Stores & Shopping

Target $3 Appliance Deals Include Toasters, Coffeemakers

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Nov 13th 2009 @ 11:15AM

Target plans to slash prices on toasters and coffeemakers, selling the appliances for $3 on Black Friday, the huge day of sales the Friday after Thanksgiving, according to one of the chain's advertisements.

Gotadeal.com obtained a leaked circular for the Target Black Friday appliance sale, which revealed $3 Chefmate appliances -- from toaster ovens to coffeemakers and sandwich makers, CNN reports.

A Target official did not confirm the prices to CNN. The flyer will officially be released the week of Nov. 22.

[Via CNN]

Filed under: Business, Stores & Shopping

7-Eleven Pizza, Wings Added to Hot Food Menu

COMMENTS 20

by Sarah LeTrent, Posted Oct 16th 2009 @ 2:30PM

Hot Food Display, Photo provided by 7-Eleven.

7-Eleven is taking a "big gulp" out of the fast food industry. The convenience store will sell pizza and chicken tenders in 1,400 stores nationwide to offset lagging tobacco sales.

The new hot food program offers items such as whole or by-the-slice four-cheese and pepperoni pizza; chicken tenders; sausage, egg and cheese breakfast quesadillas; hash brown potatoes and three flavors of chicken wings.

The chain will be able to serve the pizzas using high-speed TurboChef ovens, which combine radiant heat, microwave and convection cooking methods to cook foods 12 times faster than the standard oven, the company says.

Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for 7-Eleven, told Slashfood Friday that each oven is equipped with a credit-card sized card that automatically programs the method and the cooking time for the various menu items. The ovens cook a 7-Eleven pizza in 90 seconds and the wings in 3 minutes.

Filed under: Stores & Shopping, Fast Food

Drink for the Cure

COMMENTS 0

by Gretchen Roberts, Posted Sep 29th 2009 @ 2:00PM

Photo: Riedel.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and now you can support the cause in style with Riedel's limited-edition pink glasses.

Crescendo ($70, pictured) is a set of four glasses, each in a different delicate shade of pink. Since they're stemless, the glasses are great for non-alcoholic drinks as well as white wines, and they're dishwasher-safe.

Pink Vinum Rosé ($59) is a set of two pink-stemmed glasses specifically designed for rosé wine. They're also dishwasher-safe, and the color of the wine isn't distorted, since the pink tint is limited to the stem.

Riedel is donating 15 percent of their pink sales to Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering all women affected by breast cancer to live as long as possible with the best quality of life -- now that's something we can all raise our glasses to. Order online or find them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

For Slashfood readers who don't want to drink pink, the Pink Ribbon Shop is offering "Around My Mother's Table: Stories and Recipes Celebrating Lives Lost to Breast Cancer" ($16.95), the Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon Cookie Cutter, and more.

Filed under: Stores & Shopping, Health & Medical, Drink Recipes

Does Your Digital Camera Have a 'Food' Setting?

COMMENTS 8

by Emily Farris, Posted Jul 22nd 2009 @ 1:00PM

Tomato and Olympus camera. Photo: Emily Farris.

These days, food porn seems almost to be giving the old-fashioned kind a run for its money. Everyone with a digital camera and an appetite fancies him or herself an amateur food pornographer, which is to say there's a lot of bad food photography out there alongside the good stuff.

Camera companies are catching on to the trend and trying to make a buck, with digital point and shoot models that are manufactured with food photography settings, like this Olympus which has a "cuisine" option, and this Sony, with its "gourmet food" mode. Chances are good that if you purchased a camera recently, it has some kind of food photography option and you don't even know it. If your food photographs are less than porntastic (like the tomato shot here), it might be worth your while to consult your camera's manual or look online to find out.

If you don't have a food setting, don't rush right out to buy a new camera that does.

One pro shutterbug's opinion, after the jump.

Filed under: Stores & Shopping, Food News, New Products

Fontainebleau - Le Cheese Course

COMMENTS 0

by Max Shrem, Posted Jul 21st 2009 @ 5:30PM

Fontainebleau. Photo: Marie-Anne Cantin

This summer Slashfood blogger Max Shrem is apprenticing at renowned Paris cheese shop Fromagerie Trotté. For the next two months, in 'Le Cheese Course,' Max will share his impressions and opinions of French cheese à la francaise!

This odd-looking fromage is oh-so-French (and, in fact, available solely in that country). Those planning a trip there would be wise to look up the delicious Fontainebleau, which is here pictured with the net that covers it when it is sold.

France has many varieties of creamy cheese, from crème fraîche and fromage blanc to petit-suisse and Chantilly. Combining characteristics of all four mentioned above, Fontainebleau, which must be eaten the day it's put out for sale, is especially worth trying for a rich, sweet taste and fluffy, light texture that's similar to whipped cream.

It's so light, in fact, it requires strange packaging. "The reason for the cloth is to protect the very light structure and to maintain the freshness," says Thomas Le Goff, cheesemonger at fromagerie Marie-Anne Cantin.

Filed under: Stores & Shopping, Cheese Course, Food Politics, Ingredients

First Peeps Store Will Open in Maryland

COMMENTS 15

by Alex Van Buren, Posted Jul 9th 2009 @ 4:00PM

Peep. Photo: Seaships, Flickr

The nation's first Peeps store, Peeps & Co, is coming to Maryland this fall.

These pudgy marshmallow chicks and bunnies have certainly racked up quite a following over the 50 years of their existence, so we can't say we're terribly surprised to hear they're getting their own shop in National Harbor in Prince George's County.

According to the Washington Post, the store -- owned by the preciously named company Just Born -- will be packed with Peeperphernalia including Peeps dressed as Village People, Peep pens, key chains and even fancy china.

And what of the "& Co" in the shop's name? Ah, yes. For those who are not happily drowning in a sea of Peeps, available wares will also include Hot Tamales and Mike and Ike's, two other brands owned by Just Born. Of course the puffy critters will be the star of this show.

Peruse our homemade faux-Peep recipe.

Will you plan a Peeps & Co pilgrimage?
Yes.	1409 (53.5%)
Nope.	1223 (46.5%)

[Via Washington Post]

Filed under: Stores & Shopping, Food News

Fromage Blanc - Le Cheese Course

COMMENTS 0

by Max Shrem, Posted Jul 7th 2009 @ 3:00PM

Fromage Blanc with pears and honey.
Photo: Marylise Doctrinal, Flickr

This summer, Slashfood blogger Max Shrem is apprenticing at renowned Paris cheese shop Fromagerie Trotté. For the next two months, in 'Le Cheese Course,' Max will share his impressions and opinions of French cheese à la francaise!

If you like eating thick, creamy French cheese such as Chaource, you're likely to enjoy fromage blanc. At Fromagerie Trotté, customers come in weekly for what at first blush resembles chunks of cream, large pieces of mascarpone or crème fraîche. They are not ordering cream, of course, but are lining up for fromage blanc -- also called fromage frais, which literally translates to "fresh cheese."

Fromage blanc is a young cheese that is made from cow's milk. It's essentially an un-aged fresh cow's milk cheese – that is, it represents the beginning stages of cheesemaking before the addition of rennet and salt. Therefore, its texture is soft and milky, similar to that of cottage cheese and yogurt. Like yogurt, it has a relatively low fat content (assuming that there is no added cream.)

Filed under: Stores & Shopping, Cheese Course, Food Politics, Ingredients

The Traveling Foodie - Guatemala's Chichicastenango Market

COMMENTS 0

by Rachel Been, Posted Jun 24th 2009 @ 5:00PM

AOL Food's photo editor Rachel Been travels the world in search of deliciousness. Her most recent journey brought her to Guatemala's Chichicastenango Market.

Chichicastenango

Chichicastenango Market in Guatemala is one of the most vibrant markets in the country. Every Thursday and Sunday, vendors from around the region travel to Chici to set up varietal stands surrounding the Church of Santo Tomás. The assortment of food ranges from fresh produce to deep-fried chicken, and is available for only a few quetzales. ...

Rachel Been

A family of women make tortillas from blue- and white-corn masa, a dough paste composed of pestled corn. The women diligently pat out the thin, small dough discs throughout the day. Ten tortillas will cost you 2 Quetzales (50 cents).

Rachel Been

Fresh carrots and vegetables line the walls of the indoor produce market.

Rachel Been

At the end of one of the main roads, a group of women sell clucking hens and other animals such as dogs and turkeys out of woven sacks.

Rachel Been

And eventually those clucking chickens end up deep-fried in the market's dining area, served with fresh beans and tortillas.

Rachel Been

Fresh watermelons are covered with a plastic tarp that attracts swarming flies, apparently attempting to camouflage themselves as vagrant seeds.

Rachel Been

Women sell freshly cut onions in the indoor produce market.

Rachel Been

The market is so vast that for every item of produce, there are dozens of vendors offering the same food. Onions, avocados, carrots and tomatoes are some of the most popular items sold throughout Chichi.

Rachel Been

Outside of the produce market, vendors sell nuts and seeds out of buckets used for seasonings and snacks.

Rachel Been

Filed under: Food Porn, Stores & Shopping, Feast Your Eyes, Food Politics

Bklyn Larder - Specialty Shop Showcase

COMMENTS 0

by Max Shrem, Posted Jun 16th 2009 @ 4:00PM

There's no doubt about it: The cheese boom is in full swing.

Over the past several years, specialty shops have blossomed across the country, from southern California to Maine (including Blue Fog Market, Fromagination and The Cave), all with super-dedicated cheese selections. This month renowned Brooklyn, N.Y., restaurant Franny's became the latest eatery to open its very own specialty food shop, Bklyn Larder, just down the street.

Aside from an array of prepared foods cooked by chef Travis Post, Bklyn Larder has its own cheese room, with an appropriate humidity and temperature for aging and storing cheese. "This will enable us to carry larger amounts of cheese," says Francine Stephens, who, along with co-owner and husband Andrew Feinberg, co-founded the restaurant back in 2004.

In September of 2007, Feinberg attended the Slow Flood cheese festival in Bra, Italy to seek out unique and tasty cheeses to eventually carry at the still-in-the-planning-stages Larder. They can all be spied through the glass window of the shop's aging room. (Food voyeurs -- you know who you are -- beware!)

Filed under: Trends, On the Blogs, Stores & Shopping, Food News, Food Politics, Ingredients

Culver City Cool - Surfas

COMMENTS 2

by Rebecca Flint Marx, Posted May 7th 2009 @ 2:00PM

Los Angeles has many things to recommend it to the enterprising eater, and Surfas is unequivocally one of them. Why? Well, for one, take a look at this photo. Mycryo Gelatine Substitute. Lots of it. While the vast majority of the population would have absolutely no idea of what to do with it -- sprinkle it? snort it? use it instead of NutraSweet? -- the fact that Surfas carries it in such large quantities is just very cool. So is the shop's eye-popping variety of spices, flours, sugars, extracts, chocolates, nuts, dried beans, butters and -- well, you get the picture.

Geared towards pro chefs who presumably have a need for things like mycryo gelatine substitute (used mainly by pastry toques, as discussed here), Surfas is also a paradise for the less ambitious homecook.

Find out why after the jump.

Filed under: Raves & Reviews, Stores & Shopping