Cupcake Inspired Wine

Has the cupcake trend gone too far? Probably so when the sweet treats become a selling point for wine.

That's not to say that Cupcake Vineyards wines are made to replicate the flavor of a cupcake.

Rather, they take their inspiration from the aura of "indulgence" that has come to be associated with cupcakes.

A company press release explains:

Sake Tasting, Infused Grappas, and DIY Mozzarella

FEATURED EVENT
The Joy of Sake "Aftertaste"
An offshoot of the Joy of Sake event, "Aftertaste," taking place on Wednesday, July 15, will feature a tasting of 39 different kinds of sake. The event starts with a introduction by a member of the Kokusai Sake Kai (International Sake Association), followed by a 50-minute tasting and another sampling -- this time paired with appetizers. [more details]

Florida Establishes Honey Purity Standard

According to a new regulation by its Agriculture and Consumer Services Commission, the State of Florida has established a "Standard of Identity" for all honey made or sold in the state.

A press release from the Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commission called the measure "the first regulation in the nation – and perhaps the world – prohibiting any additives, chemicals or adulterants in honey produced, processed or sold in Florida."

Jewish American Girl Doll Eats Bagels Sans Schmear

To much fanfare, American Girl recently introduced its first Jewish doll, Rebecca Rubin, a 1914 New Yorker of Russian ancestry. While the dolls have a reputation for historical accuracy, I couldn't help but be surprised to discover what appears to be a striking anomaly among one of her accessories.

A "school set" (inset) includes a pretend lunch of a bagel, rugelach, and pickles. But, look closely at the bagel, and you will see that it's adorned with two suspect slices of orange cheese that look strangely like American cheese. A Shonda! I mean, really, where's the cream cheese?

What we now know as American cheese wasn't even patented until 1916, much less produced on a large scale until the 1950s. So, this has to be wrong. But, how were bagels eaten back then. Did Jews spread cream cheese on their bagels in the early 1900s, or something else?

I contacted Maria Balinska, author of The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread, to get a historical perspective on bagel toppings.

Brüno: "Isn't pita bread the real enemy?"

In a clip from the new movie "Brüno," Brüno (Sacha Baron Cohen) confuses Hamas with a certain puréed bean dish.

The Joy of Reheating

I recently stumbled across a surprising entry into the frozen food marketplace: Joy of Cooking branded meals. In one of the odder developments in food marketing, it seems that the venerable American cookbook has licensed its name to a prepared food product. Its tagline is "the taste of homemade without all the work."

A website marketing the products (letjoyin.com) gives life to the cookbook by creating an actual character named "Joy," an iconic/ironic fifties housewife pitted against her fast-food loving dolt of a husband, nemesis, "the Kitchen Dragon of Dinnertime Stress."

Restaurant Week, Crab Boil, Cooking with Apples, and More

FEATURED EVENT: New York City Restaurant Week
New York City's summer promotion starts on July 12 and will last for three weeks: $24.07 prix fixe lunches and $35 prix fixe dinners at participating restaurants (more details).

MORE EVENTS THIS WEEK

Italy's Second Labels: A First-Rate Tasting
Sat, Jul 11, 2009, 1 p.m.
Italian Wine Merchants
(more details)

Crab Boil
Tue, Jul 14, 2009
Back Forty
(more details)

Bastille Day in Tribeca
Tue, Jul 14, 2009, 12 p.m.
West Broadway bet Walker & White
(more details)

"Chinese Characters for Chinese Food Lovers"
Tue, Jul 14, 2009, 6:30 p.m.
New York City.
(read more)

Read about more upcoming events

Gourmet for All

In years past, The Gourmet Institute -- Gourmet magazine's annual autumn weekend of food and wine demonstrations, seminars, tastings, and dinners -- may have been out of reach to food lovers who could not afford the big $1,400 price tag. But now, even epicurean plebes without deep pockets will have a chance to join in the fun.

For the first time, the weekend will no longer be available only as a package deal. Individual events are moving beyond the Conde Nast headquarters to a series of locations around New York City, and tickets for each event will be available "a la carte." Events throughout the weekend range from $20 to $300.

The 2009 event will also launch a "Gourmet Marketplace" featuring "local fare, artisanal tastings, wine & spirits pourings, celebrity chef book signings." Admission will be $20.

Did Gourmet make the change because the usually high-priced package was unsustainable in a recession? Not according to the event's publicists.

Jessica Aptman of the Susan Magrino agency told me via email that the decision to restructure the event was made more than a year ago: "Once they took the weekend of events outside the Conde Nast building and sprinkled it around NYC, it only made sense to offer the courses a la carte. Logic really dictated this change." However, she noted that "it is a nice byproduct to be able to make this event as accessible as possible during these tough times."

The Gourmet Institute will take place from October 23 to 25. More information at gourmetinstitute.com.

Mapping the Mario Batali Genome

The ancestral makeup of celebrity chef Mario Batali, among others, will be revealed in "Faces of America," a new PBS series from the producers of "African American Lives" and "Oprah’s Roots."

Like those earlier programs, in which Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helped analyze the DNA of notable African Americans to explore their historic ancestries, the new series will explore the identity of a new slate of celebrities -- this time from a wide variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Will we discover a biological basis for Batali's preference for Crocs? Did the first Batalis also go gaga for guanciale? We can only hope.

"Faces of America" is expected to air on PBS in 2010.

Chocophiles Go Postal

Blogger and author David Lebovitz points to these new chocolate stamps that are being printed by La Poste, the French postal service. Unlike those popular Chinese Year of the Pig stamps (which were touted to taste like sweet and sour pork, but didn't), Lebovitz writes that these stamps really are scented (with the aroma of chocolate).

A set of 10 stamps -- which come in a booklet made to resemble a chocolate bar -- is 8.5 € (approximately $11.88) at la boutique web du timbre. The stamps may be purchased online and shipped to the U.S.