Food news antipasto

Australian online bookseller Booktopia, which has been in business since 2004, has been placed into Voluntary Administration, which is similar to US receivership or bankruptcy. Orders have been temporarily suspended while the reorganization or sale of its business is completed. If you are a customer with outstanding gift cards or orders placed prior to 3 July 2024, please visit this site for more information.

Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler has written two comprehensive books on cocktails including 2014’s The Bar Book: Elements of Cocktail Technique. He is still creating new cocktails and exploring novel techniques at his bar Pacific Standard. He often shares his bartending wisdom on social media, and recently he posted that he has created a free universal syrup calculator that helps you calculate the amount of sugar or water needed to make perfect 2:1 or 1:1 sugar syrups from any liquid – fruit and vegetable juices, milks, and liquid sugars such as honey or agave syrup. The only caveat is that you need to have a refractometer for your inputs.

Do you like to combine food with fashion? Then you will want to check out the collaboration between Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi and Converse All-Stars. Until supplies run out, you can order customized kicks featuring Milk Bar logos, rainbow sprinkles, and custom Milk Bar colors. Playing around with the customization is fun and it is tempting to order more than one pair. It’s too bad you can’t get scratch-and-sniff with these shoes!

You know all of those desiccant packs of silica gel that found in packages of almost everything you buy, the ones emblazoned with DO NOT EAT in bold letters? Well, apparently, the danger is not in the silica itself, because California’s Erewhon has created a new smoothie that features – you guessed it – silica. A 2016 study found minor benefits for nails, hair and skin from a silica supplement, although the National Institutes of Health cautions that “There are few studies evaluating the safety, efficacy and bioavailability of the different existing chemical forms of silicon that use proper design, large number of volunteers and long follow-up period.” So eat those silica packs at your peril.

If you love silly little quizzes, head over to The Guardian and take their spicy food quiz. Yes, this is a sponsored feature, but it’s fun to test your knowledge of peppers. I only got one wrong – that was a question about the sponsor of the post.