Sunday, March 16, 2008
-
Stimulus Bill Increases Food Service Industry Buying Power
The new Economic Stimulus Bill offers foodservice operators tax incentives for equipment, technology and design.Congress increased the amount which businesses can expense for equipment from $128,000 to $250,000, which is the highest amount in history. This provision applies to equipment and qualifying property purchased in 2008. In 2009, it reverts back to the $128,000.
Read the entire article: http://www.restaurant.org/pressroom/pressrelease.cfm?ID=1551
|
An
Irishman who had a little too much to drink
is driving home from
the city one night and, of course, his car's weaving violently all over the
road.
A cop
pulls him over.
"So,"
says the cop to the driver, where have ya been?"
"Why,
I've been to the pub of course," slurs the drunk.
"Well,"
says the cop, "it looks like you've had
quite a few to drink this evening."
"I
did all right," the drunk says with a smile.
"Did
you know," says the cop, standing straight
and folding his arms across his chest,
"that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?"
"Oh, thank heavens," sighs the drunk.
"For a minute there, I thought I'd gone deaf."
Happy St.
Joseph's Day
by Joe Ferri
The lesser known of the two mid-March Catholic Saint days, St. Joseph's Day, celebrated on the 19th, commemorates the life of the foster father of Jesus. Patron Saint of workers and carpenters in particular, he is venerated as San Giuseppe all over Italy and particularly in Sicily. The day is marked by feasts, which coinciding with Lent, typically feature no meat. Foods containing breadcrumbs are often served to simulate the sawdust of this carpenter-Saint. Two types of pastries, the sfingi and the zeppoli , are popular offerings in Italian-American communities. The Sfingi are similar to French Crullers which are stuffed with custard; the zeppoli are like cream puffs stuffed with cannoli cream. In Italy, your name sake Saint's day is celebrated in lieu of your birthday. So, Happy St. Joseph's Day to all of you Josephs out there!
Prosciutto and
Mozzarella
by Doug Hummel, Executive Chef/ End User
Specialist
You may have noticed a trend in some of my articles here. I have great respect and admiration for the artesan in our industry: Bakers, cheese makers and today, prosciutto makers. Many years ago, before I was even sure I wanted to be a chef, I went to a grocery store in Houston to watch a master Prosciutto slicer cut the first imported true Prosciutto into our area. (Before this, prosciutti were not imported into the US because the natural curing process was not approved by the FDA.) Here is where I started to understand flavors that were exciting to me.
Yesterday, like many other times in my life, I had food deja vu - a prosciutto and mozzarella baguette from Balducci’s 24 month aged selection and it brought me back to an unusual store and time.
I have added a couple of links to explore,
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/food/prosciutto.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_mozzarella
