AOL Health Editor Katherine Steinberg submitted the photo above for inclusion in the Midnight Sausage series, but we thought it was worthy of a post all its own.

"As I was wandering the streets of London foraging for food, I came across something even more foreign to me than the British slang -- the hot dog hamburger, or the 'express special'. It was so strange that I had to take a picture. I'm not sure what about this makes it faster than your average meal, but I do know that it comes with fries. But don't get too excited, judging by the recent price dip, it won't be popping up in your local deli anytime soon."

Has anyone seen or sampled this frankenfood in London or elsewhere? We'd love a first-hand account.

[via Katherine Steinberg's Flickr]

I still look down on box wine as cheap and presumably bad. Bordeaux wine in what amounts to juice boxes? I just don't know how I feel about that.

However I feel about it, juice box wine is coming. Called Tandem, it'll be introduced in London soon, but there's no word on if we'll see it here in the US. Apparently French wine makers don't like the downward trend in wine consumption. This is an attempt to get "young urbanites" to drink more wine. A spokesman for Tandem says that this is the ideal way to have a bit of wine with lunch, especially if you eat at your work desk.

The wine juice box even has a special straw to ensure that you get a full taste experience. The sensory straw, as it's called, has four holes in it so that the wine is dispersed throughout your mouth. I'm not sure how well that'll work, but, as it's been pointed out by traditionalists, you still can't see or smell the wine before you drink it, which are both important aspects of drinking wine. Do you think this product will take off? Would you buy it?

If you are a chocoholic, then London would have been the place for you to be earlier this week. Thorntons, a British chocolate company, spent three months planning the world's first chocolate billboard. Ten massive chocolate bunnies, 72 giant chocolate eggs, and 128 panels made of pure chocolate were used to construct the 14.5 x 9.5 ft billboard, which the company had planned as being the first-ever interactive Easter creation on this kind of scale. Interactive, indeed - people passing by were invited to literally dig in and help themselves to the pieces of chocolate.

The structure took a team of 10 people 300 hours to construct, yet the public devoured it within just three hours.

At the end of a long night out, most people are pretty hungry, especially if drinking and dancing have been involved. Fast food is one quick and easy option, while a number of restaurants stay open until the wee hours of the morning to accommodate night owl clients. A new ice cream company (so new that they don't have a website yet!) called Scoop wants the nightclub set to think of ice cream, and not fast food, when they're out late at night. Their ice cream truck was designed "to rekindle the childhood excitement of chasing down the ice cream man."

Unfortunately, we don't have any reports of what flavors this particular "ice cream man" is offering, although we suspect it won't be those ice cream-like popsicles with frozen gumballs stuck to them that seem to be so popular with kids when they find an ice cream truck. To check them out for yourself, you'll have to find the truck. The Scoop truck can currently be seen cruising through London's East End late in the evenings, but the company will probably really hit it off this summer, when they are scheduled to have a number of vans at English music festivals this year.

[via popgadget]

If you haven't heard by now, there has been a lot of controversy in the fashion world about extremely thin models lately. Some shows have banned girls from the catwalks if their BMI is too low and other designers are refusing to use them to show their collections. In an effort to aid those poor, overly thin models on their quest to bulk back up and get back to strutting their stuff on the runway, the trendy Bumpkin restaurant in Notting Hill in London is offering free food to them. Any model with a BMI (Body Mass Index) of less than 18 - which would be the BMI for a 5'8" woman weighing 120-lbs - can get all the free food that they want. The manager recommends the hearty charter pie, which contains leeks, chicken and bacon and is "enough to keep you warm and energized all day."

Easy meal prep is hot right now. By this, I am referring to the make-and-freeze dinner businesses that are thriving all across the US. With names like Dream Dinners, Super Suppers, My Girlfriend's Kitchen, Supper Thyme USA, What's for Dinner and Dinner by Design, all appeal to the "busy family demographic, where people want to have home cooked meals but don't necessarily feel that they have the time to do it themselves. These businesses offer kitchens with lots of partially assembled meals and ingredients that you can put together in combinations that your family will like. Typically, meals are prepared for a week or two in advance and everything can be frozen. Heating instructions (and any other cooking suggestions, if needed, are included.

The trend is so popular that it is starting to spread out of the US. In London, a chain called Dinners Made is springing up and gaining popularity with those who are looking for food to make in advance and freeze, and also with those who want to entertain and don't have time (or perhaps the ability) to cook everything from scratch without some assistance. Using Dinners Made means that the recipes are included, prep is done and cleanup is taken care of, as they are at every similar easy meal prep shop. Combining the convenience of working in the store with below-restaurant prices, a flexible menu and fresh ingredients, it's not hard to see why the idea is spreading so rapidly.

The "road to the palace of wisdom" may be paved with excess, but that doesn't mean you have to wake in the gutter feeling like complete scum. Just scummy. On that rare occasion that you overdo it on the booze and end up with what is medically known as veisalgia, you have to take pre-emptive measures in order to be at least intellectually presentable the next morning.

• Before walking or getting a ride home from the party/bar/friend's start drinking water. Alcohol is diuretic and you need all the water you can handle at this point.
• Upon arrival home, continue to down water while you cook something light. Don't get fancy with flambes. These recipes are from The Sunday London Times and I have made several variations of the simple Spinach Pasta. I went heavy on the garlic and drank tons of water. Plus, you can always take a peek at some of our other favorites for the "morning after."

I say this as someone who used to drink a lot. I don't anymore, but maximizing water hydration (even while drinking), and eating pasta before crashing seemed to help. However, there are a lot of factors that lead to a hangover; you pay to party, body and mind.

Also on Slashfood:
Hangover helper, help her hangover
Best meals for the "morning after"
Soon dooboo jjigae...oh my!

High heat during the summer brings fresh okra, and the Tribune adds it, along with shrimp, to a late summer menu. Speaking of shrimp, Wolfgang Puck adds shrimp as a twist to the classic BLT. Heirloom cooking makes a crustless asparagus quiche.

Shop for Triscuit's cracked pepper and olive oil crackers, the CIA's Master's Collection of kitchen tools, and the Cutie Pie Kit from HomeMade Pizza Co. for kids. At the bookstore, Jay Weinstein's book, The Ethical Gourmet gets a review, and kids go wild for Brit teen chef, Sam Stern, whose first book is Cooking Up a Storm: The Teen Survival Cookbook.

If a teen sensation is too young, then read through the feature on London's Borough Market.

Just in time for back-to-school, childhood obesity is looking to get a spanking as schools go full-force with an extreme food makeover.

In drinks, vodka gets infused with a market basket of fruits. If that's too strong, mix up wine for sangrias, sprtizers, and wine coolers.

Italian Two Easy is the followup cookbook to Italian Easy, a collection of recipes from the founders of the River Cafe in London. The book has 150 recipes that are simple, regional Italian favorites. Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, the authors and owners of the Cafe, rely heavily on seasonal ingredients and don't hesitate to call for less common ones to make their dishes. These recipes are fairly authentic, and not necessarily "simple" if you're used to a 30-minute meals style of cooking, but they are time conscious. The "easy" part of the title comes with practice and the dishes are going to be easier if you have experience. Having said that, the instructions are straightforward, so if you are interested in taking a closer look at modern regional Italian cooking, or are simply a fan of the River Cafe, this book is a fine place to start.

The book is beautifully illustrated with glossy photos and the recipes range from very basic pasta dishes that use a handful of fresh ingredients to slow roasted pork and sea bass baked in sea salt. There are a range of dessert recipes to end the meal with, too.

At the annual World Cheese Awards, which were held this month in London, California cheesemakers proved that the California Milk Advisory Board's slogan "California: it's the cheese" is true. The state took home 13 awards, including 3 gold medals, 3 silver and 7 bronze - more than any other state in the country. Among the winners were:

• Marin French Cheese Company, Petaluma, for Petit Dejeuner (Gold), Wild Blackberry Quark (Gold), Garlic Brie (Bronze), Pesto Brie (Bronze) and Petit Creme (Bronze)
• Fiscalini Cheese Company, Modesto, for San Joaquin Gold (Silver) and Bandage Wrapped Premium Cheddar (Bronze)
• Mozzarella Fresca, Benicia, for Fresh Mozzarella -- Acid Set (Gold) and Fresh Mozzarella -- Cryovac (Bronze)
• Bravo Farms, Visalia, for Western Sage Cheddar (Silver)
• Cantare Foods, San Diego, for Whole Milk Mozzarella Boconcini (Silver)
• Bellwether Farms, Petaluma, for Carmody Semi Hard Cows' Milk Unpressed (Bronze)
• Winchester Cheese Company, Winchester, for Sharp Gouda (Bronze).

Over the past three years, California has won a total of 24 awards at the WCAs, and the increase this year means that California cheeses, like California wines, are gaining international recognition.

Ten historic venues in and around London as recommended in the Times.

1. The French House, 49 Dean Street, London W1 "The patina of time and the stains from a trillion Gauloises enhance what was the unofficial drinking den of Gallic wartime exiles (de Gaulle prepared his rallying calls here... Ales are sold in half-pints and Pernod is de rigueur at this throwback to Soho's boho glory years" [details]
2. Amberley Castle, Arundel, West Sussx "The impressive barrel-vaulted dining room serves some excellent food" [website]
3. The George Inn, 77 Borough High Street, London SE1 "Great alfresco dining on a gorgeous cobbled courtyard off Borough High Street is one of the obvious draws of this small-scale pub" [details]
4. Gordon's Wine Bar, 47 Villiers Street, London WC2 "It is said to be London's oldest established wine bar 1980 and attracts drinkers with its history - Pepys and Kipling both lived in the building and with its wine" [One I have been to along with a bunch of other bloggers] [website]
5. Jerusalem Tavern, 55 Britton Street, London EC1 "Quite possibly London's most atmospheric pub, the tiny Jerusalem Tavern is made up of just a handful of pokey rooms, set on the ground floor of a 1720s building in a quiet steeet of Clerkenwell's main drag" [details]
6. Lightship X, 5a St Katharine's Way, St Katharine Docks, London E1 "Landlubbers with a taste for naval history will enjoy boarding the world's oldest lightship, docked five minutes from the Tower of London" [website]
7. The Magdela, 2A South Hill Park, London NW2 "Back in 1953, Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain shot her lover outside this Hampstead pub, though today the atmosphere is so tranquil that it's hard to imagine such drama" [details]
8. The Manor Restaurant, Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, Bucks "For Waddesdon Manor visitors, lunch at the Manor Restaurant should be considered one of the main attractions" [website]
9. Rules, 35 Maiden Lane, London WC2 "A genuine piece of the capital's dining history. Rules began life in 1798 and more than two centuries later is London's oldest continually trading restaurant - a gentlemen's haut replete with ricu, upholstered decor" [website]
10. Thackeray's, 85 London Road, Tunbridge Wells "The house, with its all-white New England exterior, is the oldest in Tunbridge Wells and was once the home of the writer and satirist William Makepeace Thackeray." [website]

 

Popular British chef Jamie Oliver is starting a new series, but he won’t be seen on your TV. Jamie will be doing podcasts that deal with advice and cooking how-tos. Every topic tackled during the podcast will be in response to a query from a real cook who needs help in their kitchen. To get your question to Jamie, all you have to do is dial the dedicated phone line that takes podcast messages: 44 (0)207 043 8223. There is a 30 second time limit for messages and, as it is a standard London number, standard rates apply from wherever in the world you are calling. The best and funniest questions will make it on the air when the podcast launches later this year.

 What do jeans and wine have in common? Not much for most of us.

But if you're Renzo Rosso, the founder of high-end jeans label Diesel, they have everything to do with each other. Diesel has just launched a wine business, producing wines that are as expensive as their jeans.

The three new wines that were presented at Vinitaly are Bianco di Rosso (Chardonnay), Rosso di Rosso (Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon) and Nero di Rosso (Pinot Nero).

Each bottle is over £100 a bottle, targeted at the high-end market. Currently, restaurants such as Roka, Zuma, Les Trois Garcons and The River Café in the UK carry the wines. I haven't heard of them in the US yet.

Growing up, many children are told to clean their plates during meals. This is partially because parents want their children to finish their vegetables and mostly because no one wants to waste food. The most popular reason to clean your plate? "Because there are children starving in Africa." Whether this sort of statement has an effect on children is difficult to say, but it did have an effect on a restaurant in London.

The Obalende Suya Express, a West-African barbecue restaurant, is enforcing a £2.50 fine for patrons whose eyes are bigger than their stomachs and leave food on their plates. They host an large, popular buffet every Sunday night and the restaurant owners noticed that people were taking food just because it was available, even if they had no intention of eating it. The owners said that they felt guilty dumping out all the wasted food at the end of the night. Now, large red signs warn the customers about the fine. The money collected from the fines goes to Oxfam, a poverty-relief charity.

The only downside? When customers learn to take only what they are willing to eat, the charity won't be getting as many contributions - not from this restaurant anyway. Other restaurants, including chains like TGI Fridays, donate food and goods to charity already, but perhaps this will encourage more business to do so when they can.

A London auction house is offering part of a collection of war-time spy memorabilia owned by the late Doreen Mulot, who was a member of Britain's Special Operations during World War II. One of the most unusual pieces in the collection? A pair of aged prunes.  The now hardened fruits were originally intended to carry messages to prisoners of war. After being softened in water, the pit of the prune would be removed and a message - usually maps or escape plans - sealed in waxed paper would be inserted inside. The prunes would be re-dried and shipped out.

Mulot's great nephew is the one offering the prunes and assorted other memorabilia for sale. He described the plans as being "quite ingenious, [and] not the sort of thing you usually associate with fighting a war." This particular pair of prunes was not used during the war, but were simply kept as a souvenir of Mulot's service.