Archive for May, 2010

Can you whip lightning?

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Is there anything that the team here at Diners.org wants to accomplish, is for our readers to help us out by sharing with us the same things we write about.  Interesting food quirks, experiences eating out, nutrition articles that are worth a look, or whatever is else worth mentioning about food and the places we eat at.

Recently we received an email from “Rebbeca F”.  You may remember her from our Valentines Day contest.  She came across a website called “Whipped Lightning: The World’s first alcohol-infused whipped cream”.

LIGHTNING. WHIPPED IN A CAN.

Our first reaction was as if we were hit in the face with a Chuck-Norris-Grade-Roundhouse-Kick-of-Awesome.  Just look at the name “Whipped Lightning”.  It’s as if Zeus decided to help the culinary world of pastries and sweets by throwing down LIGHTNING BOLTS of POWER to fuel your sweet tooth.

Then to make things more groovy, the whipped cream is alcoholic (WARNING).  We can imagine the scene as a buzzed Dionysus walks up to Zeus as the lord of Olympus is making whipped cream and decided to help out.

The Website for “Whipped Lightning” is also cool in its own regards.  The catching name-phrasing continues in the form of Whipahol, a line of alcoholic beverages with Whipped Lightning at its center.  This cool marketing scheme goes beyond enticing potential “whipalogists” in the science of “whipalogy” (their words, not ours).  The product itself comes in the form of several flavors such as “White Chocolate Raspberry”, “Coconut”, and “Spiced Vanilla”.

A couple of facts about “Whipped Lightning” from their FAQ:  You are not supposed to refrigerate this, since apparently the cold separates the alcohol from the cream.  They also mention that you are supposed to turn the can upside down while spraying (for those of you who use whipped cream aersol cans, please let us know if this a standard trick).

Unfortunately, since the team at Diners.org is based in New York City, we can’t get our hands on “Whipped Lightning” yet to review it.  Coodles to the people behind “Whipped Lightning” though, they give you a “Where to buy” section to help you find this product.

Once again, thanks to “Rebbecca F” for telling us about this awesome product!  We look forward to hearing from the rest of you too!

Tweetin’ while Chefin’

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

With everyone and everything pretty much have their own niche on the internet, it still took us by surprise when we came across an article about Chefs who Tweet about their lives.   The article from NBC New York is an eye opener for those of us who only remember the restaurant chefs as those peculiar characters on TV.

This is the image that NBC New York used for their "Dine for Tweets" article. We can just imagine three chefs tweeting to each other on their iphones in the kitchen instead of speaking to each other. =)

Matt Duckor, the writer of the article, mentioned that chefs such as “Tom Colicchio (Craft) to Ryan Skeen (5 & Diamond) keeps a digital persona”.  Duckor also mentioned another article about Rick Bayless (from Chicago and the first season of Top Chef Masters) tweeting about dinner preparations at the White House.  You can read both articles here and here.

Would be kinda entertaining if you’re sitting at the table waiting and you can follow your chef through twitter as they make your dinner.  Tweets like “OMG where did the salt go” and “Billy knocked over the Soupe aux Haricots Verts again” comes to mind =)

What would you do with a Klondike bar?

Monday, May 17th, 2010

What would you do with a Klondike bar? How about a Klondike bar Coke float!

This delicious idea comes from Serious eats, it’s been a while since Diners has written about them, but they are serious; seriously delicious XD

Klondike bar floats, are an interesting twist on the coke float.  Using an ice cream bar with chocolate that will make this float your boat.

Directions:

1) Cut the Klondike bar in small pieces, this gives the coke surface area and helps to fit it in your glass, not everyone has a glass big enough to fit a Klondike Bar

2) Pour the soda, watch for the foam, note that it would probably get larger as you pour, so be careful not to let the foam spill over

3) Enjoy, it’s not rocket science, it’s delicious

Easy Chef Recipes and their app

Monday, May 17th, 2010

One of the problems with cooking from a recipe (whether from a cookbook or online source), is that you must write down your ingredients and head to the market.  That is, unless you are fortunate enough to have the ingredients at home.

Another problem, or annoyance rather, is that you must plan your dinner ahead.  In a society that moves as fast and as spontaneously as ours, the time necessary to muse over a cookbook is not a common luxury.

So, what to do?  Bringing a cookbook around everywhere with you is clearly not an option.

Fortunately for us, cellphones and mobile devices allow us to connect to each other in ways we never before imagined.  As a result, food websites like Easy Chef Recipes take advantage of this technology to make preparing foods easier for us.

A couple of screen-shots from the Easy Chef Recipe app at the Apple Store. We look forward to trying this app out.

With direct access to their 15,000+ recipes is the Easy Chef Recipe food app. This $1.99 app  is available to you from the Apple Store and going by its screen-shots and reviews seem to do the trick.

On a side note, what we don’t like about the app and the site is that there are no images of the finish dish at all.  An imagery clue would be nice.

The Team here at Diner.org is very interested in trying the app out and seeing if it is as convenient as it looks.

The Spice Aisle

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Perhaps one of the biggest nuisances in the kitchen is having too much, too little, or none of the condiments you need for a recipe.  We glance into our cupboards, cabinets, boxes, shelves, or whatever storage device we use and sigh.

Fortunately for us, there are people like Lenore over at the “Evil Mad Scientist” website who offer and encourage us to bring order to chaos.  Their solution is to use your own jars and labels, thus eliminating the mismatch of containers you find at the supermarket and making the labels easier to read.

"Spice must flow." This is a pic of the "use your own jar and label" ideas from the guys at evilmadscientist.com

It sounds like a lot of work but it does seem to pay off in the end.  The article goes on to describe five steps to success.  We’re only going to give the titles below and you can read the details here

Step 1: Get your own jars
Step 2: Make your own labels
Step 3: If it seems expensive, it probably is
Step 4: A shelf and a drawer
Step 5: Organize and display

No system is perfect however.  The article is followed by a tip to only keep enough spice in your custom containers for everyday use and to keep the rest in their original containers where it is cold, dry, and dark.

Thanks to the “Evil Mad Scientist” peoples for an excellent idea and read.

Now, now at Nunu

Monday, May 10th, 2010

NUNU Chocolates
529 Atlantic Avenue between 3rd & 4th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY, 11217
917-776-7102
7AM-9PM

Like many of you, the team here at Diners.org like to eat out.  Whether it’s a small cheap food joint or the kind of restaurant in which you have five different spoons in front of you, being able to enjoy food without preparing it yourself is a pretty awesome thing.

So a few of us and our friends checked out a small chocolate lounge in downtown Brooklyn.  It was a sunny day out which is perfect for an outing with friends.

We should have asked what "Nunu" meant

The place itself is small and seats maybe 12 people, so this place is more of a cozy post-dinner spot than anything.  When we arrive there the staff was in the middle of making another big batch of chocolates which was fun to watch.

What really got us interested in this place is their amazing collection of chocolate selections such as “Frozen Hot Chocolate” and assorted alcoholic chocolates.

A partial listing of their menu

We sampled a six-pack of chocolates of the alcoholic ones , each with a different brand.  The names are great:  “Found’s Port, Oskar Blues”; “Old chub, Rogue”; “Allagash Curieux, Arrogant Bastard Ale, Two Brothers Brewing Co”; “Cane & Ebel, Lagunitas”; and “IPA”.  We don’t know half of these names but if you do, feel free please educate us =P

More chocolates soon followed and we quickly lost track in all of the deliciousness.

We imagine that all of the "Frozen" selections are unfrozen for the winter

To add to the atmosphere, they also serve various wines and such for those of you look forward to that sort of thing.  I tried their White Sangria which was delicious. (Notice to all:  They do card and check your age here).

Now, being a specialty chocolate store the prices aren’t cheap but they are tolerable.  We all had a great time there though and we look forward to going back there again.

Check them out on their website here.  They also do catering and other events.

Happy Hour at starbucks

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Remember in April there was a promotion of free coffee when you brought a mug, now Starbucks has a new thing.

Happy Hour For All You Frappuccino Addicts!

Starting tomorrow on May 7th and ending on May 16th from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, get a frappuccino at half price! So grab a one and enjoy it, however you want it!