jhlurie

To be clear, the idea is to pick one and champion it--NOT to do both over a period and document them both? Right?

I enjoyed this one a lot more than episode 1. I think they felt they'd successfully illustrated the "worst" of Ramsay in Ep 1, so they geared him back to a more reasonable level. Our pal Mayberry was the obvious boot, but it didn't really ruin anything with that being so obvious. I dunno. He could have been looking that way at Chef Ramsay instead. I enjoy the fact that the early challenges are very definitely cooking relevant. Being that this is an American version of a reality show, they could have just as easily been obstacle courses, or a race or something equally dumb. I'm still not getting a real sense of a few of the chef-wanna-bees. I'm not sure if it's because Faux is withholding footage, or if they are just boring as paste.

Can't cream cheese be homemade? Google says: yup. Here's one recipe. Here's another (this one sounds a lot more ambituous).

Beam Black is close enough in price to Beam White (and significantly better) that I've always wondered why anyone bothers with the White. Then again, with the DOUBLE GOLD winner being $15, I also wonder why anyone would then in turn bother with Beam at all. Then again, Bourbon is a pretty subjective drink, in my opinion.

I've a bottle of this as well, and I can't agree enough with Jason--this stuff rocks.

Actually, Jason and I cracked this bottle open together. I agree it was quite good.

Why don't we take this discussion about what makes a vegetarian elsewhere? Here's at least one relevant topic: Are You A Vegetarian?

Damn, this particular soda really DOES split people right down the middle. My Dad, who is a life-long cola enthusiast favored non-diet for a lot of years and only switched to Diet Coke about 7 or 8 years ago... and he HATES the Splenda Diet Coke. He used almost the same terms to describe it as a few other objections I know ("disgusting"). I think that people must undergo some kind of brain chemical transition when they stop tasting Aspartame, and everything else tastes off somehow afterwards.

So we are basically talking about frozen, and then microwave-dethawed, Pizza?

Well, cannolis might count as baking. Or maybe a Pignoli Nut Pie. Man, a lot of Italian desserts are like... custardy things or fried though. Does something like a Ricotta or Easter Pie count as dessert?

So let me get this straight... it's stick-shaped wheat crackers trying to emulate potato? Dumb.

He grew up in England, but actually he's Scottish. But yeah, FOX will milk the "British but rude" thing as far as they can. That's key. No doubt there were viewers watching who were outraged on the customer's behalf. But the more cynical of us know that those people were drafted--probably dragged off a studio tour or something, made to sign waivers, were given explanations that they'd wait most of the night and might not even get food, etc. Okay, maybe we should still be outraged, but honestly, this was just a restaurant full of people hoping to get on TV. I kept calling him "Mayberry" in my head.

Tasti D-Lite has several locations in NJ, including Englewood, Glen Rock, and down in Long Branch. Honestly, though, I'm not a big fan of these products; you're much better off with your own concoction of frozen fresh fruit and plain yogurt. ← Tasti D-Lite doesn't use Splenda, or any artificial sweetener, they just use reduced amounts of actual sugar (here's a link to their franchise FAQ which states this).

This actually doesn't sound all that much like the Fort Lee California Farms. The dry goods are mostly non-existant at that one, but the produce is almost always top notch and fresh. No mold that I've ever spotted. The only spoiled item I ever recall buying were some loose garlic heads. And man... it's cheap. It's part of what I'd describe as one of the better "NJ food shopping circuits" for Manhattanites who shop in NJ (hey, maybe that would make a good thread--"New Jersey shopping "loops/circuits" that are recommended for Manhattanites). In this case the loop would probably be: -- Right off the G.W.B., the California Farms (Fort Lee) -- Han Ah Rheum (Ridgefield) -- FoodMart International (Ridgefield) -- possibly the Han Ah Rheum in Little Ferry -- Secaucus, on the way back to Manhattan via the Lincoln tunnel, where there are a number of possible stops, with Jersey City, Hoboken and Edgewater very nearby

When we came up with the idea that's what we had planned. But if the children want to play rough, so be it. Honestly, though, the underlying concept is still mostly that we want to see variations on a theme. We took some inspiration from the popular Cook-Off threads, but we also wanted the "vibe" of our Foodblogs present as well, so as always there will be also be talk about restaurants they visit or any other nonsense they want to spout off about surrounding their eating experiences of the week. Based on the early response here, I'm pretty sure our fearless leader, Foodblog Czar SobaAddict70, will be working diligently on a sequel. We knew the Foodblogs needed some renewed energy, and well... I smell ozone. That said, if you are an eGulleteer who's been here for at least a few months and you're starting to feel comfortable in the spotlight, make sure you PM Soba and let him know you're available for a potential Foodblog appearance (probably the singular version--I think the Tag teaming will most likely be reserved for repeaters).

My vote is for the Brazilian Orange Sumol, which you can find in a lot of Brazilian restaurants. My honorable mentions go to San Pellegrino La Rossa (Blood Orange) and Fentiman's Seville Orange Jigger. As for "standard" Orange sodas, I loved them as a kid, but they all seem too sweet now.

I've found Mousse Pocky to be more expensive than "normal" pocky, but not twice as much. I think it's about the same price point as Pocky G.

I actually think that Thai curries, while excellent, are not the "stars" of the cuisine. The soups, the complex "salad" dishes (larb, yum neur) and many of the noodle dishes are--at least for me. I've actually said, for years, that it's the most underrated cuisine in the world. I despise things like fish sauce and shrimp paste on their own, but properly applied they fit well. But it's the fresh ingredients which really "make" Thai food work. Also, Thai food is one of the cuisines where something can be blazingly hot, but other flavors can still peek through. A lot of Indian food, as a counter example, can be overspiced, but I find that doesn't happen nearly as much with Thai.

The funny thing is that apparenty Cowell isn't really Cowell anymore fully. He's off the U.K. version of Idol now. One hopes that Ramsey will still be able to terrorize U.K. viewers for some time to come. The commercials for Kitchen U.S. are pretty funny. For the longest time people have always portrayed Americans as rude types and the Brits as the polite ones, but Cowell and Ramsey really put that in question. Except, of course, for the fact that Ramsey is actually a Scot--but most Americans probably won't know or care about that. By the way, I actually appreciate the fact that Ramsey doesn't want to do this with grade Z celebs anymore. Heck, even grade A ones would be annoying. Let him yell at nobodies. Also... a five year deal? Fox must have REALLY liked what they saw from him. Not to mention that he's getting a plum timeslot (the slot where "24" normally is). The current version of the Fox website for the show is hilarious (they've changed it since I first linked to it). They've gone whole hog with the "hell" theme. Gordon's eyes even burn with hellfire when you mouse over him. Actually while it is already really funny that Ramsey went to L.A. to "get real", it's even more telling that most of the "contestants" are from the East coast (an overwhelming number from New Jersey).

Reverse Pocky might not even be sold anymore--I got the impression it was a limited time thing. But it's essentially very similar to "regular" Pocky G--which is still made. Personally I think a nice "starting" pocky might also be the Strawberry Mousse flavor, but that's just my preference. I think it's the best of the various "berry" variants.

At it's heart a blog is something of a monologue ("I talk, you listen"). We've carved out a niche where someone can take that kind of platform for a limited time period (the "weekly" Foodblogs), but overall this site isn't about hosting monologues. People have used the term "blog" for threads elsewhere on eGullet, but in general we tend to discourage that word in thread titles, because of that aspect--that a "blog" tends to be an open-ended monologue by a specific person. Our base assumption here is that if someone makes a topic, that anyone who is qualified to comment on the topic can and should be addressing the subject matter. Editing is not an issue. We don't edit user's posts. We do exert a level of control over topics as a whole, but us having that control is hardly a unique phenomenon in the world of Internet forum management. Of course there are many instances where someone wants to tell a story. "This is how I went about buying a chef's knife" or "when I visited Algeria this is what I saw". But those aren't open ended affairs, so we don't really consider them all that blog-like. In theory the topics are still open to other people's comments and stories on the same subjects as well. Also, sometimes a topic on a subject can SEEM like a monologue if one person is doing the majority of the storytelling. Susan Fahning's cabin thread is a good example of this. Susan asked 'Am I the only "cabiner?"' right at the outset of her thread. Quite properly, she opened the floor to other people to discuss their own experiences. If it didn't happen? It's not on Susan's head, and any resemblace to a blog is simply because others didn't pick up the gaunlet tossed at them. Blogging is a great phenomenon and a source of enrichment for the entire Internet. The fact that it's an easily available thing that almost anyone can construct on their own has only increased our sense that having a looser, more communal approach is the right thing here. We still tend to think people will want to comment here, because we've got a built-in audience--the flip side of having to respond to a community is HAVING the community around to read your words.

The woman to the right doing the "ass and titty, hand on hip, S pose" was on some reality show. No? ← If you mean Jaime King, she's coming off the movie "Sin City" recently, so arguably she's actually a hot property.

The fall schedule grid at TheFutonCritic.com confirms that the show will air Mondays at 8:30pm. FOX has the weirdest strategies--putting a show like this in the early evening. It's after the equally non-family-friendly "Arrested Development". In a way it's a good pairing, but the placement of that pairing is mondo bizarre.

They've updated the image of Pocky a bit in these commercials in an attempt to try and make it seem "hip", I guess. The older ones which were on that site a year or two back seemed to be much more about young girls in school outfits (literally) singing Pocky's praises (I seem to recall the song was something very complex... like "Pocky, Pocky, Pocky, Pocky"). Okay... I guess watching this new bunch that's STILL close to what's happening, but this time they are using loud rock music in the background. And only about half the commercials seem to be using the school girl thing now. Perhaps one of our Japanese members can translate the commercials for us (although perhaps not the weird "French" one), but really it's pretty obvious what's going on in most of them. Oh... Pretz appears to have commercials online too. I've never looked at those before.

Middle of the US is a lot of farmland. A lot of the farmworkers are Mexican. Many occasionally eat, I am told. Hence, very good access to Mexican groceries. You New York types really need to drive a little farther west every once in a while, you know Sorry, but I was once a similarly misinformed east-coaster. Hell, even the local wall-mart carries pozole and salt cod. But I found it very hard to find decent Mexican groceries in Europe. What you can get really depends on the immigrant mix, obviously. But Mexican stuff in the midwest? Never a problem. ← Aw, leave the poor NYer alone. (actually she's from NJ) I know from personal experience that Kansas City is PACKED with Mexican culture. I gotta tell you... it shocked me until I thought about it. Is it politically incorrect to talk about migrant workers? In K.C. apparently a number of them decided to stay. The Mexican influence in our part of the world is scarce, but Rachel is fortunate enough to live near one of the few real enclaves. Again, you have to risk political incorrectness to discuss why. The fact is the stereotype of the Mexican lawn care professional has some basis in reality, and a lot of the families live in Bergenfield, NJ. Back to Mole Poblano. Isn't it true that everyone's abuelita has their own version of the recipe? Even as an amateur and living in a region with less Mexican food than I desire I've had dozens of variations myself. Susan in FL shouldn't get all hung up over cloves, because I'm positive there are tons of recipes without them. I honestly don't think there IS a signature ingredient of Mole Poblano other than the chocolate (but it better be Mexican chocolate, right?) and the mix of chiles.