PartySugar and I don't always agree, for example, she's not a fan of pre-flavored water (preferring to flavor it herself), whereas I sometimes enjoy the convenience of buying pre-flavored water. So when we saw bottle after bottle of flavored or "enhanced" water at the Fancy Food show, she was definitely more skeptical than I. Yet, after the first few booths, my skepticism was almost as high as hers. It seemed like everyone is getting into the "enhanced water" business. And, if they weren't doing enhanced water, then they were marketing soda to adults. Either way, we drank a lot of beverages. Some of them were good, others not so much.

One of the more interesting waters was Nature 101's (a subsidiary of Sugar Bowl Bakery "Vitamin+Fiber Water." I tasted both the guava and the peach flavor and was pleasantly surprised. I also sort of knew what I was getting into since the "80mg of Invisible Dietary Fiber" looked (and tasted) like a lot of Asian jelly drinks, except that the fibers were clear and chopped up to be really tiny. It looks and seems like a sports drink, but beware, there are 120 calories per bottle, so it's not like it has the same caloric content as water. Since I am pretty familiar with Asian jelly drinks, I wasn't that surprised. PartySugar, on the other hand, didn't know what she was getting into. She "liked the magical invisible aspect of it," but it still didn't win her over. It's a new product with limited distribution at the moment, but if you can find it, I'd say it's at least worth a try.

To check out more "enhanced waters," as well as sodas made for grownups, read more

Mince:

1. To cut food into very small pieces. Usually 1/8-inch or less. Much finer than chopping, minced food is in the form of tiny cubes or bits, it is a step above being crushed.



2. When referring to meat, mince is a product made of beef finely chopped by a meat grinder (more commonly known as hamburger meat or ground beef).

On Sunday night I was in the mood to test run a new cocktail. I started researching drinks but the majority were vodka-based or fancy martinis. However I felt like something classic with a non-vodka liquor as the foundation of the drink. I called my friend Emily to invite her for dinner and to ask if she had any suggestions for a different cocktail. She said she had been at the bar recently and noticed people ordering a foggy colored drink called a Sidecar. I looked it up in my cocktail book and found that it only involved three simple ingredients: brandy, triple sec, and fresh squeezed lemon juice. I had the liquor so I asked my dad to pick up some lemons on his trip to the grocery store. The Sidecar ended up being quite tasty and motivated my mom to reveal unheard, hysterically entertaining stories from her past life as a college student. If you want someone to reveal their secrets or inner most feelings, I recommend offering them one of these drinks to lower their inhibitions. To make it during your next happy hour, read more

Technically the Super Bowl is not a holiday, but it's such a celebrated day that it really should be considered a holiday. I've always wondered why they (they = the people in charge, ex. the US government) don't schedule the game for a Monday instead of a Sunday and let everyone in the nation have the day off to watch the game? When I say everyone, I mean everyone - even the people who work at Safeway and McDonalds. It could be called National Super Bowl Day, or for those who are seriously PC, National Football Appreciation Day. Is there any other day that is so whole heartedly American and celebrated by all religious groups, ethnicities, and ages? I think not and thats why it's time to appropriately go incredibly over the top when planning your Super Bowl Party. I'm cheering for the Chicago Bears (because my mom was born in Baltimore-the original home of the Colts who packed up their team in the middle of the night and sneakily moved to Indianapolis - ask any true Baltimorian who they want to win and they will answer: The Bears) and made fun little blue and orange football shaped invites. Today I'm sharing my menu (which is full of delicious ideas that will take you from kick-off to overtime) so, read more

When I was searching for a reader's recipe to feature, I was thinking Super Bowl food (as I will be for the rest of the week!) and came across a Super Bowl practice run in the Kitchen Goddess group on TeamSugar. Before the big day, LaylaCams wanted to test out her recipes and in this post she lists the entire menu complete with tons of great images. One of her delicious dishes is a meatball appetizer perfect for a party. The recipe was actually posted by audreystar and includes step by step instructional pictures. These meatballs look like they would make any party rock. Thanks for posting girls! To make the party meatballs at your Super Bowl party, read more

Top Chef fans beware! If you do not want to know the winner of Bravo's food reality TV show, Top Chef, DO NOT click on the links below. Food and Wine magazine "mistakenly" published the winner of Top Chef on their website for 15 minutes this morning. Their "apology" blames a fan for hacking into the server and posting the story.

Yesterday, an intrepid reality tv fan found a Top Chef story on Food & Wine's server. Food & Wine prepared profiles of both Top Chef finalists in advance of the last episode so that we had a story on the winner ready to publish immediately after the season finale. Now for everyone to see, here are profiles of both finalists, Marcel and Ilan. Watch Top Chef on Wednesday, January 31 at 10PM EST to find out the real winner.

All of this smells pretty fishy to me, I mean how could Food and Wine not know this was published? Makes me wonder if this is some sort of crazed publicity stunt to make us all watch the final espisode. Either way I'll be watching even if I do already know who won...

Source: Eater LA

Last week YumSugar and I were lucky enough to attend the Fancy Food Show. One of the trends that we noticed was that goat cheese was everywhere. For a goat cheese lover like myself, it was heaven. What foodies seemed to be doing is substituting their regular old Parmesan or mozzarella with oh-so milky goat cheese. Normally when one thinks of adding cheese to pasta, goat cheese is not the first and foremost that comes to mind. However, I added goat cheese to a pesto pasta dish once for a small pasta party and it was excellent - so much so that I wish I had doubled the amount of goat cheese. If you have yet to incorporate goat cheese into pasta, do so with this recipe. Oh and if you're feeling adventurous, invite your friends over and tell them all about how goat cheese is so in right now. For the goat cheese and bacon recipe, read more

What do you know? It's time for even more Fancy Foods coverage! This time we've got a nice treat for all of you. Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa herself, was there and she kindly took a few minutes out of her schedule to answer a few of our questions. PartySugar was pretty star struck, but who could blame her, I mean this wasn't just any celebrity chef this was the Contessa!

After lukewarm reader participation in the Cocktail Party Menu, I was ecstatic to see that everyone had really come through on the manly candles challenge. I plan on giving candles to my mom's best friend Bruce as a thank you gift. He picked up my dog's important ear medicine and delivered it to me and I want to give him a little special gift to show my gratitude. I told you to look for mood enhancing, masculine, and mountain-y candles for Bruce to put on his dining room table at his cabin in the mountains. You tagged your lights with Manly Candles and saved them in the Yum Market on TeamSugar. The selection of "mandles" you found was amazing!

Chlyn submitted a whole bunch of different candles but this twig pillar candle was my favorite. It's just what I had in mind when I mentioned the words masculine and mountain-y. Bruce is totally going to love this one!

Two more, so read more