Exploding Churro Caused by Recipe in Newspaper, Court Says

Chile's Supreme Court has ordered a newspaper to pay $125,000 to 13 people who suffered burns while trying out a published recipe for churros, a popular Latin American snack of dough fried in hot oil.

The publisher of La Tercera must pay individual damages to 11 women and two men ranging from as little as $279 to $48,000 for one woman whose burns were particularly severe.

The high court's ruling was announced Monday, seven years after the readers burned themselves while trying out the recipe.

Judges determined that the newspaper failed to fully test it before publication, and that if readers followed the recipe exactly, the churros had a good chance of exploding once the oil reached the temperature the recipe called for.

Days after the recipe was published in the paper's "Woman" magazine in 2004, hospitals around the country began treating women for burns suffered when the dough boiling in oil suddenly shot out of kitchen pots.

Kindle Free Pick of the Week: The Everything Family Christmas Book

Just in time for the holidays, get this book this week only for free.

This holiday collection is a treasury of Christmas traditions, stories, songs, and recipes that promises to bring readers young and old together to celebrate the spirit of the season. Everyone will enjoy this delightful guide to all things Christmas, featuring: the perennial classic Christmas stories, poems, and carols; recipes for family gatherings, parties, and holiday gifts from the kitchen; ideas for thoughtful and creative handmade gifts; decorating ideas for any room; and holiday customs and traditions from around the world. As a gift or a book to be treasured, this book will help readers create new traditions that can be shared year after year.

12/17/11 Bowl Play of the Day: Utah State

Utah State and Ohio meeting today in the Idaho Potato Bowl.

Utah State is a fun tam to watch and they almost beat Auburn earlier this season.

Take Utah State and give the two points.

Fast Food Restaurants Charging for "Happy Meal" Toys

Burger King is now the second national fast-food chain to announce that it will comply with San Francisco's ban on toy giveaways with kids' meals that are high in fat, sugar and salt by not offering the trinkets for free any more.

Instead, just like McDonald's decided, customers who want the toys in San Francisco will have to pay.

"Toys will be available for purchase for 10 cents more," Kristen Hauser, a spokeswoman for Burger King, said Wednesday.

McDonald's said that money from the toy sales will be used to help build a Ronald McDonald House for families of young patients being treated at the new UCSF hospital at Mission Bay.
Burger King has not said what they will do with the proceeds.

San Francisco's new law goes into effect today. It bars chain restaurants from giving out free toys in Happy Meals and other menu items intended for children that don't meet strict nutritional standards. The law also requires servings of fruits and vegetables with meals.

Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Old Havana Cookbook

There have been a lot of unique cookbooks in the Kindle Store recently.  This one caught my attention.

One of my favorite restaurants in the world is a little Cuban joint in Miami's South Beach called Puerto Sagua.  It's Cuban food done right.

This book has some old school Cuban recipes.

Havana is one of the oldest and most picturesque cities of the western hemisphere. It was a popular winter destination for North American tourists in the 1950s, and this cookbook recaptures the spirit of Old Havana-- Habana la vieja-- and its celebrated culinary traditions. Cuban cuisine, though derived from its mother country, Spain, has been modified and refined by locally available foods like pork, rice, corn, beans and sugar, and the requirements of a tropical climate. Fine Gulf Stream fish, crabs and lobsters, and an almost infinite variety of vegetables and luscious tropical fruits also have their places on the traditional Cuban table. This cookbook includes over 50 recipes, each in Spanish with side-by-side English translation-- all of them classic Cuban fare and old Havana specialties adapted for the North American kitchen. Among the recipes included are: Ajiaco (famous Cuban Stew), Boiled Pargo with Avocado Sauce, Lobster Havanaise, Tamal en Cazuela (Soft Tamal), Quimbombo (okra), Picadillo, Roast Suckling Pig, and Boniatillo (Sweet Potato Dulce), along with a whole chapter on famous Cuban cocktails and beverages.

There is nothing better than good Cuban food.  Enjoy!