"old fashioned" news and stories

Oh, the glamor of it all -- painted-on eyebrows, slicked-back hair, ruby-red lips...and tiny little cocktail glasses. Stars and starlets of long ago often included a cocktail in hand as part of their sex appeal onscreen.

In 1930, gorgeous Greta Garbo spoke this famous line: "Gimme a whiskey. Ginger ale on the side. And don't be stingy, baby." We love the fact that one of the first talkie films mentions the makings of a whiskey highball.

Sipping Champagne is made even more fun when you dip a potato chip in it. (Thanks, Ms. Monroe, for that suggestion in The Seven Year Itch). However, we prefer a sugar cube and some bitters and maybe some brandy in our bubbly. In the 1942 flick Casablanca, head waiter Carl serves up more than one Champagne cocktail in Rick Blaine's Café Americain bar. We can't ensure that those cocktails won the film's three Oscars, but they sure didn't hurt any.

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:

From the freezer to the jar to the mouths of lucky recipients: YumSugar marinates and jars artichoke hearts. Too bad they only keep for a week!

David Wondrich's book "Imbibe!" -- "part cocktail-making manual, part biography and part bartending history" -- outlines the beloved hooch of yesteryear.

A Derby Day-perfect Old Fashioned recipe.

Beets: Are they for loving or loathing?

... and maybe more importantly: Paula Deen: do you love her, or desperately want to leave her?

YumSugar melts tastebuds with pictures from Taste of the Nation in San Francisco, and provides a delicious look at Mission Beach Cafe.

And would you ever eat a sweet seven-layer dip?

Kettle Foods, the makers of the popular thick-cut Kettle-style potato chips, has introduced a new product to their line of healthier, baked chips. Kettle Bakes Pretzel Chips are thin, flat versions of pretzels, made with organic flour and topped with a variety of all-natural seasonings, including coarse-grained salt. Think of them as a hybrid between crackers, pretzels and potato chips, good for dipping as well as for snacking. Available flavors include Original, Honey Dijon and Fully Loaded, which is similar to an "everything" bagel, with onion and garlic flavorings, as well as sesame, poppy and caraway seeds. The chips are low in fat, contain no trans fat and have only 110-120 calories per serving.

It's hard not to love a root beer float and even harder when it comes in an old fashioned soda fountain glass. These pastel-colored glasses will have you seeing the world through rose colored glasses as you sip a delicious, refreshing, old-fashioned treat in the comfort of your own home. A great way to show these off is to invite a few friends over and set up a grown-up ice cream sundae bar that will let you relive your childhood. The designer also offers banana split boats and appetizer plates in the same collection.

In case it's been a while since you had one, to make a root beer float all you need to do is scoop some of your favorite vanilla ice cream into a large glass and, carefully, pour over a can of root beer. If you pour down the side of the glass, instead of directly on top of the ice cream, you'll be able to reduce the amount of foam you create slightly. Drink it through a straw, but don't forget to keep a long-handled spoon nearby to scoop out all the ice cream!

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Known for his cutting edge experiments, er, cooking at one of the world's top restaurants, The Fat Duck, chef Heston Blumenthal is not a man to shy away from a challenge. When he bought a pub, the Hinds Head, he thought he would have to leave his chemistry set in the car and cook more traditional pub fare. While some of the dishes are quite ordinary, what the diners didn't realize is that Blumenthal has a more unusual definition of "tradition" than most.

Instead of simply looking for classic favorites to serve at his pub, like fish and chips, he looked through medieval cookbooks as a jumping off place. Dishes like "quaking pudding" from the 15th century were cooked up, along with "chocolate wine" from the early 1700s. The most disturbing recipe, which seems to be what engouraged his curiosity for the old-fashioned cooking, is as follows, recounted by Blumenthal:

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