Count Like a Foodie

You may have noticed that food writers have their own way of counting things. According to the dictionary, “a brace” is two things of the same kind, such as a brace of hounds or pistols, but in food-writer lingo, a brace is . . . well, no more than three or four. If they want to refer to two salsas, peppers, sorbets or whatever, they may call them “a tandem,” which would mean they were in single file, rather than side by side.

Of course, two salsas, etc., can also be “a duo,” and for higher numbers, “trio” and “quartet” come into play. In foodspeak, the Chinese dish called eight treasures would be an “octet” of vegetables.

No More Zip

We learn with dismay that a New York microbrewery named Zip City Brewing has gone out of business. It had been located in the 1897 headquarters of the National Temperance Society, which can’t afford the rent anymore either.

It’s Fabiolicious

Doubtless you’ve been waiting on the edge of your seat to hear who won the Recipe for Romance Dessert Contest. This is the one in which the grand prize winner goes to New York, collects $10,000 and meets I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spokes-hunk Fabio.

Sandra Bloise, a guidance counselor at Mango Elementary School in Seffner, Fla., took the prize over thousands of contestants. Her recipe, “Fabio-Luscious ‘Heart’s Desire,’ ” starts by poaching apple slices with hot cinnamon candies until they’re bright red. You line a pie crust with half of the apples, bake a cheesecake on top of them and finally put the rest of the red apple slices on top--one of them shaped like a heart. (Awww.)

It was worth $10,000 to her, and here’s her photo with Fabio and her dessert (glorified with a sort of spun sugar tornado that is not an essential to the recipe). If you want to inspect the recipe yourself, it’s at the ICBINB Web site: https://www.tasteyoulove.com