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How to Make Butterbeer

I tried this at Universal's Islands of Adventure a year or two ago and it was good. I've now finally found a recipe. I want someone to make me this for my birthday...

Harry Potter’s Butterbeer

Ingredients

• 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
• 4 12 ounce bottles cream soda

Directions

1. In a small saucepan over medium, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer.
2. Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 of the heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.
4. In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.
5. To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about 1/4 cup for each glass).
6. Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine.
7. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda
8. Spoon the whipped topping over each.

Source: http://www.bestyummyrecipes.com/harry-potters-butterbeer/

Kale Does Actually Suck

Famous chefs were interviewed and asked to rate their most overrated and most underrated veggies. Most overrated: kale. I couldn't agree more. Kale sucks. When I used to work in a restaurant, we used it as a garnish and I never once saw anyone eat it. Some people eat it raw, straight or mixed into a salad. I would rather eat grass clippings. Kale chips have no flavor, except for whatever you sprinkle on them. Cooked kale is nasty, too. I'd much rather have spinach or cabbage. It's bitter and gross and I have no idea why it has become so trendy.

Are Artificial Sweeteners Harmful?

Spoiler Alert: No.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf82FfX-wuU

Sugar. It Was You, All Along

The Journal of the American Medical Association has published findings that say that sugar is the cause of our worst dietary problems. I believe it. Dr. Mark Hyman explains it this way:

It’s over. The debate is settled.

It’s sugar, not fat, that causes heart attacks.

Oops. Fifty years of doctors’ advice and government eating guidelines have been wrong. We’ve been told to swap eggs for Cheerios. But that recommendation is dead wrong. In fact, it’s very likely that this bad advice has killed millions of Americans.

A rigorously done new study shows that those with the highest sugar intake had a four-fold increase in their risk of heart attacks compared to those with the lowest intakes. That’s 400%! Just one 20-ounce soda increases your risk of a heart attack by about 30%.

This study of more than 40,000 people, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, accounted for all other potential risk factors including total calories, overall diet quality, smoking, cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity and alcohol.

This follows on the heels of decades of research that has been mostly ignored by the medical establishment and policy makers. In fact, the Institute of Medicine recommends getting no more than 25% of your total calories from added sugar. Really?? This study showed that your risk of heart attacks doubles if sugar makes up 20% of your calories.

You should believe it, too. A couple of years ago, I put myself on a fairly simple diet from Labor Day to Christmas Eve. There were only two elements to this diet: (1) avoid anything that seemed "sugary", like cookies, cakes, candy, etc. and (2) stop drinking alcohol. In less than four months, I lost more than 40 pounds, and it seemed effortless. I didn't stop eating. I didn't watch my calories. I didn't exercise more. I just cut sugar and alcohol out of my diet and the pounds melted away.

Enjoy those Valentine chocolates, but then try to avoid sugar for a while.

Free Red Mango Today

To celebrate the fruit and citrus flavor, invented by Red Mango founder Dan Kim, participating Red Mango shops will give customers a free, one-topping scoop on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Red Mango has frozen yogurt shops in Fullerton, Newport Beach, Laguna Niguel and Irvine. I've never tried it. I'd never even noticed or heard of Red Mango yogurt before, but it's free, so I thought I'd pass it along.

When El Pollo Loco had its free giveaway earlier this week, it was such a zoo, I decided to go elsewhere for lunch and come back the next day and just pay for my two-piece chicken meal. Hopefully, this will be a little less crazy.

Lunch at Philippe

On my way home from U.C.L.A., I grabbed lunch at Philippe the Original. It was that or the Original Tommy's. I got a double-dipped beef sandwich, with hot mustard on half. A pickled egg, too. It was awesome. If you only have one day to spend in L.A., and you want to experience a great L.A. lunch or a great casual L.A. dinner, you can't go wrong by hitting Philippe's.

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What Have You Eaten?

Happy Thanksgiving. As you prepare for the biggest meal of the year, I offer you this Internet meme, taken from the Very Good Taste blog:

Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what you do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

The Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant (?don't know?)
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Only 54/100. But I would consider eating 96/100. A couple, like haggis and sweetbread, I'd have to take a sniff before deciding.

Dessert is Served

Mmmm. White and milk chocolate fondue at The Melting Pot.

 

Free Election Day Stuff

I'm not sure if any of these deals are legal (See California Elections Code § 18521(b)), but a bunch of companies are offering freebies to people who have an "I Voted" sticker, or who say that they voted:

• Starbucks: free Tall coffee on Nov. 4 (http://www.youtube.com/starbucks)
• Ben & Jerry's: Free ice cream between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
• Anaheim White House: Diners ages 21+ get free champagne with two meals.
• Krispy Kreme: free star-shaped doughnut to voters.
• Pizza Hut: 20% off on-line orders for Nov. 4 (weak)
• Pat & Oscar’s: Voters get 20% off on Nov. 4.
• Zov’s: Voters can get a free slice of Apple Pie with purchase.
• Daily Grill: From 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., free appetizer to voters, and extended Happy Hour
• Salt Creek Grille (Dana Point): $3 beers. Free Brandt beef sliders and house-made chips
• Scott’s Seafood: $10 off your lunch or dinner check.
• Morton’s The Steakhouse: Presidential Martinis will cost $11, instead of $12.50 (weak)
• California Tortilla Kitchen: free burrito (unconfirmed)
• Mac n Madi: free webkinz elephant or donkey (unconfirmed)
• In-n-Out is NOT giving away free burgers. That rumor is false.

Salt Creek Grille also apparently has an Ahi appetizer you can eat, get sick from, and win a few million bucks in court.

California Elections Code § 18521:

A person shall not directly or through any other person
receive, agree, or contract for, before, during or after an election,
any money, gift, loan, or other valuable consideration, office,
place, or employment for himself or any other person because he or
any other person:
   (a) Voted, agreed to vote, refrained from voting, or agreed to
refrain from voting for any particular person or measure.
   (b) Remained away from the polls.
   (c) Refrained or agreed to refrain from voting.
   (d) Induced any other person to:
   (1) Remain away from the polls.
   (2) Refrain from voting.
   (3) Vote or refrain from voting for any particular person or
measure.
   Any person violating this section is punishable by imprisonment in
the state prison for 16 months or two or three years.

Cruzan Rum Admits Nobody Ever Finishes a Shot of Their Crappy Rum

Any real rum drinker can tell you why this billboard is so true. It's because if you pour a glass of this crap, and someone tastes it, the remaining half of a glass will just sit there while the drinker throws back some better quality rum, like Appleton Estate, Captain Morgan or Don Q. You only drink Cruzan if it's the only thing available, and the liquor stores are all closed.

A Modest Proposal About Milkshakes

Many restaurants serve their shakes and malts in glasses that are too small. Instead of putting the entire milkshakes in glasses that can fit the whole drink, you get this undersized thing, and then they bring out the metal mixing cup with another 2/3rds of a glass full of malt. It makes you think that you're getting a better bargain - as of you are getting almost two shakes for the price of one.

The problem is that the extra shakes sits in that metal cup and it sometimes turns into a big frozen mass of milkshake, and when you pour it into your glass, if you forget to stir it first, it all comes out in one giant glob. And a bunch of it lands outside your glass. So unless you are the kind of pig who sucks milkshake from the tabletop, you waste some of your milkshake. Next time, why can't they just put the entire milkshake in one nice big glass, so we can drink the whole thing? There ought to be a law.

Another Way to Uncork That Bottle

My fork-screw method is better, but I have discovered, quite by accident, that if you pop a bottle into the freezer to chill it, and then forget about the whole thing for a few hours, that cork will pop right out. I do not recommend this for opening a very fine bottle of wine. For the cheaper stuff, it's not so bad. The wine won't be ready to drink right away though.

Another way to crack open that wine bottle

without a corkscrew. Admittedly, this is a poor technique,which I discovered inadvertently. But it is simple. You just drop the bottle into the freezer, because it isn't cold enough, and then you forget about it. A few hours later, your bottle of winesickle has forced the cork out the top. Now thaw and serve. I do not recommend this method for a really nice bottle of wine. It'll taste like the cheap stuff by the time it thaws. I still prefer my old fork-and-screw method.

No Sushi Boy For Me

We got this ad for Sushi Boy, and it had a coupon for something like thirty percent off, so my brother and I went there for lunch today. We went as far as the door, but never went in.

At peak lunch hour, the place had four customers. A dead slow sushi place never seems to have good sushi. Dead slow sushi places usually end up giving you sushi squirts. I don't much care for those. The plates didn't look so great, either. The sushi looked warm. Maybe it wasn't, but it just didn't look fresh when we peeked throught the glass.

Oh, and the place was run by Mexicans. I don't have anything against Mexicans. I just don't want non-Japanese making my sushi. Racist? Maybe. I don't care. That's one area where racism serves me well. Show me ten sushi places run by non-Japanese chefs, and I'll show you at least nine sushi places you won't want to visit twice.

Anyhow, after about ten seconds of thinking about it, we took off down the road to Sumo, the all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. That's where I piled up this outstanding plate of raw fish products. It was delicious.

Tommy's Back in Central OC

On May 15, 1946, Tommy Koulax opened a burger shack at the corner of Beverly and Rampart Boulevards in Los Angeles. And chiliburger goodness has been with us ever since. Tommy's is the burger place so popular, it even has its own internet message board. Sadly, for those of us in central Orange County, there hasn't been a Tommy's within lunching distance since they closed the Santa Ana location back when I was a young associate. At last, however, there is an Original Tommy's in Lake Forest, making it possible for those of us in OC central to go on a lunchtime Tommy's run. The new Original Tommy's is located at 24310 Swartz Drive, Lake Forest, off the 5 freeway at El Toro Road. The other OC locations are in La Habra, Westminster and Fountain Valley.

Free Starbucks Coffee Today

Today, your local Starbucks will be giving out a free tall sized (12 oz) of their brewed coffee between the hours of 10 AM and Noon. Check it out: http://www.starbucks.com/ourcoffees/coffee_break.asp

Did I mention it's FREE?

Merry Christmas To All

It's going to be the 8th annual Christmas Eve party at my house. If you know me well enough to know where I live, and you aren't some weird blog stalker, you are invited, whether or not you got your invitation. We'll have lots of food and drink, as always, and a big crowd of family and a few friends to boot. Gifts are optional. Good moods are mandatory.

Filthy Restaurants

Have you ever wondered which restaurants are the filthiest. MSNBC just did a great expose on major restaurant chains and health violations. The worst, with 1.6 violations per inspection, was TGI Friday's. That finding did not surprise me. That's all I'm willing to say publicly.

Fear Factor Leftovers

Ten years ago today, John Wayne Gacy, one of the most vile, wicked monsters ever born into our species, was executed by lethal injection at the Statesville Penitentiary. The previous evening, the pasty, bloated serial killer had feasted on a last supper of fried chicken, french fries, cola and strawberry shortcake. Then, before the injection, Gacy was allowed to make a final statement. He opted for "Kiss my ass."

Death row inmates deserve neither a last meal nor a forum for last words. Why did we feed Gacy a nice meal and provide him with an audience? Tradition? That's not a reason. I say, "Screw tradition." Serve leftovers from Fear Factor.

I have always believed that the final meals of executed prisoners should be unsatisfying. The more humane the method of killing, the less impetus there should be to comfort the condemned as that moment draws near. Now, if you are going to draw and quarter them, fine, let them eat cake. Otherwise, if they deserve to die, they don't deserve a feast. And if they don't deserve to die, that fantastic final meal is no consolation whatsoever.

I also dislike giving the prisoner any more free speech rights. Most of the time, the prisoner just uses the forum to deliver one last big "Fuck you." Why let them? Before his execution last September for the slaying of an abortion doctor, Paul Hill boasted in his final statement that he would "expect a great reward in heaven." His victim's family must have been livid. I'm no fan of abortion doctors, but murdering them is at least as wicked as killing a fetus, and abortionist slayers deserve no soapboxes on their deathbeds.

Neither Hill nor Gacy should have been given a forum to speak. If anything, the victim's family should get some last words. "Kiss my ass?" No, no, no. Kiss your own ass goodbye.