Florida

California S.B. No. 1520 was introduced to the California Legislature by State Senator John Burton in 2004. It passed the legislature, but I do not believe it was ever put to a public vote. The law was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The law itself does not specifically ban foie gras, but rather the practice of force feeding birds and any products resulting from birds which have been force-fed. The law was given an 8-year grace period so that methods could be developed that would produce foie gras without the necessity of force-feeding. Technically, foie gras will still be legal in California, provided it comes from a bird that has not "consume[d] more food than a typical bird of the same species would consume voluntarily." The law was supported by a number of groups including the Humane Society of the United States, Los Angeles Lawyers for Animals, Farm Sanctuary, the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animal Protection and Rescue League, and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. If anyone wants to actually read the law: http://law.justia.com/codes/california/2010/hsc/25980-25984.html I find it terribly ironic that the same people who criticize the ban feel it necessary to smear their opponents with terms of "terrorist" and entirely unrelated allegories from half way across the country. The HSUS and the ASPCA are both very well established organizations and neither organization could possibly be considered "a terrorist organization." I give credit to Bruce Earls for realizing this himself. I also find it ironic that many of the people criticizing the law haven't even read it and their criticizims are nothing more than unfounded conjecture. I would further note that there are many, many laws on the books that certain people don't agree with. That's just the nature of laws. However, from everything that I can find, it does appear the majority of the population feels that the force feeding of animals should be banned. I'd also like to know why none of the foie defenders are not up in arms concerning horse meat. It isn't legal anywhere in the US, yet not a peep.

Read this and answer your own question: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/26/138576167/when-patents-attack

The slippery slope is a fallacy. It is logical argument that is simply incorrect. There are "large, well-funded, single-issue, single-mindset" groups for everything. Pro/anti nuclear power, pro/anti gay marriage, pro/anti gambling. You name it and there is likely a group for it and a group against it. The very existence of a groups is neither unreasonable nor something to be feared.

I've been to Madison a half dozen times and never knew of the Rathskeller. Looks like a very interesting spot (and so close to the lake where I take my daugther to look at the ducks). I guess it's good to learn from the locals. As for the Hopalicious, I think it's a pretty good beer, but would agree with you that Two Hearted is superior.

Thankfully, the people of the state of Oklahoma don't get to dictate to the people of California how they choose to govern their state any more than the people of California get to dictate how the people of Oklahoma choose to govern their state.

But you can't simply ignore it if they successfully ban and criminalize the food you eat, can you? And yes, you're on a side. You're not trying to force your ideals on anyone else. But there are a lot of vegetarians who ARE. They are actively trying to ban my food. They want to make it a criminal act to have sausage and eggs for breakfast. Your gentle "mentioning" humane animal treatment is just more polite than the hard-core vegetarians who want to outright ban and criminalize my breakfast. You're argument is nothing more than a slippery slope fallacy. Your meat will never be banned, no matter what you, or some vegetarian says. You will be able to eat suasage and eggs for breakfast until the day you die. And Jenni is not on a "side" just becuase she is a vegetarian. Just because there are some vegetarians attempting to ban some foods doesn't make all vegetarians responsible for the acts of a few.

If the people of California want to ban foie, than so be it. Such is the way democracy works.

Crispin is definitely on the sweeter side. Uncle John’s makes some quality cider as does Vander Mill, both of which are out of Michigan. Both make some ciders which tend towards the drier side, though they also have some sweeter ciders as well. As for availability, I can't attest that either is available nationwide, but I know Uncle John’s is readily available here in the Chicago market. However, I believe Vander Mill may be limited to Michigan.

Attended a tasting over the weekend. We were lucky enough to try a few rarities: -FFF Brandy Vanilla Dark Lord -FFF DL De Muerte -FFF DL Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Aged -FFF DL Brandy Barrel Aged -Lost Abbey Duck Duck Gooze -The Bruery Chocolate Rain -The Bruery Tart of Darkness -Funky Buddha Wide Awake It’s Morning (Imperial Maple Bacon Coffee Porter) -Armand'4 Oude Geuze Zomer -Foothills Brewing BA Sexual Chocolate -Half Acre Brandy Barrel Ambrosia -Short’s Imperial Carob Stout -Pelican Pub & Brewery Mother of All Storms -Alpine Barrel Aged Token -Jackie O’s Brandy Barrel Dark Apparation -Hill Farmstead Double Galaxy -COAST Blackbeerd -East End Illustration Ale -Cigar City/Dunedin Brewery Auld Alliance

Serious Eats will be posting a few recipes from the book this week. The first is Catalan-Style Turkey: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/10/catalan-style-turkey-recipe.html

Another Serious Eats article. This one deals with sausage, but it might help answer your question: http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/09/the-pizza-lab-why-does-sausage-need-to-be-salty.html#continued

Great stories... Reminds me of my kitchen days and why I no longer work in a kitchen. Certainly more fun to read about it than it is to actually do it.

Richard, I say have at it. Find a recipe for ice-cream (or maybe ice-milk might be more appropriate in this situation) that you like. Don't change anything - after all you're looking to make something that expresses (no pun intended) the characteristics of the breast milk. If the results aren't very good, you have your answer about whether or not it's a good ingredient. If the results are good, then I hope you enjoy it.

BMC will start brewing "better" beers, but these new beers will only be minimally better than the ones they are currently offering.

I'm a bit confused as why there seems to be a general perception that better food comes from daily market visits. I get a CSA box once a week full of fruits and vegetables that are grown in NW Indiana. This produce is about as fresh and seasonal as it could possibly be. And yet I only get it one day a week. My weeks are planned. I get the CSA box on Saturday, figure out a menu for the week and hit whatever stores I need to on Sunday. For me, it saves both time and effort and I don't believe there is any negative impact on either quality or creativity.

My library has it - I asked them to buy it and they did. They lend it out per volume. Not sure it does you any good though. Maybe you can request your local library to purchase a copy. After all, that's what they are there for.

They'll work with you on the wines. You can order by the glass. When I went, I told my waiter to just bring me the next wine that was in the pairing whenever my glass was empty. Sometimes a glass would last 2 or 3 courses and since the courses are a progression, the wines from one course tend to work with the next course. They had no issue with it. Also, the service staff at Alinea is surprisingly humble and I wouldn't be concerned about being embarrassed about making such a request.

I've got a jar of red fermented tofu in there from some unknown time in the past. It's just such a specific product it hardly ever gets used. Got some of last year's home-made pickles as well, even though I've already started making this year's pickles.

The flavor of the meat from the inside to the outside is going to be different. That's just the nature of the smoking pork. Actually, in many BBQ joints it's possible to specify "inside" or "outside" when you order.

Not Mexican or Seafood, but Uncommon Ground is close to Wrigley and is reasonably priced. Decent beer menu as well.

I've always considered xenophobia as fear of soemthing foreign, but I'd certainly agree that neophobia is porbably the more appropriate phobia.

First of all, I disagree with MJX. Any restaurant trying to dissuade children from coming would simply not offer a separate children's menu. Why would a restaurant incur the costs of a separate menu and separate ingredients, as well as a lower profit margin, if they were trying to get people to not bring their kids. -Granted, sometimes kids can be picky to darn right stubborn, but why don't restaurants offer interesting meals for kids? Restaurants offer what people want. The kid's menus contain familiar items because that is what people are requesting. I can only imagine any restaurant not offering chicken fingers gets asked “don’t you guys just have some chicken fingers?” on a regular basis. -Do you think that restaurants are not catering to kids as much as they should? Or course restaurants are catering to kids. That's why they have the shitty menus. Children tend to be xenophobic. A restaurant alone is already an environment that is unfamiliar. Offering unfamiliar foods is not going to help the situation. -Don't kids have an influence on where the family goes for meals? Yes, but most people feed themselves shitty food in the first place, so why wouldn't they give their kids the same shitty food they eat themselves. -Should unique menu options be offered to kids to provide them with new experiences? Yes, that would be nice, though I could ask "Why doesn't the local Applebee's offer La Roja or Weizen Bam on tap to provide their customers with a new beer drinking experience?" It just isn't going to happen. Personally, I wish kid's menus offered more, but I also understand kid's menus are a type of service being offered by the restaurant in the first place. If you don't like what is on the kid's menu, I'm sure your child is free to order off of the regular menu.

I don't know if the single serve boxes for use as a cereal bowl are still around but they are now packaging this way.My neighbors, who have several children, have these delivered on a regular basis as they are not always available at Costco. I’m sorry, but any product that generates garbage after each single serving is not amazing, brilliant, or ingenious. Actually, I think the Chinese take-out box is quite flawed. First of all there is the metal “holder” which prevents the use of the box in the microwave. Second, it is paper and the contents cannot be seen without opening the box. Third, they are neither recyclable nor reusable. Fourth, they cannot hold liquids (such as soup) well so the restaurant needs to have another type of container on hand anyway. Personally I find the standard plastic food container to be a far superior product as it is recyclable, reusable, microwavable, dishwasher safe, comes is standard sizes with lids that are interchangeable. It is clear so the contents can be clearly seen, can hold both solid and liquid foods. It is heat resistant, yet can refrigerated or frozen.

Last box contained: -Some lettuce -Strawberries -Green onions -Radishes -Kohlrabi -A couple of not quite ripe tomatoes -Basil -a blend of Snap Peas and Snow Peas

Yeah, the government is trying to starve the citizens of the fattest country in the world... If only Ayn Rand were here to save us.