I stumbled across a website featuring the most stunning examples of extreme cake decorating that I have ever seen. The breathtaking novelty cakes include everything from an intricately detailed pair of tennis shoes to an extremely realistic looking baby swaddled in a blanket. My favourites are the diet Coke and St. Paul Cathedral cakes. Hand crafted by Ms. Michelle Wibowo, member of the British Sugarcraft Guild, I hazard to even think about eating any of these creations.

According to the website, Ms. Wibowo is very accomplished in her work, winning multiple awards. These include 2 gold awards from the Cake 2006 competition in the NEC Birmingham and a pair of gold metals from the Salon Culinaire at the 2007 Hospitality Show. Her award winning novelty cakes include a "Chinese Dragon" and a "Mermaid on a Rock." She was even commissioned to craft a 1:66 scale replica of the "Museum of Childhood" by the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Amazing...Simply amazing...

It seems that the author who penned two of my favourite books on food, Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal and Kitchen Confidential, has some very strong views on TV cooking personality Rachael Ray and her agreeing to become a spokesperson for Dunkin Donuts. Dunkin Dontus is an international coffee and donut retailer.

According to msnbc, courant.com, and monstersandcritics.com, Chef Bourdain stated in an interview that her endorsing Dunkin Donuts is tantamount to "endorsing crack to kids." And, given how pervasive obesity has become amongst Americans, young and old, her participating in Dunkin Donuts' multi-platform marketing campaign is "evil."

The images come from viewimages.com's coverage of Dunkin Donut's inaugural "Running of the Cups" benefit event in New York City, which celebrates police officers and fire fighters. The event took place on July 10, 2007.

Dunkin Donuts, headquartered in Canton Massachusetts, signed up Rachael Ray sometime during the winter 2007. Brand president, Robert Rodriquez, released a statement on March 8, 2007, wherein he expresses that "...there is tremendous synergy between Dunkin' Donuts and Rachael Ray." "Rachael's philosophy of creating quality meals quickly without pretense for busy people with busy lives is the same driving force behind the Dunkin' Donuts brand."

Rachael Ray is indeed influential. Her growing media presence - cooking shows, cookbooks, magazines, and talk show - is unparalleled for cooking personalities. However, the media is what concerns me here. Chef Bourdain's views on the responsibilities of being a wealthy and powerful celebrity was not the main subject of the interview in question. It was a portion of the interview. Nevertheless, media agencies have centered on this particular portion and reported on it, painting Chef Bourdain as a "gastronomical blowhard", a "crotchety cook", and a "prickly chef." In turn, they have labeled Rachael Ray, somewhat more positively, as a "foodie superstar", "Dunkin Donuts shill" , and a "Food Network cutie", pitting one against the other.

The media have effectively sensationalized someone's personal opinion and obscured an important issue. Dunkin Donuts only claims that they have asked Rachael Ray's insight in creating "better for you" food to include in their menu. They never stated that they intend to act on her insight. Neither have they stated that their food was as wholesome or healthy as the person they signed to market it.

How healthy are donuts after all?

BTW, to monstersandcritics.com, sensationalizing someone's words is one thing. Adding a visually ambiguous picture of flesh, skin, and hair goes a little far. In moderation, eating donuts does not produce "side effects" pictured in your article.

During my weekly visit to the local Superstore at Richmond and Kirkwood, I was greeted by a large commotion in the produce aisle. At the center of the crowd of dozens of enthusiastic customers were cases of Fresh Californian Green Olives. Apparently, at a price of $16.99 per case, the olives were a steal.

I watched as palette upon palette of olives came to the floor. The grocery store employees wheeling the palettes from the storeroom were visably apprehensive of re-entering the mob. They looked both frustrated and amazed. Some families wheeled entire shopping carts with nothing more than cases of olives to the cash registers. Many looked triumphant in their being able to procure a share. Management later imposed a limit of 10 cases per purchase.

I heard one employee remark, "The mob swarmed a palette and emptied it in 5 minutes!" Another, recounted how he had to physically restrain an "aggressive" woman who wanted at his newly delivered palette.

Here's a video of how one palette faired. Pay close attention to the employee who delivered the palette. Even before he could secure the palette, the crowd surged towards him. For their safety, he had to tell them to step back. Then, he hastily retreated to safety.

At the end of the video, a lady asked me if I were sending a video of the "war of the olive" back home. Indeed, I did :)

Here are before and after pics of that same palette.

Before

After

I witnessed the crowd consume two of these palettes before I went off to find good buys of my own.

This much enthusiasm must mean that good eats were to be had. Perhaps the olives are destined for home pickling?

According to CNNMoney.com, Burger King has released a new innovation in fast food preparation: "flexible batch broilers." The new broilers are self-contained and heat up so quickly that its three separate burners need to activate and deactivate multiple times during a typical cooking cycle.

The new broilers provide several advantages. Unlike current broilers, the new units are smaller, have fewer parts, and do not run continuously. This reduces maintenance costs, saves fuel, and reduces the demand for air conditioning in the kitchen. According to Burger King, the $5400 burners pay for themselves within a year. These units also come pre-programmed with cooking times and temperatures, requiring very little human intervention.

When I saw this news article, my thoughts immediately went to the deep fried whopper that I found on the Internet some years ago. Like McDonald's Big Mac, the Whopper is Burger King's flag ship sandwich. Unfortunately, Google was unable to dig up web page from the void. However, it did find an enterprising Australian who decided to take two McDonald's quarter pounders with cheese, combine them into one sandwich, add bacon, and deep fry the mass.

Here's the result:

Deep Fried Double Quarter Pounder

The image comes from danamania.com, where there are more pictures of the account.

Having dusted off my blogging fingers after a month, I decided to point some attention at today's issue of "Dell's 10 Days of Deals." It seems that, Dell has decided to diversify its product offer to include kitchen appliances. Take note of the Magnasonic 4.5 cu. ft. Stainless Plus Compact Refrigerator and the Magnasonic 1.cu.ft. Stainless Steel Microwave Oven. Today's feature item is the iRobot Roomba 415 Robotic Vacuum.

Considering that Dell's presence in the marketplace is synonymous with computer workstations and laptops, perhaps Dell is looking into venturing further into the home. According to a recent survey published in the October 16, 2007 issue of PC Magazine, Dell already leads in market share for desktops and notebooks. However, Dell doesn't seem to lead in customer satisfaction.

If you purchase a kitchen appliance from Dell, will a Dell technician come to your door if you experience technical difficulties?

BTW, hats off to the good people who work in Dell's many call centers. Personally, I feel that not enough people understand how thankless the job is to provide technical support over the phone.