A product that I'm lumping into the same category as Mr. Bacon Vs. Monsieur Tofu solely based on silliness factor, Tic Tac Toast gives you a new reason to play with your food.
Simply press the stamper into the slice of bread, pop it into the toaster, and out comes the most delicious tic tac toe board you've ever laid eyes on.
The little illustration shows players using jelly and peanut butter as their playing pieces of choice, but we dare you to go crazy and find wacky pairs to play with. Hummus and mayo? Nutella and Marshmallow Fluff? Vegemite and...?
Even if you're not a real barista, you can pretend at home with Barista: The Game. Discovery Bay Games calls it "a strategic game of fresh-brewed fun," and it may be for the amateurs out there. But let's admit it: for hardcore baristas, we all know it's so much more than that. Like a bartender playing a drinking game, or a chef playing Wii Cooking Mama, it's a chance to show off your skills and prove yourself once and for all amongst your comrades.
For $14.95, you can roll the dice and flip the cards to "make" drink orders - but beware of fellow players spilling your drink or messing up your order! And don't get your hopes up when you win Barista of the Month, because with another card draw, your store can just as easily be sued for serving its coffee too hot.
Essentially, Barista is a card game, so you'll have to test your trivia and actual knowledge elsewhere (for a full list of rules, click here). But it's a cute idea, and a fun way to pass the time, for baristas and wannabes alike.
As a general rule, I'm not much of a game player. I've never been a huge fan of cards and most board games leave me cold. The one exception to this rule is in the area of trivia games. I LOVE trivia and often will excitedly pull out my aging copy of Trivial Pursuit when someone mentions the possibility of playing a game. Couple that trivial obsession with my fairly well-established love of food and you understand just how ecstatic I was when Foodie Fight showed up in my mailbox late last week.
The game contains a set of trivia cards, six game boards, content-area pieces and a colored die. It is packed into a compact box that has a hidden magnet closure, so that the lid clicks into place pleasingly. You can play on teams or as individuals or you can be like me and start playing against yourself. When it arrived I immediately opened it up, settled into the loveseat in my living room and read the questions on more cards than I care to admit (no one is actually going to want to play it with me after they read this post). I knew quite a few of the answers, but was stumped more than once.
While I'm looking forward to playing the game with other real humans, I'm already certain that it will be given a place of honor right next to my other trivia games, to be trotted out any time someone says, "Hey, anyone want to play..."
Chess doesn't have the reputation of being the most exciting game out there, but there are two things that you can introduce to living things up a little. The first is money and the second is food (or possibly alcohol, but we'll stick to food in general). Whether you want to gamble on chess games is entirely up to you, but we rather like the idea of getting food involved by making an edible chess set to play with. This cookie cutter set comes with shapes for all the different pieces, as well as with a square, which you can use to make the 64 tiles that make up the board.
You'll need two different colors of cookie dough to play, and the ideal cookie dough will not spread too much when it is baking. Try a vanilla or butter cookie recipe for the white pieces and a chocolate cutout cookie recipe for the dark pieces. If you like peanut butter, this recipe for two tone star cookies will give you both a light and dark dough to work with.
Joe, from Culinary in the Country, included these Honey-Chipotle Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches in a post about summer dishes. I'm not going to argue that barbecue is summer fare and that these would be perfect for, a cookout, but barbecue is also perfect for sporting events - which makes this sandwiches a great option for Super Bowl Sunday. The sandwiches are very easy to make. They start with chicken breasts that are boiled/steamed with a bit of garlic and cumin until tender, although you could very easily go with grilled chicken or a pre-cooked roast chicken - all you really need is a good amount of meat. The meat is then tossed with a simple, smoky chipotle sauce (that sounds like it would be good on pork or ribs, in addition to chicken) and piled onto toasted hamburger buns with a bit of smoked mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese.
Traveling on SuperBowl Sunday? There are few worse places to be than in an airplane at 35,000-ft when you would much rather be at home, at someone else's home or at the local pub watching the fame with friends, family and lots of food. If you must fly, you might want to think about using JetBlue. The discount airline offers live DIRECTV, so you'll be able to see the game, and you won't even have to miss out on beer and munchies because the airline will be giving out free beer and cocktails to travelers during game-time flights. They will also offer plenty of snacks (no hot wings, unfortunately), such as Doritos Munchies Mix, Terra Blues Potato Chips, Nuts Jumbo Cashew Halves and Nabisco 100 Calorie Pack crackers.
The selection doesn't compare to what you'll find at most SuperBowl parties, but you have to given them credit for trying. After all, they could do a lot worse than free beer, snacks and football!
The foodie quiz is a fun little way to waste a couple minutes of the morning and maybe have a little laugh or two while you're at it because it is certainly not a serious quiz in any way. If it were serious, it is highly unlikely that one of the answers, right or wrong, would suggest that the correct solution to a minor restaurant dilemma is to "grab the waiter by his neck, shove him in a tiny crate, which you load into the hold of a plane bound for Auckland, while shouting: 'How would you like it, you animal abusing spawn of the devil?'"
The quiz is intended to test your knowledge of general foodie issues, kitchen trends and food movements. I scored 42 out of a possible 45 (the higher the score, the better), which apparently makes me a "gastro-warrior." Take the quiz and get back to us here in the comments to let us know how you fared!
I admit that I did not think it was possible for the King, the strangely masked man of Burger King TV commercial fame, to get any creepier. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Burger King is promoting Sneak King, an inexpensive and ad-laden Xbox 360 game that features - you guessed it - the King. Instead of standing around and fraternizing with attractive women, he hides, creeps and sneaks around the virtual world in which he lives, jumping out from behind objects to force burgers on unsuspecting people. The image of being stalked by the King (as seen in the above trailer) is enough to make you sleep with the lights on just to be on the safe side.
The only reason to buy the game ($3.99 at Burger King) is (a) if you just shelled out for an Xbox 360, don't have the budget for better games and are really desperate to play it or (b) you have some crazy fantasy about being the King, which who the player controls in the game. If you're buying it for the first reason, that's somewhat understandable. If it's the second...
A 32-year-old woman in Canada was participating in a Chubby Bunny contest, a game in which participants attempt to stuff as many marshmallows into their mouths as possible and still say "chubby bunny." It is often played by children at camps and sleepovers and, more often than not, all efforts subside into laughter after about the fourth or fifth mallow. Adults take these things more seriously, however, and instead of ending up laughing, the above-mentioned woman ended up in critical condition at a London, Ontario hospital after choking on a marshmallow. The contest was already over and she was walking backstage when she collapsed. She had no vital signs when the paramedics got to her and is currently in critical condition.
The future of Chubby Bunny contests at this fair are seriously in doubt, as it may be in other venues since this is not an isolated incident, and it is possible that other food-events will be more closely monitored in the future ,a reminder to all competitive eaters that chewing your food could potentially be far more important than winning.
Update: Unfortunately, the woman did not recover from the incident.
In the fall, cornfield mazes start to spring up in various locations around the country, designs getting more elaborate as farms try to out-do each other. Mike's Maze at Warner Farms in Sunderland Massachusetts is paying tribute to Julia Child this year, using a picture of her framed by what appears to be a magnetic knife rack with all sorts of cooking implements, as the template for their annual maze. They are also working to expand their seasonal cafe's menu with influences from Julia and several local restaurants.
If only crop circles could have been this interesting...
One of the fun things about bundt pans is that they come in so many different shapes - far more than an ordinary cake pan. The problem with this is that you can end up with too many pans, some of which are only really appropriate for certain occasions and the Holiday Tree bundt is a prime example of this. The Stadium Pan does not have this problem, even though it does have an undeniably unique shape, since there are sporting events running all year long. All you need to do is make sure the icing colors match the team that you're supporting before the match, and you can root for your favorite team while you and your friends chow down.
Video games and television are sometimes blamed for the "obesity epidemic" because kids (and adults) who sit in front of a screen are less active than their non-couchbound counterparts. Two new video games are being developed by a company called Archimage, and they aim to encourage children to make healthy choices in their diets, hoping to counteract the tendency of some to binge on snack foods while playing games. The games are called Nanoswarm: Invasion from Inner Space and Escape from Diab. Each is an immersive role-playing game that is supposed to help kids learn about how to make the food choices that will keep them healthy, modifying any unhealthy eating behaviors.
A demo of Nanoswarmis available online, blending sci-fi and action adventure in an attempt to disguise the semi-educational message of the game from kids who might be put off by the idea of learning something while playing. It still sounds like a good idea, and if even a few kids are playing this, making a few healthier choices, it seems like a worthwhile game.
I don't usually see kangaroo-excuse me, australus- in my meat section, but, if through some stroke of luck (or a dare) you're faced with an opportunity to cook some, Australian chef Benjamin Christie has some tips. Basically, it sounds like you can treat cuts of kangaroo strip loin and fillet like you would other similar cuts of red meat or game. Christie says that those cuts should be pan fried and never cooked past medium rare. Kangaroo is apparently pretty lean. The longer a cut ages, the gamier it will get, he says. Also, if you're working with ground 'roo, soy sauce is a better choice than salt, as it will dry the meat out less. A version of larb, the spicy Thai salad, sounds tasty.
July is National Hot Dog month and summer is certainly an appropriate choice, as Americans eat 7 billion hot dogs during the summer (from Memorial Day to Labor Day), cooking up two thirds of them in the backyard or at home, and a total of 20 billion every year. On the 4th of July alone, 150 million hot dogs will be eaten in the US and most will be grilled, since 60% of Americans say that they prefer to eat them that way.
Want to test your hot dog trivia knowledge? Take the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's online quiz and see if you have the goods on one of America's favorite foods. I have to admit that I only got 7 out of 10. What are you waiting for? Test the test and let us know how you scored in the comments!
Actually, according to The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, nutria is a red meat, but it supposedly tastes like rabbit or dark meat turkey. More than a little confusing, I know. What is clear is that Louisiana has a surplus of these 20 pound South American swamp rodents, which the LDWF kindly dubs "fur bearing herbivores." As some of you may know, Louisiana has, for several years, had a campaign going to try to cut down on the population (the nutria population, that is) by convincing people to eat to eat these critters, which were originally brought in for their fur, but then escaped and wreaked havoc on the local greenery. Also known as coypu, the nutria is apparently also a host for a type of nematode that can infect human skin and cause 'nutria itch,' according to Wikipedia. Nevertheless, the LDWF has plenty of recipes for the little guys, the names of which are too good not to mention: there's Heart Healthy 'Crock-Pot' Nutria, nutria sausage, nutria chili, "Stuffed Nutria Hindquarters," and "Enola's Smothered Nutria." The site also has over 20 photos of how to butcher a nutria, but we don't need to get into that right now.
A jar of honey can become a sticky mess. Next time you're adding honey to another dish or a mug of tea, use a honey dipper to prevent a thick gooey layer from spreading.
Traveling on SuperBowl Sunday? There are few worse places to be than in an airplane at 35,000-ft when you would much rather be at home, at someone else's home or at the local pub watching the fame with friends, family and lots of food. If you must fly, you might want to think about using JetBlue. The discount airline offers live DIRECTV, so you'll be able to see the game, and you won't even have to miss out on beer and munchies because the airline will be 
The foodie quiz
A 32-year-old woman in Canada was participating in a 
Video games and television are sometimes blamed for the "obesity epidemic" because kids (and adults) who sit in front of a screen are less active than their non-couchbound counterparts. Two 
I don't usually see kangaroo-excuse me, 
July is National Hot Dog month and summer is certainly an appropriate choice, as Americans eat 
Actually, according to 
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
