"north america" news and stories

"The Little Saigon Cookbook: Vietnamese Cuisine and Culture in Southern California's Little Saigon"
By Ann Lee
Photography by Julie Fay
Insiders' Guide -- 2006
Buy it on Amazon

Though exotic cuisines may be daunting endeavors for many cooks due to foreign and sometimes costly ingredients, "The Little Saigon Cookbook" is a clear, straightforward cookbook that sheds light on the culture while making its cuisine approachable and delectable.

Interspersed with interesting stories about Vietnamese culture and traditions, the book is a well-thought out tribute to Vietnamese foodways -- with delicious recipes to boot, ranging from the obvious dishes to lesser-known exciting ones like the Shaking Beef Salad with Watercress and Tomatoes or Pork Braised in Caramel Sauce.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Black widow spider. Photo: Ian Waldie, Getty Images.

Talk about sour grapes!

Toronto resident Brett James was reaching into his refrigerator to grab his wife a snack when he found a black widow spider lurking under the bag of grapes he'd purchased at the local Whole Foods Market, the Toronto Star reports. He thinks the poisonous spider came in with the grapes.

"When I lifted the bag, the spider was underneath, just sitting on top of another bag in the refrigerator," James tells Slashfood. "I wasn't sure exactly what it was, and I had heard stories before, so something was in the back of my head that it could be serious."

He lifted the spider out of the fridge on a paper towel and put it in a plastic container. After poking around on the Internet, he said he identified it as a black widow, a spider whose venom can cause muscle cramps, tremor and chest pain.

Seal meat. Photo: tootsmabel/flickr

Here's one food that may or may not get your seal of approval.

Seals -- the same lovable, clapping sea creatures that are a favorite zoo attraction and poster child for animal activism -- are being served for dinner by our neighbors to the north.

The New York Times reports a small number of fine dining institutions in Canada are incorporating seal meat into their menus.

Combine the unusual nature of the meat (the taste has been described anywhere from gamey to beefy to fishy) with the fact that the European Union recently banned imports of Canadian seal products, and suddenly the seal-serving restaurants have become both a target for hate mail and unforeseen hungry tourists.

Hear from one seal-serving chef after the jump.

Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things, most recently the owner of LeNell's liquor store. She's owned her own whiskey label called Red Hook Rye and been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.

You survived the Derby Day parties, and your annual mint julep tickled everyone's fancies quite nicely. Now you are wondering what to do with that leftover bottle of bourbon.

How dare you have a leftover bottle of bourbon, first of all! But if you do, here's an easy way to get rid of it.

After sunscreen, citronella candles and heat rash, does anything say "summer" more unequivocally than a lobster roll?

This baby, captured by VirtualErn at Flickr, appears to be the lobster roll to end all lobster rolls, the embodiment of the deceptively simple art of serving chunks of crustacean, barely dressed in mayonnaise, in a bun. Note the minimal accessories: lemon slices, crisp coleslaw and a drop of mayo. The better the roll, the fewer adornments it requires. If this specimen tastes as good as it looks, it most likely calls out for little more than a good appetite -- and, possibly, a bib.

[Via Flickr]