ghostrider

No, I don't feel that it's OK, but I was kind of ready to just throw up my hands earlier. The Don Cesare brand listed "must vinegar, wine vinegar, food coloring." I couldn't find any such listing on the others, though one of them did say "aged 6 years." Perhaps, since it's all vinegar, these don't really qualify as ingredients per se? I really don't know how they get around what I also thought was a requirement.

A quick search of the shelves at the Italian deli where I work yielded several imported brands labelled aceto balsamico di Modena, all clearly the industrial variety. Kudos to the Don Cesare brand for at least listing the ingredients clearly so that you know exactly what you are buying. I guess this usage is so commonplace that it doesn't even qualify as unscrupulous. I didn't see the term tradizionale anywhere; perhaps that still has meaning.

This web page seems to give a pretty good summary. It perpetuates the story of the Hazan influence. I've been wondering about labelling regulations in the US, though, and this doesn't completely clarify the issue: It's clear what you can do in Italy & what you can do in the US, but not how Italian imports are governed by US regulations. Could an unscrupulous importer slap a new label with the term "balsamico" onto bottles of the industrial stuff? I need to do more research, obviously, but I'm out of time right now.

Is that a medical reality? I know that ingesting even trace amounts of peanut can be dangerous. But peanut dust? Has there ever been a documented case of someone becoming ill through proximity to - not ingestion of - airline peanuts?

I haven't seen them in any of my usual haunts down here for a month or so now. They may still have them over at the big Whole Foods in Edgewater NJ, but that's a 13-mile drive one way with more stoplights than I care to count, i.e., a real PITA to which to get. It's a depressing business. It was so nice when the shrimps were just over in the next town &/or the town where I work.

North Jersey needs a place like that. Actually I guess it doesn't, or one would already exist. How far would you drive for a place like that? It's a 100-mile round trip for me. Out of the question.

'Tis amazing, tho I knew it for a decade & more before I moved out here, thanks to the NYC Union Sq Greenmarket. What's equally amazing is how hard it is to find Jersey produce in Jersey. You have to be willing to drive to it, for the most part, because the distribution system sure ain't designed to bring it to your town.

I for one am an exception to that rule. My fave was Skippy till sometime in my 20s. Actually, now that I think on it, I took a conceptual dislike to the fillers & thickeners in the major brands. The pure-nut butters did taste a bit odd at first & required some acclimatization.

I found Thai Chef in Montclair to be a bit too Americanized for my tastes. Top quality ingredients, properly cooked & beautifully presented, but the flavorings seemed restrained. Wondee's still sets the standard for the way I like my Thai food. I still have to get to Brookside though & see if I like them as well.

I opened the Whole Foods 365 jar today. The first, immediate, impression is that it contains a lot more oil than the Teddie brand, which makes it both easier to stir, and runnier (oozes out the sides of the sandwich). According to the labels, they both contain the same total amount of fat, tho the 365 somehow has .5 gram more saturated fat, and 1 gram less fiber. I still prefer Teddie's PB even tho it's more work to stir. BTW my stirring tip is to place the jar over the pilot light on my gas stove for 1/2 hour or so, at least in wintertime, makes the job much easier. (And yes, makes any PB much runnier for that first sandwich. Even so, my unscientific impression is still that the WF is runnier.)

i would have knocked him on his ass. ← Agreed. ← Tsk tsk, all of these propensities for violence. You are forgetting your Miss Manners chapter on dealing with an attitudinized waiter. The proper response is to grasp the water glass daintily yet firmly, pinky extended as if at a formal tea, and pour the contents down his pants. The gesture may be embellished with a quick grab-and-pull of the waiter's belt with left thumb and forefinger, so that the water may be aimed at the resulting cavity and achieve greater penetration.

Right, that's an example of potentially misleading label, since it could be taken to mean that some milk has rBGH in it, and some doesn't, when according to the FDA (IIRC), no milk has measurable rBGH in it, even from cows given rBGH, because they metabolize it before it ever ends up in milk. ← What the Monsanto mouthpiece is saying (milk is the same as far as safety & quality & "the amount of protein, fats, nutrients, etc.,"), is not what you are saying ("no milk has measurable rBGH in it,"). BTW, the WHole Foods label says "no significant difference" and "no test can now distinguish between milk from treated & untreated cows." Very carefully worded. Also not the same as "no milk has measurable rBGH in it," tho it may well emerge to be for all practical purposes. Back on original topic, no one has yet refuted the reports that the legislation WILL remove state warning labels.

I have two gorgeous Hall teapots & one McCormick that I found at various street fairs (hoping that they qualify for this topic) over the years. I don't recall the prices but to me they were all bargains. (I got the most recent Hall in a twofer deal along with a no-name heavy brown pot; I offered the lady $10 less than the total of the marked prices for the two & she took it). I use one Hall & the McCormick daily, and keep the other Hall in reserve in case of, heaven forbid, breakage.

Been able to compare only the Smucker's & the Teddie OF. I preferred the Teddie even before I had to go low-salt, don't quite recall why. I was pleased to discover that Teddie offers a no-salt variety. I have a jar of the Whole Foods (also no-salt) in my cupboard awaiting the day when I scrape the last smidgen out of the current Teddie jar. The WF is noticeably lighter in color than the Teddie, not sure what that portends.

From the original article - Seems to me that the net effect of this legislation is to shift costs from the food corporations (ultimately borne by us consumers) to the feds (ultimately borne by us taxpayers). So food (theoretically) gets a little cheaper, & taxes go up a little. Either way, we pay. First paragraph of article, sure sounds to me like the legislation will remove warning labels: Later in the article, Waxman says the bill will overturn 200 state laws. What's the reality here?

Beautiful photos & lovely kitties! May I ask what part of San Francisco you live in? (Be as general as you like, not looking to set you up for stalkers!) I had an aunt who lived there (Scott St. between Pacific & Jackson), & then a good friend who lived out in Walnut Creek. I visited your city half a dozen times between 1960 & 1980. It remains one of my favorite places, at least in memory. It'd be nice to try to visualize your neighborhood.

I was thinking the same thing. I wonder who Spencer was though. Interesting that Delmonico is applied to two different cuts. So that's the deckle there on the rib steak. Another peculiar term. Opportunities here for some obscure etymological research.

What's a Spencer Steak? Is that a West Coast or PNW term? Sorry, it's clear what the cut is, but I've never heard the term before.

If you lick an anti-griddle, does your tongue stick to it?

I've got to stop reading this thread. For the last two nights I've had vivid dreams that I was smoking again & enjoying it. That (the vivid smoking dream) hasn't happened in well over a year. Fortunately it's only a dream. But this is a sign that the urge never really goes away. You just ignore it.

Err...ghost...I've (mistakenly) bought them at my local Shop-Rite... ← Ah, but have you been to MY local Shop-Rite? It's true, I probably could find them if I looked hard enough in other towns, but it's not worth the bother.

For some reason those select-a-size towels aren't available in my part of New Jersey. The only place I've see them in stores is up in Maine, when we're on vacation. So I continue to tear them "manually." Such an effort! We use cloth napkins. The paper towels get used mostly due to our cats & the various incidents they cause.

I checked their website & don't see that they have anything involving hazelnuts. To me that is simply unthinkable for a chocolate shop.

This is technically a bit OT but still within the same general theme...... Unlike my parents, I buy paper towels & use them. However, I frequently tear them in halves or quarters, depending on the intended use. I can't bring myself to use a full square when a smaller piece will suffice. My SO thinks I'm nuts, but I persist. I am wondering if anyone else is similarly frugal.

So, by the time you get to the ice cream trio, the "scoop" = maybe 1/64th of a teaspoon?