Tasting Table: It's time to stop being a hater when it comes to iceberg lettuce. - Jeff Gordinier Bloomberg Businessweek: A bottle-by-bottle comparison of today's vitamin-enhanced waters and supplemental beverages with classic cure-all tonics going back to the 19th century. Is today's health boom simply history repeating itself? From Mojo Boost and Neurosonic, to Vernors Ginger Ale and Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray. - Glenn Collins Serious Eats: If you really want to get down to it as a home brewer, make your own malt. - Nick Fox The New York Times: Secrets to a slender figure: brown rice, brown bread - and now, brown fat? Two new studies point to the substance, which incinerates calories when triggered by cold or exercise, as a potential weapon against obesity. - Patrick Farrell The Atlantic: Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA, reflects on food, elitism, the organization's identity and how the group can best serve constituents and the public. - Eric Asimov Eater: D'oh. A Golden Arches campaign goes haywire on Twitter. ... - Jeff Gordinier The New York Daily News: ... But even in a downturn, McDonald's value meals continued to fatten its bottom line. Its net income rose 11 percent in the last quarter. - Patrick Farrell The Press Democrat: Making wine can be very simple, or incredibly complex. Dan Berger explains. - Eric Asimov Grub Street: Is Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf quietly plotting to take over New York? - Jeff Gordinier The Economist: Incongruously, thanks to a mining boom, Mongolia's formerly drab, formerly Stalinist capital, Ulan Bator, is now teeming with Irish pubs and French bistros serving "steaks the size of tabloid newspapers," in contrast to the former universal menu, which used to be "mutton, mutton and mutton." - Glenn Collins The Awl: For the single, the lazy, the tight-fisted, the New Yorkers who simply don't cook: an exhortation to chuck the jarred pasta sauce and discover the ease of making your own, with the help of this sensible primer. ... Real Simple: ... And here's another reason to stock up on spaghetti: It can light your candles. - Patrick Farrell The Daily Meal: Are these the most powerful food people in America? - Jeff Gordinier Dave McIntyre's WineLine: A brief guide to sherry, and yes, he's right, sherry goes brilliantly with Chinese cuisines. - Eric Asimov Bon Appétit: The surge toward sorghum syrup is becoming a flood. - Patrick Farrell YouTube: Patricia Smith delivers "When the Burning Begins," a heartbreaker of a poem about growing up and learning how to make corn bread. - Jeff Gordinier The New York Observer: Given all the online sniping at them, you'd never guess that the three guys behind the budding Torrisi empire are on a quite a roll. A group portrait of the trio and their updating of Italian-American food - an achievement Pete Wells applauds in his review of Parm. - Patrick Farrell