Have you ever served a tray of appetizers accompanied with a bowl of sauce? When passing the tray around, the bowl can often slide around and may even tip over, resulting in a party-foul mess. Luckily there's an easy trick to help prevent this, one that is as simple as a drop of honey. That's right, just a dab of honey placed on the bottom of the bowl will help prevent the dishes from sliding. The honey acts as a glue and voila! no spilled sauces!

• I think it might be safe to say that homemade ice cream is the coolest new trend. - San Francisco Chronicle
• Coca-Cola is considering whether to acquire the Snapple tea brand or start their own. - Seattle Times
• The groundbreaking Silver Palate Cookbook is 25 years old. - Chicago Tribune
• Which potato chip is the best one? How about the first one out of the bag. - New York Times
• This summer pies are showing off their inner beauty with woven lattices, stylish cut-outs and golden crusts. - Los Angeles Times
• American consumers are loving salmon now more than ever. - Boston Globe
• Kick up your fried chicken with flavored fried chicken: flavored with chiles or herbes de Provence. - Houston Chronicle
• Love blueberries? Try gluten-free blueberry-raspberry streusel bars and more. - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

Yesterday, at the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, reigning champion Takeru Kobayashi was bested by Californian Joey Chestnut. In a down-to-the-wire race, Chestnut dethroned six-time champion Kobayashi by downing 66 hot dogs (plus buns) in 12 minutes - that's one hot dog every 10.9 seconds. Kobayashi, despite recently having a wisdom tooth extracted and treatment for a sore jaw - managed to do his personal best by inhaling 63 hot dogs.

However, the event wasn't without some controversy. At the final few minutes Chestnut was devouring hot dogs so quickly, the counter couldn't keep up and they had to actually go back and count all plates.

If you didn't get to catch it on ESPN, you're in luck. Catch the final few dramatic minutes, just read more

After yesterday's holiday binging, tonight I'm in the mood for a no-cook meal of something light, meatless, and full of flavor. A sandwich layered with sweet stone fruit, fresh basil, smooth cream cheese, and tart cucumber is the ideal meal for when I hardly feel like squeezing into a bikini. The crisp arugula adds a nice crunch, and the whole wheat bread gives it that healthy touch. This sandwich also makes a great picnic dish when kept chilled in a cooler. Pair with a glass of nice white wine and a dollop of yesterday's leftover potato salad.

Cucumber and Apricot Sandwiches
From Better Homes & Garden magazine

1 large cucumber
1/2 of an 8-ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel)
2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil
8 slices firm-textured whole wheat bread
2 large apricots or 1 nectarine, pitted and thinly sliced
1/2 cup arugula leaves or cilantro sprigs

1. Peel cucumber. Cut cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Thinly slice cucumber; set aside.
2. In a small bowl stir together the cream cheese, basil, and, if desired, 1/8 teaspoon salt.
3. Spread about 1 tablespoon cheese mixture on one side of each bread slice.
4. Top four bread slices with cucumber, apricot, and arugula. Top with remaining bread slices, cream cheese side down.
5. To serve, cut each sandwich in half diagonally.

Serves 4.

If you win Hell's Kitchen, you're supposed to get the title of executive chef at a fancy pants restaurant. So, it's interesting to note that neither the season 1 or season 2 winners are executive chefs anywhere. - New York Post

On today's date, 212 years ago, Sylvester Graham was born in West Suffield, Connecticut. Throughout his 58 years of life, Graham developed a highly ridiculed lifestyle and diet with a tremendous cult following. Referred to as the Grahamites, they believed that plain and simple foods were the key to a long and developed life. Graham was a nutrition guru who advocated temperance, vegetarianism, and the use/consumption of coarse ground wheat flour and bran. He invented the Graham cracker in 1829 and his 1837 Treatise on Bread & Bread Making condemned those who ate white bread:

There is, in reality, almost a total and universal carelessness about the character of bread. Thousands in civic life will, for years, and perhaps as long as they live, eat the most miserable trash that can be imagined, and never seem to think that they can possibly have anything better, nor even that it is an evil to eat such stuff as they do.

Although his harsh words bring Gordon Ramsay to mind, his importance to the snack world - not to mention the pie baking world - is highly significant. A pioneer of the natural foods movement, Sylvester would most likely fit right in today's super health conscious world.

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