Rarely is there "breaking news" in the food industry, new products launch, cookbooks come out, shows get cancelled, restaurants open and then close, but I just saw something that is rather breaking news and in the food industry as well. Turns out that an employee of Wolfgang Puck Catering was just diagnosed with acute hepatitis A.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed that an employee of Wolfgang Puck Catering was recently diagnosed with the disease, and has strongly urged anyone who attended the SI party, or any of the 13 other events catered by Puck between Feb. 1 - 20, to get an immune globulin shot by tomorrow to prevent illness.

Luckily the Governor's Ball was not part of this "recall," however many other high profile events were, including the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue party (February 14). So you hear that Beyoncé? You better get thee to a hospital, now!

At the time of writing, Puck's PR firm stated that the list of events would not be released to the public. This seems odd, being that many people might not have realized his company catered these events... What do you guys think about that?

Source: TMZ

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Have you ever decided to make a batch of cookies only to realize that the butter is cold or frozen? Waiting for butter to come to room temperature can take forever (and ever and ever and ever... believe me I've timed it). If you don't have the time to wait forever, you might want to try this trick: grate the butter into a large mixing bowl. This way you'll increase the surface area and the individual pieces will come to room temperature faster.

There are a few dishes out there that, no matter how full I am, I can always seem to find room for more. One of these dishes is tuna, just about any kind of tuna. Be it raw, seared, baked, or grilled, as long as it's tuna I love it. So when I saw that reader WhiplashGirlchild posted a recipe for Sesame-seared tuna with coconut rice I knew it was going to be a winner. To check out the recipe for this and a snow pea salad too, read more

• Everyone has those go to recipes that only get better with time, I only wish mine was as gorgeous as this Coconut Chicken Curry. - Hooked on Heat
• Author Michael Pollan and Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, don't exactly see eye-to-eye. This evening they'll be in conversation at UC Berkeley, you can watch the whole event live via webcast. - Becks & Posh
• Better watch what your kids eat, else the government will take your fat children away. At least, that's what British officials are threatening to do with a 218 pound 8 year old. - Slate
• This weekend I was looking for a gluten-free cake. I didn't have time to make this whole orange cake, but I really wish I did. - Mental Masala



• I strangely enjoy mentos. Mostly I think it's because I love certain flavors (specifically ones not available in the US). Outside of the US there are a ton of different flavors, including Ice Pomelo flavored mentos. - Candyblog
• With cooking magazines available online and everyone sharing their recipes, you have to stop and wonder, are cookbooks becoming obsolete? Please say it ain't so... - Serious Eats

Have you ever had a cocktail with cucumber as one of the ingredients? If not, you must shake up this cocktail for yourself pronto! I first experienced a cucumber flavored martini back when I was a bartender and was testing out specialty cocktail ideas. Don't be afraid of experimenting with savory vegetable flavors in your drinks, think about how classic the Bloody Mary has become over the years. Surprisingly refreshing, cucumber not only spices up a cocktail, it can also turn an ordinary glass of water into a cooling taste treat. To see how cucumber is muddled with mint to release the essence and aromas to create a revitalizing drink, read more

I am hosting my very first wine club meeting very soon. I've invited a group of fabulous friends to my house, asking each one to please bring a moderately priced bottle of Spanish red wine. We are going to cover the labels for blind tasting and then judge the flavors of each bottle ourselves. I hope you decide to start a wine club for you and your friends. To encourage your personal appreciation of wine, I'm providing you with an easy play by play plan to host your first wine club meeting. Yesterday I made a fun little wine label postcard invites and today I am assembling recipes for a small menu of tasty bites to pair with the wine and cleanse the palette. I've already revealed two super easy savory appetizer recipes that will complement a full bodied red wine, but to take a look at a little sweet finish to cap off the night, read more

As promised, here's the rest of the Food Network Awards red carpet coverage. These chefs really look glamorous when they're out of their day-to-day clothes (I must say I loved Alton suited-up and Nigella looks stunning here). And I know that by saying stuff like this I am just propagating the whole celebrity & beauty over actual amazing food (notice that these food awards somehow didn't include any prominent restaurant chefs and even the likes of Batali and Bourdain are absent from this red carpet moment). But hey! these are (for the most part) talented folks on a red carpet, enjoying their moment. So let's cut the industry some slack...

To check out more red carpet coverage, including pictures of Rachael Ray, Katie Lee Joel, Dave Lieberman and others, read more

When my mom was a young girl she moved around from state to state. One of the states she called home was Texas. She remembers arriving home from school one night to see my fabulous grandmother, Nan, busy in the kitchen. Nan triumphantly announced that she was making something new for dinner, a dish they had never heard of before: tacos. I love this story because I can hardly imagine a world without tacos - fish tacos, soft tacos, hard tacos, tacos from Taco Bell, homemade tacos, tacos from taquerias - I love them all. Tonight I'm in the mood for soft chicken tacos - to make this healthy dish for yourself, read more

This weekend marked the First Annual Food Network Awards, which took place at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and will air on April 15 (why such the long wait?!). The event was recorded "live" in front of an audience, however I put live in quotes because according to The Palm Beach Post there's going to be a lot of editing.

Between all the stops and starts for sound and lighting cues, the technical glitches (Emeril actually had to re-present an award after the show was finished because he mispronounced something) and the general confusion, it took about three hours for the show to be done (and I believe it’s only a 90 minute broadcast — it’s slated to air April 15).

Sorta lame if you ask me, but oh well, you know we're all going to watch it anyways.

To see some of the celebrity chefs walking their own red carpet, read more