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Archives for Aug 2008

Jen Lin-Liu Serves the Olympic Audience!

As I was getting ready this morning while watching the TODAY show do their coverage of the Olympics in Beijing, I was able to catch Jen Lin-Liu's segment on China's exotic fruits. She showed us the many different juicy and sometimes extremely smelly fruits native to China. Not only did Meredith find the smell of the durian repugnant but she also got pricked by it. This is why you should never play with your foods.

As you may already know, Jen Lin-Liu is the author of Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China, a foodie book that we were giving away just last month. If you were one of the lucky ones who was able to win a copy of this fabulous book then you know this is a wonderful memoir of her journey to becoming a cook while exploring the culinary world of China. You can check out an excerpt of the book HERE.

Check out the TODAY show segment featuring Jen Lin-Liu below:

Has anyone else picked up a copy of the book? If you won a copy from Yummr, please share what you think of it in our Summer Foodie book club activity for your chance to win yet another great book!

Posted Aug 20, 2008 by SuDoughName | Add a comment | Share It

Filed under: durian exotic Chinese fruit Jen Lin-Liu Serve the People TODAY show

Wacky Dining Atmospheres

I recently began thinking about strange but entertaining dining experiences when Mars2112 was mentioned. What's Mars2112 say you? It's a wacky space themed family dining experience in the heart of Times Square here in NYC. It's one of those places that doesn't really have any great foodie dishes but that's not why you would go there anyway. It's a fun place for the family and kids when you want to talk to some martians who just so happens to be your servers. I'm really not recommending this place as a wonderful dining experience to stir up your taste buds since from what I can remember, they serve your generic burger and fries entrees but I can say that the decor and atmosphere are really out of this world.

What's another stand-out family friendly place in the big apple? I don't know if most of you would call it family friendly considering I got really scared looking for the bathroom to this place when I was way younger than I am now, but the Jekyll and Hyde Restaurant & Bar is another fun look-around. It's really just your average Party City finds inside but still spookfully delightful. Actually, they have a suspended Frankenstein on a lab table that is supposedly lowered at later hours in the day which I have never witnessed - I'm pretty sure you can't find one of these at Party City.

Another place that I recently made a pit-stop at was a fun looking diner somewhere near Saratoga Springs, NY. It has memorabilia from the grand 'ole days of Hollywood and mannequins set-up on stools. I really wish I could remember the name of the diner but I know it was something along the lines of Happy Days Cafe or Happy Times Diner. If anyone knows this place, let me know! Here are some photos I snapped of this place:

As you can see, I really love running into wacky places that might not have the best of food but are still worth talking about. I mostly gawk around and point out all the little oddities. I'd love to know if any of you have wacky or strange dining places in or around your hometowns - please share if you do!

Posted Aug 14, 2008 by SuDoughName | 4 Comments | Share It

Filed under: wacky dining places