"northern europe" news and stories

In Alaska those famous flying reindeer are being served up for dinner. You can get Caribou steaks, roasts, and reindeer jerky and sausage- in mild and hot versions. Reindeer hot dogs are a summer time treat, as well as being served during the start of the Iditarod dog sled race every year in March. Caribou, also called reindeer, have a very flavorful and lean, healthy meat. To make sausage with it, you actually have to add fat from other sources such as beef and pork. It is sometimes hard to find but Ikea sells it all across Europe. So how about a nice spit roasted reindeer for the Holidays?

You can buy caribou and other game and exotic meats at some of the following places:

• Fossil Farms
• www.ExoticMeats.com
• Jamison Farms Elk Meat
• Elk USA
• Fisherman's Express
• Indian Valley Meats
• Alaska Sausage and Seafood
• Safari Snacks

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The 2006 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony was held on December 10th at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden. The event is, of course, one of the most well-recognized celebrations of achievement in the world and prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology/Medicine, Economics and Literature were officially awarded.

In addition to the ceremony, there is a huge banquet - and we always look forward to hearing about what was served. This year, the three-course menu included a mosaic of salmon and scallops with Kalix bleak roe; herb-baked saddle of lamb, mashed potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, olive oil-glazed vegetables and port wine sauce; and pineapple parfait with caramelized pineapple salad and mint. The wines served included Pommery Grand Cru Vintage 1996 Champagne, Veenwouden Classic 2002 Paarl and Château Haut-Bergeron 2003 Sauternes.

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Kölsch is a German beer style that I began to explore late in my long and checkered career as a beer geek. Real late, as in a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure what took me so long. I'd tasted it before. My brewcrastination may be largely due to the fact that so many other big, flavorful German beers just shouldered the gentle beer from Cologne out of my palate's way.

My first real experience with kölsch was at a birthday party for my dear friend and fellow carnivore Josh Ozersky. Much meat and many glasses of Gaffel kölsch were consumed. I came away with the impression that I could easily quaff voluminous amounts of this refreshing nectar on a hot day in a biergärten. Dazed as I was by meat and alcohol, I still retained enough clarity to know that I needed to investigate this venerable brew.

While one would expect that diamonds are a big draw for thieves, wines seem like a much less likely target. Luxist reports that one of the top restaurants in Sweden had its entire collection of French Bordeaux wines stolen - over 600 bottles of wine. The reason that this particular collection is so significant is that it holds the Guinness World Record for the most unique wine collection in the world. It included bottles from the six Grand Cru vineyards: Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut Brion, Chateau d'Yquem and Chateau Latour. All totaled, the value of the stolen bottles is around $500,000.

It seems likely that the bottles will be resold gradually over time and because a bottle of Mouton Rothschild is probably more difficult to track than diamonds are, the restaurant may not be able to recover its collection.

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Planning on doing some traveling this summer? Looking for a list of the dining hot spots that you should stop by for a memorable meal? Start with the go list from Food and Wine magazine, which picks out 376 restaurants chosen by "plugged in correspondents" from 50 cities around the world. They have the goods on restaurants like Michael Mina in San Francisco, Rockpool in Sydney, Ferran Adria's Fast Good in Madrid and Felix in Hong Kong, including a picks at both the high and lower ends of the price range.

Now, it's not possible that a list like this, even such a large one, would have all the great eats of any given city, but you aren't likely to have a bad meal by picking any of their choices. If you're traveling somewhere a little off the beaten path that isn't on the "go list," or are looking for something specific, it might be best to turn to another source of restaurant information. And the best resource, in my opinion, when traveling and looking for good eats is still Chowhound. Take some time to browse through their archives and look for recommendations, or pose a question on their message board if you're looking for something specific - like the best mexican food in Boise, ID.

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