This Contest is Really Cheesey -- No, really, it is

It's kind of difficult to out-hype the following press release, so here it is in all of its glory:

Four Years and Still Cooking! The Tillamook Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Contest is Back

Think you have what it takes to become the next "Big Cheese"? Tillamook Cheese today announced the acceptance of recipe submissions for the fourth annual Tillamook Macaroni and Cheese Recipe Contest. The contest dedicated to an all-time favorite comfort food continues to evolve, and returns this year with a twist, giving amateur food lovers a chance to win $5,000 in the national cook-off and $2,500 in the "People's Choice" online voting campaign.

This year foodies from across the country will have the opportunity to submit their homemade macaroni and cheese recipes on the contest's new Web site, www.MacaroniAndCheeseAndCheese.com/contest. Finalists will compete for the 2008 title, $5,000 cash and 25 pounds of Tillamook cheese. Not to worry, the first runner up will receive $2,000 cash and 20 pounds of Tillamook cheese and the second runner up will receive $1,000 cash and 15 pounds of Tillamook cheese.

That's a lot of cheese. We will say, however, that we came across a site by the Cheese-Chick.com that has very cool Tillamook cheese interview video.

TasteTV Events include:

• The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
• The Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon, Oct. 5, 2008
  
• The Chicago Luxury Chocolate Salon, Sept. 7, 2008
  
• The Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon, July 13, 2008
  
• The New Media Tastemakers Summit

This blog from the contributors, producers and correspondents at TasteTV at TasteTV.com. technorati tags:TasteTV, restaurants, video, content, food, Chocolate, wine, recipes, cooking, Restaurant Reviews, Chef, ITV, fashion, seafood

TasteTV and Tasteable Blogger Pick: UrbanDiner.ca

Canada has some great food and lifestyle bloggers, eh?

Here's one from a list we're putting together:
UrbanDiner.ca
http://urbandiner.ca/

by Andrew Morrison.

It seems like Mr. Morrison covers a lot of ground, with restaurant reviews, links to events, job posts, some video blogs, resto-gossip, and lots of eye-candy photos on the home page.

It makes want to you start planning a trip to BC (British Columbia for those of you who don't know the names of parts of the country north of the US).

TasteTV Events include:

• The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
• The Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon, Oct. 5, 2008
  
• The Chicago Luxury Chocolate Salon, Sept. 7, 2008
  
• The Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon, July 13, 2008
  
• The New Media Tastemakers Summit

This blog from the contributors, producers and correspondents at TasteTV at TasteTV.com. technorati tags:TasteTV, restaurants, video, content, food, Chocolate, wine, recipes, cooking, Restaurant Reviews, Chef, ITV, fashion, seafood

How Many Brothers Chocolates are there?

There's been a lot of buzz about Mast Brothers Chocolate and the Brooklyn Brothers ad agency's new chocolate. It's a bit confusing, but it appears some if it comes from the fact that one's an ad agency that's decided to go into the product business as well.

Mast Brothers, also with a Brooklyn connection, has the notoriety of being made from bean to bar, which is always unique.

Per Adweek about Brooklyn Bros:

NEW YORK The Brooklyn Brothers, an ad agency that is neither based in Brooklyn nor run by brothers, is getting into the chocolate business.

The New York-based independent is currently testing an organic chocolate called Fat Pig that it hopes to get into select stores soon.

"The first reason we decided to do this is because we adore chocolate," said Guy Barnett, agency founder. "A year and a half ago I saw a report that the organic candy market is worth about $200 million. Knowing that the non-organic market is worth billions and billions, we wanted to take advantage of that opportunity."

For more on Mast go to:
EatMakeRead
Brooklyn Based

Unlike many chocolatiers who use couverture — discs of pre-made chocolate that can be remelted for confections and bars — Rick Mast, 31, (on the left) and Mike Mast, 28, are one of a dozen or so American chocolate artisans who hand make chocolate from cocoa bean to bar.

TasteTV Events include:

• The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
• The Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon, Oct. 5, 2008
  
• The Chicago Luxury Chocolate Salon, Sept. 7, 2008
  
• The Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon, July 13, 2008
  
• The New Media Tastemakers Summit

This blog from the contributors, producers and correspondents at TasteTV at TasteTV.com. technorati tags:TasteTV, restaurants, video, content, food, Chocolate, wine, recipes, cooking, Restaurant Reviews, Chef, ITV, fashion, seafood

New York's Most Powerful Weekly Food Critic - Amanda Hesser

Amanda Hesser, food critic at the New York Times, has been a hot new talent for several years, and now she's got plans to truly embrace new media and become, you guessed it, a new media tastemakers. At least, that's what we're hearing from an article in New York Magazine, who initially seemed to be a bit skeptical, but eventually published a "part 2" to the following:

Amanda Hesser is putting the best face on her buyout from the New York Times, spinning the event, 1998-style, as a bold new leap into the electronic frontier, in the form of a digital-life aggregator. (A digital-life aggregator is an application that gathers all the content you produce — photos, blog posts, YouTube videos, etc. — and puts it all on one Web page.) The only problems are that (a) her background and reputation is based entirely on food and cookery, and this project is, by her own admission, unrelated to either; and that (b) there are already a number of digital-life aggregators out there, and they’re not exactly taking America by storm. We would still feel bad for Amanda Hesser even if she were going to move to a beach house on Martinique — no one likes to lose a job at the Times — but this new-media venture has a grimness to it we wouldn’t wish on Judith Miller

TasteTV Events include:

• The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
• The Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon, Oct. 5, 2008
  
• The Chicago Luxury Chocolate Salon, Sept. 7, 2008
  
• The Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon, July 13, 2008
  
• The New Media Tastemakers Summit

This blog from the contributors, producers and correspondents at TasteTV at TasteTV.com. technorati tags:TasteTV, restaurants, video, content, food, Chocolate, wine, recipes, cooking, Restaurant Reviews, Chef, ITV, fashion, seafood

The NEW MEDIA TASTEMAKERS SUMMIT arrives on May 2nd

THE NEW MEDIA TASTEMAKERS SUMMIT for May 2nd

A first-of-its-kind gathering of 300 of the most important Digital Media, Traditional Media, Online Video and Web producers, platforms and startups specifically focused on the lucrative & highly influential Lifestyle categories of: FOOD & WINE, FASHION & DESIGN, AND REGIONAL/CITY SITES

More information is at www.NewMediaTasteMakers.com

Participating speakers include:





TasteTV Events include:

• The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
• The Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon
• The Chicago Chocolate Salon
• The New Media Tastemakers Summit

This blog from the contributors, producers and correspondents at TasteTV at TasteTV.com. technorati tags:TasteTV, restaurants, video, content, food, Chocolate, wine, recipes, cooking, Restaurant Reviews, Chef, ITV, fashion, seafood

Buying Mini-Vineyards

The Wall Street Journal talks about what could be a great compromise between being a winemaker, a tourist, and going to Crushpad: Mini-Vineyards

Mr. Abihaggle isn't overseeing the construction of a luxury polo estate; he's the project manager of the 2,000-acre Santa María de los Andes, a development that sells parcels of small, ready-made vineyards.

While an acre of good vineyard land in California's Napa Valley can go for $50,000 to $300,000, an acre of Mendoza land runs from $4,000 to $16,000, says Juan Carlos Pina, manager of the Bodegas de Argentina, a winery trade group.

Buyers are unlikely to make money simply by growing grapes and trying to sell them to winemakers, says David English, an American real-estate scout whose Mendoza-based company, English & Associates, has placed clients in the Los Amigos, Armani and Vines of Mendoza projects. "Being a grape farmer is not a moneymaking proposition. People make money by making wine and selling it overseas," says Mr. English. "People purchase at these projects because they want a turnkey solution and don't want to make a lot of decisions. And they pay a premium for it."

TasteTV Events include:

• The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
• The Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon
• The Chicago Chocolate Salon
• The New Media Tastemakers Summit

This blog from the contributors, producers and correspondents at TasteTV at TasteTV.com. technorati tags:TasteTV, restaurants, video, content, food, Chocolate, wine, recipes, cooking, Restaurant Reviews, Chef, ITV, fashion, seafood

IHT Article: Selling Vodka with a Feminine Twist

This is an excellent article on how a country FULL of vodka, where EVERYONE drinks vodka is trying to position new types of VODKA with VODKA DRINKERS.

A marketers nightmare, perhaps?

MOSCOW: The vodka ads tiling the walls of the Moscow metro station's escalators abound with hypermasculine imagery. One poster for the Olymp brand in the central Tverskaya metro station shows a boxer with Cro-Magnon features wearing armor and chain mail, and carries the slogan: "The time for the strong has come."

Recently, a new billboard has appeared here, displaying a lavender-tinged bottle with a distinctive feminine shape, adorned in a white skirt billowing upward, à la Marilyn Monroe, to reveal the label, Damskaya.

"Between us girls," is the catchphrase for this vodka intended for women.

As the economy continues its skyward race, marketers are taking note of Russian women and the discretionary income they represent. Scores of seemingly unisex products, from cigarettes to juice, breakfast cereals and even mobile phone plans have adopted a feminine flare. A fleet of pink taxis with female drivers spares the women here the callous flirtation of male cabbies.

And now there is vodka for women.

TasteTV Events include:

• The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon
• The Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon
• The Chicago Chocolate Salon
• The New Media Tastemakers Summit

This blog from the contributors, producers and correspondents at TasteTV at TasteTV.com. technorati tags:TasteTV, restaurants, video, content, food, Chocolate, wine, recipes, cooking, Restaurant Reviews, Chef, ITV, fashion, seafood