Features


Miracle Berry Party

Whiskblog.com
Finally a cure for antioxidants…
Imagine this. You are living in West Africa thousands of years ago, and you are exploring the bush, when you come upon a shrub with brilliant red berries on it. You pick a few, and eat them, chewing them thoroughly before swallowing. Still hungry, you take a bite of the food you have brought with you for a snack. But you discover that the taste of the food has been transformed. What had been bland is now flavourful; what had been sour is now sweet! You have discovered Synsepalum Dulcificum, known today as the Miracle Berry.
Wow, a hallucinogenic berry that didn’t take off. I must be seeing things
Filed under Features | Tagged |

Charcuterie project goes viral

Washington Post
Charcutepalooza! Shar-coo-teh-pah-LOOZ-ah. The name practically rolls off the tongue while you consider all it might entail. Cured meat and good times. A group meat-and-greet. A concert to salute salumi. Twitter and food blogger pals Cathy Barrow and Kim Foster are not sure about that last concept, but it’s early yet. Their “year of meat” project is less than six weeks old, and developments are unfolding daily. But it’s already a prime example of new culinary education where pros don’t lead the pack, newbies aren’t afraid to join in and no classroom time is required.
Filed under Features | Tagged , , |

An affair to remember: dates with a difference

Telegraph
Pets, whiskey or performance art: just don’t take her to Ask
The Wapping project Supper at a restaurant. An art exhibition. A night at the theatre. All classic date territory but not exactly original. Unless you try the Wapping Project. Once the Wapping Hydraulic power station, it?s now part-restaurant, part-performance space, and, well, just about the coolest place in London. Indeed it is so trendy that guests sit between brooding photographs and pieces of industrial machinery. The building boasts an in-house butcher; the furniture is, to be frank, ugly and the website is so ephemeral that it is almost impossible to navigate. But, East London edginess aside, the restaurant is excellent, and the layout is in a constant state of flux, meaning your meal may overlap with anything from a post-Postmodern art installation to a classic film night. To book a table visit www.thewappingproject.com
Then ask her to marry you
Filed under Features | Tagged , |

Tried and tested: low-power cookers

Telegraph
Can’t pay your bills?
Every appliance in my house is overpowered. The combined noise of the vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, washing machine and tumble drier can create a din on a level with Heathrow Airport – when it is not snowing, of course. Every gadget I switch on has a super-fast or extra-hot option. When we have guests to dinner, I have to choose between dirtying up the kitchen with cooking fumes or allowing the cooker-hood fan to drown out the conversation.
Well it’s better than being lectured at by Martin Lewis
Filed under Features | Tagged , |

Ignore Expiration Dates

Slate
There’s a filet mignon in my fridge that expired four days ago, but it seems OK to me. I take a hesitant whiff and detect no putrid odor of rotting flesh, no oozing, fetid cow juice – just the full-bodied aroma of well-aged meat. A feast for one; I retrieve my frying pan. This is not an isolated experiment or a sad symptom of my radical frugality. With a spirit of teenage rebellion, I disavow any regard for expiration dates.
Filed under Features | Tagged |