chromedome

So it's... the CSO of air fryers?

LOL Just a couple of days ago I told my GF that I want that song played at my (hopefully long-deferred) funeral, just to mess with people.

It's on the rinds, but who do you know who scrubs a cantaloupe all over with a brush before slicing it? ...and of course there's the counter you've set it on when you got home from the store, the shelf in your fridge, your hands, etc.

My office is small and lined with bookshelves, so I can pluck from either side by leaning no more than a foot to the corresponding direction. I don't have a specific spot for my seed catalogues (I need more bookshelves, but first I have to get busy inventing a "wall stretcher"), so I just rest them on top of the books. I was deeply amused one day to realize that my seed catalogues live in the "fantasy" section of my shelves...

I called time on my broccoli and broccolini yesterday, after one more harvest (3 or 4 cups of tender young buds and florets). They've been holding up so far but not really growing much either, and with the overnight low forecast to hit -11C (-20 with the wind chill) it seemed like an appropriate moment. I've reallocated their covers to a couple of beds of hardy greens that were inadequately protected until now, and will hope to coax another few weeks (perhaps a month?) out of those. I also harvested the last of my "watermelon" radishes, which had been overlooked until now. That leaves some carrots still in the ground, as well as a couple of beds of kale, chard and/or beets. The actual beetroot is one of the last things I harvest, once I've given up on getting any more greens. Regrettably I didn't take any photos of the broccoli, though the one just a bit upthread gives you the idea. I will say it was unusually tasty after having a few touches of frost. Late-season cabbages and kale are well-known to be sweeter after some cold, so I guess it's not really surprising. On the whole I haven't had a lot of opportunity over the years to experiment with cold frames or simple row covers, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how much of a difference they make. I haven't usually been able to stretch my growing season this late into the year, so definitely I'll try to do more of this in future.

As expected, the recall has been updated to cover most of the other provinces. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/malichita-brand-and-rudy-brand-cantaloupes-recalled-due-salmonella

Was this thread originally called "The Price of Eggs?" Anyway, this seems pertinent... https://news.bloomberglaw.com/antitrust/kellogg-kraft-win-in-price-fixing-suit-against-egg-companies

I'm a frequent reader of tech/science site Ars Technica, and the use of random objects as a proxy for actual measurements (football fields, school buses, etc) is a common source of mockery in the comments section and user forum. This usually takes the form of finding an extremely random object to translate to: whale vertebrae, perhaps, or saxophone reeds, or electronic components ("That works out to 12.73 GTX 4080s!").

Huh. That would irritate the hell out of me, given that high-bush blueberries tend to be 2-3 times the size of low-bush ("wild") blueberries.

...and again with the enoki... https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/o-ya-hoho-brand-100-fresh-enoki-mushrooms-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

At one of my usual supermarkets there are a few cashiers who can be relied upon to bag properly. With the others (how else you gonna learn who does it properly) I'll let them bag, then rebag immediately when I get to the van. If the cashier makes an egregious error I'll politely intervene and explain why it's supposed to be done differently. I alternate between self-check and the conventional lanes, depending how much I'm buying and how the lines are. Oddly, I sometimes find that there's a long line at self-check while actual cashiers occupy themselves with busywork because their lanes are empty. I'll always pick a lane at that point, because a) it's pragmatically my quick option; and b) it's obviously a shift that's hit-or-miss for staffing, so it's an opportunity to put a finger on the metaphorical scale in favor of human staffing. I've always got my eyes open for markdown items, and that will sometimes affect my decision too. We have two main national supermarket chains, Sobeys and Loblaws/Superstore (there are regional chains as well, of course) and they treat markdowns differently. At Superstore I can enter the discounted items myself, and when I get to the "Pay now" part of the process a staffer comes, eyeballs the discounted items, and taps to approve them. At Sobeys the staffer needs to come over and manually enter the price overrides for each item. If I'm at Sobeys, then, and have found several such "targets of opportunity," I'll usually avoid the self-check in favor of a regular lane.

Consistent with my experience, then. It's at least 20 years since I had a chicken there that didn't remind me of that last one at the supermarket that's been under a heatlamp for 10 hours. Last time I had the misfortune to darken their door (a family occasion, I didn't choose the venue) I ordered the ribs instead, and they'd clearly been kept from the previous day and reheated. I remember them being decent once upon a time, but, well...

Enough years ago that their chickens did not yet consistently have a sawdust texture, I presume?

That's interesting. Up here the self-check lanes just plain don't have a cash option, they're card-only. If you have an issue with your card and need to pay cash instead, the attendant in the self-check area will save/suspend the transaction and take you over to one of the regular checkouts where it can be resumed (and yes, I've learned this through experience). I know merchants a processing fee on credit card transactions, so it must be purely an efficiency thing. Presumably pushing customers through more quickly gives them enough extra cash flow to merit the de-emphasis on cash.

I would agree, it's full value for the critical acclaim, awards etc but not what you'd call a "feel-good" movie. Well worth watching nonetheless. Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed" would make a suitable companion piece, either before or after the film.

There's a LOT of packaged cut fresh fruit being recalled for salmonella. So far they only know of it being sold in BC, Manitoba and Alberta but you can probably expect that to expand over the next week or two. It was sold under multiple brands at multiple retailers, so it's worth scrolling through the list if you've bought any lately. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-brands-fresh-cut-fruit-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

That's rough. Nothing can make it better, but this kind of thoughtful gesture from a loved one helps. I visited yesterday with a cousin of mine here in NS. Her husband was diagnosed in his early 50s with an extremely aggressive form of dementia, which had largely incapacitated him within a couple of years of the diagnosis. He's just 62 now, and it looks like he will have one more Christmas at home with his wife and daughter, which I would not have bet on a year ago at this time. It's getting very near the point where she can't care for him at home anymore, even with a nurse (their daughter) in the home. They were college sweethearts, and will be celebrating their 42nd anniversary at the end of December. I expect it will be a bittersweet moment. ETA: While I was there she gifted me with about 15 pounds of apples from a neighbour's tree, and part of a Costco-sized chunk of parm that she wasn't going through quickly enough (just to bring this back into topicality). This represents only about half of the apples she herself was gifted by the beleaguered owner of the tree, and she knew I'd make use of them.

For those of us in BC, this brand of pesto ("South Island") was sold at craft shows, farmer's markets, etc. It' s being recalled for potential botulism. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/south-island-brand-pesto-recalled-due-potential-presence-dangerous-bacteria?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

I don't know if there's a Hall of Fame for salesmanship, but if so...this guy's not a contender.

I live in Canada's lobstering heartland, and the lobster industry has devoted a LOT of time to expanding its market in China. Aside from sporadic geopolitical headwinds, one of the biggest problems they've faced - according to an interview I read with one of the board's marketers - was exactly that preference for buying live. It took them a long time, and a lot of cooking demos/sample product, to convey the idea that a product could be frozen but still a premium offering.

Just wrap it in a blanket or a couple of towels (natural fabric, some synthetics are pretty melt-y). I've done that many times, and it works fine. If you have any cheap ratchet straps (the kind used for securing a load in your trailer or pickup) you can put a small one around it to keep the lid and towels in place, or use bungy cords if that's simpler. I suppose a piece of rope or a spare belt would do the trick, too (on the way home from a holiday meal removing one's belt is a great relief, but that doesn't apply when you're just going there).

I showed that clip to my Mom (who turns 80 tomorrow), and she definitely recalls pizza being a new and - as we'd say now - "buzzworthy" thing in around that timeframe. She clearly remembered the name of the first person who talked to her about it (she'd seen it on a trip to Boston, apparently) but was shaky as to whether it was '57 or '58.