cookiesinheaven

Labels: FDA, food safety, Recalls

Labels: Brigitte, Mirabelle, Norbert, Solvang

Purchasing managers for Kraft Foods and Frito-Lay have admitted taking a total of $318,000 in bribes from a broker at a major Central California tomato processor while arranging to buy the company's products at inflated prices, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

A third defendant pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding his former employer, a tomato products manufacturer and marketer, out of $975,000 before leaving in 2005 to join the tomato processor, SK Foods of Lemoore (Kings County). The charges, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, are part of a federal price-fixing investigation involving SK Foods.

...Prosecutors have said the corruption alleged in the case has raised consumer prices for tomato sauces, soups and salsas. The charges announced Tuesday provided the first few details. - SFGate

Before World War II, there were commercial growers and canners in many states — including Delaware, Virginia, Utah, New Jersey and New York — and California produced only 20% of the nation’s tomatoes. Thanks to the development of both mechanical harvesting equipment and tomato varieties that can be picked by machine, the number rose to 50% in 1953, and reached 95% in 2007.

...Concentration in the tomato industry goes beyond the farm, into the seed business, where just three companies — Heinz, Bayer CropScience and Monsanto — control 90% of the market.

Labels: California Agriculture, farming, Frito-Lay, Illegal, Kraft Foods, Tomatoes

Labels: Birthdays, oprah

For 20 years, the event has brought together the most creative culinary minds across the nation. Pioneers of modern American cuisine and national celebrities including David Burke, Stephan Pyles, Bravo’s Top Chef Tom Collichio, Food Network stars Tyler Florence and Emeril Lagasse and thousands of other chefs have donated their time, talent and passion at more than 55 events across the United States and Canada with one goal in mind: to raise critical funds needed to help the more than 12 million children at risk of hunger in America.

Labels: Share Our Strength, Taste of the Nation

The Hershey Co. said Tuesday it plans to close Scharffen Berger's West Berkeley manufacturing plant as well as the San Francisco factory that makes Joseph Schmidt chocolates and consolidate production at other facilities.

Hershey, which in 2005 bought both Scharffen Berger, which specializes in premium dark chocolates, and trufflemaker Joseph Schmidt, will continue to produce those brands, but the chocolates will no longer be locally made. - SFGate

Labels: California, Chocolate, Hershey

The venerable but financially beleaguered Niman Ranch, famous for selling high-quality natural meats since being founded in the early 1970s by Bill Niman (who left the firm in 2007), was forced this week to merge with Natural Foods Holdings, a division of the Chicago-based equity company that is Niman’s largest investor. According to the San Francisco Business Times, Niman CEO Jeff Swain said in a letter to shareholders that the Bay Area company was in default on loans, owed key vendors money, and was facing a decline in sales.

Swain told shareholders that Niman had been unable to secure additional credit and that without merging it did not have the funds to continue operations past the end of this month. - Gourmet

Labels: bankruptcy, farmers, Financial, Food

Labels: Fancy Food, Flour, Foodies, gourmet food, Honey

The negative online review came in a week after Doug Washington opened his third restaurant, Anchor & Hope in San Francisco. He felt it was malicious and made no sense. So a fired-up Washington tracked down the reviewer at his office nearby and confronted him.

The red-faced diner, surrounded by curious colleagues, apologized. But since then, Washington says, "I've put down my guns. If you try to fight all these reviews, you're asking to be Sisyphus."

Restaurateur Chris Hemmeter, founder and CEO of the E&O Trading Co., has another approach to the ranks of self-appointed restaurant critics: Follow everything that's written every day.

To do this, he has enlisted the help of a Mountain View company called BooRah, which today will launch a new "reputation management" service for restaurant owners. The 2-year-old firm, which started as a restaurant search site, is expanding to create summaries of everything that's being written about a particular dining establishment. It uses technology developed in-house to analyze the sentiments in online reviews and then generate scores, rankings and summaries. - SFGate

Well, since they are tracking...my dinner at Farallon (450 Post Street) the other night was fantastic. I had pigged out at the Fancy Food Trade show and spoiled my appetite, but I didn't want to cancel. They didn't look down at their noses at me for ordering an appetizer as dinner. The Lobster over risotto with a roasted cauliflower soup amuse bouche was simply devine. The ginger ice cream and ginger cookie dessert was a delight. The ambience was amazing as always. The entire staff was extrememly attentive, friendly and helpful. My waiter was absolutely fantastic. I was reminded why every time I am in the city I make reservations there.

Labels: restaurants, reviews

Labels: President, quotes, Wine

up for sale?

Labels: For Sale, restaurants

Concealing discoveries of contaminated imported honey is immoral, unethical and often illegal -- and it happens far too often, U.S. honey producers say.

"It doesn't take a wizard to determine whether there are bad things in the honey we handle, nor a hero to do what it takes to keep it from our food supply," said Mark Brady, a Texas beekeeper who sits on the National Honey Board.

"If we buy Chinese honey, as we do far too often, we know it may contain chloramphenicol or some other antibiotic that is illegal in any food product," said Brady, who produces about a million pounds of honey a year. "To find it and not report it is criminal." - SeattlePI

Labels: bees, Chinese Imports, food safety, Honey

Consumers may pay more for spring lettuce and summer melons in grocery stores across the country now that California farmers have started abandoning their fields in response to a crippling drought.

California's sweeping Central Valley grows most of the country's fruits and vegetables in normal years, but this winter thousands of acres are turning to dust as the state hurtles into the worst drought in nearly two decades. - AP via YahooNews

Labels: California Agriculture, drought, farmers, food supply

The closure of all four Applebee’s restaurants in Ventura County last week came so suddenly that some of the chain’s employees learned they’d lost their jobs by reading about it on The Star’s Web site.

But given the beating that national “sit-down” restaurants and their shopping-center brethren have taken in recent months, was the news really that surprising? - Ventura County Star

Labels: chains, closings, Fast Food, restaurants, Ventura

Labels: FDA, food safety, Recalls

Is this the end of Two Buck Chuck?

A proposal to raise the state tax on wine to a level more than six times higher to help close California's giant budget deficit would kill the $1.99 price for Charles Shaw wine, said Fred Franzia, who created the famous label sold by the Trader Joe's grocery chain. - LATimes

Labels: California, grocery stores, taxes, Trader Joe's, Wine

Labels: Alice Waters, Bourdain, Chef

Labels: avocado, California, California Agriculture, drought

Labels: Edible Communities, Edible Nation

Avoid Chilean seabass. Most are caught using bottom longlines, which lead to bycatch of seabirds, most notably the endangered albatross. - Monterey Bay Seafood Watch

One of the worst kept secrets in New Orleans is that "Top Chef: New York," the hit reality series on Bravo,
was in town filming at various locations around town, including Commander's Palace. - NOLA

Labels: New Orleans, Sustainable, Top Chef

Labels: FDA, Food, food safety, Peanut Butter, Recalls

Labels: food holidays, pie, Santa Barbara

for the Fancy Food Trade Show.

Talk, blog or snack amongst yourselves this weekend!

Labels: Fancy Food, San Francisco, Trade Show

Labels: Community, Starbucks

Oh..and all those "lumps" on the beach in this photo...they're Elephant Seals.

It's Elephant Seal baby time and they are making the local shores a very noisy seal maternity ward.

Labels: Animals, California

Labels: jobs, Oreana, Sinatra, Wine, Winery, YouTube

Labels: Food, Foodies, magazines

Labels: Recalls

Labels: jobs, Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara, tea

Will I see you there?

Labels: Fancy Food, Food, NASFT, Trade Show

State auditors say employees of the California Avocado Commission misspent tens of thousands of dollars in farmers' contributions on clothing, gifts and other personal expenses.

The audit released Friday also claims the Commission's former chief executive improperly used $17,000 to renovate his home.

Mark Affleck, who resigned as Chief Executive in May to take a leadership position with Saddleback Church, declined to comment friday. AP via Yahoo News

...The 89-page audit paints a picture of a freespending organization whose employees dipped regularly at the trough, charging up birthday gifts and flowers for colleagues, running personal mail through FedEx accounts and regularly charging lunches for the entire staff.

It says employees racked up more than $1.5 million on commission-issued credit cards from 2005-2008, the three fiscal years covered in the audit. Some of those charges were called "questionable at best and even personal at times." - SFgate

...Commission board members, their spouses, guests and employees spent thousands of dollars on "massages, nail service, facials and body treatments" during meetings at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and at luxury spas in La Jolla and Del Mar in San Diego County. - LATimes

Labels: avocado, California Agriculture, corruption

Labels: NYC, Restaurant

just for a little while. Have to love a town where the "big" grocery store is something called the "Cookie Crock!" Yes, they do sell more than just cookies.

Labels: California, grocery stores

Some prominent foodies have been clamoring for change in the White House kitchen. But President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have decided that Cristeta Comerford, the executive chef at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, will stay put, a transition official said on Thursday. - NYTimes Blog

Labels: Chef, Chicago, White House

Labels: Birthdays, Elvis, YouTube

Labels: food holidays, pie

Labels: obama

Labels: Bradley Ogden, cheflebrity, Solvang

Labels: Environment, farmers, Organic, Science

Labels: cheflebrity, Kitchen, Restaurant, TV

for sale on Craigslist?

Labels: For Sale, Restaurant, Santa Barbara

Tribute Restaurant — named one of the nation's best restaurants by the New York Times, Gourmet and Zagat — will discount meals by 50% to owners of domestic cars this week. The French restaurant in Farmington Hills, Mich., is offering a unique “tribute” to the industry that has brought in a lot of business diners over the years. - Kicking Tires

Through the week of Jan. 4-10, anyone who drives a Ford vehicle or is employed by Ford will receive 50 percent off their food check.

To honor Chrysler, anyone who drives a Chrysler vehicle or is a Chrysler employee will receive 50 percent off the food portion of their check during the week of Jan. 11-17.

The following week, Jan. 18-24, homage will be paid to anyone driving a General Motors vehicle or to those employed by General Motors by receiving 50 percent off their food check. - MSNBC

Labels: Michigan, restaurants

Labels: Flickr, gadgets

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nepove will display at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa the same herb-muddling, canister-shaking form that helped him win the Bacardi Martini Grand Prix three years ago in Italy. The occasion is a four-course, drinks-with-dinner event co-created by the inn’s executive chef, Jamie West. For reservations, $85, call 646-1111

Lavender Martini
Originally uploaded by wandermelon.

Labels: cheflebrity, cooking schools, Dinner, ojai

Retro red refrigerator
Originally uploaded by lorimarsha.

Labels: appliances, Kitchen, Santa Barbara, video

is closing due in part to the economy.

WNBC-TV reports that the owners plan to shutter the Italian-themed Rainbow Grill restaurant temporarily while keeping the establishment's bar, banquet space and dinner-dancing going on the 65th floor of the RCA building.

The Rainbow Room has symbolized glamour since it opened in 1934, during the Great Depression.

Cipriani International chief operating officer John Higgins told WNBC the decision was "due to the current economic crisis" and a lease dispute. - YahooNews

Labels: closings, NYC, Restaurant

If you're done drinking for a while, why not turn your extra libations into fuel? Rachel dornhelm explores a machine that turns alcohol and sugar waste into food for your car, and whether it can save you money over the long haul.

...Customers who buy a machine can be hooked into a local supply network. They might get leftover wine from Northern California, or beet sugar waste from Nebraska. The machines won't be available until the end of the year, but Quinn says he's had thousands of orders. - marketplace

Labels: Autos, Energy, Wine

Labels: Passings

Labels: Candy, closings

Labels: YouTube

Labels: blogs, local, New Year, restaurants

Labels: Food History

The year my friend Brian came down to help out, we had to "recreate the recipe" for "skin tone" by blending rice, seeds, cinnamon and a few other organic items. We managed to break 4 blenders and came out with a skin tone that was, well, a bit more "ethnic" than perhaps La Canadians were used to. Hard, messy work but great fun. Hey...Mike Rowe...there's a Dirty Job for you to do for next year....Glue pampas grass, etc. on floats!

brian at the blender
Originally uploaded by santa barbarian.

Congrats to La Canada-Flintridge for winning "Best Animation" for this year's float!

Labels: California, La Canada-Flintridge, New Year, Parade, Rose Parade