"blender" news and stories

I had heard of making ice cream with liquid nitrogen. I saw it on Iron Chef America not too long ago, if I remember correctly. I haven't ever tried it though. Where do you find the liquid nitrogen?

Anyway, here's a video of a couple of guys trying to make the frozen dessert in a blender. The result is hilarious. I strongly recommend that you do not try this at home. Even if it didn't look slightly dangerous, you seriously don't want to clean up that mess.

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Those of us who follow food blogs are well acquainted with Elise of Simply Recipes. Her recipes are always dependable and she seems to have cooked just about everything in creation, which means that her website is something of a definitive resource.

However, if you haven't been following her for a long time, you might have missed a particularly useful blender tip she offered nearly three years ago. Lucky for all us internet readers, those eagle-eyed editors at Lifehacker found this particular tip and have brought it to prominence for our edification.

She suggests using a canning jar in place of your blender carafe when mixing up small batches of things. Apparently, most blenders are designed so that their bottom blade contraption will screw onto a standard sized canning jar. This way you can blend or chop inside a jar, remove the blender blade and store easily by popping on a regular old jar lid. It's like the predecessor to the Magic Bullet.

[via Lifehacker]

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For most of yesterday, it was sort of chilly and overcast in Philly (it got sunny and warm in the late afternoon). The cool breeze that came through my window all morning made me thinking longingly of fall and want to put on a sweater. It also inspired me to make soup. However, since it is still summer, I wanted something that wasn't long-simmering or heavy. So I flipped to a soup that my mom made a lot when I was growing up, although back in those days, I always turned my nose up at it. These days, I can't get enough of it, especially when I had a weekend that was chock full off barbecue, desserts and beer.

photo by Marisa McClellan

The summer fruit is coming at me from all sides these days. I can't turn around without spotting blueberries, blackberries, peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums. There thousands of good uses for these succulent berries and stone fruits (jams, pies, compotes, sauces, cobblers, crisps and slumps to name a few) but lately, I've been trying to reduce the amount of sugar I eat, so I've been looking for ways of enjoying the abundance of summer a little more naturally.

In addition to eating the fruit just as it comes (which I do, by the bushel) I've been making my ancient blender whirl up a variety of smoothies. My favorite thing to do is just throw some fruit and yogurt in, with a dribble of milk to thin it down a little. If that's not sweet enough for you, try adding a little fruit juice, honey or agave nectar. I have a friend who always throws a handful of oats into her smoothies, for the extra fiber. A few ice cubes (or frozen fruit) will make it nice a cool. The most important thing when it comes to making smoothies is to feel free to experiment and figure out what tastes good to you.

photo by Marisa McClellan

I was noodling around in my files and food magazines and ran across some info that I thought would make a good food trivia quiz.

Food Trivia Quiz

1. When and where did McDonald's open its first drive thru?
2. Who turned the world on to Blackened red fish?
3. Who are Tim and Nina and what are they known for?
4. In 1982 what became ET's favorite candy?
5. When was the Slurpee introduced?
6. What is Alice Waters known for?
7. Who was the first Ronald McDonald?
8. What cities recently banned the sale or use of certain food products.
9. What storm caused the devastation of one of the top food destinations in the world?
10. Where was the original home of Subway?
11. Who wrote "On Food and Cooking" the book that was the catalyst for the combining of the culinary arts and science?
12. When did the Blooming Onion first appear on a chain restaurant menu?
13. When did the Food network first start broadcasting?
14. When and where did the first Starbucks open?
15. The first dishwasher was introduced to the public in 1893. What decade did it finally catch on?
16. What was the first diet soda?
17. What was the "Space Age drink" and when was it introduced?
18. Waring invented the blender in 1937. What year was the one millionth blender sold?
19. What was the cereal Mikey likes?
20. Who wrote "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"?

Don't peek at the answers! They're after the jump.