• Someone from La Torta Gorda put a few too many white towels into a dryer at the nearby Coin-Op Laundry, and it started a dryer fire. [SF Weekly]
• A serial armed robber has been hitting Subway shops, Quizno’s, and drug stores in the East Bay in recent weeks. [Tribune]
• The Chron explores gourmet ketchup. [Chron]
• See a couple of Valentine’s cocktail ideas from local food celeb Aida Mollenkamp, which she shared on Access Hollywood Live. [AidaMollenkamp]
• A look at Daniel Boulud’s Sunday routine, which always involves a phone call home to France, and sometimes involves racing a Ferrari. [NYT]
James Carville talks about New Orleans food, and how he makes his roux. [Eatocracy]
• The opposite sex won’t give you cooties, but kissing someone who’s recently consumed an offending substance can trigger food allergies. [Opposing Views]
• After a scandal last month in which certain halal sausages in France were reported to contain pork, there’s a lot of confusion among that country’s Muslims about what constitutes halal, but no central body overseeing standards. [Time]
• Meanwhile thanks to drought in China, that country’s wheat crop is at risk, which could affect the staple’s global supply (and price). [Times of India]
• Better to switch to rice: The Philippines will import less rice than usual this year, which will likely cause the commodity’s already low global prices to fall further. [WSJ]
