rapid decline in the number of bees, which could seriously harm agriculture because of the reduction in pollination of numerous crops.

"More and more of them are coming and they're colonizing France," Quentin Rome, a researcher at the National History Museum in Paris, told Reuters.

The first hornets were observed in France in 2004, and the most recent study recorded 1,100 nests across the country. The hornet is now firmly established near Bordeaux and has advanced as far north as parts of Brittany in northwestern France.

Three or four hornets can wipe out an entire beehive in 48 hours, but bee-keeping associations do not yet know how serious a threat the hornets pose for their industry, which is already facing a mysterious decline in bee numbers worldwide.

"When bee-keepers find nests nearby, their hives are destined for destruction," General Secretary of the National union of Bee-keepers Yves Vedrenne said. "We don't have the means to get rid of them."

Scientists have already expressed alarm at the mysterious and rapid decline in the number of bees, which could seriously harm agriculture because of the reduction in pollination of numerous crops.

It's Back - Nestle’s Toll House Cookie Dough; Just Don’t Eat It Raw

Take a look at the label from the Toll House cookie package.

It reads: BAKE BEFORE CONSUMING
Nestle printed the instructions and people chose to ignore them.

Now again Nestle, the world’s largest food company, has announced that Toll House cookie dough is returning to a supermarket shelve near you after a two-month recall and warned shoppers not to eat it raw.
It wasn't enough to tell us to bake them first, now they must say "don't eat it raw."

The new shipments of dough have a “New Batch” label and bear the statement

“Do not consume raw cookie dough.”

The E. coli issue with Nestle needs to be watched and monitored but people need to take some personal responsibility.

The Nestle Toll House nightmare began on June 19 with reports of illness among people who ate the dough raw.

At least 72 people became ill, with most of them saying they had eaten raw Toll House dough.

Let's Talk Steak

It probably comes as no surprise that those of us in the Voodoo Kitchen cook a lot of steaks, and we know we are not alone. Americans still love their red meat, we eat an average of 67 pounds of beef a year.
We want to share a few tips with you about buying and cooking a great steak.

It's great to trust the meat guy at the store but unfortunately, the guy behind that glass case might not know much about the meat he's selling. Most of the meat-cutting has already been done at a centralized location and then shipped "case-ready" to supermarket and super-center. Markets may have one guy who knows how to cut meat, but most of the others in the meat department may not be highly trained, real butchers are a dying breed.
The exceptions are some upscale or specialty chains, such as Whole Foods, Balducci's or Wegmans, or at the scattering of traditional butcher shops

So, what do you need to know when choosing the perfect steak?

Here are a few of our tips:

Pick out your steak by looking at each one carefully. If you want it to be juicy and tender for cooking on the grill, you want lots of little white flecks of fat in the meaty part, it's the marbling. The flecks melt away during cooking, adding to the meat's flavor. You also want it to be an even thickness, if it's thinner in some parts, it will cook unevenly.

If you're buying more than one steak, try to find cuts that are all close in size so they finish cooking at about the same time.
Look for thick cuts. Avoid steaks that are less than an inch thick, because they're too easy to overcook. Be careful when buying steaks in packs -- it's often difficult to get a side view to see just how thick they are.
Don't trim that fat. Yeah, we know, we've heard all the lectures. But leave most of the fat on the outside edge of the steak before cooking. The fat helps to keep the steak moist and hold its shape during cooking. It also enhances the meat's flavor. Once the steak is cooked, you can decide what to do with any excess fat.
Chuck and Round are tough guys, Rib and Loin are not. If the words "chuck" or "round" are in the name of the steak, it will need to be marinated and then slowly cooked in liquid to be tender. These are generally very lean cuts with lots of muscle fiber that need to be broken down with slow, long, moist heat. Don't even think of throwing a chuck steak on the grill. If the word "loin" is on the label, or the butcher tells you that a steak is cut from the loin (a strip steak, porterhouse or T-bone), these will be the most tender. Same goes for the word "rib," as in rib-eye or rib steak. These can be cooked quickly -- on a grill, in the oven or on the stove in a pan.
Know the grades. The lower the grade, the leaner and tougher the beef. Prime is the top grade, in terms of flavor, marbling and tenderness, but very little prime beef ends up in mainstream markets. As far as consumers are concerned, there are really only two grades: choice and select. Those two make up almost all the meat being sold at the supermarket.

Choice is the higher grade, although it can encompass a wide range of quality ranging from close-to-prime to close-to-select. The leanest, least expensive meat is generally graded select and it makes up most of the share of meat in the self-service case.

Room temperature. Allow your steaks to reach room temp before cooking them. Taking them right out of the cooler and on to the grill or pan may cause the steak to burn of the outside and not cook evenly inside.

For a perfectly cooked steak. If you really have experience cooking meat and can simply touch the steak to determine when it's done, great. Otherwise buy a thermometer. There's nothing better than an instant-read thermometer for making sure that steak is perfectly cooked. The secret to a perfect rare steak is 125 degrees on the thermometer. It doesn't matter how you cook the steak, grilled or in a pan, use a thermometer to measure the internal temperature·

Here's the two-step trick for cooking steaks. It's an old restaurant method and a practically foolproof. It works really well with a two-inch thick, boneless steak such as filet mignon. Sear the steak on one side in a hot, oiled pan on the stovetop over fairly high heat. This creates a nice brown crust. Flip the steak over, then place the pan in a 425-degree oven to finish the cooking. Roast to desired doneness, it takes about 5 minutes for rare, 7 minutes for medium rare, 9 minutes for medium, depending on the thickness of the meat. Let the meat rest for 5 minutes to redistribute juices before serving.

Our favorite for Best Steak goes to . . . the rib-eye. In terms of juicy flavor and tenderness, the rib-eye has it all, okay maybe it's not quite as tender as the loin, but it has a much richer flavor. When meat is graded it's the rib-eye they look at to determine the quality of the meat.

Studies Show No Link Between Meat Intake And Breast Cancer

Washington, DC - An analysis examining the relationship between diet and breast cancer showed no link between eating meat and dairy and risk of developing the disease.
Researchers with the American Society for Nutrition said in a statement that they actually found that moderate consumption of meat and dairy is important in overall nutrition since many women don't get enough iron and calcium in their diets.

The disease is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States, killing about 41,000 people a year.
The analysis will be published in the September edition of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Customer Spots Poisonous Weed in Salad

BERLIN: A customer shopping at a discount supermarket found stems of a poisonous weed in mixed salad bags.

Traces of senecio vulgaris or common groundsel, that can cause extensive liver damage if ingested in large amounts, were discovered by a customer with a specialized knowledge of plants.

The store immediately took all affected bags off the shelves.

Samples were sent to the University of Bonn for testing, which detected more than 2,500 micrograms of poison and that is 2,500 times more than the acceptable allowance -- in 150 grams of salad.
Minister for consumer protectionism in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Margit Conrad, warned shoppers to be vigilant.
"Not everything that looks like fruit and vegetable is edible," she said in a statement on Wednesday.
"No one should eat plants or parts of plants that have an unusual taste."

PETA Takes Aim and Sterotypes Many Women

PETA has a new billboard and a campaign to go with it.

Florida residents are raising eyebrows as well as anger among women and health groups.

The drawing on billboards in Jacksonville shows an obese woman with the reading,
"Save The Whales, Lose The Blubber: Go Vegetarian."

PETA stated in it's press release:
A new PETA billboard campaign that was just launched in Jacksonville reminds people who are struggling to lose weight -- and who want to have enough energy to chase a beach ball -- that going vegetarian can be an effective way to shed those extra pounds that keep them from looking good in a bikini.
Anyone wishing to achieve a hot "beach bod" is reminded that studies show that vegetarians are, on average, about 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters.

"Trying to hide your thunder thighs and balloon belly is no day at the beach," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman.

PETA is not new with tactics involving scantily clad-women, like this veggie dog eat-in on Capitol Hill wearing only lettuce bikinis.
When asked to comment on the charges that the ad is sexist and mocking of overweight people, Ashley Byrne, a senior campaigner for PETA stated, "Our goal is help overweight Jacksonville residents - the best way to do that is to go vegetarian. We're not trying to insult anyone. Vegetarians look and feel better than meat eaters. This is a life-saving message."
When asked specifically if the billboard shames overweight people, Byrne stated, "If the billboard is shocking, hopefully it will gets people's attention, and help them improve quality of life for themselves and their families.... it's designed to help people."

But we want to know what is PETA going to do about their fat head?

Doctor Fired Over ‘America Dies on Dunkin’

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Dr. Jason Newsom has passed judgement against burgers, french fries, KFC fried chicken and sweet tea in his campaign to demand better eating. Everything was going just great until the donuts, if he had only left the doughnuts alone.

A 38-year-old doctor a few years ago launched a one-man war on obesity by posting sardonic warnings on an electronic sign outside:
"Sweet Tea = Liquid Sugar."
"Hamburger = Spare Tire."
"French Fries = Thunder Thighs."

He also called out KFC by name to make people think twice about fried chicken.

Then he parodied "America Runs on Dunkin'," the doughnut chain's slogan, with: "America Dies on Dunkin'."

Some influential people in the Gulf Coast tourist town decided they had had enough.

A county commissioner just happens to owns a doughnut shop and two lawyers who just happen to own a new Dunkin' Donuts on Panama City Beach threatened to sue.

The good doctor's bosses at the Florida Health Department made him remove the anti doughnuts rants and eventually forced him to resign, he says.

"I picked on doughnuts because those things are ubiquitous in this county. Everywhere I went, there were two dozen doughnuts on the back table. At church, there were always doughnuts on the back table at Sunday school. It is social expectation thing," says Newsom, who is a lean 6-foot, 167 pound man.

Newsom was hired by the state Health Department making $140,000 a year to direct the county agency. His job is to educate the public about health issues like, swine flu, AIDS and things like that - but that wasn't enough for him, he also decided to address things glazed, sprinkled and maple bars.
He angered staff members not allowing doughnuts to enter department meetings and announcing he would personally throw the fat laden foods away if he saw them in the break room.

He wasn't done there, he also banned candy bars in the vending machines, putting in peanuts instead.

The lawyers, Bo Rivard and Michael Duncan, owners of a new Dunkin' Donuts, asked Newsom to take down the "America Dies on Dunkin' " message. Newsom already had run other anti-doughnut warnings, including "Doughnuts = Diabetes," and "Dunkin' Donuts = Death."

The businessmen had the backing of County Commissioner Mike Thomas, who owns a diner and a doughnut shop. Thomas called for Newsom's ouster, saying the doctor shouldn't have named businesses on the message board.
"I think he was somewhat of a zealot," Thomas says. "I don't have a problem with him pushing an agenda, it's the way he did it. People borrowed money to go into business and they are being attacked by the government."

A short time after Newsom's meeting with Rivard and Duncan, Newsom says, his bosses at the state Health Department told him that his leadership wasn't wanted and that he could be fired or resign. He chose to resign but has reapplied for the job.

"I have never been known for my subtlety. I don't have a knack for it. I speak the truth to people and just assume that that my data and purpose are so real and true that everyone will see the value of what I'm doing," says Newsom.

"Dunkin' Donuts is pleased that the signs have been removed," Andrew Mastrangelo, a spokesman for Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Donuts said.

Newsom is hoping to get his job back so that he can resume his campaign against overeating.

"My method was a little provocative and controversial," he says, "but there wasn't a person in Bay County who wasn't talking about health and healthy eating."

Rat Eating Plant Discovered in Philippines

Philippines: British scientists said they have discovered the largest of all meat eating plants that feeds by luring and consuming rats.
Botanists Stewart McPherson and Alastair Robinson said the plant, named Nepenthes attenboroughii after legendary wildlife broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, consumes "whole rats" by luring them into its mouth and dissolving them with acid-like enzymes.
"The plant produces spectacular traps which catch not only insects, but also rodents," McPherson said, "It is remarkable that it remained undiscovered until the 21st century."

Pitcher plants are carnivorous. Carnivorous plants come in many forms, some have sticky surfaces that act like flypaper, others like the Venus fly trap are snap traps, closing their leaves around their prey.
Pitchers create tube-like leaf structures into which insects and other small animals tumble and become trapped.

John Mackey Angers Believers - But Where will the Shoppers go?

Last week John Mackey, CEO of the organic Whole Foods, wrote a post in the Wall Street Journal saying "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare" which consisted of "Eight things we can do to improve health care without adding to the deficit."
Many have reacted to such apostasy by boycotting the stores while Mackey argued that health care is not a right, noting that neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution guarantees it.
The piece starts with a Margaret Thatcher quote, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money," and that has some Whole Foods shoppers gasping for air.

A bunch of Whole Foods shoppers have taken their issues with this piece to the Internet, where people on the Twitter and Facebook are calling for a boycott of the store.

But where will the shoppers go?


Maybe to the more expensive organic stores.


Perhaps Wal-Mart, they do have lower prices, but really, Whole Foods shoppers at Wal-Mart?
Just imagine the Whole Foods crowd rubbing elbows with Wal-Mart shoppers, it's doubtful because, they are, well...not their kind.

Trader Joe's, perhaps.

Maybe they can just grow their own food.

ABC News: Virgin Mary Seen in Bird Poop

Yes, we know this isn't a food story, but we follow the Virgin Mary stories because for us it all started with food. She was found on a restaurant grill, then on toast, so we thought we should keep an eye on this phenomena.

Gordon Ramsay and Baked Alaska with Conan O'Brien

Fish Really is Brain Food

Even though we have been told that fishing is murder and at some future date it may be treated as a crime, older adults who regularly eat fish seem to have a lower risk of dementia, a new study suggests.
Researchers believe that the brain benefits come from the omega-3 fatty acids found most abundantly in oily fish like salmon, mackerel and albacore tuna.
There is a joke in here somewhere, but the brain is largely composed of fat.

Fats, along with water, are the chief components of brain cell membranes and the specialized tissues enclosing the nerves.

The brain needs the long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, which are called eicosapentenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexenoic acid (DHA).

Fish get them from the algae they eat. Even though some leafy green vegetables, as well as walnuts, flaxseed, and canola oil, contain shorter-chain omega-3s; these are not readily converted by our bodies into EPA and DHA.

There have been some interesting studies that suggest fish oil may be of some help in treating manic depression and schizophrenia.

Fatty fish is definitely good for your heart. Omega-3s cut the risk of blood clots and thus lessen the chance of a heart attack. The American Heart Association now recommends that you eat two servings or more of fish a week. A diet that benefits your heart is likely to benefit your brain as well.

How Salmonella Bacteria Contaminate Salad Leaves

The new study shows how some Salmonella bacteria use the long stringy fingers to help attach themselves to salad leaves and other vegetables, causing contamination and a health risk.

Some recent outbreaks of food poisoning have been associated with contaminated salad or vegetable products, and more specifically, pre-bagged salads.

Understanding the method that pathogens such as salmonella use to bind themselves to salad leaves is important if scientists are to develop new methods of preventing this kind of contamination and the sickness it causes.
Scientists know that Salmonella and E. coli O157 – a strain of E. coli that can cause serious sickness in humans - can spread to salads and vegetables if they are fertilised with contaminated manure, irrigated with contaminated water, or if they come into contact with contaminated products during cutting, washing, packing and preparation processes.

However, until now, scientists did not understand how the pathogens managed to bind to the leaves. Professor Frankel and his colleagues at the University of Birmingham found that Salmonella bacteria have a secondary use for their flagella propellers- (those long stringy fingers) they use to move around. The flagella flatten out beneath the bacteria and cling onto salad leaves and vegetables like long thin fingers. To test this observation the scientists genetically engineered salmonella without flagella in the lab and found that they could not attach themselves to the leaves, and the salad remained uncontaminated.
Professor Frankel says: "Discovering that the flagella play a key role in Salmonella's ability to contaminate salad leaves gives us a better understanding then ever before of how this contamination process occurs.

Once we understand it, we can begin to work on ways of fighting it."
The team's next steps will involve looking at the extent to which different types of salad leaves are affected by salmonella. Professor Frankel explains that some types of leaves are less susceptible to salmonella contamination that others: "If we can find out what factors affect susceptibility, we may be able to develop new technologies to harness the 'immunity' found in some salad leaves to protect others from contamination," he says.

However, Professor Frankel says that even though such a small minority of cases are currently linked to salads, the numbers are likely to increase in coming years. "In their efforts to eat healthily, people are eating more salad products, choosing to buy organic brands, and preferring the ease of 'pre-washed' bagged salads from supermarkets, then ever before. All of these factors, together with the globalisation of the food market, mean that cases of Salmonella and E. coli poisoning caused by salads are likely to rise in the future. This is why it's important to get a head start with understanding how contamination occurs now," he said.

Fresh Fruits And Vegetables May Be Source Of Food Poisoning Outbreaks

We all agree that raw fruits and vegetables are good for us, or do we?

According to research published by Cambridge University Press in the journal Epidemiology and Infection, written by several experts in their field, there is a fact that fresh fruits and vegetables are increasingly recognised as a source of food poisoning outbreaks.

Recent outbreaks have revealed new and unexplained links between some bacterias and viruses that cause food poisoning. This includes, baby corn, lettuces, and even raspberries. We have already seen recent outbreaks of E Coli infections have been linked to bagged baby spinach, and Salmonella to peppers, imported cantaloupe melons and tomatoes as well.

Professor Norman Noah, Editor-in-Chief of the journal says: "This research confirms that raw fruit and vegetables can cause food poisoning. To obtain raw fruit and vegetables out of season, as many countries now do, they are transported many thousands of miles from growing areas, and outbreaks can affect many widely dispersed countries simultaneously."

So, what about washing fresh fruits and vegetables before eating them?

It may reduce the risk of food poisoning and episodes of vomiting and diarrhea. But washing all by itself, even with chlorine disinfectants may not be enough.

Studies show that certain disease-causing microbes are masters at hiding from chemical sanitizers. These bacteria can make their way inside the leaves of lettuce, spinach and other vegetables and fruit. In addition, microbes can organize themselves into tightly knit communities called biofilms that coat fruits and vegetables and protect the bacteria from harm.

All is not lost, new findings suggest that irradiation, a food treatment currently being reviewed by the FDA, can effectively kill internalized pathogens that are beyond the reach of conventional chemical sanitizers.
Irradiation exposes food to a source of electron beams, creating positive and negative charges. It disrupts the genetic material of living cells, inactivating parasites and destroying pathogens and insects in food, including E. coli and Salmonella.

All this so can have our veggie and fruit platter.

Tomorrow: How Salmonella Bacteria Contaminate Salad Leaves.

Bang Bang, A Sandwich Can Kill You!

“Buns and Guns.” It’s a fast food restaurant that has opened in Beirut’s Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs. The chefs and servers wear military helmets.
The slogan of the restaurant is “ a sandwich can kill you”.

Two scoops of Octopus Ice Cream Please

Who needs just 31 flavors when you can have the world?

The Japanese see no boundaries when it comes to ice cream.

Wasabi, shrimp, taro, abalone, eel, tomato, hot pepper, charcoal, fried eggplant, crab, and we are just getting started.

How about a scoop of tuna or whale?

Perhaps octopus or squid?

If tentacles aren't your thing can we show you something in mammal, Ox tongue cream or perhaps horse?

There is also goat, oyster or soy sauce.

For those with the reptiles on the tip of the tongue maybe it's snake you want.

Miso is nice, or rice, noodles, soy sauce, lettuce, cactus, cheese, salt, tomato or potato.

Gordon Ramsay's Nightmares

On his show "Kitchen Nightmares," chef Gordon Ramsay helps turn around troubled restaurants. But his own dining empire has been in a bit of trouble. Four of chef Ramsay's high-profile restaurants in Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Prague "were starting to hemorrhage" cash last year, Gordon Ramsay said. He breached terms $15.7 million, in loans that were partially backed by his own money. An auditor recommended his company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings Ltd., file for bankruptcy. Mr. Ramsay sold his Ferrari and considered unloading his multimillion-dollar London home.

"All of a sudden, this whole thing was nothing to do with cooking," Ramsay said in an interview from the Los Angeles set of his show. "I had my own personal nightmare." Now being forced to restructure chef Ramsay has left Prague and handed back ownership of the kitchens in Los Angeles and Paris to the hotels they are in, though he still supplies the chefs and menus.

He has fired about 15% of his roughly 1,200-person staff and is changing out expensive pieces of meat for cheaper cuts like shank and brisket. chef Ramsay and his father-in-law have plowed $8.2 million of their own dollars into the business.
Diners are eating out less often and spending less when they do, particularly on wine and spirits, where the biggest profit margins are. Corporate entertaining, which can account for as much as a third of a luxury restaurant's business, has fallen sharply.
Others are struggling. Upscale chain Ruth's Chris Steak House, saw first-quarter same-store sales fall 18.5% from a year earlier.
The global reach of Mr. Ramsay's empire leaves him particularly exposed. Unlike some of his peers, he owned many of his restaurants outright, rather than relying on licensing agreements where he earned fees for the use of his name. The approach gave him more control, and more profit in good times, but also more risk when the economy soured.

"I've learned a lot from a chef's point of view in terms of business," he says. "I'm not a businessman, but I certainly don't walk around with my head tucked up...my backside. For me, it was a learning curve."
Mr. Ramsay, who owns 69% of Gordon Ramsay Holdings (his father-in-law is the chief executive and owns the other 31%), says he feels the company is in much better shape as a result of the restructuring.

A big boost came to Gordon Ramsay earning $16.4 million dollars in annual revenue from television, publishing and endorsement contracts. That includes as much as $250,000 a show for the U.S. versions of "Hell's Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nightmares," which both air on Fox.

He has let trusted executive chefs in charge of his restaurants and this has left him open to critics who claim that paying a premium to eat at a Ramsay restaurant when he's not in the kitchen is expecting too much. When you're paying between $300 and $500 per person or more, people want to see the actual chef behind the dishes. Jason Atherton, who oversees several of Mr. Ramsay's restaurants, says the name symbolizes a level of quality and service diners can expect. But by late last summer, Ramsay found customers were spending less. Demand from corporate clients for lucrative private dining rooms dropped sharply. That set off the alarm bells, he said.
Ramsay braced for the worst. In October, he and his father-in-law and CEO, Christopher Hutcheson, met with the head chefs and operations team, warning of an expected drop in revenue heading into 2009, and ran through plans to cut costs and adjust the business.
"We had to be brutal," said Mr. Hutcheson. They fired staff and pressed vendors for discounts, in some instances reducing the number of merchants in order to negotiate better prices through larger orders. They rebalanced their wine lists, adding more moderately priced choices and more options by the half bottle or glass.
By December, four of Mr. Ramsay's overseas locations -- Los Angeles, New York, Paris and Prague were bleeding cash.

The week before Christmas, the bank sent in its auditors to comb through the books.

Their recommendation: File for bankruptcy protection. A bank spokeswoman declined to comment. Faced with losing the business, Mr. Ramsay sold his Ferrari, discussed with his wife the possibility of selling the house and considered selling a stake in the business.

Instead, he and his father-in-law set out to fix the problems.

To save on staff pay, they closed two London restaurants during slow times of the week.

Chef Ramsay says he encouraged his chefs to choose more economical ingredients, banning expensive out-of-season asparagus and using shank or brisket rather than more expensive cuts. A spokeswoman for Mr. Ramsay said that lower-cost ingredients would be reflected in the menu prices."I didn't want to see any menus laced with caviar. I wanted all that formal glam gone," he recalls telling a gathering of about 40 of his chefs in January at his restaurant in Claridge's hotel. Mr. Ramsay says his goal was to make menus more "accessible" to diners.
It's too early to tell whether the menu and staff changes will affect his ratings or his standing with reviewers. Several restaurant guides, including Michelin, are updating their reviews, which are due to be published in coming weeks and months.

Ramsay turned to New York, where he runs a two-star Michelin dining room and a less formal restaurant under the Maze name, both housed in The London hotel in midtown Manhattan. He shut the 45-seat upmarket dining room at lunch to halve staff costs, removed flowers from the tables to save $4,000 a month, and introduced a $65 pre-theater menu to get more traffic through the door. The menu builds on humble ingredients such as mackerel, fluke and chicken, whereas the regular $110 dinner menu also offers langoustines, diver scallops and veal sweetbreads. As a result of the changes, the New York operations for the month of May were $5,000 short of breaking even, which Mr. Ramsay says was an improvement over previous months.
Still, revenues at Mr. Ramsay's company dropped sharply in the first two months of this year -- down 15% from 2008 for both January and February.

Chef Ramsay says the company now runs more efficiently and business is improving. Sales for May were up 5% from a year ago, he says, though that includes revenue from three restaurants that opened in the past year. Customers are spending about 5% less per person, on average.

We will see what unfolds throughout the remainder of the year.

That's Not My Bag Baby

Both San Francisco and LA have decided to ban plastic bags, but the measures weren't decided by popular vote. Next it's Seattle turn to decide if plastic and paper bags are so bad that the city of Seattle must charge 20 cent per bag tax, but why stop there?

We were thinking that maybe Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco could make some money on all those disposable diapers that really clog up the landfills. They could tax an extra 20 cents per diaper for those.

What about Starbucks? Shouldn't there be a charge for the disposable cups they use and maybe an extra tax for each lid? How about the plastc cover on newspapers (like in our photo) What about plastic from the fast-food crowd, shouldn't they also be taxed in this effort to modify our behavior? All those plastic garbage bags need a tax as well and all the plastic water bottles, that's a lot of plastic, 20 cent tax for each bottle.
To Go containers, plastic wrap, freezer bags, shrink wrap, soda bottles, the list is endless, just think of all the tax money to be collected.

With the arrival of reusable grocery bags, there appeared to be, at long last, a definitive "eco-friendly" answer to that question posed daily to consumers: "Paper or plastic?" Alas, it was not to be. Researchers recently discovered that the supposedly green alternative actually harbors bacteria, mold and other unappetizing organisms, albeit "natural."

Whole Foods announced plans to discontinue the use of conventional plastic bags, although the store will sell upscale ones for 99 cents apiece (or canvas ones for $6.99 to $35).
The effective endorsement of paper over plastic has offended some green groups who argue that such moves lack an objective basis.

Conventional wisdom holds that plastic bags -- being synthetic -- are environmentally destructive, while paper bags -- the spawn of trees -- are the greener option. But "life cycle" analyses of both products indicate that bags made from paper require more energy to produce, create more pollutants and take up considerably more landfill space than plastic bags.

Perhaps it would be "greener" to just cary our food out in our arms when we leave the store, using no bags at all, that would solve the problem, would it not?