March 16, 2010, 10:50 am 3 Comments
If love is like a bottle of gin, evidently a tall cold one bears a striking resemblance to a leggy brunette. In this commercial for Stella Artois, all the washing, grooming and primping a woman goes through preparing for a date evokes the image of a voluptuous Stella Artois glass being filled to the brim. Even the swift fitting into a pair of tasteful heels calls to mind the delicate seating of a glass on a classy coaster. Presumably the parallels follow through: both women and beer have frothy, air-filled heads, right? Video below.
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March 15, 2010, 4:23 pm 0 Comments
In this clip from last night's episode of "Tool Academy," the tool-testants are sent to a grocery store to shop for a meal they're supposed to prepare for their partners — and end up completely trashing the store and shotgunning beers.
The only thing worse than their grocery-store manners are their cooking skills, as evidenced by one tool's American cheese-lasagna. To be fair, a couple of the tools are much more adept at taking their partners' tastes into consideration than others, such as the dude nicknamed "Neander-Tool" who prepares a meal of salmon, asparagus and mushrooms for his lady because it's "the meal we had after the first time we had sex."
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March 15, 2010, 12:15 pm 0 Comments
—Paula Forbes
March 15, 2010, 10:02 am 0 Comments
Oxford American's Southern Food 2010 issue, guest edited by John T. Edge, is filled cover to cover with articles, essays and fiction detailing the many facets of Southern food. Mostly beautiful memories of dishes cooked lovingly by family and friends, the entire issue drives home the point that Southern food, perhaps more than any other regional American cuisine, is a cuisine built heavily on history, locality and memory. The best part? Anyone from the South will recognize places, people, basketball rivalries and flavors from their own lives, which is almost as comforting as mac and cheese.
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March 12, 2010, 5:27 pm 1 Comment
- To the right, a bacon-caramel filled chocolate Easter egg from Vosges.
- A compendium of awesome. First, a Muppet version of "Wicker Man," then suggestions for how to make supremely creepy candy. Apparently, baby-shaped cake pans are not in short supply.
- In fake Onion news that we all wish was real, Stan Van Gundy, Orlando Magic coach, has given all his players a BBQ cookbook to teach them patience and critical thinking. Roy Williams: take note.
- The author of "Billy Elliot" is writing the film version of British Chef Nigel Slater's Memoir. Unfortunately, the dancing will be kept to a minimum this time.
- Leann Chin, founder of the eponymous Chinese restaurant chain, died Wednesday from complications from a long-term illness.
—Rachael Oehring
March 12, 2010, 12:56 pm 1 Comment
Photograph by Matt Cardy / Getty Images
This is ridiculous. The UK's annual Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling—in which a wheel of cheese is hurled down a large hill and a bunch of yahoos chase after it, inevitably hurting themselves in the process—has been canceled due to safety concerns. Not for the participants, who are somewhat delightfully deranged and therefor on their own, but for the large crowds that have shown up in recent years to watch the spectacle. Authorities say the site is not equipped to handle the record 15,000 people who showed up last year; there are concerns about clogged roadways and ambulance access for the participants.
Are we honestly so safety-concerned now that there wasn't anything that could be done to continue a tradition that is hundreds of years old? Call us cranks, but back in our day you had salt in your restaurants, and you could roll a wheel of cheese down a hill if you damn well pleased.
—Paula Forbes
March 12, 2010, 12:08 pm 0 Comments
People, pay attention: this is a video of a Japanese robot that is capable of serving you food and beverages. It's balancing what we're fairly certain is a steak and some vegetables on its robot head while it goes through obstacles. Made by Toshiba and called the "Wheelie," this little guy is designed to help families with household chores, but it is clearly applicable to the service industry. Our minds are officially blown. Video below.
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March 12, 2010, 11:23 am 0 Comments
According to the old 17th-century English nursery rhyme "Old King Cole was a merry old soul," which is perhaps why he often depicted feasting in a court of jovial revelers. A 30-foot paneled mural of such a scene by Maxfield Parrish is one of the trademarks of the bar in the famous St. Regis Hotel in New York City. According to tavern lore, Parrish competed with his fellow artists to find a way to depict the king's unfortunate flatulence problem. The embarrassed looking grin on the face of the king paired with the surprised expressions on the knight's faces was Parish's answer to the problem.
A similar panel by the Italian-born artist Guido d'Aquili commissioned in the early twenties by a social club in Trenton, New Jersey also depicts the Old King Cole story. The sheepish grin upon the king's face is similar to the Parrish panels and the inclusion of a stubborn donkey (ass) appears to be a further jab at the king upon his throne. Food takes the center stage in the second panel titled "Ye Bowle" as a great silver tureen is carried into the court referencing the third line, "He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl." The panels are pictured below.
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