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Rebecca Blood, one of my favorite (non-food/general) bloggers, has started an interesting challenge: eating for a month organically on a U.S. Food Stamp budget. Naturally she is blogging the experience. Given the current ongoing discussions in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere about the cost of eating ethically, let alone organically, it's a very timely experiment. Rebecca's budget for 2 is "$74.00/week or 320.80/month, the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] 'Thrifty' standard for a family of 2 adults, aged 20-50 years."

(My only very minor nitpick would be that Rebecca lives in the Bay Area, which has to be one of the easiest places in the world to conduct such an experiment. :) Now I'd like to see a similar one by a blogger in say, Iceland. Any takers? )

It only seems like yesterday (actually it was in January) that season 2 of Top Chef ended, leaving many of us baffled and rather disillusioned at the Ilan over Marcel decision. Nevertheless, season 3 is already looming on the horizon. It's set to kick off on June 6, with a season 1 vs. season 2 All-Star Clash. It'll be the final four of season 2 vs. the final four, minus LeeAnne Wong (who is presumably not included since she's on the show's staff, so to speak) but with everyone's love-to-hate-him target Stephen Asprinio. Marcel vs. Stephen! I have to admit I am looking forward to that at least.

Some more highlights according to the press release after the fold:

Update: Want to make okonomiyaki from scratch? Try this detailed recipe!

Johanna of the passionate cook has been running a series called Culinary Snapshots, of cities around the world. The Culinary Snapshot of Zürich that I wrote is now up there. (The pictures there were taken in late March by the way, when it was warm enough for t-shirts!) Re-reading it now I think I may need some armor against proprietors of Asian-Fusion restaurants in town. :)

A shoutout to all U.S. readers who have a Baskin Robbins store nearby: tonight (May 2nd) they are holding a 31 cent scoop promotion from 5 pm to 10 pm. It's been a long time since I've had one of the 31 flavors, seduced as I've been by richer ice creams, but for 31 cents...why not? Spread the word!

Things may be just a bit slower on Just Hungry for the next couple of months, since I'll be on the road a lot. I do have several articles piled up on the back burner though, so you shouldn't miss much (hopefully) in the way of new stuff to read. What may be slower is my comment and new user registration approval rate, as well as replying to comments, but I'll try to get to them when I can.

A number of people have created accounts here to avoid the necessary evil to reduce spammers that is the CAPTCHA thingy. But you may have noticed that there was no way to actually log in. Oops. Now there is - on every page you should now see a login / register link. I'm still trying to figure out what additional benefits I can bring to registered and logged in users...but for now, if you are logged in, you'll no longer have to solve the math question.

Yesterday, I found out that one of the most talented sushi chefs I've ever known had died. He was still relatively young (in his 50s). He was at one time one of the itamae at the late, lamented Sushisay in New York.

The authorities are investigating the cause of his death. They have to do this, because his body was found in his bath, at least a month after he had died.

Normally, all the junk mail we get goes straight to the trash. Not these things we got in our mailbox yesterday though.

These are two full-size bars of Cailler (Nestlé) milk chocolate. No messing about with tiny sample sizes here.

Reader Nanette has posted a great question here, about hosting a fund-raising green tea tasting party for a large group (50 people). I had to think about this for a bit, and here are some of the ideas I have come up with.