Entries tagged with 'events'
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"If any attendees walked out of Baconfest disappointed, 100% of the blame falls on their defective palates." Inside-out pig in a blanket from David Burke's Primehouse. [Photographs: Daniel Zemans] You never know when inspiration is going to hit. For Michael Griggs and Andre Pluess, it came early this year after seeing the Neo-Futurists perform Beer, a puppet-filled musical about the visions of a ten-year-old boy who gets drunk after sneaking into a brewery. The play left Michael and Andre wondering what they loved as much as the playwright loved beer. Before long, they had their muse: Bacon. Once that realization hit, the wheels started turning and they decided to plan a huge tribute to bacon. Late that night, they called...
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[Photograph: Robyn Lee] This Friday is Whiskyfest in San Francisco, the annual event (it also takes place in Chicago and New York) that's part collector's geek-out and part Detroit Auto Show for booze, where distillers reintroduce thousands of enthusiasts, media, and industry colleagues to their standard selections, as well as debut unique and rare bottlings and special editions. I'll no doubt have some interesting whisk(e)y-related news in the coming weeks, but as I prepare for my visit to Whiskyfest, there's one question in particular that'll be on my mind: how many women are going to be there? No, it's not what you think—rather, I'm heading to Whiskyfest thinking about the changing world of whiskey consumers. As recently noted by...
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"Chicago Gourmet is much more than an all-you-can eat gourmet food fest." [Photographs: Daniel Zemans and Lori Torres] When Sheila O'Grady became the new head of the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA) in 2007, better days for Chicago's already thriving restaurant scene were inevitable. The year before, the IRA was so weak that it was powerless to stop the Chicago City Council from infamously banning foie gras. But O'Grady, who previously spent over four years as chief of staff to Mayor Richard Daley, brought the organization instant credibility and influence. A year into O'Grady's tenure, the ban was lifted, but she and Mayor Daley had a lot more in mind. Early in her tenure at the IRA, she and the mayor...
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[Flickr: MulderMedia] The What the Fluff Festival, a celebration of Marshmallow Fluff in its birthplace of Somerville, Massachusetts, brings new meaning to WTF. On Saturday, Fluff enthusiasts piled into the town's Union Square to listen to Fluff-themed poetry slams, sample Fluff-bearing foods, and play games like "Fluff, Knife, Bread" (a modified version of Rock, Paper, Scissors). This year, you could even follow the festival on Twitter (@FluffFestival). The tradition all started four years ago when the gooey white stuff was receiving some negative press. A bill was proposed to limit the number of times a week school cafeterias could serve the "unhealthy" Fluffernutters, a regional sandwich favorite combining the joys of Fluff with peanut butter. In response, Mimi Graney...
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Club Med's Food Blogger Camp is a week-long trip taking place from January 9-16, 2010, in Ixtapa, Mexico, featuring seminars held by food bloggers and writers from around the world and plenty of food-related extracurricular activities. Participants include Diane Cu and Todd Porter, David Lebovitz, Jaden Hair, Matt Armendariz, Elise Bauer, Michael Ruhlman, and Dianne Jacob. You can win a spot at Food Blogger Camp by entering Club Med's Giveaway Contest from now until September 13. Visit clubmed.us for information on how to book your trip with a special discount....
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We came, we ate, we drank tea, it was all good. Thanks to the good folks from Serious Eats partner Gold Peak Iced Tea, 175 Chicago-area serious eaters gathered last night at Blackbird, one of my favorite Chicago restaurants, for a seriously delicious repast prepared by Mike Sheerin, the restaurant's chef de cuisine. Sheerin, aided and abetted by Blackbird's chef-owner partner Paul Kahan, served up five incredible nibbles, each paired with a different Gold Peak Iced Tea flavor. Everyone had a blast. Robyn Lee and I really enjoyed meeting some of the thousands of Chicagoans that comprise the Windy City's Serious Eats community. We got lots of great Chi-town food intel, which I cannot wait to make use of during...
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What was your favorite Blackbird Gold Peak® Iced Tea Pairing?(answers)...
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"New York has played a role in my own bibulous education." [Flickr: ilmungo] New York City has always been a drinking town. From the first taverns of New Amsterdam to the palatial 19th century hotel ballrooms to the Prohibition-era speakeasies and today’s cutting-edge cocktail lounges, New York has always been well prepared to slake the thirsts that come with being one of the world’s greatest cities. Fittingly, after all this time, the city will celebrate its spirituous history at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic on October 3 and 4, the city's first-ever "part festival, part fête, part conference, part cocktail party." The series of seminars, tastings and out-and-out parties (check) will take place at the Astor Center and assorted bars around...
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Rachel Yang assembling her dishes. Since coming out from behind my critic's cloak of anonymity, I've met a few chefs whose restaurants I’ve reviewed. There’s often that awkward pause during which I wonder whether they're going to stick a fork in me. Not so with Rachel Yang, the chef-owner of Joule, who said she was happy for us to finally meet. Yang and her husband/business partner Seif Chirchi came to Seattle a few years ago after working in New York for some of the biggest names in the business: Alain Ducasse (at the now-shuttered Essex House), Thomas Keller (at Per Se), and Daniel Boulud (at DB-Bistro Moderne). The French-Korean restaurant she helmed in 2007, the now defunct Coupage, was...
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Photograph from The Ginger Gourmand on Flickr The Big Lunch is a lunch party held throughout the United Kingdom that took place on July 19 as a way for people to slow down and come together build their communities. About two million people participated in street parties and picnics in this event proposed by Eden Project founder Tim Smit and Paul Twivy. Aside from rain hindering a few parties, the event seemed to be successful in getting people out of their homes and talking to their neighbors over food. Jay Rayner shares his Big Lunch experience at Guardian's food blog Word of Mouth. You can view more photos in the Big Lunch Flickr group....
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