Puppies and Flowers

DINERS are flocking to what could perhaps be termed the most exclusive restaurant in Italy - one located inside a top security prison, where the chefs and waiters are Mafiosi, robbers and murderers. Serenaded by Bruno, a pianist doing life for murder, the clientele eat inside a deconsecrated chapel set behind the 60ft high walls, watch towers, searchlights and security cameras of the daunting 500-year-old Fortezza Medicea, at Volterra near Pisa. Under the watchful eye of armed prison warders, a 20-strong team of chefs, kitchen hands and waiters prepares 120 covers for diners who have all undergone strict security checks. Tables are booked up weeks in advance. Link to article

Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality Each item was purchased, taken home, and photographed immediately. Nothing was tampered with, run over by a car, or anything of the sort. It is an accurate representation in every case. Shiny, neon-orange, liquefied pump-cheese, and all.

Link to more pictures via Neatorama

The ultimate Irish breakfast review site - dedicated to breakfasts in Dublin, Ireland, but also providing general information about breakfasts from Ireland and around the world. We want submissions of breakfast reviews (ideally accompanied by a photo) to the email address below. Reviews can be for breakfasts at home, out, away or maybe you just want to suggest a breakfast location. If you eat it in the morning, send it in and we will post it.
Link to rashersandeggs

Many people say there's nothing like a cold beer on a hot day. But did you ever consider savoring a frozen beer? How about a frozen beer on a stick? A chef in Washington, DC, is making what he calls a "hopsicle." The chef at Rustico's says the frozen beer has been selling like, well, hotcakes.
Link to article via Spluch

(image credit: Flickr)

A grandmother won second prize in a cake-baking contest at a fete, only to discover she was the only entrant.

Jenny Brown, 62, entered her Victoria Sponge into the competition and was initially pleased to have come second.

But she was left shocked when a friend revealed to her that she was the only person to take part.

The contest was organised by the Wimblington Sports Committee and judges marked down the cake because it had indentations from the oven rack.

'Judges' expectations'

Ms Brown said: "My friend came over to me at the fete and said I had come second.

"I asked her how many more entries there had been, but she just started laughing and said I was the only one.

"I definitely wasn't annoyed about it."

Although the cake was not deemed fit to win the competition, Ms Brown said it was soon polished off with no complaints.

Julie Dent, from the Wimblington Sports Committee, said: "The judges had an expectation and I suppose they didn't feel as though it qualified for first place.

"This was the first year but the cake competition will become an annual event."

She said her own baking was subject to another strange decision.

"About 11 years ago I entered a show with some fruit scones. I was the only entrant but I came third."

Link to BBC article

(Keenesburg, Co.) - Flora Zimbelman says it all started 54 years ago when she put an uncooked hot dog in her sister’s suitcase.

 "I don’t know what made me do it. The devil I guess," she said.

Flora’s sister, Rose, found the hot dog when she opened the suitcase back up in Idaho, where she lived at the time.

"She mailed it back to me telling me to keep my garbage at home," said Flora. The game was on.

In the years that followed, Flora would find a way to sneak the hot dog back into Rose's life. And Rose would find another way to sneak it back to Flora.

"I found it under my pillow once, I found it in between the drapes and once I found it in the kitchen drawer," said Flora. Flora still has that hot dog.

It looks just about as disgusting as you might expect.

Link to article via Spulch

Link to Chinese website 

A mushroom weighing more than 20 kilograms has been picked in a forest in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas, university officials say.

The white mushroom, macrocybe titans, measured a towering 70 cm tall, was found near Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, according to the Southern Border University Centre.

There is no word as to what the researchers plan to do with the specimen.

Link to Aussie ABC  

Pizza and porn delivery:

Winnipeg pizza place serves up side of porn

It's only about a week old, but a new pizza place in Winnipeg has already aroused attention — not for its pizza pie, but for the racy extra that comes with it.

Patrons must be 18 years and older to order from Porno Pizza, which delivers pornographic material inserted under every pizza.

The venture, the brainchild of local entrepreneur Corey Wildeman, is raising eyebrows in the Manitoba capital.

"We cater to certain crowds," Wildeman told CBC News, adding that he realizes not everyone would be sold on the idea.

"I'm pleased to see that it might not be everybody, but it's most people," he said with a laugh.   more

Pizza and lapdance:

Lap Dances Offered In Back Of Pizza Restaurant

NEW YORK CITY - In a city that seems to have everything, it's amazing you might still be surprised to find in New York City. Take, for example, what was recently uncovered by a WCBS-TV investigation in the back of a Big Apple pizzeria.

Let's just say it's hotter than the pizza served up front.

On the outside, Cordatos might look like an ordinary pizzeria, but inside customers are offered something way too hot and spicy to be found on the menu.

Lap dances. Yes, you read that correctly.   more

Pizza as aphrodisiac:

Man's Dream Come True

Yes, pizza, a food that is right up there with cupid’s arrow as a symbolic image to convey love, romance and Valentine’s Day. Remember Dean Martin singing, “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.”

That’s not all. Historically, many of our favourite pizza toppings are known to contain sexual-stimulant properties. Researchers have noted the smell, taste, and even appearance of certain foods, such as pizza, can act as aphrodisiacs.  more

From article:

Someone spread butter all over two cars in Gastonia early Tuesday morning.

The cars, a 2005 Saturn Vue and a 2003 Jeep Wrangler, were outside a home on the 500 block of Hillcrest Avenue.

Gastonia police do not have any suspects. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 704-861-8000.

Sweet suffering mother of Jaysus if you must

Photo: Ramperto 

An excellent site created by the Italian Trade Comission. Check out the regions, wines and food categories. Site also includes a 92 page cookbook in PDF format. 

Bacon ice cream anyone? 

Don't forget 'Tuesday is bacon night' at Harris Grill, Pittsburg, PA. 

Bacon is a versatile breakfast ingredient but not limited to morning fare.

Keep abreast of what's happening in the bacon world, for example, did you know that scientists have cloned pigs that are engineered to contain omega-3 fatty acids, which produce healthier pork?

Mary Keller,
Librarian
"Can't they put some of that omega stuff in cigarettes?"

Apologies to my vegetarian friends for this posting, you need to look here now. 

From The Daily Telegraph: 

A FEUD between two Chinese towns over access to valuable wild fungus has erupted into a gun battle that left eight people dead and 44 wounded, Xinhua news agency has said.

The violence occurred in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of mountainous Sichuan province on Friday.

"A county government official said around 200 residents from Danba and Sumdo townships clashed in a dispute over access to wild fungus and firewood," Xinhua news agency said.

Some of those involved drew rifles and the gun battle lasted around 10 minutes, the official said.

China is grappling with growing social unrest, fuelled by disputes over land rights, corruption and a growing gap between rich and poor.

The official said that in April, residents from Sumdo were expelled by Danba township when they were caught collecting fungi in Danba.

In May, two people from Danba were assaulted near Sumdo.

"County officials had tried dozens of times since then to mediate, but their suggestions were rejected by residents of both townships," the official said.

The fungus is what Tibetans call "summer-grass winter-worm".

It forms when a parasitic fungus hijacks and devours the bodies of ghost moth larvae that have burrowed into the alpine soil for up to five years.

It then steers their bodies to the surface so it can spread its spores.

The mummified moths are a traditional Tibetan cure-all that promoters say helps fight AIDS, cancer and ageing.

As Tibetan medical ingredients have won adherents in China and abroad, the fungus and other alpine fungi and plants have become lucrative commodities, luring almost entire villages on harvests from May to July.

Link to article

Previously on P&F this is a mushroom

So you think you know the McDonald's menu like the back of your hand? Think again. From McDonald's international, here are some menu items you have probably never tried before.

Link to lots more pictures 

Apparently the doll is edible —jelly perhaps? Anyhow it was too good to pass up for all its edible goodness. Note the 'hand stick' on the side that you can use for whatever…

Burritoeater.com aims to be the Web’s most complete source of information on San Francisco taquerias – where they’re located, what they look like, if they’re open late, whether they serve breakfast, what the SF Department of Public Health says about them, which ones double as cell phone retailers, etc. etc. And while we realize that food may be one of the most objectively regarded things in life, we’re not shy about offering our opinion on any given burrito shop in town.

Link 

via spluch 

On Sep 9, 2007, at the World Horticultural Expo in Germany, a 10.73 meter long onion braid said to be the longest in the world is on display. It weighs 260kg and is made up of 1,024 onions.

more pictures 

More images 

Similar previous post on P&F 'animal' art sandwiches 

About:

yöghund has been developed in response to a growing demand by discerning animal lovers, for a healthy treat alternative for their pets. Over the course of twenty years in the pet care business, the folks at The Barking Dog, Ltd. have stayed keenly aware of the evolving place of pets in our lives. As beloved members of our families, our dogs trust and depend on us to make wise choices for their care and health. 

Link via Arbroath

A Thai chef in London, making his bi-annual spicy 'Nam prik pao', shut down several blocks of the city as people smelling the smokey peppers thought it was a chemical agent. 

Bonus: Recipe included 

From Neatorama:

Some people that work here had a going away party the other day for a woman that is leaving.

One of the supervisors called a Walmart and ordered the cake. he told them to write: “best wishes Suzanne” and underneath that write “we will miss you”. here’s the cake that was delivered.

Link

Instructions on how to make your own 

Via Miss C and Neatorama

This is wrong on so many levels… 

Link with four more pictures. 

A new creation of Israeli designer and photographer Anat Safran, 'Pitapocket' is a pita-like, cotton wallet.
Link

From article

a shot glass of ice cold dark German beer (Koestritzer) placed beside a tiny espresso cup of hot chocolate topped -- if you can believe it -- with Snickers-laced whipped cream. This dessert was presented on a small white rectangular platter and was amazing.

Link to Pittsburg Tribune-Review with recipe. Via Fark

From BBC:

A restaurant owner has apologised after diners had their very own F word experience - without Gordon Ramsay.

Ten friends found the abusive and sexually-explicit message on their bill at Joe Delucci's Italian restaurant in Bird Street, Lichfield, Staffordshire.

Link

Link 

Link to hundreds of examples.

Via The Presurfer 

A German website, Pundo3000.com, has conducted a study of 100 different products by comparing the look of the products as shown by the packaging with the actual contents inside the boxes. Quoting the website, which is in German: “All products were purchased, the packaging photographed and the contents prepared and photographed too. All products were then eaten up.” and also: “The purpose of the project is not to discredit any brands or products but to critically compare the packaging advertising with the inside contents”.

Link to more photos 

Previously on P&F Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality

…or so the site claims. One other flavor available, Maple-Bacon.

Link to lollyphile.

From BBC:

A fast-food restaurant in Beirut's war-torn southern suburb has hit upon an explosive way to attract customers.

Buns and Guns is made out to look like a military post and diners eat to the sound of gunfire instead of muzak.

Owner Yousef Ibrahim presents rebranded Lebanese favourites like the "rocket-propelled grenade" (chicken on a skewer) and "terrorist bread".

"They accuse us of terrorism, so let's serve terrorist bread, why not?" Mr Ibrahim told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV.

Other dishes include the Kalashnikov, Dragunov, Viper, B52, while realistic-looking weapons and ammunition decorate the counters, and camouflage netting hangs from the ceiling.

Beirut has recently passed through another round of civil strife when pro-government partisans and those of the Hezbollah-led opposition fought street battles in west Beirut.

But that does not necessarily mean that the customers think the restaurant is in bad taste.

Buns and Guns (motto: A sandwich can kill you) is located in a strongly Hezbollah-supporting area, where the group's militia is lionised by many.

"My goal was to make people laugh before they ask me why weapons. The important thing is that they laugh," Mr Ibrahim said.

He insists the only way his sandwiches could kill the customers is by their generous proportions.

"It attracts customers in an unconventional way. You noticed the moment I opened the restaurant, there was a lot of business," he told the al-Manar correspondent, who later tucked into an RPG sandwich.

Link to article

Link with more images 

The bonus challenge: make the soap look like bacon.

Of course if you don't have the time, you can buy some ready-made bacon soap here. 

More here 

See also:

Carved Vegetable Bikinis — Print Campaign

Food artists create colorful animals from vegetables

Stealing your co-worker's lunch is a downright contemptible act, that is, if it's perpetrated by someone other than you. But, if you've ever had your lunch stolen, you know the the frustration and anger it causes. You know the revenge and ill-will it inspires. And you know that no matter how well you try to hide your lunch bag at the back of the refrigerator, something's gonna be missing when you open it. Well, lament no more. The Anti-Theft Lunch Bag to the rescue . . .

Found here 

Link

From Not Martha:

Last year I had a lot of fun making the creepy crawly cakes so I decided to try a few again this year. This time I pulled out my Betty Crocker mini bake and fill pans and bought a box of chocolate cake mix and some Pocky. I made whipped cream (vanilla pudding would work too) and raspberry coulis (I left the seeds in) for spider guts. I also made some cupcakes to fill, tested one using a bakery bought cupcake and did a frosting variation, the Pocky legs can take an awfully long time. Pocky leg instruction can be found mid-page here. 

Apparently she makes them for her lucky boyfriend who has posted a Flickr set here, she also has her own blog too.

Via SwissMiss

From Gizmodo

Here are some alternatives

Looks delicious!

Chocolate Pie Chart

5.5 oz chocolate chart (3.5" diameter x .75" high) made of 70% milk, 20% dark and 10% white chocolate.

Link to maryandmatt.com

More about chocolate on P&F:

Chocolate Keyboard

Chocolate Type Foundry

Dessert of the day : Hot chocolate, beer and 'Snickers-laced' whipped cream

More good news about Chocolate, better for your teeth than flouride

Chocolate shoes…

Happy Easter : melting chocolate bunnies

From smileys sweets:

Cupcakes are so wonderful and versatile, aren't they? These are vanilla cuppies with a chocolate cuppie in between, green coconut for the lettuce and frosting for the mustard and ketchup! I used a bit of fresh orange juice to brush the tops so the sesame seeds would stick!

Date: March 21, 2009
Time: 1pm - 5pm
Location: 500 3rd Street, Suite 510, San Francisco, CA

Previous posts involving bacon:

How to Make Bacon Soap, from Actual Bacon.

Linus licks the bacon ice cream. "Not bad," she says.

People either love or hate Marmite, personally I like it and use it in red sauces but this Guinness version could be the ultimate secret ingredient. Unfortunately it was only made in limited edition for St Patrick's Day 2007.

"You either love it or hate it."

These ads for the "Society of Cardiology of the Russian Federation" were shot by Dylan Collard.