Do not feed the animals.

The food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever. Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to “please do not feed the animals” because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.
Thanks to the  LA Times for this one.

The Grizzly Project, Barcelona

This is a very interesting clip on the design and making of a chocolate grizzly bear by the Barcelona Pastry Guild School for the World Chocolate Masters competition this year. Enjoy!

 

 

Whole wheat, banana berry muffins

Simple and very very healthy, possibly also somewhat tasty, these muffins are a great way to start the day. Should mention that they are egg free and can very easily become dairy free or gluten free. I made mine with wheat germ, blueberries, dried currants and coconut but the possibilities are endless as long as you remember to balance out flavors. Another good combination would be carrot, orange and ginger.
image

So here goes, the recipe is super easy:
– 1 cup of sugar (I used brown. If you do the same, expect denser muffins)
– 1 1/3 cups of mushy bananas, mashed together
– 1/2 cup butter (I used a combination of half oil and half non fat yoghurt to keep it as low in fat as possible)
– 1 1/2 cups of flour (if using all whole wheat add a 1/4 cup less than AP)
– 1 tsp baking soda
– 1 tsp salt (optional)
– 1 or 2 tsp vanilla extract

The method to this madness:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In your mixing bowl add: bananas, sugar, fat and vanilla. Mix until it becomes a relatively homogeneous mixture.
3. Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) and any flavourings you’d like. I added presoaked and drained wheat germ (1 cup), dried currants and blueberries.
4. Spoon into muffin papers and bake for 25 to 30 min (all depending on the ingredients added) until a toothpick that is inserted in the center comes out dry.
5. Enjoy!

Science, making booze boozier.

The good people at Terressentia have come up with a way of using science to make booze taste better by removing impurities left over from the distillation process.  In short, with typical distillation, there are lesser alcohols that are formed that leave a harsh taste in the mouth and contribute to hangovers.  By using their patentend  process, Terressentia can remove these unwanted elements making the refined product taste cleaner and smoother.  The  distillation process has pretty much been the same for the last hundred years or so and after watching the video, I am surprised that no one has thought of this before.  I suppose purists may argue that the real craft of making superb liquors is in the skill of the brewmaster.  That being said, the idea of demystifying the process through science is very appealing to geek in me.

The way distilled spirits were treated was so inefficient, we just said ‘let see if we can come up with some better ideas’

A Brief Overview of the TerrePURE® Process from Daniel Hewlette on Vimeo.

 

The Gutmaster 8000

Behold The Gutmaster 8000! This a machine designed to eviscerate, decapitate and clean salmon. So, just how effective is this slice and dice contraption? It can fully process a salmon in less then two seconds, averaging out at about 30 salmon a min.

The salmon get fed into a conveyor system where various blades make the necessary incisions. From there, suction is applied and the guts are removed. A series of brushes then clean the interior cavity and remove any left over bits. Finally, the fish is decapitated and exits the machine ready for packaging or further processing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On top of the obvious time and labour saving advantages of the Gutmaster 8000, Kroma, the Danish manufacturer, claims that the process protects workers from potentially harmful fish aerosals released during the cleaning process.

The video of the Gutmaster 8000 in action can be seen here complete with soothing flute soundtrack.

I am assuming that the machine can be washed and sanitized because in the video, from begining to end, there are flecks of flesh and fishy shrapnel all over the machine.  One can only assume that at the end of a predetermined safe period of usage the whole machine can be cleaned down.

 

ps.  Theres a reason why it looks familiar.    Thanks to Gizmodo for this one.

 

Yours Truly, Ossington & Dundas, Toronto

Having just opened its doors late last year, Yours Truly Restaurant at Dundas and Ossington has caused quite the stir in the foodie world. The chef, Jeff Claudio is a veteran of fine dining cuisine with an impressive resume that includes Noma in Coppenhagen, Alinea in Chicago and Per Se in New York. Needless to say, this experience really sets the bar high for the dining experience. It’s really too bad that the reality of it all was very far from that.

Let’s start at the beginning… The decor of the place was very sparse, typical of all the Ossington strip, hipster friendly joints that surround it. White walls, vintage bar and tables, assorted and generally very random tableware and my absolute favourite: the overuse of mason jars. The lights are dimmed, the atmosphere in the dining room is cozy and warm, despite the ecclectic music that they have blaring through the speakers. Staff moves with a general ineffiency but seem very eager to talk and entertain. It was really too bad that our particular waiter had no idea what he was trying to sell or any intention in being apologetic for it. It really sets the mood for the evening when your liaison to the kitchen cannot explain what goes into the dishes he will serve.

The menu for the evening consisted of two options: sharing plates for the table (“snacks”) or a set four course menu (meat/veggie options). Being a table of four foodies, we decided it was safe to dip into both pots and got a few appetizers before our four courses. We had: Thuet bread with whipped duck fat, a Trinidadian double, Xi’an lamb curry sandwich and a salt cod nori wrap. All were around the 5$ to 7$ mark and served as great nibbles before the meal. The kitchen moved with an amazing speed during this portion of our meal and our table was never left without food. We began to see the chef’s extensive travels through his very diverse and international snack menu and we were very intrigued. What followed brought everything down… The first course of the tasting menu was a poached carrot. Presented impressively on a plate and surrounded by various delicious and intricate garnishes, one would almost, almost forget that they were eating one single carrot. Course nunber two made my evening a whole lot better, with a perfectly cooked piece of local trout served on beautiful mashed potatoes. To be honest, I still dream about this dish and one day wish to be able to cook fish so well. In third place we had what would be considered the main dish for the night. A 3 inch ballotine of chicken thighs served with way too many garnishes that made the plate appear to be close to half full. It was a complete insult to think that the kitchen expected the diners to be happy with the portion sizes of this particular menu. I really don’t expect to eat until I explode at a rstaurant, but leaving hungry is always a bad sign.

Finally, and this definitely needed its own paragraph, the dessert. Calling this course an epic disappointment would be a compliment! The dish was entitled “winter” and it consisted of a smoked pana cotta served with poached (or roasted) pears, lemon balm leaves and meringue. The pana cotta in particular was the most disgusting (this coming from an avid dessert fan) of the lot, snotty in texture it tasted like licking the inside of a fire place (not that I’ve ever tried that). The meringue was undercooked and tasted like egg whites and the rest of the dish was insignificant. I really think that chef should have stuck to the typical restaurant desserts (creme brulees, chocolate mousse, etc) rather tham venture off into a land he clearly had no clue about. To make matters worse, the service slowed down significantly by this point and we sat around waiting for 30 minutes for this masterpiece. What a bummer!

Overall, in my very lengthy but honest opinion, I think Yours Truly needs to take a little time out and evaluate its shortcomings if it wants to make it to its one year birthday. The Ossignton strip is full of fierce competition especially since this venue is located two doors north from the ever busy Pizza Libretto (had it not been too late, our table of four hungry people would have had an after dinner pizza that very night).

Tuna Sales Record: $736 000 or $2800/kg

At the first auction of the new year at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market, a world record for tuna was set when a Sushi mogul purchased a 269kg blue fin tuna for just shy of $2800 a kilo. For those doing the math that works out to about $736 000.00 US.

The astounding price was up $300 000 from last years record of $412 000.

“Japan has been through a lot the last year due to the disaster,” he told AP Television News. “Japan needs to hang in there. So I tried hard myself and ended up buying the most expensive one.”

He said he wanted to keep the fish in Japan, rather than let it get taken overseas. Further, despite the high costs, the chain will sell the tuna at its regular prices as a show of good will. If sold at market value, each piece of tuna could fetch upwards of $96 apiece. Instead, the chain will sell each piece for $5.45 – a scant $90 off, while supplies last.

“It is an auspicious occasion, so we bought the tuna without any thought of making a profit,” said Hiroshi Umehara, spokesman for privately-held Kiyomura.

Thanks to The Financial Times and World Fishing and Aquaculture for this one.

Food Pairing Site

Food Pairing

This is a site for pairing foods and drinks – great for chefs and bartenders. Foodpairing shows tasty food pairings based on scientific data – it’s amazing because it takes the worry if “this tastes good with that”. They hold food pairing workshops and also match ingredients to brands.

Check it out!

Jill

New Loblaws – Queen and Portland, Toronto

I must say that, in my opinion, Loblaws really tops all the other grocery stores in Toronto for the quality of products offered and their variety. Although it may be pricier than others, freshness is always guatanteed and the customer service is definitely admirable.

I had the pleasure to inaugurate their new location in the heart of Toronto just east of Queen St west and Portland and was more than impressed. It has the feel and attention to detail of competing high end grocery stores with the reliability I count on. The decor is modern, the selection of produce and baked goods is incredible for the amount of space and to top it all off the prices are comparable to less central stores.
The space is relatively large for a downtiwn location and they definitely took advantage of that with the layout of the store. More than half of the surface area is taken up by their fresh products (mostly thr bakery/pastry shop) and their produce. Around the perimeter one can find their staple stations such as a fish monger, the deli, the butcher, dairy section, hot prepared foods and my favourite a floor to ceiling cheese fridge. A small pharmacy and drug store is located in the far end of the store so it was proven that they did really think of everything.
The non perishable food aisles are littered with organic products and their glutten free section is one of the biggest I’ve seen in a grocery store.
For a foodie like me, this store is a blessing and I will surely begin scheduling all my social gatherings there.

PS: Sorry the pics are a little strange…. I was trying to be sneaky

The Norwegian Butter Crisis

Thanks to a new diet fad, butter has been flying off the shelves in Norway. According to Reuters, butter sales jumped 20% in October and 30% in November. Further, butter production has been slashed dramatically due to a wet summer which saw a decline in animal feed quality and thus a shot fall off 25 million liters of milk.

…limited supplies and the shortage has led some pundits to suggest the world’s eighth-largest oil exporter offer some of its plentiful fuel supply in exchange for butter.

Butter is currently trading at 4 to 5 times its normal price going into the christmas season. While Norway is surrounded by many top dairy producing countries such as Denmark, the fact that its the only Nordic nation not to join the EU means that importing butter is even more expensive.

Norwegians are not afraid of natural fats, they love their butter and cream…

Our hearts and bellies go out to you, Norway. Stay tuned for more updates on the Norwegian butter crisis.
Thanks to Reuters for this one.

Lucky Charms Sifter.

Tired of eating the garbage cereal shapes in a box of Lucky Charms? Tired of picking out the little bits of marshmallow goodness from each bowl by hand? Are you ready to change your life?

Enter the Lucky Charms sifter.

This handy device was invented by genius Thomas Lombardi and it does one thing really, really well. Hats off to food real food inevator and all round smarty pants.

For more information including how to construct your own sifter, check out this page at Thingiverse.

Thank you Thomas.