Single Serve Coffee Website

I recently found this website devoted to all things that coffee drinkers who own single serve makers would enjoy. It bills itself as "the one cup cofee lovers website" and has reviews of all coffees, teas and cocoas that come in single serve containers. We own a Keurig but my uncle owns a Nespresso which takes their own unique pods. Singleservecoffee.com reviews K cups and pods for the leading coffee makers and actually rates coffee based on aroms, acidity, body, flavor and mouth feel. For example, a new K Cup by VanHoutte Coffee, Raspberry Chocolate Truffle scored quite well in those mentioned areas. It scored 10 in aroma, 9 in acidity, 10 in...

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Posted in: Coffee,Kyle

Burger King's biggest item yet & Japan as its ironic first customer

(Ignore the current no.1 cause for a heart attack on your left) To begin with, when you're asked to think about the biggest burger a fast food restaurant has to offer, what comes to your mind? A whopper? A big mac? Maybe you imagine something ridiculous, something like stacking two whoppers on top of each other. Crazy? Well Burger King is taking the cake on this one with their introduction of Meat Monster -- which doesn't really sound too great but (seriously) does justice for its name. So what is it? Meat Monster (ˈmētˈmän(t)-stər) n., The best burger in the world *ahem* An invention created by Burger King that may be composed of 2x whopper...

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Posted in: Fast Food,Ken

Homemade spices or prepackaged?

For those who love cooking, there will always be a conflict that they may find themselves pondering over: to use homemade spices/flavoring or to use premixed spices...

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Posted in: Flavor,Herb

Food Facts: Disturbing truths about what you eat

I thought I would change it up a little bit. So instead of the usual recent news about food, I figure i'll fill your heads with some mind blowing trivia about food. So, here I present some factoids about food that will probably make you think about taking that next bite...

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Posted in: Food Facts,Herb

Maybe I'll rethink how much sodium I eat.

Ever since my grandfather has been on a low sodium diet, I've been reading food labels religiously. It's been very difficult finding food that is low sodium and has some semblance of taste. I'm told going low sodium is an acquired taste but it's something I'm not looking forward to. I've always wanted to know what level is considered low sodium and what products were rated well in many food categories that were low sodium. I did some research and found some great websites. Food that is low sodium has 5 percent of the total sodium count for the day and 100 mg or less per serving is recommended. Any foods with more than 480 mg per serving is not recommended. The other website showed a comparison of fast food restaurants and their foods by category in calories, sodium, fat and carbs. What I...

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Posted in: Food,Health,Kyle

Food in the Gulf of Mexico?

The thought of food in the Gulf of Mexico would probably fuel certain thoughts ranging from BP's oil spill to the probably devastated seabed. As such, has anyone ever come across the thought of whether or not the locals, that may or may not be dependent on seafood, are able to actually eat what is caught in the gulf? Wait a minute, everything that thrives in that large body of water is dead...Right? Wrong. Although humans are able to significantly change the environment in both good and bad terms, the ecosystem's strength is sometimes underestimated. As such, the perfect example would be the status of the Gulf of Mexico, and the associated...

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Posted in: Food,Health,Ken

Glowing Meat?

In recent news, a certain shanghai resident has discovered to her dismay that there was an ominous glow coming from her kitchen. When she went to investigate it, she found that it was her slab of pork. No, this wasn't a case of radioactive meat. When she had bought it, it was just your average slab of meat from your average market (though how average a Shanghai meat market is can be debated). The slab of pork was left out on the kitchen table. Why is this fact important? Because it has been scientifically proven that meat, if stored in conditions that would make a porter-potty seem sanitary, can sometimes cause it to glow. What is the reason for this? Jason Best at Slashfood.com quotes in his article " writers of Meat Hygiene name the likely culprit: phosphorescent bacteria, such as Pseudomonas...

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Posted in: Bizzarre,Herb

Boar's Head has another fan.

We have what we think is a 14 year old cat. He was rescued from the mean streets of Island Park. Learning that cats are obligate carnivores and eat only meat we are finding out some interesting things about his preferences in human food. He loves Boar's Head deli meats. His preference is for roast beef but chicken or turkey will do in a pinch. What is so surprising is that even though the usual supermarket my parents shop in doesn't carry Boar's head, the cat knows and will not eat any other line of cold cuts. I did an experiment one day to see if he could tell the difference. I gave him Waldbaum's non Boar's Head turkey and bought a small amount...

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Posted in: Food,Kyle

Debunking the viral video: Pop corn with cell phones

You can view the video here: Cooking kernels with cell phones. In short, the video depicts a few outdated cell phones surrounding a number of kernels. The phones are set off and the kernels are cooked or in other terms, "popped." As such, it's amazing that there is so much fear and/ or concern in radiation that people do not realize we're exposed to radiation...All. The. Time. In this case, the viral video depicts the idea that these cell phones are emitting enough radiation to cook kernels. The problem is that this is physically impossible.  Wired.com provides an article that debunks this video through several statements made by physicists such as Louis Bloomfield, a professor of the University of Virginia. All of which boils down to the explanation:  In a microwave oven, energy...

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Posted in: cell phones,Ken,radiation

Radiation in your life? Nonsense!

Let's give it up to the idiots who assume that every little dose of radiation is a guaranteed trip to cancer. But as a result of such nonsense, I'm here to take a break from coffee art and present to you the reasons why the recent events concerning Japan's failed nuclear station may mean absolutely nothing to food with an increased level of radiation -- to a point. As many of you may know, the resulting leak from the nuclear plant did not only result in local increases of radiation but tests have shown that radiation has been detected in milk as far as California. So should we be worried? Should we, who find ourselves under the sun all the time,...

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Posted in: Fast Food,Ken,radiation

New York City: No Toying Around

Do your kids like collecting toys from fast food restaurants? They might not be able to do so for long. It has been recently unveiled that some New York City council members are planning to propose a bill to ban toys from being given away with meals from fast food restaurants. Why would they do this? City Council Deputy Majority Leader Leroy Comrie claims " banning toy giveaways would reduce the allure of fast-food restaurants for children and encourage the industry to provide healthier options." While this proposition looks good on paper, would it really solve the issue? While removing the toys could lessen the overall consumption of unhealthy food among children, it doesn't take away the fact that the children with problems related to consuming fast food are those that like those foods...

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Posted in: Fast Food,Herb,NYC

Food Shopping at Target

I read somewhere that Wal-Mart and Target are trying to include fresh foods in their stores. I know Wal-Mart has supermarkets in some places but the local Wal-Mart do not include them. After a trip to Target I was surprised by the quality of produce and meat sold there. As I was browsing the cold food cases I saw bagged salads, yogurt, fruit, cut up vegetables and steak. It would have been easy for a person to make a complete meal from what Target had to offer. For a single person or a small family Target could easily replace going to a supermarket and I saw many younger people browsing in addition to myself. The prices were very competitive...

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Posted in: Kyle,Target

Day of The Living Zombies!!

A typical day in Wall Street. It's official: Zombies exist in real life! Well, not really. Zombies as we know it are humans turned dead, then undead, and now crave human-mind-slurpies (a.k.a. brains). No, I did not meet one of those. But I did meet a zombie. Yes, that's right! A ZOMBIE!! ...

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Posted in: April Fools,Herb,Unrelated

Want to lose weight? Go high protein!

Many of us, when thinking about dieting and losing weight,immediately picture one thing: salads. It has been a popular image even in showbiz that the key to losing weight is eating plenty of greens in lieu of munching down some hotdogs or grabbing a burger. But is eating greens really the answer to shedding pounds that we can't stand to have...

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Posted in: Dieting,Herb

Gino's Pizzeria

As a treat for myself after a good week in school I go to Gino's Pizzeria of North Bellmore to have slices of Sicilian Pizza or Meatballs and Spaghetti. They have a menu that has food that is out of this world and most of the reviews on the internet back up my claims. Whether you order a Meatball Hero, Pizza or anything else you should enjoy it. Besides having the usual types of pizza, Gino's has an extensive menu of traditional and heart healthy meals. Their menu has a symbol to tell you it a meal is considered healthy. Gino's food is prepared freshly and is well worth the visit. This Gino's is part of a chain including 4 others. I was pleasantly...

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Bio(food)fuel: Is it good or bad?

Many of us have been introduced to alternative fuels as well as  alternative sources of energy with the hopes of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels. Alternative sources of energy range from solar energy, windmills, watermills, nuclear energy, etc; while alternative fuels range from biodiesel/ biofuel, electricity, vegetable oil, etc. What we're concerned of now is the production of biofuels such as ethanol and whether or not such fuel production is ultimately great for our society or if our choice in producing biofuel will result in some sort of economical downfall. To begin with, ethanol provides further purpose in crop production, so in turn a portion of crops and cropland is diverted from only focusing on human consumption but also on fuel production. This results in higher price...

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Posted in: Biofuel,Ken

Uniformed Grinding

I will be extending the information regarding the art of coffee in the technique of grinding. This technique, to put it bluntly, is not for those who are not willing to invest a good amount of money for a great cup of coffee. Why? The usual, homestyle method of grinding uses a multiple purpose grinder that utilizes blades. As the blades rotate, the coffee beans are cut apart. But this results in uneven grinding with large to fine particles. Furthermore, the longer the grinding process takes, the more heat that's generated which may result in burned beans.  As an alternative, we have burr grinders. Instead of blades, beans are crushed by...

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Posted in: Coffee,Food,Ken

Boston: Cafeteria Capers

For some kids, school lunch is as part of the day as having leaf on a tree. City schools for the most part (at least here in New York) are required to serve school lunches. Sure they might not be the most edible thing you've ever seen on the end of your fork, but it kept you going throughout the day (unless you skipped lunched in lieu of "other activities"). If you go to a Boston city school, you might want to follow this practice. Recently, it has been discovered that some of Boston's city schools have been serving something that many would find repulsive: expired food. Many items were found to be either past the expiration date or the best-if-used-by date. Imagine your kid or a little kid you know going to school, then during lunch are forced to unwittingly drink a spoiled carton of milk....

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Posted in: Food,Herb,School Lunch

Eat This Not That

I recently picked up a copy of "Eat This Not That", a series of nutrition books by David Zinczenko, editor of Men's Health magazine. There a several books in this series. The copy I looked through was mainly for those interested in buying the healthier versions of common prepared foods. For instance, I liked Rice A Roni but found out that between the sodium and transfat levels I could cut them by substituting Lipton Knorr's rice sides versions. This seemed to be an easy trade and as I found out, a delicious one too. This book was held my attention and even though I didn't expect to look at it for a long time, I pretty much read the whole thing....

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Posted in: Dinner,Food,Guides,Kyle

Beware of the Bottle Return Law

I return bottles religiously. My mother thinks I'm a tad obsessive but it usually puts an extra  few dollars in my wallet that have come in handy. Unfortunately while cleaning up my room last week I found several old scrips that I never cashed in. I mentally totalled them up and they came to a good chunk of change. That was enough to try to cash them in. I went to the supermarket the scrips came from and was told they would only cash $12.00 per day. Okay, I cashed the first amount in. When I went back the next day I was now told that the scrips had to less than 24 hours old and in addition to the $12.00. The store did...

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Posted in: Food,Kyle,Laws,News

Friday night dinner

We used to go to dinner at the drop of a hat, especially at the end of a workweek. It took a job crisis to make my parents rethink their priorities and start to make meals at home more frequently. But, there does come a time when going out to eat is a necessity. That was last Friday. My Dad loves Houlihan's and we had no hesitation to go there. The food is good, prices reasonable and usually we take food home to have another lunch or dinner. It was also the day after St. Patrick's Day and we predicted that since the place was probably hopping the night before, it would be empty that day. We were correct. Anyway, we got there and saw the manager...

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Posted in: Dinner,Food,Kyle

Subway trumps McDonalds

Subway left McDonald's behind..... In recent weeks, it has been found that Subway restaurants have globally more established locations than McDonald's, the former reigning king of the fast food world. 2002 marked the beginning of Subway's ascend over the Golden Arch Empire when it had more stores than McDonald's in the U.S. Lo and behold, less than a decade later, it has once again triumphed over the burger mogul as Subway is reported to have 33,749 stores world wide; nearly 1,000 more stores than McDonalds' 32,737. Despite Subway's continuing success over McDonald's, the latter still claims a significant lead in revenue than Subway. That...

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Posted in: Herb,McDonalds,Subway

Vacuum Brewing

Photograph by Kadluba I'll be taking a different route and instead of introducing you to the method(s) of coffee grinding, I will be introducing another method of coffee brewing. What you see here is a vacuum brewer and takes the infusion process to a different, and very much unique level. Through this method, you may experience the cleanest, purest cup of coffee and I'll show you how through the steps required to utilize it. Primarily, we have to know how it works. Vacuum brewers utilizes a process of suction -- the result of expanding/ contracting gases and in this case, the gas is water vapor. With it comes four parts, two glass containers,...

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Posted in: Coffee,Coffeemaker,Ken,Vacuum Brewer

A Coffee Fieldtrip

On the main counter top of my kitchen sits a Keurig coffee machine and an accompanying coffee carousel. My mother's mission seems to be to keep the carousel full of coffee, tea, hot cocoa and now iced tea "Kcups". For a while it looked like the only places to purchase K cups were online distributors, Keurig  and eBay. I was always finding packages of K cups on my deck and I became a K cup taste tester. Recently, my mother was given a place to actually test and buy Kcups. It's called Filterfresh Distributors and is located a few blocks from Farmingdale State on Smith Street. We decided to take a field trip to see this place and actually...

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Posted in: Coffee,Coffeemaker,Keurig,Kyle

Cartooned packages wins kids over in taste

We'll feed your kids cardboard Image from USATODAY.com In a recent study done at the University of Pennsylvania, they have found that packaging featuring popular cartoon characters affect kids' tastes. In the study, the kids were given a sample from different types of cereals, one set with cartoon characters on it and another set without. The researchers also told the kids which cereals they were eating. Surprisingly, the researchers found that the kids who sampled the cereals from the boxes which featured cartoon characters generally scored their samples higher than those who ate the same cereal, but featured boxes without cartoon characters.     ...

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Posted in: Health,Herb,Kids

New Food Recall

Peanut Butter Recall- Possibility of Salmonella in Skippy Peanut Butter.- Time Healthland There could be Salmonella bacteria in select dated products of Skippy Peanut Butter 16.3 ounce jars. More recalls of foods because of limited government oversite of food processing plants. The recall is because of stool in the peanut butter that may be caused by pigeons living around peanut butter processing plants. A way to prevent contamination of peanut butter is to have a detailed plan to prevent water from entering the inside of the machines the peanut butter is processed in. The water in the peanut butter will only spread the Salmonella. A way to...

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Posted in: Kyle,Peanut Butter,Recall

The French Press

Photograph By mhaithaca Now here's a fine method of brewing if you insist on or are curious about the taste of bolder and much more flavorful coffee. In short, you'll find out that it's similar to the process in brewing tea. So what is it? A french press has a container, a metal filter attached to a rod that protrudes past the container's lid, and the lid itself. So now the entire brewing method starts with the grinding, the steeping, and the careful observation of time. In this method, grinds must be slightly coarser than coffee grounds bought from the supermarket. This is due to the pores of the filter being significantly larger than...

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Posted in: Coffee,French Press,Ken

Coffee and its intricacy

Photograph by Jon Sullivan: We are all aware of how coffee is usually brewed in your average household. There's either the instant mix method or the drip style method. Either way, people tend to only be familiar with these two when in reality, there is much more to it than what the majority know and can appreciate. In short, coffee is an art and it can not be explained in such short time, therefor I will be covering the topic of coffee throughout several posts. Initially, its intricacy starts with what type of coffee beans are used. There are two main types: Arabica and Robusta. Arabica offers a much more flavorful experience, a fuller...

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Posted in: Coffee,Ken