"vacation" news and stories

Red, white and blue tartlet. Photo: Nicisme, Flickr

So it's nearly Independence Day weekend, and we're celebrating, too, by stepping away from the computer, throwing some shrimp on the barbie (or, OK, maybe burgers) and trying to find some local fruit as gorgeous as these snapped by Nicisme on Flickr. We'll be back in full posting mode on Monday.

Meantime, if you're anywhere near a farmers market that has any sort of berries right now, you'd be remiss to skip out on grabbing a few gorgeous berries like those shown above. Blueberries are snappy and sweet, strawberries seductively red and stone-fruit season is just around the corner. We're grateful for the holiday -- and for proximity to nature-made sweet treats like these.

Admit it. At some point in your foodish life, even if for a fleeting moment, you dreamt of opening a restaurant. Or perhaps a cute little cafe. Maybe it was to become a star chef. For us, Slashfoodies, a dream job is in food, right?

Snap out of it. You have bills to pay, screaming kids demanding your attention, and you still have eleven things on your to-do list that you were supposed to do yesterday.

And work in a job as a chef? Please. What you really need is a vacation.

Well, now you can do both. Vocation Vacations is a combination of a dream vacation with your dream job. They've put together lists of "vacations" all over the world that incorporate a few days of "work" in a dream job, and have a whole slew of food-related dream vocation vacations: brew master, baker, star chef. Personally, I'd love to be "restaurant critic" and fly all over the globe, eating in a different delicious restaurant every night.

But that one's not available.

Unless you travel frequently for business, travel season doesn't usually start until late spring, with spring break, or summer, when many people try to get away from it all for a week. The hardest part about being on vacation is eating right, especially because we tend to tell ourselves that it is ok to indulge - a vacation is from your diet, as well as from your job, right? Indulgence is fine, but even on vacation it's not a great idea for every meal. Forbes Traveler offers up some advice on how to travel and stay thin that will come in handy if you want to stay in shape for swimsuit season

Their basic advice to chose lighter salads and sandwiches, especially in airports or other places where they is a lot of fast food and to avoid fried foods, is good for almost any situation. On the plane, avoid the snack packs, which are usually packed with calories and not much in the way of worthwhile munchies. You can always bring your own snacks.

Once you've landed, order sauces on the side and choose from the "light" menu if you is offered, especially when you're eating at the hotel. Save the splurges for when you get to try some of the local cuisine.

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We've covered a couple of theme park food stories lately, including one where UK parks were visited by a "secret mum" looking for healthy foods and one where Six Flags decided to offer a protein-packed Halloween option to its guests. Now, Disney is looking to make some food changes at their parks - for the better.

The company announced that they would eliminate trans fats from the food at their theme parks, as well as in any Disney licensed food products, and will be instituting a new set of guidelines for offering healthier food options in general:

• Placing a limit on total calories, resulting in smaller portions
• Limiting fat to a maximum of 30 percent of calories for entrees and side dishes, and 35 percent for snacks.
• Limiting saturated fat to 10 percent of calories for main dishes, side dishes and snacks.
• Limiting sugar to 10 percent of calories for main dishes and side dishes, and 25 percent of calories for snacks.

The new guidelines will be phased in gradually over the course of the next few years, although the trans-fats will be eliminated by 2008. There is no telling what effect any of these changes will have on park favorites, like churros, funnel cake and ice cream cones since their nutritional information is unknown at the moment, but it's possible that you might not be able to get some of these treats after next summer.

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If you ever went camping as a child, chances are that you have a vivid memory of the first thing that you cooked or ate, whether it was hot dogs, s'mores or simply marshmallows, it was probably cooked on a stick. After all, was there any reason to go camping if you didn't get to eat food off a stick? You know that no one was out there for the mosquito bites.

Cooking on a Stick: Campfire Recipes for Kids is a book full of camping recipes that children can make on their own. It is aimed at the 7-11 age range and written specifically for kids, unlike some books that are simply about feeding them when you're doing the cooking. The book covers basic fire safety, describing how to build a fire properly (sort of seems like a boy scout/girl scout thing) and how to put it out, before introducing the young cooks to easy recipes with cute, appealing names. In addition to the stick foods (Moose Kebabs and Ranger's Apple Pie), there are foods cooked in pouches (Favorite Beans and Hibernating Bananas), grilled foods and snacks, like GORP.

And, yes, there is a recipe for s'mores, too.

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