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Scottsdale Culinary Institute grad wins Bravo’s ‘Top Chef’

Thursday, June 12th, 2008 by Jess Harter

Stephanie IzardStephanie Izard, a graduate of the Scottsdale Culinary Institute, won Bravo’s “Top Chef” cooking competition Wednesday. The 31-year-old Chicago resident is the first female champion in the cable show’s four seasons.

The finale took place in Puerto Rico, where the last three contestants had to cook a four-course dinner for nine judges. The other finalists were Lisa Fernandes of New York and Richard Blais of Atlanta.

Izard’s winning dishes were sauteed red snapper filet with truffled white asparagus and clam broth; seared quail breast with butter poached lobster ravioli and mango; lamb medallions with maitake mushrooms, olives and braised pistachios; and ricotta pound cake with lime glaze, pineapple and salted banana cream.

Izard, who sold her Chicago restaurant before competing on “Top Chef,” says she plans to use her $100,000 prize to open another restaurant in the Windy City.

Documentary ‘King Corn’ exposes America’s scary diet

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 by Jess Harter

king

When a marketing flack offered to send me a review copy of “King Corn,” which comes out on DVD today, I promised “to take a look at it.” I never thought I’d enjoy it. After all, it’s a documentary about corn.

Boy, was I wrong. Part “Supersize Me” and part “Fast Food Nation,” “King Corn” is a fascinating and eye-opening look at our nation’s increasing reliance on corn — and its effect on our health.

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Bob Moran: Sports expert, Chevy man, soap opera fan

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 by Jess Harter

Tribune sportswriter Bob Moran died this morning. It wasn’t unexpected news for his friends and colleagues who followed his three-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. But it still hits you in the gut.

bobI’ve been at the Tribune for 21 years — the first nine in sports — and I can’t imagine the place without Bob. Even the past few years, as Bob valiantly fought his cruel disease, there were visits and lunches and phone calls. I don’t think a day went by when someone didn’t ask about him, talk about him or say a prayer for him.

Now, we can only remember him.

The Tribune has written the official story: his career, his accomplishments, his friends’ reactions. As with most people who leave us — in Bob’s case, far too soon — that tells you only a little about the person he was.

Sign guest book for Bob Moran
Bordow: Sparky, Wilbur offer one last toast for Moran
Zeiger: Remembering Bob Moran

Back in 1987, the Tribune’s owners decided to consolidate small newspapers in Mesa, Tempe and Chandler into a single paper to cover the entire East Valley. It included hiring a lot more staff. They called the plan “Rosebud.”

Bob was a “Rosebud” hire. So was I.

Bob was one of the first people I met at the Trib. When I asked why everyone called him Coach, then-sports editor Dave Lumia explained to me, “Bob knows more about college sports than anyone. Even the coaches at ASU refer to him as Coach.” It didn’t take long to find out that was true.

In those early days, I planned the weekend sports sections, which meant I went into work around noon Saturdays and Sundays. The newsroom was usually empty that early, except for Bob, who often came in to write his columns or check the wires for football scores.

That’s where our friendship started. We’d talk college football or college basketball for hours on those afternoons. He taught me to appreciate NASCAR, which he loved almost as much as college football. We also shared a passion for ASU baseball, where Bob always waved me up to the press box during sparsely attended games.

Just like at the paper, Bob seemed to know everyone at games or around town. It didn’t matter if you were the paper’s editor or the janitor, the team’s head coach or the groundskeeper, Bob knew who you were and you probably knew him.

But that was the public Bob. Not many got the privilege of knowing the private Bob. He jealously guarded his private life. Until he got sick, few of his colleagues had been to the apartment where he lived for two decades. Most didn’t even know what city he lived in.

I was one of the lucky ones. Today, the memories are flooding back.

Like the time in 1989 I talked Bob into joining two friends and me for a “boys night out” at the fancy Scottsdale singles bars. Bob wasn’t a drinker or a partyer, so it was the rarest of occasions. My two friends and I even wore ties because Bob was the only reporter at the Trib who wore a tie to work most days.

I think that night — which ended with us getting kicked out of Downside Risk when Bob began arguing too loudly about Nebraska football with some guys at the next table — was probably the last time I wore a tie.

After that, Bob pretty much stuck to his neighborhood Applebee’s, where he often liked to sit alone at the bar and watch the late-night football games on TV. He could have picked up the phone and asked any one of a hundred people to join him. They would have loved to.

But that was the private Bob again. The one who watched the daytime soap “The Young and the Restless” every day. The one who loved fried chicken and Cajun food.

He also loved stock-car racing, and especially Chevys. Bob always drove a Chevy. He even built a small-scale toy model of a Monte Carlo — the car Chevrolet ran in NASCAR races back in the ’80s — and painstakingly applied all the proper miniature decals. Then he had it mounted under glass so he could display it on his desk.

When Chevy later switched to the Lumina, he built a new model. Bob complained when actual Luminas were not made available to the public until a year later. Of course, he eventually bought one.

He’d drive it to work, park it in the Trib lot, then get a specially-made car cover out the trunk and carefully wrap the vehicle to protect it from the Arizona sun. I don’t think he would have done that for a Porsche or BMW. He wasn’t a car guy, he was just a Chevy guy.

In fact, Bob never forgave for buying a Ford F-150 pickup back in 2001. “What were you thinking?” he’d ask. When the truck caught fire and burned down my house in 2004, he never let me hear the end of it.

He was very happy when I used the insurance money to buy a Chevy.

Rest in peace, my friend. I will miss you.

Mike & Ike introduce Lemonade Blends

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 by Jess Harter

Mike & Ike candy is one of my favorites, so I was excited when a sample of its newest variety - Lemonade Blends - arrived in today’s mail. Flavors include lemonade, raspberry lemonade, strawberry lemonade, lime lemonade and tangerine lemonade.

mikeEven better were some of the little-known facts I learned about Mike & Ikes:

• Each piece of candy has eight calories and no fat

• Celebrity Mike & Ike fans include Steven Spielberg, Jimmy Fallon (is he still a celebrity?), Will Smith and Brooke Shields.

• Enough Mike & Ikes and its south-of-the-border cousin Hot Tamales are produced each year that if you lined them up end-to-end they’d stretch 47,000 miles, or circle the Earth nearly twice.

New treat for kids: Popsicles made from pickle juice?

Thursday, January 31st, 2008 by Jess Harter

picklePopsicles come in a myriad of flavors, but here’s one flavor I never thought I’d see: Pickle juice.

That’s right.

A Texas company is marketing Pickle Sickles, made from the juice of dill pickles, as an alternative to the usual sweet flavors.

On the plus side, Pickle Sickles have zero grams of fat and only three calories.

On the negative side – well, they taste like pickle juice.

Looks like they’re not available in the Valley yet.

Cheeseburger in a can: Best food product ever?

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 by Jess Harter

canJust because you’re hiking the backwoods doesn’t mean you should have to go without cheeseburgers. But it’s always a hassle trying to keep fresh hamburger from spoiling without some type of refrigeration.

Fortunately, the Swiss company Katadyn has just introduced mankind’s first cheeseburger in a can. Sold under Katadyn’s popular Trekking-Mahlzeiten brand (you can order it here), the burger is being marketed to outdoors enthuiasts and extreme athletes.

According to Katadyn, the canned burger has a shelf life of 12 months.

How do you cook it? You simply drop the can into a container of water over a fire, let it “cook” for a minute or two, then fish it out and open the can. Voila! Ready-to-eat cheeseburger!

Competitive eaters offer top 10 tips to tackle a Super Bowl buffet

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 by Jess Harter

Spike TV is hoping to capitalize on the Super Bowl’s huge TV audience by airing what’s it’s billing as “Major League Eating’s Chowdown Championships” during halftime.

The 30-minute show will feature some of the “sport’s” top competitive eaters, including Joey Chestnut, Pat Bertoletti and Eater X.

superfoodTo whet fan’s appetite for the show, the contestants are offering these top 10 tips for Super Bowl snackers:

10. Limit alcohol intake: Beer and wine take up valuable space that could be used for food and excessive drinking could cause you to lose focus on the matter at hand – eating.

9. Dunk your food: All champion eaters use the dunking technique. Whether it be pizza, pretzels, chips or deviled eggs, food goes down easier when it’s wet.

8. Remain standing: Sitting compresses the stomach and reduces its ability to expand. An erect torso facilitates speedy swallowing.

7. Get to the party early, eat fast and get down as much as you can as soon as you can: This way your stomach doesn’t have the chance to tell your mind it’s full, and by halftime you’ll be well ahead of your fellow revelers.

6. Create a distraction: If the women are crowding the buffet, yell: “Hey, Brady is taking off his shirt!” If men are crowding the food yell: “Wardrobe malfunction, Giants cheerleader!”

5. Help out in the kitchen: Hang out where the food prep goes down. You can always DVR the game and watch it later.

4. Suggest the food is spoiled: Start gagging immediately after tasting the cheese dip and pretend to empty the content of your mouth into a napkin. Guests will avoid the item after this move, leaving it all for you.

3. Pick up the take out: Offer to run to the restaurant to pick up the food. Eat as much as you can on the drive back and blame the restaurant for messing up the order.

2. Place the chips and dip on your lap: Manners will prevent the women from reaching onto your lap (men will not even consider it), allowing you to hoard food for later in the event.

1. Sneeze on the wings: Enough said.

Michigan newspaper’s mistake puts horse on menu

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 by Jess Harter

A Michgan woman tried to list her horse for sale in the local newspaper. Unfortunately, the ad ended up in the wrong section. It was listed under “Good Things to Eat.”

New menu item: Calorie numbers?

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 by Jess Harter

New York is once again trying to force restaurants to list calorie information on their menus. A similar attempt was shot down by a federal judge last year, but now the city’s Board of Health has revised its regulations. The measure affects any restaurant that operates at least 15 locations nationwide, so mom-and-pop operations and small independent chains would not be affected. The New York State Restaurant Association is considering suing over the revised regulations.

Wanna sell that restaurant reservation?

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 by Jess Harter

You can purchase almost anything on the Internet nowadays: cars, books, garden gnomes, Paris Hilton sex tapes … I guess it was only a matter of time before people started buying and selling restaurant reservations. According to this CNet story, it’s the hot new thing in New York City.

In case they take down the post in the future, I cut-and-pasted the story under “Read the rest of this entry.”

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