Whisky “on the rocks.” Photo courtesy of Tullamore Dew.
Where can you find more than 200 of the world’s rarest and most expensive whiskies in one place? At America’s largest whisky celebration, WhiskyFest, taking place for its third year in San Francisco on October 16th. Attendees can not only sample the revered spirit, but can learn how to identify, sniff, swill and taste it, see how its made, and discover everything else about whisky, through speakers and seminars and from leading industry experts, master blenders and distillery managers.
“It gives whisky enthusiasts the chance to taste some incredibly rare whiskies and meet the makers behind the barrels,” says John Hansell, Publisher of Malt Advocate magazine, which sponsors the event. The whisky celebration doesn’t start with the festival; the week leading up to it will feature events related to the spirit and promotions at popular nightspots, restaurants and bars.
For more information on ticket sales or event information, visit WhiskyFest.com.
You may notice the different spelling of “whisky” versus “whiskey.” In Ireland and the United States, the word “whiskey” is spelled with an “e.” The British, Scots and Canadians use “whisky.” Etymologists don’t know why. The best explanation is that the Irish had whiskey first, and when the Scots started to make it, they left out the “e” to point out the difference between their spirit and Irish whiskey.
All food lovers talk about restaurants when they get together, but what about food tips? The next time you’re with one friend or ten, ask for their best food tips. What are their favorite specialty foods? Their sure-fire cocktail recipes? Have they discovered a new bakery, cheese shop, wine store, gourmet emporium? What’s their favorite easy-to-make hors d’oeuvre or dessert? Keep this list of questions in your PDA or date book, and keep adding new “tips” every time you meet someone for coffee or cocktails.
Submit your own tip to THE NIBBLE’s Tip Of The Day.
For centuries, ghee has been a cornerstone of Ayurvedic medicine, the ancient Hindu art of healing and of prolonging life. Now, it’s poised to become an important ingredient to people who will never cook Indian food.
What’s ghee? It’s similar to clarified butter, but the processes and end products differ somewhat. Clarified butter (or drawn butter) is familiar to anyone who has ordered lobster at a restaurant. The clear melted butter has been rendered (melted by simmering) to separate the milk solids from the butterfat and evaporate the water. It’s a more elegant way to serve melted butter, which otherwise looks sudsy. Chefs also use clarified butter to sauté, because with the milk solids gone, ghee has an extremely high smoke point, 485°F (252°C, higher than canola oil—only rice bran oil, safflower oil and avocado oil are higher).
Ghee requires a longer simmering process, which removes all of the water and milk solids. There’s no lactose left in ghee; the lactose intolerant can slather it over everything and enjoy all the buttery goodness they want. (Well, check with your cardiologist on that latter point.)
Ancient Organics ghee is made from the organic butter of Straus Family Creamery. Photo by Corey Lugg | THE NIBBLE.
Ancient Organics, a company dedicated to the principles of Ayurvedic medicine, makes its ghee from one of the best-known butters in America: the organic-certified butter of the acclaimed Straus Family Creamery. Across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, California, on the shores of beautiful Tomales Bay, happy Straus cows graze on green grass under blue skies. Their milk is churned in small batches in an old-fashioned 1950s-era butter churn. The result is rich, sweet and creamy butter with an 85% butterfat content (the USDA minimum requirement is 80%).
Ancient Organics takes this precious butter and separates it into the golden butterfat known as ghee. Whether or not you want to learn more about the medicinal benefits of ghee (according to Ayurveda), if you sauté, fry or stir-fry, you should get to know ghee.
This cake is an homage to the tee called “We were tomatoes.”
This contest should be called, “So you think you can decorate cakes.” And don’t let the professional-quality entries, like the one in the photo at the left, stop you from having a good time. No matter what your cake decorating skills, you have the unalienable right to enter this contest (as long as you follow the rules), to have a good time doing it, and to invite your friends and family to eat your entry.
Let’s start at the beginning. Threadless.com is an online tee shirt community that sells hip tees designed by community members. Anyone who signs up for the community can submit a design and/or vote on other people’s designs. The most popular designs are turned into the tees that are for sale on the site. “Winners” get cash, a gift certificate and more cash each time their design gets reprinted. Cool.
Just as cool, someone got the idea of letting cake makers in on the fun. This inspired Threadcakes, a contest where members of the [theoretical] “so you think you can bake” community select a tee shirt design of their choice from the Threadless site and interpret it as a cake. Take a look and enter.
If you can’t design cakes, you can have a great time looking at the submissions in the photo gallery. If you want to enter, start baking: The contest closes on August 3rd.
In a cake state of mind? Check out our gorgeous Cake Glossary.
Insert “character cookies” into the tops of cupcakes to create an innovative and memorable dessert, snack or party fare. Animal cookies, people cookies, flowers and fanciful shapes turn cupcakes into edible sculptures that delight children and adults alike. You also can use the cookies on top of cakes or around the sides of a cake to create an entire story.
