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On the menu of the 2013 PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURAL LUNCHEON:  Hudson Valley Apple Pie served with Maple Caramel Sauce.  Get the recipe and learn how to prepare the sauce!

The Culinary Institute of America:     CIA Alumnus Jacob Griffin ’08 shares the Maple Caramel Sauce recipe being used with the apple pie dessert at the 2013 Presidential Inauguration. Watch the video & get the recipe for this Hudson Valley-sourced treat!

Good Day Cafe: Hudson Valley Apple Pie

www.myfoxny.com

 

Apple pie from Crown Maple in Dover Plains, New York will be served at the Presidential Inaugural luncheon.

Chef Jacob Griffin and owner Robb Turner prepared the dessert in the Good Day Cafe.

Maple Caramel Sauce

Served at the Inaugural Luncheon, 2013

Ingredients

4 ounces butter

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup maple syrup, dark amber

Preparation

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add sugar and salt.

Cook, stirring constantly, until sugar is completely dissolved, then adjust heat to medium and boil 2 minutes longer.

Add maple syrup and boil, stirring frequently, until sauce is thick, smooth, and coats a spoon, 2 to 4 minutes longer. Remove from heat and hold warm for serving.

Read more about the Culinary Institute of America: Tempting Taste of the CIA, Dreaded 5th Term Practical

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOORAY!  - Someone else who believes in communicating with her food!

“If you are present with your food, it will notice….I swear, that if you go over and you taste your pot of soup — and you pause, and you decide if it needs more seasoning or not — the soup notices.”

That’s what  Cynthia Lair, author, organic food evangelist and cooking instructor is really getting at, in her TEDxRainierTalk: “How To Cut An Onion.“  She also teaches you how to cut an onion, so don’t worry, you’re getting what you pay for.  But what Lair really wants to discuss is how being present when cooking our food makes it taste better.

It’s hard to say how a concept like this gets discovered. All of us who love to cook kind of understand it, but Lair found a way to distill it into verbiage, as well as to teach other people how to do it. She did it by instituting a period of silent cooking in her cooking classes, and asking her students to notice where their thoughts took them during that time. Think of it as meditation via polenta. As Lair so aptly states, being in touch with the food you are cooking makes you less likely to inhale ingredients your body doesn’t want or need, to eat like a human rather than a garbage can.

This video has helped us articulate something in our brains that we’ve known in our guts for years: when you care a little extra about your food, it tastes better

[via Huffpost Taste and Laughing Squid]

For great recipes, more fun instructions and insights on food and cooking, click here to visit Cynthia Lair’s:

Latte Art is a delightful presentation of ‘decorated’ coffee and is  always done with care. Apparently it is not exclusive to urban coffee houses!  One would not expect to find such care and artistic ability such as this presentation, in a little out-of -the-way place, a “hidden away backpacker’s paradise”, in Columbia, South America.

This exquisite work of art was served to an author of a travel blog and his wife in the little town of  Salento, Columbia,  the gateway to the Cocora Valley” where a lot of the different types of coffee beans area grown. Besides coffee beans (and exquisite coffee ‘art’) in the Cocora Valley, one will find the “Parque Nacional de Cafe” (National Coffee Park). This is a theme park offering a museum and exhibitions detailing the history, culture and process of growing and producing coffee. An amusement park also in the valley has rides and shows and is connected to the exhibitions by a cable car (gondola lift); or, one can walk between the two areas via an ecological trail that passes through a plantation of many varieties of coffee bushes.

Perhaps it isn’t such a surprise to discover a carefully (and artistically) decorated Cappucino after all!

Read more…

Grab a cup of coffee and settle back for a delightful and entertaining read from Travellingmoons.

Start at the beginning and learn a little more about Travellingmoons here.

Or find out whatt the Travellingmoons are up to today: http://travellingmoons.blogspot.com

ENJOY!!

 

 

With Peace in the air ( Let There be Peace… ) here is a fun and different approach to yourNew Year and potential successful ‘food related’ resolutions.

Epicurious, an informational website about food and cookery “for people who love to eat” (that’s US !!)  is offering a new column: Horoscopes for Food Lovers. This new column “maps out the best foods and nutrients for your star sign” each month complete with a monthly horoscope reading and the recipes for foods that support each Zodiac sign.

This is fun! …”Connoisseur of gourmet delicacies, wintery romances, exotic vacations, divine dinner parties” …  I like it!

What’s Your Sign?

Mine is….Taurus

(April 20–May 20)
Being ruled by Venus, you are a natural-born connoisseur of gourmet delicacies, wine, music, and perfume. Mid-month, Venus will cozy up to an intense Pluto and Saturn, setting the stage for a serious wintery romance or even an exotic vacation. If staying local, dinner parties will be divine the weekend of January 18 while the moon passes through sensuous Taurus. Stimulate your sensual side (and digestive tract) with foods such as ginger and cayenne that are arousing as well as healthy.
Recipe to try: Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Check out this month’s zodiac-inspired recipes AND predictions:

 January 2013 Horoscope for Food Lovers

 What’s your sign  ???

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

“LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH, THE PEACE THAT WAS MEANT TO BE”

This might seem a bit off the subject of Great Food and Fun Places, but this fascinating bit of trivia came my way and I want to share it. Trust me – it truly is connected to the theme of this blog:  A Peace Sign Ice Cube Tray!!

   It all came about when our 10 year old granddaughter found this Peace Sign Ice Cube mold and excitedly put it under the tree for Grandpa! (“Peace On, Dude!” - She is definitely in touch with her grandfather’s interests).  A reference on the packaging to the “50th anniversary of the Peace Sign” intrigued me. Fifty years ago would have been 1963 and I’ve always connected it with the 60′s and Hippies. Just what was the origin of this sign?

Let the research begin! (isn’t the Internet great?)

What I found is fascinating. I’m not sure about the ’50th Anniversary’ marketing on the package, unless it was ‘old stock out on the shelf!

The Peace Sign was originally designed in 1958 as a logo for an an anti-nuclear campaign in Britain, making its first public appearance during the first major anti-nuclear march over Easter weekend in 1958.

The preliminary sketches by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer, artist, and graduate of the Royal College of Arts, were shown to a small group of people in the Peace News office in North London and to the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, one of several smaller organizations that came together to set up CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and is recognized as the logo of CND.  The ‘Peace Sign’ has become one of the most widely known symbols in the world.

What does it mean?

Gerald Holtom, a conscientious objector who had worked on a farm in Norfolk during the Second World War, explained that the symbol incorporated the semaphore letters N(uclear) and D(isarmament). He later wrote to Hugh Brock, editor of Peace News, explaining the genesis of his idea in greater, more personal depth:

“I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalized the drawing into a line and put a circle round it.“

 Although specifically designed for the anti-nuclear movement it has quite deliberately never been copyrighted. No one has to pay or to seek permission before they use it. A symbol of freedom, it is free for all.

The intrigue continues with another fascinating tidbit of “Peace” trivia: the song….

“Let There Be Peace On Earth” was written by Jill Jackson with her husband Sy Miller – in 1955 -THREE YEARS before Holtom created the peace logo!! Born out of their friendship with Ernest and Hazel Holmes, “Let There be Peace on Earth,” or simply “The Peace Song,” debuted on Easter Sunday 1955 at the Beverly Hills Church of Religious Science. Like the Peace Symbol, the song has bridged different faiths.

 

The PEACE SIGN material was found at Docs Populi  and was originally from the CND website.

The PEACE SONG material was found in “The Celestial Gift of Music” by Kent Rautenstraus, an article in the October 2012 Science of Mind Magazine

 

 

Remember the Tempting Taste and Tour of the CIA (Culinary Institute of America)?

Ever wonder if CIA students take exams?

Well… YES! -they DO!

Read CIA Student Racheal’s  ”walk”  through the details of her baking & pastry practical exam.

“While most college students are enjoying their month long vacation, I’m spending my 9 day winter break thinking about my 5th term practical! On the first day back to school, my class will be tested on the skills we have learned over the past year and a half. Let this CIA Student walk you through the details of her baking & pastry practical exam.”   Read more…

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

This week’s Tuesday Tidbits from Great Food and Fun Places features:

Beartivity - a Bear  Foots Bear Nativity by Jeff Flemming

 Aachen’s Magical Christmas Market

When a friend shared these photos, nostalgia flooded over me. I knew exactly where she had been even before reading her message.  I had visited this quaint town during the Christmas holiday over 40 years ago (yikes!)

And there it was with all the charm I remembered – shop windows decorated and filled with all things Christmas – lights, cookies, breads, chocolates, toys, ornaments, Nutcrackers. I could even smell the tantalizing and rich aromas of the bakeries and roasting coffee beans that filled the air.

I was immediately transported back to this delightful and ancient village  where shop windows were Christmas Cards and holiday stories come to life!

Aaah — the memories of Aachen, Germany.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aachen is the westernmost city in Germany; a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia German where the borders of The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany come together. Besides the magic of Christmas, I remembered being intrigued by historical role of Aachen and it’s connection with the emperor Charlemagne. It was a favored royal residence of the emperor and served as the principal coronation site of Holy Roman emperors and German kings from the Middle Ages to the Reformation.

The elegant Aachen Dom (Cathedral), the oldest cathedral in northern Europe, was built by Emperor Charlemagne around 786 AD. The Cathedral Treasury is regarded as one of the most important ecclesiastical treasuries in northern Europe with unique exhibits like the Cross of Lothair, the Bust of Charlemagne and the Persephone sarcophagus.

 

Since my visit–oh, so many years ago –the Christmas shopping has spilled into the streets becoming the Aachen Christmas Market. In front of the historical setting of the Cathedral and the Town Hall, the Katschhof, one of the most stunning squares in Europe, is also integrated into the festive spectacle.

 

The streets and squares around the Town Hall  are transformed “into a paradise of lights and coulours, festive sounds and seductive smells….a glorious fair.”

Learn more about this charming city at these sites:

Aachen Tourist Service

German Christmas Markets

Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Aachen-Wikipedia

Christmas Spirit glows along the River Walk in San Antonio Texas.

This southern Texas town’s River Walk has become one of the most visited attractions in all of America. A network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River wind and loop under bridges and create a lovely pedestrian-only experience one level below the downtown streets. When the River Walk is decorated with Christmas lights it becomes a must-see Christmas vacation destination.

Two hundred Christmas trees, each covered with 10,000 energy-efficient LED lights, line the River Walk reflecting beautifully in the water. The rest of the 1.8 million holiday lights wrap the 20 bridges. Adding to the festive atmosphere are passing river barges carrying carolers offering happy holiday tunes and Christmas carols.

 

Excerpt from an inspiring article at RedWeek.com. Read about other ‘must see’ Christmas Lights Events for special holiday vacations!

 

Funny Food Facts were found at FruitCorp Fresh Kids Corp