"food and drink" news and stories

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.

..but not a bite to eat. With the beginning of October, the grocery stores in my area seem to be overflowing with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. However, I'm a bit confused by the numerous pumpkins that are not recommended for eating. The small pumpkins in a large display by the store entrance are marked "for display only, do not eat!" and the pumpkins in the produce section are covered with stickers that read "great for painting!" Am I the only one who heads to the produce department looking for things to eat? So, stubborn as I am, I've become set on turning these decorative objects into food -- and hopefully something more interesting than the pie that everyone seems to be so set on this time of year.

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Carrots are available year round, but for some reason, the warm, golden color and the use of a spice like ginger make Carrot Ginger Soup feel like an autumn food. Depending on what type of liquid you use to cook the carrots and whether or not you add cream to the soup at the end, you can make it vegetarian or vegan. I didn't do it purposely, but mine came out vegan.

Sandwich Day has been over and long past, but I couldn't resist this gorgeous panini from food blog Cream Puffs in Venice. Usually, I like the idea of paninis, but find that because they are squashed down in a panini press, don't look quite as fabulously photogenic as thick sandwiches that are piled high with ingredients. Perhaps it's the fact that the photo is an extreme close-up, perhaps it's the angle and lighting, but this panini made with pesto, artichokes, prosciutto and Asiago cheese definitely looks voluptuous enough!

If you bake, then you know the drill when it comes to using butter in a recipe. You simply slice off the number of tablespoons you need using the guide that's printed on the waxy wrapper. However, what if the wrapper on the butter is slightly off? Or worse (or better, depending), what if your sticks of very special fancy butter don't have those handy little guides?

The RSVP Endurance Baker's Butter Slicer allows you to accurately measure and cut butter. The gadget can hold traditional-sized butter sticks, as well as the shorter, wider sticks, and is dishwasher-safe. It's available for $9.50 at Chef's Tools.

[via: Daily Olive]