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Looking for a sweet gift that won’t add to someone’s waistline? Then why not crochet some adorable truffles in a heart-shaped box using this great pattern.
If you didn’t have any instructions, how would you duplicate this cupcake? Suggest a method and then click on the link to see Kurryleaves’s clever approach. Did you guess correctly?
Link -via Tasteologie
Can you imagine anything more romantic, personal, and memorable than a proposal at a pizza chain? Pizza Hut is offering a deluxe Valentine’s Day proposal package that includes an engagement ring (no diamonds though -it’s ruby), photographer, videographer, limousine, fireworks, and a ten dollar pizza! The cost? Just $10,010. Better hurry and reserve your package, because they are only selling ten of them. But hey, if you miss out on the deal, you can a) make your proposal a surprise, 2) do it in a more personal place, and c) save enough money to pay for a nice wedding and/or honeymoon. Link -via Jezebel
Nothing says “waiting for the bus” like the smell of baked potatoes. Okay, clearly that sentence didn’t make sense, and people usually don’t want to think about food while they’re waiting for the bus. And the sad truth is this bus stop is probably going to smell like the worst scents a human beings can muster in a few weeks anyway, so why bother with a gimmicky ad?
Well, the folks at McCain Foods are betting that these bus stop ads, with the scent of a baked potato available at the push of a button, will help them sell their Ready Made Jacket Potatoes.And there are coupons available, in case you decide to grab a box on the way home.
Maybe they’re on to something, but I’ve personally never wanted to think about food while waiting for the bus, and bus stops in my town tend to be akin to outhouses, without that crucial front door. But what do you think-are scented advertisements a good idea, or are they a real stinker?
I don’t know about you guys, but I would love to try some Romulan Ale, although the maple bacon porter also sounds pretty tasty.
Donuts — is there anything they can’t do? Say goodbye to worry lines, wrinkles and stretchmarks. Artist Josh Atlas has the right idea. Pile the donuts on. And, of course, you can always eat them afterward.
Link -via That’s Nerdalicious! | Photo: Jeff Barnett-Winsby
I’m a certified cake-o-holic, so when I feel like a cake is too pretty to eat it either means I’m running a fever, or the cake is truly a work of art. Enter the newest batter and fondant sculptural masterpiece, an Amazing Spider Man cake that definitely lives up to the hype.
It’s shaped like my Web Headed hero, and look at the linework, oh the LINES! If this was an illustration people would be wowed, but when the lines are drawn with delicious, sugary frosting my stomach starts doing flips, begging for a slice.
But who has the nerve to cut into Spidey’s head and take out a chunk? Better call Venom if you really want a slice of this super cake!
Mario fans, make your own 1UP Mushroom Burger with tips from momo! at Instructables. This particular burger has a veggie mushroom patty, but you can get the same effect with meat. The spots on the bun are mozzarella cheese! Link -via Laughing Squid
Is
the key to losing weight as simple as replacing "om nom nom"
with just "om"? That's the principle behind Mindful Eating,
a movement which invites you to meditate with your food:
The concept has roots in Buddhist teachings. Just as there are forms of meditation that involve sitting, breathing, standing and walking, many Buddhist teachers encourage their students to meditate with food, expanding consciousness by paying close attention to the sensation and purpose of each morsel. In one common exercise, a student is given three raisins, or a tangerine, to spend 10 or 20 minutes gazing at, musing on, holding and patiently masticating.
Lately, though, such experiments of the mouth and mind have begun to seep into a secular arena, from the Harvard School of Public Health to the California campus of Google. In the eyes of some experts, what seems like the simplest of acts — eating slowly and genuinely relishing each bite — could be the remedy for a fast-paced Paula Deen Nation in which an endless parade of new diets never seems to slow a stampede toward obesity.
Jeff Gordinier of The New York Times has the juicy morsels: Link
Hooters, the chain restaurant that is built around showing off women’s *ahem* assets, is getting an extremely unlikely crossover in their Japanese restaurants as they introduce Hello Kitty elements just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Apparently, the Japanese don’t feel like characters intended for children should be kept separate from adult and sexually suggestive merchandising, which makes me wonder-where do they actually draw the line?
And were those Hello Kitty “personal massagers” I saw online actually licensed by Sanrio? Ewwwww!
The Superbowl might be over, but it’s never too late to enjoy a party with some sweet Slurm and Bachelor Chow. To be fair, it’s not quite Slurm being as how it is not made from the butt of a giant slug, but it certainly looks more delicious than the original.
Via io9
If you limit yourself to one pot of coffee today, then you won’t like Pietro Marmo’s coffee pot. It works, but it’ll make only ten drops of coffee at a time. The Italian goldsmith also made a cup that is conveniently sized to match it.
Link -via Gizmodo | Photo: Pietro Marmo
And on the Seventh Day, God rest after a nice cup of coffee. We've featured Karen Eland's coffee art on Neatorama a while ago, but it's always neat to revisit and see her newest creations: Link | More neat coffee pics and art over at Dark Roasted Blend - Thanks Avi!
If you ever opened a pouch of Big League Chew and pretended you were a baseball player chewing tobacco, then you’ll enjoy the story behind it. Yesterday was the anniversary of the date in 1979 that the first batch of the bubblegum was shredded up by two baseball players, Rob Nelson and Jim Bouton of the Portland Mavericks, who didn’t chew tobacco.
As Rob recalled, in January of 1979 he found a homemade bubble gum kit from an article in People magazine, and he “ordered a bunch, from a company out of Arlington, Texas.” He baked those first batches of bubble gum in the kitchen of the Maverick’s bat boy, Todd Field. [Trivia: Todd is now a renowned Hollywood film director.] From there, he cut up the gum with a pizza knife, and then mocked up a package to see how a rough prototype might look, so they would have something to show. For those early samples, they emptied out foil tobacco pouches, and the gum went in – creating what was probably the very first pouches of shredded bubble gum.
And that’s just the beginning of the story. Yesterday was also the launch of the blog CollectingCandy, on which this is the very first post. Included are lots of retro package designs. Link -via Metafilter
M2A: Fantastic Voyage is a project that tries to demonstrate the differences between processed foods and whole foods inside the human body. Stefani Bardin, a professor of design, and Braden Kuo, a gastroenterologist, sent a M2A* pill camera through two human subjects. One (left) ate ramen noodles, blue Gatorade, and gummi bears. The other (right) ate whole foods, including fresh made noodles. I choose to interpret Bardin’s assessment as praise for industrially-manufactured ramen:
Notice how the shape of the ramen noodles is still apparent on the left and the handmade ramen noodles on the right are no longer recognizable as noodles? Even after two and a half hours? That’s because top ramen is made to survive Armageddon. Our homemade ramen noodles are made to be eaten.
Link -via Geekosystem
*’M’ refers to the camera’s point of entry into the human body and ‘A’ to the point of exit. The designers clearly didn’t want there to be any confusion about how to use it.
Beth Jackson Klosterboer made little cheesecakes shaped and decorated like the classic Sweetheart candies. Each one is about two inches across. Klosterboer has demanding standards for cheesecake filling and used what she considers to be finest recipe. You can find it at the link.
For Super Bowl Sunday, Jaymee Sire made these jello shots by mixing vodka and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. She then poured the mixture into emptied grapefruit rinds and quartered them after they congealed.
Link -via Tasteologie
Truly Custom Cakery based its cake on the Batmobile from the 1989 movie. Would the Tumbler Batmobile taste better? Or the 60s-era Batmobile? This calls for a comprehensive study.
Link -via That’s Nerdalicious! | Bakery Website
Resistance is futile. You KNOW you want it. Behold, the Bacon Shake from Jack in the Box.
The SFist writes:
So, Jack in the Box created a Bacon Milkshake. Why? Because you secretly want one, that's why. Shame on you. The noted fast food chain, it seems, wanted to create bacon-tinged buzz. This will probably do the trick. It's all part of a new ad campaign that asks: If you like bacon so much, why don't you marry it? SFist called our local Jack to ask more about the porky dessert. When we asked if it had real bacon in it, the store manger explained, "Real bacon? Ugh no. It's just a flavored shake, flavored with syrup, I think."
We haven't been this intrigued since the advent of the Jumbaco.
Link | Here's their not-so-glowing review of the Bacon Shake (you know you'll still want to try one anyway) - via BuzzFeed
Can't get one at your local Jack in the Box? Soothe yourself with neat bacon stuff from the NeatoShop's Bacon Store
Jen Yates has a roundup of cake wrecks celebrating the Super Bowl. Can you decipher the message on these cupcakes?
HINT: It’s starts with the word “gone.”
Both teams are represented equally in the collection at Cake Wrecks. Link
Carey of Petite Kitchenesse calls it an “egg in the basket”, but here in the South we refer to this dish as a “toad-in-a-hole”. They’re easy to make, and Carey’s variation makes them a great Valentine’s Day breakfast.
Link -via Tasteologie
And maybe a couple scoops of ice cream. But Arlene Cummings is on the right track by making breakfast using an ordinary cake mix.
I guess you should ignore the previous post.
Link -via That’s Nerdalicious! | Photo: Betty Crocker
Silly or genius? Or maybe both? Michael and Francesca Bennett saved bits of food left by celebrities that visited their cafe in Kingsand, England:
The impetus for the museum came to the Bennetts after musician Pete Doherty dined at the café and left behind panini crumbs. Around the same time, fashion photographer David Bailey failed to polish off his sandwich crust after lunch at the Boatstore, and the idea was born.
The pieces are now displayed under glass domes in shelves on a wall of the café. Among others, luminaries such as Prince Charles and the actress Mia Wasikowsa have both left behind food remnants, which are now artifacts in the museum. There are no preservatives used on the leftovers, but apparently that hasn’t caused mold — some items are simply shriveled up.
Link | The Museum of Celebrity Leftovers official website
Previously on Neatorama: 25 Strangest Collections on the Web
Have you stocked up on chips for the big football weekend? Enhance your enjoyment of Fritos and chili by reading up on the chips, which were first mass-produced by C.E. Doolin after he bought the recipe from a Mexican chef named Gustavo Olquin in 1932. Doolin’s daughter Kaleta wrote a book about her father and his chips.
She says her father worked briefly as a fry cook for Olquin and paid Olquin and his unnamed business partner $100 for a customized, hand-operated potato ricer, their 19 business accounts and the recipe for fritos—the patentable Anglo re-branding of Mexican fritas, or “little fried things.” Doolin borrowed $20 from the business partner; the rest came from his mother, Daisy Dean Doolin, who hocked her wedding ring for $80.
Doolin later introduced Cheetos, and the company he founded makes Doritos and Tostitos as well. Read the rest of the story at the Food & Think blog. Link
Hans Feldmeier received a can of lard from supplies distributed to Germans by the United States after World War II. He stashed it away and never opened the can. Feldmeier, who lives in Warnemünde, Germany, near the Baltic Sea, recently found the can and took it to authorities to see if it was still edible.
“Overall, the product has a degree of freshness and material composition necessary to be assessed to be satisfactory after 64 years,” according to the State Office for Agricultural, Fisheries and Food Security.
The authorities did, however, find minor deficiencies in the lard’s smell and taste, discovering that it was slightly gritty and appeared old, meaning it could not compete with the quality of a fresh sample. Still, it appeared to be fit for human consumption, they said.
The office credited the air-tight US can and preservatives for maintaining the lard in such pristine condition over the years.
Feldmeier was delighted to hear of the unusually successful preservation, but when he requested his can back from the agency, they gave it back to him empty. Link
Sure he looks cute, but the toppings are far from evenly spread…and how on earth would you divide it up between your guests? Worst of all, it probably is covered in cat hair.
I haven’t been able to track down any information about it, but allegedly this dragon figure is actually a dumpling. It’s filled with a green substance and apparently steamed. You can see additional photos of the creation process at the link.
Link -via Bit Rebels
The Super Bowl is only four days away, so you’d best get ready! Here’s a single-serving deli platter shaped like a football stadium. You can view five similar works of food art at the link.
Link -via Paul Overton | Previously: Snack Food Stadium | Photo: unknown
Science fan and mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn sings the ingredients of a Twinkie. That is all. -via Improbable Research
(YouTube)
Giorgio Fareira and Tim Bittar serenaded a Sonic waitress with their order. The gap you hear in the communication was most likely when she ran and made all her co-workers gather around and listen. The guys, who make up the band The Interstate Life, say that the Sonic crew got every bit of the order correct. -via reddit
