Fruitcake Recipes

Recipes and tips for making delicious holiday fruitcakes
By Diana Rattray, About.com Guide

Fruitcakes get an awful lot of bad press, especially the mass produced varieties, but a rich homemade version can be incredibly delicious.

The South, with it's great love for baking cakes, has offered many fruitcakes through the years. In Mary Randolph's "The Virginia Housewife" (1824), there is a recipe for "A Rich Fruit Cake" with a pound cake batter and 9 pounds of assorted raisins, currants, almonds, and citron. "Mrs. Hill's New Cookbook" (1872) gives recipes for five, including a "Cheap Fruitcake," "Confederate Fruit Cake," and "Black Cake."

Generally, fruitcake is a mixture of fruits and nuts with just enough batter to hold them together. When wrapped in cloth and foil, saturated with alcoholic liquors regularly, and kept in in tightly closed tins, a fruitcake may be kept for months or even years.

Have It Your Way...

If there are certain fruits you don't like, you can always include more of another, or some of your own favorites. Dried fruits cooked in juice can take the place of candied fruits, and seeds can replace nuts. To convert a favorite "dark" fruitcake recipe to a "light" fruitcake, leave out the dark spices, use light colored fruits (golden raisins, dried apricots, etc.), and replace dark corn syrup or molasses with light corn syrup.

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Hospitality Careers Training Center
2751 Hennepin Ave S #297
Minneapolis, MN 55408-1002
(612) 216-3987

For a complete list of TAP Series online programs offered by the Hospitality Careers Training Center as well as upcoming ServSafe class dates and locations, course description, cost, online registration, and ServSafe Essentials 5th Edition Textbook, visit: http://www.hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/

Coca-Cola Puts HFC Vending Machines on Ice

Full Phase-Out Set for 2015
By GreenBiz Staff
Published December 04, 2009

ATLANTA, GA — The Coca-Cola Company has pledged to replace all its vending machines using hydrofluorocarbons with coolers that employ more environmentally friendly refrigerants by 2015, the beverage firm and Greenpeace said.

Coca-Cola and it bottling partners have about 10 million vending machines and coolers operating around the world. The move to replace all of them with HFC-free units will reduce carbon emissions by 52.5 million metric tons over the life of the new equipment, which is roughly equivalent to taking 11 million cars off the road for a year, the firm and the organization estimate.

Coca-Cola and the environmental group made their joint announcement yesterday, capping almost a decade of work on the issue that dates to Greenpeace’s raucous challenge to the beverage giant at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney to come up with refrigerants that are not as harmful to the environment.

Since then Coca-Cola has spent about $50 million in research and development of cleaner cooling technology for vending machines and commercial coolers and is focusing on two: compressed carbon dioxide for larger units and hydrocarbon refrigeration for smaller units.

To view complete article visit: http://hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/12001.html

Hospitality Careers Training Center
2751 Hennepin Ave S #297
Minneapolis, MN 55408-1002
(612) 216-3987

For a complete list of TAP Series online programs offered by the Hospitality Careers Training Center as well as upcoming ServSafe class dates and locations, course description, cost, online registration, and ServSafe Essentials 5th Edition Textbook, visit: http://www.hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/

Contact your senators about health care reform

Debate continues this week in the Senate on health care reform, with the possibility of votes to advance the legislation. As you know, the Senate intends to conduct a full vote on the bill this month. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) recently agreed to partner with the National Restaurant Association to champion one of our key provisions.
　
To view complete article visit: http://hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/12001.html

Hospitality Careers Training Center
2751 Hennepin Ave S #297
Minneapolis, MN 55408-1002
(612) 216-3987

For a complete list of TAP Series online programs offered by the Hospitality Careers Training Center as well as upcoming ServSafe class dates and locations, course description, cost, online registration, and ServSafe Essentials 5th Edition Textbook, visit: http://www.hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/

100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do

This article, by Bruce Buschel, was posted in two parts on the New York Times Small Business "You're the Boss" blog. The article was discussed on Monday, December 7th's Midmorning with Kerri Miller from Minnesota Public Radio. Yesterday's blog has a link to listen to that discussion. Many Minnesota servers and customers called to voice their opinion during the one hour program. The article ends with a quote from Bill Gates that we can all relate to, "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/

By Bruce Buschel

Herewith is a modest list of dos and don’ts for servers at the seafood restaurant I am building. Veteran waiters, moonlighting actresses, libertarians and baristas will no doubt protest some or most of what follows. They will claim it homogenizes them or stifles their true nature. And yet, if 100 different actors play Hamlet, hitting all the same marks, reciting all the same lines, cannot each one bring something unique to that role?

1. Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting.

2. Do not make a singleton feel bad. Do not say, "Are you waiting for someone?" Ask for a reservation. Ask if he or she would like to sit at the bar.

3. Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived.

4. If a table is not ready within a reasonable length of time, offer a free drink and/or amuse-bouche. The guests may be tired and hungry and thirsty, and they did everything right.

5. Tables should be level without anyone asking. Fix it before guests are seated.

6. Do not lead the witness with, "Bottled water or just tap?" Both are fine. Remain neutral.

7. Do not announce your name. No jokes, no flirting, no cuteness.

8. Do not interrupt a conversation. For any reason. Especially not to recite specials. Wait for the right moment.

9. Do not recite the specials too fast or robotically or dramatically. It is not a soliloquy. This is not an audition.

10. Do not inject your personal favorites when explaining the specials.

To view complete article visit: http://hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/12001.html
Hospitality Careers Training Center
2751 Hennepin Ave S #297
Minneapolis, MN 55408-1002
(612) 216-3987

For a complete list of TAP Series online programs offered by the Hospitality Careers Training Center as well as upcoming ServSafe class dates and locations, course description, cost, online registration, and ServSafe Essentials 5th Edition Textbook, visit: http://www.hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/

Twin Cities food writers provide holiday tips

On Monday, December 7th Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning host Kerri Miller talks with Dara Maskowitz Grumdahl and Rick Nelson, loacl twin cities food writers, to provide tips for celebrating the season with food and drink. Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl is a food writer for Minnesota Monthly and four-time winner of the James Beard Award. Her new book is "Drink This: Wine Made Simple." Rick Nelson is a food writer for the Star Tribune.

To view complete article visit: http://hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/12001.html

Hospitality Careers Training Center
2751 Hennepin Ave S #297
Minneapolis, MN 55408-1002
(612) 216-3987

For a complete list of TAP Series online programs offered by the Hospitality Careers Training Center as well as upcoming ServSafe class dates and locations, course description, cost, online registration, and ServSafe Essentials 5th Edition Textbook, visit: http://www.hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/

Your Chicken is Probably Contaminated

A recent Consumer Reports study finds that two-thirds of whole broiler chickens tested across the country harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter. Urvashi Rangan is the author of the study, and tells host Liane Hansen of National Public Radio, which chickens made the good and bad lists. Transcript below.

LIANE HANSEN, host:

How safe is your chicken dinner? Apparently, not very. A recent Consumer Reports investigation put the birds to the test. They bought 382 uncooked whole chickens from over 100 different stores in 22 states and hired an outside lab to test for disease-causing bacteria. The results: two-thirds of the whole broiler chickens they tested harbored salmonella and another pathogen called campylobacter. Both are the leading bacterial causes of food-borne illness. Urvashi Rangan is the author of the Consumer Reports study. She says the results are troubling.

To view complete article visit: http://hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/12001.html

Hospitality Careers Training Center
2751 Hennepin Ave S #297
Minneapolis, MN 55408-1002
(612) 216-3987

For a complete list of TAP Series online programs offered by the Hospitality Careers Training Center as well as upcoming ServSafe class dates and locations, course description, cost, online registration, and ServSafe Essentials 5th Edition Textbook, visit: http://www.hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/

MIRACLE ON 25TH STREET

11.30.09 9:15am CST: Open Arms has a great deal to be thankful for. We have secured $8.1 million and successfully completed our capital campaign! The success of our campaign will allow us to finish construction of our new facility at 25th Street and Bloomington Avenue and begin serving even more clients with chronic, progressive and potentially life-threatening illnesses.

Since announcing our campaign in May of 2007, we have had tremendous support from this community – from a $5 gift from the four-year-old daughter of a volunteer to a million dollar donation from longtime supporters. More than 1,200 individuals, foundations, corporations and faith communities have contributed to our campaign. This tremendous outpouring of support – in the midst of the Great Recession – means Open Arms will qualify for an $800,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation and a $400,000 challenge grant from the Bush Foundation.

To view complete article visit: http://hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/12001.html

Hospitality Careers Training Center

2751 Hennepin Ave S #297

Minneapolis, MN 55408-1002

(612) 216-3987

http://www.hospitalitytrainingcenter.com/