chromedome

It's all the white-haired seniors, I guess.

That's plausible. I'd have hyphenated it in that case, but (shrug) I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt.

"Restauranter"? I know she didn't write the publisher's blurb, but how does a publisher not proofread its own promo copy?

At least a few brands were sold that way in Canada too, though I don't recall when I saw one last. It was probably the 90s, because I remember making that kind for my kids.

So we all knew we were overdue for another enoki mushrooms recall, right? ...right? https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/meta-brand-enoki-mushroom-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23 Right.

One of my sociology profs and his wife (an anthropology prof) spent a year in the Soviet Union back in the 70s, teaching for part of that time but mostly doing research on the treatment of indigenous peoples there (indigenous studies was their area of shared specialization). He said that if he went back, he would fill an entire suitcase with peanut butter. Apparently it was unavailable there, and a leading example of "what the heart wanted" among the small community of Canadians and Americans living/working/studying in the USSR.

I honestly didn't know Tang was still sold. I haven't seen it in... I dunno, 40 years or so?

Check your cupboards, snack lovers: Frito-Lay is recalling Harvest Cheddar flavored Sun Chips, and one of its Munchies mixes, for salmonella. This one is national. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/frito-lay-brand-sunchips-multigrains-harvest-cheddar-snacks-and-original-munchies?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

Yup. There's a massive overpopulation of deer across much of North America as well, and having more venison end up on tables would be a Very Good Thing by most measures.

I've had a pack of Wonder brand English muffins (this is why I seldom let other people shop for me...) go missing in my cupboard for 8 months, and still be mold-free and apparently edible when they were discovered. I found that extremely disconcerting, and did not put them to the test.

The "Western Family" brand of chocolate-covered and yogurt-covered pretzels is being recalled for potential salmonella. Affects BC for sure, possibly/probably other provinces will be added to the recall. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/western-family-brand-yogurt-covered-pretzels-and-milk-chocolate-covered-pretzels?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

So this one is broadening. They've added Kingwuu brand and T&T brand products to the recall, and of course T&T is Loblaw's so that puts the product into a lot more stores. It now affects BC and Alberta for sure, and the products may have made their way to other provinces. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/kingwuu-brand-and-tt-kitchen-brand-meat-and-vegetable-products-recalled-due-listeria?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

This is BC only, but a bunch of Juwei brand food products have been recalled for potential listeria. I doubt many of us have a pack of "spicy duck esophagus" in our pantries, bit if so... https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/juewei-brand-meat-and-vegetable-products-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

This. So much this. As many of you will recall I'm a freelancer, and I write a lot on topics related to internet safety, scam avoidance, etc. One really large and growing issue is that so many of these "smart" Internet of Things (IoT) devices can't be meaningfully patched or upgraded once they're in the field, which means that any vulnerabilities in their aging chipsets can be exploited for the remainder of their operational life. Sometimes there's no direct harm (you wouldn't know if your fridge or combi-oven was dragooned into a botnet), but in other cases attackers can gain access to your home network and many of the attached devices. You know, the ones containing your banking information, etc (not to mention the ones with mics and cameras).

I've seen Christmas dinners packed that way, on the "No Context Brits" Twitter feed. A perfect illustration of the aphorism that "just because you (ahem) can, doesn't mean you should." On a completely unrelated note, my daughter just sent me this one:

Some of you may be seeing these headlines already in your morning news, but the avian flu virus (H5N1) has been detected in grocery-store milk; or more accurately fragments of the virus' RNA have been detected in milk. There is further testing underway to see if a viable virus can be cultured from any of the test samples, but the expectation is that the answer will be "No" (this is what pasteurization is for, after all). RNA fragments would be present even if the virus itself was killed. https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/23/health/bird-flu-milk-fda/index.html After the events of the past few years epidemiologists and virologists are well-represented in my Twitter feed, and the consensus at present could be described as "this is concerning, but not yet alarming." The real threat (touched on in this article, and amplified in several I've seen elsewhere) is that the virus mutates enough to spread to hogs, either directly from cattle or after jumping back into birds. Viruses that adapt to hogs can then make the jump to humans, and in the (so far rare) cases when H5N1 has made that jump it has not gone well for the human involved.

I had a young Chinese gent work for me at my restaurant, a recent graduate of the culinary program at our community college. I guess he was from somewhere in the environs of Beijing, but the name of the place meant nothing to me and he explained that it was where they'd held the rowing events at the Beijing Olympics. Not that this matters. I was gifted a Big Green Egg at around this time (long story, which I may or may not have told) and was doing barbecue on Fridays. The first time I smoked a pork shoulder for pulled pork, I gave samples to the servers and to him. He chewed it thoughtfully for a moment and commented that it was not unlike they way they cooked dog back where he was from. The servers were horrified. The poor guy had no idea he'd offended them, and thought it odd that they were so short with him for the rest of the night. I explained to him afterward that this was a cultural thing, and that he should probably just avoid the subject around locals.