2008 Texas Zagat

The other day, I opended my mailbox and what do I find? The latest issue of the Zagat Restaurant ratings for Texas.



I've been flipping through this book every chance I got for the past severl days. Some of the ratings I've found to be acurate, others I question how they made it into the Zagat Ratings. Well, I'm sorry to say that Texas does not have the dining selection that other cities like New York, Los Angeles, or my old hometown of San Francisco. However, that is slowly changing. Dallas, where I am right now, is begining to gain some ground in the restaurant scene, but needs some help getting there.

So, you ask how did I get a $15.00 book for free? Well, I answered several surveys and wrote a few reviews on the Zagat website. And for that reason I suppose I was selected to recieve a free survey guide.

Now, that I have this guide, I will try and go to more places and give my take on the food.

The Official Launch

Okay so it's been several weeks since I have put out my stakes. I just haven't found something worthwhile to write about. That and I have been trying to figure out exactly what I want this blog to be. I figured out that the best thing to do is just write about what I like, food and technology.

So, what do I write about for my inaugural post? Well, how about both technology and food. I know many other food related blogs have been posting about this, but I think I will re-post it yet again. Mastiff Games has officially announced the May 12 release of Major League Eating: The Game.

(Thanks to Serious Eats for the image)

Coincidentally or maybe deliberately May 12 is also the same day that Nintendo will launch their WiiWare game download service in North America. Strangely, I am looking forward to this game. When it does get released I will be downloading it and trying it out. I will evaluate the game once it comes out.

However, I do have to say I am intriuged that a game was made based on competetive eating. I guess if you can make a game for cooking, you can make a game for anything.

On a differnt note, I saw this at Linens and Things:

I don't know how long this has been out on the market, but it's abput time that Cuisinart has entered the stand mixer market. It's about time. Now mind you, I haven't actually used it, and all of my comments and evaluations are based on what I have seen and what I have read. It has more watts then my Kitchenaid, but really do you need that much horsepower in your mixer? But, some people like to have more power. Me, I don't do enough volume to require more watts. One big fault that I see is the latch design. I'm not a big fan of spring-loaded latches on kitchen appliances. Yes, they are convenient, but they are the one thing that will fail first. I'm sure the engineers over at Cuisinart thought about this, but I have to point out the stress a motor will exert. That stress in this case will take on the form of vibrations; these vibrations concern me. The vibrations could affect the spring latch. Like I said before, I'm sure the engineers at Cuisinart have thought this through.

Another thing, there are more moving parts in this mixer, especially with the addition of the "three power outlets." Those attachment points translates into more cams and rotors. In other words more moving parts means more chances of something going wrong mechanically. Okay, so I like space savers as much as the next person, but this just seems unreasonable. Why have two attachment points on top? Why not just one? I just do not understand why the citrus juicer attachment point could not be consolidated with the blender/food processor attachment point. I'm sure there may be a practical reason pertaining to the torque, but I would need to see the mixer in action to make a full evaluation.

The digital controls are a nice touch though. The built in timer allows for users to time mixes and have the mixer stop after a certain amount of time elapses. Another nice feature is the fold feature. (This basically like the pulse button on a food processor.) This is nice because it puts less wear on a traditional lever switch. The digital controls do allow for more precision in speed, but again I have to say how much precision does the average user really need? Most of the recipes I have seen call for low, medium or high settings. Rarely will I see anything in between. However, I'm sure there are those out there who like to have their mixers going exactly at a precise speed. The digital controls are the one thing I do like about this mixer, but that's just one more thing that can fail.

It's a pretty design with okay features. It will appeal to some people; however, right now, I'll be sticking with my Kitchenaid.