Selasa, 8 Januari 2013

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Actor Patrick Dempsey buys Seattle coffee chain Tully’s

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:27 PM PST

SEATTLE, Jan 9 — Actor Patrick Dempsey outbid six other rivals including coffee giant Starbucks — which he called "the green monster" — to become owner of Seattle coffee chain Tully's.

Dempsey, best known among TV audiences for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd or "McDreamy" on the US show "Grey's Anatomy", brought the chain out of bankruptcy with a US$9.15 million (RM27.6 million) bid through his company Global Baristas.

"We met the green monster, looked her in the eye, and ... she blinked! We got it! Thank you Seattle!" tweeted the actor in reference to Starbucks, a Twitter blast that was retweeted by about 680 people as of January 7.

Dempsey's fictitious medical drama is based in Seattle.

Tully's partner Green Mountain Coffee Roasters released a statement saying the buyout would do little to change existing operations, as the company would continue to roast, package and sell Tully's Coffee in bags, K-Cup packs and Vue packs in supermarkets, club and specialty stores.

The US Bankruptcy court will be holding a hearing to review the bid on Friday.

In addition to their US locations, Tully's coffees are available at 450 retail locations around the world, including Japan, Korea and Singapore. — AFP/Relaxnews

American chef’s independent spirit fires Southern cuisine

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 09:12 PM PST

Kevin Gillespie, back down to earth from the elite. — Reuters pic

NEW YORK, Jan 9 — "Fire in my Belly" is an apt title for the debut cookbook of US chef and restaurateur Kevin Gillespie, who turned down a scholarship to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology because a career in science just didn't feel right.

"I've always been incapable of pursuing something that I didn't have a connection with, not so much cerebral as emotional," said Gillespie, whose passions led instead to culinary school and an apprenticeship at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlanta.

Under chapters such as "Foods You Thought You Hated" and "Junk Food", the 120 recipes in Gillespie's book reflect his independent spirit as much as his former restaurant, the Woodfire Grill, and his Southern roots.

Gillespie, who is from Atlanta and was recognised in 2010 by the Gayot guide as one of the top five rising US chefs, spoke to Reuters about "progressive Southern cuisine", non-elitist fine dining, and why a well-executed deep-fried candy bar can be really delicious.

Q: How did you learn to cook?

A: "Everyone learns from their family. I grew up in a traditional Southern family cooking traditional Southern cuisine. Simultaneously my maternal grandmother was well travelled and intrigued by food, so she would experiment with different types of cuisine ... Professionally, I worked almost exclusively under Europeans. Today, my food is a perfect blending of all these things."

Q: You sold your Woodfire Grill restaurant in Atlanta to open a new one, Gun Show, in February in the same city. Why?

A: "I had an elitist restaurant. The Woodfire Grill restaurant, which I had for five years, was very formal fine dining. As I grew as a chef I became more interested in having a restaurant that people in all walks of life can be comfortable in. That's not to say that we'll abandon fine dining, but I wanted a more welcoming space. I think cooking has always attempted to bring people together, not separate them."

Q: How would you describe your cuisine?

A: "My cuisine is reflective of the South, rooted in the South. I tend to prefer the term 'progressive Southern' to 'modern Southern', which I think is oxymoronic. I'm not attempting to modernise anything. I'm attempting to move our history forward."

Q: Why does your book include a chapter called Junk Food?

A: "There is a place in this world for all types of food. I don't believe that by design one type of cooking is better. I think that by execution one tends to be better. I think that well-conceived and well-executed quote-unquote junk food can be really delicious. But it requires the same thought and passion as your five-star fine-dining cuisine."

Q: Is that what led to re-engineer the deep-fried candy bar?

A: "The deep-fried candy bar is rooted in Scottish tradition. The idea is cool but it's poorly executed. No one really tried to make it great. They just made it ... Most people outside of chefs wouldn't spend five minutes trying to make a fried candy bar perfect. It's just junk food, so who cares? I care."

Q: What staples do you recommend to the home chef?

A: "People leave salt out of their food all the time, maybe because processed food has salt embedded in it. When you deal with fresh food you have to come back to seasoning, to salt. Also neutral cooking oil, such as canola or grape seed, (but) not as a substitute for extra virgin olive oil. They have different uses. And good-quality apple cider vinegar. For American cooking it's indispensable."

Q: Do you have any advice for the home cook?

A: "The only real time in the kitchen is how long things take to cook. It's not when you're ready to eat or when your (TV) show is coming on. If you try to find faster ways to do something you will end up with a lesser-quality result."

My Granny's Pole Beans (serves six)

Pole beans 1 pound, strings and tips removed
Onion 1 baseball-size, quartered
Garlic 1 clove, mashed
Smoked fatback 2 ounces, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt 1 teaspoon
Dried red pepper flakes ½ teaspoon
Bay leaf 1
Chicken stock about 4 cups
Apple cider vinegar 2 teaspoons

Cut the pole beans into 1-inch pieces and put them in a Dutch oven. Add the onion, garlic, fatback, salt, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and enough chicken stock to generously cover the ingredients.

Cover the pot and bring the beans to a boil. Cut the heat down and simmer, covered, until a knife goes straight through a bean with no resistance, about 30 minutes. The beans should be quite tender but not mushy.

Turn off the heat and stir in the vinegar. Taste and add salt if needed. Uncover and let the beans cool to room temperature in their liquid. This is where Granny got it right: She'd start the beans early in the morning, set them aside, and let them finish cooking as they cooled down.

It's a slow-cooking method that most folks don't think about today. But the extra time of the heat brings the flavours together like no other method can. Be sure to make this recipe at least two hours in advance so the beans have time to cool in the cooking liquid. Then just skim the fat from the surface and reheat the beans before serving. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Ecclestone hopes for Nuerburgring deal this week

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 07:24 AM PST

LONDON, Jan 8 – The Nuerburgring is set to host this year's German Grand Prix and a deal could be agreed this week after further talks, Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said today.

The 82-year-old (picture) also said that the calendar, approved by the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) last November, would have 19 races rather than the 20 slots available.

The calendar has the German race listed for July 7 at a circuit to be confirmed and another unnamed European round pencilled in for July 21 and intended for Turkey before talks stalled over money.

The Nuerburgring and Hockenheim have alternated as venues for the German Grand Prix in recent years, with the former due to host this year's round.

However the circuit's financial problems have led to uncertainty.

"It should be the Nuerburgring and we are trying to make it happen," said Ecclestone in a telephone conversation. "I'm talking with them today."

The billionaire, who has expanded the calendar to new destinations far from the sport's European heartland, played down suggestions Hockenheim could step in.

Circuit owners Nuerburgring GmbH, who are 90 per cent owned by the German regional state of Rhineland-Palatinate, has run into financial trouble amid a dispute with track operator NAG over leasing fees.

The state authorities are under pressure to make the track pay after pouring millions of euros into a racing-themed amusement park there.

The circuit is due to be put up for auction later this year but Nuerburgring managing director Thomas Schmidt, who runs the company with an insolvency administrator, said in November that they had agreed with NAG to plan for 2013 regardless of the dispute.

The race is a home one for Red Bull's triple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who has yet to win a grand prix on German soil, as well as for car maker Mercedes who now have Britain's 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton partnering Germany's Nico Rosberg in their works team. – Reuters

Modric adapting to Spain, says Real team mate Alonso

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 07:06 AM PST

MADRID, Jan 8 – Xabi Alonso has backed Real Madrid team mate Luka Modric to come good despite an indifferent start to the Croatia midfielder's La Liga career.

Modric, 27 (picture), left Tottenham Hotspur in August and has started only eight of his new club's 18 La Liga matches and three of six Champions League games.

Alonso, coach Jose Mourinho's preferred choice alongside Germany's Sami Khedira in central midfield, said he himself needed time to adjust when he returned to Spain from Tottenham's English rivals Liverpool in 2009.

"There are a few of us competing for that position and he is adapting to a new club and a new league," Alonso told a news conference ahead of tomorrow's King's Cup last 16, second leg at home to Celta Vigo.

"I found it difficult in my first season after coming from the Premier League but he is very well integrated, he is a fantastic lad and a great player. I have no doubt he will be important (to us)."

Real need to overturn a 2-1 deficit from last month's first leg in Vigo if they are to secure a meeting with Valencia or Osasuna in the quarter-finals.

Lying third in La Liga, Mourinho's side have looked ragged in defence in recent weeks and Alonso said stopping Celta scoring an away goal at the Bernabeu would be key to their progress. – Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

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The Malaysian Insider :: Features

Copying common in electronic medical records

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 07:38 AM PST

COLUMBUS, Jan 8 — Most doctors copy and paste old, potentially out-of-date information into patients' electronic records, according to a US study looking at a shortcut that some experts fear could lead to miscommunication and medical errors.

Experts suggested that copying signifies a shift in how doctors use notes, away from being a means of communication among fellow healthcare providers and toward being a barrage of data to document billing. — AFP pic

"The electronic medical record was meant to make the process of documentation easier, but I think it's perpetuated copying," said lead author Daryl Thornton, assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Electronic health records have been touted as having the potential to transform patient data from indecipherable scribbles into easy-to-read, searchable standardized documents that could be shared among hospital staffers and a patient's various other health care providers.

Many electronic record keeping systems allow text to be copied and pasted from previous notes and other documents, a shortcut that could help time-crunched doctors but that could also cause mistakes to be passed along or medical records to become indecipherable, critics argue.

To see how much information in patient records came from copying, Thornton's team, in a study published in Critical Care Medicine, examined 2,068 electronic patient progress reports created by 62 residents and 11 attending physicians in the intensive care unit of a Cleveland, Ohio hospital.

Progress notes are typically shared among doctors, nurses and other hospital staff and are meant to document the progression of a patient's tests and treatments.

Using plagiarism-detection software, the researchers analyzed five months' worth of progress notes for 135 patients.

They found that 82 per cent of residents' notes and 74 per cent of attending physicians' notes included 20 per cent or more copied and pasted material from the patients' records.

Thornton and his colleagues did not examine what motivated physicians and residents to copy and paste, or whether the shortcut affected patient care.

But in one case, a patient left the ICU and was readmitted a couple of days later. The patient's medical record included so much copied and pasted information that the new team of doctors wasn't able to decipher the original diagnosis. In the end, the team called the physicians who originally diagnosed the patient.

"What tends to get missing is the narrative — what's the patient's story?" said Michael Barr, senior vice president in the Division of Medical Practice, Professionalism and Quality at the American College of Physicians. Barr was not involved in the study. — Reuters

Debt may influence young doctors’ career plans

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 07:32 AM PST

A study finds that the average paediatric resident doctor's debt increased 34 per cent between 2006 and 2010. — AFP pic

NEW YORK, Jan 8— Paediatricians-in-training are more likely to plan to go into primary care, rather than a speciality field, if they have lots of debt from college and medical school, according to a US study.

Researchers publishing in Pediatrics also found that the average paediatric resident doctor's debt increased 34 per cent between 2006 and 2010.

That suggests financial considerations may keep young doctors out of medical specialities, they said, especially those fields that aren't known for paying well but still require extra training.

"(The debt) keeps climbing, and it doesn't seem like there's an end," said Mary Pat Frintner, the study's lead author, from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

"There are multiple factors that (affect) a paediatrician's career decisions, and debt is just one part of that," she told Reuters Health. "Since there's no end in sight to the rise in debt, that relationship may become more important in the future."

The findings also hint that rising debt, due to increases in medical school tuition, is not what's driving young doctors away from primary care, as many people have suggested, according to one health economist.

The new data collected by the AAP are based on five years of surveys of young doctors finishing their residencies, the training that follows medical school. The study included about 2,700 pediatric residents.

Close to three-quarters of the responders had debt from school. The average graduating resident's debt increased from US$104,000 (RM316,000) in 2006 to US$139,000 in 2010.

Forty-three per cent of residents had career plans requiring further subspecialty training, such as in paediatric cardiology or adolescent medicine. The rest planned to go straight into primary care or hospital medicine.

Frintner and her colleagues found residents with at least US$51,000 in debt were about 50 per cent more likely to be planning a primary care or hospitalist career than those who owed less or no money.

Women and residents with children were also less apt to be seeking further speciality training before entering the workforce, the research team said.

Peter Bach, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, said that residents with more debt may come from more disadvantaged backgrounds, which might influence the type of medicine they want to practice. So the link between debt and career plans might not be cause-and-effect, he told Reuters Health.

So far, there hasn't been a spike in the number of paediatric residents pursuing primary care careers rather than becoming specialists, Frintner said. In fact, there's still concern there may be too few primary care doctors, at least in some parts of the United States.

Increasing debt may create or worsen other shortages by discouraging young doctors from pursuing speciality training in fields that aren't particularly lucrative, such as adolescent medicine, the researchers said.

Amitabh Chandra, an economist and health policy researcher from Harvard University, said the findings go against conventional wisdom that debt is one concern driving medical students to specialities and away from lower-paying primary care jobs - and that raising salaries for fields that need more doctors may be a more effective strategy than focusing on debt. — Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views

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The Malaysian Insider :: Breaking Views

Kastam Melaka rampas rokok seludup bernilai RM3.4 juta

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 07:41 AM PST

MELAKA, 8 Jan — Jabatan Kastam Diraja Malaysia (JKDM) Melaka berjaya merampas rokok seludup pelbagai jenama bernilai RM3.4 juta termasuk cukai menerusi dua operasi dalam tempoh lapan hari pertama tahun ini.

Pengarahnya Datuk Mohd Nasir Said berkata rampasan terbaharu ialah pada pukul 10 pagi hari ini di Km 245.7 Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan, membabitkan 3,078,400 batang rokok keretek bernilai RM1.9 juta.

"Tiga buah kereta dipercayai tonto mengiringi lori berkenaan namun melarikan diri sebaik menyedari kenderaan JKDM dengan empat anggota cuba menghampiri lori itu," katanya kepada pemberita pada sidang media di sini.

Pihaknya turut menahan pemandu lori berusia 39 tahun itu bagi membantu siasatan. Menurut Mohd Nasir, JKDM Melaka melakukan rampasan pertama pada Jumaat lalu selepas menahan sebuah lori, juga di Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan, berdekatan susur keluar Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Hasil pemeriksaan ke atas lori tersebut pasukan penguat kuasa menemui 2.8 juta batang rokok bernilai RM1.5 juta termasuk cukai, katanya.

Katanya pemandu lori tersebut bagaimanapun berjaya melarikan diri.

Kedua-dua kes disiasat mengikut Seksyen 135(1)(e) Akta Kastam 1967 yang membawa hukuman mengikut Seksyen 135 (1)(iii)(aa) akta sama, iaitu didenda tidak kurang 10 kali ganda dan tidak lebih 20 kali nilai dagangan atau dipenjara tidak lebih tiga tahun atau kedua-duanya, jika sabit kesalahan. — Bernama

Rushdie, Amis targeted in critical maulings of 2012

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 07:40 AM PST

Salman Rushdie's reputation as a literary heavyweight did not save him from the savage sarcasm of the critics. Rushdie and some of his fellow novelists were all up for critical mauling of the year in a shortlist published on Tuesday. – Reuters pic

LONDON, Jan 8 – Their status as literary heavyweights could not save them from the savage sarcasm of the critics.

Novelists Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie and former poet laureate Andrew Motion were all up for critical mauling of the year in a shortlist published today.

"Hatchet Job of the Year", run by British literary criticism website The Omnivore, was set up to celebrate serious book reviewing which organisers said was a dying art in the age of Amazon, blogs and Twitter.

Now in its second year, it is awarded to the "angriest, funniest, most trenchant book review" of the past 12 months, and this year's winner will be chosen from eight nominees.

Among those with the harshest verdicts over the last year were Ron Charles of the Washington Post for his review of Amis's "Lionel Asbo", and Zoe Heller for her critique of Rushdie's memoir "Joseph Anton" in the New York Review of Books.

"Critics' quills were noticeably sharper in 2012," said Anna Baddeley, The Omnivore editor. "But there is still a long way to go. Book reviews are, in the main, too fawning and dull."

While the reviews do not reflect overall reaction to the works in question, Charles said Lionel Asbo served up "blanched stereotypes on the silver platter of his (Amis's) prose as though it contained enough spice to entertain or even shock.

"Does any other truly great writer make us wonder whether his brilliant parts are worth the wearisome whole?" wrote Charles, the first US critic to be included.

Heller took Rushdie to task for what she called his "magisterial amour propre.

"Some readers may find, by the end of Joseph Anton, that the world feels rather smaller and grimmer than before. But they should not be unduly alarmed. The world is as large and as wide as it ever was; it's just Rushdie who got small."

Motion, poet laureate until 2009, fell foul of the London Evening Standard's Claire Harman for his "Silver: A Return to Treasure Island", in which she described the characters "as wooden as absent Silver's leg."

In the Mail on Sunday, Craig Brown accused Richard Bradford of plagiarising himself in "The Odd Couple", while Allan Massie damned Craig Raine with faint praise in the Scotsman, writing of "The Divine Comedy" that "Raine can spell. That much must be admitted."

Following is a list of nominees for the Hatchet Job of the Year Award, which will be announced on Feb. 12, and the winner will receive a year's supply of potted shrimp.

- Craig Brown on The Odd Couple by Richard Bradford, Mail on Sunday

- Ron Charles on Lionel Asbo by Martin Amis, Washington Post

- Richard Evans on Hitler: A Short Biography by A.N. Wilson, New Statesman

- Claire Harman on Silver: A Return to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion, London Evening Standard

- Zoe Heller on Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie, New York Review of Books

- Camilla Long on Aftermath by Rachel Cusk, Sunday Times

- Allan Massie on The Divine Comedy by Craig Raine, Scotsman

- Suzanne Moore on Vagina by Naomi Wolf, Guardian. – Reuters

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

‘Snakes on a Plane’ director David R. Ellis dies in S.Africa

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 07:08 AM PST

'Snakes on a Plane' director David R. Ellis dies in S.Africa

File photo of director David R. Ellis in Hollywood. — Reuters pic

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 8 — David R. Ellis, the child actor and former stuntman who went on to direct gory films including "Snakes on a Plane", has been found dead in a Johannesburg hotel.

Ellis, 60, was last seen alive in a restaurant on Saturday. His body was discovered in a bathroom by a hotel manager at the weekend. There was no indication of foul play or robbery, police said in a statement on Tuesday.

"It is unknown what was the cause of death," South African police said.

Ellis was in South Africa shooting a movie.

His 2006 film "Snakes on a Plane" about reptiles slithering through a jet inflicting gruesome deaths on passengers spawned numerous parodies, massive internet hoopla and was one of the most heavily hyped films of the North American summer season.

The film's star, Samuel L. Jackson, threatened to quit when the studio considered changing the title, saying he had taken the job based on the name.

"So talented, so kind, such a Good Friend. He'll be missed. Gone too soon!" Jackson tweeted on Tuesday.

Ellis also directed other B-list thrillers including "Shark Night" and "Cellular". — Reuters

Sarah Michelle Gellar to return in a TV comedy

Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:26 AM PST

Sarah Michelle Gellar. — AFP pic

LOS ANGELES, Jan 8 — American actress Sarah Michelle Gellar is linked to a currently untitled project developed by 20th Century Fox TV, reports TVLine.

After attempting a failed comeback last year with "Ringer," now canceled, Gellar will reportedly return to TV in September 2013.

The former star of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" will be starring in a comedy following the everyday life of two mothers when their kids are away at school.

The project will be pitched to American networks in the coming weeks.

"Ringer," meanwhile, was canceled last May after one season, and Gellar also appeared in "The Wonderful Maladys," a pilot HBO never picked up. — AFP-Relaxnews

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The Malaysian Insider :: Books

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