Dine daily on a full serving of fresh news every morning.  Why?  Because it’s cheaper than your morning latte and more informative than your average nutritional label.

Mondays Come Melted

• This is the cutest, most marshmallowy-sweet, chocolate-and-graham-crackered necklace EVER.
  

• Mmmm... there's nothing like a fresh can of Pepsi Latte to get me going in the mornings.

• Or some video footage of a sheephead - a fish with human-like teeth.  Wow, this vid is just full of nasty.
  

• If you can't pronounce it, chances are that you're more scared of your food additive than it is of you.  If that makes any sense.

• There's nothing that will make that Mary Jane taste all the sweeter than this Honey Bear "Water Pipe."

• The police demand for this London pub-owner to install CCTVs as a licensing condition.  Who knew that in today's world, it'd be illegal NOT to spy on your consumers 24/7?  UK: the Big Brother has finally arrived.  My condolences.

Photo courtesy of Etsy

-Alice Shin

Wow.  There's more good stuff leftover from FRIDAY?

Inspired by the most recent Top Chef episode, and the missing eel at the John Dory, the EATS team began to wonder more about the writhing and seriously creepy-looking sea snake.

Eels are an order of fish with 4 suborders, 19 families, 110 genera and about 600 species (remember science class and the mnemonic “King Philip Cuts Open Five Green Snakes?” Kingdom…phylum…class…order…etc). Eel blood is toxic, but cooking destroys the toxic protein. Certainly an example of a global cuisine delicacy, eel can be prepared in several different fashions:

Japan
Unagi (freshwater eel) is high in protein, vitamin A, calcium, cholesterol and saturated fat. In Japan, unagi is most often consumed during the hot summers (it supposedly helps with one’s stamina) and is especially popular in the area around Lake Hamana, where the highest quality unagi can be found. Nicer unagi restaurants keep their own live eels (ideal size is between 12-20 inches) in a tank and the eels are not prepared until a customer orders. Typically, unagi is first grilled over hot charcoals, then steamed to remove excess fat, seasoned with a sweetish sauce, and then grilled again. Anago, saltwater eels, are often simmered for sushi or deep fried for tempura. They are slightly less rich and oily than unagi.

The more popular unagi dishes are:
Kabayaki: skewered unagi (no rice)

Unajuu or unagi donburi (photo at left): grilled and served over a bed of rice

Shirayaki: grilled but without sauce

Kimosui: clear soup made from eel livers

For a full list, click here.

Dine daily on a full serving of fresh news every morning.  Why?  Because it’s cheaper than your morning latte and more informative than your average nutritional label.

One Fresh Friday

• Sharky.  I approve!  For a kitschy cuppa tea, a shark fin tea infuser may be your best bet. 

• Are Hershey Kisses overrated?  YES.  Whether you mix it with peppermint, fill it with caramel or flavor it with artificial candy corn extract, a crappy, sour piece of chocolate is still a crappy, sour piece of chocolate.
  

• Sweet potato + cheddar = one damn good cookie.

• Weirder than funny: for the Cookie Monster, there are 99 problems, but a cookie ain't one.

• Is it just me, or are flash mobs way played out?  Especially when they're blocking the juice section at an overcrowded Whole Foods.  Now "spontaneous" musicals fashioned in food courts?  That's entertainment.

• Reports have come in over a strange, maple syrup aroma draping NYC.  For New Yorkers thinking they're going crazy, no, that would not be maple syrup you're smelling.  It would be, however, the smell of fenugreek reeking from a nearby Jersey perfume plant.

• Could you live without a fridge?  Some concerned with the size of their carbon footprint say it's quite doable.  I think it's a matter of location.  In California, the number of additional trips to the grocery store in your car can potentially leave an even bigger footprint.

• Woo hoo!  20-cent tacos at Wahoo's on February 22nd.
  

Photo courtesy of Boing Boing

LEFTOVERS.  IT's what's for LUNCH.

Dine daily on a full serving of fresh news every morning.  Why?  Because it’s cheaper than your morning latte and more informative than your average nutritional label.

Thursday Theft

• Let us only hope that this is Photoshopped.
  

• These very special candles can't guarantee for the best birthday ever, but they do make for extra happy birthday wishes.  ♬ Doobie, doobie, do... ♬

• In HoLaMun2's hamburguesas vs. tortas battle, there are no winners, as readers leave hungry.  On a brighter note, now I can say I know what "Se comió la torta antes del recreo" REALLY means.  And so can YOU!

• Serious Eats conducts its own  throw down: McDonald's McGriddles vs. Dunkin Donuts' Waffle Breakfast Sandwich.  Evaluations, photos and visual autopsies included.

• Bad news: restaurants are having a rough time. Good news: even the fanciest of restaurants are more willing to give you a great deal, excellent service and are less likely to snub you.

• What do leftover coffee grounds got to do with your printer?

• Now that, thanks to the FDA, we don't know if we're buying Franken-Meat, Murray's chicken tracker labels give us a slight, if not imagined, peace of mind.  At least we know where it comes from - even though they still don't tell us if they're genetically modified or antibiotic-free.

• As a West Coast transplant, New York's fascination with Trader Joe's both fascinates and boggles the mind.  The fact that rabid fans would make loving youtube commercials replete with jingles is oddly endearing.  Even if I find it disconcerting that NY's TJ would have a need AND enforcement of its sign: NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY.

Photo courtesy of Unique Daily

-Alice Shin

LEFTOVERS! The best part comes the day after.

Things we would want as gifts on Valentine’s Day that won’t make us vomit because they are not heart-shaped boxes of subpar chocolate and they actually taste good:

Convivio Budino: A gargantuan single serving molten chocolate cake topped with a fresh hazelnut gelato and candied hazelnuts–a fabulous trip through a dense cocoa forest and a (crunchy) hazelnut sea. For real. 

 Lisa’s Cookie Shop Raspberry Bars: This buttery, dense bar combines raspberries with an almond & pecan crumb crust for an ultimate dessert experience.

Also acceptable: Kitchen Sink cookies

Chocolate Bars from Bond St. Chocolate: These two bars are perhaps the best deal in this pricey confectioner. The dark holds high-class crunchies, the milk is peppered with sea salt and toffee (I need to double check this). 

Casellula Chocolate Cake: This is a lovely, simple straightforward chocolate cake with layers of chocolate cream. Oh yeah, but then a very generous portion of Meadowbrook Farm Cream is poured atop. Chocolate, cream and more cream. Yum.