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Yummy Links: From Vampire Cookies to Beer-Turkey Pairings

partysugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:50:14 -0800

Celebrate the premiere of New Moon by making vampire cookies. - Baking Bites
Fabio Viviani talks turkey. - Endless Simmer
Find out why ground beef is dangerous. - The Atlantic
Are you on Team Martha or Team Rachael Ray? - The Epi-Log
Anthony Bourdain is not happy that the Travel Channel is now under Food Network's ownership. - Eater
Google has launched a new food-centric portal. - Grub Street SF
A detailed description of Guy Fieri's just launched road tour. - Eat Me Daily
Michael Chiarello on brining turkey. - Chow
Worried about what wine pairs with turkey? How about serving beer instead? - Serious Eats

Going Inside Google: 7 Cafes in Two Hours

partysugar — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:14:58 -0700

Last Friday I grabbed my camera and headed down to the Google campus - home to more than 4000 Google employees - in Mountain View. Before chatting with chef Eric Dela Cruz, my Google girlfriend and I took a whirlwind tour of 7 of the 17 cafés during their two hour lunchtime. From whole roasted fish to Spanish tapas to fresh wheatgrass, the Google cafés have something to offer everyone. To check out what happened when I went inside Google, click on the "Start" button.

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Eric Dela Cruz: My Life As a Google Chef

partysugar — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:03:31 -0700

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's a known fact that the employees at Google live a charmed life. Besides massages and Internet-wired shuttles, Googlers are invited to free breakfast, lunch, and dinner each and every day. The Google campus has 17 gourmet cafés, complete with 700 culinary staffers and 20 chefs. Last Friday I was lucky enough to check out some of the cafés - more on that later! - and speak with Eric Dela Cruz, a chef at Cafe 7. To see what his life as a Google chef is like read more.

Eric studied culinary arts at the City College of San Francisco. Before Google, Eric worked at Draeger's cooking school and as a chef for Bon Appétit magazine. After sampling some of his fresh, California cuisine, Eric and I sat down to chat. Here is what he had to say:

PartySugar: Why did you decide to work at Google?
Eric Dela Cruz: Well, I work Monday through Friday. I get weekends and holidays off. I live the chef's dream. Not too many chefs have a schedule that allows them nights and weekends off. One of my old bosses called to tell me Google was hiring and I immediately knew it was right for me. I get to cook whatever I want with the best quality food around. It's really great because we purchase everything top quality and everything we buy has a positive effect on the environment. We buy 100-percent sustainable, local ingredients. There is no pressure to make money on each plate, I don't have to cook what sells. Food is art and Google is my playground.

PS: What is your day-to-day schedule like?
EDC: I get into the kitchen at 5:45 every morning and start to prep the day's meals. I write a lot of the menus, so I work on those. I answer emails, oversee the arrival of our ingredients. By 6 a.m., I make sure the cooks are prepping the food. The cooks are very important, they are everything. I make sure they know the menus and have decent knife skills. Service starts at 11:30, so we have a couple of hours to make everything. Each day we serve several amuse-bouches, salad and soup bars, a noodle station, two entrées, a veggie station, two pizzas, a sandwich station, and a pastry dessert station. After lunch, we prep for dinner service. I make sure that gets underway with the night cooks and leave around 4 in the afternoon. But we are always preparing, cooking, and serving. In the morning we set out a continental breakfast, lunch service is from 11:30-1:30. At 3 we set out a healthy snack like crudité platters and cheese plates. We have sushi on Thursdays and a full happy hour on Fridays.

PS: Is each café responsible for obtaining their own ingredients or does everyone get the food from some giant Google refrigerator?
EDC: Each cafe functions individually like its own restaurant. We all get our food from the same providers, but since the menus vary, what we order is an individual thing. In my café, there is a person - the receiver - whose job it is, each morning between 6 and 10, to make sure we receive all of our ingredients. There isn't really much competition between the cafés. Naturally you want yours to be the best café, but really what is special is the variety. You know we have 17 different cafés that make totally distinct types of food. You could eat at a new one for 17 days in a row, that's almost half the month tasting new foods.

PS: How do you feel about the chef who left Google to work for Facebook?
EDC: God bless the guy. Congratulations and good luck! You know when opportunity comes knocking, you have to answer the door.

PS: What did you eat for lunch today?
EDC: Nothing. I don't really sit down and have full meals while I am at work. I'm tasting things all day that by the end of the day I am full.

Be sure to check back tomorrow when I take you on a photo tour of the Google cafés!

Yummy Link: Chocomap

YumSugar — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 11:13:31 -0700

If you love chocolate and often find yourself with that wild 3pm chocolate craving, then you may be interested in Chocomap.com. This site is dedicated to finding and listing chocolate stores and chocolatiers near you. - Chocomap

Ming Tsai Makes Tempura - and Many a Joke

YumSugar — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:00:55 -0700

When public television chef Ming Tsai spoke at last year's Classic, I learned that he was wildly hilarious. Thus, at this year's festival, I couldn't wait to catch some more laughs. Ming shared tips for East-West cuisine while making blue cheese burgers and bacon potstickers, a ginger margarita, and a tempura shrimp cocktail. In addition to offering up lots of advice to home cooks, the Blue Ginger chef and owner also shared his thoughts on everything from eating at Alinea ("I thought it'd be gimmicky, but it was unbelievably sexy, delicious food") to his approach to dining out ("When I walk into a restaurant, I only want to see locals"). Get more of his cooking tips after the break

Mandy Moore Makes Gnudi at The Spotted Pig

YumSugar — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:00:48 -0700

In this week's issue of New York magazine, singer, songwriter, and actress Mandy Moore not only discusses her upcoming album and newlywed life, but she also rolls up her sleeves to learn how to make ricotta gnudi and deviled eggs in the kitchen of West Village gastropub The Spotted Pig.

While there, Moore shares the dishes that she grew up on, her goal to throw a dinner party with friends, and her love for the Sham Wow. Although a slideshow of action shots reveal her unfamiliarity with cooking, she admits to enjoying food.

I like eating. I admire people with that talent, you know, someone that can walk in, take ingredients out of the fridge and just sort of whip something up. Or just to innately know, like, how you hard-boil an egg. That's something I would have to Google.

Despite Mandy's lack of kitchen knowledge, there's something endearing about her earnest attempt to make gnudi from scratch. Are you surprised that she's trying to learn how to cook?

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Oprah Stirs the Pot With Free KFC Offer

YumSugar — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:00:57 -0700

Two days ago, Oprah offered her viewers a free coupon for KFC's new grilled chicken - complete with sides and biscuit. The promotion took off, and by the next day, Oprah's KFC coupons were the fifth most popular search on Google. But rather than getting recognition for offering her viewers bargain bites, Oprah's fallen under fire for the move.

Last year, the talk show guru was named PETA's Person of the Year for exposing the cruelty of the factory farm industry. But KFC buys its meat from Tyson, a company that has come under attack for supporting CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations). This conflict of interest has sent environmental media outlets into outrage; sustainable food blog Civil Eats called the free KFC offer "Oprah's most hypocritical move yet."

Moreover, the free KFC coupons have caused upheaval in stores. The demand for free chicken has overwhelmed many KFC franchisees: one manager at a midtown Manhattan outpost told customers the promotion was over for the day, prompting patrons redeeming coupons to hold a sit-in, refusing to leave the store until they received free chicken.

After all the backlash, I can't help but wonder whether Oprah regrets promoting the offer. Did you partake in the promotion? Do you think the free grilled chicken giveaway was a mistake on her part?

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Yummy Links: From Party Palettes to Marcel's DUI

partysugar — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:45:55 -0700

Black, white, and yellow makes for a sophisticated party motif. - Simply Stated
The top 10 ways to chop onions without crying.- The Epi-Log
Get a virtual taste of Starbucks mocha dark chocolate. - Baking Bites
Free ice cream! 90210 helps you cool off. - Serious Eats
Lucid absinthe is a tasty way to get acquainted with the green fairy. - Chow
Interesting tip! Use a serrated knife to slice tomatoes. - The Kitchn
Krispy Kreme cheeseburgers surface at the Google cafeteria. - Slashfood
Plan a patriotic beach party for Labor Day. - Hostess With the Mostess
In case you missed it, Top Chef's Marcel arrested on suspicion of DUI. - TMZ

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What's Yummy This Week - YumSugar Weekly Recap

YumSugar — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:09:11 -0700

This week we celebrated Grilled Cheese month by going crazy for grilled cheeses, especially this one for a honey-basil grilled cheese.
Can't wait for the Sex and the City movie? Get ready by planning your own Sex and the City Viewing party.
We take you behind the scenes at Google's fantastic cafeterias.
Did you watch this week's Top Chef? We want to know what you thought!
Top Chef not your thing? Then maybe you'll dish about this week's Hell's Kitchen instead.
Be sure to go behind the scenes at this year's Food & Wine Best New Chefs Event!
Read our exclusive interview with Roy Yamaguchi, it was one of my favorites all year!
Hoping to satiate your sweet tooth? Try these portable brownie muffins or this chocolate peanut butter fudge.
And finally, would you eat an entire meal blindfolded? I did!

Do You Care If Robert Irvine Embellished His Résumé?

YumSugar — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:48:11 -0800

You may have heard but over the last several days, there's been a bit of a hub-bub over Robert Irvine's résumé. Looks like he might not have done the things he said he did, nor made the things he said he made, such as the wedding cake for Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Seems like he may have embellished just a tad bit. I wonder what this means for Irvine's career. After all, we all know what Food Network thinks of embellished résumés - anyone remember Jag? In fact, if you try to find Irvine's profile on their website you get an error instead of info (although the Google cache currently has the original one).

Given all the weird facts, embellishments and errors, what I want to know is does any of this affect the way you think of him?

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