I just added an online bookstore via Amazon. Check it out, see if you like it, buy a book or two, and let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make it better.

Thanks!

Oh, and since I’m on the topic, here’s a link to the International Association of Culinary Professionals 2008 IACP Cookbook Award winners and runners-up.

Here’s the 2008 James Beard Foundation Award Winners.

I am now an occasional blogger at Creative Loafing.

CL is expanding their food coverage and recruited some local folks to write about food for their Daily Loaf blog. Here’s a nice link list of the new food bloggy goodness.

As some of you know the company that owns Creative Loafing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. Like every newspaper in the United States they’re trying to figure out how to make it in the 21st century information economy. And also like every newspaper in the US they’re working on pumping up their online presence.

It was nice for Brian Ries to reach out to local bloggers, and I want to thank him for the invitation. With any luck it will be a positive experience for everyone involved.

Also part of the new food crew are Taylor Eason, Leslie “The Hungry Housewife” Green, Bethany Sherwin, Jamie Ostrand, Brian Ries, and me, with a high chance of more to come. Here’s a link to my archive which currently holds THREE posts (one about cupcakes, one about a GAO report on genetic engineering, and one about the coming of CineBistro to Hyde Park).

The dream is to do different stuff there than I do here, but since school and work often interfere, there’s always the possibility that there’ll be some cross-posting on occasion.

Two of my favorite people talking about food!

“Well, you have to understand that that department of the government [the Department of Agriculture], the $90 billion a year behemoth is captive of agri-business. It is owned by agri-business. They’re in the room making policy there. When you have a food safety recall over meat, sitting there with the Secretary of Agriculture and her chief of staff or his chief of staff is the head of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.”

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“We’ve gone from 2,000 or 2,300 to 2,600, something like that. We all weigh on average ten pounds more. And lo and behold, we have a serious epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, diet-related cancers. All these chronic diseases which is now what kills us basically pretty reliably in America are adding more than $250 billion a year to healthcare costs. They are the reason that this generation just being born now is expected to have a shorter lifespan than their parents, that one in three Americans born in the year 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control, will have type 2 diabetes, which is a really serious sentence. It takes several years off your life. It gives you an 80 percent chance of heart disease. It means you are going to be spending $14,000 a year in added health costs. So this is about how we’re eating.”

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Yesterday at lunch I grabbed a bottle of water to wash down my Moe’s burrito and my dining companion asked me if I liked Coca-Cola brand Dasani because of the extra salt they added. (I think he was being a smart ass and ribbing me for my support of the wicked Coca Cola company).

“Salt? I don’t think they add salt. They’d have to put in the ingredients list if they did.”

So, I searched out the ingredients on the bottle of water, expecting to find, you know, WATER, but I was also greeted with this surprise - “water, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, salt.” Not just salt, but THREE KINDS of salt. Magnesium sulfate is commonly known as Epsom salt, salt is commonly known as salt, and potassium chloride is commonly known as the stuff they use in lethal injections, the stuff they use to make fertilizer, or salt substitute (technically it’s still a salt, it just isn’t SODIUM chloride).

Of course, this should not be a surprise because Dasani uses this fact as part of their product description. Right under the brand name the water is tagged as “Enhanced with minerals for a pure fresh taste.”

I remember when Dasani caught a lot of flack because it’s basically tap water. That didn’t bother me. What’s wrong with tap water? Or, rather, what’s wrong with properly filtered tap water? Nothing! It’s delicious. What concerns me more is the tremendous amount of plastic drink industries use. That shit’s not going away anytime soon. You’re welcome, Grandkids!

But, now that I know Dasani serves my water on the rocks, I may have to re-think my lunchtime drinking habits.

I still have a few tedious end-of-the-semester chores to finish up, but mostly this semester is over. That means it’s finally time to get to all the stuff in my life that gets neglected while I’m writing papers, doing homework, and the other nonsense that comes with being a student. Someday this too shall pass.

Since I have a few moments let’s see what’s been going on in the Tampa foodie blogosphere.

Laura Reiley notes that Mr. Dunderbak’s will be moving next February. (I wish the Times would get rid of that annoying pop-up ad they’ve added at the bottom of their pages).

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Jeff Houck is looking for fruitcake-themed haikus.

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Jaden has returned to Club Med in the Dominican Republic. Words fail me.

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The Culinary Sherpas offer up a recipe for … bacon chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t think such a thing was possible.

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Josh at GNAtv recommends the Philly Phlava.

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Tampa I Am recommends Paninoteca.

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This December 13 there’s a vegan meet-up at Trang Viet Cuisine. (Thanks to VegTampaBay for the link to calendar.)

Ah, poop coffee and maggot cheese, here are 10 gourmet foods to consider getting the foodie in your life this holiday gift-giving season.

10. Ortolan

Eating a roasted bird isn’t really that crazy, but the process leading up to the roasting of Ortolan birds has actually caused France to declare it illegal for humane reasons. Ortolan birds are nocturnal, sparrow-like birds. To prepare them for cooking, the live birds are trapped in a dark box. The darkness messes with their eating schedule and causes them to continually eat until they are about two to three times their original size. After a proper level of obesity has occurred, the birds are drowned in brandy or other liquor and then, finally, roasted.

Funny how a country that defends fois gras even finds this practice too barbaric. If tortured animals make yummier meals, than this little guy must be quite a treat.

If you still need ideas for Thanksgiving (umm, like I do) then here are some Thanksgiving tips and news.

Local good guy Mike Alstott is giving a bunch of groceries to local fire stations. This is even more generous when you remember that Floridians overwhelmingly voted to cut budgets for first responders back in January.

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Mike at Center’d.com asked that I point out their Thanksgiving planning center.

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Laura Reiley points out a few more places that could a little extra help this Thanksgiving.

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The Culinary Sherpas are offering FOUR Thanksgiving recipes that will rock your world.

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And, while my intent was to make this an overstuffed roundup, my RSS feeds are not cooperating, so all my carefully hoarded links are lost somewhere in the ether. Ah, well, there’s still plenty to be thankful for. Happy turkey day everyone!

Hmmm, I’m not sure if I’m going to salt my coffee any time soon, but it’s true what they say about chocolate and chili. 10 Unusual Food Combinations used by chefs and foodies.

Over at Ridiculously Inconsistent Trickle of Consciousness Clark ponders the pointlessness of a few pretentious foods.

“Applewood smoked bacon - What. In the hell. Is that. Note to people who eat stuff: when it comes to fruit that grows on trees, it’s the fruit that tastes like fruit, not the branches. I wouldn’t cook wienies over a fire from burning orange tree branches and expect a hot dog to taste like a Mimosa. So why would I expect apple wood to alter the flavor of bacon? Do you know any bacon enthusiasts who have any complaints about how bacon tastes? Of course not! They love it because it tastes like bacon!”

Definitely check out the rest here.