Food for our ears When Stan Hill, artistic director for the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus, Googled "songs about food," more than 700 titles appeared, "ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous." Sounds like a show! Hence the TCGMC's annual spring concert is "Food, Glorious Food!" hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper of public radio's "The Splendid Table." Performances are at 8 p.m. March 27-28 at the Ted Mann Concert Hall in Minneapolis. There will be familiar favorites, but Hill says to listen for a new piece, "Taylor the Latté Boy." The chorus encourages audience members to bring nonperishable food items for its food drive to benefit the Aliveness Project. For tickets, call the U of M arts ticket office at 612-624-2345.
Lady Alice apples arrive There's a new apple in the home of the Honeycrisp. From Washington state comes the Lady Alice, described as a melding of modern crunch and heirloom flavor reminiscent of almonds, with a hint of tartness. They're available for a limited time in Lunds grocery stores. The Lady Alice was a chance discovery on an errant shoot that sprang from a damaged Red Delicious tree. Years of tending resulted in a fruit with an orange-yellow color and dense flesh that's slow to brown when cut. The Rainier Fruit Co., one of the nation's largest apple growers, says the new variety remains crisp when baked and also is great in salads and fruit trays. And here's a storage tip: Keep apples as cold as possible in the refrigerator, but away from broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, or leafy greens; apples give off ethylene gas that can damage these vegetables.
Strength in numbers Restaurant nutrition info is the new hot button, with proposed legislation in several states calling for menus to note calories and trans fats. It's mostly an issue of convenience because much of that information is available somewhere, but you have to seek it out -- and then jot it down, and then remember to take it with you, etc. Or you can check out "Nutrition Counts! A reference for your favorite restaurants," which lists calories, various fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, fiber, sugar and protein for the menus of 39 casual and fast-food restaurants. Jennifer MacKenzie, an engineer in Minneapolis, worked on the book with two former East Coast colleagues, gathering existing data from various sources and bringing it together into a spiral-bound book. "We're three regular women who wanted to have this information at hand," she said, adding that this is not a ratings guide. "We say there are no bad restaurants, only uninformed meal choices." To see sample pages or to order the book for $14.95, go to www.nutritioncountsbook.com.
A taste of summer OK, we're passing this along because we're dreaming about summer foods -- in this case, ice cream novelties, which frankly are best eaten when you're a little sunburned, right? Anyway, the good people at Blue Bunny and Wells Dairy in Le Mars, Iowa, have nine new frozen flavors, among them the Champ! Banana Split Dessert Cone, "blending vanilla ice cream with thick swirls of strawberry and banana sauces combined with sprinkles of cherry pieces throughout and topped with peanut halves and a drizzle of fudge." There, isn't it nice to have something to look forward to?
KIM ODE
