Eating

Individual tastes are a tricky thing, especially when preparing food for a crowd. When eating out at a restaurant, everybody gets to choose exactly what they are craving, but try to host a dinner party and the fun, communal atmosphere of a shared meal can quickly turn from tasty to nightmarish. Planning around this eventuality is of course an option, but sometimes it's just easier to let people serve themselves.

I haven't been to many crepe parties (OK, none), but it seems like it might be a good idea. People can construct their own and cater to their … Read more

If you're looking for an alternative to plastic containers and zip-top bags for food storage, consider LunchBots. The containers and their lids are available in four sizes and are made from 18/8 stainless steel that won't leach chemicals into food. Designed to fit in lunch boxes, backpacks, and even purses, LunchBots are dishwasher safe and are lab certified to be lead-free.

The Uno and Eco models each offer a single storage compartment: the Uno is sized for a burrito, sushi, or a sandwich, and the Eco is designed to hold larger portions. The Duo and Pico have … Read more

Certain foods have a way of transporting us to far away places. The deceptively simple act of eating can not only take us on a journey through space, but also through time. If there is one food above all that screams another place, another time, that edible train ticket would have to be ice cream.

Perhaps not surprisingly, ice cream is relatively easy to make; like all good things, simplicity is key. Consisting of little more than cream and sugar, the luxurious taste of real ice cream does not necessarily have to require grandiose plans. In fact, it can be … Read more

Nothing beats freshly cut french fries. Made with real potatoes (with the skins on, of course), the fried tubers are a delicious accompaniment to most any meal. Though not being known for being the healthiest of foods, one thing for certain is that making them for yourself you know exactly what goes into them. This is no small thing considering that homemade fries are completely and assuredly all natural. And when made properly, they aren't even necessarily unhealthy.

Presented with the opportunity to test out a deep fryer, the first thing I thought of was french fries. Good thing … Read more

Weekends mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Rest, relaxation, or even a chance to catch up on the chores that pile up during the week are all noble pursuits on Saturdays and Sundays. However, before any of that can get done, we are faced with the prospect of breakfast and a long morning to conquer it. Passing up the cereal, toast, or other weekday fare, we set our sights on what we really want to eat for breakfast: pancakes--preferably with sausage, bacon, and eggs.

With the weekend looming, I jumped at the chance to review the … Read more

There's nothing that quite compares to the experience of sharing a meal. Perhaps it is some ancient human characteristic of safety in numbers that is triggered by communal eating. Or, maybe it's that we simply get hungry around the same time of the day. Whether it's due to our caveman ancestry or to our modern idiosyncrasies, we as humans like to eat together. Also, it's a great excuse for a party.

A variety of foods can be cooked at one time with the Eware 3K076 Electric Indoor Raclette Barbeque Grill with Fondue Pot, opening up the … Read more

Ever try to balance food on a flimsy paper plate while standing around at a party? You wind up dropping your food, dripping on yourself, or concentrating way too hard on eating your little meatballs.

Designer Alissia Melka-Teichroew wanted to be able to eat and enjoy herself at the same time, so she did something about it. She set out to create a pr-folded plate made from a sturdy material. Ultimately, she determined that the plates could be made flat from ceramic, then placed over molds.

These dishes are not cheap; they'll run you $110 for a set of three plates … Read more

You know the problem: you pack your lunch, but by the time you go to eat it, your banana is bruised and yukky. That's why you need the Banana Guard--a "unique, patented device" that is "specially designed to fit the vast majority of bananas."

Yes, this product begs to be poked fun of, but if you frequently feed children, you may actually find it useful. Kids--at least my kids--often reject food based purely on aesthetics, and many a bruised banana has been deemed unworthy of my children's sensitive palates. The Banana Guard is … Read more

The Super Bowl may be over, but that doesn't mean the tradition can't live on. It's not the tradition of the game or even the commercials that's up for consideration here, but rather the tradition of the food. Every Super Bowl spread may strive for perfection, but only the very best achieve glory. It takes but one addition to stand out in a landscape cluttered with suspect cheese dips and prepackaged salty snacks: deep-fried food.

If the trophy presentation to the New Orleans Saints earlier this month left you hungry for more, there is an overtime … Read more