FoodBozo.com

By Verena Dobnik, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK – Tavern on the Green, once America’s highest-grossing restaurant, is singing its culinary swan song.

The former sheepfold at the edge of Central Park, now ringed by twinkling lights and fake topiary animals, is preparing for New Year’s Eve, when it will serve its last meal. Just three years ago, it was plating more than 700,000 meals annually, bringing in more than $38 million.

But that astronomical sum wasn’t enough to keep the landmark restaurant out of bankruptcy court. Its $8 million debt is to be covered at an auction of Baccarat and Waterford chandeliers, Tiffany stained glass, a mural depicting Central Park and other over-the-top decor that has bewitched visitors for decades.

Even the restaurant’s name is up for grabs. At stake is whether another restaurateur taking over the 27,000 square feet (2,500 square meters) of space, owned by the city, can reopen as Tavern on the Green.

For 75 years, since it first opened amid the Great Depression, the Tavern has attracted clients from around the world.

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How about those New Year resolutions… Lose weight? Check. Stop complaining? On the list. Be more patient? Yup, that one too. Quit eating with a mouth full of food spewing out? Uh, hadn’t thought of that one yet! Manners matter too, so here are a handful of icky habits to add to the list. Cheers to a more refined year ahead!

Read more here: 6 Gross Food Habits To Drop In 2010

By Judy Creighton, THE CANADIAN PRESS

When watching our stalwart winter Olympian athletes tearing down the slopes or speed skating the oval like there was no tomorrow, have you ever wondered where they get that supreme energy?

“The key is in what they eat,” says Rose Reisman, a Toronto nutritional consultant, cookbook author, restaurant and catering business owner and mother of four.

“And non-Olympians can learn from those athletes because no matter what you do in terms of an active lifestyle we should all be eating the same as they,” she says. “The only difference with an Olympian is that they are going to consume double the calories we are because by nature they are more active.”

With the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics just over two months away, Reisman thought it a good time to put a challenge to not-so-active Canadians to get fit not only through exercise but when choosing meals as well.

“The old days where the belief was protein, protein and more protein or maybe a bowl of pasta before a run are past,” she says. “Now it’s a matter of following Canada’s Food Guide and snacking every two to three hours five times a day so you can fuel your body properly.”

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Contributed by Marlene Veloso

We have been adding butter to recipes for generations. It has not only become an ingredient to many recipes, but it also makes a great addition to topping bread. The truth is, butter is made from milk that contains saturated fat from animal products.

Saturated fats may keep their form nicely sitting in your refrigerator, but they are the main culprits when it comes to high cholesterol and inflammation of the arteries, which lead to heart disease. Margarine on the other hand is an artificial trans fat created from vegetable oils.

These trans fats are actually worse on your body than the fats from butter. Trans fats may also effect your immune system and susceptibility to asthma and allergies.

So what other alternatives to butter and margarine are there to reduce unhealthy fats that cause havoc on our bodies?

• Olive, canola, and grape seed oils are all healthy alternatives for cooking and do not contain saturated or trans fats.
• Replace the butter added to baked potatoes with salsa. It is a great away to spice it up and is full of vegetables that are good for you.
• Instead of adding butter or margarine to vegetables, sprinkle lemon juice, nutmeg, or olive oil over food for added flavour without the added unhealthy fats.
• Mix up olive oil with vinegar for a bread dipping alternative.
• Use walnut oil to add flavour to cinnamon toast.
• Some soft margarine comes in an alternative option that shows trans-fat-free on the label.

Healthy people don’t have to drink nearly as much as they think
By Cathy Gulli

When it comes to water, there’s nothing clear about how much we need to drink or even what good it does us. Still guzzling eight 8-oz. glasses a day? There’s no scientific proof everyone requires so much. Urine should be colourless? That’s a sign you’ve chugged too much. Thirst means you’re already dehydrated? Not even close.

“I want to squash that notion. It’s baloney,” says Heinz Valtin, professor emeritus of physiology at the Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., in a recent podcast produced by the American Physiological Society. He should know. His seminal 2002 study, “ ‘Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.’ Really? Is there scientific evidence for the ‘8 x 8’?” is often cited by other researchers investigating how much water we should consume daily. Now, many physiologists are debunking the most common assumptions about water intake. Valtin’s conclusion: healthy people who live sedentary lifestyles in temperate climates don’t have to drink so much.

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Christmas Cookie Exchanges (CCE) offer a great way to experience a potential vast number of other people’s great (or terrible) cookie recipes.

Here are some of FoodBozo CCE ground-rules:

• Don’t make low-fat or healthy cookies. Everyone hates these.
• Go for the recipes that are heavy with butter and high in sugar.
• Always include an extra or a bonus cookie. Your friends will appreciate this and may reciprocate at next year’s CCE.
• Seal the cookies so they stay fresh as long as possible.
• Be festive: People love getting decorated cookies for a CCE.
• Do not eat the cookies all at once. Set a consumption schedule and stick to it.
• Don’t be Grinch; make the cookies nice and big so your friends can enjoy them.

Some of FoodBozo’s cookies from once of the 2009 CCE

If you can read Dutch, then you shouldn’t have any problems reading this recipe; Preistamppot met kerrie en oude kaas.

AllRecipes.com is in the middle of  featuring 25 of their best-loved Christmas cookie recipes.

Make sure you enjoy them; It’s Our Christmas Cookie Countdown!.

Manhattan is jam-packed with residents, and it’s always buzzing with an incredible pace of business, tourism, and architectural & cultural beauty mashed together.

New York walking tours allows for residents and non-residents alike to discover and enjoy culinary experiences that would otherwise go undiscovered.

With the Night Lights Food Tour, Greenwich Village Food Tour, SoHo/Little Italy/Chinatown Food Tour, and the Lower East Side Food Tour, participants have a wide variety of opportunities to discover Manhattan’s best food offerings.

FoodBozo’s favourite is the SoHo/Little Italy/Chinatown Food Tour;

Have a full lunch from 6 unique shops and restaurants in 3 neighborhoods. Start in SoHo with Grandaisy’s zucchini pizza focaccia, and Baltazar’s french style chocolate chip cookie.

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With dozens of daily entries of <Food and drink Articles, the website Article Alley successfully provides theme and timely-based food and drink articles.

If you’re in need of a holiday recipe, or you simply want to enjoy tried-and-tested or brand-new recipe ideas, cool & interesting cooking methodologies, the latest buzz on the hottest restaurants, or information on various foods, this section is perfect for you.

Because the food & drink section contains a staggering amount of information and ideas, an important next-step will be the website’s creators to include a searchable database.

Here are a few of FoodBozo’s favourites;

• The Most Nutritious Fruits
• Know more about tea bags
• Chocolate for Fashion Lovers

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