Food

Deep-Fried Kool-Aid, Will and Kate Plus Giada, and Chipotle Wine Pairings: Eating & Reading

Every week, we'll let you know what the Washingtonian food staff is reading in the blogosphere and off the bookshelves.

Giada de Laurentiis will cook for Will and Kate. Photo courtesy of the Food Network

Sophie Gilbert, assistant editor and Sophie at the Stove blogger:

• Mmmm. Now you can not only drink the Kool-Aid but have it deep-fried. How appropriate: Deep Fried Kool-Aid Balls: The Newest in Fair Fare.

• Will and Kate (who by some miracle have managed to escape the Brangelina-esque name-combination trend) are coming to America! And one lucky celebrity chef will get to cook for them, kind of: Celeb Chef Giada 'Overwhelmed' to Cook for Royal Couple.

• The nonprofit Oxfam did a poll of the whole world (well, not quite, but it did cover 17 countries) and discovered that internationally, our favorite food is . . . pasta. Which is coincidentally my favorite food, and also the downfall of 90 percent of low-carb diets: What's Your Favourite Food?

• The outstanding Jonathan Gold reviews two of the world's best restaurants—Alinea in Chicago and Noma in Copenhagen—in this weekend's Wall Street Journal magazine. HuffPost has a preview: Jonathan Gold Pits World's Best Restaurants Alinea and Noma Head-to-Head for WSJ Magazine.

Todd Kliman, food and wine editor:

• According to a new study from researchers at the University of California San Diego, a blood alcohol level of .01—which is what, a sip of wine? a sniff?—is enough to impair driving: Drunk Driving: Even a Trace of Alcohol Is Dangerous on the Road, Says Study.

• Restaurant chains with more than 20 satellites are revamping their menus in the wake of new calorie-tallying guidelines from the FDA—IHOP, for instance, just shaved 800 calories (!) from its standard bacon-and-egg meal. I'm waiting for the report of the right-wing condemnation of Obamerica and its war on the honest-to-God, old-fashioned, hyper-caloric American breakfast: Restaurants Revamping Menus in Response to Calorie Count Rules.

• The companionable wine site Snooth offers up, without snark, a guide to pairing wines with Chipotle! Chipotle Wine Pairings.

Rina Rapuano, assistant food and wine editor:

• In researching a story for Museum magazine, I came across this canning manual (and some interesting observations on women's history): Hull-House Kitchen.

• Wow. Trying to eat healthy and responsibly just gets more and more confusing: Organic Pesticides: Not an Oxymoron.

Kate Nerenberg, associate food and wine editor:

• Bloomberg food critic Ryan Sutton lays out a "real-cost dining index," also known as the price you'll pay for dinner after tax, gratuity, and wine. In other words, prix-fixe menu prices are just the tip of the iceberg: Del Posto’s $1,269 Meal Tops NYC’s Priciest List. In a follow-up, he gives restaurants ten ideas for not fooling their diners: Ten Rules for Better Pricing

• "A reservation is like a wedding vow, except more binding." and other tips from food writer Josh Ozersky on how to survive the world of the modern restaurant: Is it O.K. to Eat While Texting?

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