"florida" news and stories

Redlight Redlight in Orlando, FL. Image: Redlight Redlight

A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.

Last week, What's On Tap suggested craft beer seekers crash the college town of Athens, Ga., while the students are away. This week, why not leave your kids at home during that summer trip to Orlando? Drop the tykes off at Grandma's, lie about the location of Disney World and add world-renowned Florida bar Redlight Redlight to the vacation itinerary.

For more than four years, this hip and particularly well-stocked pub has been a must for seekers of rare brews. And now is as perfect a time as any to pop in as they celebrate Christmas in July. "We saved most of the Christmas beers," says owner Brent Hernandez, including a couple kegs dating back to 2005. "We do a lot of aging and have a pretty solid vintage list."

See all 21 beers on tap as of Monday and learn more about Redlight Redlight after the jump. ...

Gourmet's Barry Estabrook investigates the plight of Florida tomato pickers. The following is an excerpt of his findings published on Gourmet.com.

A little slavery is okay, just not too much of it.

At this writing, that appears to be the official government position in the state of Florida, and it could explain why the fields of the Sunshine State provide such fertile ground for modern-day slavery. In the past dozen years, police have broken up and prosecuted seven slave operations there, freeing more than 1,000 men and women who were kept captive and forced to work for little or no money and threatened with death if they tried to escape. (For more on the plight of the Florida tomato pickers, see my article "The Price of Tomatoes" in the March 2009 issue of Gourmet.)

Late last year, two members of the Navarrete family, the operators of what has been recognized as the most brutal slave ring the state has seen, were sentenced to 12 years in prison; two others received lesser sentences. Justice having been done, it was an ideal opportunity for Governor Charlie Crist, who enjoys a very high approval rating, to spend a bit of that political capital to condemn the practice and announce bold steps to prevent it.

The story continues at Gourmet.com: Politics of the Plate: Florida's Slave Trade

On the Today show, Epicurious.com Editor Tanya Steel shows Hota Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford how to make a simple key lime pie.

Even if you can make a key lime pie in your sleep, it's a fun video (even though they say to use pre-squeezed key lime juice if you can't find limes - eek! That's like using lemon juice instead of real lemons in lemon squares!) The taste just can't compare.

Well, the video is fine until good ol' Kathie Lee ruins the moment by first commenting on the amount of calories in the condensed can of milk (Steel smartly replies "Yeah, but who's counting calories?") and then likens the ingredient to colostrum (and Kotb remarks, "Buzzkill.")

Cook much, Kathie Lee? Yeesh - don't invite her over when you're making key lime pie. She'll totally ruin your appetite.

It's a good weekend for attending a food festival if you:

a) are a hipster of the American Northwest
b) love wine
c) have never attended a crawfish boil
d) are hungry

If you, like me, find yourself nodding emphatically at these criteria, read on! This weekend offers food festivals sprinkled across the country, promising some of the most interesting and delicious foods I've seen in a while.

There are always excuses to eat, but I find that there are rarely opportunities to just completely go nuts and eat everything in sight. So when these opportunities do come along (vacations to Europe, birthdays, Thanksgiving), it's best to take complete advantage. For me, food festivals definitely qualify as all-you-can-eat events. I remember my parents bringing me to Taste of Bethesda every year when I was growing up, and how exciting it was to chow through streets and streets of delicious foods.

Starting right now, I'll be giving you guys a weekly heads up about upcoming Food Festivals from around the country. Sadly, we don't have too many in the Philadelphia area, so I'll be living vicariously through the comments of those of you who are able to attend -- please relay all of the juicy details!

There are details about this weekend's festivals after the jump. For those who can't attend, perhaps this sweet gallery from Taste of Vail (April 2-5, 2008) will carry us through. Expect more to come!