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The Stew
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Published: October 1, 2008
FIRST, EAT ALL THE DESSERTS
One of the highlights to my year includes judging the annual Desserts First charity fundraiser for the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida.
The fifth annual event will be at 7 p.m. Friday at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, 501 Fifth Ave. N.E. in St. Petersburg.
Eight local chefs will create Girl Scout Cookie-themed desserts using Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Tagalongs and Do-Si-Dos. Along with the judges'-choice Golden Whisk award, those attending can vote for their favorite to receive the Silver Whisk award.
Chefs confirmed to participate in this year's event are with Cafe DuFrain, InterContinental Tampa, Maggiano's Little Italy, Mitchell's Fish Market, Parkshore Grill, Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club, Six Tables and Soul Restaurant Group.
Tickets are $100 per person. For information, go to www.gswcf.org, or call 1-800-881-4475, ext. 1792.
ADVICE AND CONSUME
A few weeks back, I wrote about our latest Tampa Underbelly Tour along Nebraska Avenue. In the story I mentioned that I had learned a food axiom: If a restaurant parking lot is full of work vehicles, eat there. Blue-collar guys know good food.
So I posed a question to my friends on Twitter.com: What food rules do you follow? They replied:
Markradams: If you don't know what is good, order the dish with the name of the restaurant in it. Surely they won't give bad food to the namesake.
Chefsusan: Don't eat at a place that has no cars in the parking lot and/or nobody sitting at the tables.
Culinarysherpas: Never eat at a place where you have more teeth than the staff combined.
ChefMark: When abroad, never eat at a restaurant that has pictures of the food and the menu in three languages, with the native being the last.
GingerCM: Never eat at a restaurant with a health inspection score lower than 90. Or one with gum stuck on the wall of your booth.
Mjk1: Never eat at a restaurant with a sign that says, "Cook wanted."
Got a food rule that you follow? E-mail it to me at jhouck@tampatrib.com. I'll send a copy of the latest "Taste of Home Cookbook" to the best one. Be sure to e-mail me your address as well.
SO LONG, FAREWELL, SEE YOU SUNDAY
One of my favorite ads on TV right now is the Dunkin' Donuts commercial that starts with one of the characters singing the line, "You neglected to mention the sleeper sofa," before breaking into an Egyptian slavelike moan. "I forgot all about the air hockey table," the second character replies. More painful moaning, followed by images of possessions tumbling down an apartment staircase. The first character then finishes by singing, "Re-LUC-tant-LY hel-PING my friend MOVE!"
What does all this have to do with The Stew? Well, like George, Weezie and Lionel Jefferson, it's time for us to move to that deluxe apartment in the sky-y-y, so to say.
On Sunday, this column and many of the features you read each week in the Flavor section will join with stories from the At Home section as well as fashion, parenting and pet columns, and articles each week in a new journalism condo we're calling BayLife Magazine.
Not everything will be the same, unfortunately. As with all moves, (Gosh, this relocation metaphor is getting tiresome), Orlando-based columnists Pam Brandon and Anne-Marie Hodges, better known as The Divas of Dish, end their 20-month run with us. Their playful recipes were like a vacation for the taste buds. Their helping of sass and fun-loving attitude helped us remake the Flavor section earlier this year with a much more lighthearted tone.
We also say goodbye to Tony "Fatso" Siciliano, our king of barbecue and grilling, who joined after the Flavor section switched in March to a tab format. Thanks to his column, I've stolen more grilling tips than I'll ever admit. We thank him for his work and wish him well with his "On the Grill" radio show each Saturday on WFLA 970 AM.
Jaden Hair's Steamy Kitchen column will continue to appear weekly in BayLife Magazine, but Greg and Michelle Baker's Culinary Sherpas column will run every other week.
"Recipes Lost & Found"? It's making the move. "Consumers Ask"? Same. "Greasy Remote, "Cravings" and "Eat Their Words" will still run with the same regularity, too, just on Sunday instead of Wednesday.
All of which means - if I haven't been clear - that the Flavor section will end its publication with the section you have in your hands today.
We at the Tribune all know it will be hard for you. Routines are always difficult to change, and the Flavor section has run on Wednesdays like clockwork since John McCain was a toddler. Flavor was a section you held on to, read during the week, shopped with on Saturdays and cooked with on Sundays. You and other readers have a relationship with Flavor. Recipes you clipped in 1968 are still in your files, just in case someone needs one they can't find. As I wrote in March when we changed formats, I've always been honored to be a part of a section readers deeply cared about. To that end, we've tried to cover your life with food, not just about what was in the pan, on the plate or in your glass.
But this change is not only inevitable, it's necessary.
While we're all up in this change thing, feel free to drop into my food blog, The Stew. I'll be posting items there more often - especially on Wednesdays when you want them the most. And the food channel on TBO.com with the catchy address - www2.tbo.com/static/sections/ tbo-life-food/ - will feature more stories, podcasts and videos as well.
If you want to chat about the changes, I'll be glad to talk or e-mail with you. I'd also love to hear your ideas about what food stories you'd like me to writet.
My phone number is (813) 259-7324, and my e-mail is jhouck@tampa
See you Sunday.
Cheers.
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