Eating

Just like families themselves, family dinners come in all shapes and sizes. Regardless of exactly how families get together, one thing for certain is that there will be a lot of them doing just that during the upcoming days. That and making a mess.

Naturally, that would mean making a mess at the dinner table. As family and friends get together for the holidays, food will be served in abundance. It's as traditional as the yearly argument about whatever the yearly argument happens to be. If that argument happens to be about setting the wet slow cooker lid on … Read more

Leftover turkey offers a seemingly endless supply of options for meal times, with the key word being "seemingly." No matter how delicious or succulent the Thanksgiving bird may have been, there comes a time to quit turkey, uh, cold turkey.

When looking for something different in the kitchen it is not always a matter of shoving leftovers aside while rooting about in the fridge. Sometimes what is needed to move outside of the comfort zone of comfort food is an appliance that requires one to think outside the box.

Used to make little spheres of deliciousness, the Electric Ebelskiver Maker … Read more

Ugh. There's no worse first-world problem than having to wait for your food to come out of the microwave.

Thanks to a group of young developers, you can now watch YouTube videos on your microwave while you're waiting for those delicious little White Castle burgers. Mmmm.

The uWave is basically an HP TouchPad connected to a microwave, but its functionality is so much more than that.… Read more

Looking at a sugar-glazed confection might lead one to ask how it could be bad for you when it looks so good. Putting temptations aside, another question one might ask is just how such treats are formed.

The answer, at least in the case of the Bella Cucina Fluted Cake Maker, simply has to do with batter poured into a mold and then cooked. This specialty electric appliance creates five cakes, each with a distinctive design.

Combining a mold and a cooking appliance allows for instant gratification. Clamshell-type countertop appliances tend to heat up quickly and this 1,400-watt gadget … Read more

We see QR codes everywhere these days, from advertisements to print cartridge packaging. However, you may soon find yourself biting into a QR-coded cookie.

Meet the Qkie.

The brainchild of a German food company, Juchem Gruppe, and DFKI, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, the Qkie's QR code can be scanned to open up a link to a Web site, a love note, or even a party invitation (as seen in the video below). … Read more

We usually cover news about Apple, the computer company, but here's some news about apples, the fruit.

Supermarket produce often comes with those pesky labels that are a pain to pull off without injuring the fruit's skin. But Scott Amron, award-winning electrical engineer and concept artist, has come up with Vanishing Fruitwash Labels, which dissolve into an organic produce wash.

The labels are water-resistant and are triggered when rubbed with water. The wash can help remove dirt, wax, fungicides, and pesticides. The labels can display price look-up codes, which are used for inventory and checkout purposes, and can be pulled off like a sticker, too.

Some may argue whether washing your fruit is really necessary, and that all you need to do is to shine up that apple on your shirt. You can also use something like baking soda or vinegar in a spray bottle to wash your produce. Regardless, this is an interesting idea.

The idea is still a concept, and Amron is advertising a 10 percent stake as an investment opportunity. … Read more

MAKUHARI, Japan--For many Japanese, food safety is an urgent concern in light of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, from which radiation has entered the food supply.

Kyoto-based scientific equipment maker Horiba is trying to help with a radiation detector kit that can tell users if their food is contaminated.

It's basically a transparent bucket with a radiation monitor in the bottom and an upper compartment that holds rice and other foods. It also works with soil.

The bucket works with Horiba's new PA-1000 Radi monitor, which was being shown off here at Ceatec trade show outside Tokyo ahead of its release this month.

Priced at 125,000 yen ($1,628), the Radi can detect radiation ranging from 0.001 to 9.999 microsieverts per hour and has a buzzer option for alerts.

Horiba staff members said Japan residents are now looking for higher quality detectors instead of cheaper imports. The company's PA-1100 Radi is a monitor with USB and Bluetooth for links to PCs, smartphones, and tablets. It can be used with GPS applications to quickly create radiation maps. … Read more

Entertaining is often not about supplying option for guests, but about supplying options for one's self. Making what you want to make is a great way to eat what you want to eat, without needing to come up with excuses. Why, of course there should be a bacon cheese dip for the big party. And chili. And perhaps another gooey cheese dip. It's only civilized after all.

To get any trifecta of party favorites going on, by definition, there needs to be three choices. When it comes to the hot and gooey, slow-cooked favorites that so often highlight … Read more

A lot goes on behind the scenes in the nonstop effort to bring produce to our plates. Before we even lay eyes on our dinner as we hunt it among the grocery store aisles, it must be picked, sorted, transported, weighed, and priced. But before even that, before the myriad middlemen have had their say about it, the food in question must first be grown. In the case of vegetables, specifically root vegetables, rarely is this process seen. Everybody knows that the magic of restocked shelves has to start from a seed, but that growing period that occurs immediately after … Read more