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Yummy Links: From Jamie Lauren to Menu For Hope

partysugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:45:22 -0800

A day in the life of Top Chef wannabe, Jamie Lauren. - 7x7
Food Network Studios to host a series of public tours. - Serious Eats
The best cuts of meat for braising. - The Kitchn
Sara Dickerman, Dorie Greenspan, and David Lebovitz discuss what exactly makes a cookie a cookie. - Slate
Learn how to eat healthy at holiday parties. - The Epi-Log
Ring in the New Year with 24 drinks from all over the world. - Chow
Food bloggers unite for the fifth annual Menu of Hope fundraiser. - Chez Pim

Yummy Link: Menu for Hope Raises More Than $90K

YumSugar — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:28:31 -0800

This year's Menu for Hope managed to raise $91,188. Pim has posted the entire list of winners, so find out if you were one of the lucky ones! - Chez Pim

Menu For Hope 4 - Donate to Win Great Prizes!

YumSugar — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:06:17 -0800

This year is the fourth year that food bloggers around the world have gotten together to raise money to support the UN World Food Programme. The event is called Menu For Hope and last year they raised nearly $63,000.

Organized by Chez Pim, the raffle event runs for 10 days - now until Dec. 21 - and this year all money collected will go to the UNWFP's school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa.

So how do you donate and why would you want to?

Well, besides the warm fuzzy feeling you'll have inside, donating money will actually give you the chance to win a bunch of awesome prizes. Food bloggers around the world have come up with great prizes for you to choose from. Each raffle ticket costs $10, and you choose which prize you'd like to try and take home. The prizes cover the complete foodie gamut: cookbooks, meals out, kitchen gadgets and everything in between.

Here are some of the prizes I'd like to win:

EU31: A personal tour of elBulli kitchen laboratory with Ferran Adria
UE19: NYC Pizza Tour for 2 from SliceNY
UW10: Dinner for 2 with wine pairing and a private tour of Manresa biodynamic garden with the chef, David Kinch from Chez Pim
UW03: Your choice of three cookbooks from Ten Speed Press, from the Bunrab
UC06: Four Indian cookbooks with spice tin, spices, Indian teas, and assorted dals from Tigers and Strawberries
UW26: $100 Gift Certificate to Chuao Chocolatier from Candy Blog
AP07: A bag of the world's hottest chillies, homegrown in Nagaland, India from Rambling Spoon
EU17: Kitchen Aid stand mixer with ice cream attachment + David's latest cookbook from David Lebovitz

This is just a small sampling from a huge list of prizes. Be sure to check it out and donate to win! Visit Chez Pim for a full list of prizes and details on how to enter.

Yummy Links: From Colored Sugar to Charitable Giving

YumSugar — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:01:19 -0800

Get creative with your holiday baking by making your own colored sugars. - Baking Bites
Donate to Menu for Hope and you could win some fantastic prizes. - Chez Pim
Oranges stuck with cloves make for a beautiful and festive table decoration. - lilsugar
Tired of having to scrape down the mixing bowl? Try this new SideSwipe Spatula Mixer Blade. - the kitchn

Here's a list of healthy goodies that make great stocking stuffers. - FitSugar
Here are ten tips on how to buy organic in the winter. - Culinate
This beautiful red and white table cloth works all year round. - CasaSugar
Does your eater have everything already? Here's a gift guide for the eater with everything. - Serious Eats
And finally, a list of food-related organizations for charitable giving. - Chow

Is McDonald's Launching a Dollar Breakfast Menu?

YumSugar — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:00:56 -0800

In this economy, even the savviest of fast food diners have a hard time stretching their dollar. But if the rumors are true, value-seekers may soon find it a lot easier to fill up for a buck early in the day. According to the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal, McDonald's plans to reveal a nationwide breakfast dollar menu.

Based on internal documents obtained by the two publications, the McDonald's breakfast dollar menu will begin a national advertising run in January 2010. Although McDonald's has declined to comment, the burger giant tested a breakfast menu with $1 items in August in its Chicago stores, offering items such as a sausage McMuffin, breakfast burritos, and hash browns.

The chain, which is also rolling out the Mac Snack Wrap nationwide in January, will face some stiff competition.

Burger King recently added the quarter-pound Double Cheeseburger to its menu through March, and Dunkin' Donuts just rolled out a temporary $0.99 menu in Chicago. If two leading newspapers are publishing stories on it, the alleged menu can't be too far from the truth. What would you hope to see on a $1 breakfast bonanza?

Morimoto to Bring Yakatori to the Traveling Masses

partysugar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:50:26 -0700

Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's got a new project in the works. Yesterday the hospitality company Delaware North Cos announced a partnership with the sushi master, with plans to launch Skewers, a new fast-casual airport restaurant chain.

Although no sushi will be on the menu, the concept will offer travelers easily portable meals like soups and salads, as well as a variety of skewered meats and vegetables.

Known as yakitori in Japan, skewers are an incredibly popular street food and Morimoto hopes to introduce the world to his interpretation of it. "Yakitori is the next big wave, I think," Morimoto said, adding confidently, "It will be very popular."

While the rollout dates and details concerning the locations have not been released, I think the idea sounds interesting. I've yet to experience yakitori and am curious to see how Morimoto translates it to the masses. How about you? Have you had yakitori? Will Morimoto's latest endeavor be a success?

With New Menu Items, Burger King Hopes to Add Value

YumSugar — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:15:06 -0700

Despite the soaring cost of food prices, fast-food chain Burger King announced that it will be adding two petite-sized, lower-cost items priced at $1.39: the Cheesy Bacon BK Wrapper and the Spicy Chicken BK Wrapper.

Burger King is attempting this strategy in a frenzied fast-food climate, as the industry is struggling to balance rising costs of food with value-added items. Fast-food companies such as McDonald's have had a difficult time keeping value items under the traditional $1 mark. Earlier this year, Burger King pulled a test for a double cheeseburger on its value menu for $1, and Jack in the Box just announced a new rollout of pita snacks, or "snack-sized wrap-style sandwiches" for $1.99.

I'm not sure that these tactics will be enough to excel in the current economic environment, but perhaps these changes will allow all of the fast-food chains to gain back some market share. What do you think?

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What Would You Serve?

YumSugar — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:30:49 -0700

Entertaining is one of my favorite activities of all time, but as with all hobbies, it requires lots of thinking ahead and decision-making, from planning a prep schedule to coordinating the menu. In this series, I'll present a dish and ask you to share what you'd serve alongside it.

Here's the scenario: I've heard from PartySugar about how picturesque it is to picnic at the Hog Island Oyster Company Farm, so this weekend I'll be scoping it out for myself. I'm rounding up eight close friends for an idyllic lunch, where we'll buy live oysters by the bushel and fire up the grill for barbecued bivalves. What would you serve the guests to complement the oysters? See what I'm thinking of bringing when you keep reading

Denny's Strives to Hit the Late-Night Sweet Spot

YumSugar — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:00:36 -0700

2009 has been a rough year for casual dining, with many restaurant chains struggling to stay afloat. The solution proposed at Denny's? Become friends with the cool kids. Denny's, a 24-hour eating establishment with a reputation as a family road trip pit stop, is attempting to transform itself into an all-night hotspot for young adults.

With the onset of its Allnighter program last year, Denny's began its metamorphosis into a night-owl oasis, blasting rock and country from the hours of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The company also started offering a Rockstar menu at night, hawking dishes like burritos designed by Good Charlotte and a country-fried steak combo created by Rascal Flatts.

The payoff has been meager with late night traffic increasing by only 5 percent. Still, the chain continues to promote its newly-minted image to college campuses, in hopes that schools will consider changing the names of existing locations to "Allnighter" and offer the restaurant's Rockstar menu. I haven't hit up a Denny's since my last road trip, but I'm curious to know if any of you have checked it out. Does the new late-night Denny's lounge seem to have an edge on the competition?

Photo by sun dazed

Starbucks Aims to Be Healthier, Greener

YumSugar — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:30:47 -0700

America's largest coffee chain has decided to jump-start its own eco-friendly food revolution: Earlier this week, Starbucks announced it would be rolling out a new food menu on June 30 as part of its "Real Food. Simply Delicious" campaign. And yesterday, the chain said it would install new water faucets in its stores as part of an environmental initiative.

The company is reworking 90 percent of its baked goods, and eliminating high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, and food coloring from its products. Starbucks is also removing preservatives from items whenever possible, attempting to mimic the number of ingredients used in homemade baked goods. In addition, this Summer the coffee titan will test the viability of a Frappuccino formula that appeals to health-conscious consumers, and the chain will begin selling salads. Despite premium prices of natural ingredients, the company maintains these changes will not affect prices on its food menu.

Yesterday, Starbucks also revealed a plan to install new water faucets that meter out water across all US stores by September, a change that could save each café up to 150 gallons of water a day. It hopes to expand this green initiative internationally by Fall.

The coffee company continues to make frantic changes in hopes of reviving sales. I'm skeptical about whether these strategies will truly spark sales - since things like instant coffee, ciabatta-bread sandwiches, and value meals really haven't. Still, I'll admit I hope that health-conscious Frappuccino comes to market. What do you think of these changes?

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