chromedome

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.

...and the woman who did the segment is now 90, and suddenly "internet famous." https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kathy-baker-pizza-pie-recipe-cbc-1957-1.7027772

This recall from a couple of weeks ago is, as I'd expected, being expanded nationwide. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/malichita-brand-cantaloupes-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

"Unexpected health risks of bacon" dept: I know, it's only tangentially food, but still. One could say the same for many things that include bacon.

I've caught myself doing this, but thankfully only lost a cup or two. Said to my then-wife "This is why we have pots with spigots at school..."

On Tuesday we drove to the airport in Moncton (90 minutes away) to pick up my sister-in-law, who will be staying with her dad for the winter. She was a bit peckish after being in the air for most of the day with only airline snacks and a packed sandwich, so we decided we'd hit a drive-thru in Saint John before dropping her off. As it happened, the new Popeyes - the first in the province - had just opened in our old east-side neighborhood, and since none of us have had the opportunity to try Popeye's we decided that it was a sign. Not gonna lie, my first thought was "Wow, and I thought KFC was getting pricey!" A 2-piece combo at the KFC a few blocks away is $11.49, at Popeye's it was (IIRC) $13.99. Since there were four of us to feed, we went for the promotional "Family Feast" at $47. It consisted of 6 pieces of chicken, 2 sandwiches, 4 biscuits and 2 sides (we chose the mashed w. gravy and the red beans and rice), and added on extra gravy. It was...okay. The chicken was juicy and well cooked, the coating was nice and crisp, and it was both less salty and less greasy than KFC. Also the pieces were larger (dunno if it's the same in the US but up here a couple of years ago KFC shifted to cutting a larger chicken into more pieces, and they just feel smaller). Compared to the other nearby option, Newfoundland-based Mary Brown's*, the coating and size of the pieces are about comparable (it would be interesting to try them all side-by-side; given that they're just a few blocks apart they'd all be reasonably fresh and hot). The red beans and rice were the best part of the meal, as far as my GF and I were concerned. It was over-salted and heavy with fat, and probably packed more calories than the actual chicken, but it was tasty for all that. I'll almost certainly eat there again, but will definitely be watching for specials and coupons (as I do with KFC and Mary Brown's). I enjoy a good piece of fried chicken, but frugality dictates eating it at home more often than out. *The chain started back in the 1960s by licensing its recipe from Virginia's Golden Skillet, but was unable to use that name because another NL restaurant had registered it. So they went with Mary Brown's (apparently the maiden name of the GS founder's wife?), and over the past couple of decades have grown from a regional franchise of a few dozen outlets to a national one of 250-ish).

I'm sure they're not the first to come up with it, but I noticed yesterday that one of the Indian places in town ("Naan-ya business!") was touting butter chicken poutine on its sign board outside at the busy intersection. Indo-Canadians are among our largest minority populations here, so in its idiosyncratic way it's an instant classic of sorts.

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal loaves of bread.”