"room" news and stories

We have heard that formal dining rooms are back in vogue on the restaurant scene this year, which means that the combination restaurant dining room/kitchens, where everyone had a clear view of their food from start to finish, will gradually be phased out. Patrons are now more interested in eating the food and appreciating the subtleties of a well-prepared meal than they are in watching it be prepared. With the massive number of cooking shows on TV, can you blame them? Everywhere you turn, you can see great pictures of food and videos of how its made, but the restaurant is where you can taste every delicious looking item that you wouldn't ordinarily get at home.

The UK Guardian is saying that the "Nigella Effect" is responsible for this change, as the sultry chef's recommendation is enough to make people try anything. She sold the public on 250,000 tins of goose fat over Christmas, so the end of open-air kitchens was easy by comparison. But although she may have helped to speed up the trend, it is far more widespread than Britain already - and like it or not, it seems as though this trend could be here to stay.

Source

While the smell of waffle cones from Ben & Jerry's is alluring, I'm not sure how long that appeal would last once you invite it into your home. For $15, you can find out. The Ben & Jerry's online store also sells sprays that mimic their Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavors. I'm not sure if this stuff is edible, but part of me worries that people will start using them like other food sprays. I suppose they could also be used as perfume. I know that the friends of mine that worked at Ben & Jerry's always smelled like waffle cones when they got off work. It wasn't terrible, but I think they got sick of it pretty quickly.

[Via Boing Boing]

Artist Prudence Emma Staite is a lot like Willy Wonka in that she makes an astounding variety of things from chocolate. Her website, Food is Art, shows just how dedicated she is to remaking ordinary objects into edible art. Using fine Belgian chocolate, she makes everything from chocolate sculptures, like the chocolate kitchen set pictured here, to chocolate board games. The giant chocolate Jenga puzzle is made of more than 130 pounds of chocolate! She also has miniature chocolate games, paintings and does custom works. Her most Wonka-like creation is the edible chocolate room. The room contains pieces made entirely of chocolate, including a fireplace with mantle and chandelier, and even the walls are made of lickable chocolate with lickable sugar wall paper.

 

Source