"carnival" news and stories

Not headed down to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival this year? No worries - you can still have a little taste of the Brazilian festival at home with the Caipirissima cocktail. The drink is a simple, but delicious, combination of rum, lime juice and sugar. It is a take on a cocktail called the Caipirinha, which is sometimes referred to as the national drink of Brazil and is made with a liquor called Cachaça, which is distilled from pure cane syrup.

Cachaça is just finding its way around the US and is not as easily accessible as it eventually might be, given the increasing popularity of Brazilian drinks, so the rum alternative makes getting the flavors of Brazil into your glass much easier for the time being. Use white rum, for a lighter flavor and a cleaner looking drink. You'll also need a muddle to get the full flavors out of the lime.

The recipe, after the jump, gives directions for making a martini-like cocktail, but you can simply muddle the lime and sugar at the bottom of a regular glass, top with ice, rum and lime juice, and drink it that way, too.

Is it because it's summer? Festival-, fair-, and carnival-season?

Suddenly corn dogs are not only "hot," but they have been elevated from their mall food court status to haute cuisine, as corn dogs are appearing on menus of upscale restaurants in LA. Santa Monica's BOA Steakhouse uses Kobe beef hot dogs and serves them with the traditional condiments. Bistro retsaurant at uber-hip Chamberlain hotel in West Hollywood has single-bite chorizo corn dogs and at both Honey restaurant in Hollywood and new Republic, they are serving lobster corn dogs. I guess it's kind of the way macaroni and cheese was the "it" comfort food about two years ago.

I don't know. I kind of just want a Hebrew National dipped in corn batter and deep fried. Nothing fancy. Well, except for some super hot mustard.