Music For Your Food Porn Soundtrack - A Foodie Playlist

Now that the city has dug itself out from the first snowstorm of the winter, people can now focus their energies on New Year's Eve party plans. If you are hosting a party this year, food-themed or otherwise, you probably are busy getting your house ready and making the final touches to your food and drink menus.  Don't forget about a key ingredient to any party - the music. Below is a playlist composed of either food-themed songs or artists. The mix is eclectic enough for all musical tastes, or at least long enough to inspire your own additions, so head to your favourite music streaming service, and give it a go. 

All the best to you and yours in the New Year.

• A Tribe Called Quest - "Bonita Applebum"
• Jim Jones and Ron Browz featuring Juelz Santana - "Pop Champagne"
• Sneaker Pimps - "Spin Spin Sugar"
• Akinyele - "Put It In Your Mouth"
• AC/DC - "Have A Drink On Me"
• Action Bronson - "Ceviche"
• Limp Bizkit - "Faith"
• UB40 - "Red Red Wine"
• Katy Perry - "Bon Appétit" 
• Lil Wayne - "Lollipop"
• Portishead -"It Could Be Sweet"
• Method Man - "Meth Vs. Chef"
• Parliament - "Chocolate City"
• DJ Food - "Mr. Quickie Cuts the Cheese"
• The Four Tops - I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bun)
• Salt-n-Pepa - "Push It"
• Brandy - "What About Us?"
• The Verve - "Bittersweet Symphony"
• Eminem - "Ass Like That"
• Prince - "Cream"
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give It Away"
• George Thorogood & The Destroyers - "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer"
• Black Eyed Peas - "Pump It"
• DJ Shadow - "Building Steam With A Grain of Salt"
• Massive Attack - "Black Milk"
• Wu-Tang Clan - "C.R.E.A.M"
• Snoop Dogg -"Gin & Juice"
• Sublime - "40 Oz. To Freedom"
• The Notorious B.I.G. - "Juicy"
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
• The Chemical Brothers - "Morning Lemon"
• The Tragically Hip - "Little Bones"
• Ice Cube - "Check Yo Self (Radio Remix)"
• Main Source - "Live At the Barbeque"
• Ray Charles - "One Mint Julep"
• The Presidents of the United States of America - "Peaches"
• Spice Girls - "Spice Up Your Life"
• Fishbone - "Lemon Meringue"
• Roger Troutman - "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
• Blue Öyster Cult - "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
• The B-52s - "Rock Lobster"
• The Brothers Johnson - "Strawberry Letter #23"
• Public Enemy - "Cold Lampin' With Flavour"
• The Rolling Stones - "Brown Sugar"
• Chuck Berry - "You Never Can Tell"
• Caesars - "Jerk It Out"
• System of a Down - "Chop Suey!"
• Kelis - "Milkshake"
• DNA featuring Suzanne Vega - "Tom's Diner"
• Raekwon - "Ice Cream"
• Korn - "Word Up"
• Reel Big Fish - "Take On Me"
• Toni Basil - "Mickey"
• Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby"
• 112 featuring Jay-Z and Lil Kim - "Peaches and Cream"
• Peaches & Herb - "Shake Your Groove Thing"
• Strawberry Alarm Clock - "Incense & Peppermints"
• Kim Mitchell - "Go For A Soda"
• The Lovin' Spoonful - "Summer in the City"
• Cream - "Crossroads"
• Cake - "Short Skirt / Long Jacket"
• Peaches - "Fuck the Pain Away"
• Blind Melon - "No Rain"
• The Cranberries - "Zombie"
• Jimmy Eat World - "Sweetness"
• Sugar Ray - "Fly"
• Bananarama - "Venus"
• Taco - "Putting on the Ritz"
• Meatloaf - "Paradise By The Dashboard Light"

"Chef" - A Better Late Than Never review

When I heard that the Angry Dragonz food truck were giving away passes to see this movie last year if you tweeted out a picture of something from their menu, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and score some food and bypass the ticket line. While I did enjoy the General Tso Chicken rice bowl with egg roll I ordered, my pictures weren't up to snuff to see the movie for free. Fast forward to this week, and the copy I borrowed from the Ottawa Public library came in. Jon Favreau stars and excels as a high profile chef who starts a food truck business when he loses his restaurant job after refusing to compromise himself anymore. Favreau gets the most out of his collaboration with co-producer and chef Roy Choi as the movie does a good job conveying the frustrations of being a chef working for a controlling owner; the struggles of juggling parental responsibilities and professional obligations; the perils of social media; and the trials and tribulations of getting into the food truck game. This film shows a great love of the art of cooking, and is a perfect blend of indie film making, and big box office star power. Recommended for foodies and anyone who's ever thought about packing it in and doing what they love not because someone is telling them to do it, but because they love doing it.

Cooking with Nintendo - America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking

There are video games that let you pretend you're a hero, a villain, or a star athlete, but only a few that can turn you into a better cook. I'm not talking about those simulations that let you use your finger to perform different kitchen tasks; I'm talking about making a meal with actual food in your kitchen. These interactive cooking aids were popular on the DS, the first handheld game console developed and released by Nintendo, with one of the more popular ones being America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking. Released in 2010, the application gives step by step instructions on how to cook from a range of 300 dishes from the people behind the PBS show,  hosted by Cook's Illustrated editor-in-chief Christopher Kimball. It guides the user through the preparation and cooking process via audio narration and instructional video clips, using the Nintendo DS's voice recognition to proceed through each step (it's no Siri or Google Now, but it's pretty good for decades year-old technology).  It even makes suggestions based on the calendar, offering recipes such as roast beef tenderloin; a wilted spinach salad with bacon and onion; and a classic shrimp cocktail (recipe below) for Christmas dinner. America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking also keeps a record of what dishes you've already made, and allows you to take notes, compile a shopping list, and exclude undesired ingredients from the recipes. It's hard not to like this video cookbook, it's fun for all ages and levels of cooking. Check out this game if you still have a DS game system, or if you're looking for something different for your DS the next time you're at the local used game emporium or video game bargain bin.

Also recommended:

• What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver - From shopping to chopping the fun way to cook with Jamie Oliver
• Personal Trainer: Cooking

Ingredients: Shrimp cocktail

454 g extra-large shrimp
10 mL fresh lemon juice
2 bay leafs
5 g black peppercorns
5 g Old Bay seasoning
5 g salt

Sauce
237 mL ketchup
30 mL fresh lemon juice
30 g prepared horseradish, or to taste
10 mL hot sauce, plus extra if desired
2.5 g salt
1.25 g pepper

1. After removing the shell, use a paring knife to make a shallow cut along the back of the shrimp so that the vein is exposed. Use the tip of the knife to lift the vein out of the shrimp. Discard the vein by wiping the blade against a paper towel.
2. Bring 10 mL lemon juice, 2 bay leaves, 5 g salt, 5 g peppercorns, 5 g Old Bay, and 950 mL water to boil in a pan for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the shrimp. Cover the pot and steep off the heat until the shrimp are firm and pink, about 7 minutes.
3. Drain the shrimp and immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water. Chill for several minutes. Drain the shrimp and refrigerate them until thoroughly chilled, about 1 hour.
4. As the shrimp chill, stir the ketchup, horseradish, hot sauce, and the remaining lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Season with additional horseradish and hot sauce as desired and transfer the sauce to a small serving bowl. Arrange the shrimp on a serving platter along with the bowl with the sauce. It's ready to eat.