Can’t decide where to eat in a city? Urban Spoon to the rescue!

by Abha Malpani on

How many times have you randomly chosen a place to eat and it’s turned out to be a waste of time, taste-buds and money — when you just wished you had read a review or two before walking in? This happens to me ALL the time.

A quick skim through Urban Spoon before you choose where to eat and you might just save yourself from the agony of eating bad food or paying a ridiculous bill. Not only will you be able to find a plethora of options, but all of them have time-critical reviews and ratings pulled from various local news sources like Time Out, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post — depending on the city you choose. Alongside media reviews, you can also see reviews and votes from bloggers and friends. And, of course, they have your standard top 10 / top 100 lists.

The search for restaurants is pretty advanced: other than being able to find a place basis price, neighborhood and type of food, you can also pick a place basis whether it’s romantic, open late night, kid-friendly, vegan friendly, has home delivery, if the food is gluten-free, and even if the place has happy hour! Is that cool or is that cool!?

The site reminded me of MetaCritic, but for restaurants. However, unfortunately the site is restricted to cities in the US and Canada, but nevertheless it looks like a useful resource.

Celebrating Mardi Gras in St. Louis, Missouri

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Whether it’s the city’s French roots or its large Catholic population, St. Louis, Missouri, has long had one of the best Mardi Gras celebrations in the United States. Festivities take place in Soulard, an historic district of south St. Louis, and they include a parade, live music, and of course, more beads and libations than you could ever imagine.

St. Louisans like to boast about their sports teams and Forest Park, but mention the words “Cardinals” and “Rams” outside of the US and chances are you’ll only be met with blank stares. However, if you tell people that you live in the home of Anheuser-Busch, or Budweiser, chances are much better that you’ll encounter a nod of recognition.

I might not trust those who boast of being from a “beer town” to drive me home on a Saturday night, or to perform open-heart surgery after a happy hour, but I’d feel no qualms about asking them to throw a massive Mardi Gras celebration. Second in the U.S. only to the legendary festivities in New Orleans, St. Louis’ Mardi Gras attracts hundreds of thousands of people to its streets each year– more or less depending on the weather, which was, mercifully, rather mild this year.

Admittedly, St. Louis’ celebration is usually a bit cooler and more tame than that of New Orleans, its neighbor down river. Rather than wearing wacky, revealing clothing, most revelers in St. Louis do their best to bundle up in the cold weather– though a stray nipple or two can almost always be found.

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This year, melting snow made for some rather slushy conditions on the streets, and my shoes soaked up water like a Brawny paper towel. But once that first sip of Budweiser– sweet nectar of the gods– touched my lips, I quickly forgot about my squishy shoes. Five hours later, as I stumbled groggy-eyed out of the all-you-can-drink Budweiser tent, I was just thankful I still had shoes.

Inside the beer tent, I witnessed people jockeying for position alternately in the beer line and then the bathroom line, and repeating as necessary. It occurred to me that drinking enough to kill a horse is hard work, and that those of us in the Midwest work harder at it than most. As Chuck Klosterman once wrote, “There are a lot of drunks in this world, but people in the Midwest drink differently than everywhere else I’ve ever been; it’s far less recreational. You have to stay focused, you have to work fast, and you have to swallow constantly.”

As I walked unsteadily down a Soulard street, I eventually ran into a large crowd rocking out to the musical stylings of Evolution, the self-professed “World’s Greatest Journey Tribute Band.” They weren’t the biggest name in the music business– hell, they didn’t even impersonate the biggest name in the music business– but when I eventually stood in the Porta-Potty line behind their lead singer (whom I referred to as “fake Steve Perry,” as in “You guys sounded great, fake Steve Perry”) somehow it all seemed perfect.

Big in Japan: Deadly dumplings injure 175

by Matthew Firestone on

One of the many things that I’ve learned about the Japanese since moving to Tokyo is that they love to eat.

Of course, unlike Americans who seem to take extreme pleasure in enormous portion sizes of incredibly fatty food, the Japanese are much more refined in their culinary choices.

Indeed, Japanese society is structured around the fine art of sharing food with friends, which is perhaps one reason why the quality of meals over here is arguably the best in the world.

So, you can imagine the havoc that is spreading through Japan this week following the news that 175 people checked themselves into the hospital after dining on deadly dumplings.

How potentially deadly where the dumplings in question?

Well, not that deadly – unless of course you consider pesticides to be an acceptable condiment!

Delicious. Nothing like a few hundred milligrams of an insect-killing chemical concoction to cleanse the palatte and settle the stomach!

Jokes aside, the case of the deadly dumplings is actually an incredibly serious matter that might possibly endanger the future of Chinese-Japanese economic and political relations!

(I told you that eating was a very serious business in Japan!)

So, let’s start off with something simple – what exactly is a dumpling?

Good question!

Dumplings in Japan are known as gyōza (餃子), and are generally comprised of some mystery blend of meat and vegetable that is wrapped into a thinly rolled and sealed piece of dough.

Gyoza are generally served with three dipping sauces – soy sauce, rice vinegar and hot chili sauce – though each gyoza aficionado generally mixes up their own special blend of the three.

Anyway, let’s get back to the story….

Two weeks ago, the Chinese government launched a fourth-month campaign to eliminate “non-food materials” from their food exports.

What exactly is a non-food material you ask? Well, simply put, anything that isn’t a food material, like industrial dyes, pesticides and fungicides.

Getting hungry yet?

Despite this pledge however, Chinese-made dumplings containing pesticides sickened 175 Japanese, which has created a huge scandal that is impossible to ignore in a society that is borderline obsessed with their personal safety.

Last year, the Chinese exported a whopping US$56.7 billion of food to Japan, though analysts are warning that this lucrative industry is about to take a huge hit.

According to Minoru Morita, a Tokyo-based economist, “Japanese consumers, already distrustful of Chinese products, may stop buying them.”

Just ask Hiroko Date, a 38-year-old mother of two in Tokyo: “It makes you scared to buy imported food — you worry about your kids.”

So, for the time being, it looks like there won’t be too many plates of dumplings gracing the dinner tables of Japan for quite some time.

With that said, if you’re reading this article somewhere across the Pacific Ocean in North America, you also probably might want to pass on any pre-packaged dumplings you might find at the local supermarket.

Sigh – looks like I might have to find another favorite drunk food, though fortunately ramen is still safe!

** The images of the delicious dumplings were courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons Project **

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Straight-up Scandinavia: Fika, the quintessential Swedish word

by Anna Brones on

Any trip to Sweden, be it for business, personal reasons or just because you want to stay in the Ice Hotel, is going to necessitate knowing the word fika.

In a grammatical sense it is a verb meaning “to take a coffee break.” But fika is so much more than a word; it is a Swedish way of life. Swedes love their coffee breaks (and I am not stereotyping). Fikas are happy afternoon gatherings between friends, study breaks for university students, and beyond that, absolutely necessary in the workplace. I dare you to try and find a Swedish company that doesn’t encourage a mid-morning fika for its employees; it is practically written into the contracts, although sometimes that fika time can turn into a casual business meeting.

The word can be used as a verb or a noun. Ska vi fika? (Should we take a coffee break?) or vilken trevlig fika! (what a nice coffee break). Originally the word was really only used for coffee, but nowadays there is often an implied consumption of an accompanying pastry, bun or small sandwich. And fika isn’t just about what beverage and food items are consumed, it is also about the social gathering that takes place. This is a time when Swedes gather and relax in a casual setting. A fika is therefore great option, and very standard, for a first Swedish date. Or for catching up on office gossip.

Fika is such an integral part of Swedish culture that MSN Sweden recently ran an article called Fika dig friskare (Fika yourself healthy) about the benefits of getting together with friends and being in a relaxing and enjoyable place like a cafe, or an outdoor terrace in the summer sun. But, as the article clearly noted, to really “fika yourself healthy,” the delicious Swedish baked goods that go along with the cup of coffee need to be switched out for a sandwich made with crisp bread. Not as glamorous as a kanelbulle (cinnamon roll) but tasty all the same.

If you happen to read Swedish and want to check out the article, you can do so here.

Supersize your next camping trip: Cheeseburger in a can

by Jerry Guo on

Want more variety than the standard rice and beans when you’re out mucking around in the field? Believe it or not, a German outdoor outfitter has managed to fit a cheeseburger (with onions, lettuce, and pickles to boot) into a can.

One cheeseburger is an affordable € 3,95, and for that, you get 260 calories. And since you can apparently find anything on the World Wide Intertubes, I just came across one guy who ordered one of these burgers-in-a-can. He has posted plenty of pictures (see the gallery below) from his little adventure.

For one, it’s a bit disconcerting to see someone cooking a tin can in a pot of boiling water. But from what he says, the burger’s actually decent, and he recommends getting a few if you’re on a camping trip.

It reminds me of the recent upsurge in interest over Meals, Ready-to-Eat (MREs), the military meals-on-the-go, which you can now find all over eBay. Has anyone bought some and enjoyed them on a camping trip? What’d you think?

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