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by gansie

In Support of Sea Turtles

A gifted memory is something I do not posses. My brother, on the other hand, will remember how to find my great aunt’s apartment building, even if the last time we traveled there Reagan was president.

I can only remember a few events from when I was 10 years old or younger, and one of them was balloon day. All of the kindergarten classes were led outside, given balloons, and told to release them at the count of ten.

I looked up. An abstract Seurat of boldly colored balloons. And then they floated into a hundred directions. Apparently killing sea turtles, because the next year we were no longer allowed to send plastic into the air, as we were only 60 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.

I of course didn’t want dolphins and fish and turtles to die, but that vision of carefree balloons traveling to the clouds made me happy. But I also think the rush came because I knew it was something our class wasn’t supposed to do.

I haven’t thought of that magical balloon day in years. But when I bought a six-pack of beers with hard plastic rings surrounding the necks, I thought about a change in my environmental consciousness.

80 and I picked up two flavors from Depot Street Brewing in a grocery store in Tennessee. The beer was okay, but I we were happy to buy local and I was fully intrigued by their funky red plastic holders. I tried to figure out the gimmick; it looks like they are reusable and there is a recycling program tied to returning the holders to the brewery (150 returns gets a drinker a free T-shirt).

I’m hoping to see more of this: local breweries leading the green revolution.

by gansie

Pour Some Sugar On Me

Alton Brown changed my mind about vanilla. Vanilla gets a bad rap, he insisted. We shouldn’t be comparing boring, plain things to vanilla. Vanilla is a unique flavor. It’s extremely labor-intensive to grow, making it the second most expensive spice, after saffron.

Most of us consume food flavored with a vanilla doppelganger in liquid form. That’s not actually vanilla. I’m too lazy at the moment to find my bottle, but I’m guessing there’s HFCS in that little guy. A baker I am not, I will admit to never fiddling with a real bean. But I am a fan of Häagen-Dazs’ new gimmick: real ice cream.

All-natural ice cream crafted with only five ingredients for incredibly pure, balanced flavor… and surprisingly less fat!

Their “five” has been out for a few months now, but I just recently purchased a pint of their vanilla. I usually go for the crazy ones with multiple flavors going on: brownie chunks with espresso and caramel swirls in cinnamon oatmeal ice cream. Or something like that.

Anyway, HG’s vanilla contains only: skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla (vanilla bean flakes, vanilla extract). It’s fucking delicious. It does taste different than other vanillas. It’s bolder. Thicker. It’s familiar, but better than you remember.

But more, I like this trend. Pepsi came out with a “throwback” version featuring, wait for it, real sugar. Mountain Dew is also on the bandwagon. And the version of Coca-Cola sold in Mexico — with sugar — is gaining popularity in the States.

Now it’s not like these are suddenly health drinks, but it is nice to know that the big companies recognize that consumers want the real thing, even if it’s still not all that good for us.

by BS

Top 10 New Things to Put in Your Drink

We’ve certainly never been against drinking here at ES — it just traditionally takes a back seat to eating. However, in the last year we’ve found ourselves getting more and more excited about cocktails — because every time we go out we discover our favorite ingredients have migrated from the plate to the glass. From fruits and vegetables to spices and more, here are our top 10 favorite new things to mix in our drinks.

10. Saffron

A saffron ice cube anchors the Venetian, one of several new food-inspired cocktails at Tulio in Seattle.

Not just for paella anymore, the Spanish spice has started showing up in cocktail glasses, too. Saffron Restaurant and Lounge in Minneapolis has mixed the pricier-than-gold flakes into saffron-mango mojitos, saffron-blood orange martinis, and their current offering, the gin-based Saffron Rose. Tulio, an Italian restaurant in Seattle, recently introduced The Venetian — a vodka cocktail poured over an orange-y saffron ice cube. For those experimenting at home, the folks over at Video Jug have a video on how to mix a saffron vodka martini. (Tulio photo: Evan Johnson)

9. Beets

Fresh beet juice, ginger and vodka make up the Beetnik at Colorado's Dogwood Cocktail Cabin.

It’s hard to make a drink look more dramatic than when filled up with bright red beet juice, as in the beet sangria at New York’s Tailor or the Beetnik, a vodka-ginger-beet concoction served at Crested Butte, Colorado’s Dogwood Cocktail Cabin. Meanwhile, the gals at The Humble Kitchen have a recipe for their own tequila-based Beetnik. (Dogwood photo: eenwall)

8. Mole

Mole bitters liven up the Palermo Gentleman at Death + Co. in New York.

Mexico’s spicy-sweet chocolate treat is making the surprising transition from tamales to cocktails via Bittermens Bitters newest product, Xocolatl Mole Bitters. A neat way to add quite a substantial kick to any drink, the mole bitters are showing up in new cocktails like the tequila-based Chipilo at Brooklyn’s Buttermilk Channel and several options at Manhattan’s Death + Co. (Photo: Vidiot)

7. Sriracha

Every Top Chef contestant’s favorite secret ingredient can save a cocktail menu too, as in “El Scorcho,” a fiery mix of habanero infused vodka, sriracha, and jalapeno foam at Bend, Oregon’s Blacksmith restaurant. The sauce also makes a great replacement for Tabasco in bloody Marys — the blog White on Rice Couple has a great recipe, and if you want to get super-serious, check out their instructions on how to make sriracha from scratch. (Photo: White on Rice Couple)

6. Chinese Five Spice

A Chinese five spice grilled lemon garnishes the Fortune Teller at Bar Pleiades in New York.

Another ingredient Chinese chefs may be shocked to discover in American cocktails, C5S is showing up both as a garnish, as in the Fortune Teller drink served at the Surrey Hotel‘s new Bar Pleiades in New York, and as the basis of a drink, such as Imbibe magazine’s Five-Spice Fizz. (Photo: Bar Pleiades)

Next: Top 5 New Things to Put in Your Drink

in Drinks / Eggs / Endless Cocktails / Featured / Lists / Trends 13 comments

by Russell Warnick

Camera Etiquette for Food Bloggers

We’ve all done it at some point. A dinner plate comes our way and we’re so excited about what has come before us that we whip out the camera and snap a picture. Sometimes we might even take a picture because the food looks terrible. I’m sure many of you foodies have done that too.

For those of us who blog about food it’s a pretty safe bet that we carry around a camera or other mobile device to record a dish that we’ve eaten, either to show it off to friends or for a story.

I’ve been looking for a particular shot of an appetizer for a recent post and I recalled Ulah Bistro on U St serving some tasty apps, including their chicken wings, which was exactly what I was looking for. I was seated at the bar, myself and my other half were the only ones there so I got out my camera and started taking a couple of snaps…Within seconds the bartender shouted across the bar to me: “Why are you taking pictures, is there something wrong with the food?” in a tone that was borderline aggressive.

My response was somewhat mute as I was stunned, I did reply with a “No, the food is good” as it was, but I still felt like I had been reprimanded by my mother. And living in DC we’re all too familiar with photographer rights.

Trendwatching: Tea Party Edition

Whatever happened to coffee?

Has anyone else noticed you can barely check into the food world nowadays without bumping into someone going on and on about tea? I’ve been in a number of restaurants lately where the after-dinner menus featured “specialty teas” alongside the espresso and brandy. Bon Appetit is telling us to infuse our food with tea. There are tons of blogs about tea, blogs just about green tea — hell there are even blogs about tea cosies.

Over at Oyster Locals, I checked out three new NYC tea houses to see what all the fuss is about. They all featured some far-out flavors, and I certainly finished my teas, but I have to admit I have yet to find one tea that totally knocked my socks off.

So I’m wondering — do all you foodies out there get as excited about tea as you do about say, coffee and cocktails? I mean, I’ll drink a cuppa, but I’m still not totally sold that it’s the greatest thing since sliced bacon.

Thoughts?

(Photo: Rumproast via Look at This Fucking Teabagger)

in Drinks / Trends 2 comments

by Russell Warnick

Cooking at the Consumer Electronics Show

We can’t let the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas go by unnoticed. We here at ES still choose the iPhone over Google’s entry into the smart phone world, Nexus One, but we’re not for passing up an opportunity to talk about some sexy kitchen toys. I’ve found (from my office desk, not Vegas 🙁 ) the funkiest and perhaps most useless kitchen items to ever grace the earth currently.

MyDemy (above) is to cooks what Kindle is to avid readers: an all in one recipe book, timer, conversion chart and ingredient substitution thingy. It’s “kitchen safe” which basically means you can splash a few drops of water on it and you’ll be fine, just don’t drop it in a pot of boiling oil.

The MyDemy does seem like a great tool for storing all of your personal recipes (if the Kindle were color and had pictures I’d already be an owner of such a device). At $299 the MyDemy seems slightly overpriced considering it appears to only sync with its website Key Ingredient. If I were to really make use of this then I would need to have hundreds of recipes, which I don’t really have. Even if I did, it would take me years to type them all out. Perhaps MyDemy 2.0 will interface with Epicurious and then we’d be good to go.

Celebrate What You Want To See More Of

I’m not a big fan of email quote signatures. I don’t mind when people use e-signatures for their work email. And I don’t mind when people include their email/phone/website. But quotes? I kinda feel like I’m back in 8th grade trying to memorize the lyrics to Water Runs Dry.

ES friend jakesg forwarded me an email with a link to his friends’ video. The video is for their sustainability class. How cool – sustainability class. The video’s a bit DIY with missing audio around the 2 minute mark that last for 45 seconds. But go with it.

Because as Jake’s friend’s email quote says: Celebrate what you want to see more of.

Maybe email quotes aren’t so bad.

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