Carrot Top

Yes, and there one gets into the question of "what is a chef?" Is a chef someone who works mostly teaching cooking on TV or is a chef someone who can run a kitchen. The job descriptions are far apart. There's an odd mix going on here in terms of that, because on this show you do have professional chefs who are supposedly trying to win a competition (of sorts) based on their competency as professional chefs, but it really isn't exactly so. The goal here really is to make entertaining TV. I never saw the show before this year (actually never saw it before last week). Never intended to. But I walked by the TV while doing something else and the TV happened to be on this channel and it caught my eye and I stopped for one second to watch it. That was the end of me. I think I sat there for four or five hours straight, only snacking in-between episodes, because it was one of those runs of the shows of the season. Wierd. Good TV is what it is, but it does have (in my opinion) some sort of responsibility to be vaguely accurate and more than vaguely fair to each of the contestants. But then again, the TV was on the other day too when the "reality show" The Parker came on, and they had a scene of a restaurant critic (whom they said was a "internationally known restaurant critic") at their dining tables and she seemed so ditzy that I googled her and discovered (as did the other people who had googled as one had blogged about it) that this person did not exist anywhere on earth except in the producer's minds as a restaurant critic. She simply had been made up for "reality TV" then portrayed by an actress. Phew. The lines of reality seem to softening on TV on these TV shows. Guess scripts work better than real reality as far as making an hour's worth of entertainment.

Interestingly enough, cooking as a professional chef in a restaurant kitchen is not exactly the same thing as cooking for a dinner party for friends. In terms of many things. As an executive chef I would never allow a woman cook to wear heels in the kitchen or low cut blouses for more reasons than one. The women that we are discussing are not home cooks. They are professional chefs.

Yes, I had heard of that tale. What we accept unquestioningly as desert-always-desert was not always desert. It is true that truth can be stranger than fiction (or if not stranger at least sturdily eerier). Well. I guess I'm glad those guys are working on growing food from cells in labs.

Aside from drinking water, much of California's agriculture is made possible by irrigation made possible by goverment (and perhaps private investment? I don't know the full history) substructure. An astounding accomplishment and a fearsome thing both at the same time. (Now there's a science fiction story idea - California somehow loses its irrigation substructure and the entire state has to be fed on whatever food is grown in the rest of the country.)

I thought that was a truly beautiful line that you wrote, Kouign Aman.

Well, John, your story about Cuba was interesting. Do you know if there has been any discussion within the groups who study these things as to whether or how that could occur in other places that do not have the same geography or political or cultural systems that Cuba has? P.S. I'll try to use a big vocabulary word here. Let's see if it fits. "Comparative Feasability Studies".

The Maine light coming in through your kitchen windows . . . the light on the beach . . . the light while on the boat. Like nowhere else. I swear it seasons the food.

Maybe, maybe not. But just as gummy bears and steak don't go together, either do high heels and professional cooking. CJ alluded to prof soccer and team spirit and coaching at one point. If you take part of any team and hang them with a brick around their neck there's going to be an additional challenge to be overcome, both physical and emotional. I seriously believe that regardless of Howie's previous showings he would have topped over the edge in terms of attitude and performance if indeed he'd been wearing the high heels that night. He would have been the volcano that finally blew. And he would be the one gone. So far he's been a low-level stressor, a negative energy that has had to be overcome by the others time and time again. This is supremely non-professional and does not belong as part of being called "chef". The contestants overall have shown lots of interesting lapses of knowledge and they've taken some jumps that didn't work. But none of them have given off the smell of bully as Howie has. He should not be rewarded for this. And I can not believe that I am so involved in this TV show.

I have to admit to having evil fantasies of seeing Howie in particular in high heels and a low-cut shirt. Not for the usual reason but ooooh. I can just imagine his mood.

Never said it was, Nika. But one of the things that I do see in the overall movement is a focus on self, a focus on smallness, a focus on sufficiency without the need of the outside world. A turning of the back towards many complex issues, combined with a zealous missionary flag that others should be doing this too.

LOL, I agree. At least they had aprons, I was worried they were not going to get any. The producers must be men- They should walk around in high heels for hours. ← What was curious to me was the look Padma gave the women chefs when they mentioned the disadvantage of the high heels. It was full of incomprehension and disdain. For fear of ranting, I won't go into details about my feelings on that look she offered up.

Mmm. Nonsense everywhere. The only times in life I've seen things work in a passable manner is when people need each other for something. In the workplace, how often do you hear: "Yeah, he sucks but we need him because he can do-this-or-that or get-us-this-or-that." Most marriages survive on this basis. Always did. ............................................... In terms of earlier discussion, there are other people aside from urban dwellers or those who prefer to put their minds to other tasks that are excluded from the locavore movement. The rural poor. The ones who come from generations previous who had to stop farming because the farming was not making them a living or even providing for enough food to live on. (Edited to alter the word "exist" to "survive" in the marriage sentence because it seemed to fit better. )

I think that just to keep things fair, the guys should have to wear high heels and low-cut tops during the next challenge.

One vegetable patch is good, constructive global thinking is better. Mmm. Isn't there a saying about the preservatives in the food making one live longer, John? You may have more time to worry about all this than even you anticipated.

I'm all for locavores doing the locavore thing. It's one way, one valid way. If it's about food quality or reducing carbon footprints (gotta love whoever invented that phrase - it's a beaut, both musically and rhetorically) it's an excellent thing in ways. My philosophic stance remains that global interdependence is a good thing. Regardless of carbon footprints. My reasoning behind this is the belief that if we were not reliant on each other globally for many items we all consider to be neccesities, human nature being what it is we would likely just try to destroy each other. Moreso, that is, than we already do.

Mutatis mutandis of course. That's what I always say, and as a matter of fact I'm thinking of silk-screening it on t-shirts with colorful little veggies flying around the perimeter. I'm not sure that the system is getting better for everyone. I'm willing to be persuaded though.

Specify the stories, Fabby, so we can see. I'll give it a shot. (Ha, ha, I just hit the wrong letter and wrote "shit" instead of "shot". A fine morning it is. )

Who's this "we" and this "all"? I didn't realize that a "we all" had been formed by consensus. And never in my life saw an "all" when it came to people or things, that actually made sense or even worked. Personally I don't need excuses and really don't care if a thing is hard or not to do. But that "we" and that "all" (and yes, even the concept that I might need an excuse note) is quite disturbing.

Mr. Goodbar Grows a Claw.

Revenge of the One-Armed Redbug. And something about the look in his eyes makes me wonder if he's one of those lobsters those furriners dumped outside the B&M plant.

I found my curiosity piqued by a post made yesterday in "The Old Foodie" blog titled "Wasting Food is an Offense". Janet wrote about fines being levied for specified food wastage, and among the offenses listed were feeding pets bread and milk, or feeding livestock bread products. I'd like to know more about rationing during those times and how it affected things, and am most curious to hear about how people managed to feed their pets and livestock if rationing was so tight for humans! My knowledge is very general and based mostly upon snippets dropped by Elizabeth David within her broader-based writings or odds and ends of other people's stories now and again.

Usually with this cut I find that both the texture and the flavor are improved by an overnight marination in the fridge in a yogurt/lemon juice/honey/mint/black pepper marinade. Grill them quickly over high heat and you might find that even people who don't like lamb like it this way.

Well there is that Santa Claus aspect to the man. And we do know that Santa Claus does live forever.

Maybe the Foundation purchased the rights to use (for advertising purposes, with the agreement that they could attach their name to it) a bundle of things that happened in the past? This would effectively increase (by fell swoop and contract) in the public eye the perception of their generosity and staying power/seniority in the food world.

I'm not really sure if you're going to get exactly the right effect without having experienced it yourself. Don't you think you should head out with Eddie next Friday night to study this?