livvit.com » Food

Weekly Gadget Feature: WinePod

Craig — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:00:41 +0000

I love wine, but I never thought of making it until I saw the WinePod. It’s designed for small lot artisan winemaking. The state of the art pod integrates fermentation, pressing and ageing in one elegant unit. Temperature control is handled with thermoelectric heating and cooling to ensure the perfect ageing. And the company will even source the grapes for you – it doesn’t get much easier than that.

Oh and the software will beam all of the info to your PC where you can watch your progress as an amateur winemaker. After winning a design award in 2006 the pod sold out and they’re now taking names for the 2007 waiting list. For $3,500 you can hopefully take one home and start impressing all your friends.

The Best Beer in the World is Sold Out

Craig — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 10:00:26 +0000

Trappist beer has been regarded as the best beer in the world for centuries. And one would think if I had been making beer since 1098 that I would be pretty good at it too. It’s produced by seven of the 171 Trappist monasteries who have to fund their livelihood, so they chose to start a micro brewery. It’s a working man’s dream and apparently their reality.

The seven breweries that can use the Trappist logo (six Belgium and one from the Netherlands) are:

However, as the beer is made in small quantities it is already sold out for the year. So you won’t be able to call the “beer phone” – and yes they do call it the “beer phone” – for more of the delicious amber treat. You’ll have to pick it up off ebay. Expect to pay around $20-25 for a six pack plus shipping from the old world and make sure they have the official logo. It costs a bit more than the swill I drink, but at least you’ll be able to taste the best in the world and of course let everyone know what a connoisseur you are.

Put Away Your Chef’s Knife

Dan — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:49:59 +0000

And pick up the Japanese style chef’s knife, the Santoku knife. If you don’t recognize the name you would probably recognize the knife in person. You’ve most likely seen these in stores or in open-kitchen restaurants, they look like a cross between a cleaver and a traditional chef’s knife. Although they are made for slicing, dicing, and mincing they can replace your chef’s knife as an all-purpose kitchen cutter. They can also come with dimples or scallops in the side of the blade to allow cutoffs to more easily separate from the blade. Think about the last time you tried to dice a cucumber and had to remove each piece individually, and how much quicker tasks like that would be if you had a Santuko knife. I don’t own one yet but the fiance and I registered for one for our wedding and we’re excited for the day we get it.

Grilled Cheese for the Rich and Famous

Craig — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:00:17 +0000

Now you may think we’ve gone nuts here at livvit, writing about grilled cheese sandwhiches. They’re not really associated with a great experience or an ambitious lifestyle, but wait until you create one of these wonder puppies.

Now to make a world class grilled cheese you need to do the following:

1. Get the right equipment. A good old skillet will do, but a panini press is better.

2. Assemble the ingredients.

Cheese – First thing first, throw out the cheese slices in the plastic. Any food that expires the next decade has to be made out of chemicals and they taste boring. Head to your local grocery store with a good deli and get them to slice up some cheese. Havarti, provolone, old cheddar, swiss and coly-jack are good ones to start with.

Bread – White bread is a classic, but can get squished pretty good by a panini press. Try a thicker multi-grain for a change.

Extra’s – Most people think they spice a grilled cheese up when they throw in a slice of ham or, if they’re really daring, some bacon. Boring (although bacon is delicious). Get some peppers, onions, mushrooms chicken and spinich. It’s a good start to changing your classic grilled cheese.

3. Put it all together. I recommend using butter and starting by cooking the grilled cheese in the press. While this is going on sautee your mushrooms, onions and peppers. Once the bread is browned take it off the grill and separate the sandwhich. Take all of the sauteed veggies, add some cooked chicken and finish with spinich. Squeeze it back together and voila, a new age grilled cheese.To turn it into a full experience try inviting some friends over, grab some drinks and start making custom sammy’s.