pugster

That's hilarious that Emily's adopted the accent after a year. i just got back from 6 months of living in london and no stray bits of accent stuck to me, although the brits thought i was canadian (born and bred in chicago....). so off the topic, sorry, but has anyone caught any of Jamie Oliver's reality show? i think it was called Fifteen, where he trains 15 people to become chefs in his restaurant. i only caught an episode or 2 while i was there, and while i had a fairly low opinion of Jamie Oliver before watching (not so much based on his cooking ability, but his omni-presence...it gets really annoying seeing him on Sainsbury's commercials hawking his product line 24-7, esp. around christmas), i came out of the brief viewing i did thinking a bit more highly of him. funny, my opinion of rocco has been entirely in reverse. he makes me cringe now. too much rocco-viewing is not a good thing.

i can't quite put my finger on it, but most of last night's episode made me want to shed more tears than the closing scene of Rocco looking in on Mama (which was cheesy as hell...). i know, editing, editing, editing...but, i almost had to side w/ emily regarding amanda. maybe we only saw her "off" moments, but she really did lack any sort of focus you would expect from the first person you see entering the building. but, of course, they could have just grabbed the random spaced-out moments. and when your boss (i'm guessing emily serves as amanda's boss in some capacity...) is trying to deliver constructive (or not?) criticism, she should have at least had the werewithal to shut up and wait for emily to finish. and drew....why? thought he got canned. maybe his daddy raised a fuss.

thanks for the welcome, moby p!

oh, that makes me happy to hear, it really does. some people are repulsed by pumpkin pie, but it just makes me happy. it brings back all that festivity of the holidays...

WHOO!!! libby's!!! exactly what i was looking for. seriously, 32 years of canned pumpkin pie...hard to give it up.

just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions!! definitely better to have reommended stops to purposely seek out than to be guided by my aimless wandering. i'm so sad, i missed my weekly trip this past weekend. been fighting a bad cold and it was miserable on saturday...just couldn't get off the couch to brave the weather. but...now i have something to look forward to for next week! thanks everyone! oh, one other question, has anyone encountered canned pumpkin? i missed my 32 year tradition of pumpkin pie on thanksgiving and have been scouring the sainsbury's and tesco's for canned pumpkin (sorry, it's the only way i know how to make it). if anyone has seen some, please let me know. or...better yet, if anyone has a recipe for pumpkin pie from scratch! i have an italian flatmate who's equally excited to try pumpkin pie!

Thanks, Jonathon! I have to say, mushrooms are always on my market list and I always like to find some good criminis. Although, I think I saw them called something else here... I'm not sure if I've stumbled upon Booth's or not....but, I'll make it a point to check it out. And the other suggestions are appreciated as well! Another thing I've been looking for since I've been here is Ume (umeboshi) Plum Vinegar. I can't find it. I always used to buy it at Whole Foods in Chicago and if there's one condiment i miss...it's my Ume Plum.

I've recently moved to london from chicago. On the advice of on Mr. John Whiting (thank you, thank you), I've been to the Borough Market almost every one of the few weeks I've been here (and it's only been a few so far). The only problem is, I find myself being a little overwhelmed. I know what I want in terms of fruit and veg. and I've fallen in love w/ Neal's Dairy Yard, but I seem to end up shying away from trying a lot of the other items there. Being indecisive by nature (and claustrophobic...) doesn't seem to help my cause either. Just wondering if anyone has any "must try" items or favorite vendors that I can purposely seek out instead of wandering aimlessly and trying to avoid getting trampled.

Fantastic! as nice as it is to wander around and stumble onto a hidden gem by accident, it's also nice to have specifically recommended destinations! i've never been to london before, so it's all new to me. i'm really excited to try out the specialty shops and farmer's market!

Thanks, John! I appreciate the suggestions. I'll have to check out the book and Borough Market.

I'm going to London in a month for a 6-month visit and am wondering if someone can recommend any great markets where i can find fresh, quality produce, good breads, nice selection of cheese....I'd hate to blow all my money eating out all the time. I know there are supermarkets, like Tesco, but I'm curious to hear about any other markets that are a little less "chain".

Hi to all! I almost feel like i should apologize for being a newbie and a non-industry person, but i just wanted to throw my 2 cents into the ring. First of all, i just want to say thanks to all for keeping me enormously entertained. this site rocks and this thread is entirely more interesting than watching the actual show. the highlights have definitely been, for me, bourdain's commentary, which has somehow justified the lost hours of my life spent watching The Restaurant. and it's great to hear commentary from the BOH about the behind-the-scenes situations. I'm more sad about the end of the thread than the end of the show. I wanted to respond to someone's post a few days back (forgive me, i tried to find it again this morning, and i couldn't), which had something to do w/ the general public's opinion of the show and how realistic they found it to be. since i was in my early 20's, i've always had good friends involved in the industry. many of my friends are bartenders and i've dated a few chefs along the way and hearing their stories of what really goes on BOH has always fascinated me. i've got nothing but respect for these people, it's a tough job and more power to the people who have the skill and the stamina to pull it off!! as recently as this summer, i was ready to do an entire career change and enroll in culinary school, but as my pastry chef friend warned me, do you really want to be 34 years old, working 14 hours a day for 7 bucks an hour? i realized this may not be the path i want to take. maybe if i were younger woman...so, this industry holds a certain fascination for me, which i guess gives me a miniscule advantage over people who haven't given much thought to what goes into the food that shows up at your table after you place your order. i admit, i was REALLY excited to see the show. i had heard good things about Rocco and his culinary abilities, and i was excited to see the behind-the-scenes action in a restaurant of a well-known chef. this also being in conjunction of my second reread of Kitchen Confidential especially peaked my curiosity. unfortunately, my joy was short-lived.... everyone's already touched on the basic flaws, Rocco's bad management style, his unforgiveable unpreparedness, the incompetence of some of the servers, the blatant, obnoxious product placement, etc....but this show, while i still can't look away, fills me w/ dread. even if Rocco had good intentions going into it, i think this may be an unrecoverable mistake to have allowed cameras into this tragedy. even if he is being more than duly compensated, once the media circus dies down, what's he left w/ (besides union pacific, an assload of money, and a mitsubishi...)? i don't see this restaurant surviving long, or if it does, as anything more than a tourist trap, kind of an expensive TGIF. it seems like to a chef of his caliber, the restaurant would be like a hairshirt on a summer day. i can't see him, at the end of the day feeling very good about himself or the decision he's made to let us into his world in that capacity. and it was especially disheartening to hear from the former BOH who worked there that he was doing virtually none of the cooking. so i seem to be rambling, but as far as the average joe sitting at home watching the show, i think in larger cities, i.e. new york, chicago etc.., where there are is an abundance of higher quality restaurants and a larger proportion of people who have had more varied dining experiences (or people like me who are friends w/ industry folks), they'll be able to discern between the disaster this show is and a restaurant that is properly or more competently run. unless of course, they've got their heads completely up their asses. but, i would give the larger portion of the non-industry public the benefit of the doubt for taking the show w/ a grain of salt. maybe i'm optimistic.