Crumbs 

Hardwick's most famous eatery, Claire’s Restaurant & Bar, just got more hugs from the mainstream food media.

In a blog post on the Food & Wine website, features intern Chelsea Morse talks about her recent trip to the Northeast Kingdom.

Morse appears to have been tickled by the idea of a truly seasonal restaurant, which she describes as meaning “incredible tomato gazpacho all summer, but no green salads in January.” After enjoying a Dark & Stormy with “a dash of a local maple liqueur,” she declares: “Vermont chefs and bartenders manage to sneak maple products into everything.”

Those sneaky Vermont maple pushers!

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On August 12, Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, sent a letter to the CEO of Unilever alleging that the labels on its line of Ben & Jerry’s ice creams and frozen yogurts are misleading.

Why? Because frozen desserts containing ingredients such as partially hydrogenated soybean oil, vanillin and corn syrup are nonetheless labeled “all natural.” According to the document, Chubby Hubby, Dublin Mudslide and Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream are among the 48 offending products.

In a related press release, Jacobson is quoted as saying: “Ben & Jerry’s sylvan labels notwithstanding, these ingredients come from the factory, not the farm.” If the labels aren’t changed within 30 days, says the CSPI, it will report Unilever to the states’ attorneys general and the FDA.

Guess the watchdogs are aiming for more truthiness in advertising.

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Gesine Bullock-Prado’s sassy memoir about her transformation from Los Angeles insider to small-town Vermont baker has been released in paperback, but don’t look for it under its old name, Confections of a (Closet) Master Baker: One Woman’s Sweet Journey From Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker.

You can find the tome under a new, three-words-shorter title: My Life From Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time.