"game" news and stories

• It's restaurant week in Boston. So many restaurants, so little time...
• Doughnuts! New England is the birthplace of Dunkin Donuts, but there are great indie shops, too.
• Roast pork leg is even tastier when you call it pernil de cerdo al horno.
• What happens when an outdoorsy guy heads inside to the kitchen? It's game time.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• Your dishwasher spoils you.
• Healthy tacos do exist!
• Is eating cute woodland creatures your thing?
• It's OK to curl up with some warm winter comfort food -- we won't tell anyone if you break a resolution.
• Jamie Oliver takes his healthy-eating campaign to the airwaves. Will Americans gobble it up?
• Eat, eat, eat this, hot, hot, hot!
• Brown makes brown rice easy.

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...?

Really, I mean, the possibilities are endless.

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..."