Cookbook Review: CakeLove: How To Bake Cakes From Scratch

Posted by Jenny Lewis
Categories: Dessert, Books, Comfort Food, Product Reviews, Baking

Warren Brown’s first foray into cookbook writing, “CakeLove: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch”, was published on May 1st, and like many dessert lovers and home bakers, I could barely contain my enthusiasm when I finally got to plunk down my $27.50 for the oversized tome, full of beautiful photographs by Renee Comet.

If the name Warren Brown sounds vaguely familiar to you, it may be because you’ve seen him on Oprah or Today, or maybe because of his second (third, now) job hosting Sugar Rush on the Food Network. Brown left his law career and opened his first CakeLove bakery in Washington, DC in 2002, which has since branched out to three bakeries and a cafe, with two more bakeries in the works.

Click to continue reading Cookbook Review: CakeLove: How To Bake Cakes From Scratch

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Dining in 2015 Design Competition

Posted by Jenny Lewis
Categories: Features, Trends, Utensils, Kitchen Gadgets

You may not think much of your silverware or your plates, but someone does.  The results of designboom’s Dining in 2015 design competition were announced a few months back, and there were a number of fantastic entries.  Out of a total of 4843 entries from 98 countries, the five person jury narrowed it down to 3 first prize entries and an honorable mention from a shortlist of 160 amazing entries.  My favorite entry from the shortlist, pictured above, is the “cutlery in a wallet,” designed by Alberto Ghirardello of Italy. It was “designed to facilitate outdoor eating,” and I can’t think of an easier and more compact way to do exactly that.

Read More | Format

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Recipe: Avocado Salad Wraps

Posted by Jenny Lewis
Categories: Dinner, Lunch, Side Dishes, Quick Meals, Recipes, Summer Cooking, Fruit, Salad, Vegetables, Vegetarian

It’s summer, and the food lobe of my brain turns to one thing when the weather starts warming up - avocados. Being on the East Coast, avocados are definitely my favorite summertime-only indulgence, and they are well worth the wait in all of their forms. Another recipe from Clean Eating magazine, these Avocado Salad Wraps are fantastic as a light lunch or, when paired with some bread or tortillas, a stove-free dinner on a hot day.

Ingredients:

• 2 T Dijon mustard
• 1 medium ripe avocado, diced
• 1 medium ripe tomato, chopped into pieces the same size as the avocado
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• lime juice (optional)
• 4 big lettuce leaves (romaine works great)

Preparation:
Combine the first four ingredients in a bowl. If the wraps aren’t going to be eaten right away, toss some lime juice into the bowl with the salad.

Divide the salad between the 4 lettuce leaves, wrap and enjoy!  Or, if you’re like me, eschew the lettuce altogether and eat the salad straight out of the bowl.

Read More | Clean Eating Magazine

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Schlitz to Resume Brewing

Posted by Jenny Lewis
Categories: Trends, Food Trivia, History, America, Midwest, Beer

After a number of unsuccessful changes to the brand, the Schlitz brewery (one of the oldest of the old school breweries) closed in 1981. First brewed in 1849, Schlitz beer was successful for over 100 years before changes in production (and the overall quality of the final product) killed the product’s popularity and, therefore, sales.  The brand changed hands twice - once in 1982 to Stroh and earlier this year to Pabst - and is now being brewed again and is in such high demand that stores are reportedly limiting the numbers of cases customers can buy at one time.

Though brewing operations are on the east coast, Schlitz is currently only available in Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis and Western Florida.  Pabst is hopeful that the new old brew will be more widely available as brewing operations ramp up.

Read More | MSNBC

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In Brief: Ruby Tuesday’s to Demolish Last “Old” Restaurant

Posted by Jenny Lewis
Categories: Events, Closings, News, Business, Restaurants, America

As part of a huge makeover and the accompanying advertising campaign, Ruby Tuesday will be demolishing their last “old” restaurant on Tuesday August 5 - and they’ll be webcasting it live at 3:00 PM Eastern.  Whatever your reason for being excited about this, if you want to catch it live take a coffee break and head on over to their website.

Read More | Ruby Tuesday

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Recipe: Summer Pasta Salad

Posted by Jenny Lewis
Categories: Dinner, Lunch, Side Dishes, Recipes, Summer Cooking, Cheese, Salad, Vegetables, Vegetarian

This pasta salad is one of my favorite potluck contributions. Because of the fact that the pasta has to be completely cool - at most room temperature - before assembling the salad, it’s a great dish to start at night and finish the next day. Here’s a recipe for a great Summer Pasta Salad:

Ingredients:

• 1 Lb smallish, shaped pasta (rotini, farfalle, macaroni, anything small and easily fork-able)
• 1/2 bottle of Italian dressing (not creamy)
• 4 T Salad Supreme
• 1 12 to 14 inch cucumber or two smaller ones, peeled and seeded
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, washed and halved
• 4 ounces Provolone cheese (this is usually 4 slices of prepackaged sliced cheese)
• 4 ounces salami (again, usually 4 slices of prepackaged sliced meat, but this can also be 4 ounces from a whole salami)

Click to continue reading Recipe: Summer Pasta Salad

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Recipe: The Perfect Protein, Rice and Beans

Posted by Jenny Lewis
Categories: Dinner, Lunch, Quick Meals, Grains, Poultry, Grilling

Beans and rice, rice and beans. Endorsed by scores of nations worldwide, beans and rice provides a balance of protein and carbs that can hardly be beat (not to mention the combination creates a very thrifty meal). Add some chicken for an extra protein bump and some salsa for flavor, and you have a dinner that’s quick, healthy and delish.

This recipe came to me via the print edition of Clean Eating magazine, which I highly endorse.

Click to continue reading Recipe: The Perfect Protein, Rice and Beans

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Gear Live custom iPhone contest winners

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Announcements, Apple, Cell Phones, Handhelds

We wanted to shout out the winners of the customized Gear Live iPhone giveaway that we held a couple of weeks ago. We let three winners walk away with a piece of the action, with the grand prize, of course, winning our orange painted iPhone.

The grand prize went to Kat. She gets the iPhone, an LRG T-shirt, a couple of Monster Cable accessories, and a few LRG Monster iPhone cases. Second place went to x1xtomx1x. He doesn’t get an iPhone or anything, but he does get a couple of the LRG Monster iPhone cases, the shirt, and the accessories. Third place went to Shan Gee, and he gets one less LRG case than x1 gets.

So there you have it, the end to another Gear Live contest. Stay tuned though, we still have a bunch of stuff that we plan on giving away to your readers. You know, like Wii Fit, Microsoft Zune, etc. In the meantime, be sure you are a Gear Live member.

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ColorWare features Gear Live iPhone

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Announcements, Apple, Cell Phones, Design, Features, Handhelds, Portable Audio / Video

As Gear Live member x1xtomx1x discovered and shared with us on the forums today, the Gear Live iPhone that we are giving away is actually featured in the ColorWare gallery. Very nice find.

Remember, you are eligible to enter to win this customized iPhone. Check out the official rules to find out how.

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Contest: Win a custom Gear Live iPhone, LRG cases, and Monster Cable Accessories!

Posted by Andru Edwards
Categories: Announcements, Apple, Cell Phones, Features

Since our last giveaway contest went so well (and the HDX Dragon computer is on its way to our winner!), we thought you guys might be interested in yet another opportunity to win some cool stuff from Gear Live. That’s why we are giving away a one-of-a-kind customized iPhone, along with a bunch of accessories from LRG and Monster Cable. Even better? This time, we will have three winners.

What makes our iPhone so special? Well, we’ve had it customized and done up in Gear Live colors. Heck, we even put our logo on it, so you can rock the fact that you are a fan of what we do here. Also, we will unlock it for you, if you like, prior to sending it over. We are gonna make this one easy too. The contest starts today, and will end on July 2, 2008. Between now and then, we are gonna be monitoring comments left throughout Gear Live, and forum posts. If you are a regular participants in those areas, you will have an opportunity to win. On July 3, we will compile a list of members who have been active during the contest period, and we will then choose our first, second, and third place winners randomly. Here are the full details on the three packages:

Grand Prize:

• Customized orange Gear Live iPhone
• 3 LRG | Monster iPhone cases of your choosing
• LRG Tee Shirt
• iCableLink iPhone headphone jack adapter
• iSoniTalk iPhone microphone

Second Place:

• 2 LRG | Monster iPhone cases of your choosing
• LRG Tee Shirt
• iCableLink iPhone headphone jack adapter
• iSoniTalk iPhone microphone

Third Place:

• 1 LRG | Monster iPhone cases of your choosing
• LRG Tee Shirt
• iCableLink iPhone headphone jack adapter
• iSoniTalk iPhone microphone

Oh, and just to be clear, if you spam, you are eliminated from the contest. We are looking for people who genuinely add to the conversation across our network in blog comment posts, and on the Gear Live Forums. That means you have to be a member of the site to win, so if you aren’t already, go ahead and sign up. One last thing, we can only award the prize to a resident of the USA. If you plan on winning and you don’t live here, you’d better have a cousin or great aunt with an address in the US that we can ship your package to.

A big thank you to LRG and Monster Cable for helping us out with this contest.

Gallery: Contest: Win a custom Gear Live iPhone, LRG cases, and Monster Cable Accessories!

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