Food In The Fort

I just about completed upgrading Food In The Fort from WordPress 2.6.2 to WordPress 2.7.1, along with any plugins that needed upgrading too. Why? Because that’s just the kind of crazy ass thing I do for fun. Oh, and I want to start taking Food In The Fort to the next level so it’s nice to be on the current codebase. WordPress 2.7.x is much improved over previous versions, and WordPress 2.8 is just around the corner. Of course, it meant saying goodbye to a couple of old favorite plugins (farewell Flexible Upload, we hardly knew ye) but I’m sure we’ll find adequate replacements. Anyhoo, there’s still some kinks to work out, mostly in CSS but I’m not going to fret over them too much because I thoroughly intend to build a new theme for FITF, sometime in the next year.

I’m going to do a long overdue upgrade of Food In The Fort from WordPress 2.3.3 to WordPress 2.6.2 starting now. While FitF should generally remain available, you might expect a good deal of wonky behavior if you visit the site as I’ll be disabling plugins and moving back and forth between the default WordPress theme and the Freshy 2 theme that FitF uses. Hopefully this won’t take too long, and I’ve done a full backup in case of disaster. I’ll post when the upgrade is complete. See you on the flip side.

California Polytechnic State University scientist Raul Cano will go to almost any length to brew the perfect beer, and in this case he’s gone back in time. Well, not quite. Actually, he’s using a strain of yeast out of time.

Cano managed to extract a strain of yeast that has laid dormant for forty-five million years inside a Lebanese weevil trapped inside a piece of Burmese amber. And if that doesn’t peg the needle on your Cool’O'Meter, Cano has also managed to reactivate the yeast and is now brewing barrels of pale ale and German wheat beer. Don’t think that only scientists at California Polytechnic will be able to sample Cano’s pre-historic brew, because you can buy it through Cano’s Fossil Fuels Brewing Company.

“You can always buy brewing yeast, and your product will be based on the brewmaster’s recipes,” said Cano. “Our yeast has a double angle: We have yeast no one else has and our own beer recipes.”

The beer has been receiving good reviews and according to Cano the beer’s unique taste, described as smooth and spicy, is due to the ancient yeast’s ability to only consume a narrow range of sugars. Sadly, right now Fossil Fuels Brewing Company is only distributing the beer to select bars and pubs in the Northern California area. If Catherine and I can manage to get our hands on some, you, our dear readers, will surely be the first to know.

Source: Discovery News.

Oh my! These candies should come with an R rating. What are those fruits doing with that green jelly bean looking creature? Do I even want to know? All I can say is that they certainly look like they’re having fun. Hat tip to Blame It On The Voices.

Via What’s Going Down(town) we learn that the Downtown Improvement District is bringing back their popular Downtown Dining Club cards. The cards are meant to encourage people to visit the many great downtown Fort Wayne restaurants, and there are some wonderful deals to be had at some of your favorite Fort Wayne eateries.

Each time you visit one of the participating restaurants you’ll get a stamp for your card. Collect eight stamps and you’ll be entered into a contest for a VIP Party for you and all of your friends at Columbia Street West plus a night’s stay at the downtown Hilton.

To get your free Downtown Dining Club Card, just visit any one of the participating restaurants and you’ll get your card right along with your meal. Nothing could be simpler, and you get to save a few shekels while enjoying some seriously good eats and supporting your local restaurateurs. Everybody wins.

Hmm… And lunch is only an hour away…

Read on for the full list of participating restaurants… Read the rest of this entry »

Because our entire world doesn’t revolve around food we took the day off from Food In The Fort to go tour the Indiana Alpaca Invitational at the Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum. In case you missed your opportunity to see these gorgeous creatures up close and personal, this free show runs through tomorrow, March 6th. But we did finally take the time to update our About page. So if you’ve been wondering who Catherine and Leo are, and what Food In The Fort is all about, now is your opportunity to satisfy your curiosity, if not actually be informed. But do go see those alpacas. You’ll be glad you did.

Saturday, April 12th you can sample the cooking of 70+ local businessmen, including Councilman Mitch Harper and Mark Carboni, all the while supporting a good cause. The Parkview Foundation’s Cookin’ Men 5 will be held 7 pm at Fort Wayne Memorial Colliseum, Expo 1. Proceeds of the charity event go to support Parkview Hospital and Francine’s Friends mobile mammography unit. If you’d like to reserve tickets give the Parkview Foundation a call.

Would you know your fusilli from your orecchiette? How about the difference between linguine and fetucine? Maybe not, but I’d be willing to bet that you’d know pasta is delicious no matter what the shape. Still, if you’d like to impress your friends and family with your command of all pasta, great and small, then this fun and informative quiz is just what you need to shore up your shaky knowledge of pasta shapes. Alas, I only scored 71% but you can probably do better. Let us know in comments. Hat tip goes to Slashfood for this enjoyable time waster.

Photo credit: Rachel Been, AOL.

Welcome to Food In The Fort, a food blog from two serious foodies living in the bustling metropolis of Fort Wayne, Indiana. We’re still building the site but in future days you’ll be able to find recipes, restaurant reviews, and general commentary on all things food and Fort Wayne right here.