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November 10, 2005
Survival Spice™ wins a Scovie Award!!!!!
Update: This post will remain on top for a few days, so please scroll down for the latest. Thanks! And hey, have you put yourself on our Frappr map yet? It's easy, and we love to see everyone that hangs out here.
Update 11/10: Okay, I'm waiting for clarification on this now. I think our Scovie is for "Best Packaging", and we were a runner-up in "Best Rub", but we'll take it!
Desert Island Foods™ is thrilled to announce that we've won a 2006 Scovie Award! Survival Spice™, our all natural, gluten free barbecue rub, has won third prize in the"Best Rub" category from Fiery Foods Magazine. We're proud and grateful to have received this recognition in our first year of business in a tough shoot-out, a blind tasting among numerous professional chefs, writers and foodies.
I'll have more about the competition in the next newsletter, Island Currents, along with information on our new gift box, stay tuned. Please remember, our gift tin of Survival Spice™ makes a great stocking stuffer!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 07:04 AM | Comments (18) | TrackBack
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November 04, 2005
November 1st version of "Island Currents" is up
The early November edition of the Desert Island Foods newsletter, Island Currents, is now online. Just click on the November 1, 2005 link to see the latest edition.
Check it out, lots of great holiday gift ideas that don't involve a masochistic time-sucking, gas-guzzling trip to the mall! Desert Island Foods™.com is offering a cool gift box this year for the first time, and tins of Survival Spice™ are an awesome stocking stuffer and casual gift for foodies, family, friends and co-workers alike! Such an simple way to buy some great gifts.
Email me, or just go to the Desert Island Foods™.com home page and sign up, if you want to get on the newsletter list. No spam, no evil mailing lists, just pure foodie goodness.
Okay, done with the plug. That didn't hurt, did it?
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 06:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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October 12, 2005
Childhood Food Memories Meme
I've been tagged with a meme by Meg. I've been challenged to write about 5 childhood memories of food, and it's been fun to take a bit of time to remember some of this stuff. Here's what I came up with:
Cubed potatoes and meat balls- This is reportedly the first dish my Mom learned how to cook when my parents got married. I remember it involving little meatballs with rice in them, and diced potatos in a tomato sauce. Good comfort food.
Milk toast- We used to eat this when we were sick. Buttered toast in a bowl with warm milk and sugar on top. Just for the heck of it, when I was sick some years ago, I made it again. Kinda lost the charm, I guess it needed Mom's touch!
Mom's Irish Stew- What can I say? It's the best. I'm sitting here drooling as I think about it. Usually no dumplings, just lots of buttered bread. It was even better the next day. I make a mean stew, but I can't touch hers.
Hot dogs at Forbes Field- Long, skinny foot-longs burned to a crisp. I remember eating them in the bleachers at Forbes Field, watching Roberto Clemente.
Richardson's Fries- One of those French Fry stands at the County Fair. Long, long fries, cooked to perfection served in a paper cone. I remember burning my fingers on hot, salty grease and not caring. Lots of vinegar and a bit of ketchup.
Bonus memory:
Eating a Milk Bone. What can I say? It was good, too, as I recall it...
Wow, I really killed some time doing this. Where did the morning go?
I guess I'm supposed to tag 2 other food bloggers with this. How about:
Dr. Biggles and Shauna? If you can't do it, I understand! But it was really interesting how many memories I came up with.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:10 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
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October 06, 2005
FYI- DIF Newsletter and Food Fight Voting
The first edition of the Desert Island Foods newsletter, Island Currents, is now online. It's short and sweet, any feedback you have is really appreciated!
Email me, or just go to the Desert Island Foods™.com home page and sign up, if you want to get on the notification list. No spam, no evil mailing lists, just pure foodie goodness.
The voting for the Food Fight- Interpreted dishes is still underway until Friday night. Check out the entries here, then go vote. Paul has a commanding lead, but Ana's catching up, the voting will end Friday night, and you can vote once a day. Spread the word!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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September 19, 2005
Fisher House
You may recall our White Castle French Onion burger taste test that we did a while back, which was won by Major John Tammes. Major John, BTW, is currently in New Orleans assisting with the relief effort there.
John requested that his prize be donated to Fisher House.org, an organization I hadn't heard of until he mentioned it.
Fisher House provides housing near hospitals for military families to stay while they're visiting recuperating soliders. They do an amazing job very efficiently , so I decided to up the ante, and we donated a case of Survival Spice™ to distribute to their houses.
We're proud to join companies like Newman's Own in supporting Fisher House, and I hope DIF can do more in the months and years to come.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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September 16, 2005
Survival Spice™ eligible for 2006 Scovie award!!!
Desert Island Foods™.com is proud to announce that Survival Spice™, our all natural, premium BBQ spice rub, is eligible to win a 2006 Scovie Award for Best Rub. Wish us luck!!!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:44 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
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August 16, 2005
Goin' to the McChapel, and we're, gonna get McMarried...
Awwwww.... A couple has recently tied the McKnot at an Irwin, PA, McDonalds restaurant:
On Monday night, Sinchar rolled through the drive-thru in his white minivan, just as he had done day after day, hoping to chat with "that blue-eyed brunette named Lori."But on this night, Sinchar rolled down his window, Sherbondy slid open hers and the couple grabbed hands as a district judge pronounced them husband and wife.
They found love in a drive-through. Hey, take it where you can find it, I guess. Best of luck to Ken Sinchar and Lori Sherbondy! No word if the bride was asked if she wanted to Super Size it.
Now why did I have to say that? I was being so nice...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:17 AM | Comments (5)
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August 04, 2005
WINNER!!!!! Sort of.
Someone has taken the French Onion burger challenge. Major John, who mil-blogs at Miserable Donuts, has provided the necessary photo evidence to convince me that he indeed has ingested White Castle's latest morsel.
Semi-coherent remarks from his stretcher, "The horror...the horror..." "I'm....hurting" "...urk...one syrup of ipecac, three fingers, neat. STAT!", and finally "Oh, and they are, in fact, worse than the regular slider..." before passing out.
When/If Major John recovers consciousness, I'll send him some Survival Spice™and a DIF T-shirt.
Major John, thank you for your service to your country and to us fascinated foodies everywhere.
A big shout-out to Gail for hosting the event, and most likely talking him into doing it in the first place.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:06 AM | Comments (2)
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July 20, 2005
Swan son(g) for TV dinner inventor
Gerry Thomas, widely credited for inventing the TV dinner, died here in the Phoenix area Monday of cancer at age 83.
From the AP release:
He recalled that the inspiration came when he was visiting a distributor, spotted a metal tray and was told it was developed for an experiment in preparation of hot meals on airliners."It was just a single compartment tray with foil," he recalled. "I asked if I could borrow it and stuck it in the pocket of my overcoat."
He said he came up with a three-compartment tray because "I spent five years in the service so I knew what a mess kit was. You could never tell what you were eating because it was all mixed together."
Since interest in television was booming, he added: "I figured if you could borrow from that, maybe you could get some attention. I think the name made all the difference in the world."
Read the whole article, but I thought it was interesting that he got so much hate mail from enraged husbands when they first came out. No word if he will be buried on an aluminum tray in a cardboard casket, but I'm guessing not.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)
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July 06, 2005
White Castle- 75 years and still slydin...
{Photo: White Castle)
I thought this was amazing. A New Jersey White Castle location is 75 years old this week, one of two White Castles to reach this venerable old age. From the press release:
During the week of July 4 - 9 the Castle will be in proper celebration mode with balloons and streamers decorating the Castle. Customers will be treated with cake throughout the weeklong gala and a local radio station will be at the Castle on July 9, inviting customers to stop by and join in the celebration! The White Castle home office sent their congratulations out to the Castle by signing a banner that will be displayed. Customers will also receive customized magnets (while supplies last) if they visit the Castle during the anniversary to serve as a reminder of the Castle's celebration.
How about that picture of the Slyder above? That's the first slyder I've ever seen that wasn't dripping with grease, but that's part of the charm, I guess.
Giving away magnets. How tacky. Heh.
There weren't any in my area when I was growing up but I've had a few. Is White Castle part of your burger heritage?
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:34 AM | Comments (5)
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June 24, 2005
IT IS ALIVE!!!
The new Desert Island Foods™.com site is now live for your drinking, dancing and hopefully shopping pleasure!
Please check it out and let us know what you think.
I'd like to again thank Gary Sanders at iBlue.com for all his hard work on the programming. Nicole and Gabe Bonilla at Bonilla Design provided the visual design for the site and our packaging and marketing artwork.
These people are true professionals and do creative and meticulous work, which is a rare combination of attributes.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:43 AM
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June 20, 2005
New Desert Island Foods™ site just about done!
Finally! We're in final testing of the new site and will have the "doors" open in the middle of the week so we can get your Fourth of July orders filled.
Our beginning inventory will include Survival Spice™, our all natural dry spice blend, Tibvrtini Extra Virgin Olive Oil, voted one of the 7 best olive oils in the world, and Tibvrtini Aceto di Vino Bianco, a white wine vinegar that hasn't been available outside of Italy until now.
We also will have DIF T-shirts and really cool DIF refrigerator magnets.
This has been a long time in the making, thanks for being so patient!
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:40 AM | Comments (1)
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June 19, 2005
Not to Nettle in other people's business but...
I love England. The people, their long history, the beautiful countryside, and their amazing beer but ya gotta admit, they'll eat anything when they're bored!
Last month I posted about their fondess for rolling down hills to catch a lump of cheese and now this -feasting on stinging nettles.
From the Reuters article:
Competitors must pluck and eat as many leaves as they can from the feathery, stinging plants in the space of one hour. Their achievement is measured in feet and inches -- the combined length of the bare stems they discard."You have to adopt the correct technique to stand any chance of winning," said Shane Pym, landlord of the Bottle Inn. www.thebottleinn.co.uk.
"The art is to fold the top of the leaf inwards, get it past the lips, crunch it and then get it down the neck. You can't let your mouth get dry or you will get stung."
Beer drinking is allowed but mouth numbing drugs are not. I guess the brain-numbing will have to do.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 09:01 AM | Comments (1)
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June 14, 2005
Flag Day- Foodie Style
It's Flag Day today and every June 14th, for that matter, which got me thinking about red, white and blue food.
Has it ever been done well in a truly foodie heaven way? As far as entrees, I think the tough color would be blue. It's easier, of course, to plan a menu with seperate red, white and blue courses/dishes but how do you do a single dish without it looking like a train wreck? A lasagna? Could you do a squid ink lasagna noodle and pass it off as blue, layering the same color on top of itself so each piece would be a different color? You could cut strips across all 3 colors when you plated it, sort of like neopolitan ice cream.
A dessert would be easier, maybe a strawberry/blueberry angel food or layered cheese cake, or how about a sorbet or granita?
Let's have some fun with this. Maybe we should have a Red, White and Blue Food Fight for the Fourth of July, along with a regular contest. Any thoughts?
And hang that flag today if you've got one...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:41 AM
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June 09, 2005
Black Widow eats popcorn or, a Kernel of Truth...
(Photo:AP)
Like popcorn? Love popcorn? Capable of eating 12 boxes of popcorn in 10 minutes? Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas proved she can by winning a popcorn eating contest in Hollywood Wednesday. Via Yahoo news:
Thomas, of Alexandria, Va., and Rich LeFevre, of Henderson, Nev., were tied after 12 boxes, but judges ruled Thomas the winner because LeFevre had spilled a few kernels.For the win, Thomas received an MTV Movie Awards talent gift basket worth an estimated $10,000.
In August, the 105-pound Thomas downed 38 lobsters in 12 minutes to win the World Lobster Eating Contest. She won $500 and a trophy belt for her efforts, consuming 9.76 pounds of lobster meat.
Days before the lobster contest, the speed-eater consumed 8.4 pounds of beans with pork in 2 minutes and 47 seconds. She also holds records for hard-boiled eggs.
How did she get the nickname "Black Widow" anyway? Maybe she challenged a few ex-hubbies to an eating contest...
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:37 AM | Comments (2)
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May 23, 2005
May is National Barbeque Month
Grill it up, folks! The new Desert Island Foods.com website should be live around June 10th, just in time to get your Survival Spice™ orders in for Father's Day! We should have T-shirts and maybe a few other products "on the shelf" too, so keep us in mind when buying the perfect gift for Dad!
And don't forget about the latest Food Fight, which will end June 2nd.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:13 AM
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May 11, 2005
National "Eat What You Want Day"
The holiday was made up by Thomas and Ruth Roy, but it's okay with me.
Why stop there? How about "eat what you want" month?
If you really want to celebrate, check out Steve H., who wrote a cookbook called "Eat What You Want and Die Like a Man: The World's Unhealthiest Cookbook." You may not agree with his politics, and to get the disclaimers out of the way, his site can be a bit crude, NSFW, and is not for the prissy, blah blah blah, but he cracks me up.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:47 AM
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April 27, 2005
Today is National Prime Rib Day
Who comes up with this stuff, anyway? I doubt it was PETA, but In the never-ending pursuit of knowledge I wasted a good chunk of the morning trying to find out, to no avail.
Does anyone know? Leave your answer or entertaining theory in the comments.
In any case, it sounds good to me. Some prime rib recipes can be found here, here and here. Let me know if you try any of them.
Posted by The Pragmatic Chef at 08:34 AM