From College Student to Culinary Star

In April Dave Lieberman became the Food Network's fresh, young face as host of "Good Deal." Pretty impressive for a guy 2 years out of college who's never attended culinary school. I guess form people making great food just comes naturally.

Right around the time he started on the Food Network his first cookbook; "Young and Hungry: Making the Most of Fresh and Affordable Food" started hitting bookshelves around the globe.

"I'm really happy doing what I'm doing," Dave said. "I feel like I could do this forever."

If that doesn't give hope to all the culinary hopefuls out there I don't know what would.

Jell-O History and Resources

The first patent for gelatin was issued to Peter Cooper in 1845. Peter was the founder of Cooper Union in New York City. That simple formula evolved into a fruit-flavored gelatin because due to the curiosity and hard work of carpenter and cough medicine manufacturer Pearle Wait of Le Roy. It was Pearle's wife Mary, however, who gave this product its world famous name — Jell-O.

In 1849 a fellow townsman named Orator F. Woodward purchased the Jell-O name and formula for $450 in 1899. Orator’s original company was called Genesee Pure Food Company, which he later changed to the Jell-O Company.

Interesting Jell-O related site: http://www.jellomuseum.com/

Interesting Jell-O fact: The Kraft web site says that nine boxes of Jell-O are sold every second in the United States.

Check out some Jello recipes from the Yahoo Directory.

Do You Like Tea?

I'm not a huge fan of Tea...more of a coffee kind of guy:-)

On the other hand, my girlfriend is sort of what I would consider a "tea junkie". Morning noon and night...she must have 4 or 5 cups of tea a day.

Being the helpful person that I am (at least I'd like to think so) I decided to start looking around for resources/info/shopping sites for tea and tea related products.

Here's a few that I've come across so far:

Japanese Tea Forum
Tea Villa
Fresh Cup

Enjoy!

Seafood...Everything you Wanted to Know

I came across another cool site today while looking for some information about seafood - recipes, preparation tips, where to get it how to make it, etc.

Here's the place to go if you want info on seafood.

Here's a little blurb from the site to give an idea of what they are about:

"Welcome to Seafood Plus where we are dedicated to bringing you the best information regarding seafood sources, ingredients and other resources directly related to obtaining, preparing and enjoying your seafood taste. "

Enjoy!

Looking for a Bed and Breakfast?

I'm doing some browsing this morning looking for a couple of Bed and Breakfast spots to take my girlfriend this summer and came across this site, The Bed and Breakfast Connector.

Here's a clip from their site:

"Find your next vacation destination today. Staying at a bed and breakfast has much more to offer than just staying in a hotel. You get personalized service, superb home cooked meals and much more. Come see what we have to offer. The Bed and Breakfast Connector specializes in finding quality B&B's anywhere in Canada and the United States."

They have some very nice search features on the site. If you're looking for B&B, or if you own a B&B and want it listed give them a visit today.

New Cooking Directory

In addition to the little directory I included on this site (see right sidebar links) I wanted to create a more inclusive directory for the cooking/food world. I just set everything up yesterday so it's still empty at this point...help me get it populated by submitting some cooking sites!

Here's a link to my new cooking directory.

Chicago Backyard Barbecue Contest

If you think you can grill the best rib-eye steak in Chicago you should get into this contest: Chicago Backyard Barbecue Contest.

This contest closes on July 22,2005 so if you want it (and think you can win) don't delay!

Veal Recipe Contest - On the Grill

The Wisconsin Beef Council is searching for the most creative and delicious veal recipes for its the 3rd Annual Wisconsin State Fair Veal Grill-Off. The Grill-Off invites Wisconsin's amateur grillers to showcase easy and creative veal grilling recipes.

If only I knew how to grill veal....

Five finalists will grill-off on August 6th at Rupena's Pavilion during the Wisconsin State Fair. The grand-champion griller will receive a Weber Genesis Silver B Gas Grill, from Rokamco Grill Center and a grilling party including veal from Rupena's Fine Food and Catering--a value of over $700. Runner-ups will receive a $50 grilling gift pack. And all qualified recipe entries will be entered into a drawing to receive free veal, grilling gift packs and other prizes.

For complete contest rules, write to: Veal Grill-Off, % Wisconsin Beef Council, 680 Grand Canyon Drive, Madison, WI 53719.

Entries must be received by July 22 2005.