Not one to sugar-coat anything, writer and breast cancer survivor Tania Katan has her own version of a public service announcement this October.

​It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month and boy am I hungry!

Every October, we gather with friends and loved ones to race for a cure, think about how we might prevent this disease, make donations, and care for those who are enduring breast cancer.

But really, the overlooked star of this month is... Sugar!

Who doesn't want to dive into a moist, sweet, pink ribbon cookie?

How about licking the peaks of sugary pink frosting from atop a gourmet cupcake?

What about sinking your teeth into a handful of crunchy pink M&M's? YUM!

candyaddict.com

​It's fair to say that sugar and breast cancer go hand-in-hand! Like organ meats and gout; cigarettes and emphysema; Jan Brewer and xenophobia...Sugar and breast cancer are just a good match!

That's probably why, every October, I am stunned, and excited, to find bloated bakery goods with pink frosting ribbons to promote Breast Cancer AWARENESS!

Find out why Tania's stunned, after the jump.

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​You better hurry.  More >>

moma.org

​How much thought have you given to your plastic coffee cup lid? 

 

courtesy Lucy Stephens

​Despite the horror of seeing our poor state identified with a Velveeta-y treat (I'm sure you can make chile con queso other ways, but I've never seen it) I had to share this lovely graphic and interview from our sister blog, LA Weekly's Squid Ink. Check out why British designer Lucy Stephens identified California with (gasp!) Cobb salad.

Hey, at least Arizona got tortillas and salsa.  

​Anyone up for some frog leg lollies?

This Friday and Saturday, mobile food chef Jeff Kraus of Truckin' Good Food fame steps down from his Parisian kitchen-on-wheels and moves to the turf of the pop-up concept Cycle, for a test run of his non-mobile restaurant concept "Experience"

Apparently, people are stoked to experience "Experience".

All 120 reservation openings are gone and they went quick --- like 14 hours quick. And that's after people got a look at the menu --- which has a dish or two that left us scratching our heads.

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Tags:

Cycle, Jeff Kraus, Pop Up, Truckin' good food

Jonathan McNamara

Kathleen Vanesian's Girl Scout Trefoil Trifle

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Got some Girl Scout cookies sitting around? So did we. Hence, the Trefoil Cookie Showdown.

There's something perverse, or at least ironic, in combining Girl Scout cookies and liquor.  So I did it.

Instead of using lemon pound cake in layers for my usual trifle, I substituted Girl Scout Trefoils, an unvarnished version of shortbread pushed by Brownies and GS's nationwide.   Here's all you have to do to create this unusual dessert:

Make two small packages of instant pudding with cold milk per package instructions - the flavor is up to you.  I used cheesecake flavor, but the less adventurous might want to go with vanilla, French vanilla or some other less exotic concoction. 

Layer Trefoils on the bottom of a footed trifle dish or any glass serving dish through which you can see the layers you'll be building.  Sprinkle with cream sherry (had I had some Framboise, a raspberry liqueur, around, I would have used that; on top of the cookie layer, spread a thin layer of raspberry preserves, then top with pudding.  Repeat the layer ritual until the serving dish is almost full, leaving room for a layer of whipped cream on top.  Refrigerate. 

Just before serving, top with whipped cream and fresh raspberries.  Don't do what I did and put the whipped cream and berries on ahead of time.  The cream will puddle on you and you will spend a ridiculous amount of time cleaning up the drippy sides of the dish before you allow everyone to dig in.

 

 

 

exfordy|Brian Snelson via Flickr

​Spiking the eggnog has a whole new meaning now that we've learned nutmeg, that unassuming spice grandma puts into just about everything during Thanksgiving, is considered a "psychoactive drug" according to the FDA's Poisonous Plant Database.

Nutmeg's hallucinogenic properties are nothing new, as evidenced by the 1967 FDA report written by A. T. Weil and the slew of YouTube videos of people stupid enough to try to get high on the stuff. It's reported to have a similar affect as marijuana.

Can't bring your stash home from school for the holidays? Weil's report says you're a-okay: "Nutmeg and mace are cheap, legal, and available at the nearest grocery store." He writes, "Unlike prisoners or musicians, who resort to nutmeg when their supplies of standard drugs are cut off, students often take nutmeg as a first experience before they try Cannabis or other substances." Well, la-ti-da.

Want to know what to expect from this unassuming jar in your spice rack? Click through...

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Food Network

Nom Nom Truck

​​Earlier this week we mentioned four Arizona food truck companies that are season 2 nominees for The Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network. We hope you follow the link to vote for your local food roadsters and a chance for you to win a trip to NYC for The Food and Wine Festival.

As we are casting our votes for season 2, season 1 has us salivating for a banh mi from the Nom Nom Truck. The Nom Nom team has won each of the first three challenges taking place in San Diego, Santa Fe and Fort Worth. The contestants are not judged on the quality of their food as much as their ability to sell product and bring in the cash that garners a win.

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Lucky Shot

Truckin' Good Food, Phoenix

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Last night we viewed episode 3, season 1 of The Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network. Hosted by Tyler Florence, the show features seven food truck crews who compete on a six -week journey, selling their goodies in six city stops across the country. As season 1 rolls along, plans for season 2 are now on the road.

Four nominees from Arizona are racing for that chance to compete: Truckin'Good Food (Phoenix), Short Leash Hot Dog (Phoenix), Frostybottom Café (Greer), and Planet of the crepes (Summerhaven) need our votes.

Follow the jump for link to vote.

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facebook.com/phxcafeterias

​Edward Jensen is on a one-man quest to review every cafeteria in downtown Phoenix. Through his Downtown Phoenix Cafeterias Project -- which you can follow on Facebook -- he intends to eat off a tray til he can tell us for certain which cafeterias in town serve up the best (and worst?) chow. 

We'll admit that when we think "cafeteria" we have unsettling flashbacks to a. elementary school and b. too much television coverage of a slaughter at a certain Luby's, a couple decades back. But hey, different strokes and all that. It'll be interesting to see what sort of information he forks over.

Jensen is a senior in the Urban & Metropolitan Studies program on the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus. "I'm not a self-described 'foodie' but I know what I like when it comes to food and I'm sure that there are others that have similar tastes," he says.

He's already got a good number of followers on Facebook, one of whom posted the image above, from a long-ago downtown cafeteria.

In the interest of "scientific experiment" -- and mainly because we couldn't think of more than a handful of public cafeterias in what's typically considered "downtown," we had a couple questions for Jensen.

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