This is the day for recall news I guess. Wonderful Pistachios announced that it is voluntarily recalling a limited number of flavors and sizes of in-shell and shelled pistachios due to a risk ofSalmonella contamination. Wonderful also sells under the Trader Joe and Paramount Farms labels. To read the entire FDA announcement click here.
Nestlé USA is initiating a voluntary recall of a limited number of DiGiorno®, Lean Cuisine®, and Stouffer’s® products due to the potential presence of glass pieces. To read the entire press release click here. Otherwise, here’s the cheat sheet:
Invented by a Mom to help keep her kids healthier throughout the year, Scrub Bugs are creating an entirely new category of healthy hygiene for kids.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hands are the #1 carriers of sickness causing germs. Despite this, kids don’t actually wash their hands well enough to remove all the germs.
Scrub Bugs was just launched on Kickstarter – they plan for Spring shipping. Watch the video and see how easy it is to get kids to actually clean those disgusting mitts. I’m gonna see if I can round up a sample or two for use and/or giveaway. Don’t see why kids should have all the fun!
Kohl’s announced on Thursday that they will be closing 18 stores nationwide and piloting a smaller 35,000 square foot store in 7 US markets. The 18 stores that Kohl’s will close this summer are expected to generate $55 million in savings, and represent less than 1 percent of its total sales. To read the entire article, click here.
In case you missed the news, Freshlii, the Canadian restaurant chain which offers everything from a juice cleanse to customized wraps and quinoa bowls, will sell the Mexican items on its menu for half price on Feb. 8, the same day Chipotle Mexican Grill will close all its stores for a few hours for an employee meeting on food safety. The Chipotle stores will open at 3 p.m., later than the usual start time of 10 a.m. or 11 a.m., missing the lunch hour rush on a Monday.
Target recently converted some of their cafes into Freshlii ones, but I don’t know if they’ll be participating.
It’s that time of the year again – free food from Panda Express to celebrate Chinese New Year. This year is the Year of the Monkey and a return to their Gold Bar (chicken egg roll). There’s a limit of one coupon per person per day per location (it’s a pdf), so plan your dinner route accordingly!
White Castle is taking a big step toward assuring customers that its food is safe: It’s publishing the health inspection grades for all of the chain’s nearly 400 restaurants online.The 95-year-old burger chain based in Columbus, Ohio, published a website Wednesday,WhiteCastleClean.com, which includes food safety facts, White Castle’s historic food safety efforts, as well as the health inspection reports for all of its locations. Read the entire article from Restaurant News here.
I will admit to the occasional lust for a crave case or two…
In case you missed the news, Freshlii, the Canadian restaurant chain which offers everything from a juice cleanse to customized wraps and quinoa bowls, will sell the Mexican items on its menu for half price on Feb. 8, the day Chipotle Mexican Grill will close all its stores for a few hours for an employee meeting on food safety. The Chipotle stores will open at 3 p.m., later than the usual start time of about 10 a.m. or 11 a.m., skipping the lunch hour rush on a Monday. ouch!
Target recently converted some of the cafes into Freshlii ones – wonder if they’ll be participating?
It’s that time of year again: twinkle lights, holiday cookies, carol singing… and your trusty aluminum Festivus pole. Yep, that’s right, folks, it’s Festivus season. Traditionally celebrated on December 23rd, Festivus is the holiday brain child of Frank Costanza, the cranky, quick-to-rage-at-just-about-everything father of Seinfeld character George Costanza. (And the hero who taught us that yelling “Serenity now!” was a surefire way to reduce stress.)
It’s also a much-beloved but short-lived Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor. Back in 2000, just two years after the television sitcom ended, we debuted Festivus, a tasty combination of brown sugar cinnamon ice cream, gingerbread cookie chunks and a ginger caramel swirl. Dare we say it was even better than a big salad or bowl of lobster bisque from the soup Nazi? “We set out to be Seinfeld-worthy,” says Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Guru Rob Douglas. “We pondered long and hard about what a holiday ice cream flavor should be, and yadda, yadda, yadda, Festivus was born. This flavor kicks fruitcake’s ass!”
After the 2000 success of Festivus, we knew that Seinfeld fans wouldn’t be happy with only one season of the ginger-centric treat, so we brought it back for the 2001 holiday season much to fans’ delight. While they gathered to air their grievances, perform the feats of strength and admire their stark aluminum Festivus poles (no tinsel, that would be distracting), we like to think that a good number of Festivus celebrators also enjoyed a hearty pint of the holiday’s namesake Ben & Jerry’s flavor.
For those paying close attention in their grocer’s freezer aisle, you may have noticed that the Festivus flavor was reincarnated twice after its demise: once in 2004 as Gingerbread Cookie, and again in 2009 as Gingersnap. Fans just can’t get enough of that ginger-ey, brown sugar-ey goodness.
So this Festivus, raise a glass to the show that brought us the close talker and the coffee table book about coffee tables, and the Ben & Jerry’s flavor that reminded us not to take the holiday season too seriously.
PITA asks: Why on Earth did they change the name? Enquiring minds want to know.
Target announced Wednesday it will be closing 13 of its U.S. retail stores, but they will remain open through the holiday season. Closing date is currently set for January 30, 2016. “Target usually chooses to close stores after their profitability has been declining for a number of years.” Target insisted the decision was about the individual stores, “not about the broader company in any way.”
These are the 13 store locations:
And for many of us, there are 13 stores within driving range anyway!