Dining in 2015 Design Competition
Posted by Jenny Lewis Categories: Features, Trends, Utensils, Kitchen Gadgets
You may not think much of your silverware or your plates, but someone does. The results of designboom’s Dining in 2015 design competition were announced a few months back, and there were a number of fantastic entries. Out of a total of 4843 entries from 98 countries, the five person jury narrowed it down to 3 first prize entries and an honorable mention from a shortlist of 160 amazing entries. My favorite entry from the shortlist, pictured above, is the “cutlery in a wallet,” designed by Alberto Ghirardello of Italy. It was “designed to facilitate outdoor eating,” and I can’t think of an easier and more compact way to do exactly that.
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Schlitz to Resume Brewing
Posted by Jenny Lewis Categories: Trends, Food Trivia, History, America, Midwest, Beer
After a number of unsuccessful changes to the brand, the Schlitz brewery (one of the oldest of the old school breweries) closed in 1981. First brewed in 1849, Schlitz beer was successful for over 100 years before changes in production (and the overall quality of the final product) killed the product’s popularity and, therefore, sales. The brand changed hands twice - once in 1982 to Stroh and earlier this year to Pabst - and is now being brewed again and is in such high demand that stores are reportedly limiting the numbers of cases customers can buy at one time.
Though brewing operations are on the east coast, Schlitz is currently only available in Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis and Western Florida. Pabst is hopeful that the new old brew will be more widely available as brewing operations ramp up.
Read More | MSNBC
TasteBook coupon code: Save $10 on purchase
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Books, Shopping, Trends
In case you haven’t heard of TasteBook, think of it as iTunes for recipes. Basically, you head on over to the site, and you are able to fill your own customized recipe book with a certain number of recipes. You can choose from over 20,000 of them, and you can mix and match them in any way you like. You can even design your own cover! We’ve seen people create themed books, like vegetarian, chicken recipes, soups, etc., while other just go crazy and throw in anything that looks appetizing to them. The end result is a beaufitul, hard-bound cookbook with recipes that can be removed and put back in.
If interested, head on over to the TasteBook website using this TasteBook coupon and you’ll get $10 off of a book. If you end up getting one, let us know what you chose, and what you think once you get it.
Read More | Save $10 on TasteBook
Wanting To Live A More Organic Lifestyle
Posted by Jenni Burns Categories: Farming, Health, Trends, Organic, America
Many people would love to buy organic produce, organic meat, and live a more wholesome life. But what stops most of us? Money, time and space. The mindset I’ve struggled with is, “I can’t buy organic because it’s too expensive,” or “I don’t have the space to have a garden because we have such a small yard.” My husband, Chris, found this website called Path to Freedom, that really challenges those limiting mindsets. The website is put together by a family who lives in urban Pasadena, California. This family has turned their small 1/5 acre lot into a rich garden with around 400 varieties of edible plants, supplying nourishment for them as well as a sustaining organic produce company. I found this site interesting and extremely inspiring. Take a look at their site and see if it doesn’t inspire you to turn your rose bushes into string beans!
Read More | Path To Freedom
I have four children, four and under. Yes I typed that right, and no, I’m not crazy. Okay, maybe a little - but not completely. The six of us live in a 750 square foot house, two bedrooms, one bathroom. You are probably wondering by now what all of that has to do with food. Actually, quite a bit! With so many little mouths to feed, several times a day, together we create a lot of dishes. I think I ask my husband at least once a week, “Who made all this mess? And who’s going to clean it up?!?” Me. I am the human dish washer. Not that my husband doesn’t help, he does, but he can only do so much.
Click to continue reading Meal Time: Clean Up
Coffee has replaced the malt or soda as the drink of choice among teens who want to hang out with their friends in a place with ambiance. Coffeehouses are springing up all over the country, providing rich brews mixed with lots of milk and whipped cream. Though there has been some concern about caffeine content, most teens aim for lattes, mochas, and cappuccinos, drinks with lots of steamed milk. Some are even savvy enough to order decaf. Recent research is showing that coffee, in moderation, may even help with concentration. And for some parents trying to get more milk into their teenagers, coffeehouse brews aren’t that bad.
Not only are teens drinking more coffee, but they are also dispensing these savory drinks at local coffeehouses. In fact, some of these young baristas are so into coffee that they go on to compete in national latte art competitions. That is, they create images in the foamy milk: hearts, leaves, trees, etc.
Opening a bottle of good wine with a corkscrew may soon be a thing of the past. Because of the shrinkage of acreage that grows cork trees, corks have become scarce and wine makers have sought alternative ways to seal wine.
First came the plastic corks that don’t crumble like the natural corks do when a corkscrew is applied to them. A number of American wineries that changed to plastic discovered a side benefit. They didn’t have to worry about “corking,” a contamination that sometimes occurs in wine when it is exposed to a bad cork. Sometimes, corks can contain bacteria that can spoil a wine. At other times, the cork just gets musty smelling or bits break off into the wine. These are two conditions that can make the wine not as pleasant to drink.
Recently, more wineries are actually sealing their bottles with screw tops. Though many wine aficionados turned their noses up at the thought, equating it with skid-row wines or fruity college beverages of the past, they soon found that screw tops actually kept even the finest wines at their peak. And, screw tops preserve leftover wine better in the fridge, without it going flat.
Instead of reaching for that package in your supermarket, which often comes from corporate farms or factory animal farms thousands of miles away, make friends with your local farmer at your city’s farmer’s market this summer.
Organizations like Slow Food, Field to Plate, Chiefs Collaborative, Local Harvest, and Fair Food America are trying to educate consumers about where the food they eat comes from and how it’s being grown and harvested. These organizations advocate making connection with the people who grow your food. They suggest that people should buy locally grown foods from farmers markets or directly from growers and ranchers. They suggest reading labels at your supermarket and looking for certified organic, grass-fed, sustainably caught, and fair trade foods.
More importantly, these organizations suggest eating foods in season when their flavors are at their peak. This also means that in order to enjoy strawberries in December, you will need to freeze them in June or make preserves.
Amanda Archibald, founder of Field to Plate, says, “If you are eating off the land, there are no decisions you have to make about vitamins and nutrition, or getting too much of something.” What she says makes sense. It’s sound nutrition. And, local food in season tastes so much better than something picked green and shipped halfway across the world.
Dubbed eighteen years ago in a naming contest sponsored by three Napa Valley wine makers, these wines combined the best qualities of the French varietals Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon (the “merit”) grown here in the US with the blending tradition of Old World Bordeaux (the “heritage”). The result was a line of red and white table wines that was uniquely American. The White Meritage, in particular, is hearty enough to satisfy the hardened Chardonnay enthusiast but is much softer on the palate and tends to age better. It also is less expensive. Though there are more than 150 American wineries producing Meritage wines, they have caught on in Mexico, Canada, and even in Israel and Australia. You can pick up White Meritage wines from California growers like Murrieta’s Well, Lyeth, and St. Supery.
Demystifying Growth Labels
Posted by Janie Franz Categories: Lists, Shopping, Trends, Food Trivia, Organic
Here’s a quick guide to all of those food labels you find in your supermarket:
Certified Organic: Produce grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
Fair Trade: Foods grown and harvested by companies that offer a living wage and acceptable working and living conditions.
Free-range: Chickens allowed to graze in a large open lot and not housed in cages. Some beef and bison are free-range and may be given some grain during the last few weeks to fatten them up. This doesn’t harm the animal nor expose it to antibiotics.
Grass-fed or Pasture-fed: Animals that have grazed on pasture land and fed only grass and may be raised without antibiotics and growth hormones.
Locally Grown: Food raised locally, usually within a few miles from where you buy it. This does not mean that the food is organically grown or grown using any sustainable agricultural methods.
No Antibiotics: No Growth Hormones: Meat from animals raised without antibiotics and growth hormones.
Shade Grown: Chocolate or coffee grown in the understory of the rainforest, usually at higher elevations.
Sustainably Caught Seafood: Usually caught with a hook and line, with limited by-catch, and includes dolphin-safe tuna.
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