Drops of God

What, I ask you, what combines the two best-est things in the entire world?  If you said comic books and wine tasting, you'd be right. Right? Because nothing could be better than comic book about wine tasting.

Nothing.

Shin and Yuko Kibayashi's manga, Drops of God, follows the education of hero Shizuku, who after snubbing his family by working in the beer industry, stands to lose the hefty wine horde inheritance from his recently deceased father, a world-renowned wine critic.

Wines mentioned in the manga have had sales shoot through the roof and the July 2009 issue of Decanter called it "arguably the most influential wine publication for the past 20 years". GiltTaste has a great review.

However, what is telling and interesting is that in Japan, the comic reached popularity because it was an easy and entertaining way to learn about tasting and enjoying wine.

The US translation is published by Vertical. Remember to read the panels right to left, people.

An insouciant little minx

This is just brilliant, combining as it does a Betty Page-esque pin-up, colorforms, and booze. The 2007 Drink'n'Stick by Australian winery Some Young Punks features a plastic sheet of peel off clothes that can be used to customize the bottle.

Outside of Australia, SYP wines are distributed in Austria, Denmark, and Canada. In the US, you can find them at Vine St. Imports in Philadelphia. Otherwise, you may have to do some online sleuthing, or sweet talk your local wine shop into special ordering a case or two for you.

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The Electric Birthday Cake

On Sunday, the 10th of October, the Splendid Table carried a very splendid segment about the loose collection of engineers and creative minds that form the Hungry Scientist Society. Never heard of them? Well, in Lynne Rossetto Kasper's words, they are "techie science types that take on cooking". Examples of the activities they've engaged in range from single variable variation in recipe creation, testing the volume limits of a gravy fountain and yes, building an incredible, edible electric cake. A preview of the recipe of said electric cake, involves wrapping licorice sticks in super thin, candy foil called Varakh (available in Indian and Pakistani markets, it's the same stuff that's on silver almonds).

This means you can eat the wiring.

Listen to the entire segment at the Splendid Table's American Public Media page. Or buy their most excellent cook book, "The Hungry Scientist Handbook: Electric Birthday Cakes, Edible Origami, and Other DIY Projects for Techies, Tinkerers, and Foodies." And remember, the super-chilled martinis are not for children.

The Cocktail

I've discussed manly drinks and their undeniable contribution to drinking culture. (Hey, a cabinet stocked with fine whiskey does much to elevate ones social lubrication IQ). But "The Cocktail," written by Jane Rocca, celebrates what is romantic and undeniably feminine about cocktails without the usual syrupy fruitiness and with all the glamour (and gorgeous evening gowns) of old world seduction. Think dark strangers and romantic glimpses. Think glittering champagne in vintage glasses. Think real babe bravado and risky infusions. And when you see the moody, mixed media illustrations by Australian Kat McLeod, you'll think of teasing and conquering and commanding attention as well.

Now you can keep Moet et Chandon in that pretty cabinet as well.

The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan

I've often headed down to Wendy McClure's blog, the excellently named, Candyboots, when in need of a good laughed based on the hopelessly ridiculous struggle of restricting one's caloric diet (I'm looking at you Weight Watchers!). Not that restricting your diet is ridiculous (after all, Double Dubya was the first institution to teach me that portion control existed) but you can't help but lean back and laugh when you realize you plan to eat one-fourth of your cheeseburger in front of you friends in order to save up enough calories for another cocktail.

Anyhoots, after puttering around in her mother's basement, McClure stumbled upon some utterly fantastic and equally horrifying Weight Watcher's cards from the 70's. "Slender Quenchers" and "Cabbage Casserole Czarina" are some of the recipes that will help you eat (and look) like Weight Watcher's royalty. As long as you can ignore the wayward weenie sculpture and zany photo props (sadly, somewhere all those ceramic animals would have been put out to pasture).

Enjoy watching attempts at making some of the recipes (and some shocking finished products) on Flickr Group, "Make the Mackerel!" Internet down? Saving electricity so you can attend more WW meetings? Don't despair, these hysterical cards are also published in McClure's table book, "The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan". Which after purchasing, you can visit whenever you like, in the privacy of your own home.

I'm ashamed to file these under edible. But I guess, with a great deal of focus, they can be eaten.

Make Butter in Under Five Minutes

Lifehacker featured this post, "How to Make Butter in Under 5 Minutes," from the blog, Over the Hill and On a Roll about how to make fresh Homemade butter with nothing but Cream, salt and a stand mixer. The apocalyptic fanatic in me believes such a skill is fundamental, while the alchemist wannabe thinks it would be fun. Let me know of your own results in comments!

You lookin' at me? Taxi Gourmet

It's such a simple idea, and I'm bittertoast with sad jam that I didn't think of it first.  Each week writer Layne Mosler hops in a cab and asks the driver to take her to their favorite restaurant.  She shares her experiences on her blog, Taxi Gourmet.  It's a true insiders take on the best eats in NYC.  

Lollyphile

There's a good reason why lollipops permeate our society on all levels from wall-leaning cool kids to tootsie center chomping lawyers and even (or especially) sexual inuendo. Also, lollies taste good. Enter the queen of internet lolly fantasies, Lollyphile, a San Fransisco company with a huge sweet tooth who professes their hand-made lollipops are bigger, better, ship faster and have a longer shelf life then other candy competitors. It's hard to argue with them when you can buy flavors like absinthe, wasabi-giner, or maple and bacon from their website. And even though Lollyphile only offers five flavors (get excited, because they're working on a queue of other cool flavors!), they offer a service called Candyphile, a monthly club which sends delicious underground candies from miracle making confectioners all over the world, straight to your door and ready for you own gastronomical adventure.

So come on, admit it, candy IS all you think about.

10 of London's best secret supper clubs

The Times of London is bringing underground supper clubs out into the light.  Think of them as speakeasies that serve gourmet food instead of bathtub gin.  Often hosted in private homes by talented amateur chefs, it's a dinner party full of friends you've never met.

The direct link to the Times Online article is mysteriously no longer working.  Clearly someone realized that a place isn't secret if everyone on the interwebs can find it.  But we know you need to eat.  Check out these links and start working on your secret handshake.

Green Onions

Salad Club

The Secret Ingredient

Savoy Truffle Supper Club

Ms Marmitelover's Underground Restaurant

Saltoun Supper Club

The Pale Blue Door

The Rambling Restaurant

The Bruncheon Club

The Loft

Sweet showers of deliciousness

Please ignore the logo, and just enjoy the beautiful cascades of candy.



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Arcobelleno Farfalle

My nature is prone to obsession, and rarely has that been so true or so quickly accomplished as when I caught sight of this picture of arcobelleno farfalle (rainbow, bowtie pasta) on FoodStories last Friday.

Hard to find, expensive, (around 19 American dollars a pound), I feel like I've been given a quest, not lightly undertaken and never forsaken.

Now, I just need to choose a magic user and a thief...

Depression Cooking with Clara

All right, I have to admit that recession woes have kept me up at night. But you can have a night light by watching this little grandma's YouTube cooking show, "Depression Cooking with Clara" and learn how to stretch your potatoes at the same time.

Learn more about 91-year-old Clara and her cooking tips at the Washington Express's article, "Potatoes & Po-Ta-Toes: 'Great Depression Cooking With Clara'". But the real gems are her videos, where she teaches you how to prepare simple, filling nutritious food, short on budget but long on humor. In each segment, she interweaves stories from her Depression Era childhood. Just like you wish your Grandma did.

Spoon

You don't have to live in New York City (or be a serial tourist) to take home some of the most excellent jams and pancake mixes ever known to man, made by Flatiron/Chelsea sweet spot, Spoon. Now you can snap up lemon curd, peach jam, and Vermont blueberry maple syrup without ever fighting the breakfast rush. Spoon is offering their jams, breakfast and baking mixes in their new shop area online. Spooning was never this easy.

Christmas Beer Yields Christmas Cheer

Now as the 12 days of Christmas are drawing to a close, there is still away you can feel the Christmas spirit. The NPR Morning Edition segment "Christmas Beer Yields Christmas Cheer," highlights the favorite Christmas ales of beer connoisseur Don Russell (better known as "Joe Sixpack" of Philadelphia's Daily News.

Christmas beers have been common among small European brewers ever since the Middle Ages and so institutionalized that by 800 A.D., Norwegian farmers were required by law to brew a Winter beer with as much grain as the combined weight of the farm's husband and wife. Due to the explosion of fine craft beers in the past decade Christmas beers and Winter Ales are now again plentiful, so raise your glass and remember to thanks the ancients for this venerable and tasty custom.

Speed Eating Key to Obesity

Osaka University scientists looked at the relationship between eating speed, feelings of "fullness" and being overweight by scrutinizing the eating habits of 3,000 people. Check out their findings (reported in the British Medical Journal) at the BBC News article "Speed Eating Key to Obesity".

What the Japanese research shows is that individual differences in eating behavior, such as eating too quickly too allow your gastric feedback signals have a chance to start developing underlies the over-consumption of food and is linked to obesity.

Also, see why Japanese scientists probably give a damn in the Softpedia article "Why Are People of Okinawa the Most Long-Lived on Earth?".

Cooking for Engineers

At a young age, I read the Joy of Cooking. Back to Front. I've always had a love-love relationship with food and when I was of an age to be entranced by Mr. Rogers, it was mostly because he came on before Yan Can Cook, the Frugal Gourmet (I don't care, his recipes are awesome) and Julia Child. I read cookbook after cookbook, comparing recipes, writing my own notes and then writing my own recipes, trying to understand the science of it all. Why were my fried eggs soggy? Why didn't my pop-overs pop? I was good at math and science and cooking was like chemistry, there were things going on, food things, amalgams to compound, liquids to emulsify, energy to be released. I bought as many of the Time-Life "The Good Cook" series as I could, because they taught the basics: marinades needed an acid, an immersive, and a flavoring agent; chicken sautés must be seared then tempered with vegetables then finished in a simmer.

Modern cooking shows like Alton Brown's "Good Eats" were such a godsend, because he put the math and science right next to the cooking. Finally, someone else got that teaching one to prepare food should not be about teaching how to follow a recipe, but how to understand food and how to experiment with it.

You don't have to have cable (or a TV for that matter) to learn the same thing. Enter, "Cooking for Engineers", a site built for analytical minds that like to cook aimed at demystifying the science of food preparation. In addition to their ingredients dictionary, catalogue of cooking tests, and notes on equipment and gear, at the end of each recipe is a Nassi-Shneiderman diagram (shown above for New England Style Chowder) which is simply the recipe at one glance. Now why hasn't Alton Brown thought of that?

Hot Dog, Haute Dog

When summer approaches, hot dog consumption goes up exponentially as the temperature increases. (Not to mention, I'm heading off for my sister's wedding this weekend in Chicago). In honor of such simple pleasures, I would like to bring attention to the Chicago Tribune's article, "Hot dog, haute dog!". You don't have to go to Chicago to experience these creative twists on the old-fashioned dog. Included in the article are fabulous recipes from the Chicago Chefs for making such delicious innovations like the Asian Tuna Dog, or the Hoisin-and-Hot-Mustard-Glazed Tofu Dog in your own kitchen. And don't worry, when asking the five interviewed chefs to put their own spin on the wondrous wienie, they made sure to stipulate it had to be something the home cook could feasibly replicate.

Bread Blues

A couple of Christmases ago, I thought my sister had gone off the deep end. You see, when her family started to get low on bread, she told her lovely son that she would make more that day. No problem. Been there, done that. But then she sweetly pulled out a ginormous grinder from her cupboard in order to GRIND HER OWN GRAIN. Well, I thought, she'd be amply prepared in case Utah ever turned into a scenario from "Red Dawn". Then I read Boston.com's article about "High Wheat Prices". The price of wheat has more than tripled during the last three months and experts expect that 80 percent of groceries will follow with their own spike. Apparently, Wheat, is the plankton of our little land mammal food chain, and it used to feed cattle, poultry and dairy cows and therefore is associated with everything those guys produce from eggs to milk. Not to mention that skyrocketing gas prices is making wheat even costlier to get to market.

You may think the only option is to buy less. But you might want to turn the other cheek and bake more. Store bought white bread cost an average of $0.85 per pound in 1998 and $1.03 in February 2006. The price last month? $1.32 per pound. While that makes store-bought bread run between $3 and $5, a home-baked loaf will cost about 60 cents (less, I supposed if you are grinding your own wheat to boot). As for me, I'll be looking to take some wheat grinding lessons from my sister.

5 Horrifying Food Additives You've Probably Eaten Today

You didn't think I'd bring my own funny did you? Cracked.com's article "5 Horrifying Food Additives You've Probably Eaten Today" makes you look at shiny new apples in a new way.

Vegetarian with Benefits

Plenty magazine has a wonderful article, "Vegetarian with Benefits" about one of the "Most Useful Words of 2003" as voted by the American Dialect Society. The word is "Flexitarian" and the meaning is a person who eats a mostly vegetarian diet, but who is also willing to eat meat or fish occasionally (Sound like anyone we know?). The word has been slow to catch on and not only because it is more than a mouthful, but because it resists easy classification.

Vegetarianism has come a long way since the 50's and 60's, when it was viewed as an odd, overzealous, unhealthy fad, to enter into American vernacular. Our culture now recognizes a vegetarian as someone who has restricted their diet based on moral and ethical objections (described by most vegetarian societies as motivated by either Health, Compassion, or the Environment or some combination thereof) and not because of a food preference.


But what if you are not a strict vegetarian, but you still have moral objections against eating certain foods? Words like "Flexitarian", "Pescetarian", and "Pollotarian" tend to confuse hosts and food servers even more than the eventual dissertation that must follow their use. Because of its familiarity and its strong connotation of moral obligation, the word "Vegetarian" has also become unduly associated with other forms of moral and ethical dietary needs giving birth to the use of "Vegetarian" as a metonym. In other words, the word "vegetarian" is used to describe other diets that are ethically motivated since vegetarianism is ethically motivated, even though those diets are not vegetarian.

This modified use is either your bane as a strict vegetarian or vegan (because the food industry is constantly believing that you will eat fish or chicken stock if prodded) or your blessing (as a "semi-vegetarian you do not need to include a three hour dissertation to your food server using flow-chart). Either way, read the plenty magazine article and discuss the ways the American vocabulary for ethical eating can be expanded.