A man learns to walk again after an escalator ripped off his big toe in a Nottingham shopping centre.

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‘Escalator tore off my big toe’

The recession has not stopped luxury shopping and ostentatiousness from thriving, and few experiences in New York exemplified this more than the Luxury Review trade show.

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Big City: Still Flaunting the Luxe Life

The tough U.S. anti-bribery law that Wal-Mart may have violated in Mexico has ensnared leading companies from virtually every sector of the economy, as federal prosecutors increasingly punish firms for transgressions such as giving foreign officials computers and shopping bags of cash and improperly accounting for such expenditures in company records. Read full article > >

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With top firms facing investigation, wrangling over anti-bribery law rages on

The tough U.S. anti-bribery law that Wal-Mart may have violated in Mexico has ensnared leading companies from virtually every sector of the economy, as federal prosecutors increasingly punish firms for transgressions such as giving foreign officials computers and shopping bags of cash and improperly accounting for such expenditures in company records. Read full article > >

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With top firms facing investigation, wrangling over anti-bribery law rages on

Police closed part of a major shopping street in central London Friday as they investigated reports of a man causing a disturbance and throwing objects from a window.

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Man tossing stuff causes security alert

One of my favorite things about living as a foreign correspondent in New Delhi was shopping with my Indian co-workers. We would walk through the “bangles markets,” where male “bangle wallahs,” or merchants, sat on their haunches barefoot in kiosks filled with towering sets of hot pink, bright blue, sun yellow and garden green bangles. Read full article > >

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D.C. area ethnic markets: Emily Wax explores

Decades ago, homemakers relied on a man in a tidy apron and a necktie to provide the perfect cut of meat for Sunday dinner and a stop at the local butcher shop was part of the regular shopping routine. Over time, grocery stores started offering a similarly packaged cuts and it was the friendly neighborhood meat man who was being cut out. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, year after year, the number of grocery store butchers has grown steadily while the number of specialty store butchers has struggled to add numbers. Last year, there were more than 94,000 butchers working in grocery store chains. Comparatively, specialty store butchers only accounted for 13,500 jobs that year, but that’s up significantly from 2008, when the economy tanked. Since the economic crisis, specialty store butchers have grown in number at a higher rate than their chain store counterparts. And that’s not including self-employed butchers. As the economy started to nosedive, people started looking for simple ways to save. Home vegetable gardens and farmers markets became as popular as skinny jeans, and more people entertained friends at home indead of hosting lavish dinners at restaurants. Folks started paying attention to the amount of money they were shelling out for services and slowly, some small, customer-service oriented stores (like florists, bakeries and butchers) made a comeback of their own. Some consumers felt they could get a sweeter deal or better quality from a craftsman than from a big chain store. Others liked the idea of supporting a small local business. Whatever the root cause, boutique butcher shops saw an increase in demand. There are 2500 more specialty store butchers now than there were 5 years ago. By percentage, that’s a huge difference. The New York Butcher Shoppe in the Midtown neighborhood of Atlanta is benefiting from that very trend. Located in an upscale neighborhood strip mall across the street from Piedmont Park, the store has been successful in the few short months it’s been open. It’s a chain store operated by a franchise in the Southeast. “I hate the word chain,” co-owner Greg Wheat said while waiting on his brother-in-law Rick Wolfe. Along with Wheat's brother Rob, the three of them opened this location at the beginning of the year. Business is good. “It’s a chain, but it’s great quality,” Wheat added. The original New York Butcher Shoppe is in Charleston, South Carolina, owned and operated by Bill D’Elia, a Brooklyn native. D’Elia semi-retired to the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Charleston 17 years ago and opened the New York Butcher Shoppe with his son four years later. The antiquated spelling was the younger Billy’s idea. D’Elia got his start in the meat industry at 9 years old, when he was a bicycle delivery boy. In 1976 he opened his first shop. “I love taking care of customers” he said in his distinctly New York accent, “[I like] explaining to them how to use the cuts of meat, how to cook it.” D’Elia sold the franchising rights in 2007, and now there are 12 units in five states across the Southeast. Franchise manager Jim Tindal finds that the ideal candidate for a new store has a culinary background with restaurant experience, is firmly entrenched in their community, and has a base to grow from. “We’re looking for smart business people,” he added. The franchisees are given up to four weeks of training in North Carolina, where they learn how to cut meat and run the shop. They get additional support and on-the-job training in the first few weeks after opening. As self-described “big time neighborhood folks,” Wolfe and the Wheat brothers thought a New York Butcher Shoppe would be a great fit for the area. They carry USDA prime and choice cuts and make all of their prepared foods themselves. “I really love what I do, I love preparing food,” Rick said. “It’s very customer oriented, it’s a fun environment and we have a lot of repeat customers,” some of whom he now considers friends. Geoff Irwin of Shields Meat Market across town can relate. “I have more friends than customers. I’ve watched children grow up, their children are now buying meat from me.” His shop looks pretty similar to the New York Shoppe; both are set up similarly, carry items to make a full meal as well as a decent wine selection, and sell fresh cuts of meat. The difference is that Irwin has been cutting meat for more than 30 years and his store has been in operation for 65 years. Shields is a smaller store, located almost inside a CVS drugstore in a smaller neighborhood. It moved to its current location 35 years ago after a grocery store there went out of business. Part of the deal to counter the loss of fresh produce was that Shields would carry as much as they could to make up the difference. Like Bill D’Elia, Irwin got his start in New York as a stock boy in a grocery store. He was offered a position to learn how to cut meat. In those days you were a journeyman for five to seven years and wouldn’t cut a T-bone until after that. He was trained under the watchful eye of Carl Fassett who’d gotten a similar start in the business and worked his way up. Irwin bought Shields Market in Atlanta at 23 and put his talents to work. “I was a good cutter, I have a knack for it. Knew it was hard work, but knew I wanted my own store,” he said, standing over a case of rib eye steak. “I cut for quality, not profit. Chains are working on volume, pushing it out as much as they can. I just buy the best I can buy and put a fair price on it. High volume isn’t my gain, it’s quality and taking care of people. Taste tells.” To him, the difference between Shields and a boutique shop is in the cutting. “That’s where the art has changed. Most cutters today wouldn’t know what to do with a hanging cut of beef.” He knows that there’s enough room in the market for both types of shops, but hopes that his loyal customers remember his experience when picking a place to get their steaks. “Anything you buy from me is going to be different from anywhere else. I love keeping this whole butcher shop open. Very proud I was able to do that.” And despite the tough economy, Irwin has a positive outlook. “You’ll always have a job, you just might not be a millionaire.” He tends to tear up when he talks about his mentor Carl, “He’d be proud. I don’t have to make the money, it’s very gratifying to hear people brag on you. That’s what keeps it going. I wanted to hold my own.” Take Our Poll

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The butcher is back

Feeling flush this Tax Day and looking to blow your whole refund on a single meal? You're in luck, because Triomphe restaurant in New York City is hosting a 12-course “Great Write-off” dinner at a mere $1040 a head. While you're busy gobbling down caramelized foie gras and toast with ramp jam and Ossetra caviar with traditional accompaniments, the rest of us will be frantically clicking “like” on Facebook, shaking printer cartridges and rifling for couch change to take advantage of these national Tax Day food deals. – Facebook Arby's Get a free value-sized order of curly fries today only by liking Arby's on Facebook and printing a coupon. The roast beef chain has also started an #arbystaxrelief hashtag on Twitter to promote their $5000 sweepstakes. Bruegger’s Bagels A coupon for a $10.40 Big Bagel Bundle (that's a baker's dozen of bagels and two tubs of cream cheese) is yours for liking the bakery chain on Facebook . The offer is valid through today. Panda Express Today only, like Panda Express on Facebook and download a coupon good for a single serving of the chain’s new Shanghai Angus Steak. White Castle Like White Castle on Facebook and receive a “Prep For Tax Day” discount of 15 percent good through midnight tonight. Non-Facebook fans can go to the White Castle website to download the coupon. – Online coupons and ordering Boston Market Print a coupon from BostonMarket.com and bring it into a participating location to receive a free individual meal with the purchase of an individual meal and a fountain drink, valid today only. Chili's Print an online coupon to receive a free appetizer or dessert with the purchase of an adult entree at participating Chili's restaurants through April 18. P.F. Chang's Place an online order today only and receive 15 percent off. The offer is also available for dine-in and does not include happy hour items or P.F. Chang's for Two. Souplantation Pop over to the chain's Fresh Ideas Blog for a printable coupon for a buy one, get one for $1 lunch or dinner, valid today only. No printer access? No problem. Just show the website on your phone. – In store Chevy's Stop by participating locations today to enjoy two premium Herradura margaritas for $10.40 and have Chevy's pick up the tax on your meal. Cinnabon Visit a participating Cinnabon location today (sorry – no airports or travel plazas) from 6 to 8 p.m. to receive two free mini Cinnabon bites. Hooters All day today, Hooters offers a Tax Day special of 20 boneless wings for $9.99. As the site notes, there is an additional charge for dressing. Marble Slab Creamery and Maggie Moo's Ice Cream and Treatery The frozen treat chains are offering a “Yobate” today only. Visit a participating location of either Marble Slab or sister store Maggie Moo's between 4 and 7 p.m. and receive a free scoop of their new yogurt. The offer is in partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and customers can offer a donation throughout the month of April. McCormick & Schmick’s Locations across the country are offering an extended happy hour from 3:30 to 11 p.m., with a menu including $2.95 to $5.95 “bar bites” and special Tax Day drinks like “The Clear Conscience” and “The Bloody Mary Tax Code.” Seattle’s Best Coffee Visit a participating location today only for a free small brewed coffee on the house or like Seattle’s Best Coffee on Facebook during the “Great American Coffee Refund” to get a free sample of Level System coffee to brew at home. Sonic The drive-in chain is offering an all-day happy hour today with a “Tax Cut” – half price drinks and slushes at participating locations. Know of a Tax Day deal we missed? Earn some serious culinary karma and share it in the comments below. We'll add it to the list and give you credit for the tip. Previously – Tax Day wines that won't break the bank

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Tax Day restaurant deals, freebies and specials

On any given weekend, Kathy Murray can be found ensconced in her kitchen, perfecting her sourdough bread, freezing a week's worth of meals made from “as close to the earth as possible” ingredients and cooking up fresh fish and produce from her local farmers market near Pocantico Hills, New York. She did not learn this at home. Like millions of her fellow baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964, Murray was raised by parents who had come of age in an era where food was often bland, not always abundant, certainly not a vehicle for pleasure and frequently packaged for convenience. While they were grateful for the solid, if uninspired meals their mothers put on the table, boomers hungered for more. Murray, and many like her, took matters into their own hands and reclaimed the kitchen as a source of joy, relaxation, creativity and, increasingly, health. Janet Fallon, a single baby boomer, says her mother didn't like to cook, and as she and her three siblings and often joke, “It showed!” She appreciated her mother's basic meat, potatoes and vegetables, but after dining at a friend's home in high school and after sampling an almost impossibly exotic eggplant Parmesan, she knew there was something else out there. Appetite whet, she began spending summers and holidays with her food-loving sister (also a boomer) who married by the time Fallon was 12. There, she learned to cook for pleasure, subscribing to every cooking magazine and honing her culinary skills. Decades later, she's amassed more than 10,000 recipes (arancini with sautéed porcini was on the menu the other night) and spends her time cooking to relax and joyfully entertaining for friends. Her now empty-nester sister, she notes, rarely cooks for herself. Lisa Scalia, the middle of three sisters born near the end of the Baby Boom, says that while they were taught the basics, their mother just never really enjoyed cooking all that much. As adults, the sisters decided as a team to hone their skills and swap recipes, menus, techniques, equipment and ingredients, and for five years put those skills to work as volunteers at a local church. Junior high and high school home economics classes filled in some gaps for many of the boomers. But as Todd Wiseman, born in 1964, said, “My wife refused to take it. For her, cooking was a necessity, but delivered very little pleasure.” As a creative, expressive cook himself, he was delighted eventually to see his enthusiasm rubbing off and her confidence and skill growing. As their youngest child departs for college, Wiseman says, “I suspect she will begin to experiment some, but primarily make her signatures. I, on the other hand, will make the dinner plate my canvas and plan to maintain my relevance and value by cooking for my wife.” So why weren't these boomers' mothers especially enthused about cooking? Many of them were busy working outside of home, had grown up in the hand-to-mouth Depression era , had seen their own budding creativity quashed by wartime rationing, or as former CNN producer and PR professional Leslie Linton says of her own mother, “She had to flee Austria because of Hitler and wasn't able to learn much about cooking.” The America that Linton's mother settled in was infinitely safer than war-torn Vienna, but the culinary landscape notably less evolved. As David Kamp wrote in his wildly popular “The United States of Arugula,” “The state of American gastronomy would get worse before it got better. Throughout and immediately after the war years of the forties, the big food conglomerates were putting ever-more grotesque packaged products on the market, many of which were by-products of their efforts to produce tinned or freeze-dried field rations for the troops.” He continued, “In time, the packaged food companies would abandon any pretense of claiming their processed and frozen products were superior in taste, instead stressing their convenience.” This created a “manufactured sense of panic,” according to Laura Shapiro, who wrote in her chronicle of 1950s food culture “Something from the Oven” that “at the heart of the industry's new definition of cooking was a ticking clock…Advertisements and stories plowed across the media reminding readers again and again how busy they were, how frantic their days, how desperately they needed products and recipes for quick meals.” Home cooks at the mercy of the clock and the omnipresent packaged food industry succumbed, and their boomer children bore the brunt of the blandness – until they took matters into their own hands. Kamp gives tremendous credit to Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins bestselling “The Silver Palate Cookbook” for turning the tide. A quote from cooking authority Barbara Kafka on the cover of the current edition proclaims, “This is the book that changed the way America cooks,” and he agrees. The book, he wrote, was “more disciplined and earthbound than 'The Moosewood Cookbook,' yet less intimidating and grown-up than the two volumes of [Julia Child's] 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking.'” This made it ideal for boomers who were busy conquering the work world, enriching their lives with cultural pursuits and raising families and still wanted to cook well, “but not all the time.” “The Silver Palate” presented an elegant and somewhat familiar compromise: either use the recipes in the book, or purchase the authors' pre-made, but still sophisticated, ingredients and foods. That empowerment, paired with the then decade-old organic food movement helmed by Berkeley, California, chef and food activist Alice Waters, began to turn the tide of American home cooking. “My mom hated cooking and I learned in self-defense,” says Susan Kessler. “Healthiness is an important factor in cooking since fat and cholesterol have to be minimized. If you are organized it's easy to get a meal on the table with fresh ingredients and flavor.” She blogs as The Frugal Diva , frequently writing about finding deals at farmers markets and on organic food. “Organic” is a word that comes up frequently in food discussions with boomers these days, and it's reflected in their buying habits. A 2010 survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Whole Foods Market reported that more than four out of five baby boomers say they are now more concerned with what foods they eat, read nutrition labels more closely today and have a better understanding of how their food is produced than they did 30 years ago. The survey asked 1,349 adults born between 1946 and 1964 about their current shopping and eating habits, versus in 1980 and clearly revealed a trend toward increased interest in minimally processed fare. While the economic climate of the current decade has led to more home cooking (59 percent of all the adults surveyed were eating dinner at home more often and eating out less), the boomer bent was distinctly health-oriented. Fifty-four percent of boomers said they buy more organic and/or natural foods today. Seventy-four percent claimed they are now more concerned about fat and cholesterol and 70 percent worry over added growth hormones or antibiotics in meat and dairy products more than they did 30 years ago. That's right on trend with how Scalia is cooking these days. She says that the meals she prepares for herself and her husband definitely skew more towards the healthy end of the spectrum. “We are both 50-plus, so I can't deal with the guilt of preparing unhealthy meals and compromising our health.” The pair eats meat, but primarily lean poultry and fish. Her husband is not partial to vegetables, so she “creatively” works them into the dishes so he'll enjoy them too. Murray, who eventually became self-educated enough to be dubbed the “Julia Child of the class” in her high school yearbook, calls eating locally “a passion” – a far cry from the box mixes and prepared foods of her youth. Alongside her husband of 34 years, she picks fruit and vegetables, bakes bread and revels in the bounty of seafood brought in by nearby Long Island fisherman. She finds tremendous joy and creativity in making meals for friends and has passed that along to her sons as well. She's even managed to please a couple of tough customers: her parents. They're big fans of her baking, and Murray is doing her best to “educate” them on her savory dishes. She says, “They like the caponata I make up but without pine nuts. They do not like seafood as much as we do and will not eat lobster.” And, Murray has finally caught on to her mother's greatest kitchen skill – convincing her daughters to cook for her. For more on baby boomer culture, catch up on all our content at Age Against the Machine

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Boomers late bloomers in the kitchen, but making healthy strides

Elizabeth Gordon is the author of 'The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook and Allergy-Free Desserts'. She was diagnosed with multiple food allergies in 2007 after the birth of her first child and decided to combine her social work background with her love of the culinary arts to help people just like her. She cooks up new treats, weekly, on her blog allergyfreedelights.com The United States is home to 9 million adults and 6 million children coping with food allergies ranging from annoying rashes to life-threatening anaphylaxis. Millions of other families are taking note of government-funded initiatives like Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move project and reaching for less processed and more natural fare. While healthy and safe eating is the common denominator between these groups, there is likely another: sticker shock when the checkout person hands over the grocery receipt. When I was diagnosed with allergies to wheat, eggs, string beans and figs in 2004, I wrongly assumed that my food bills would plummet, largely because it felt as though most of the foods that I enjoyed had just been eliminated from my diet. Venturing into the supermarket after that fateful doctor’s visit, I felt relieved that I finally knew why I was covered in a rash and that by simply choosing rice over rotini, I might be able to eliminate the itching that had plagued me since my daughter was born six months before. I was more than surprised when the cart, loaded with produce, a package of gluten-free flour , some gluten, dairy, soy, nut and egg-free chocolate chips and gluten-free snacks like pretzels came out to be almost three times what I previously budgeted for groceries. I thought that there was a mistake. There wasn’t, but even seven years later, I still can’t believe the amount of money that we spend on food. Granted, there are four of us, we live in New York City where the cost of living is higher, and specialty items that are both safe for me to eat and that my children enjoy are simply more expensive. However, I know that I am not alone. I took an informal survey of my Facebook fans, and of the roughly 50 responses, only one person said that her food bill hadn’t tripled as a result of her child’s severe food allergies. One food allergic family even added that they factored their food budget into their mortgage refinancing as a medical hardship. Whether coping with life-threatening food allergies or just buying more mindfully, families know that eliminating any or all of the top eight allergens (dairy, wheat , eggs, soy, fish, tree nuts, peanuts and shellfish) from their diets can get pricey. Here are five practical ways to reduce the weekly expenses: Opt for beans and rice over pasta Rice is always inexpensive and so are hominy, beans (like kidney or black beans), spaghetti squash and sweet potatoes. Gluten-free pastas and cereals are not. Reach for canned or dried legumes or starchy vegetables, which generally have more nutritional value anyway, and save the rice pasta and cold cereal for special treats. Make your own Cooking your own meals, snacks and treats instead of relying on pre-packaged fare will drastically reduce the allergic family’s food bill. It also ensures food safety. Cooking doesn’t have to be a five-course meal every night. Simple steps like making your own gluten-free flour mix for baking or making chicken stock at home really add up to savings. Invest in a slow cooker If you eat meat, the slow cooker turns inexpensive cuts like brisket or chicken thighs tender and moist, and it saves time because it can be left alone all day to have dinner on the table when you get home from work. If you live a vegetarian lifestyle, the slow cooker can be a great way to cook up hearty soups, stews and even big batches of gluten-free, steel-cut oats for breakfast. Eat seasonally The laws of supply and demand apply here. When fruits and vegetables are abundant, they are less expensive. Roast up some root vegetables in the fall. Load up on berries in the summer. Choose citrus in the winter to save. Don’t be afraid to freeze If you can’t live without blueberries in February or your kids want some corn come December, don’t hesitate to look in the freezer section. Better still, load up your own freezer with fresh fruit when it’s in season to eat later in the year. Evidence suggests that frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious, and they can be cheaper, too. Don’t stop at just frozen produce! Freeze leftover herbs to avoid waste. Freeze coconut milk kefir in ice cube trays if you only use a little bit for baking. Stash the meat that was on sale at the market in the freezer for up to three months. Just these little steps reduce waste and expenditures in the supermarket. Safe and healthy eating does come at a price. Fortunately, simple steps can reduce it, because as every family, whether allergic or not, knows, every penny counts. Previously – Being gluten-free and well-fed and Living with peanut allergies

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Allergy-friendly grocery shopping without breaking the bank

Members of a Brooklyn food co-op voted down a controversial motion Tuesday night that would have paved the way for a referendum on the boycott of Israeli-made goods, effectively ending three years of heated internal debate at a community institution usually more concerned with sharing organic recipes than divisive geopolitical issues. The vote at the 16,000-plus member-owned Park Slope Food Co-Op would have brought the co-op one step closer to participating in the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS. BDS supporters aim to help Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank by boycotting Israeli products and companies that do business with Israel. Those opposing the boycott defeated its supporters in a 1,005 to 653 vote. According to Joe Holtz, one of the organization’s founders, only a few Israeli products are sold at the co-op, including vegan marshmallows, pesto tapenade and Israeli couscous. Yet, the mere possibility of a boycott sparked extensive local media coverage and stoked tension amongst co-op members and New Yorkers on both sides of the issue. “We are saddened to announce that the Park Slope Food Co-op will not be holding a membership-wide referendum on whether to join the international BDS movement,” said a statement on the Web site of a group calling themselves the Park Slope Food Co-Op Members for Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions. “However, despite our loss in tonight’s vote, we have succeeded in one of our goals. BDS has entered into the consciousness of thousands of co-op members and has even made it into mainstream conversations thanks to the huge amount of media coverage.” Peter Raskin, a retired teacher and member of the co-op for 35 years, described a sense of unease that pervaded the co-op in the lead-up to the vote due to the presence of BDS supporters demonstrating outside. He said that while the co-op has long been a place of camaraderie to work and talk food, “this has touched on people’s nerves. I was feeling afraid to tell people I was a co-op member.” Founded in 1973 by a small group of neighborhood residents, the co-op’s rules stipulate that members must work 2 hours and 45 minutes once every four weeks. But Raskin believes the forces behind the BDS movement at the co-op were largely external and, according to him, anti-Semitic. He said that when his wife went shopping recently someone came in from outside the co-op and put a sign over the matzo indicating that it was made in Israel. “It’s Passover season,” Raskin said. “Anyone buying matzo is Jewish, they know it’s made in Israel,” he said. Still, some at the co-op simply wanted to keep food and politics separate. “I think we should just not have an opinion, it’s just too contentious an issue for most people,” Dakkan Abby, a co-op member told CNN affiliate WABC. “It’s too emotional and divides what’s otherwise a pretty united community,” he said. The co-op’s vote even got some attention from Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” Tuesday night, with correspondent Samantha Bee quipping that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Park Slope Food Co-Op is perhaps the “one victim of this war that may be the most tragic of all.”

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Brooklyn food co-op votes down boycott of Israeli-made goods

Greg Smith, who resigned last week via an Op-Ed in The New York Times, was said to be shopping a proposal for a book that would be a coming-of-age story and a history of Goldman Sachs.

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Greg Smith, Ex-Goldman Executive, Is Said to Be Seeking Book Deal

Kate Krader ( @kkrader on Twitter ) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up. Drumroll, please. The feverishly awaited premiere of Mad Men’s newest season is almost here. Hopefully you’ve all been drinking like Don Draper in anticipation of the moment (Sunday, March 25th at 9 pm ET, if you’re synchronizing your countdown). In fact, it’s increasingly easy to drink like the Old Fashioned-swilling star of show. According to statistics from the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, last summer more than five million barrels of bourbon and other whiskeys were aging in Kentucky. That’s the highest inventory since 1982. To celebrate Mad Men’s new season with Old Fashioneds, or some of the show’s other signature drinks, here’s a guide to places that specialize in them, plus some scenes from Mad Men that made them famous. Mint Julep – Julep Bar : Boston, Massachusetts One section of the cocktail menu at this new vintage bar and lounge is dedicated to Vintage Classics & Crafty Cocktails. That includes the classic, simply titled The Julep. It’s made with Bulleit bourbon, fresh mint and simple syrup, shaken and served over shaved ice. No fancy tricks. The bar menu has some classic throwbacks, too, like the Old School Wedge Salad – though if you want more real-time dishes, there are Kobe meatball sliders. Mad Men’s Mint Julep Moment: In Season 1, Betty and Don Draper throw a springtime birthday party for their daughter, Sally; Betty makes a tray of Mint Juleps for the adults. Mai Tai – The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar : San Francisco, California The Tonga Room claims to be the nation's first tiki bar; indeed it made its first umbrella drink at The Fairmont San Francisco in 1945. Recently, it’s been looking spiffier, thanks to a $1 million renovation, but there are still periodic simulated rainstorms and their signature Tonga Mai Tai (dark rum with triple sec and fruit juices), which they like to call “a coconut cup of South Seas hospitality.” Mad Men’s Mai Tai Moment: In Season 1, unsatisfied client Rachel Menken (who owns an upscale department store that’s considering Draper’s agency Sterling Cooper for its advertising) drinks a Mai Tai while Draper tries to win back her account and attempts to seduce her. Tom Collins – The Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The cocktail list at this amazing bar, which fronted the country’s largest alcohol-smuggling ring during Prohibition (wow), is action-packed with interesting contemporary mixes. (The Midnight's Children cocktail = Old Grand Dad 114, rum, Pedro Ximenez sherry and house mulled wine syrup.) They call their retooled Tom Collins a “John Collins”: It’s made with genever, lemon juice and orange bitters, and served tall with club soda. Mad Men’s Tom Collins Moment: In Season 2, Draper instructs his young daughter, Sally, on the art of mixing a Tom Collins for him and his neighbor Carlton Hanson: “Okay, you don't smash the cherry on that. Just plop it in at the end. Try to keep it in the top of the glass. Gin.” Old Fashioned – Jbird Cocktails : New York City The New York Times recently called out this new spot and its six variations on the classic drink. Jbird uses a definition from 1806 as the benchmark: “Spirit, sweet, and a dash of bitter, stirred and served over hand-cut ice.” Among the versions at this Upper East Side place are the Coco Viejo, made with coffee-bean-aged rum, cane syrup and grapefruit bitters; and the Honey-Nut Old Fashioned, a mix of roasted-peanut-infused bourbon, honey syrup and bitters. Mad Men’s Old Fashioned Moment: Lots of those. But the defining one, when we learn that it’s Draper's go-to drink before we even learn his name, comes in the first scene of the first episode of Season 1, when he tells the waiter in a smoky bar (where he's brainstorming ideas for a Lucky Strike campaign), “Do this again – Old Fashioned, please.” Vodka Gimlet – Bar UnCommon : New Orleans, Louisiana The gimlet at this bar in the Pere Marquette Hotel is as simple as it should be – Grey Goose, lime juice and simple syrup. Fourth-generation bartender Chris McMillian is the guy who put that classic on Bar UnCommon’s menu; he’s the co-founder of the Museum of the American Cocktail, which is also in New Orleans, if you’re shopping for something to do besides getting smashed on gimlets in a bar. Mad Men’s Vodka Gimlet Moment: The Gimlet is Betty Draper's drink of choice. After a Season 1 dinner with her husband's boss Roger Sterling and his wife, when she’s queasy in the car, Betty notes: “Lobster Newburg and Gimlets should get a divorce. They're not getting along well.” More from Food & Wine : 50 Best Bars in America Best Pizza Places in the U.S. Best Burgers in the U.S. Classic Cocktail Recipes Easter Recipes

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Drinking with Don Draper – where to find Mad Men’s classic cocktails

Your shopping habits reveal even the most personal information — like when you’re going to have a baby.

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How Companies Learn Your Secrets

The holidays weren’t merry or bright for the U.S. Postal Service . The nation’s mail delivery service lost $3.3 billion in its first quarter, which runs from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 and encompasses the holiday shopping and shipping season. Read full article > >

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Postal Service loses $3.3 billion in first quarter