Publicizing Restaurant Cleanliness

According to this article, in New York City, restaurants will…

soon will share some common ground — a letter-based A, B or C — grading system aimed at informing diners about cleanliness and food safety.

And it has some restaurateurs worried that restaurants that earn a B or a C will go out of business as diners flock to the competitor with an A in the window.

Um, well, yeah.

This grading system is not a bad thing.

If you have to question and worry as to whether or not your restaurant and its kitchen is A-grade quality, then it is not A-grade quality.

David Chang says,

“It is our goal always to get an A.  If we don’t get an A, we fail.”

This publicizing of restaurant cleanliness is not a bad thing, and it is not a new thing.  I remember being in Toronto a few months back and noticing that all restaurants have a mandatory sign posted on the front, indicating if after inspection, the restaurant was a “Pass”, “Conditional Pass” or “Closed” in terms of cleanliness and food safety.

Summer Zucchini Bread Recipe

When the weather is warm, I love zucchini bread.

I love zucchini in general – especially yellow zucchini, because the colour is so fabulous.  Gently sautéed and mixed in with baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, and rotini.  Cooked with chicken stock into a sauce and served with a veal filet. Bright and simple in a red beet and green bean salad with a crack of salt and pepper.  Zucchini can be found everywhere in the summer, when it’s in season, and I just love its clean, earthy flavour.

And zucchini bread is a light, cheery, fun substitute for a side in place of your normal pastas and rice.  At the same time, it’s just savoury enough to stand up to meats and wines.

This recipe is relatively quick and easy, and doesn’t require any fancy equipment or ingredients.

Yogurt Mask on City Bandit

I talk about how to get a spa fresh face with a little yogurt, honey, and sugar on City Bandit.

I really love being able to head into your pantry, and use some all natural ingredients to feed your skin.  Effective, inexpensive, and gives you a feeling of pride being able to creatively throw together something out of what could appear to be nothing.  Whether we eat it or slather it on, it all ends up in the same place, anyway.

Not only is this mask great for your sun-stressed face, it also tastes damn good too.  Mmm mmm.

Mom’s Numbers Marinade

My mother left me with this delicious marinade recipe after I had seven lip-smacking helpings of a dish she made with it.  (To tell you the truth I only stopped eating because I wanted to leave food for the rest of the family.)  Mom used pork but you can essentially use it for any meat you want.

It’s called a “Numbers” marinade because it only has five essential ingredients – of which you need increasing increments of. I’ve found that you can easily replace ingredients with whatever you have on hand or whatever you like, as long as you keep the taste profile similar.

The Numbers Marinade

You’ll need:

Snacking on Aloe

My new favourite summer time snack: aloe.

Not only is it full of beneficial vitamins, enzymes, minerals, amino acids, and natural sugar – it is also delicious.

It has natural healing and anti-inflammatory properties, and helps to moisturize and soften skin. I’m for anything that improves the face!

I love buying aloe in chunks , chilling it, then mixing it with fruit. Refreshing!