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This plucky waitress is evidently not scared of trespassing lizards so big they are mistaken for dogs. She has since been dubbed "goanna girl" - the reptile is thought to be a goanna - and has been widely commended for her bravery. The waitress, who is originally from Normandy, commented: "I wasn't scared, I like reptiles so was a bit excited."

Newspaper publisher says community response to writer's ouster has been overwhelmingly positive. Alan Linda's column about his experience sitting next to an overweight airplane passenger will be the last one he writes for the Fergus Falls Daily Journal. The newspaper last week expressed regret for printing the column and said it had parted ways with Linda, an unpaid community columnist who has written the paper's "Prairie Spy" column for 30 years. "I've gotten an overwhelmingly positive response over the decision," Tim Engstrom, the Daily Journal's editor and publisher, said Monday. "People say it's the right thing to do." In an...

The first-ever cases of obesity have been recorded among nomadic Arctic reindeer herders, after they became exposed to instant noodles and other junk foods. Russian scientists are warning about the dramatic change in the Nenets and Khanty peoples on the icy Yamal peninsula in northern Siberia, who for centuries had eaten only traditional foods. A diet based on venison and fresh river fish meant that obesity was unknown among these indigenous peoples, but now outside influences are changing everything.

A workmen’s café in central France was overwhelmed with phone calls from gourmet diners wanting to book tables after it was awarded a Michelin star — by mistake, it later turned out. Reporters, TV crews and prospective customers were astounded when they turned up at the Bouche à Oreille, in the small town of Bourges, to find a cheap and cheerful eatery with red and white polka dot plastic tablecloths. Many patrons wear high-visibility vests, it is often packed at lunchtime and the atmosphere is lively, with customers ordering beers at the bar. It serves its regular clientèle of local...

Earlier this week, Wegmans became the latest company to face a backlash for carrying Trump-owned products. The supermarket chain sells five different Trump Winery wines at its ten stores in Virginia, where the vineyard is located, and a local chapter of the National Organization for Women called on its notoriously loyal fanbase to boycott Wegmans unless it agreed to remove the products from stores statewide. The company responded that it bases inventory “solely on how well [a product] sells,” and welcomed shoppers to “demonstrate their convictions.” Seeing that as an encouraging sign, a group called Stop Trump Wine materialized with...

Don't knock meatloaf. It's gotten a bad rap. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his wife Mary Pat had lunch with President Donald Trump on Valentine's Day and, according to Christie, Trump made him have the White House meatloaf. "This is what it's like to be with Trump," Christie said during a guest host spot on a radio show on Thursday, according to the New York Post. "He says, 'There's the menu, you guys order whatever you want.' And then he says, 'Chris, you and I are going to have the meatloaf.'" According to Christie, Trump said, "I'm telling you,...

This Illinois woman opened her McDonald’s order to find a nugget that won’t go well with honey mustard. Karsyn Long is such a fan of the fast food giant that her boyfriend, Kristian Helton, decided to propose with a ring in a box of chicken nuggets. “She has devoted her life to chicken nuggets, so that had to be part of the engagement. I mean, it was just given,” Helton told news station WAND.

or decades, customers have complained that McDonald’s straws were pretty much useless when used to drink milkshakes.... But now, with the announcement of several new Shamrock Shakes, the fast food giant has swung the pendulum far in the other direction, with a straw that’s overengineered – seriously, two engineering firms worked on it – to look more like mountain climbing equipment than it does any straw we’ve ever seen. Here’s the result of design, a determined product development team, and a 3D printer: A ridiculous item like this requires an equally bombastic name, which McDonald’s has, of course, bestowed upon...

I attended a funeral recently where the repast included an amazing Cream of Crab Soup, and I wanted to find a recipe. Since I'm a Marylander and love their crabcakes, Phillips is my first go-to for 'crab anything'. On their website, I found Shirley Phillips' recipe: http://www.phillipsfoods.com/recipe/shirley%e2%80%b0uss-original-cream-of-crab-soup/When you are taking care of a sick person who is trying to get his appetite back, you often wind up cooking things you don't normally eat; and instead of cooking double meals all the time you just wind up throwing in the towel and grabbing whatever you can here and there. Since Thanksgiving,...

McDonald’s is known for its Big Mac, Happy Meals, and creepy clown mascot, but not for trying to be innovative with technology. Yet, the fast food chain restaurant teamed up with aerospace and robotic engineering firms to reinvent the straw and make it easier to drink its Chocolate Shamrock shakes.

STERLING, Va — Authorities at a Virginia airport encountered some unusual baggage when they confiscated 13 pounds of horse genitals and a total of 42 pounds of horsemeat from two women arriving from Mongolia Jan. 29. The two women landed at the Washington Dulles International Airport last month when authorities discovered the meat concealed inside juice boxes, a release from US Customs and Border Protection said. When the women landed, the release said the women were forwarded for a routine agriculture examination. During the examination, agriculture specialists found a combined 42 pounds of meat described as "horsemeat and other ruminant...

A New Mexico lawmaker wants to make the state's relationship with the green chile cheeseburger official. The Albuquerque Journal reports that Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, is sponsoring a bill that would name the green chile cheeseburger the state's official burger. McQueen says he got inspiration for the bill during

Karen Goode, of San Antonio, is suing for $1,000,000 after she said rice and beans she ate at Popeyes in spring 2015 were infested with flesh-eating worms, according to KDAF. In the lawsuit filed in Bexar County, Goode's attorney, Patrick Stolmeier, argues the franchisee, Z&H Foods, should have known about the screwworms and never served the tainted food to customers. He also described what Goode allegedly endured after consuming the screwworms: "Plaintiff purchased rice and beans from Defendants' restaurant that contained flesh eating New World Screwworms, and Plaintiff unknowingly ingested the flesh eating screwworms. The flesh eating screwworms entered Plaintiff's...

Traveling to-do: Sip a myriad of craft beers while enjoying potato-perfect bites. SPUDS + SUDS: Look, you probably won't be the person to make a "spuds" and "suds" joke at the Tater Tots and Beer Festival, but that's okay. Make it anyway, for the truth is that rhyming words is still a time-honored way to summon a few smiles among those standing within earshot, and also? Both spuds and suds are pretty tasty, and even tastier together. But a festivals that is bouncing around the Golden State during the late-winter months of 2017 isn't just about any spud, nor any...

On Wednesday, The New York Times ran a story in its food section about a new cookbook by New York Times writers Frank Bruni and Jennifer Steinhauer called “A Meatloaf in Every Oven: Two Chatty Cooks, One Iconic Dish and Dozens of Recipes — From Mom’s to Mario Batali’s” (Grand Central Life & Style). In it, the two discussed the book’s recipes and the people who contributed them — chefs, politicians, friends and family. On Sunday, the Algemeiner, a publication with a large Orthodox readership, published a piece criticizing the Times for its coverage of the book — in particular,...

COLUMBIA, SC — One person was killed after a shooting at a Columbia diner early Sunday. The shooting happened around 2:30 a.m. at the Waffle House on the 200 block of Stoneridge Drive, just off Greystone Boulevard near Interstate 126, according to the Columbia Police Department. The male victim was shot in the lower body. One person has been taken into custody for questioning, police said. No charges have been filed. Investigators believe the suspect and victim were arguing before the shooting. The victim’s identity will be released by the Richland County Coroner’s Office after the family has been notified....

It’s not uncommon to feel the urge for an airport drink that can help manage your flying anxieties (or boredom). That’s why there are so many airport bars in the country’s busiest airports. But be aware: If you try to bring your own form of liquid relief onto a plane in the form of a nip (or mini) bottle of liquor, you’re going to have a bad time. That’s what Lucy Yallop found on her flight from Newcastle, England, to Alicante, Spain. She tried to spike her orange juice with a mini of Absolut Vodka she’d brought onto the flight,...

Officials in Florida say an Orlando police officer who arrested a man after mistaking doughnut glaze for meth has been disciplined. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins was given a written reprimand for making an improper arrest. An internal affairs report released Thursday by the Orlando Police Department found no evidence she acted in bad faith. The report says the department never trained its officers to use the department-issued roadside drug tests. Daniel Rushing was arrested in December 2015 when Riggs-Hopkins spotted flakes of glaze on his floorboard and thought they were pieces of crystal methamphetamine. Rushing told...

FULL TITLE: Little Caesars creator and Detroit Red Wings and Tigers owner dies aged 87 after amassing a fortune worth $6BILLION Billionaire businessman Mike Ilitch, who founded the Little Caesars pizza empire before buying the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers, and won praise for keeping the professional sports teams in the city as others relocated to new suburban stadiums, has died. He was 87. His family released a statement saying Ilitch died on Friday at a local hospital. They called him a visionary who set the tone for his company and his family. 'He made such a positive...