YumSugar

The Shot Heard Round the Breakfast Table

YumSugar — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 05:01:38 -0800

This weekend the Internet went wild over a new breakfast tool. Actually it's not so much a tool as it is an unnecessary accessory. If your breakfast needs a bit more bang! then check out these Gun Egg Fryers. They're stainless steel molds designed to help you shape your fried eggs. So, while you're waiting for the next Grand Theft Auto release, you can get your gun fix over breakfast.

Oh and if eggs aren't your thing, I'm sure these stainless steel gun molds can be used for pancakes too.

Dr Pepper Celebrates Guns N' Roses Release With Free Sodas

YumSugar — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:00:18 -0800

Update: Dr Pepper is extending its promotional offer through 6 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 24.

Earlier this year, Dr Pepper announced that it would be giving a free soda to "everyone in America" Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy, 17 years in the works, arrived anytime in 2008. This Sunday, Nov. 23, the agonizing wait will finally be over, and the people will have their Chinese Democracy - as well as a free Dr Pepper.

Dr Pepper has been behind the efforts of lead singer Axl Rose from the beginning. “We never thought this day would come," said Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, "but now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

To find out how you can get free Dr Pepper, read more.

On Nov. 23, visit Dr Pepper and register online to receive a coupon for one free 20-ounce Dr Pepper. You will receive the voucher, redeemable wherever Dr Pepper is sold, within 4 to 6 weeks.

Will you be redeeming your free soda? Do you commend Dr Pepper for its cool promotion, or think that it's another silly marketing ploy?

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Come Party With Me: St. Patrick's Day - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:50:14 -0700

To get in the mood for St. Patrick's Day, set up a "Make Your Drink Green" bar and let the girls help themselves. Fill one ice bucket with bottles of a light Irish beer (such as Harp) and another with bottles of white wine. Arrange beer and wine glasses and green food coloring nearby. Have everyone tint their drinks green.

Also set out the ingredients for a specialty cocktail and write the recipe for the drink, so your guests can play bartender. This interesting cocktail features Irish whiskey making it wonderfully appropriate for the holiday. It combines the whiskey with fresh ginger, lemon juice, apricot jam, and orange liquor.

To look at the recipe, read more.

Tommy Gun
From Food and Wine

Ingredients

2 thin fresh ginger slices
1 teaspoon apricot jam
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
Ice
2 ounces Irish whiskey
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1 lemon twist

Directions

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the ginger with the jam and lemon juice.
Add ice and the whiskey and Grand Marnier; shake well. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.

Makes 1 drink.

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India Chain Claims to Be Home to Longest Ever Dosa

YumSugar — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:00:07 -0700

To be filed right next to New Delhi's record for the world's largest biryani: Sankalp, a restaurant chain based in the city of Ahmedabad, India, claims to have made the world's longest dosa.

The mammoth dosa - a crepelike South Indian specialty made from rice and black lentils - was created last Wednesday and measured in at 32 feet and 5 inches long, taking less than 40 minutes to put together. To make the behemoth, a team of 16 chefs practiced for 10 days, working to achieve the correct length by maintaining a steady temperature across the entire dosa, while handling a tawa, or hot plate, that was 35 feet long. The finished product was named "Quick Gun Murungun," the title of an upcoming movie that discusses the merits of being vegetarian.

As a lover of all things South Indian, especially dosas, this leaves me with only two questions: Was the dosa filled? And do they still need someone to eat it? What do you think of the record? Have you ever tried a dosa?

A New Battle Begins Over The Next Iron Chef!

YumSugar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:45:51 -0700

Days before the season finale of The Next Food Network Star - and hot off the heels of another captivating Top Chef Masters round - we've learned more about another foodie reality TV show. After the first successful iteration of The Next Iron Chef in 2007 (alums Michael Symon, Chris Cosentino, and Aaron Sanchez have all become Food Network personalities), the show is returning for a second season on Oct. 4.

This season will purportedly "take the contestants from Los Angeles to Japan to New York to compete in the food fight of their professional lives." Alton Brown hosts once again, with the competitors facing the wrath of three judges: returning panelist and restaurateur Donatella Arpaia, Vogue food writer Jeffrey Steingarten, and sustainable advisor (and Slow Food Nation director) Anya Fernald.

Who will be next to join the likes of Bobby Flay, Cat Cora, Mario Batali, Michael Symon, and Masaharu Morimoto (who just confirmed plans to open his first West Coast restaurant)? I've got my speculations - and I'd love to hear yours below. Find out who the 10 contenders are.

Enjoy a Free 2-Liter Bottle of Diet Dr Pepper

YumSugar — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:15:34 -0800

Guns N' Roses isn't releasing another album, but Dr Pepper fans can get themselves a free bottle of soda yet again.

To promote its "Nothing Diet About It" campaign, Dr Pepper is giving away coupons for free 20-ounce bottles and - get this - two-liter bottles of Diet Dr Pepper. Between now and March 31, go to the promotion website to choose your coupon, good for a free bottle through June 30. Hurry, before this deal falls flat!

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Happy Hour: French 75

partysugar — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:00:14 -0700

In honor of Bastille Day, which celebrates the start of the French Revolution, mix (or order!) a French 75 cocktail. Named for a type of gun, this drink was originally created by a World War I, French-American fighter pilot. The combination of gin and champagne packs such a potent kick that people believed drinking it was like being shot with the powerful gun.

Now, the French 75 is considered a classic Champagne cocktail. The strong concoction is easy to make and even easier to drink. Get the recipe and read more.

French 75
From Tyler Florence

Ingredients

8 ounces gin
8 ounces orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or triple sec
1 lemon, juiced
4 dashes orange bitters
8 sugar cubes
1 bottle champagne, chilled

Directions

Pour gin, orange liqueur, lemon juice, and bitters into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well to blend.
Put a sugar cube into a champagne flute. Strain about 2 ounces of the gin mixture into the glass. Carefully top it off with champagne.

Serves 8.

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Meet Top Chef Hopeful Richard Blais

YumSugar — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:28:31 -0700

We've introduced you to the next set of Top Chef hopefuls, however we've been lucky enough to get to know a few of them better. You already met Andrew, and today we'd like to present Richard.

Richard Blais is already known in the industry as being innovative and adventurous. He's got a penchant for molecular gastronomy, but he's got the résumé to go with it. He's worked along side Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, and Ferran Adria, plus he's helmed several restaurants including One Midtown Kitchen in Atlanta. And if he looks strangely familiar to you, it might be that he recently battled Mario Batali on Iron Chef America.

So, what should we expect from him? And why would someone with such a fantastic résumé even bother with Top Chef? To find out what he had to say, read more.

YumSugar: What drew you to Top Chef, why'd you decide to audition?
Richard: It came about, well they found me. I got a phone call and went on the audition. I really wasn't thinking too much about it. I'd seen the show of course, but my initial reaction was, well I don't really know too much about the show. My ego got in the way for a split second, but then I talked to myself about what an immense personal challenge it is and decided to do it.

YS: How did Top Chef compare to Iron Chef?
R: It's a totally different competition. It's a different thing. Iron Chef is kinda restaurant versus restaurant, if that makes any sense. Whereas Top Chef is like a gladiator being stripped of his armor. You're kind of raw and by yourself . . . that sounds sad, I made that sound sad, but it's not. It's just much more of an individual competition.

YS: Was the Top Chef experience what you were expecting?
R: I was nervous going in. It was very tough, tougher than I thought it would be. I was not prepared for the social pressure. The cooking was okay, a stove is a stove, food is food, I've seen it before. But hey, go live in this house with 15 other people. . . . I pride myself on being socially awkward.

YS: Were you surprised to see another faux hawk? [Note: Cheftestant Jennifer also sports a similar hairdo.]
R: Yeah. We both have fair skin, light colored hair, and are really good cooks. It was definitely an odd thing for both of us. I wondered if I got in because I had a cool haircut, but then saw hers. To be quite honest I think mine's a little bit better than Jen's, but don't tell her that! I've seen the photos, it's a little bit poufed up in some of them. I'm wondering if there wasn't a little bit of PhotoShop going on.

YS: What were some of the ingredients you brought with you on Top Chef?
R: Raz el Hanout - a North African spice - some cool equipment - a little electric smoker, immersion circulator, portable cooker - coffee oil, lecithin, xanthan gum, crazy molecular gastronomy stuff that's not that crazy.

YS: You seem to like the more scientific/gastronomy techniques. Want to tell us more about that?
R: Scientific? [laughs] I failed chemistry twice. . . . Science is a part of food, art is a part of food, culture is a part of food. One of the great things about cooking is that I don't feel like I have a job. I just do what i do.

If you can find a way through science to make you food better, then you should do it. Whether it's technology or technique. My genre gets portrayed as cold and it's not. If you can use the microwave to make your meal better then you should do it it, but if you zap food with a laser gun just to zap food with a laser gun, then it doesn't make any sense.

Photos courtesy of Bravo

Come Party With Me: Boy's Birthday - The Look

partysugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:15:35 -0700

Just because the boy's birthday party is taking place at an old prison, that doesn't mean it can't be festive! Cover the picnic table with a bright blue tablecloth.

Serve the sandwiches and salad on sports-themed plates with matching sports napkins. Green cups and orange plastic silverware are colorful accents.

Pack the food in take-out containers and place the containers in portable coolers. Bring a bunch of water guns, and let the boys run around Alcatraz playing with them. Stretch lizards are a simple but fun party favor.

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10 Ways to Make Marshmallows More Fun

YumSugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:15:13 -0800

I'm not sure how it happened, but earlier this morning I ended up on a marshmallow gun hunt. They're sort of like a Nerf gun, but instead of soft, foamy Nerf balls, you get to shoot soft, fluffy - if not somewhat sticky - marshmallows. From marshmallow blower to marshmallow blaster, there's a marshmallow toy for everyone. To check them out, hit "start slideshow" below.

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