Taco Bell® launched a national petition to the Federal Reserve calling on them to circulate more $2 bills to celebrate its all-new $2 Meal Deal. Consumers who crave value and enjoy the quirky nature of the $2 bill are asked to sign the petition on the “$2 Dollar Deal” tab at www.facebook.com/tacobell for Taco Bell’s “$2 Meal Deal Appeal” campaign.
The Federal Reserve prints all denominations according to demand. However, the $2 bill has not been in demand and production of the note is the lowest of U.S. paper money at less than one percent of all bills printed. The last year the $2 bill was printed was 2006. While older generations of Americans treat the $2 bill with reverence, giving them as gifts or keeping them for good luck, younger generations have yet to discover it.
Friendly’s newest sandwich creation, released early this month, is a burger and grilled cheese in one — you know, in case you can’t choose. We found five more of the worst fast food sandwiches.
At 1,500 calories, the Burger Melt features the best of all worlds — a burger in between two grilled cheese sandwiches. With 1,500 calories and 97 grams of fat, it’s hard to imagine a worse sandwich than an item that is literally three sandwiches combined.
A popular rule of thumb among proponents of healthy food is that the fewer ingredients there are in something, better it is for you. With a remarkable 37 or so ingredients, many of which are polysyllabic chemical compounds, Twinkies would seem to embody the antithesis of that rule.
The photographer Dwight Eschliman was never a health nut himself, but he was raised by one; his mom kept her kids away from meat, dairy, or any kind of processed food. When Eschilman went away to college, he loosened up a bit, allowing himself to indulge in all sorts of previously forbidden treats, but by the time he had kids of his own, he found a renewed appreciation for simple, healthy food—and a renewed skepticism of chemical-filled, preservative-laden snacks. He'd also developed a love of disassembling ojects and photographing their component parts.
"Thus, this project," he writes in his photography book 37 or so Ingredients. "It's the product of a kid that was raised to be suspicious of foods that weren't assembled in mom's kitchen, and bordering on obsessive compulsive."
Here’s a scene you’ll probably see this summer: you’ll be at a barbecue or picnic, enjoying nice, fresh in-season tomatoes, and you might make an offhand comment about tomatoes being your favorite vegetable. Almost immediately, some know-it-all will pipe up with, “Tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables!”
No one would blame you if you told your pedantic guest, “Wow! Thanks for correcting me! It’s clear now why everyone enjoys your company so much!” That response is a bit aggressive, though, so try this one instead: “Actually, according to the Supreme Court, tomatoes are vegetables. I’m just trying to keep this picnic nice and legal.”
Yes, the Supreme Court has weighed in on the “Are tomatoes fruits or vegetables?” debate, and the justices came to a firm conclusion: tomatoes are veggies. Let’s take a look at how this momentous decision came to pass.
I'm gonna come right out and say something that I'm sure you won't all openly agree with: McDonald's french fries are great. At their best, they are everything a french fry should be: salty, crisp, light, and not greasy. Granted, you get the occasional odd franchise that lets'em sit under the heat lamp for a couple hours too long, but on the whole, I find it remarkable that the bigwigs have discovered a way to create a frozen fry that even a one armed eyeless chimp has trouble screwing up. And I know, because they've got one working the fry station at the franchise on my corner.
To be absolutely honest, I've never been able to make fries as good as theirs (shhhhh!). Sure, my thick-cut pub-style fries are super-potatoey and fantastic, and when I'm in the mood for them, my seasoned steak fries can't be beat, but for thin, super-crisp fries (I'm talking the kind that only appear in fast food restaurants and French bistros under the name frites)? I'm always better off running down to the take-out window than bothering to fry them myself at home.
Click the image above to learn more about McDonald's French Fries.
Chad Ettmueller was hungry. And when Chad was hungry, he often went to Which Wich, his favorite sub sandwich shop in Cumming, Georgia. He normally orders the chain’s “Wicked” sandwich, stacked high with turkey, ham, roast beef, pepperoni, and bacon, as well as three cheeses of your choosing. It’s a mouthful as it is, but Chad hadn’t eaten anything that day, so he ordered double meat, too. When he went to take his first bite, he opened wide and prepared to chomp down. But his jaw wouldn’t move—it was stuck open.
His kids started to laugh, thinking he was playing around, but he couldn’t join in the revelry even if he tried. Embarrassed, he went outside to the parking lot and tried moving his jaw around, and even resorted to punching himself to knock it back into place. When that wasn’t successful, he headed for the emergency room. The doctors tried to cure his diagnosed “double dislocation of the mandible,” but still nothing worked. After 14 hours with his mouth open, they had no choice but to surgically reset his jaw.
This is the part where Chad sues Which Wich and wins a crazy multi-million dollar settlement, right? Not this time. Chad’s pride was bruised, but he wasn’t going to get all litigious. “It wasn’t the sandwich’s fault,” he said, “it was my genetics.” The chain offered Chad as many milkshakes as he wanted while he was recovering and is planning on renaming the Wicked sandwich to honor him and his predicament. They’re taking votes on their website to decide if the sandwich should be renamed the “Double Dislocator,” the “Lock-Jaw,” or the “Jaw Wrecker.”
Even though Chad survived his injury, his friend Paul avenged him like a true pal should, by eating the rest of the sandwich later. Afterwards he said “it had to die.” What a guy!
Here’s a video of Chad talking about his jaw-breaking meal:
This one-of-a-kind sandwich features two thick and juicy boneless white meat chicken filets, two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and Colonel's Sauce.
By this measure, the Double Down is indeed quite unhealthy, but some other sandwiches are just as bad. The Burger King Chicken Tendercrisp (1.00 DDs), which has less cholesterol but more fat and sodium, is comparably unhealthy to the Double Down on balance. The chicken ranch sandwiches from Sonic (0.94 DDs) and Jack-in-the-Box (0.98 DDs) are close. And surprisingly, some sandwiches from "fast casual" restaurants that have a reputation for healthy food do even worse. Panera's Chipotle Chicken checks in at 1.49 DD's -- it has almost 50 percent more bad stuff than the Double Down -- and Boston Market's Chicken Carver at 1.14. So do some products that stretch the definition of "sandwich". A chicken burrito from Chipotle with rice, black beans, cheese and corn salsa will cost you 1.16 Double Downs: load it up with sour cream, guacamole, and picante salsa as well and you're up to 1.69. A pack of five McDonald's Chicken Selects with a side of ranch sauce is worth 1.23 Double Downs.
Ever wonder what workers do for lunch when they are building a high rise building? Yeah, me neither, but I still found this interesting.
NEW YORK - As the Freedom Tower makes its ascent into the New York City skyline, rising alongside it atop a crane will be a Subway Sandwich Shop that will turn out subs for hungry hardhats who can't spare the time to head back down to the street.
The shop will be fitted into a shipping container-like structure fixed to one of the tower cranes, alongside a bathroom and construction offices for the project managers.
The concession stand will rise with the tower, eventually stopping near the 105th floor, at roughly the height of the old twin towers, or about as high as the former windows on the World Restaurant was.
According to the advertising slogan, if you see Kellogg’s on the box then you know it’s Kellogg’s in the box.
But now the company has become so concerned about similarly packaged supermarket cereals, it has developed a laser to burn its logo on to individual Corn Flakes.
The concentrated beam of light creates a toasted appearance without changing the taste.
Texans don’t need much of an excuse to chomp down on catfish.
Residents of the Lone Star State eat more of the whiskered bottom-feeders than anyone else, according to the Catfish Institute. The group was founded by farmers in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi — the states where catfish is most commonly grown to satiate the appetites of people in Texas and across the South.
"It’s just a regional taste. I don’t know if I’d call it a delicacy, but people grew up with it and really enjoy it," said Larry Richardson, co-owner of the Flying Fish, a casual eatery with locations in west Fort Worth, Dallas, Little Rock, Ark. and other cities.
August is National Catfish Month, according to the institute, which touts the health and economic benefits of catfish farming. So as far as I’m concerned, now is a great time to search the western side of the Metroplex for the best examples of catfish cuisine.
Our favorite local restaurant is going to be on CNN.
You will see us once again on National television. This time we will be featured on CNN and CNN Headline News.
"A lot of small businesses are struggling right now," Paula says. "And we've definitely had our challenges, but we've learned so much, and been so blessed, we thought others could benefit from hearing our story."
Make sure and set your recorders so you won't miss us.
The times the story will air are:
CNN Saturday, August 29, 6:00 AM Central time
CNN Headline News Saturday, August 29, 12:30 PM Central time
CNN Headline News Sunday, August 30, 9:30 AM Central time
Chef Point Cafe redesigned their web site and created communities for their customers on Facebook and Twitter. Recommendations from regulars helped the restaurant earn a segment on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives."
This year's Restaurant Week - when more than 130 restaurants will offer three-course prix fixe meals for $35 to raise funds for the North Texas Food Bank and Lena Pope Home - will be August 17 through August 23. A number of participating restaurants are extending the promotion for an extra week (August 24- August 30) or two (August 24-September 6).
A friend recently started a blog. I have known she had many gifts, but I am just learning that one of them is as a writer. Even though the focus of the blog is about food & cooking, Crystal does a great job weaving stories around her "second love".
This morning she did a post about her late mother. I thought it was so well written that I wanted to pass it along.
If I live as long as my mother lived, I have about fourteen years left on this planet. Just fourteen years. What should I do with those fourteen years? What should I not put off? What do I want to accomplish? What if I only have slightly more than a decade to spend with the people I love? If you had 14 years to live, what would you be doing differently right now? Would you be living life differently? Would you be procrastinating less?
Back in the fall Mary and I spent a day at the State Fair of Texas. While standing in line to buy a Fletcher's Corny Dog we noticed a commotion at the next food vendor over. Not wanting to miss out on the excitement we wandered over to see what was going on. Much to our surprise we found a film crew setting up to shoot a story on some of the deep fried treats that fairs are known to produce. In this case the crew was from the show Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel.
We know we were in the background for several shots, but after editing there is no way to guess if we might be included or not. Let us know if you see us since this show is not broadcast over our antennae.
Baskin Robbins has a Buy One, Get One Free coupon online for their 31° Below™ Soft Serve treat (think Dairy Queen Blizzard). The coupon is good through June 21, 2009.
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives recently filmed at the Chef Point Cafe in Watauga, TX. If you live in Fort Worth you should already know this place. If you have visited us we have probably taken you there. It is my second favorite place to take tourists (Babes Chicken Dinner House is #1).
This episode will air on Monday, April 6th on the Food Network. Don't miss it (and have sympathy on us folks that do not have cable).
