Salad Towers: Food Engineering in ways you never expected

January 18th, 2012

Okay, a few of us would admit to be hogs at buffets.  Who wouldn’t?  At an average of $30 a plate, you want your money’s worth.

But of course, there are people out there who like to CRANK THINGS TO ELEVEN.

"LOOK ON MY WORKS, YE MIGHTY, AND DESPAIR!"

Behold the “salad tower”.

What is it really?  According to these websites and blogs, it is a scheme in China and Korea to take advantage of salad bars and their “one bowl only policy”.

What you would do is bring your bowl to the salad bar, level it out with a good foundation, build the “floor” with carrots, then construct the walls using pineapple and sliced cucumbers.  Then, fill up the center with the PICKINGS OF YOUR CHOICE.

Yeah, you read that right.  This exploit was the result of trying to get around a one-trip-to-the-salad-bar policy.  Clearly the policy failed.  In fact, there are now INSTRUCTIONS for the salad tower.  Here’s a few samples:

If only my Bachelor's of Science was this useful...

Check out the rest after the jump.  Here, have something more condensed:

Understandably, the management at the Pizza Huts in China aren’t happy about this.

So now, there are no salad bars in any of the Pizza Huts in China.

Nuts.

Posted in News, Outer Food Limits | No Comments »

Coming soon: PS Vita from Taco Bell?

January 11th, 2012

We are all probably familiar with occasionally hearing about prizes and rewards from contests in the food we eat.  A classic example would be the free toy at the bottom of cereal boxes.  But now, Sony is doing something with their PS Vita product… a chance to win one ahead of the official release by eating at Taco Bell.

According to this post on the Playstation Blog, news unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 reveal that SONY and Taco Bell are banding together to promote the soon-to-be-released PS Vita.  How will they do this?  By offering up the chance to win FREE PS VITAS in three ways.

This promotional starts on January 26th and ends on March 11th and the three ways you can win a PS Vita is called the “Unlock the Box, Battle, and Boast”.  The one that caught our attention is the “Unlock” method:

The Unlock Box

The box cotents. Not shown: your next health report.

UNLOCK THE BOX: Beginning January 26th, Taco Bell’s specially marked $5 Buck Box – which includes a Cheesy Gordita Crunch, Crunchy Taco, Burrito Supreme and medium fountain drink – will also provide a code that can be entered online for an instant chance to “unlock” and win a PS Vita.

What’s even more amazing is the blog post claims there will be a winner every 15 minutes.  We’re not sure how reasonable that will happen, but by golly we guess we’re going to try Taco Bell one more time.

You knew this joke was coming.

For the curious, winners would receive “one PS Vita 3G/Wi-Fi system, one copy of the PS Vita exclusive Little Deviants, one 4GB PS Vita Memory Card and your choice of one of the following: ModNation Racers: Road Trip, MLB 12 The Show or LittleBigPlanet.”

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Welcome to 2012!

January 5th, 2012

How many rounds does this make? Eh, who cares? Image courtesy of Getty Images

Ho boy, we’re a bit late coming back from the end of 2011 aren’t we?  Like much of the world, we simply partied too much while pondering the implications of 2012.  So naturally, we emerge back into the regular world wondering what we should do to address our recent “alcohol contamination”.

Our first thought is to swear off alcohol for months (as if that has any real chance of happening).  However, a BBC News article published on New Years Eve suggests otherwise:  for the sake of your liver, cut back your drinking habit slowly rather than abstaining altogether.

Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said that people tend to believe the hype about rejuvenating their liver by detoxing in January.

“People think they’re virtuous with their health by embarking on a liver detox each January with the belief that they are cleansing their liver of excess following the festive break.

“A one-hit, one-month attempt to achieve long-term liver health is not the way to approach it.

“You’re better off making a resolution to take a few days off alcohol a week throughout the entire year than remaining abstinent for January only.”

We can see the merit in this thinking; it’s sort of like hitting the brakes in your car.  You want to ease slowly on the brakes rather plant both feet straight down.

As we celebrate (re-celebrate?) using the leftover champagne, we also come across this:

What the-? Image courtesy of Impact Lab

That’s a 3D printer for food.  Or at least, the concept of them.  More on this next week about this approach to repair fruit with defects that normally don’t make it to our supermarkets.

Posted in Health, Holidays | No Comments »

Sushi, the movie

December 23rd, 2011

With Christmas this coming weekend, we are pretty sure all of you are thoroughly bombarded with holiday “cheer”.  So, before the last of the Diners.org staff leave for the weekend we just want to show you this movie trailer of a sushi chef in Japan.

His sushi bar is part of the Tokyo subway, but his talent is so good he is considered to be a national treasure in Japan.  This documentary film covers the story of Jiro Sukiyabashi and it is claimed that you must make a reservation a YEAR in advance to have a chance of dining there.

The movie “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” comes out March 2012.

Until then, have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanza to all of you!

Editor’s Edit:  Diners.org will resume on January 2nd, 2012.  Enjoy the rest of 2011 and cheers for the brand new year of 2012!

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Would you eat 2.5 kilometers worth of sushi?

December 21st, 2011

We’re sure there are some of you out there who answered “yes” to the question in the headline.  Now, where can you find 2.5 kilometers or 1.55 miles worth of sushi?  Believe it or not, it isn’t in Japan.  No, you would have to go to Yekaterinburg, Russia to indulge yourself in this cucumber sushi roll.

In Soviet Russia, sushi ROLLS YOU, etc. etc. Image courtesy of EnglishRussia.com

What may look like rope in the above photo is actually sushi before it is cut up into the chunks you and I enjoy.

This may take a while. Image courtesy of EnglishRussia.com

Here it is in action:

To show how crazy this is, the 15-hour project took ” 60 chefs 1.5 tons of rice, 500 kg of cucumbers, 14 thousand pieces of nori and 25 kg of sesame.” (Gizmodo, EnglishRussia.com)  That’s one heck of a grocery list.

Everyone gets four pieces. FOUR EQUAL PIECES. EnglishRussia.com

The accountants out in the audience can start calculating how much this would cost.  No, I don’t think you can order this to go.

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A commercial worth waiting for

December 19th, 2011

We’ve been covering a lot of alcoholic themes lately, but with the onslaught of Christmas feasting upon us the staff of Diners.org decided to give it one more go.  The following commercial is brought to you by a brew from Ireland…

If you look closely, they even represented the famous “second pour”.

For those of you who don’t know, a pint of Guinness that is poured from the tap is done in two stages.  The first pouring of Guinness only goes about three quarters of the way up the glass.  This allows the beer to settle before the second pour begins which preserves the creamy texture and head.

So, drink responsibly and hope you enjoyed the commercial as much as we did!

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Free Burger King fries!

December 16th, 2011

We’re glad that caught your attention. In case you haven’t heard from the cries of a hungry populace today, Burger King is offering free samples of their new “thick cut style” french fries today December 16. By samples, we mean a VALUE SIZE order for one person per visit. Supposedly, this deal will run from midnight to midnight today, so as of this post you have 8 HOURS AND 16 MINUTES LEFT TO GO.

"Let my children remember the day of the great french fries slaying." Image courtesy of ibmtimes.com

According to the first article we were forwarded, the

“new fries are a thicker cut of potato, which creates a more fluffy and wholesome potato flavor on the inside but retains that golden-brown crisp on the outside. The fried coating keeps the fries hotter longer, and also adds a crunch texture to keep customers coming back for more. Burger King’s new fries contain 20 percent less sodium than the previous fries, and the company says they’re healthier because they’re cooked in trans fat-free vegetable oil, and don’t contain animal products.”

We’ll just have to see about that.

To find your nearest Burger King , click on this link for their Google Map locator.  We hope as many of you take advantage of this promotional as possible.

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Rummi Bears

December 14th, 2011

We’ve done thought experiments with food before.  Normally it’s for seeing which leftovers combined with canned goods can give us a cheap lunch.

But then there are the webcomic artists.  (Editor’s note: I must add that if you are not above the legal age to drink in your county that you must refrain from following the recipes and ideas in this article.)

Last week, we are linked by a reader about the idea of “Rummi Bears”.  Read on.

Comic courtesy of Greg Dean at Reallifecomics.com from 12/6/2011

Which inevitably led to:

Comic courtesy of Greg Dean at Reallifecomics.com from 12/7/2011

So, naturally we did some digging.  Much to our amusement, soaking Gummy Bears overnight in vodka or rum is not unheard of.  It even gets referenced on Jimmy Kimmel Live:

As well as having an entry on eHow’s “How to Make Vodka Liquor Gummy Bears”.  You are going to need the following ingredients (most of which you know already): Tall glass or mug, gummy bears, vodka or rum, and plastic wrap.

  1.  Buy a pound of gummy bears and put them in a tall glass or mug.
  2. Pour vodka into the glass of gummy bears until it covers the gummy bears.
  3. Cover the mug with plastic wrap and put the mug in the fridge for about five days. Don’t get afraid after two days or so when there is a lot of sugary goo that is some remnants of the sugar from the gummy bears mixing with some of the remaining vodka. This will go away after the four days of soaking in the fridge, and all that will be left will be giant soaked vodka gummy bears.
  4. You might also find some fruit-flavored vodka at the bottom of the glass. It might not look like something you would want to serve to others, but it will be just fine for drinking.

There are a lot of testimonies in the comments section about failure and success with “alcohol soaked Gummy Bears”, so it might take some trial and error.  Just try to do it sober.  Please?

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Burger Combo at NYC Sliders

December 13th, 2011

Previously, Diners.org we visited NYC Sliders at the Clark Street station for the 2, 3 train.  Sheepishly, we did not review their food that time.  So naturally we return with hunger and a camera!

We also saw this sign on their counter. More about Seamless.com in a future article. The Seamlessweb.com link leads to the same page.

We went with a Cheeseburger combo with drink; which includes two cheeseburger sliders, fries, condiments, and a can of soda.  Out of the gates, our order got messed up and we received hamburgers instead of cheeseburgers.

Not pictured: cheesburgers

Aside from that, it wasn’t bad for $7.21 (including tax).  The hamburgers were well-done and tasty while there is literally a mountain of fries that comes with the meal.  Seriously, we think the amount of fries outweigh the burgers!

FRENCH FRIES OVERWHELMING!

Aside from getting hamburgers instead of cheeseburgers, the combo meal was top notch.  A member of our staff commented that the burgers reminded him of the old Big Mac taste back when he was a kid.  Except you know, smaller.

We're trying really hard not to do a White Castle joke.

Overall, we are quite satisfied with NYC Sliders.  Their menu also contain more grab-and-go foods other than hamburgers and cheeseburgers.  We’ll be back to try out more from their menu and with them located literally at the Clark Street station, this may be very soon.

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NYC Sliders – Downtown Brooklyn, Clark Street Station

December 7th, 2011

You normally won’t think to go inside a subway station to find someplace to eat, but NYC Sliders doesn’t care.

It was just the other day when we picked this up:

It's like picking up a quest!

Which led us here at the Clark Street Station (2, 3 train) at the Hotel St. George:

A hotel and a subway station all in one!

See? It is a subway station.

Where we found:

We'll let you guys caption this one.

At NYC Sliders, we met Stathis I. and George who work the counter and make the magic happen.

George and Stathis I. at NYC Sliders. That A rating means alot since they serve food in a SUBWAY STATION.

They don’t have a website other than their Yelp page which is here.  You can call them for delivery at (718)-855-8008 with a $10 minimum.   The easiest way to reach NYC Sliders is by taking the 2 or 3 train to Clark Street station.  Once you come out of the elevators, turn left and NYC Sliders should be on your right.

Sadly, we don’t have photos of the food.  So look forward to the next article about NYC Sliders as we sample their menu!

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