Moves are afoot to ban the sale of chicken, except in its frozen form, in New Zealand.
The call comes after a report showed that New Zealand had the "dubious distinction of being the campylobacter centre of the world" A Food Safety Authority (FSA) report showed that all fresh chicken carcasses carried the campylobacter bug. It also detailed that New Zealand has more than three times the rate of notified campylobacteriosis as neighbour Australia. The rate of 370 cases per 100,000 people has been rising at about 12 per cent a year over the past five years. Over the last 9 years it is beleived that 11 people have died from the disease that causes diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach ache for up to a week.
Now this is so much fun. The End of Month Egg on Toast Extravaganza blog event (have egg and bread nought else!) has reached another monthly conclusion. Jeanne has posted the over-view of the latest themed event. This time it was Tabloid Headlines.
Some people have been so inventive and clever. You might have seen the eggcellent newspaper posted on Becks and Posh but the other entries are equally as funny (except perhaps my humble effort hilariously described as 'three under-aged chicks'). There are stories of 'eggsploits with freshly laid eggs' how jilted Bacon tells French Toast to "Get stuffed!" and eggsposures of bizarre geriatric egg-laying.
Proclaimed as the world's first pomegranate liqueur Pama is now available in the UK.
It cashes in of course with the new found popularity of the pomegranate - a super food. Pama is made with 100% pomegranate juice concentrate, premium vodka and tequila. It has been described as having an 'exquisite sweet tart flavour'. It is intended as a base for cocktails and the website handily provides a few recipes. You could try the Champagne Dream (mixed with orange liqueur, fresh orange and champagne) or how about the Peacock (more vodka and orange liqueur).
Two childhood friends from Queens, New York have created Wine Cellar Sorbets for sale through gourmet stores and restaurants. While they were originally looking for products to sell in a wine bar/restaurant business they decided to go the product route instead and now make a range of grape flavoured sorbets. They are currently available across New York and New Jersey.
There are currently seven different 'vintages' or flavours
Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Central California (New Vintage)
Sonya Thomas has won another high speed eating record at her debut competition in Asia plus a cheque for HK$20,000.
This will be her 28th speed-eating record which involved consuming 17 chinese lotus seed buns in 12 minutes at the "Whampoa Asia Eating Championship".
The Hong Kong Eating Champion, Johnny Wu, was the runner up. He 'only' managed nine buns in the speicifed time limit. In the semi-finals, Thomas consumed 176 Chinese-style vegetable dumplings against Wu's 74.
Although she has won plenty of competitions (like eating 552 oysters in 10 minutes and five kilograms of cheesecake in nine minutes) she has not yet dethroned the world eating champion - Takeru Kobayashi of Japan.
The annual big splash that is the Family Winemakers Tasting is coming - Sunday, August 20th to be precise. This year the venue is Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center with tickets for the general public set at $35 in advance; $45 on the day.
Originally, the Tasting was seen as a trade-only event but since 2004 has been open to all (one day for consumers the other for trade only). It is an unique opportunity to sample the delights of Californian wine.
Advice from an old hand at the tasting game - 250 wines in a session, which certainly beats my 100 or so - is Alder at Vinography who offers this advice to attendees "get a good night's sleep the night before, eat lunch before you arrive, drink lots of water, wear dark clothes, and for Pete's sake, people -- SPIT! You don't want to be one of those stumbling fools that the rest of us responsible wine lovers mock all afternoon"
Inevitable I suppose - the hot weather has led directly to a lower than normal wheat harvest. Combine this with rising fuel costs and the price of bread is set to rise in the UK. It is not a huge increase - just 3 or 4 pence per loaf.
The National Farmers Union has warned for several weeks that the shortages of crops, wheat especially wilted in the extreme July heat, would result in higher prices for consumers. BBC reports that the UK's two largest millers - Rank Hovis, which owns eight mills and ADM Milling, which has nine, are both raising the price of flour. This is likely to hit the smaller craft baker more than the own-label ranges pushed out by the supermarkets.
Bodo Sperlein products do not come cheap - but you can't deny the quality and desirability of their creations.
Bodo's designs are described as "subtle and clean, capturing the essence of the modern with the substance and beauty of the classic". Which basically means they look damn good! ". Handmade china is never cheap and these, from the UK, join a range of products including lighting, furniture, gift and tableware.
For such high quality products the website fails to display them in the most advantageous way. I mean these plates - with a black berry design - are boringly photographed on a dull grey background. A small plate costs £30, the larger £59. Complete the set with napkins holders, vases, salt and pepper sets etc etc. (I hate the flower light though)
Brownies are not really the most difficult thing in the world to bake - come on even I can make them! But sometimes, well, wouldn't it be nice to receive a beautifully wrapped package of rich and luxurious brownies that "melt in your mouth"?
Coco à Moi, a highly regarded Local Food Hero, use the finest ingredients – the chocolate in the brownies has 70% cocoa solids so they have "a wonderful rich chocolate flavour" while the chocolate chunks have 52% cocoa solids so they "have a nice bittersweet contrast". The chocolate is made with a blend of different West African cocoa beans carefully selected by a chocolatier to give a consistently high-quality product. All this results in brownies that "are soft and fudgy, as real brownies should be". Is your mouth watering yet?
An indulgent treat or as a gift these little boxes are sure to delight. They even post overseas (they are based in the UK). A standard box costs £7.50 including delivery.
There is an artisan bakery in the Cotswold area of the UK that happens to specialise in cakes. And most generously can delivery them to your door. Meg Rivers Cakes, has received a host of recommendations over the years for the quality of their cakes. While perhaps an indulgence for yourself they make superb gifts. Using the freshest ingredients they bake in small batches to ensure consistent quality.
They run a cake club which ensures a fresh cake is delivered each month for a year. "This has to be the ultimate treat for any true cake fan."
Cake Club members receive a parcel of delicious Meg River's goodies every single month with the cakes dispatched at the middle of each month, UK mainland members' cakes by overnight courier, overseas members' go via Royal Mail. They produce exclusive cakes for club members using seasonal, local produce. These have included an Elderflower and Gooseberry cake, a Rhubarb and Ginger cake, and a Carrot cake.
From the Times a list of the top French restaurants in the capital; plus two easily reachable in the Royal county of Berkshire
Le Cafe du Marche 22 Charterhouse Square, EC1 "conjures up a rustic bistro atmosphere, where Gallic staff take orders from a blackboard that always has something to make the mouth water" [website]
L'Escargot 48 Greek Street, W1 "one of the best-value dining room sin the West End, offering classy cooking at reasonable prices" [website]
Forbury's Restaurant and Wine Bar, 1 Forbury Square, Reading "The head chef Xavier Le-Bellego previoulsy worked with Raymond Blanc and John Burton race, a pedigree that comes through in a menu of traditional French dishes with a hint of modernity" [details]
The French Table, 85 Maple Street, Surbiton "It's rare to find a restaurant working like a well-oiled machine, but this owner-run eatery is such an outfit" [website]
Galvin 66 Baker Street, W1 "Both the decor and the food here resound with Gallic charm" [website]
Mon Plaisir, 21 Monmouth Street, WC2 "The pre-theatre menu (£14.50 for three courses including a glass of wine) is great value." [website]
Papillon 96 Draycott Avenue, SW3 "The cosy, low-lit dining room boasts comfortable chairs at immaculately dressed tables, and the service is fittingly charming too" [website]
La Poule au Pot, 231 Ebury Street, SW1 "The cosy atmosphere never fails to charm at this celebrated French den" [details]
Racine 239 Brompton Road, SW3 "This place set out to be a quality neighbourhood restaurant and it has never strayed from that path" [details]
The Waterside Inn, Ferry Road, Bray, Berkshire "this three Michelin starred yet homely restaurant offers one of the best dining experiences around" [website]
That is the title of a great article from blogger, celebrity TV chef and photographer Benjamin Christie.
He opens with "most of us don't have the time to go to great lengths to create the perfect shot, so here are a few ideas, tips and more on how you can achieve your perfect food photo" which about sums up the post - he covers the equipment he uses and the reasons why, the three types of food photography (Close in (food only) and all in focus, Close in with limited depth of field and Table setting elements providing character and a reference situation). Each has a great photograph as an illustration.
He concludes with a few hints in regards to lighting. Worth a read for all budding foodporn image takers.
Joining a small list of similar concepts is RecipeMatcher. Enter the contents of your kitchen and it will suggest recipes. It can also suggest close matches and generate a list of products you need to buy; it will even generate the required shopping list for you.
I couldn't get the site to work. I tried to sign up several times but never got further than the error message - 'that username is already in use'. From what I can see it looks very Web2.0 and flash based (although Techcrunch has 'some issues') My other main gripe is the obvious American-ness of it - there is no conversion to metric and no mention of English equivalents (half and half for example). Which is fine as it is an American company after all.
There are other services that allow searching by ingredients - Snacksby, AllRecipes, FoodNetwork and Google Recipes. I must ask though - who actually has the time (let alone the inclination) to enter in the contents of each cupboard, the fridge and the freezer? (
that Bangladesh used to have a large export industry of frogs to the USA, until the government noted a vastly increased fly population. Frogs (the flies' natural predator) were cheaper than insecticides and so the export of frogs was banned.
that there is a special verb (and perhaps a special utensil), invented just for kiwis: sloop. (from Toast Point)
that the first reference to Welsh Rabbit (as in Welsh Rarebit) was in 1725, sixty years before "rarebit". There are also English and Scottish Rarebits too - see The Old Foodie for details.
that you can walk on custard. Custard is a non-Newtonian fluid. When thickened with starch, custard's physical properties change from those of liquid to those of a solid depending on the amount of pressure applied to it, so much so that a person is able to walk across a swimming pool full of custard.
that Thyme was one of the ingredients used to preserve and embalm mummies in ancient Egypt. The Ancient Greeks believed that thyme was a source of courage and, in the Middle Ages, the herb was placed beneath pillows to aid sleep and ward off nightmares.
that in the UK there are over 11,500 shops selling more than 250 million fish and chip meals annually. The sector employs around 61,000 people. [From Seafish]
today (August 12th) is The Glorious Twelfth the official start of the game season in the UK. [more info]
Ranking alongside Robin Hood, the Archers, Magna Carta and Dover's White Cliffs the humble Fish and Chips was voted as one of England's national icons. But it has always had a down-market image - fine for the hoi polloi, but not really for the likes of us.
But no longer, as this Times piece explains. Fish and Chip restaurants have gone up-market led by the growing chain of Sea Cow fish restaurants. A new takeaway fish and chip shop is to open next Friday at the mecca to London's foodies - Borough Market. The paper lists six of the best chippies across the country -
Moves are afoot to ban the sale of chicken, except in its frozen form, in New Zealand. 
Now this is so much fun. The End of Month Egg on Toast Extravaganza blog event (have egg and bread nought else!) has reached another monthly conclusion. Jeanne has posted the over-view of the latest themed event. This time it was Tabloid Headlines.
Proclaimed as the world's first pomegranate liqueur 
Two childhood friends from Queens, New York have created 
Sonya Thomas 
The annual big splash that is the 
Inevitable I suppose - the hot weather has led directly to a lower than normal wheat harvest. Combine this with rising fuel costs and the price of bread is set to rise in the UK. It is not a huge increase - just 3 or 4 pence per loaf.
From the Times a list of the top French restaurants in the capital; plus two easily reachable in the Royal county of Berkshire
That is the title of a great article from blogger, celebrity TV chef and photographer 
Joining a small list of similar concepts is 
Did you know - 
Ranking alongside Robin Hood, the Archers, Magna Carta and Dover's White Cliffs the humble Fish and Chips was voted as one of England's national icons. But it has always had a down-market image - fine for the hoi polloi, but not really for the likes of us.
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
