In Which I Make Spiced Hot Chocolate

spiced hot chocolate

After a trip to the Museum of the American Indian in Washington, I set out on a quest to replicate the spiced hot chocolate served at its cafe. I have told this chocolatey tale on the blog of my very good friend, the rollicking food guru Leeanne Griffin. So if you want to read it and learn my secrets, click on over to Fun With Carbs.

New Blog: Fun With Carbs

Leeanne Griffin

My former colleague and very good friend Leeanne Griffin has started a wonderful new blog called Fun With Carbs.

Leeanne is an accomplished and open-minded cook, an adventurous and knowledgeable eater, and a lively, talented and entertaining writer.

Leeanne also likes to travel. That’s her at left, hiding behind a big glass of white wine on her recent honeymoon on the Greek island of Santorini.

Please check out the blog. And get a plastic cover for your keyboard because her food photos will make you drool.

States Can Crack Down On Airlines Over Booze

A federal judge has upheld the state of New Mexico’s right to ban US Airways from serving alcohol on its planes on the ground in New Mexico — or in the air above it, the Associated Press reports.

New Mexico has twice cited US Airways for serving alcohol to intoxicated passengers, including one who killed himself and five other people in a car crash three hours after he got off a US Airways flight in Albuquerque.

This case opens up a load of issues about state and federal regulation of alcohol and airlines, as well as the role of flight attendants as bartenders and the revenue that airlines get from selling liquor. Add this to a number of cases involving drunk and unruly passengers, and I’m starting to wonder when alcohol will be banned on all flights in this country.

I’m not saying I favor it, but I really do wonder whether it’s going to happen at some point.

Are You Gonna Finish That Marmite Jellyfish?

Lonely Planet is publishing a new picture book called Extreme Cuisine, complete with photos and descriptions of odd delicacies from around the world. These range from jellyfish in China to kopi luwak, “a coffee derived from beans consumed, digested and excreted by the common palm civet” in Indonesia.

While it might be slightly ethnocentric to declare a food  “extreme,” this is balanced by entries from the Western world. There’s at least one from the United States: lime green jell-o salad. (I might also nominate poi.)  I was delighted to see marmite and vegemite listed, as these are extreme foods, no matter what any person of British or Australian derivation might try to tell you.

The book will be available Oct. 1.

Where To Eat In Montreal

Goat cheese and nut pizza, Pizzedelic.

I just got back from several days in Montreal and, boy, am I full.

Eating is pretty much what Montreal is about, in my view. It’s a great multi-ethnic restaurant town, and the long, cool summer evenings are ideal for dining al fresco at restaurants that spill out into lively sidewalk cafes.

Here are some highly subjective recommendations based on many visits over many years:

Read the rest of this entry »

Delta, Northwest Merger Pits Coke Against Pepsi

Delta serves Coke. Northwest serves Pepsi. Something’s gotta give, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and USA Today’s Ben Mutzabaugh.

Coke and Delta are both big business in Atlanta, but Delta appears to be backing away from an earlier statement that only Coke would be served on the merged airline. In any case, nothing will change until the airlines’ respective contracts with their respective beverage suppliers expire.

I can’t claim neutrality here as French Canadians are genetically predisposed to prefer Pepsi.

Beefing Over Chicken Or Beef

The International Herald Tribune has a story about how the question of “chicken or beef” escalated into a physical confrontation and then, literally, into a federal case.

Actually, it was more a question of “beef or beef” because the flight attendant had run out of chicken.

I haven’t heard that question for a while. Now I realize this is not because the airlines are starving us, but because they’re keeping us safe.

Peanuts Served Again On Northwest Airlines

Not everyone is happy with the return of peanuts as snacks on Northwest Airlines, which is now doing business under the auspices of the Georgia-based, peanut-happy Delta Air Lines.

Nowhere is this concern expressed more forcefully, and with more insults, than on the message board attached to the Minneapolis Star Tribune story on the subject. Northwest, based in Minneapolis, had been one of many airlines that went peanut-free as concerns about allergies increased over the past 10 years.

I have preached in the past against pets in airline cabins, on the grounds that it’s unfair to people with allergies. (Which I don’t have.) And I got smacked around good for that. (No further smacking necessary, folks.)

I’m hoping that peanuts have fewer and less vigorous defenders because I’m going to suggest that if roughly one out of 100 Americans has a nut allergy (I don’t) we can probably find some other snack. I myself prefer a peanut to a pretzel, but neither is a staple of my diet.

The Comforts Of McDonald’s

I just read a great column by Rolf Potts about the appeal and comfort of familiar fast-food franchises in foreign climes.

That rather tepid piece of alliteration is the best you’ll get out of me today, so you might as well read the column. An excerpt:

I’ll readily admit here that, within certain hipster circles of indie travel, announcing that you patronize McDonald’s is kind of like confessing that you wet your bed, eat your boogers, or have unprotected sex with lepers.

The column reminded me of a visit to a McDonald’s in San Jose, Costa Rica nearly 20 years ago. My daughter, then 4 years old, was outraged because there were no Happy Meals. I was delighted because the coffee cost 18 cents a cup.

Best Tortillas Ever

I guess most people come to Costa Rica for the beaches and the rain forest, which are very nice indeed. But I’m here for Doña Margarita’s tortillas, las mejores del mundo.