chromedome

Last night I was comparison-shopping in local shops and online for a food mill, because I've been going through a lot of applesauce lately. Today I was in a part of town I seldom visit anymore, and found myself a few doors up from the Salvation Army thrift store. You know where this is going, right? Found one on the shelf, still in its original packaging, with a $9.99 Salvation Army price tag stuck underneath the $39.99 Home Hardware price tag. Clearly, it was meant to be.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/10/now-available-in-the-us-a-pesticide-delivered-by-bees/

Salmonella, just for a change. Products are a couple of brands of Italian-style dry sausage, distribution Ontario/Quebec and Alberta/BC. http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-16/eng/1571271629505/1571271635314

Another update on the E.coli/beef and veal recall. The list of retailers now includes Walmart and Overwaitea. http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-15/eng/1571192117978/1571192124399

For any Canadians who live near a Paderno store, you have just a couple of weeks to get down there and pick up any knickknacks you might have a yen for. All of the storefronts are closing by the first week of November. Currently the discounts are: 30% off any clearance product, 50% off regular price product other than Paderno cookware, and 70% off Paderno cookware and sets.

We did ours yesterday, rather than today (which is, technically, the actual holiday). Pretty conventional, for the most part. Final menu consisted of the bird and stuffing, 6 cups of gravy (plus stock left over for soup or whatever), mashed potatoes, rough-mashed carrot and turnip (actually rutabaga), a baked buttercup squash, sweet potatoes glazed with maple syrup, cabbage gratin, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, Brussels sprouts pan-seared with bacon and caramelized onions, and the green bean casserole (my GF's family spent a year or two in Long Island back in the late 80s/early 90s and acquired a taste for it there). Desserts consisted of a board with a few cheeses, some dried fruit and candied pecans; an apple pie; and (by request) a pumpkin cheesecake. I did the cheesecake on a gingersnap crust (my GF hadn't had that before), then glazed it with a bit of Robertson's ginger marmalade and garnished it with more of the candied pecans. The dried apples and apple pie both were made with apples we'd picked on our (third) annual trip to the U-Pick with the granddaughter, who is now 4, and I made a point of telling her so. She lit right up, as you'd imagine, and proceeded to demolish a considerable wedge of the pie and a large handful of the dried apples. I'm sure she ate more apples yesterday than she'd actually helped pick, but that's not the point.

More beef & veal, more E.coli: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-12/eng/1570907715707/1570907721821

Bear in mind, almost all of the recall notices I've posted over the past 7-10 days boil down to the same two recalls, one on chicken and one on beef and veal. It's bad, for sure, but easily avoidable for most of us.

One more. I can't keep track of whether this is a new one or an up date, but it's Butcher's Pride corned beef and pastrami. Right now it's Manitoba and points west, but possibly national. http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-12/eng/1570907715707/1570907721821

I really doubt they're 6 lbs in Canada. Also they're $7.99 up here, but that's still cheaper than you can buy an uncooked chicken anywhere. To put that price point into perspective, a rotisserie chicken pretty much anywhere else here is $3-$4 more. We buy them off and on, though I find them terribly salty.

Great story. So now, of course, it MUST be your life's work to serve the mom something so irresistible she can't help licking her own plate.

A further update of the beef and veal/E.coli recall, naming specific stores, dates and products: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-11/eng/1570855063694/1570855073008

For those in Western Canada, a recall on Save On Foods' corned beef for listeria: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-11/eng/1570844971791/1570844978778

That's how I always do it, as well. I honestly don't know anyone who carves the whole bird at the table anymore, so why fuss with it? My bird is currently thawing in the fridge. On Saturday I'll separate it into top and bottom halves and roast them in separate pans, so both white and dark meat can cook in their own time (and also, so I get twice as much crispy skin). The carcass gets stripped as soon as it cools enough to handle, which in my case doesn't take long because my hands are pretty heatproof. Then I divide it into shallow containers and put it in the fridge to chill properly. The neck, gizzard, and carcass get simmered up for a quick batch of broth, while the drippings chill and separate in the fridge. That's the gravy, and usually a pot of soup and/or a turkey pie a couple of days later. I slice the chilled meat into two foil pans (one for light, one for dark) and dribble a bit of the broth over them, then seal them with foil. They get reheated the next day. Basically, I try to work it so all I have to do "day of" is cook the veg. The skin won't stay crisp overnight but you can re-crisp it in the oven or toaster oven. Or do what I do, which is eat it all while carving up the turkey and making broth, since nobody else in our extended circle seems to care for it (!!!).

Further updates, for anyone still playing along at home: Listeria http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-08/eng/1570591937403/1570591944899 http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-09/eng/1570673091350/1570673097500 E.coli http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-08/eng/1570584593450/1570584599598 http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-09/eng/1570682275328/1570682284450

I enjoyed that scene, being notoriously partial to a pun myself. My ex and I concocted a five-level scale for measuring one's response to a pun, with a weary eyeroll representing level 1 and physical violence representing level 5. (Edited to clarify: "physical violence" in this context consisted of her pummeling my shoulder with her fists, while giving vent to theatrical howls of rage, as my kids laughed hysterically...)

Nope. It's probably just "one of those things"...an early expat liked it and asked for it, and everyone else went along. We pretty much adopted the holiday wholesale from the US, so it's more or less all the same up here. Turkey and the trimmings, pumpkin pie and apple pie, etc. You get the occasional regional variation: Perogies and cabbage rolls are pretty common sides on the Prairies. Green bean casserole is much less of a "thing" here - I never saw or heard of it until I was an adult, and never ate it until I was in my 40s - and pecan pie is less common that it would be Stateside. I don't personally know any Canadians who do oyster stuffing, cornbread stuffing or chestnut stuffing IRL, either, though presumably there would be a few exceptions among the present company.

https://nerdist.com/article/le-creuset-star-wars-cookware-line/

There's a growing body of evidence that indigestibility - in the forms of fiber and resistant starches - *is* a primary health benefit. That being said, brown rice is not especially high in fiber as grains go. I personally eat brown/red rice* much, much more than white rice, because I like the flavor and extra "chew," but have no real axe to grind either way. We like what we like. (*and millet and quinoa and barley and freekeh and bulgur, and so on...)

The classes are kind of on hold at the moment, because the former cooking school coordinator left and they haven't yet found a replacement. There *is* one class this month, a vendor-sponsored evening class that I'll be doing with the store's RD.

The whole "that's my one new thing for the day" thing is a catchphrase between my GF and I. In truth, between my work (as I usually explain it to friends, "looking s**t up and explaining it to people") and my innate curiosity, most of my time is spent learning new things.

I'm actually kind of surprised, I didn't remember it being that long. But then the last time I passed that way it was pretty much a bumper-to-bumper, white-knuckle sprint at 120-140km/h the whole way from Arnprior to the other side of Montreal. That trauma has probably colored my recollection of the drive, somewhat.

Turns out the reason I didn't know about it is that it's not sold in Canada. Apparently Canada has a minimum standard for nutrition that all faux-meat products must meet (...and now I've learned my second new thing for the day), and Quorn doesn't meet that standard. It could do so if the manufacturer opted to fortify the product, but this "does not meet with our brand values."

I had to look up quorn, not having encountered it before. I've just gotten to my desk, and already I've learned my proverbial one new thing for the day.

Just for a change of pace, we have a recall due to...cronobacter. I don't think anyone here has an infant currently, but it's a national recall for PC brand Lower Iron Infant Formula. http://inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/newsroom/food-recall-warnings/complete-listing/2019-10-05/eng/1570322221379/1570322221754