chromedome

My bugbear is scrubbing tile, or more accurately scrubbing the grout between tiles. I have lived in rentals with tile countertops, tile floors and/or tile backsplashes in the kitchen, and none of those things will be in any kitchen where I have any say in the matter. I cringe when I watch renovation shows where the designer puts the stove in a brick surround, or under a hood wrapped in reclaimed wood. Do these people not cook at all? Or do they just "have people" to do the cleaning?

At any such affair here in southern NB, you'll be served sandwiches of cream cheese and chopped maraschino cherries. They may be served as conventional sandwiches with the crusts cut off (quartered diagonally) or rolled up as pinwheels, if the hosts are feeling fancy.

I'm sure I would like their pickles. I'm also sure I would not fry them. Nothing to do with "pickle-flavored" chicken nuggets, either way.

Not gonna lie, I quite liked the ones filled with fruit. The savory ones skeeved me out, though. I just couldn't grasp why embalming chicken and vegetables and (the kicker) canned peas in lime Jello sounded like a good idea to anyone.

Prepared meals at some Asian markets in BC (T&T and Osaka Supermarket) are being recalled for potential salmonella. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/various-prepared-meals-sold-certain-osaka-and-tt-supermarkets-british-columbia?utm_source=r_listserv

Pertinent to the bag salad recalls: a thread on how romaine is harvested, by the inimitable Dr. Sarah Taber.

That was my reason for finally pulling the trigger on an IP, after years of not quite buying a conventional pressure cooker.

Yeah, I'm one of them. ...and yeah, some of the sites hosting my articles allow comments. People disagree with mine, too.

My in-use assortment is similar, but I also have a Tupperware one that's contoured for their mixing bowls (I have none of those but it's great for getting the bottom of my KitchenAid bowl) and a regular silicone spreader-type that I cut down until it was roughly even with the end of the (wooden) handle. That makes it stiff enough to get stuff up from the bottoms of pans when things begin to stick. I have a few spares, and when my in-use ones get old and stained I toss 'em and break out a fresh one. Of course, that doesn't include the "other" types of spatulas, like the egg-flipper variety (three each of slotted and not-slotted in nylon, plus one metal one from my restaurant - used on cast iron only - plus a smaller nylon one that's great for maneuvering little items and one in some kind of hard plastic that I use when I want more rigidity than the nylon ones give me) or the cake-decorating variety (one straight, one offset, one mini-offset).

Yes, I cherish mine as well. I'd seen it sitting, marked down, on a shelf at my local hardware store for about 2 years. I offered the manager $90 for it (regular Canadian retail is...I dunno, $250 or thereabouts?) and he jumped on it so quickly I regretted not starting at $50 or $75. Not gonna lie, I mostly read these articles for the laugh factor. I saw one a few weeks ago on Apartment Therapy or some such site: about two paragraphs in, the writer said "Let's face it, you probably don't really need five spatulas..." and at that point I closed the tab thinking "Let's face it, you seldom use your kitchen for anything other than coffee and smoothies..."

It's in the Guardian article that's linked in the first post. In fairness, the speaker said that some shapes need to be extruded, and are better bought dry...a contention those with home extruders might disagree with. He was probably attempting to explain that the flat roller-type machine is no good for those shapes, but it doesn't come across that way in the article.

A bunch of Fresh Express salad kits are being recalled for listeria. Sold in Manitoba and Ontario for sure, "may have been distributed to other provinces." https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/certain-fresh-express-brand-salad-products-recalled-due-listeria-monocytogenes?utm_source=r_listserv

My slow cooker is also a "three-in-one" of sorts, or at least was sold that way when I bought it several years back. It's solely a slow cooker, but it came with 2-quart, 4-quart and 6-quart inserts to allow for different batch sizes.

Margaret Pilgrim suggested over in the "Kitchen Gadgets You Don't Need" thread that it might be interesting to have a new thread dedicated to those purchases we've made after being inspired by the horde of enablers here at eG. That sounded worthwhile to me, so I took it upon myself to start one. Think of it as a sort of spiritual equivalent to all of those "year in review" pieces we see over the holidays. For me, the notable example would be my Instant Pot. I was decidedly late to the IP party, getting mine just a couple of Christmases ago, and might never have owned one if not for all the enthusiasm here. ETA that I couldn't possibly single out just one member for inspiring my purchase, but when applicable I think that would lend some additional interest to the thread.

I think that has to happen. I'm going to start the thread.

This isn't a food recall, but I'll throw it in here because it's seasonal. The generic "Neo Citran" equivalents sold at most Canadian pharmacy chains have been recalled over quality-assurance concerns and the presence of undeclared ingredients including acetaminophen. Nothing immediately life-threatening for most of us, but potentially problematic. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/generic-brand-powdered-cold-and-flu-medication-recalled-in-canada-1.5714565

The BBC on turkey at Christmas (in Britain): https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211214-how-the-humble-turkey-became-a-christmas-staple

I bought one knowing full well it would only be used a couple of times/year at most. It does, and I'm perfectly happy with that. Primary uses are with raw beets for salads, and also potatoes for deep-frying into "nests." They're also good as a chip-like snack, though I haven't yet carried out my threat of adding Liquid Smoke to some salt and making DIY Hickory Sticks.

It's confirmed now that the corn from this recall has been sold as far east as Quebec, and may have been redistributed further. Date codes have been updated as well, but will be meaningless to anyone who's not in the business.

Well, given that most of them have checked anxiously to see if I'm still doing it this year, I'm pretty confident. That said, I absolutely *will* be trekking to the (ahem) ONE location in my city where they're offered, to pick up a pack of rapid antigen tests. It's all the way right uptown, on the waterfront, at the cruise ship terminal, and therefore an out-of-the-way trek for most of the city's inhabitants. I generally only go uptown two or three times a year (once, in a good year!) so yeah, I'm motivated.

I'm doing my usual cookies and small loaves for friends, family and neighbours. Scaled down from previous years, because I've had a LOT on my plate.

There's another sesame-related recall for salmonella, which may or may not be linked to the earlier ones upthread. The culprit in this case is Phoenicia Group's "Aoun" brand of tahineh/tahini/tahina/whatever transliteration you favor. Distribution is national on this one, so check your date codes, folks! https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/food-recall-warning-aoun-brand-tahineh-recalled-due-salmonella

(...and before Liuzhou jumps in to correct me, I'll do it myself...they're mostly Chinese-American or Chinese-Canadian. But still.)