A dozen Washington, D.C. restaurants get Michelin stars

The first-ever Michelin Guide for Washington selected a dozen restaurants for its coveted stars on Thursday in recognition of the US capital’s vibrant dining scene and chefs’ use of local foods.

The little red book awarded two stars to Spanish-born chef Jose Andres’ Minibar, chef Aaron Silverman’s Pineapple & Pearls and Patrick O’Connell’s French-cuisine Inn at Little Washington outside the city. No D.C. restaurant received the top honour of three stars. Further shedding its image as a city of stodgy steakhouses for power-lunchers, Washington becomes the fourth US city with Michelin-rated restaurants, after New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Michelin guides cover 28 countries worldwide. “Over the last five years the culinary offering has significantly developed in the city, driven by chefs who have travelled, have trained abroad and have enriched their cuisine on their return by incorporating new techniques, new flavours and new seasonings,” Michael Ellis, the international director of the Michelin guides, said in a statement. The “Mid-Atlantic cuisine” developed by chefs using regional produce has amplified the upturn, he said. Two one-star restaurants - The Dabney and Rose’s Luxury - were singled out for their championing of regional cooking. The other one-star restaurants are Blue Duck Tavern, Kinship, Plume, Tail Up Goat, Italian restaurants Masseria and Fiola, and Japanese restaurant Sushi Taro. “It’s a very important milestone for the city’s chefs,” Washington Post food writer Maura Judkis said about the new Washington Guide. “In the last eight years, the culinary scene has completely changed, and a large number of innovative restaurants here have won prizes. Getting a Michelin star is something else.” José Andres, whose “Minibar” restaurant won two stars, said the early-morning call from Michelin culminated a dream he had had since he pored over menus posted in the doors of Michelin-starred restaurants as a boy in Barcelona. “For me, being a chef, having a star, how can I tell you? It was a feeling missing in my life. Quite frankly, I’m thrilled,” he told Reuters. He said Washington had benefited from its growing number of excellent chiefs and high standards. Local produce, seafood from the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia’s vineyards, regional cheeses as good as those in Europe and home-grown distilleries added to the mix, he said. “It takes a village. We have a lot of things that make the perfect formula for making Washington a super-exciting food city,” Andres said. The French Michelin tire company introduced the little red book in 1900 to encourage people to take road trips. Its star system began in the 1920s. Michelin deployed its anonymous critics in Washington last fall. Restaurants are rated on such factors as creativity, personality, the quality of ingredients, value, and consistency. (FRANCE 24 with REUTERS) France 24

Countdown: The ten dishes the French love the most

Take a scrumptious look at what the French have just voted as their favourite French dishes. 

 

10. Les tomates farcies

 

Better known as "stuffed tomatoes" in English (doesn't sound as fancy, does it?), this dish sees roasted tomatoes stuffed with ground sausage, garlic, mushrooms, and often much more. 

 

9. Le steak-frites 

 

Better known as steak and fries in English, this is a dish that was invented in France, according to the French (the Belgians think it was them who invented it). Either way, this is a staple meal in any brasserie in France. Delicious.  

8. Couscous 

 

The food so nice they named it twice. This north-African dish has also become a favourite in France, and can be served in 1,001 different ways. Enjoy. 

 

7. Le gigot d'agneau 

 

Better known as a leg of lamb in English, this dish - when cooked right - is a real winner. With a bit of garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, and plenty of time - you've got yourself a meal to remember. 

 

6. Les moules-frites 

 

Mussels and fries - a meal you'll also see plastered on the menus of brasseries everywhere but particularly in the north and north west of the country.

 

5. La blanquette de veau 

 

A veal ragout where the meat isn't browned, usually by cooking it in a white stock or flavoured water. 

 

4. Le bœuf bourguignon 

 

Also called beef Burgundy, this is one of the most classic French dishes, and usually ranks as France's favourite food. In case you've never heard of it, it's a beef stew braised in Burgundy red wine. 

 

3. La raclette 

 

Raclette is melted cheese, often scraped off the side of the cheese wheel (the French verb 'to scrape' is racler). More modern variants see meat and cheese grilled on an electric hot plate. Although the Swiss will claim Raclet is from their side of the Alps, there's no doubt it's popular in France.

 

2. La côte de boeuf 

 

In second place it was the rib steak, which in France is served with the bone still attached. This dish is a popular one in France, and some restaurants will serve a huge steak for two people to share.

 

1. Le magret de canard 

 

And number one is the magret de canard, or duck breast in English. The duck breast is cooked like a steak and served medium rare. Controversially, it's traditionally taken from a duck that was raised specifically for its liver - known as foie gras in France. The Local-France

British Mac -n- Cheese

Photo Credit: perfectpint.co.uk

Was the most amazing dish following the Ballet at Sadler's Wells with Natalia Osipova and Sergei Polunin. Didn't miss the fish -n- chips. Something notably different about their recipe. Also a delicious Lemon Tart for dessert. At The Globe Pub Photo

Grilled Fish and Chips Anyone ?

Nestlé celebrates 150 years with museum openings

Photo Credit: sugarconfessions.wordpress.com

Swiss food behemoth Nestlé marks its 150th birthday with the opening of two museums in its hometown of Vevey this month.
New museum Nest takes visitors on a journey through the company’s history, while the renovated Alimentarium is a hands-on exhibition and educational space dedicated to food. The Alimentarium will be free to the public during an open house weekend on June 4th-5th as it reopens after a 19.8 million franc renovation. Originally opened in 1985 on the lakefront in Vevey, the Alimentarium was the first in the world to explore food and human nutrition. A nine-month renovation project has completely redesigned the museum, which now sports a new permanent exhibition, a multilingual digital archive and a ‘Food Academy’ where members of the public can take cooking classes. Among the museum’s culinary activities, children and teenagers can learn how to cook in daytime and weekend sessions, while adults can sign up for evening classes designed by chef Philippe Ligron, a well-known TV chef and teacher at Lausanne's hospitality school EHL. Its educational outreach programme includes a website displaying 400 items related to food history in 360-degree high definition, and an online programme for teachers and pupils.
Nestlé's birthplace

Meanwhile, the new 50 million franc Nest was officially inaugurated on Thursday and will open to the public on June 15th. Based in the factory in the Bosquets district of Vevey where Henry Nestlé invented his famous Farine Lactée baby formula in 1867, Nest takes visitors on an immersive journey through the company’s history and its products, including Nesquik hot chocolate powder, Nespresso instant coffee and Maggi seasoning. Described as a discovery centre rather than a museum, its director Catherine Saurais said at the inauguration on Thursday: “The objective isn’t to tell the story for the sake of the story. "What nest offers is a special way to revisit the meanderings of our own history, to examine the questions surrounding food production in the world today, and to explore a passionate vision of nutrition in an engaging manner.” Split into four themed parts, Nest’s interactive elements include a body scanner where visitors can learn about the impact of certain foods on the body’s organs. A huge employer in the area, including many expats, Nestlé is a prominent presence in Vevey. Stefano Stroll, director of the Festival Images Vevey, said in a statement that the new museum is “an occasion to better understand” the company. “Although Nestlé stands out here, little is known about this global multinational, which is a mix of tradition and innovation. “Nest arouses curiosity, whilst explaining and illustrating Nestlé’s major impact on the region.” Over its long history it has built some of the world’s best known food brands, including Nescafe, Nesquik and Nepresso. It has also acquired brands including Carnation, Findus frozen foods, Movenpick ice cream and San Pellegrino. The Local-Switzerland Photo

6 ways to befriend your bones and fend off osteoporosis By Carrie Dennett

ON NUTRITION

What have you done for your bones lately? One in two women — and one in four men — age 50 or older will break a bone due to osteoporosis. And until they break that wrist, or hip, or vertebrae in the spine, odds are they will have no idea they have osteoporosis. If you have a family history of osteoporosis, you are at greater risk, because 70 percent of our bone destiny is due to heredity. But you still can help shape the health of your bones. We actively build bone until our mid-20s. After that, we start to slowly lose bone mass, a decline that temporarily steepens for about five years post-menopause in women. If you have bone-healthy habits during your youth, your bone will be better able to withstand some of the natural erosion that comes with age. Your bones may become less dense, but it might never progress to osteoporosis. While it’s ideal to develop bone-healthy habits in childhood, you can take action at any age to improve both bone and muscle health. What does muscle have to do with osteoporosis? The more muscle you hold on to as you age, the more likely you are to avoid falling if you start to lose your balance. Contrary to popular belief, you hardly ever break a hip, then fall. You fall — often to the side — then break a hip. Here are some of the best bone-building nutrition and lifestyle tips:
Count on calcium. If we don’t get enough calcium in our diet, our bodies will take it from our bones. Adults should aim for 1,000-1,200 mg from foods and supplements, but more isn’t better. Calcium-rich foods include dairy products, canned sardines and salmon (because you eat the bones), tofu made with calcium, calcium-fortified foods and some dark leafy greens. Kale, collard and mustard greens are good (so is broccoli), but spinach and beet greens contain oxalic acid, which makes its calcium unavailable to us. Oxalic acid is greatly reduced by cooking, and consuming a food with oxalic acid does not affect absorption of calcium from other foods you eat during the same meal.
Stock up on vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential for absorbing calcium, but it also helps build muscle. We don’t get much vitamin D from food, and if we are vigilant about preventing skin cancer, we aren’t getting much natural vitamin D through our skin. Taking 800-1,000 IU of supplemental vitamin D with food is recommended for osteoporosis prevention, especially here in the Northwest.
Power up with protein. Getting adequate but not excessive protein is important to protect both muscle and bone mass. Divide your weight in pounds by two to get your rough protein goal in grams. So, if you weight 150 pounds, aim for 75 grams of protein per day.
Load up on produce. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables creates an environment in the body that prevents bone and muscle breakdown.
Get — and stay — active. Weight-bearing exercise — walking, running, strength training — stimulates bone-building activity and builds and maintains muscles. Exercises that help maintain balance, such as tai chi, can also help avoid falls. If you already have osteoporosis, ask your doctor what exercises are safe for you to do.
Avoid “bad to the bone” behaviors. These include smoking and excessive intake of alcohol, caffeine and sodium. Yo-yo dieting has also been shown to reduce bone density.

Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD is a Seattle-based registered dietitian nutritionist, blogger, enthusiastic home cook, vegetable gardener, and caretaker to a golden retriever and three backyard hens. She loves to read, drink coffee, watch movies, do yoga, go on long walks and travel, both locally and abroad. Carrie Dennett is a registered dietitian nutritionist at Menu for Change and Nutrition By Carrie. Her blog and website is nutritionbycarrie.com. Reach her at nutritionbycarrie@gmail.com The Seattle Times

Dunkin Donuts

HELLO KITTY Donuts in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg Germany Photo

Greenpoint’s Culinary Ghosts via Eat By Francis Lam

When I moved to Brooklyn in 1999, I’d never heard of Greenpoint — a working-class Polish community out past Williamsburg with questionable subway access — before the apartment broker sold me on it. My landlords lived upstairs, among clear vinyl tablecloths and a shrine to Pope John Paul II. I ate bigos, a savory, tart stew cooked so long that its many meats fell to nearly spreadable shreds, and incredibly cheap pirogi in fluorescent restaurants, where I would laugh in amazement at how much pork and potatoes five bucks could get you. I walked around my new neighborhood, looking into shops filled with sacks and sacks of rye bread and hundreds of sausages dangling in the windows, wondering how long it would take me to learn all their names. I wanted to be a part of the community, to integrate, but I never became anything more than an interloper. The cold looks I sometimes got on the street confused and bothered me, until I realized that I wasn’t just a new neighbor, that by paying more in rent than the families around me, I’d made living in Greenpoint just that much more expensive for them. I realized those fluorescent dining rooms were populated mostly by single men, men who’d left their families back in Poland while they tried to make some money in America. I realized that, when I was amused by those massive plates of food, I’d never really thought about how hungry I’d be if I spent the day building furniture, or moving it, as many of them did. By the time I moved away a couple of years later, I hadn’t learned the names of any of the sausages. So I was glad, a few weeks ago, when Monika Woods showed me how sweet her life in the old neighborhood had been. Woods also landed in Greenpoint when she first arrived in New York City, about half a dozen years after I left. With her stylish, oversize glasses, she might also be taken for an outsider. But she moved to the neighborhood because she was born in Poland and missed hearing strangers talk to one another in Polish; because the first restaurant she went to used the same plates her grandmother kept in Poland. Woods agreed to show me how to make her mom’s bigos, and we ambled to her favorite meat market. Walking the main drag of Manhattan Avenue, she pointed out the places that always transported her back to Poland: an entire shop devoted to her favorite brands of Polish candy; a storefront completely obscured by its selection of Polish bottled waters; a store that carried Polish beers that are hard to find even in Warsaw. She pointed to a liquor store that once featured live bunnies and chicks in an adorable Easter window display. She’d come back a few weeks later and asked what happened to them. ‘‘To eat,’’ she remembers the owner saying, with Old World matter-of-factness. But her Greenpoint is changing, in the way I think my old neighbors feared. The candy shop now sits empty, for rent. The restaurant that had her grandmother’s plates closed; next door is a new location of an Anthony Bourdain-approved Chinese noodle shop. When we walked by a hip new restaurant, the kind whose dishes feature swooshes of purées and swipes of sauce, we noticed an odd postscript on the menu: ‘‘Owned and operated by residents of Greenpoint.’’ The story of gentrifying communities is always about the dynamic between the new and the old, the outsiders and the insiders, but that friction is palpable when you feel as if you need to stake your claim to the neighborhood on your restaurant’s menu. ‘‘It’s funny,’’ Monika said. ‘‘I moved away a few years ago, but now, when I come back with my baby and go to a cool coffee shop, the people look at me like: ‘Great. Here come the stroller people. There goes the neighborhood.’ ’’Inside the Polam International Meat Market, though, you could easily be convinced that nothing had changed on these blocks for decades, and that nothing should. There were curtains of smoked sausages, tray upon tray of unidentified cured, smoked, roasted, poached, emulsified, rolled, cased, cubed, caul-fatted meats. It’s a museum of meats, and just 20 minutes inside the store will leave your clothes smelling of salt and smoke for hours. That old pang of wanting to know what all this stuff was hit me, and when the kindly counterwoman offered to slice some chicken-and-parsley sausage for me, I thought it might not be too late to start finding out. We bought ribs and wonderfully smoky kielbasa, and, back in my kitchen, Woods showed me her mother’s method for a bigos that marries butter-soft cabbage with the tense pop of sausage in its skin. Hours later, I supped on silky broth rich with fat and gelatin, kept lively by tart sauerkraut and the sweet, almost floral taste of caraway. What should have served eight was just enough for my brother and me. Woods didn’t have any, though — it turns out that she doesn’t eat meat. But she wanted to show me what a proper bigos is like, from the inside. The New York Times Magazine

Added: Back home near Chicago, we have the best Polish Bakery, "Olympia Bakery", and Polish Deli's. I'm in search of more than one Polish Restaurant, although the one I think of is the Prime Rib of Sunday Brunch. A Banquet Hall catering to the whole population. What's especially appealing about the Polish is their work ethic. And everything they set their hearts on is successful. Including, most importantly, their families. My parent's church is home to three Polish Masses every Sunday, with people travelling up to 15 km to be at Mass. The Bakery is one of my first stops when I arrive in my hometown. And although the Polish candies are tempting, it's more about the Kolackies and sweet & nutty coffee cakes. As I'm not the biggest fan of pork, I do instead love a meal of Polish Kraut and Pierogi's made with potato. Chicago can be proud of its Polish Community as they are meticulous in their business endeavors and never cause a fuss for anyone. And yep, the Millennials are pushing strollers now. Maybe the Polish moved out of New York City to be with their compatriots in Chicago. As per my take on bigos I would prepare the dish with a Beef Chuck Roast with Kraut, simmered with a lil wine and onions, and served with a German Spätzle. To the Polish, I'd say, "Nazdarovya", to a great many years of Polish neighbors, businesses and cuisine. Eat your hat Greenpoint NYC. Our Chicago Polish are here to stay. Photo

Kraft Is Changing Its Classic Orange Macaroni and Cheese Recipe By Alessia Santoro

If all your kid will eat is macaroni and cheese — judgment-free zone, we promise — it's likely that your pantry is lined with Kraft's iconic macaroni and cheese. But on the tail of having to recall some of its product, Kraft intends to make some changes, particularly to its classic orange coloring that we all know and love. The company announced on Monday that starting early next year, it will be switching out the artificial colors and flavors in favor of natural alternatives such as paprika and turmeric. This change is coming at a time when consumers are more aware of the ingredients found in the foods they are buying their families, so even though your kids — and you, let's be honest — will miss those bright orange elbows, we're sure the new version will be just as delicious (and a little healthier). PopSugar Moms People

Record British strawberry season 'to last until December' By Dan Hyde

It is a record year for strawberries, with 150 million punnets already produced – and more than a month of picking still to go. Fruit farms will still be picking British strawberries in December for the first in history, after the long summer and mild autumn produced a record crop. The British Summer Fruits Association said "ideal" growing conditions had yielded sweet, plump fruits for longer than usual. Strawberries have benefited from high levels of sunshine, low humidity, warm temperatures and cooler nights, experts said. This year 98 in every 100 strawberries sold in Britain over the summer were grown in the UK. Strawberry farming had also been "transformed" by the use of glasshouses which were originally built for crops such as salads and flowers, Mr Olins said. The glasshouses provide a "controlled environment", allowing berries to benefit from constant temperatures and humidity throughout the entire. Mr Olins added: "We have produced the biggest crop of the nation’s favourite berry this year – the British strawberry is a remarkable success story." The Telegraph