Monday, February 28, 2005

reel yummy



Even though I didn't pay much attention to the Oscars last night (they were kinda boring...even moreso because I saw none of the films), I thought it appropriate that today's theme be "food in film." It took a class in college called food in film. I could have sworn I posted about some of my favorite food movies here before, but I can't find it. So, in the future I'll have to list some of my faves. But tonight, I'll stick with these silver screen links...

ljc's oscar party had some great ideas! And who can resist oscar the pug in a bowtie?

more great oscar party ideas (the recipes won't be any good next year, but the other party ideas are cute!

Here's a really good article about food movies, especially "Big Night" (LOVE that movie!!!)

Trivia quiz about movies with food names. I got a 7 out of 10. I am amazed that one of the options on a question was "The Peanut Butter Solution." One of the oddest canadian after school special-like movies you'll ever see. I have it on video. I won't get into it because it's just too much.

Ever watch TBS's "Dinner & a Movie?" It's a fun idea, and I love some of the recipe names they come up with: New Age Baloney for LA Story, May the Borscht Be With You for Spaceballs and Peter Pancakes with Lost Boysenberry Syrup for Hook. Cute!

This book looks great. Unfortunately the library doesn't have it. I'll have to look for it next time I visit a bookstore. More about it.

Another reason I wish I lived in New York: A Food in Film series!

Here's another food/movie book. A book of recipes from movies! Neat!

A good list of food films with little articles about each one, from the London Food Film Fiesta. I wanna go!

Again, I'll reserve my favorite food films for another post. What are some of yours?

Monday, February 21, 2005

geek food

Cooking is about the only scientific type thing I do. It's fun to experiment with food, using the kitchen as your lab. So tonight's theme is all about edible science.

This restaurant, the Fat Duck, takes food science very seriously, and their website has lots of neat information about the kind of culinary experiments they do. Like studying the relationship of the human brain and taste:

"If you are told that you will be eating crab ice cream, it may appear as a bit of a shock. If, on the other hand, it was described as frozen crab bisque, then it becomes a lot less daunting. An interesting thing however, happens when you eat the ice cream. The brain is pre-disposing the palate to register more sugar than is actually there. This is because ice cream is always associated with dessert."

Cooking For Engineers is a great blog for those, well, engineer types.

An experiment to see if you can make good vodka using cheap crappy vodka and a brita water filter. My kind of science.

To me, it's a scary list of numbers. To smarter people, it's "Common Equivalent Weights and Measures." This would come in useful when watching Nigella or other british cooking shows.

What nerd doesn't love the How Stuff Works website? Check out their thorough section on how food works.

Illustrated food experiments. Fun! I especially like these banana tricks.

A lab schedule for a food sciences class. Interesting.

The CDC's "bad bug list". Scary stuff that lurks in food.

And finally, they've come up with the perfect geek food.

Put on your lab coat and get out your Bunsen burners and beakers! You can hypothesize all you want, as long as the conclusion is tasty.

Monday, February 14, 2005

a yummy history lesson

Struggle In a Bungalow Kitchen pointed to this website, which offers historical dinner party packages. I thought it was a neat idea, and then decided the theme for today will be old old old old OLD skool eats.

Some medieval recipes.

Medieval food clip art...this could come in handy.

Medieval mustard.

Tea from the Tea-Garden to the Teacup with Twenty Illustrations. neat!

A little bit on food and sex throughout history.

The history of pie. Wowsers!

A food history/food events calendar. For instance, This day in food history...

"It was not the first cookbook printed in America but was the first written by an American for Americans. All earlier American cookery imprints were reprints from the British repertoire. " And you can see pictures of it's pages here.

The food timeline is a wonderful food resource...both for food history and recipes.

And if you still want more, there's a plethora of food history books out there.

Loosen your petticoats and dig in! Old cheese, old meat, old bread...mmmm...

Monday, February 07, 2005

cheery

Feelin' kinda blue today, so I thought I'd cheer myself up with some food fun!

Q: How can you tell if an elephant has been in your refrigerator?
A: Footprints in the cheesecake.
That and other gems can be found here.

Funny food pictures

Penn & Teller have a book all about playing with your food. I must have it.

Speaking of playing with your food, here's a virtual Mr. Potatohead.

I've seen these 1974 Weight Watchers recipe cards plenty of places, but they're always good for a chuckle.

Iron Chef Drinking game.

EEEK! rats ate my cake! gotcha!

Let's play a game! Guess that fast food logo!

McSweeny's reviews of new foods. Hilarious.

And now my tummy hurts from giggling so much, so I'll leave you with my good friend, the Fruit Monkey!

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

My Wine experience

Over the weekend Jack and I (thanks to a wonderful Christmas gift of 2 tickets) attended the St. Louis Food & Wine Experience at the Chase Park Plaza. So my theme this week is a whole bunch of what I can remember from this event. (I'm sorry there's not more tasting info, I didn't take notes, I just remembered what I liked...there was alot of wine to taste ;))
The wines we tasted and enjoyed:
-Ravenswood is an old favorite of mine, and we got to try the old vine Zinfandel. MMMM.
-Mad Dog's & Englishmen Shiraz Cabernet Monestrell I do enjoy blends...and this one was yummy
-Rancho Arroyo wines
-One of my favorite things was finally getting to try some Bonnydoon wines. I have admired the company for their sooper-fun website for quite some time, but haven't had the opportunity to try any of the actual wine. I tried the Cardinal Zin and the Cigar-something (which was only available in the VIP lounge-hoighty-toighty). Very good. Check out their campaign to get rid of corks.
-Also, in the VIP lounge, we tried Ice Wine for the first time (sorry don't recall a maker). It was soooooo sweet. 2 sips was enough. I mean there was a certain green-ness to it, but wow...it was like candy.
-Guenoc Reserve Wines
-Another first...Norton wines. We usually skip over the Missouri wine section at the store, because there's this stigma of being too-sweet grape-juice like wines and the dreaded white zinfandel-esque crowd pleasers. But since we were trying new things, we tried Chaumette winery's Norton, and it was delish! Quite different...very fruity and juicy without being sweet.
-Coppola Wines, which besides being yummy, had this wonderful film-geek item-A giant wine bottle with an apocalypse Now DVD in the base! Oh man, when they come out with the Godfather ones, look out...there goes my savings account.

Okay, on the food part. There wasn't very many food booths.
-There was Father Dominic the Bread Monk, though. He did a presentation and book signing. I love his show...I whish PBS would start it up again.
-The Chef from a new St. Louis restaurant Red Moon was there, too, but we missed his presentation. The restaurant, however gets a hearty recommendation from my good pal (and frequent diner-outer) Kelly.
-McArthur's Bakery provided some divine sweets. We kept making excuses to "pass by" that booth. Tiramisou, Brownies, Strawberry Shortcake....slurp.
-And jack was very excited to touch a real-live Viking range. Our next food field trip will be to the Viking Culinary Center here in town.

I'm probably forgetting things and omitting essential details, but it was a great experience. Like exploring. And can you blame me, I mean it was pretty much a bottomless wine-glass kind of situation...I chose stem in hand over pen in hand. I encourage you to explore your food favorites, whether it be wines or soups or chocolate or whatever. You'll have fun, and probably learn some stuff. Go on an adventure!