Anthony Bourdain’s death: Celebrity chefs ‘in complete shock’

June 12, 2018 Posted in Misc 971 comments

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Anthony Bourdain dead, celebrities react

Anthony Bourdain, CNN host and celebrity chef, was remembered by his friends and colleagues as a ‘friend to us all’ following his reported suicide.

The restaurant world mourned the loss of chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain following his reported suicide Friday morning.

CNN confirmed news that Bourdain, 61, was found unresponsive by close friend and French chef Eric Ripert in a hotel in France. The network said he was working on an upcoming episode of his show “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.”

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Anthony Bourdain’s life in pictures

WHO IS ERIC RIPERT? 3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE FAMED FRENCH CHEF

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Carluccio’s may close 30 restaurants

June 5, 2018 Posted in Misc 6 comments

Image copyright Carluccio

Carluccio’s could close up to a third of its branches in a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) rescue plan.

Over 90% of Carluccio’s creditors approved the CVA, allowing it to close 30 loss-making restaurants.

Under the plan, the company’s majority owner, the Dubai-based Landmark Group, will invest £10m in upgrading the remaining restaurants.

It joins a growing list of restaurant chains cutting back in the face of higher costs and competition.

In the year to 25 September 2016, even though revenues rose 2.7%, spiralling costs meant Carluccio’s pre-tax profits fell by 81% to just £982,000.

The company, which runs 103 restaurants across the UK, had a management shake-up in January, with ...

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The new season of ‘Queer Eye’ will premiere sooner than anyone thought

May 29, 2018 Posted in Misc 5 comments

Congratulations to my close personal friends!!
Image: Carin Baer/Netflix

Within months of the Season 1 reboot that stole our hearts, Netflix’s Queer Eye will return for a second season in June.

SEE ALSO: Forget the cooking — how come Antoni smells weird sh*t in each episode of Queer Eye?

Based on the early 2000s series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Netflix’s Queer Eye reboot charmed viewers with a modern update (more intersectional, less stereotypical) that feels sorely needed in divisive times. 

Queer Eye returns June 15.

WATCH: The cast of ‘Queer Eye’ gives us their take on millennial trends

Read more: https://mashable...

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The anti-Obama: Trump’s drive to destroy his predecessor’s legacy

May 22, 2018 Posted in Misc 17 comments

From the Iran deal to TPP to climate change, the whole thing that animates and unites his policy views is antipathy towards Obama

When Donald Trump pulled out of the deal to curb Irans nuclear ambitions, hardline conservatives celebrated, European leaders winced and Barack Obama made a rare, lengthy public statement.

Trumps decision was misguided and a serious mistake, Obama said, as his signature foreign policy achievement was tossed away.

It was just the latest example of Trumps all-out assault on the Obama legacy. From climate change to criminal justice to international relations, rarely has one occupant of the Oval Office appeared so obsessed with taking a chainsaw to the work of another.

Tommy Vietor, a former national security council spokesman under Obama, told the Guardian: The wh...

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The Rock couldn’t make it to her prom. So he hijacked her school’s PA system instead.

May 15, 2018 Posted in Misc 10 comments

Ever consider inviting a celebrity to your prom?

It’s almost become a tradition: teens shouting out requests on Twitter and Instagram, hoping their plaintive cries (a limo! a full meal at Olive Garden! dancing till dawn!) will catch the hearts of their favorite celeb.

Most of the time, there’s no response. Sometimes, these promposals are (rightly) criticized.

This year, though? Something amazing happened when one Minnesota senior invited Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to prom.

In a Twitter video posted in mid-April, Katie Kelzenberg — dressed in her own version of one of The Rock’s most iconic looks (yeah, I’m talking jeans and fanny pack) — laid out the reasons Johnson should come to prom with her.

Her tone? A strong attempt at the “smoldering confidence is my superpower” that Johnson is ...

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A Young Chicago Chef Pursues Wood-Fired Perfection

May 8, 2018 Posted in Misc 2,120 comments

The James Beard Awards are often referred to as the "Oscars of the food world," and while Chicago chef Erling Wu-Bower has been nominated for three of them, he's lost all three.

"I'm like Susan Lucci!" he jokes, referring to the soap opera star who didn't pick up her first Emmy until she'd earned her 19th nomination.

At the Windy City's Experimental Station, a space which Wu-Bower uses as a test kitchen and where he hosts pop-up dinners, he gives me a preview of the food that will end up on tables at his soon-to-open restaurant, Pacific Standard Time. There will almost certainly be more nominations in his future, but really, I just want to be there when the doors open.

PST's opening will mark a big departure for the chef; he's switching from jobs where he was a precision-cooking disciple ...

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Why Your Willpower Doesn’t Stand A Chance Against The Munchies

May 1, 2018 Posted in Misc 16 comments

There’s a reason Ben & Jerry’s sells a “Euphori-Lock” that protects you from opening your pint of ice cream without entering a combination.

Weed inspires a voracious hunger that’s nearly impossible to suppress. It’s because marijuana plays a number of games on your brain and your gut, all adding up to the perfect storm of unstoppable munchies. It’s about time we understood them.

Weed triggers your brain to think you’re hungry

It’s been well-documented that the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, stimulates appetite.

But a 2014 study published in Nature Neuroscience further explains the phenomenon, citing that mice exposed to THC had a significantly stronger ability to smell their food, leading them to eat more of it. 

As Smithsonian.com explains, if mic...

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A New Cookbook Takes Us Deep Into the World of the Instant Pot

April 24, 2018 Posted in Misc 2,066 comments

A few years back, in that now-forgotten time before Instant Pots were a thing, I reviewed an electric pressure cooker and struggled mightily with it. It was supposed to be a safe, fast way to speed up cooking and promised to make slow-cooker style dinners appear in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, stovetop pressure cooker cookbooks didn't really work for their slightly-less-powerful electric counterparts, and this one came with a mini-cookbook with recipes that tended to flop.

Flash forward to last fall when Instant Pot Mania was in full swing and I put the company's Ultra cooker (a souped up version of their classic Duo) at the top of my Christmas list. Once I popped it out of the box, though, I quickly realized that sub-par manuals and not-so-great included recipes are par for the course.

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Why You Should Never, Ever Drain Your Pasta In The Sink

April 17, 2018 Posted in Misc 949 comments

If you drain your pasta water through a colander and down the sink, you’re throwing away an invaluable asset that cooks call “liquid gold.”

(The term “liquid gold” has also been used to refer to wood cleaner, hair products and of course, urine. For the love of God, please don’t confuse pasta water with any of these.)

Because pasta is made of flour, it releases starch into the cooking water as it boils, creating a white, cloudy liquid that we often deem “dirty” and then dump down the sink.

Big mistake. That’s the liquid gold we’re talking about.

Why would you want to keep that cloudy liquid, you may ask? Because it’ll help emulsify and thicken your sauce. Now you’re probably wondering, “But why would I want to emulsify my sauce? Who even cares?”

Emulsification makes a difference,...

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Gun maker Remington files for bankruptcy

April 10, 2018 Posted in Misc 1,138 comments

A manufacturer handles a Remington ACR Special Purpose Rifle at a 2013 gun show in Las Vegas.  (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Firearms manufacturer Remington Outdoor Company has filed for bankruptcy protection in the face of falling sales and lawsuits stemming from the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday night.

According to the Journal, Remington announced that it would file for Chapter 11 last month but the actual filing was delayed after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. that killed 17 people.

The paper reported that Remington officials plan to hand over the reins to its creditors in exchange for writing off most of the company’s debt...

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