Home of $25,000 Dessert Closed Due to Pests

Remember a little earlier this month I blogged about a New York restaurant creating a 25,000 dollar dessert? (Original story found here: New York Restaurant Creates World's Priciest Dessert) Well, it seems that they may have spent a little too much on ingredients, and not enough on pest control. Ther restaurant, called Serendipity 3 has failed it's second health inspection due to a small infestation of mice and roaches, and has been temporarily closed down. Here's the story from Yahoo!News:

Mice, roaches close home of $25,000 dessert

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan restaurant that unveiled a record-breaking $25,000 dessert last week has been forced to shut its doors temporarily due to an infestation of mice and cockroaches.

Serendipity 3 on the Upper East Side failed its second consecutive health inspection in a month on Wednesday night after health officials found a live mouse, mouse droppings in multiple places, flies and dozens of live cockroaches, the Heath Department said.

"We're rectifying it as quickly as we can," said owner Steven Bruce, adding the restaurant would then be allowed to reopen.

Serendipity 3 set a Guinness world record on November 7 for the most expensive dessert when it partnered with luxury jeweler Euphoria New York to create "Frrozen Haute Chocolate," a blend of 28 cocoas fused with 0.2 ounces of edible 23-karat gold.

Link to the full story.

Jones to Release Kosher Ham Soda in Seasonal Pack This Year

Jones Soda Co. has announced it will be shelving it's traditional "Turkey and Gravy" soda this year, opting instead to include a "Christmas Ham" flavored soda in it's seasonal pack. This years two seasonal packs will be Christmas and Hanukkah themed, and include such flavors as Christmas Tree, Egg Nog, and Christmas Ham in the Christmas pack, and Jelly Doughnut, Chocolate Coins and Latkes in the Hanukkah pack. And according to a Jones news release, the ham soda is even kosher.

I have to admit, I love most of the Jones Soda I've tried, but I haven't had a chance to sample any of their holiday packs, but they definitely sound intriguing, if somewhat weird, but hey, I'd probably give them a try given half a chance. Here's the story from Yahoo!News:

Soda-maker: Ham flavor will be kosher

SEATTLE - It's rare to find kosher ham. Rarer still to find it carbonated and bottled. Jones Soda Co., the Seattle-based purveyor of offbeat fizzy water, said Friday that it was shelving its traditional seasonal flavors of turkey and gravy this year to produce limited-edition theme packs for Christmas and Hanukkah.

The Christmas pack will feature such flavors as Sugar Plum, Christmas Tree, Egg Nog and Christmas Ham. The Hanukkah pack will have Jelly Doughnut, Apple Sauce, Chocolate Coins and Latkes sodas.

"As always, both packs are kosher and contain zero caffeine," a Jones news release noted.

Link to the full story. Picture from Jones Soda website.

And for your reading pleasure, here's some previous posts about the wonderful flavors from the people at Jones Soda Co.: Bottler offers salmon-flavoured soda, Jones Soda to Offer Pea Flavored Soda, and Jones Introduces New Football Themed Sodas.

New York Restaurant Creates World's Priciest Dessert

A New York Restaurant, Serendipity 3, has unvieled a new dessert confirmed by Guinness as the world's most expensive, coming in at $25,000. The new dessert called the "Frrozen Haute Chocolate" contains 28 cocoas, including 14 of the world's most expensive, infused with edible gold, and topped with whipped cream covered with more gold and a La Madeline au Truffle, which sells for $2,600 a pound! All of this is then served in a goblet lined with more edible gold and encircled by a 18-karat gold bracelet with 1 carat of white diamonds and is eaten with a diamond studded golden spoon that the diners can take home with them. Also of interest is the $1,000 bagel mentioned at the bottom. Here's the story at Yahoo!News:

New York's pricey dessert sets Guinness record

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A day after New York City came up with a $1,000 (475 pound) bagel, a local restaurateur unveiled a $25,000 chocolate sundae on Wednesday, setting a Guinness world record for the most expensive dessert.

Stephen Bruce, owner of Serendipity 3, partnered with luxury jeweller Euphoria New York to create the "Frrozen Haute Chocolate", a blend of 28 cocoas, including 14 of the most expensive and exotic from around the globe.

The dessert, spelled with two Rs, is infused with 0.2 ounces of edible 23-karat gold and served in a goblet lined with edible gold. At the base of the goblet is an 18-karat gold bracelet with 1 carat of white diamonds.

The sundae is topped with whipped cream covered with more gold and a side of La Madeline au Truffle from Knipschildt Chocolatier, which sells for $2,600 a pound.

It is eaten with a gold spoon decorated with white and chocolate-coloured diamonds, which can also be taken home.

Link to the full story. Photo copyright Chip East/Reuters.

Hospital Blogging

Well, due to a family emergency, this entry is coming from the cafeteria at King's Daughters Medical Center, in Ashland. They had to send my grandmother down here due to an erratic heart rate, and extremely low blood pressure. She is currently stable, and seeming to be a little better, but her heart's still erratic at times, and she has moments when she's not very lucid. The facility itself is amazing though. The unit she's in at the moment has Internet built into the TV system so you can watch TV or surf the net, the rooms are very comfortable, the staff amazingly friendly, and the food at the cafeteria surprisingly good (oh, and obviously the cafeteria has net access too). Next time I need to go to a hospital, I'm going to see if they'll send me here. I don't care if it's for a stubbed toe, load me up and send me to Ashland.

On a side note, I saw something here earlier I had never seen before, thickened instant coffee. My grandma has been having trouble swallowing, so I guess this was to help her with getting it down so it didn't run straight down here throat, but it amazed me. It was almost like a liquid-y gel, like before Jell-o has a chance to set up properly. All in all, it was quite weird.