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Thu
31
Jul '08

Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong

Ever attend a wedding or birthday party where you couldn’t help noticing that something was a little (or a lot) wrong with the cake they were serving? Then you’ll enjoy Cake Wrecks, a blog that showcases some of the worst looking, most visually unfortunate, and thematically tasteless professionally made cakes we’ve ever seen.

Here’s a sampling of a few of the confectionery monstrosities you’ll find at Cake Wrecks…

1. The Spinning Cake of Goo

2. Say it With Meat

How about some cakes guaranteed to cast a pall over your special day:

Ow my eyes…here’s 2 cakes that only a Medusa could love:

Here’s two cakes that are so ugly and disgusting that I can’t show you a preview photo on this site for fear of permanently killing your appetite. Click at your own risk:

We’ll end with a pair of cakes that I can’t help liking…two puffer fish themed cakes:

(Photo Credits: All photos courtesy of Cake Wrecks)


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Wed
30
Jul '08

The New York Times (and Others) Explore Charleston, SC

In a recent New York Times article, Charleston on the Cheap, Chris Dixon focuses on a few of the simpler pleasures of a visit to the Holy City.

As it says in the article:

“Many of the area’s most captivating historic attractions are essentially free. Beaches and an outstanding farmers’ market are open to all, and the sweet tea and fabulous food can be found in off-the-beaten-path restaurants well known to the locals. With some careful shopping in advance, even a hotel room or condo can be affordable.”

I was particularly pleased that they mentioned J.B.’s Smokeshack, a down home, creaky doored barbecue shack I visit when I want to load up on hickory smoked barbecue pork, hash and rice, okra gumbo, and their deliciously rich pluff mud or chocolate eclair puddings.

Other restaurants mentioned in the article include such local favorites as the Folly’s Lost Dog Cafe and the Mustard Seed on Maybank.

For those that don’t live in here, the article goes on to share some inexpensive places to stay in the Charleston area, as well as a few off the beaten path attractions on James and Johns Islands that won’t break your vacation budget.

You can read more of the New York Times article here.

Charleston was also named one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 best places to live and launch on their recent 2008 list.

For those that enjoy golf, nearby Mt. Pleasant, SC was named one of the 10 best retirement spots for golf nuts by U.S. News & World Report.

As it says in the article:

“Located just outside historic Charleston, S.C., Mount Pleasant has 30 courses close at hand. And since it’s within day-trip distance of two South Carolina golfing havens—90 miles from Myrtle Beach and 110 miles from Hilton Head Island—boredom is one obstacle you’ll never face on the links…”

Other South Carolina cities that have recently won awards include Greenville, Aiken, and Rock Hill which were all recognized as one of the best places to live in America by RelocateAmerica.Com. Charleston also made the list.


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Tue
29
Jul '08

More Exotic Ice Creams for the Sun-Ravaged Soul

Cardamom Peanut Butter Ice CreamHere’s a roundup of delicious recipes for homemade ice cream that feature flavors you won’t easily find in your local supermarket…enjoy!

You might also want to read The Sunday Soda Menace: The Surprisingly Controversial History of Ice Cream as well as the original Exotic Ice Creams for the Sun-Ravaged Soul post.


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Mon
28
Jul '08

The Sunday Soda Menace: The Surprisingly Controversial History of Ice Cream

Ice Cream Sundae by Thomas Hawk on FlickrAs we move further into the dog days of summer, our thoughts return to the all too obvious pleasures of ice cream, which we first wrote about here. Surprisingly, the history of ice cream itself is fraught with debate and controversy.

In many quarters during the late 1800’s, the ingestion of the then highly popular, (though apparently sinfully delicious) ice cream soda, was considered to be immoral and improper on the Sabbath. Some communities even passed resolutions to outlaw its consumption on Sundays.

It is said that the phrase ice cream sundae was first coined in Evanston, Illinois; a phrase that may have paved the way for the beleaguered ice cream soda parlors to remain open on Sundays.

According to What’s Cooking America

“Evanston, Illinois (then know as Chicago’s Heaven or Heavenston) was one of the first towns to outlaw the ‘Sunday Soda Menace’. Evanston was a very strict religious town where the Sabbath was strictly observed. The town even passed an ordinance prohibiting the retailing of ice cream sodas on Sunday. According to sources published in Evanston, the word sundae originated at Garwoods’ Drugstore…They did not serve ice cream sodas. They served sodas without soda on Sunday. The Evanston Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) championed it as a pleasant alternative to alcoholic drinks.”

 White Chocolate Chip and Mint Ice Cream by QuinatanaRoo on FlickrTo continue the controversy, both Two Rivers, Wisconsin and Ithaca, New York (our former stomping ground) claim to have invented the concept of the ice cream sundae itself. Wisconsin’s claim dates the invention to 1881 while New York’s claim of 1892 is later, but with more extensive documentation. Both cities have been fighting amiably on the topic since the 1970’s.

The lascivious ice cream soda itself was invented by Robert Green in 1874 at the Franklin Institute’s exhibit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

According to Michael Witzel:

“After sneaking a tentative sip, Green was wowed: the resulting blend of soda, syrup, and frozen cream was delightful! Without hesitation, the innocent libation was added to the menu, and by the end of the exhibition, customers showed approval by cracking their money purse. Green was taking in over $600 dollars a day in ice cream soda sales alone!…The phenomenon spread quickly and soon, ice cream sodas were slurped in fountains from New York to California.”

(Of course, when it comes to the history of ice cream, there’s always a little controversy. Fred Sanders of Detroit, Michigan also claimed to be the inventor of the ice cream soda at his confectionary shop which was named The Pavilion of Sweets.)

Soda Fountain, 1910 From the Library of Congress
Photograph of an Early 1900’s Soda Fountain, Courtesy of The Library of Congress

You can read more about the invention and popularity of ice cream here, from President James Madison’s wife, Dolly who started a craze for ice cream when she served it at his second inaugural ball in 1812, to the invention of the hand crank ice cream maker in 1943 by housewife Nancy Johnson.

Even today, controversy and ice cream go hand in hand. In 2006, the town of Wadowice, Poland temporarily banned the sale of ice cream during Pope Benedict XVI’s papal visit.

In Hudson County, New Jersey, it is now illegal for Mister Softee ice cream trucks to play their music after 9:30PM (growing up there I have fond memories of their velvety swirls of soft serve ice cream). Similar noise ordinance bans have been discussed across the country and enacted in parts of Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California.

Please join us tomorrow for the last part of our two part series on the joys of ice cream: More Exotic Ice Creams for the Sun-Ravaged Soul, which will feature a roundup of recipes for delicious flavored ice creams you won’t find at your local supermarket.

(Photo Credits: the first ice cream photo is courtesy of Thomas Hawk, while the second is by Emilie Hardman.)


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Sun
27
Jul '08

The Hugging the Coast Week in Review: July 21st to July 27th

The Hugging the Coast .Com Week in Review

Here’s a look back at the posts that appeared earlier in the week here on HuggingtheCoast.Com…please join us tomorrow for the start of next week’s exciting food features!

Looking Back: 7/21/2008-7/27/2008

Monday: Shrimp & Blue Cheese Blossoms with Vidalia Cranberry Marmalade

Tuesday: Pina Colada Blossoms Recipe: Makes a Great Appetizer or Dessert

Wednesday: Mmmm…Meat: 1,252 Chefs Break World Barbecue Record Using 12 Tons of Meat

Thursday: A Roundup of Refreshing and Delicious Iced Sweet Tea Recipes

Friday: Fish For Friday Recipe of the Week: Miso-Marinated Sea Bass

Saturday: Weekend Video Spotlight: Surfing in South Carolina

Sunday: You are here :)


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Sat
26
Jul '08

Weekend Video Spotlight: Surfing in South Carolina

Weekend Video Spotlight Jadibones has made an interesting video about surfing in South Carolina (Folly Beach, Charleston) which you can see below (or here ).



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Fri
25
Jul '08

Fish For Friday Recipe of the Week: Miso-Marinated Sea Bass

Here’s an elegant and sophisticated recipe inspired by Nobu’s famous black cod with miso…Miso-Marinated Sea Bass from the folks at Rasa Malaysia.

Ingredients:

Sea bass (about 5 oz. piece)
1 teaspoon white miso paste
1 teaspoon mirin
2 teaspoon sake
1/2 teaspoon ginger juice
1/2 teaspoon palm sugar (sugar)

How to Make Miso-Marinated Sea Bass
See More of Hugging the Coast’s Fish For Friday Recipes


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Thu
24
Jul '08

A Roundup of Refreshing and Delicious Iced Sweet Tea Recipes

Here in the Southern United States, some call iced sweet tea “the wine of the South” because it is drunk by the gallon throughout the year. Since iced tea here is traditionally served sweetened with plenty of sugar (or occasionally honey) by default, it’s called sweet tea down here. (Tea served without sugar is called unsweet tea.) Up North where I grew up, it’s called iced tea.

According to this page on What’s Cooking America, due to its long growing season and semi-tropical climate, South Carolina is the first place in the United States where tea was grown and is the only state to ever have produced tea commercially.

Tea is still cultivated on the Charleston Tea Plantation which is now owned by Bigelow Tea which is also home to the annual First Flush Tea Festival.

Here’s a few iced sweet tea recipes to help you survive the heat as we move closer to August.



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Wed
23
Jul '08

Mmmm…Meat: 1,252 Chefs Break World Barbecue Record Using 12 Tons of Meat

(All Photos Courtesy of Damn Cool Pics)

What do you get when you add 12 tons of meat, an army of 1,252 volunteer chefs, and a grill nearly a mile long? The world’s largest barbecue of course, with over 20,000 spectators lined up to eat it.When you add in the factor that the event was held in Uruguay, which boasts beef almost as revered in many gourmet circles as that in neighboring Argentina, you can be sure it was a true culinary happening.

“It’s all so beautiful. It’s a record” said Guinness World Records judge form the United States, Danny Girton who was present to register the event.

According to Reuters, Army personnel were used to set up the massive grill and firefighters lit six tons of charcoal to kick off the gargantuan cookout.

The official event was launched after the record breaking grill was inaugurated with a much smaller meal of kosher beef steak.

Here’s a video from the record breaking event to whet your appetite…




According to the CattleNetwork.Com, contrary to tradition and for practical reasons six tons of charcoal was used to barbecue the beef. Traditional Uruguayan barbecue is prepared on embers of hard wood, a slow process that can take up to an hour but which also enables the meat to be smoked. Like Argentinians, Uruguayans take their tradition of asado very seriously, and enjoy some of the highest per capita beef consumption in the world.


Viewed From Above, The World’s Largest Barbecue

The previous record holder of the World’s Largest Barbecue was Mexico, which won in 2006 with a comparatively paltry 8 tons of meat.


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Tue
22
Jul '08

Pina Colada Blossoms Recipe: Makes a Great Appetizer or Dessert

These appealing little ‘blossoms’ are perfect as appetizers or as a sophisticated dessert. They’re very easy to make and they delight the senses with their transporting flavors and variety of textures.

Here’s a photo of the Pina Colada Blossoms below.

Doug DuCap's Pina Colada Blossoms

Doug DuCap's Pina Colada BlossomsIngredients:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp sugar
Cooking oil spray
24 wonton wrappers (or 6 egg roll wrappers cut into quarters)
Ground cinnamon (for dusting)
1 can pineapple chunks
1 can mandarin orange sections
3/4 Cup shredded sweetened coconut
Fresh mint leaves, minced (optional)

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix the cream cheese, lime juice, and sugar. Spray mini muffin pans with cooking spray. Press a wonton wrapper into each cup, folding the corners out like petals, and dust lightly with cinnamon. Put about a teaspoon of cheese mixture into each, press a pineapple chunk and a mandarin orange section into the cheese, and top with about a teaspoon of shredded coconut.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. Sprinkle with minced fresh mint leaves, if desired.

Makes 24 appetizers.

Enjoy!

You Can Read More of Doug’s Recipe Corner Here.

Note: This article is also available in the following convenient format(s)…

ehow Version


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Mon
21
Jul '08

Shrimp & Blue Cheese Blossoms with Vidalia Cranberry Marmalade

Warning: The warm, rich, multi-layered flavors of these visually appealing appetizers will tempt you very strongly to eat all 24 of them by yourself in the kitchen and tell your guests that you, uh…dropped the whole tray on the floor! Yeah, that’s it! They’ll believe that! Just make sure you’re not still chewing when you give them the bad news.

Here’s a photo of the Shrimp & Blue Cheese Blossoms with Vidalia Cranberry Marmalade below.

Doug DuCap's Shrimp & Blue Cheese Blossoms with Vidalia Cranberry Marmalade

Doug DuCap's Guava and Cheese AbuelitasIngredients:

2 Tbsp butter
3 cups diced Vidalia onions
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 tsp anise seed
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp white pepper
Pinch of salt
4 oz cream cheese, softened
Cooking oil spray
2 oz blue cheese (I use Maytag Blue)
24 wonton wrappers (or 6 egg roll wrappers cut into quarters)
24 medium (41-50 count) cooked shrimp
Minced fresh chives (optional)

PREPARATION:

Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy saucepan. Add the onions and the cranberries and cook, stirring regularly, until the onions have softened and colored (about 20 minutes.) Stir in the anise seed, brown sugar, lemon juice, water, pepper, and salt. Cook for 10-15 minutes more, stirring regularly.

While the onions are cooking, crumble the blue cheese in a medium bowl. Add the cream cheese and mix thoroughly.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray mini muffin pans with cooking spray. Press a wonton wrapper into each cup, folding the corners out like petals. Put about half a teaspoon of cheese mixture into each, add about 1 teaspoon of onion marmalade, and top with a shrimp.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. Sprinkle with minced fresh chives, if desired.

Makes 24 appetizers.

Enjoy!

You Can Read More of Doug’s Recipe Corner Here.

Note: This article is also available in the following convenient format(s)…

ehow Version


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Sun
20
Jul '08

The Hugging the Coast Week in Review: July 13th to July 20th

The Hugging the Coast .Com Week in Review

Here’s a look back at the posts that appeared earlier in the week here on HuggingtheCoast.Com…please join us tomorrow for the start of next week’s exciting food features!

Looking Back: 7/13/2008-7/20/2008

Monday: Doug’s Recipe Corner: Homestyle Pumpkin Pancakes

Tuesday: A Rising Star Restaurant in South Carolina: Four Moons

Wednesday: An Interview With Chef Charles Zeran of Four Moons (Plus a Recipe)

Thursday: 2 New Hugging the Coast Features: Blog Widgets and Original eHow Articles

Friday: Fish For Friday Recipe of the Week: Steamed Mussels With Almonds

Saturday: Weekend Video Spotlight: Charleston’s Downtown

Sunday: You are here :)


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Sat
19
Jul '08

Weekend Video Spotlight: Charleston’s Downtown

Weekend Video Spotlight robertmalonesc has made an interesting video about Charleston’s historic downtown area which you can see below (or here ).



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Fri
18
Jul '08

Fish For Friday Recipe of the Week: Steamed Mussels With Almonds

Looking for a way to enjoy the delightful flavor of steamed mussels at home? Here’s a recipe for Steamed Mussels with Almonds from the folks at Beyond Salmon (plus Helen’s informative take on the ins and outs of successfully preparing mussels at home).

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped almonds (untoasted)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup water
2 Lb mussels
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

How to Make Steamed Mussels with Almonds
See More of Hugging the Coast’s Fish For Friday Recipes


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Thu
17
Jul '08

2 New Hugging the Coast Features: Blog Widgets and Original eHow Articles

We’ve recently added two new features to Hugging the Coast that we hope will make the site more useful and interesting: blog widgets and eHow articles.

Blog widgets are an easy way for you to instantly be able to share and enjoy the latest original recipes and blog features from HuggingtheCoast.Com on your Myspace, Facebook, Netvibes, and iGoogle, sites as well as your favorite Wordpress, Blogger, Live Journal, or Typepad blog.

We’ve just created 2 easy to configure widgets which are very easy easy to customize to whatever size and color you’d like; the better to accent your personal startup page, social networking sites, or blog.

You can find out more about the 2 blog widgets (as well as how to add them to your page) here.

The second feature we’ve recently added to the site are links to our growing library of food related articles on eHow, most based on the original recipes and techniques we share here. All of our eHow articles are easily printable, and can also be saved to your eHow favorites with ease.

You can see a list of the Hugging the Coast eHow articles as they are added here.


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Wed
16
Jul '08

An Interview With Chef Charles Zeran of Four Moons (Plus a Recipe)

Charles Zeran, Executive Chef of Four Moons Restaurant in Orangeburg, SC, is the winner of 9 DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) Awards and 9 Wine Spectator Awards in his previous kitchens (Stone Manor, Middletown, Maryland; Stars Waterfront Cafe, Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina; and The Lodge at Glendorn, a AAA Four Diamond and Relais & Chateaux property in Bradford, Pennsylvania.)

Chef Charles Zeran of Four MoonsNot bad for a former attorney and self-taught chef who started his professional cooking career at the age of 32. His delicious and visually arresting dishes are the result of his interest in molecular gastronomy coupled with his own broad experience and unique vision.

He talked with us about the winding road that brought him to where he is today, his favorite restaurants, his Western Tennessee childhood food memories of peach ice cream on Independence Day and traditional New Year’s meals, as well as his guilty food pleasures…

QuestionWhen did first you start getting interested in food and cooking? Please share some early cooking memories…

AnswerI have cooked all my life for fun. Even as a child. Some early food memories: making caramel fudge and taffy with my grandmother in western Tennessee where I grew up. My father making Steak Diane in the seventies when I was about 10 and waiting for it to catch fire when the brandy was added. Traveling with my dad as a child to New Orleans and having beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde, and to Grand Bahama Island and having cracked conch right off the boat and Johnny cakes prepared by the native Bahamians.

QuestionIt must have been difficult for you to make the leap from your original career to food and beverage. What happened that gave you the impetus to make that leap?

AnswerI became a lawyer I think more because it was expected and for the money more than because it was something I really wanted to do. Not because there had ever been a lawyer in my family, but because I had excelled in school and was expected to do something like a doctor, lawyer, or Indian chief.

After 7 years of divorce law in Northern Florida and Western North Carolina, I decided that life was too short to do something that I really didn’t love and began to think what would be better. I always loved to cook. The first food I ever sold was homemade lasagna to Italian restaurants while I was still an attorney in North Carolina. Made the pasta and dried it on a clothes rack.

One day I decided that I had had enough and spent the next six months winding up my practice, took a 3 month adventure around the Western United States looking for somewhere I wanted to be more than the Appalachian region of North Carolina. I ended up in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state and took a job in a roadside diner cooking breakfast. After about 4 months of this, I met the owner of a bistro in one of the tourist towns in the Cascades who offered me a line cook job, which I declined. But we hit it off being the same age and both growing up outside Memphis, so we had a lot of common history.

A few days later the manager of her kitchen was fired and she called me and asked me if I wanted to run their kitchen my first chef position with 4 months of restaurant experience and not a clue. Trial by fire.

QuestionWhat kind of cooking do you most admire?

AnswerAvant garde. When I want to feed I like it simple, but when I want to dine, I want to be entertained and I want something to think about, not just chew on.

QuestionWhat ingredients do you especially like to work with?

AnswerSeafood is probably my favorite medium. Especially tuna, scallops, and any really fresh fish that I can either use raw or cook. I also really like raw or practically raw meats lamb, venison, and good beef made into wonderful tatakis, carpaccios, and tartares. I love Asian ingredients and flavors, especially Japanese the flavors are so complex, but seem so pure.

QuestionWho are your food inspirations and why…Also, who are your favorite chefs and cookbook/food authors?

AnswerFerran Adria, Grant Achatz, Homaro Cantu, etc for their creativity in molecular gastronomy. Thomas Keller for the purity and intensity of taste of his food, and the subtle layers of flavor. Michel Richard of Citronelle for his playfulness, and the mixing of pastry techniques into savory dishes. Rick Tramonto for the same reasons as both Keller and Richard. Masaharu Morimoto for his use of western techniques with Asian ingredients and vice versa without ending up with fusion for fusion sake, which I hate.

QuestionWhat part does travel play in your food inspirations?

AnswerOnly incidentally. Haven’t done much traveling for food’s sake.

QuestionWhere do you like to go and what cuisines inspire you?

AnswerThe Keys for the fresh seafood. DC for some of the restaurants I used to go to when I lived in that area Citronelle, Jose Andres’ Cafe Atlantico, The Inn at Little Washington, Persimmon, Kinkaid’s.

QuestionAny favorite meals you’d like to share?

AnswerThe Inn at Little Washington for the best service I have ever experienced. Michelle Richard’s Citronelle for the whimsical food, like the silver penguin statuette carrying an egg filled with scrambled eggs topped with caviar.

QuestionWhat do you like to do to blow off the stresses of the kitchen?

AnswerWhen the day is done I am relaxed. I found that the difference between being a lawyer and being a chef is the type of stress being an attorney involves chronic stress the same client with the same issues continues for months. Being a chef involves acute stress when the day is done, the day is done. Chronic stress is draining. Acute stress is a rush.

QuestionWhat tips would you offer to someone considering a career as a chef?

AnswerDon’t — unless you really have the passion. If it’s not something you have to do because there is something inside you that makes you, it will be a miserable career and you won’t do it well. But if that thing is inside you, it’s like Confucius said “If you find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

QuestionWhat advantages do you bring to the table as a self educated chef?

AnswerNot knowing what the rules are, I don’t know better than to break them.

QuestionWould you like to publish a cookbook someday? If so, what would its focus be?

AnswerMaybe the crossover between sweet and savory.

QuestionFavorite comfort foods?

AnswerBiscuits and gravy. Steak. Mashed potatoes with white truffle oil. Bacon. Bacon. Bacon.

QuestionFavorite barbecue memory?

AnswerWe always barbecued a baby goat on the Fourth of July when I was growing up. It cooked most of the day. While it was cooking, we made a stew in a big cauldron in the back yard using all the game we had in the freezer from the previous hunting season we stirred it with a boat paddle. And we finished the meal with peach ice cream we churned with a hand cranked ice cream freezer.

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