Apparently today is International Sushi Day. It sounds like a made-up holiday to me but do you really need an excuse to eat sushi? So go out and get yourself some tuna maki or something. Just watch the wasabe.

We all know what Thanksgiving dinner means. It means cooking a turkey, some stuffing, a variety of vegetables, probably some sweet potatoes and biscuits. Oh and don’t forget the cranberry sauce. Dessert brings pumpkin pie and maybe some egg nog to start off the holiday season.

You’ve eaten this combination every year of your life but do you know why? Check out this article on CNN to learn more about this holiday tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall is finally here and Oktoberfest has begun in Munich. Even though I’m not a beer drinker, it’s a fun fall tradition and who could say no to a huge plate of traditional Bavarian food! I’ve never been to Munich, but you can check out the photos from when we went to Oktoberfest at the (now closed) Hofbrauhaus.

Then take a look at the real thing coutesy of Yahoo! News.

A few posts ago I promised a brief review of the restaurant that I went to in Lancaster last weekend. The restaurant was an Amish buffet called The Family Cupboard. You can also order meals, but we went for the buffet. Most buffets are basically a smorgasbord of mediocre food. We were leery that this would be the same. We had picked it out randomly from the Internet.

When we walked in and saw that there was a fair number of Amish/Mennonite folks eating there, we became more confident that the food would be good. As it turns out, it was really good. I went back for three plates plus dessert. There was a delicious meatloaf, buttered noodles that were clearly homemade and definately from a PA Dutch/German recipe. These sat alongside glazed ham, stuffing and seafood, pasta lima beans and on and on. The salad bar was your usual salad bar. I was glad to see it was all fresh and crispy, but what really made it special was a delicious house dressing.

For dessert, there was Turkey Hill ice cream as well as an assortment of desserts, but but what really caught my attention was the pies. I had a piece of pecan pie (my favorite) which wasn’t so great, but I went back for another piece and selected shoo-fly pie. It was delicious!

You can view their menu and get directions at FamilyCupboard.com.

Here in New Jersey when we think of a delicious breakfast, the mind immediately conjures images of a diner. I’m particular partial to a bacon and cheese omelet, with hash browns, some toast and a bottomless cup of diner coffee. However, sometimes you don’t have time to spend in a diner. That’s where my second favorite breakfast place comes into play. I like just about anything from McDonald’s breakfast menu, but the item that most people associate with McDonald’s breakfast is the Egg McMuffin. It was created by Herb Peterson in 1972. After 36 years and more sandwiches sold than he ever imagined, I’m sure, Herb passed away at the age or 89.

Some people’s legacy is on a headstone, Herb’s will live on on the McDonald’s menu board.

Read his obituary on CNN.

I think the post title really says it all. What else can I say, really?

Check it out at the Emeril Blog.

Anyone who knows me knows I like coffee. No I’m not one of those fools who pays $8+ for a cup of lousy coffee at places like Starbucks. But, I’m definately addicted to my very cool Senseo coffee machine and love to stop at Dunkin Donuts anytime I think I can go in there without succumbing to the temptation of their donuts!

Now, according to this article on MSNBC, coffee might be good for you. It apparently can help ward off type 2 diabetes and may even help prevent certain cancers.

read more | digg story

I enjoy trying new restaurants. Just last night I had a delicious dinner place that appeared pretty rough from the outside but had delicious food. However, I’m not sure I’d make it past the “front door” of the restaurant in this article from the Daily Mail. You are surved dinner while sitting at a table which is suspended 150 off the ground. It hangs off the boom of a crane. You and 21 other folks site with nothing but air under your feet as you eat a gourment meal.

The reporter who wrote the article couldn’t even bring herself to eat because of the height issue. There’s a good chance I’d have the same problem!

Just in time for the start of the holiday season, here’s an article about the history of one of my favorite drinks eggnog.

As usual, I saw this one on the place for random food facts, Emerils.com.

As we all get ready to create massive amounts of leftover turkey this week, most of us will be wrapping it in aluminum foil. Ever wonder which side of aluminum foil is the inside and which is the outside. Well, the truth is, it doesn’t matter. They’re both the same. Just another nugget of wisdom from the Emeril blog.

Read the details at Chow.com.

The beginning of the holiday season at Rockefeller Plaza in NYC conjures up images of the Christmas tree lighting, skaters at the rink and, of course, cranberry bogs. Wait, maybe not cranberry bogs. But this year there is a cranberry bog at Rockefeller center. Ocean Spray built an artificial cranberry bog for Chef Ming Tsai at 30 Rock.

Check it out in NY Magazine.

I heard about this in the Emeril blog.

OK, fried Oreos sound good. Fried Twinkies… maybe. But now something new has been born at the Texas Sate Fair. A guy created a new snack called Fried Coca-Cola. Now, it’s not really fried Coke, but it’s a Coke flavored batter that’s fried then drizzled with Coca-Cola syrup.

I think I’ll hold out for fried Moutain Dew, but you can learn more at WDSU in New Orleans.

And now the first new entry in the new category…

Gnocchi are one of the favorite Italian foods. They’re delicious in either a red sauce or my pesto sauce. I generally always request them as my birthday dinner.

After reading this blog entry on Emeril’s site, I learned something new. They are apparently very popular in Argentina.

I figured that this blog doesn’t go in enough random directions, so I added another.

The new category is ‘Cooking/Food’. Cooking and food is one of my favorite hobbies. I just went back and added some of the old posts to the category, and i’ll be adding new ones in the future.

I have just about the most sensitive eyes known to man. I also love to cook. This poses a problem when I have to chop onions. Luckily my knife skills are decent so I wind up chopping with my eyes closed. This, of course, is a bad idea!

Enter a good idea… Onion Goggles. Why didn’t I invent these? Thanks to Emeril’s blog, I found these. Too bad I can’t order a pair before I chop 9 pounds of peppers tomorrow for the luau!