10 Tricks To Help You Around The Kitchen

Lifehacker outlines the top ten tricks around the kitchen that is sure to save you a bunch of time and may even impress an eye or two. Tedious tasks like deseeding a pomegranate or peeling a potato can be done very easily and they have a round up of video instructions that show you how. I have already tried many of these hacks in my daily cooking adventures and they really are awesome. Let me know if they have been of any use to you around the kitchen.

 

Top 10 Crazy Kitchen Tricks That Speed Up Your Cooking | Lifehacker

Photo by Robbert van der Steeg via photopin cc

Advertisement

International Food Etiquette Rules You Need To Know Before You Travel

Food etiquette customs are good to know when traveling abroad and will help you not stand out as a tourist or looking like a jackass. MSNBC’s Travel Kit rounds out 15 of the most interesting food etiquette rules.

For example, in China, you should never flip over a fish. It’s a sign of bad luck, akin to a fishermen’s boat capsizing. Instead locals will rip through the bones to get to the botton.

In Russia, it’s simple, you never turn down vodka. And in Chili, it’s proper to always eat with silverware – even finger foods like french fries.

Of course, these rules will vary depending on your where and who you are eating with, but when in doubt stick these guidelines.

 

15 international food etiquette rules that might surprise you | MSNSBC – Travel Kit

Photo by Alison Faith via photopin cc

Italian Tomato – Mother’s Day Cake Fair

Today, May 10, 2009, Italian Tomato is holding a Mother’s day cake fair at the Mitsuwa Marketplace in New Jersey. There are more 30 Italian Tomato originals on sale as well as many new additions, all produced by Japanese cake patisseries.

The fair is located at the front entrance of the Mitsuwa Marketplace. The Mitsuwa Marketplace is on 595 River Road, Edgewater, NJ 07020 and is open everyday from 9am till 9pm. Shuttle Bus from NYC are available in the South Building of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
View Larger Map

Where’s the Grill in KFC?

Last month, KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) introduced a new product line called Kentucky Grilled Chicken. It’s their answer to health-conscious consumers who have dropped fried chicken from their diets, or cut back on indulging. The Grilled Chicken recipe has half the sodium of their original fried chicken recipe, but 600 milligrams for a breast is not exactly what I call healthy. It’s being tested in six cities (Indianapolis, Colorado Springs, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, Fla., and Austin, Texas) at the moment and a national rollout is planned for early next year.

Oprah is also getting in on the action and is giving away their new Grilled Chicken Two-Piece Combo Meal for FREE. The combo includes two pieces of grilled chicken, two individual sides (mash potatoes and cole slaw) and a biscuit. Coupons for the deal can be found at unthinkfc.com or on the Cheapskat site. Some restrictions apply, see the KFC site for more details.

Update: Apparently the Kentucky Grill Chicken line has expanded beyond the six test cities mentioned above. I’m based in New York City and I had the FREE two piece combo last night. I enjoyed their grill chicken a lot more than their fried recipe, but it’s not good enough to convert me into a paying customer.

Vitamin Water 10 Des10nation NYC Pop-Up Shop / Experience

Glacéau, on April 3, unveiled their new pop-up brand experience space in the Soho district of New York City. The shop will feature Vitamin Water 10, their new naturally sweetened beverage that yields only ten calories per serving. It was developed in response to the many consumer requests for a more healthy conscious version of their popular Vitamin Water beverage. Vitamin Water 10 comes in four flavors: XXX (triple antioxidants-acai-blueberry-pomegranate), Essential orange-orange (c+calcium), Energy tropical citrus (b+guarana) and Multi-V lemonade (a-zinc). For the next ten days (til April12) every flavor is available for consumers to sample. I tasted all four and will be posting an in-depth review soon.

The Vitamin Water Brand Space is design to have a lounge-like atmosphere were people can hangout, relax and engage with the Vitamin Water Brand. There’s a host of amenities including free WiFi, a laptop bar for checking email or internet browsing, couches throughout, Nintendo Wii game play, a foosball table, and a free instant photo booth. It will be open for only ten days (April 3-12th), so check it out while you can.

To kick things off, Carmen Electra will host the launch party tonight with beats provided by DJ Kiss. Various DJ’s will be rotating throughout the next ten days to provide nonstop partying, during business hours of course.

Vitaminwater10 Des10ation NYC
626 Broadway (between Bleecker and Houston), New York, NY
Open April 3-12th (10am-7pm)

Kogi, A Toco Truck Fueled By Twitter

Kogi BBQ is where Korean barbecue meets, Mexican tacos and burritos, meets restaurants on wheels, meets twitter. It’s an unusual combination, but has a cult following and is refining, not only the melding of ethic foods, but the way food is marketed and served.

Kogi launched last fall and sells primarily through two trucks that are always on the go to new locations in the Los Angeles area. They serve Korean BBQ tacos and burritos that are recession friendly at $2 a piece. Their menus and locations are tweeted out daily, you can follow Kogi at http://twitter.com/kogibbq.

Their way of doing business is very innovative, not only are they using new forms of media to spread the word about their business, but they are essential making it fun for people to become their customers. With over 12k followers, Kogi generates lines wherever they go and draws customers to neighborhoods that they wouldn’t have visited otherwise. They’re like a party on wheels that serves food, customers on line socialize while they wait and everyone is usually enjoying themselves with or without food. My only complaint is that they’re only in LA, I really wish they would open a truck here in NYC. I guess I’ll have to wait until my next visit to the west coast to give Kogi a try.

Below I have embed a video entitled “Chasing the Dragon (The Kogi BBQ Adventure)” by DJ Akaider and it documents his adventure in finding and finally trying the “elusive” Kogi truck.

Burger King’s Whopper Bar Coming Soon

Burger King has unveiled a hipper and fancier line of burger joints built around their Whopper brand. The Whopper Bar as they call it, is mini restaurant that has a generation Y-oriented atmosphere. It serves ten premium variations of the Whopper, including Bourbon Whoppers, Pepper Bacon Steakhouse XT, Texas Double Whopper and the spicy onion-topped Angry Whopper. Customers are also be given the opportunity to personalize their Whoppers with 22 different toppings such as peppers, guacamole, smoked bacon, and steak sauce. The idea of serving alcohol at the Whopper Bar is also being thrown around, but there are no plans to implement that offering as of yet.

The first Whopper Bar opened last week at the Universal CityWalk in Orlando, Florida and is garnered a lot of buzz. The company plans to roll out six to ten more Whopper Bars around the globe by the end of 2009, with the next set to open in Munich, Los Angeles, New York, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

McDonald’s Mega McPepper

In American, we always get the bad rep for being the most unhealthy individuals in the world and although that may be true, look at what our counterparts in Asia are eating. The promotional McPepper is not just a Big Mac, but 2 Big Macs with a lots of black pepper sauce. With all the heat that the Big Mac has gotten in the States for its spread on health concerns, I’m guess the Mega McPepper is not good for you.

Update: I had one the other day and they’re delicious!