Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

There's a pub chain up here called Philthy McNasty's.

I hate that phrase (it's not even funny), and naming a restaurant after it is a terrible idea.

I don't think this is a new problem. It's simply an issue of loitering. It doesn't really matter what you're doing: reading, surfing, filling out tax forms, painting reproductions of baroque masters... if you're doing it in someone's private establishment, you better have paid for something, and you better exit the building once you're finished that something, in a timely manner.

Every place allows for some time for patrons to finish their cup or plate, and sit around for a chat or whatever... but some laptop users seem to think a 2 dollar coffee purchase entitles them to occupy a table for hours. I don't think this is reasonable, especially if the place is busy. It's just common decency - you would be annoyed if your own friends stuck around hours after they were welcome, so why is it ok if you do it at a stranger's place of business?

In case anyone was wondering, grilling cupcakes is actually a really good idea.

Put some nice grill lines on the bottom of 'em and you get a hot-warm crispy bottom, and the icing is slightly melty but still intact. It's pretty delicious.

Just sayin'... I don't think these are intended to be, but I would grill these. Toasted marshmallows and cupcakes. Mm.

In Toronto, it seems all we have are hot dogs and sausage carts. The first "ethnic" cart just started operating (it was on the news): Ethiopian/Eritrean food... looks like they'll give you a piece of injera wrapped around cooked veggies/curry/etc...

I would like a satay cart. Lamb, beef or chicken. Served with homemade peanut sauce, cucumber pieces and rice cakes. There's nothing quite like walking along the water and smelling the satay vendors' smoke in the wind...

Raita is available in my grocery's dip section, beside hummus and red pepper spread, etc... but I have made my own as well.

A thick roasted red chili pepper lamb curry... topped with a spoonful of raita - so good! The one I made had chopped fresh cilantro, and toasted whole cumin seeds...

My friends experimented one BBQ with grilling cupcakes. Just taking a cupcake and toasting the bottom. It was delicious, so we decided then and there that the next time would be a full-blown dessert BBQ.

Grilled bananas, pineapple, cupcakes, twinkies (seriously, just do it), carmelized mango skewers, among other things. My contribution was the BBQ Dessert Calzone... a sort of flukey one-off stroke of idiot-genius. I combined two dough recipes, one for a grilled pizza crust, and one for a butter cookie (essentially making a stronger, more elastic cookie dough) and custom fillings... simple ones: one had a Mars bar inside and the other was stuffed with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips.

Made into a calzone-pocket about 8 inches long (and left in the fridge for a few hours for the dough to firm up), I grilled them over medium low heat (charcoal embers), and basted them several times each side with melted butter to keep the dough moist. The biggest worry was of course having burnt dough and uncooked inside, but the low heat made sure everything was evenly cooked. The result was a pretty flakey butter-cookie crust with steaming hot melted chocolate, caramel, nuts, and peanut butter oozing out from the middle.

I should've wrote down the exact mixture of that dough, because it turned out moist but firm, and absolutely delicious.

(it's called "paratha" when transliterated from indian/surrounding regions, but in malay it's spelled and pronounced "prata", and since we're talking SE asia / singapore...)

Speaking as a designer, I think the Tropicana design is nice. It's simple and easy to execute, not a lot of personality... but it does *work*. Why they'd abandon their brand identifying imagery is a mystery though - maybe it's an internal argument in their head offices.

The Pepsi redesign is just terrible though. I wonder if they're attempting a modern "web" look just to push the difference between their brand and Coca-Cola's to the extreme, as Coke went retro-classic... ie. Coke is traditional, old... Pepsi is progressive, new...

It was only a few years ago that I had my first goat cheese experience. Age 28 let's say. Too old to have gone this long without it.

It was a restaurant. Italian, and it was on a cheese platter.

A ball of goat cheese, 3/4 inch in diameter, rolling generously in freshly cracked black pepper. Maybe some other spices, but just pepper I think.

Few things have been in my mouth that have been that densely tasteful.