cookiesinheaven

Labels: blogtopia, contests, Food, Recipes

Labels: blogroll, blogs

Star of the kitchen
Originally uploaded by Rune T

...Nearly a year ago, Burger King’s top competitor, McDonald’s, signed a groundbreaking agreement to pay a penny more per pound to workers harvesting tomatoes, which means the workers get 72 cents to 77 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, up from 40 cents to 45 cents.

But Burger King, the world’s second-largest hamburger chain, has rejected working with the CIW to improve farm workers’ wages and conditions. - aflcio and indybay

Labels: farming, Fast Food, labor, Tomatoes, unions

Labels: blogtopia, Foodies

The almond industry, which has emerged over the last decade as one of the biggest and most profitable in California agriculture, depends on bees for pollination. And so every spring, fully 60% of the commercially kept honeybees in the United States -- more than 1 million hives -- are trucked to California's Central Valley to do their thing.

But what happens when one of the state's fastest-growing businesses depends on workers who are disappearing almost as quickly? That's what California's almond farmers are waiting to find out.

California produces almost 80% of the world's almonds, grossing more than $2 billion in 2007. The state's almond exports are more than twice the value of its wine exports.

While almonds have been growing into an agricultural powerhouse, bee populations have been dwindling. Most recently, plagued by a mysterious condition called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, honeybee colonies across the country have been vanishing, abandoning perfectly good hives. Even after two years, no one yet knows why. Theories are many, but definite answers are few.

And though the source of the disease is a mystery, its potential effects are not -- at least when it comes to almonds. Because it's this simple: Without bees, there are no nuts. - Latte Times

In the long, flat valley where the nation's almonds grow, bee thieves are striking hard this winter, nabbing increasingly valuable hives from farmers' fields where bees are used to pollinate blossoming nut trees.

A few weeks ago, 180 of Hall's hives were lifted over a period of days, a bit of banditry he estimates cost him nearly $70,000 in lost bees, pollination fees and honey production. - Forbes

This month ice-cream makers go on the offensive. Häagen-Dazs is launching two new honey-themed flavors and labeling bee-dependent pints to help save the honeybee. A portion of the proceeds, up to $250,000, will go to geneticists, entomologists, and educators at the University of California at Davis and Pennsylvania State University who will research the causes of the bees’ decline, create stronger bees in the laboratory, and teach the public how to make their surroundings more bee friendly.

The two new flavors—Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream and Vanilla Honey & Granola frozen yogurt—are both delicious. The honey flavor is sharp without overwhelming the vanilla, and samples left in DISCOVER’s freezer vanished in record time. So next time you’re looking for a virtuous indulgence, think of the honeybees. - Discover

Labels: almonds, bees, California Agriculture, Colony Collapse Disorder, Honey, Ice Cream

The Milford bakery that riffed on a fruitless search for Jimmy Hoffa is now tackling the text message scandal involving Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff.

Cookies shaped like cell phones and decorated with text messages saying "Busted" and "I'm sorry" went on sale for $1.75 Thursday at the Milford Baking Co., said owner Laura Hedwig.

"We wanted to have some fun with it," she said.

...In Milford, Hedwig sold thousands of cupcakes with green hands poking out of chocolate frosting in 2006 when the FBI was searching for Hoffa's remains on a horse farm in the community. - FreePress

Labels: bakery, cupcakes, marketing, politics

Farmer's Market treasuretrove!

Morgan (SuperSize Me) Spurlock came to Santa Barbara recently to participate in a discussion about providing healthy school lunches to American kids.

Really nice guy. Super funny. I had a chance to write up a little follow up in our local weekly, The Independent.

While praising the release of the school information, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat from Connecticut, said the Department of Agriculture should also release a complete list of retail stores that received the recalled beef.

The list of school districts that received the beef is available at an agency Web site.

Labels: Beef, Public Health, Recalls, Santa Barbara, School Lunches, Spurlock, SuperSize Me, USDA

Labels: blogroll, Chef, Cookbooks, Hawai'i, Hawaii, restaurants

The old White Lily flour mill, a downtown landmark for 125 years, will be closing this spring.

...White Lily flour and Three Rivers cornmeal have been produced on Depot Avenue for generations under eight owners over 125 years. It is a downtown manufacturing landmark and employer of about 112 workers, including plant staff and a sales force in the field. - Knoxnews.com

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising flour, preferably White Lily
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons shortening
2/3 cup cream
1 cup buttermilk, or more
1 cup plain flour, for shaping
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and arrange a shelf slightly below the center of the oven. Spray an 8-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt. Work the shortening in with your fingers or a pastry blender until there are no large lumps.

Gently stir in the cream. Stir in the buttermilk until the dough resembles cottage cheese. It should be a wet mess. If you are not using a low-protein Southern flour, this may require considerably more than a cup.

Spread the plain flour (not self-rising) out on a plate or pie pan. With a medium(about 2-inches) ice cream scoop or spoon place scoops of dough well apart in the flour. Sprinkle flour over each. Flour your hands.

Turn a dough ball in the flour to coat, pick it up, gently shape it into a round, shaking off the excess flour as you work. Place the biscuit in the prepared pan. Coat each dough ball in the same manner, and place the shaped biscuit "smuched" up against its neighbor. Continue scooping and shaping until the dough is used.

Bake biscuits until lightly browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. Brush with melted butter. Invert biscuits out onto one plate, then back onto another. With a knife or spatula, cut quickly between biscuits to make them easy to remove. Serve immediately. "Butter 'em while they're hot."

Cookiemadness even made a delish Red Velvet Cake using White Lilly. How can you get more "Southern" than that!

Labels: Biscuits, Flour, Recipes, White Lilly

...Food blogs "may not have the mass reach, but it's a more engaged, specific audience," said Greg Zimprich, a spokesman for General Mills Inc. "Their readers are going to care a lot more about a product of ours."

The Minneapolis food giant tracks dozens of small blogs devoted to rating foods. Most don't get more than a couple of thousand daily visits, but General Mills nevertheless sends off its cereal bars, soups and other packaged foods in hopes of a mention.

Keeping track of popular blogs is part of the job for nearly all the company's public relations officers, who use online services like Google alerts, BlogPulse and Technorati to track brand mentions. The blogs are often among the top links returned in online searches for certain brands or categories.

The way any given company reaches out to food blogs varies widely, of course.

The Hershey Co. invites bloggers to product launches along with the mainstream media. Kraft Foods Inc., which owns Post, makes it a point to keep blogs aware of all its newest products and even advertises on the more popular sites like HungryGirl and Best of the Bite, said Sydney Lindner, a company spokeswoman. - SFGate

Labels: blogs, General Mills, Hershey

Aid organizations around the world face budget shortfalls because of a rise in global food prices. The Rome-based World Food Program will have to reduce food shipments to disaster-hit places such as Darfur unless it can close a $500 million deficit.

Food prices have soared 55% since June alone, according to the WFP. The higher costs have resulted from rising oil prices, the use of crops for biofuels and skyrocketing demand for food in developing economies such as China and India.

The amount of food aid delivered abroad by the U.S. government has fallen 43% from 2002-07, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. - USAToday

...The warning comes as Egypt mobilises its army to bake more bread and overcome severe shortages that have led to disturbances in long queues forming outside bakeries. Four people have died in clashes amid claims that subsidised flour has been sold off for profit on the black market. - The Guardian

Labels: Food, food supply, Hunger, prices

Labels: chicken, Easter

It's PEEP season....

Labels: cake, Peeps

Labels: Books, Chinese, Cookies, Film, fortune cookies, Japanese, San Francisco

Two and a half years ago, Margaux Sky opened the Art Café and Bakery in San Luis Obispo, California. Her specialty: delicious sandwiches on homemade bread. While business had been steady, she was barely making ends meet. This summer, she decided to sell her café.

Her last to-go order happened to be for Oprah, who was in the area to meet with Tim Bennett, the president of Harpo Productions and Margaux's brother-in-law. Oprah took one bite of Margaux's Curried Chicken Sandwich and was floored.

Margaux was to sign the papers to sell the café at 9 a.m. the next morning—at 8 a.m. she got a call saying that Oprah was going to help out to keep the business open. "I thought, anybody this good can't be closed down," Oprah says. "So I sent Margaux a check, and now she's back in business and cooking like crazy!" - Oprah.com

They get new customers daily who come to try Oprah’s favorite sandwich, she said. Last weekend, a couple from Italy came in to enjoy the famous chicken curry sandwich. The cafe has also been written about in the Lonely Planet travel book, which brings in curious travelers.

The cafe has expanded its offerings to include “allergy-free” baked good and breads. The products are free of dairy, nuts and gluten, and have brought in many local patrons with food allergies.

“I have people who have not been able to eat a sandwich in a restaurant in 10 years, and now they can come here,” she said. “It’s really rewarding.”

Nozzi is travelling to Chicago in mid-March as part of Country Living magazine’s search to find the top women entrepreneurs of 2008. - SanLuisObispo.com

Some of the unusual breads found in this book....Lavender Mint Love Bread, Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Bread, Spicy White Pepper Jack Bread (upon which the O sandwich is built upon), Concord Grape Bread and Maple Merlot Bread. There are of course, the sandwiches, but also some soups to accompany these masterpieces.

Speaking of breads, cakespy battles some Irish Soda Bread just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

Labels: Cookbooks, oprah, restaurants, san luis obispo, sandwiches

....Short supplies have raised the price of wheat worldwide and sparked protests over the cost of tortillas in Mexico and pasta in Italy. In the United States, it's raised the cost of such basic goods as bread, cereal and pizza.

...The price of bakery and cereal products rose 1.8% in February, the largest monthly increase since January 1975. Overall, the cost of eating at home has risen more than 5% so far this year, the fastest rate since 1990.

...The plight facing small bread makers like Bohbot -- and much larger businesses such as Sara Lee Corp. -- prompted the American Bakers Assn. to hold a protest march in Washington, D.C., last week.

Labels: baking, Bread, prices, wheat

Details in the kitchen of Hearst Castle.

Labels: California, Hearst Castle, Kitchen

In Martha Stewart’s Cookies, the editors of "Martha Stewart Living" give you 175 recipes and variations that showcase all kinds of flavors and fancies. Besides perennial pleasers like traditional chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin, there are other sweet surprises, including Rum Raisin Shortbread, Peppermint Meringue Sandwiches with Chocolate Filling, and Lime Meltaways.

Cleverly organized by texture, the recipes in Martha Stewart’s Cookies inspire you to think of a classic, nostalgic treat with more nuance.

Labels: Cookbooks, Cookies, Martha Stewart

So few salmon are living in the ocean and rivers along the Pacific Coast that salmon fishing in California and Oregon will have to be shut down completely this year unless an emergency exception is granted, Pacific Fishery Management Council representatives said Tuesday.

It would mark the first time ever that the federal agency created 22 years ago to manage the Pacific Coast fishery canceled the coast's traditional salmon fishing season from April to mid-November.

Such a move would jeopardize the livelihoods of close to 1,000 commercial fishermen from Santa Barbara to Washington State and would significantly drive up the price of West Coast wild salmon.

...The doom and gloom brought on by the poor run was made worse by news that the number of jacks - 2-year-old fish that return to the river a year early to spawn - is the lowest ever recorded in the Central Valley fall run. Scientists use the number of jacks that return as an indicator of what next year's spawning season will look like.

Fisheries experts expected 157,000 jacks, but counted only 6,000 - SFChron

A complete closure of salmon fishing in California and Oregon this year appeared more likely Tuesday after federal managers grappled with the hard facts.

The drastic proposal – which would mean fresh local salmon would not be available in stores, restaurants or farmer's markets – is driven by a dramatic decline in Central Valley fall-run chinook populations. The total has dropped by more than 90 percent since 2002. - Sacramento Bee

Labels: California, Environmental, fish, salmon, West Coast

....as we head into this future that's been "set in stone for us already," it's important to note that 10.9 percent of U.S. households, representing 12.6 million families, already qualify as "food insecure" by USDA standards. For these folks -- and for people in the global south who have been rioting in response to being priced out of the food market -- spiraling costs may be impossible to accept, no matter what the former Conagra guy says. They will be forced into wrenching decisions -- what to eliminate from their budgets to keep the food coming. - Grist

Labels: Food, food insecurity, prices

The film chronicles events since July 2006, when editor Jerry Roberts and five of his colleagues quit the Santa Barbara News-Press, citing owner and Co-publisher Wendy McCaw's abandonment of journalistic ethics, which McCaw denied. Since then, McCaw and dozens of her former staffers have been engaged in a fierce clash of wills that raises important national questions of journalistic ethics and media ownership. - Citizen McCaw

Labels: Movie, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara History

Labels: stalkers, trolls

...Drawing upon the premium chocolate expertise of Artisan Confections Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hershey Company, master chocolatiers have created a portfolio of chocolate that showcases the artistry of the bean-to-bar chocolate-making process and flavor experience of Starbucks. The chocolates are crafted with high-quality, flavorful cacao from around the world and then thoughtfully blended with premium natural ingredients, authentic Starbucks® coffee, Tazo tea and other authentic coffeehouse flavors.

...The collection includes: signature dark, mocha and milk chocolate bars and tasting squares; Tazo® Chai, Passion and Citron tea-infused chocolate tasting squares; Caffè Mocha, Chai, Espresso, Caramel Macchiato and Madagascar Vanilla Bean Truffles; and Milk Chocolate Covered Caffè Verona® Coffee Beans.

...Now available nationwide, Starbucks Chocolate retails for $2.99 and up and will be sold at grocery, mass retailers, club and drugstores. The Starbucks Chocolate portfolio will not be available in Starbucks stores at this time. - Yahoo/BusinessWire

Labels: Chocolate, Coffee, Hershey, Starbucks, tea

Labels: Food Banks, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara History, Share Our Strength

Co-owner of Green Truck, Kam Miceli says his operation is entirely sustainable. Solar power runs the kitchen, vegetable oil used in cooking fuels the trucks, even plates and flatware are made from corn that's compostable rather than petroleum-based Styrofoam.

"We reclaim all the water we use on the truck and wash the trucks with it at the end of the day," said Miceli.

And the food is also lean and green. They have the Mother Trucker burger -- it's vegan -- we've got the breakfast burrito with a tofu option and no iceberg lettuce served here, loads of dark leafy greens -- big and nutritious.

...Currently two Green Trucks serve L.A.'s Westside, Beverly Hills and downtown area with trucks driving into Santa Barbara and Irvine next month.- ABC7.com (with video)

Watch another video of Green Truck over at YourLA.

Labels: Organic, Restaurant, Santa Barbara

Montrose
Originally uploaded by santa barbarian

Labels: Birthdays, California, Los Angeles, montrose

Labels: Food, food labeling, USDA