Check out this beautiful gingerbread house.

The Food Network has officially cancelled Emeril Live.

November 8th, 2007

By Deven Black, Jill Rovitzky Black and Judith Hausman
Gannett News Service

Shopping for a Thanksgiving turkey can be daunting. Sometimes the labels can be as confusing as an income tax return. To set you straight, we’re providing a glossary, so you’ll have the skinny on your turkey, no matter how plump a bird you buy.

Heritage

Heritage turkeys are the feathered equivalents of heirloom vegetables. To turkey breeders they’re “standard breeds” — old-school turkeys that look, live and, most important, taste the way turkeys used to. To buy one of these tasty throwbacks, try www. localharvest.org/store, a cooperative venture of farm markets. Enter “heritage turkey” in the search box and a variety of producers will come up. Some offer only on-site pickup but others ship either frozen or seriously chilled birds. Prices can run as high as $10 a pound. heritage turkeys are also available at www.igourmet.com

Pasture-raised

The name says it all: Pasture-raised turkeys roam around outside and eat primarily grass, so their food and activity level — both of which affect flavor — differ from those of their grain-fed cousins raised in confinement. Pasture-raised turkeys are also likely to be heritage breeds; the factory farm birds are so heavy of breast and short of leg that they can’t thrive out in the open. According to traditional-cooking authority William Rubel, heritage turkeys “have more intrinsic flavor, and if they have been raised on pasture, then their flesh will be as fully flavored as it can be OrganicAccording to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to be called organic, a turkey has to be raised on organic feed: grain- or grass-fed without the use of genetic engineering methods, ionizing radiation or sewage sludge for fertilization. And the birds cannot be given hormones or antibiotics. Many breeders who produce pasture-raised, heritage breeds do so organically. The growing popularity of organic foods means that you’ll also find organic birds at Whole Foods Markets and other high-end, health-food-oriented retailers or similar specialty stores. www.igourmet.com KosherTo qualify as a kosher turkey, the bird must be healthy at the time of slaughter and must be killed in a specific manner intended to minimize pain, under supervision of a rabbi trained in ancient Jewish dietary laws. All the blood has to be removed from the slaughtered bird, first by draining, then by a process of soaking and salting. The net effect of all that salt and water is equivalent to brining the bird, an effective although sometimes unwieldy way to enhance the flavor and juiciness of a turkey. That’s why in the supermarket arena, kosher poultry often trumps standard brands in taste tests, and why many non-Jews and non-observant Jews will buy kosher turkeys and chickens. Frozen kosher turkeys are available in most major supermarkets. Fresh birds can be ordered from kosher butchers or specialty kosher markets.Free-range

Today we recieved a wonderful email from Neal Greene, an officer in the United States Army, First Calvary Division in Baghdad:

“I”d just like to thank you for your great service to APOS. i”m an officer in the 1st cavalry division deployed to Baghdad and we have hadone of our weekly meetings supplied with snacks from your company. they

The Meat Cake from the Black Widow Bakery with step by step instructions. Enjoy!

NPR Morning Edition, August 30, 2007  

Alps Warm and French Cheesemakers Try to Adapt

In a remote alpine village, French cheesemaker Alex Pelletier sighs.

“Yeah, global warming is really depressing. Everybody’s talking about it,” says Pelletier, who, makes Beaufort cheese. Pelletier’s worry is the unprecedented heat in the French Alps, which is making cows thirstier. Drinking more water, says Pelletier, dilutes the proteins and fats in the cows’ milk. And that costs the cheesemakers, who must use more milk to create the same amount of cheese.

The flora in the Alps is slowing changing, too. Pelletier is seeing plants native to the south of France seeking refuge in his own mountainous backyard. And a change in flora, he says, might someday change the taste of alpine cheese.

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The chemical diacetyl is added to microwave popcorn to produce that great butter smell. Diacetyl has been linked to Popcorn Lung, a disease only found in popcorn factory workers.

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From www.Wikipedia.com

Casu marzu (also called casu modde, casu cundhídu, or in Italian formaggio marcio) is a cheese found in Sardina, Italy notable for being riddled with live insect larvae. Casu marzumeans “rotten cheese” in Sardinia and is known colloquially as maggot cheese.

Derived from Pecorino Sardo, casu marzu goes beyond typical fermentation to a stage most would consider decomposition brought about by the digestive action of the larvae of the cheese fly Piophila casei. These larvae are deliberately introduced to the cheese, promoting an advanced level of fermentation and breaking down of the cheese’s fats. The texture of the cheese becomes very soft, with some liquid (called lagrima, from the Sardinian for “tears” seeping out. The larvae themselves appear as translucent white worms, about 8 mm (1/3 inch) long. When disturbed, the larvae can jump for distances up to 15 cm (6 inches), prompting recommendations of eye protection for those eating the cheese. Some people clear the larvae from the cheese before consuming; others do not.

Yaroslav Trofimov, in the August 23, 2000 edition of The Wall Street Journal, describes the cheese as “a viscous, pungent goo that burns the tongue and can affect other parts of the body”. Susan Herrmann Loomis reports an encounter (in a 2002 Bon Appétit article)

An Armed Robber is Stopped by Offers of Wine, Cheese and Hugs
from www.LiveLeak.com