Other happenings

Tickets for the  second annual Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival are now on sale. The festival is taking place this Columbus Day weekend (Thursday, October 8th – Sunday, October 11th 2009) with proceeds benefiting Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength. If you're at all interested in attending, check out the schedule now as some of the most popular restaurant chef and food network star events and parties are already sold out. There's still lots of to choose from, including  lectures, tastings, grand tastings, meals, parties, culinary demonstrations samplings, and more... Tickets range from $10 for  Buzzin’ With The Bee Man! (David Graves [...]

Tomorrow morning (Tuesday, July 21), Starbucks is giving 1 million customers a complimentary pastry with the purchase of any "handcrafted beverage" (blended beverages, iced coffee or iced lattes) until 10:30 am or until the pastries are gone. To get your free pastry, either print a hard copy of the invitation from Starbucks.com or from Starbucks Facebook and Twitter pages and bring a hard copy (or show it to a barista on a handheld PDA device) to receive a favorite breakfast pastry.  Click here, to find the Starbucks nearest you. Starbucks is doing this to tout their updated pastry recipes. They've added whole grains, Oregon blueberries and Michigan cherries and have [...]

Ok.. So sorry for the delay in this reporting, my timing is a bit off as you'll see. I unfortunately caught this story too late to get everyone out on the streets, but maybe you can take up the cause next year. This past month a special date was recognized, that is at least amongst a few hardcore spirit supporters. June 12th apparently marks the anniversary of a historic liquor tragedy, committed 265 years ago. In 1744, the Portuguese Crown declared that the production, distribution, and sale of Cachaça, Brazil’s noble spirit, would be illegal within the Colony of Brazil. Fortunately for us all, the Brazilian people rebelled and the [...]

Take a chance to win a private screening of "Julie & Julia"  — for you and 250 of your dearest friends to see this summer's foodie movie based on Julie Powell's book by the same name. The movie stars Meryl Streep as Julia and Amy Adams as Julie; and was adapted for the screen and directed by Nora Ephron. In my book, that's a perfect trinity! To win, just go here and fill out your name and address before August 31, 2009. I already did so and — being the eternal optimist — began planning the party I'd have for all my friends after the screening. The twenty-five second prizes [...]

Nuts are recalled yet again. On July 8 General Mills announced a voluntary recall of some "Nut Lovers" flavor of Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters products containing pecans. This action is being taken as a precaution because pecans received from a supplier and used in the product may be tainted with salmonella. The recall only covers products with the following "best if used by" dates: March 7, 2010; March 8, 2010; March 9, 2010; March 10, 2010; and March 11, 2010. If you have one of the "Granola Nut Clusters" products listed, dispose of them and contact the company for a full refund. The company said that no [...]

Starbucks is offering 20,000 coupons for free pints of their new ice creams via Facebook from now through July 19. Not surprisingly with a name like Starbuck, all the flavors contain coffee. There's plain Coffee, Mocha Frappuccino (swirled coffee and chocolate ice creams),  Java Chip Frappuccino (coffee ice cream with chocolate chunks) and my — and all my friends who tested this line with me — hands-down favorite, Caramel Macchiato (coffee and vanilla ice creams streaked with caramel). To get free coupon, go to Facebook at the very top of the hour to request that a coupon be sent to a friend. You need to be really quick as only [...]

The official first day of summer is upon us. Yes, that means it’s time to hit the beaches. As such (in a very image conscious and driven society), many people are trying to shed a few pounds they may have added over the long, cold winter. Such a ripe set of circumstances offers great opportunities to the promoters of fad dieting, and this season there is an interesting one I've just come across.. though it is apparently over 30 years old! The COOKIE DIET (yes, the cookie diet) - Great marketing, right?! I mean, cookies.. sold! Please know that I'm not speaking in any way about the nutritional value or [...]

I love dedication, it's inspiring.. And I have to say that it's especially inspiring when it's dedication to food! We've written previously about Transatlantic Foods on Bite of the Best. The New York-based company specializes in fresh, frozen, dried and processed wild and exotic mushrooms, as well as putting out a great selection of additional boutique food products. As a food blogger myself, I like to see others putting their passion for food into online words. I was happy to find that one of the founders of Transatlantic Foods recently launched a blog called The Mushroom Guys. Though the blog does serve to as a tool to promote their company [...]

Ok, so I've been seeing this product a lot around town. If you haven't seen it yet, well, now you have. So… what is a Whynatte? After much google research, it seems it's actually many things (a cocktail, an energy drink, a way of being - yes, I actually read that). The most basic manifestation is the cocktail, composed of two simple ingredients: a hot latte and an ice cold shot of Jagermeister...combine, chug, you get the idea. The story apparently begins in California, 2004. Following a bender of dramatic proportions, the creators nursed their hangovers with their morning tradition, a hot latte. Figuring that it was already time to [...]