johnsmith45678

On a recent Dirty Jobs one of the jobs was "geoduck farmer" (pronounced "gooey duck" - it's a type of clam) at Taylor Shellfish (which seemed like a pretty large operation - they're on the Peugeot Sound). I thought it was a pretty interesting segment on the show. At the end, the host went to Xinh's Clam & Oyster House to eat his geoducks.

The customers have to be being egged on (camera guy - "Yeah, sure, go complain to Gordo!"). Not a once has a customer come up to the pass on The F Word when their food is taking way too long, or been unpolite (by American standards ;P) to JP. Or maybe it's a British vs. American culture thing...

Consumers aren't interested in spending the time to get educated . I wonder why they don't put nutrition labels on (the signs above) fruits and vegetables? Some people would probably be interested in how much fat is in coconuts and avocados (I had never heard that removing the button prevents further ripening - really?), for example.

I agree with Ling, Simon_S, and daisy17. The time I see the term foodie used the most is by newspaper writers in the food section in which they brag -- er, write about the latest and greatest restaurants they've been to. It's like they're food socialites. You never see these people writing up about how they went to a farmers market, bought all these great ingredients, then made something fantastic (oh, yeah, because they're amateurs). If people at farmers markets refer to themselves as foodies, I've never heard it - or maybe if pressed they would admit they are, but they don't wear it like a badge of honor like the food socialites/snobs do.

I've played around with sprouting mung beans (after being mentioned on Good Eats) and they turned out okay. But they just didn't compare to the big bags of long, fat sprouts available for 79c at the asian food market.

Yep, it's definitely not idiot proof. Hopefully people can tell if something is rotten (but the sticker showed that it was ripe!). ;P ← its all a bit pointless, really, isnt it? ← Nah, I'd welcome the sticker to help determine if some produce is underripe.

Over the years I worked in restaurants, I saw and participated in a lot of experiences that added to the fun, the hilarity, and the horror. Off the top of my head: - One old man was notorious for sending his soup back because it wasn't hot enough. During one episode after which he still sent it back a couple of times after it had spent many mintues in an oven cranked to 500F, the chef drained some of the (French Onion) soup off and ladled in oil from the deep fryer. The soup didn't come back and the Maitre'd said it took the man about 20 minutes to eat the soup! - We used to empty out eggs, fill the shells with food coloring, and splatter each other with the intent of maximum coverage. Various body parts would be colored for days. - Untold number of food fights, with a wide variety of foods. - We also used to cover the kitchen telephone ear piece with honey and other various substances, then call that phone from the chef's office. - One GM was always unpleasant to the sous chef. As a result, he usually got an extra serving of phlegm in his Caesars salads. - One time I had swept up a large pile of stuff from the kitchen floor. One of the chefs took a prime rib out of the oven and set it on a garbage can, from which it fell shortly thereafter - right on top of my pile of garbage. The same GM was right there and told me to brush the prime rib off and place it on the counter (from where it was subsequently served). I've witnessed quite a few other applications of the "five-second rule" over the years. - One time we took anchovy paste (which was brown and also looks rather nasty) and decorated the toilet and bathroom with it. The dishwasher who had to clean it up was quite upset and was convinced it was sh*t. - We used to send new bussers off to find the "napkin folding machine." It usually took them tens of minutes to half an hour before they figured out there was no such thing. We also used to send new dishwashers off to find some plate polishing machine (or something like that). - Loading up various employees' meals with various hot spices. I feel there's a ton more I'm forgetting - in just about every place, cooking seemed secondary to pulling pranks. Please share yours!

Yep, it's definitely not idiot proof. Hopefully people can tell if something is rotten (but the sticker showed that it was ripe!). ;P

Most of the grocery stores I shop at have little signs that tell you how to pick produce and determine its ripeness. Oftentimes a lot (or even all) of a certain item is unripe or overripe. When there's only unripe stuff I (and a lot of other people) will still buy it and let it ripen at home.

It's sort of like The Apprentice - what does peddling candy bars on a street corner have to do with running a multi-million (billion?) dollar real estate operation?

In our case, they were eaten after!

Yeah, back in high school we used to go to Village Inn and get fries with grazy. Loved 'em. Would've probably also gotten mozzarella on them too, but I don't think VI has stuff that fancy! Never heard them called "disco fries", and I had never heard of poutine until now. BTW, I love nachos (and fries) with cheese sauce too.

Dewberry (season 1) sighting: blog bakery

The term "cock broth" would just never work - conjures up too many pornographic associations. ...Or perhaps it would work. ;P

I just started watching America's Test Kitchen and I like how they try numerous different variations of recipes to see how they come out (like with the chocolate mouse cake) or if they can improve it (like by trying to reduce the cooking time of Boston baked beans). I've never seen another show do that, and you just have to trust that their recipe is the "best way."

Heh, GR should have thrown a plate of food at her. I never would have guessed that Keith would made it this far. He's still a goofball.

Yeah - this is the kind of thing I am hearing on a daily basis. Ignoring the obvious crap in these articles, it basically boils down to... cooking/eating cooked food: a. destroys much of the protein, vitamins and minerals and all the enzymes. The remainder being more difficult for the body to utilise. b. depletes our bodies enzyme potential and drains our energy reserves. c. suppresses the immune system (something about an increase of white blood cells after eating cooked food?) d. is harder to digest than raw. ← a. I've always heard that cooking makes them easier to utilize, and that raw foods are more difficult to utilize. b. BS c. BS d. I've always heard that raw is harder to digest.

Heh, no pun intended?

List of foods named after people (I win!)

I used to dislike brown rice as a kid, but now I like it. I don't like plain white rice by itself.

I think this is a different issue. E. coli, and salmonella are preventable illnesses and only make their ugly appearance when foods are handled improperly and not cooked fully. Food allergies are not "preventable illnesses" stemming from poor sanitation. They already exist in the person that is "allergic", it's not the restaurant's problem if they have a certain condition. The restaurant's only responsibility is to be able to inform their patrons exactly what every dish contains. That's the kind of world we live in now. ← I think they're quite similar in that a food server can get blind-sided by either - undisclosed peanuts in a food ingredient, or E. coli or salmonella showing up in apple juice, or something else. Also, with something as severe as peanut allergies, I imagine cross-contamination could very well be an issue - somebody works with peanuts, then switches to working on something that's not supposed to contain peanuts, and omits washing their hands/tools. There was a story a while about a girl (who died I think) who got anaphylactic shock after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten something with peanuts in it.

I'm pretty sure #2 is bullshit too. Unless the FDA starts including "life force" on nutrition labels.

No more so than any other segment of the population. I'd even say less so. In fact, the more I think about it, my 'foodie friends' possess none of those negative qualities. To the contrary, they are convivial, accepting, inclusive, welcoming, knowledgeable, adventuresome and open-minded. And a hell of a lot of fun. I think there's something about being interested in, and sharing, food that lends itself to more positive traits in the best of the "come break bread with me" tradition. And you'd be invited to any of their gatherings anytime. Unless of course you yourself are snobby, elitist, trendy, fussy, etc. And probably, even then. ← Brava, Jaymes! I think your two posts are so right-on I won't try to add more. Er, edited to add: The Foodie, Food-Crazy or Gourmand makes up 95% of my family and friends. To me, it counts as normal. ← Foodie.

Anybody think (or know) that all these seemingly new allergies are leading to more lawsuits, more legal fees, higher insurance rates, and so on? The peanut allergy seems like the most frightening since it's so severe and so many foods contain peanuts and may not even be aware of it. But restaurants have had to deal with the threat of E. Coli, salmonella, and other nasties for a long time.

Same here. I had never heard of peanut allergies either - I wonder if that's a relatively recent development as well. Edit - oh, and one additional theory I've heard is that our ultra-sanitized food may be to blame.