Cut the shit Maria Sharapova, go do some drills.

We wonder why these amazing athletes become worse and worse at their sports. Well here’s a clue: The Media. Sharapova has been doing so many campaigns, ads and all the other cute shit that Hollywood is made for. And now at the prestigious Wimbledon, she decides to get screwed by Alla Kudryavtseva.

What the bloody hell is your problem Maria? You beat Serena Williams 4 years ago. Now you’re pathetic. Sharapova responded to the defeat:

“I guess it wasn’t my day. She just did everything better than I did.”

Well no shit sherlock. Of course she did better than you because she’s focused on the game and doesn’t have to do all the commercials and side crap you do.

Leave the glamor outside the court Sharapova.

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Filed under: Snacks, France, Bakeries, Artisan Foods

My obsession for those heavenly creamy, crispy, sweet French pastries, called macarons, began when I lived in Paris. I would go to the Ladurée, the pastry-shop and tearoom, almost every week to sit down like an old woman and drink tea and snack on a macaron. Ah, the wonderful gastronomic moments spent at Ladurée! It deserves its own blog post.

Recently, I discovered another incredible pastry-shop in Paris, Pierre Hermé, where you can try some interesting flavored macarons, such as caramel with fleur de sel and passion fruit with chocolate. The tiny store, located at No. 72 rue Bonaparte on the Left Bank, almost always has a quick moving line started out the door. As you enter this chic pastry boutique, your eyes are automatically drawn to the many gorgeous fruit cakes on your left. And then, as you get further into the store, all your senses are overwhelmed by the beauty — the fresh aroma of baked sweets and the stunning displays of various cakes and macarons.

My experience at Pierre Hermé was like a glance into heaven. By the time it was my turn to order, I was speechless. I had spent the entire time in line absorbing the smells and the delicious goodies instead of figuring out which macarons I wanted to order. One of the shopkeepers gave me a menu of macarons. I studied it closely and finally bought a box of 16. Check out my favorite flavors and more after the jump.

Continue reading Luscious macarons at Pierre Hermé

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Filed under: Culinary Kids, On the Blogs, Eggs, New Products

Are you concerned about your kids eating their eggs? The Egg Robot is here to help.

The Egg Robot comes with the robot suit and the spoon, but you have to provide the eggs, of course. It’s a newish toy that claims to make eating eggs more fun for your kids, thus they will now eat their eggs (it’s really nothing more than a fancied up egg cup). That’s assuming you have trouble getting your kids to eat eggs, otherwise it’s just a novelty item that’d hang around and clutter up your house.

I know I didn’t like eggs when I was a kid, except hard cooked eggs. There wasn’t very much my mom could do to convince me otherwise, but I don’t remember that being such a big concern for her. Maybe you could put other foodstuff in the robot to make your child want to eat whatever it is, something a little more important, like vegetables. Do you think this is a good idea?

[Via InventorSpot]

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Filed under: Dessert, Dairy, Spirit of Summer, Trends, Spices

After typing a post about a wasabi popsicle, I started to think about other spice and and ice combinations. Naturally, I thought of cardamom, one of my favorite spices. A friend of mine recently suggested that we make cardamom ice cream. Unlike wasabi, cardamom is widely used in both savory and sweet dishes, such as rice and pastries. Its deeply aromatic qualities have always attracted me. And now, I’m dying with curiosity to find out its potential with ice cream.

Below are a few recipes you can try at home:

• Pear and cardamom sorbet
• Rose-cardamom ice cream
• Cardamom ice cream
• Cardamom-pistachio ice cream
• Vanilla cardamom ice cream

If any of you have tried cardamom ice cream before, I’d love to find out what it tastes like. Please let me know!

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Filed under: Fruit, Raves & Reviews, New Products

I do not like the flavor of sweetened applesauce. I didn’t like it when I was a kid and I sure don’t like it now. I feel like adding sugar to something that is naturally so sweet and flavorful mutes the delicate flavors and makes it bland and flat. You might think I’m being a little overdramatic here, but I take my applesauce very seriously. In my family, we like to make our own, peeling and coring large mounds of handpicked apples and simmering the fruit down in a large pot with cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest and a hint of ginger. There were always quart sized bags full of frozen applesauce in the freezers of my childhood refrigerators.

So I was relieved to discover that the new line of Mott’s Plus Sauce, designed as a way to give active folks an additional way to bring calcium, fiber and antioxidents into their diet, is unsweetened. As I tasted my way through the packets, I liked the Pomegranate flavor the best, as it was tangy and smooth, without being cloying or overly processed. I had a harder time with the Cranberry Raspberry, mostly because you couldn’t detect the extra fiber in it at all and I kept wondering if it was really there. Essentially, my brain got in the way of my enjoyment. The Harvest Apple tasted just like the unsweetened applesauce that my grandmother kept around when I was a kid — smooth, gentle and terrific with cottage cheese.

Michael Pollan tells us not to eat foods with health claims on them, and while it’s true that simply eating an apple is the best way to go, this new line of applesauce from Mott’s is tasty, free from nasty additives and so is probably fairly inoccuous.

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Filed under: On the Blogs, Fast Food

Do you remember the old McDonald’s commercials for the Big Mac? They had that chant/rap about the special sauce and all that. Well, Micky D’s wants to update that marketing campaign and they need your help.

As reported on Fast Food Critic, McDonald’s wants you to enter a contest updating the Big Mac chant. You still have to use the special sauce, pickles, lettuce, etc, but they have all kinds of beats and samples you can use at their MySpace page. You can also get all the rules and more info there, too.

Just send in a video or audio tape of your remix, and be chosen by a panel of judges to be a semi-finalist, and your chant will be voted on by the public on July 22. The commercial will then air by the end of July.

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Filed under: America, Spirits, Artisan Foods

Artisanal distilleries are exploding across the country, especially in Portland, OR. Exploding onto the business scene that is, since literally exploding distilleries is a bad thing. This confirms what I have been saying the past few years. Hand crafted spirits are getting HUGE. Just to give you some general statistics again: 20 years ago there were around five artisanal distilleries in the US, five years ago around 20, last September 90, right now 150+, a year from now 250+. That is some amazing growth, and you can expect it to continue to keep growing for the next decade.

Some parts of the country are moving along faster than others. Here in Maine there was one that opened for business three years ago, one this time last summer, and one this past spring, with mine in the next few months, and from what I hear on the grape vine there are several more lined up for the future.

But that’s mild compared to what’s going on in Oregon. There, according to this article in the Seattle Times the southeastern part of the city of Portland is starting to get nicknames like “Distillery Row” and “Libations Alley.” There are at least ten artisanal distilleries in Oregon and that number is continuing to grow. Oregon is #2 in the nation for most artisanal distilleries in the state, with California #1 with around 22.

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Filed under: News

Sony revealed tons of figures today, including one concerning the PlayStation Network. The company has stated in its corporate strategy meeting that over 9.8 million people have registered accounts on the PSN. In total, 170 million downloads have been accumulated between these users. In related news, it was just last month that Japan celebrated making the one millionth mark.

Other figures from Sony include total sales for current gen platforms. PS3 and PSP had a combined 49 million total sell-in units. The PS3 and PSP have sold 12 million and 37 million, respectively.

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Filed under: in sixty seconds

• Pretty cakes are nice and all, but there’s nothing quite like a baked concoction that brings on peals of laughter. At the aptly named Frostitution, cakes take on a whole different spin — like, say, the miracle of life.
• And if cakes of nekkidness aren’t your cup of tea, there’s divorce cakes as well.
• One more reason to save your toonies for chocolate treats: Xococava.
• Wine deals: Hardys Stamp Series 2007 Riesling Gewurztraminer, Deakin Estate 2006 Merlot, and Katnook Founder’s Block 2005 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Farmers with roadside signs might get a break.
• Monforte Dairy whips up some tasty cheese, and gives me another reason to hit Brickworks on Saturday.
• Gilead Cafe: A bit out of the way, but worth the trip.
• An un-PC idea for wine snobbery and hints of petrol, plus some prime wine choices.

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Filed under: Condiments, Comfort Food

What’ll ya have? those are the words I heard many a time when I approached the counter at the Georgia institution of hot doggery, The Varsity Drive-In. I lived in rural, middle “Joe-Ja” out on a hidden cove on Lake Sinclair near Milledgeville for two years of grad school. Broke, working on two masters degrees at the same time, my entertainment budget was nill. Cheap eats were the norm and my roommates (two pretty gals, a blonde and a redhead) raised a lot of our own food and hunted, fished, and bartered for the rest. Every now and then we’d take a road trip and go shopping and partying in Atlanta or Athens. On the way home it was almost mandatory to make a visit to The Varsity to fortify ourselves for the long drive home.

The default choice is a chili dog, if you ask for a hot dog that’s what you’ll get. A frank on a soft bun with mildly interesting chili meat sauce and a streak of yellar mustard along its back. Two of those, plus an order of the fries or the fantastic onion rings, a peach fried pie for dessert (I dream of those at times), and you were good to go. To wash down your chow it is a must to have an FO, a Frosted Orange, which is a super tasty and refreshing creamy orange drink that tastes sort of like a creamsicle.

There are six locations of The Varsity. The Mother Ship, which is the worlds largest drive-in at “more than two acres and can accommodate 600 cars and over 800 people inside,” serves around 10,000 people a day, double or triple that on game days at Georgia Tech, handing over “two miles of hot dogs, a ton of onions, 2500 pounds of potatoes, 5000 fried pies and 300 gallons of chili… daily.”

Continue reading Hot dogs go Varsity in Georgia

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