chromedome

This one's got some layers to it. For the benefit of anyone who doesn't know, there's a hugely popular animated film right now called "K-Pop Demon Hunters." The plot, drawn from a few Korean cultural touchstones, revolves around a Korean girl-group pop band who are (passing over lots of back-story here) battling demons, per their destiny, and a rival boy-band who are... demons. Anyway, that provided the context for someone to pull this together, which we'll all recognize from previous discussions here at eG:

I don't. Often these warnings from the CFIA include a list of known retailers, but there doesn't appear to be one in this case (I'm sure you'd already looked). To trot out the old "stone thrown into a pond" metaphor, the ripples of the pistachio recall keep spreading (this first update revolves around a single restaurant/sweets shop in Nepean, the second is in London). https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-3 https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-baklava-type-products-recalled-due-salmonella There's also another recall of halva in BC. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/shaikh-al-kar-brand-plain-halva-recalled-due-salmonella-0

Found on FB by my daughter, who definitely does this.

...and another (Dubai chocolate). https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/dubai-brand-pistachio-knafeh-milk-chocolate-recalled-due-salmonella-0

More baklava/pistachio stuff added to the recall. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-baklava-and-ice-cream-products-recalled-due-salmonella

Just a couple of random lightweight thoughts/updates, for those who are still following along at home. Although we've not had many sales of rabbits for breeding purposes since spring (that's when people want to buy breeders), we've had a steady trickle of sales for pets. Just yesterday a young couple came to pick a male from our recent litters of weanlings, a sibling of little Polly's. He looked much like her, only bigger. Last week, when I ran down to NS, I also took along two young bunnies (a grey one from our other litter of weanlings, and a brown one from the older batch which are currently 12 weeks) for a repeat customer. I should explain that the sale of bunnies for pets dovetails neatly with those for breeding: people buying breeders typically want one buck and 2-3 does, but those buying pets overwhelmingly favor males. That's partly because the bucks as a whole are more docile and tractable with humans, and because they're less likely to have an issue with the household's other pets. Also, while relatively few vets have experience/expertise with rabbits, it's easier to have a male neutered than a female spayed. Rabbits are tricky to anesthetize safely, because of how they metabolize the anesthetic, and spaying is a more complex and time-consuming exercise than the relatively quick snip of neutering. It's *very* problematic to have a doe spayed, and the likelihood of a fatally unwelcome outcome is high. So when you put those factors together, it creates what the business-guru types like to call "synergy." Earlier in the summer, it resulted in us selling out a couple of litters entirely (except for the ones we retained ourselves for breeding purposes). Our random flock of "barnyard mix" chickens is maturing apace, and the adolescent roosters are now beginning to work on their crowing technique (month-end is when those from the first hatching have their date with destiny, in the innocuous guise of a freezer). It's as funny as you'd expect, with their voices breaking as frequently as those of 12-yo boys. One of them sounds startlingly like a loon, which amuses me greatly. This morning as I walked into their run to feed them, I looked down at the flock of 50-ish birds of all different sizes (some of the adolescents are fully as large as our big rooster, but Prissy's little guy is about half the size of a quail), all with their beady little eyes fixed on me and the mash bucket, I couldn't help putting on that big, booming, baritone "event announcer" voice and declaiming "...AND NOW, THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR..." The birds didn't get it, but my uncaffeinated brain thought I was hilarious. When I was feeding the quail, one of the red tuxedos (for whatever reason, the "red" breeds seem to be feistier and scrappier, which amuses my ginger GF greatly) decided he'd take advantage of me opening the door to leap out and go hang with with the big birds for a little while. In the five or so seconds it took for me to put down the feeder, pin the door closed with my knee (to prevent any further breaks for freedom) and nab him, he'd already been swarmed and pecked by a half-dozen of the chickens. He wasn't hurt, but he sprinted straight to the back of the cage when I popped him back in, and his body language pretty clearly said "Okay, I'm done!" Reverting back to Prissy and her single chick, she has relaxed enough that they can be out among the general population now. She still reacts violently to any of the other birds taking too close an interest in the little guy, or (God forbid) taking a peck at him, but she's now past the point of constant, boiling, protective rage. At one point this morning, as I was wrapping up, she was just sitting and watching the world go by when his little head suddenly poked up from between her feathers. It was awfully cute, but sadly I didn't have my camera with me. Some of our "barnyard mix" hybrids have really interesting coloration, in varying shades of white/cream/pink/red/gold on some birds, and striking black/gold/silver on some of the others. A few have feathered feet, and have grown much larger than their peers; my GF tells me that's the influence of one or another Polish breed. I'll make a point of grabbing a few pictures at some point, just to show some of the more striking combinations.

...and again. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-1?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

Yes, but do they plunk s'mores makings, volcano-style, on the middle of an otherwise-savory pizza? (If so, I probably don't really want to know about it)

There's an update on the pistachio recall. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachios-and-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

A couple of salmonella recalls. The first is national (a specific brand of halvah); the other is Ontario-only and covers various pistachio-based products. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/shaikh-al-kar-brand-plain-halva-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23 https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-pistachio-containing-products-recalled-due-salmonella-0?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

LOL Okay, then... "Although most of us on this forum do not eat bees..." FWIW I've deliberately eaten ants, fried locusts (grasshoppers? don't remember for sure which it was) and mealworms. The latter was at a kid-centric event at our local Museum of Natural History, when to my surprise my kids wouldn't step up and try 'em. I told my daughter "that's where the 'meal' part comes from!" (To be clear, I know that's not true, I'm just prone to Dad jokes). Which reminds me, I'd intended to post this here a few weeks ago and then forgot. Because direct evidence is scant and incomplete, scientists have turned to interesting side routes in an effort to decipher the diets of our remote human and hominin ancestors, through things like analysis of plaque on teeth and isotopes in bones and other remains. One mystery that cropped up in that pioneering work is a bizarrely inflated level of specific nitrogen isotopes correlated with meat-eating. There's a traditional image of "cavemen" being primarily carnivorous, though current research is now tending to debunk that (in your face, "Paleo" diet influencers!). So this finding with the nitrogen isotopes runs counter to much of the contemporary scholarship, at least on the surface. But there's been a big question mark about it, because the levels of those isotopes were high enough to make the whole thing questionable. This new work provides a highly plausible (if disgusting to the Western eye) explanation. https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/07/fermented-meat-with-a-side-of-maggots-a-new-look-at-the-neanderthal-diet/

I'm putting this here in Food Science because, although we don't eat bees, we certainly depend on them for much of what we *do* eat. It's about an advance in supporting bee colonies through supplemental feeding. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250822073807.htm

Saw this on Bluesky this morning: You know that saying about "a face only a mother could love"? Well, Moon Mist is "a taste only a kid could love." Our grandkids order it regularly, I emphatically do not. Part of the appeal of Nanaimo bars, for me, is seeing something else offered and not having to take one for politeness' sake. That, and getting to recycle the old west-coast joke: "What goes into Nanaimo bars? Strippers and Hell's Angels!" Truthfully I find them even more cloying than butter tarts, and don't care for them at all, whereas with butter tarts (like baklava) I can get past the whole sugar-bomb aspect of it. I've also learned today that Breyers' Nanaimo bar ice cream was part of a "Canadian desserts" series which included... yup, a butter tart ice cream.

This one's been expanded and updated. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/andalos-brand-pastry-products-recalled-due-salmonella

Okay, I was in Sobeys last night, and their cooler section had an area newly dedicated to Chapmans' "super-premium" ice creams. I took a look, and sure enough the butter tart ice cream was there. As it happens I'd bought some frozen items on this trip, and had come prepared with an insulated carrier and a few frozen gel packs, so I grabbed a pint (I don't buy ice cream unless I have the means to get it all the way home without it melting). GF and I both tasted it last night, and it was pleasant enough. I don't think it quite replicates the flavor profile of a butter tart, but on the other hand it's not as cloying and overwhelmingly sweet as a butter tart either. My "ginger" likened it to a butter-pecan cake, but with raisins instead of the nuts. I thought it was reminiscent of rum & raisin ice cream, but without the rum flavor. It also had bits of graham-crumb crust scattered through it, which took me aback at first (nobody in their right mind would use a sweet graham crust with a real butter tart, because they're sugar bombs already), but upon reflection it made sense. Regular pastry wouldn't hold up very well in an ice cream, whereas most ice cream makers are already adept at using bits of graham-crumb crust in their concoctions. So overall we both liked it (rum & raisin is one of my personal favorites, so the similarity is a positive in my opinion). I don't know how often I'd buy it, because I eat relatively little ice cream and my GF has a lot of other favorites, but it's definitely pleasant. The quality of ingredients and production seems more or less on par with other "supermarket-premium" brands like Hagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry's, and given the current "buy Canadian" sentiment I think the company has an opportunity to carve out some market share. If nothing else, the timing at least favors their entry into that part of the market.

I don't watch cooking videos, to be honest. This one was sent to me by a niece who goes down odd rabbit holes, and weird cooking videos is a current track she's running on (along with true crime, and icky "medical oddities" videos, which sometimes overlap with the true crime).

So, you've just splurged on a 1-pound Wagyu ribeye. How you gonna cook it? Show of hands... who said "poach that bad boy in maple syrup"? Anyone? Anyone? ("...Bueller?")

After thinking about it overnight, I don't know that my eating habits would change much (though my GF would certainly want lobster more often). If anything I'd probably splurge on a whole wheel of good Parmigiano-Reggiano, maybe. Probably a cold room for that and some other cheeses, as well as my pickles and some of the hardier things from my garden. And a kitchen renovation. But those aren't directly "eating." Honestly, I'd probably be spending more often on books than anything food-related (though given the cost of a kitchen reno, I don't know that I'd be spending more on books... just buying them more often).

The Barenaked Ladies had this one covered, decades ago. "If I had a million dollars, We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner. (But we would eat Kraft Dinner. Of course we would, we'd just eat more. And buy really expensive ketchup with it. That's right, all the fanciest... Dijon Ketchup. Mmmmmm.)" ETA: "Kraft Dinner" is what the blue-box mac & cheese is called, here in Canada, often just shortened to "KD."

Also several varieties of Andalos brand baklava are being recalled for salmonella. They were sold online, and in Ontario, Quebec and NB. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/andalos-brand-pastry-products-recalled-due-salmonella

...and I've grown Genovese basil and San Marzano tomatoes here in NB, as far as that goes. Ddanno had expressed mystification, so explained why it'd tickled Shel's funnybone. No editorial comment or endorsement, express or implied, etc etc.

I'm tempted to get them for my GF, for the same purpose, but she might interpret that as an editorial comment on how much ice cream she engulfs at a sitting.

The description says Calabrian. The prominent label on the package says Sicilian.

Various brands of "Dubai chocolate" are being recalled due to salmonella. They were sold in BC, Ontario and Quebec, as well as online. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-brands-pistachio-knafeh-milk-chocolate-recalled-due-salmonella