France's Environment Minister and Resident Party-Pooper Jean-Louis Borloo is pushing a proposal that will force bars open later than 2 a.m. to administer breathalyzer tests to patrons before they leave the establishment.

The move is in response to a spate of fatal car accidents involving drugs or alcohol.

Some immediate obvious questions: Who will be in charge of administering the tests to everyone who leaves? What happens if a patron argues, or refuses to take the test? Will he or she be chased down and fined?

What do you think? Are mandatory breathalyzer tests a good idea, or an invasion of privacy and a waste of time? Would you agree to take one, even if you'd had one beer, or weren't driving home?

If you're a bargoer, you know the feeling. At 1:30 every morning, the bartender bellows, "LAST CALL!" and a collective groan erupts from the hangers-on, as they order their last round. The lights go up, and everyone stumbles out.

In New York, it's different. Most bars don't close until 4 a.m., dragging the ruckus and partying late into the night. Turns out, not everyone is a fan of the late-night revelry.

Brad Linder, journalist and writer for sister site Green Daily, recently reported on this issue for NPR. He spoke to one woman who lives in the NOHO district and is a member of a community board that's trying to get liquor-licensed establishments to close at 2 instead of 4.

Community boards like hers now have so much pull that many bars and restaurants must ask permission before staying open 'til 4, like teenagers asking to extend their curfew.

I'm sure we'd all rather not experience loud arguments and car alarms at 4 a.m. But at some point, isn't the noise and general hubbub part and parcel of living in a trendy NYC neighborhood? If you don't like the scene, shouldn't you just...move somewhere else?

You know when you are eating your fourth tofu salad of the day for the eighteenth day in a row of this hell we call "diet before bikini season?" And on the salad there is a slab of stupidly healthy tofu that when you bite into it, you close your eyes and tell yourself it's actually a piece of chocolate cake?

Wait, am I the only one who does that?

SoyJoy Bars are something like that.

I'm a big fan of recipes that combine at least four or more ingredients that they are decadent enough to begin with, but combined, create this magical, sugar coma-inducing masterpiece, much like the one you see above. They're the kind of treats that are so sugary, so powerful, that you widen your eyes and suck in your cheeks in shock at the first bite. That shocks soon wears off into utter delight, and you're lost in a sugary heaven.

Whew. And then I wake up.

Seriously, though these Carmelita bars from Eddybles look amazing. The pretty toasty white parts atop the treat are the streusel topping. And the only slightly daunting part looks to be unwrapping 48 of those little caramel cubes (and making sure you don't burn them on top of the stove). If you really wanted to be bad, you could substitute the suggested bittersweet or semisweet chips for milk chocolate, to achieve that cheek-sucking reaction I described above.

Kashi, a company once known for its hippy-dippy, fiber-rich cereals with cheesy names (Heart-to-Heart and Good Friends immediately come to mind), has ditched its nerdy image and now boasts everything from cookies to crackers to frozen pizza.

The company's website even highlights a few recipes that (obviously) prominently feature its products. And like the store bought stuff, the recipes are deceptively healthy. (They even offer full nutrition info, if you're into that sort of thing).

The recipes range from stuffing to smoothies, but one that caught my eye was the Blueberry Almond bars, the stars of the recipe being the Heart-to-Heart Wild Blueberry and Oat Flakes and the GOLEAN Crunch! Honey Almond Flax cereals. Simple recipe tweaks, like adding tofu and soy milk and replacing white flour with wheat, make it the perfect guilt-free breakfast, snack or dessert.

Between Marisa and I, we pretty much have the Philly phood food scene covered. Especially when it comes to Beer Week.

But there's one not-so-subtle difference: Marisa reviews the classy beer critic's news. And me? Well...I stick to what I know. Dive bars and cheap local beer, baby (I'm not sure if I'm proud or ashamed of this fact. Maybe a little of both).

And there's more dive bars and cheap local beer in this week's alt-weekly than one could ever ask for. Now, the alt-weekly staff certainly aren't the most highly regarded reviewers of food and drink, but they do know their fine hole-in-the-wall pubs and classic dingy taverns when they seem 'em. Ask them for the best spot to get a PBR and a shot of Jack, and they'd never steer you wrong. (For the record, it's Bob & Barbara's).

There's a grainy little video of the #1 choice, Grace Tavern. But even if you don't live in Philly, you'll appreciate it for its old-timey tavern feel and the little quirks that make it unique.

Hey Philly readers: which ones from the list do you frequent? And which bars did the paper mistakenly leave off the list?

Oh, and for the record? I've been to exactly half of them. Bring it on, Marisa!

My new favorite cereal is puffed millet. I know that sounds sort of boring, but it is really quite delicious. And apparently, it's good for more than cereal. As I was emptying the latest bag into the jar where I keep it, I noticed a recipe on the back for Cheesy Dill Squares (it's the Arrowhead Mills brand). They sound pretty yummy, sort of a savory rice crispy treat.

In a large bowl, you mix 1 cup of grated cheese, 1 teaspoon dill, 1/4 of butter, 1/2 cup of pastry flour and 1 beaten egg. Once all that is combined, you fold in 2 cups of puffed millet and then pour it all into a greased 8 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is golden and brown. An added bonus to this recipe is that it would be easy to convert it into a wheat/gluten free one, if you were to substitute a different flour for the standard one. Happy baking!

I don't know if I could ever be a bartender. I like the idea of being one, but it seems to me it's like the ultimate pop quiz in a very intense situation. People come in off the street and ask you for a Tequila Sunrise or a Negroni or A Slow Comfortable Screw Up Against The Wall, and you immediately have to know how to do them. Sure, you can stop and look in a book (I did that when I was a sorta-bartender at a restaurant), but a real bartender has to know how to make these drinks immediately, especially if it's a Friday or Saturday night. Though I guess it's like any other skill, you learn through practice.

Esquire has the four obscure drinks that every bartender should know how to make. I've heard of (but never had) The Aviation Cocktail, but I've never heard of the other three.

One thing that struck me when I was at the Fancy Food Show was that there were a number of products that were marketed at women. Some of them, like chocolates, seemed just to feature girly packaging and slogans, but others touted potential health benefits. In this latter category were two new products that were the result of a collaboration between The Republic of Tea and LUNA: Nutritional Iced Tea for Women and LUNA Tea Cakes. The collaboration was a natural one considering that the companies - both of which endorse healthy lifestyles - have similar values and goals.

Nutritional Iced Tea for Women is the first iced tea designed with women in mind. Brewed, lightly sweetened and packed in resealable plastic water bottles, the all-natural teas have just 50 calories per 12-ounce serving, are made with 70% organic ingredients. On top of that, the teas are fortified with folate, calcium and vitamins B and D. They come in five flavors: Ginger Currant Black Tea, Lemon Blueberry Decaf Black Tea, Kiwi Strawberry Green Tea, Mandarin Orange White Tea and (caffeine-free) Cherry Vanilla Red Tea. They are truly delicious and very refreshing. The fruity flavors really come through (my favorite was the Ginger Currant), with no sugary sweetness to dull them.

Don't get too excited from the headline.

Bars and restaurants in California aren't going to be giving away all their beer, but this year, for the first time, they will be permitted to give out free samples of beer, much in the same way that free samples of wine and spirits are sometimes given out to promote new brands or new products from those industries.

Previously, beer companies could only offer tastings at their own plants or breweries, but the new law allows for up to 8-ounces per person per day, to be given away promotionally, provided that it is served in a glass at an establishment that already serves beer or spirits. The tastings can last no more than one hour and can only feature one type of beer, which effectively prevents consumers from having more than those 8-oz (without paying for more, anyway). St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch was the driving force behind the new law, pushing the issue on the grounds that existing law excluded a major portion of the beverage industry. They plan to offer tastings of some of their seasonal products in the future.

The primary objectors to the legislation were the religious groups behind the California Council on Alcohol Problems, which basically tried to say that all beer tasted the same (unlike wine, in their opinions) and that this would cause drinking problems. Clearly, legislators did not agree with their thinking and neither would any of the many beer lovers out there, all of whom can attest to the fact that beer does vary from brand to brand and even batch to batch.

If you've ever been in a bar with micro-brews on tap, you've no doubt noticed a trend towards the ornamental, baseball-bat-sized tap handles that accompany some beers. A recent AP story charts this trend and includes a little history on tap handles. Apparently they were a product of a post-prohibition regulation requiring bars to identify which beers they were pouring. I still don't know how that kept bars from putting a different keg on the tap. At any rate, the story highlights the niche that ornate tap handles have become, pointing to companies like Tap Handles, Inc., which cranks out about 200,000 handles a year. Their site has a pretty impressive portfolio of their creations. BeerCollections.com also has a pretty nice gallery of tap handles. I've always been fond of this tap for Rogue's Dead Guy Ale. The AP story also gets extra points for using the term "breweriana."

Susan La Tempa spent the last few weeks on a massive LA pub crawl and has found the fifteen best in the city, taking into account authenticity, and how well they pour.

SIV visits the new Simon LA and gives the kitschy cool place now famous for its junk food platter one-and-a-half stars (*1/2). Chiu-Chow via Vietnam can be had at Chaus Kitchen in San Gabriel, where the kitchen is "concentrated on perfecting a few house specialties."

For cooking at home, cookbook Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon, offers recipes for "sophisticated tagines from Morocco, fragrant Turkish kebabs and a dazzling assortment of Lebanese mezes."

Russ Parsons cooks up a seafood stew, and reminds us that Brussels sprouts are sprouting up at the local farmers' markets.

Lemon bars are tricky things, though they seem deceptively simple. In theory, they consist of a tart, custardy layer on a shortbread-type base, but the vast majority of recipes miss the mark by miles, with fillings that are day-glo neon yellow, too hard, too soft, too tart or too sweet. The crusts tend to fare better than the fillings, but it can still be a challenge to get a good one when the filling actually turns out properly.

The only thing harder than making a really good batch of lemon bars is taking a picture of them. The yellow lemon filling and the pale yellow base do not make for much contrast, and since the bars are often topped with a coating of powdered sugar, you end up with something remarkably unphotogenic, no matter how good they look in person. I am please to say, however, that it looks like Lemon Bars were conquered by Sugar Delirium. Not only does her photo look fantastic, but the recipe for the bars sounds like it turns out a perfectly balanced treat.

In southwest England, Trading Standards officials carried out a survey of various pubs and other alcohol-serving venues and discovered that one in five pints had noticeably less liquid than it should. Given that this shortabe happend with such regularity at many different locations, perhaps the theory is that once you've had a few pints, you won't really be worried about a few extra mouthfuls. Or, perhaps the quality of bartenders has simple declined, since it is much more difficult to pull a drink with the appropriate amount of foam than you might guess.

Officials recommend asking for a top-off if the drink appears to be a bit short, not only to ensure that you're getting what you've paying for, but to encourage vendors to be a bit more careful in their pouring in the future.

"Nice, messy, rich, crazy gooey, and so good" is how the blogger at The Sugar Bar describes these Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Bars she baked and, looking at the picture, she is clearly not exaggerating. The bars are blondies, the vanilla version of a brownie, and are thick and satisfying. The thing that sets a blondie apart from, for example, a regular cookie is that they have the same chewy and slightly dense consistency of brownies. They are packed with peanut butter, chocolate chips and chewy toffee candies (caramels could be used instead to make them extra-gooey) and are a perfect pick-me-up in the afternoon, following a long day at work or school. You could serve them to friends with coffee or tea, too, but that means that you would have to share. If the picture is any indication, sharing these might prove to be difficult.