Slashfood

Demián and I experienced our first Carnaval in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico this past week. The streets were full of live music and revelers drinking from terracotta cups called jarritos de barro. Booths lined the streets with colorful signs advertising drinks like changuirongos (pronounced sort of like chan-gee-don-goes].

In the U.S., you typically find a boring version of this drink as a simple highball of tequila over ice, topped with ginger ale and garnished with a lime wedge. But ginger ale is not so common in Mexico -- more people reach for lemon/lime, orange or grapefruit sodas instead.

Our guess is that the changuirongo is related to the Paloma drink that's made with lime juice, tequila and grapefruit soda served as a highball, over ice, in a Collins glass with a salted rim. In some Mexican states, the changuirongo was nothing more than a Paloma served in a terracotta cup.

Another drink called a jarrito con piquete (jug with liquor) or jarrito loco (crazy jug) is similar. This version contains a tequila base, ice, fruit liqueur and a fruit garnish that often matches the liqueur, like fresh mango with mango liqueur.

This week North Carolina became the latest state to consider relaxing its restrictions on animals in restaurants.

"The current law does not allow animals," explains North Carolina Division of Environmental Health public information officer Laura Leonard, who yesterday participated in a public hearing on a rule revision that would permit pets on patios.

According to Leonard, the lone citizen who spoke at the hearing felt the new rule – which prohibits animals from entering the indoor dining area, eating table scraps, licking utensils and nuzzling with employees – was overly strict. But many North Carolinians aren't so inclined to share their restaurants with feathered and furry diners: The News & Observer reports hundreds of people have complained to the state that dogs would bring germs, fleas and noise to their favorite eateries.

The new rule would leave it up to restaurant owners to decide which animals – if any -- to welcome in their al fresco sections.

Greenopia has made being green a little easier with the launch of its updated Green Fast Food Guide.

The guide uses Greenopia's 4-Leaf rating system to evaluate the environmental impact and healthy dining characteristics of 23 fast-food restaurant chains including Chipotle, McDonald's, Starbucks, Taco Bell and Sonic.

At the top of the list, the only to get 4-Leaf ratings, are burger joint EVOS, Le Pain Quotidien and Pizza Fusion. Chipotle got two leaves and McDonald's got one, the only major international fast-food burger restaurant to receive any leaves.

"A really good proxy for the overall greenness of a fast-food chain is really what type of food they're serving – if they have organic products or if they try to incorporate local into their products or use fair-trade coffee," Doug Mazeffa, research director for Greenopia, told Slashfood.

Just when I thought that winter was kaput, that rascally groundhog spotted his shadow, consigning us to six more chilly weeks. On cue, Mother Nature sent blizzards screaming across the Midwest and East Coast, coating the country in a snowy blanket -- and forcing me to reach for a strong winter warmer, a malty-sweet English-style ale that'll heat up even the coldest bones.

I could opt for a winter warmer from a brewery that knows snow -- say, Old Jubilation Ale from Boulder, Colorado's Avery -- but instead I'm smitten by the Winter Warmer Warmer Winter from Cigar City Brewing, situated in sunny Tampa, Fla.

"This year, we actually got some downright frigid days," explains owner Joey Redner. "It actually worked out great -- the cold snap followed shortly after we released the beer."

One of the flavorings used to give a smoky flavor to meats and cheeses (in lieu of traditional smoking) may be hazardous to your health, Food Safety News reported.

The European Food Safety Authority examined 11 smoke flavorings used in the European Union and found that several of the flavorings had chemicals in them that could cause cell damage in high quantities.

It's pretty obvious, ladies: The 30-second spot with Kim Kardashian lolling around in bed with a Carl's Jr. chicken salad isn't meant for us. And it's not really about that salad, either. This is full-on food porn, but let's be honest -- in fast-food ads these days, the porn is more like, well, porn. The Kardashian commercial has all the staples of the genre -- the smooth, sexy soundtrack, plenty of cleavage shots, and even an eye-opening close-up of glistening drops of dressing on her lips and falling down between her breasts. Hungry yet?

Another recent gem comes courtesy of Burger King, this time a print image that was released in Singapore of a woman seconds away from deep-throating a sandwich called the "seven-incher." (Burger King was also responsible for that bizarre spot advertising Sponge Bob Square Pants kids meals with scantily clad women dancing to "Baby Got Back.")

Not for women. Got it. But are men really buying what they're selling? Evidently, yes. The Kardashian ad comes courtesy of CKE Restaurants, the parent group of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. The campaign actually started in 2005, with a spot featuring bathing-suit-clad Paris Hilton arching, crawling and posing her way around a wet Bentley to the tune of "I love Paris in the Summer." Oh yeah, and at some point therein, she eats a Carl's Jr. burger. (Seductively, of course.)

Cake balls, best described as ooey-gooey cupcakes with two tops, have become a certifiable trend in Texas and South Louisiana.

"We've definitely created kind of a craze," admits Robin Ankeny, the baker behind the Cake Ball Company in Dallas, where the local paper recently ran a story on how to make Valentine's versions of the wildly popular treats.

Ankeny started selling cake balls in 2008, inspiring a horde of professional and amateur imitators – and a few detractors: "Put down the cake balls," an Austin blogger pleaded in a recent post bidding good riddance to the past year's fads. The treats were so ubiquitous by Christmastime that the Times-Picayune food editor Judy Walker reported in early 2009 that they "turned up at just about every party or gathering I attended."

Walker admitted she'd never before heard of cake balls, a sentiment shared by food experts across the region. While Ankeny insists cake balls are an old Southern tradition, the treats are still rarely found in states that don't share a border with Texas.

• Will work for wine: Even Napa's feeling the economic pinch this winter.
• When surly chefs start tweeting, social media takes on an antisocial vibe.
• "Motorino is having a moment. That seems fair. It serves the city's best pizza."
• Meanwhile, this Phoenix restaurant's goal is less lofty: "We're just trying to bring reality back to dining...to get back to the way people used to eat."
• Speaking of of old-fashioned eating: Finish your Brussels sprouts. No, really. You'll like them.