Reignking

I enjoyed watching them out of their elements. They wanted to challenge them. I cannot believe Melissa didn't kill everyone with habaneros. Those things are deadly -- I won't even look at them at the store for fear they will burn my eyes.

Well, considering how his restaurants are doing...

Glad that Chiarello won, though. Those were good challenges last night -- they weren't obscure or wacky, and just let the guys cook.

I should qualify, then, that my family's culinary slant is towards Philly/NJ. Obsessed with sandwiches

Never had it, never seen it, never heard of it. Grew up in Philly & DC.

Culinaria: France is an excellent book, available at Amazon or B&N. It will give you an overview of all of the regions of France and their food & drink specialties. Great photography.

I went with John, and lost big time... Although the results of the quickfire were interesting, I really would like them to challenged creatively, and not physically.

Meet the cheftestants. http://www.bravotv.com/whos-who-meet-the-chefs

I love using Open Table for finding new restaurants, too. Say it is late on a Friday, and I know I want Italian, but the usual suspects are booked. Worked out great for Valentine's Day.

Yes, NBC is killing it off by showing it during the summer. It was just like every other cooking/reality show -- and that's why it failed. Nothing special about it.

CostCo, in Atlanta, recently had a local goat cheese. Local, for cheese in Atlanta, means Belle Chevre goat cheese in southern Alabama. Still, I was surprised to see something like that there. Technically, artisanal cheese would be those made by hand, and not mass-produced.

RichardBlais

Richard Blais recently posted his smoked mayo recipe on his twitter...

With some leftover cherries, I made a cherry-port wine-sherry vinegar gastrique for some pork the other night. Perhaps I should've started by caramelizing the sugar, but I cooked the cherries down first. I added the sugar, let that caramelize as much as it would, and added port wine and sherry vinegar. It didn't thicken much, which I would bet would have to do with the lack of caramelization.

Sounds to me that they are using less material in order to cut costs and increase their profit.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=96021&st=30 Some posts here have talked the stone potatoes, too...

The Sun-Dried Tomato, Cracked Pepper, and Rosemary flavors are excellent -- but they can overpower cheese. And they are 100% whole wheat...

Maybe this will help... http://www.4elementsfoods.com/index.htm

Hmm, I've had Florida peaches in Publix in Atlanta for weeks, but I haven't bought any...because I prefer those from the real peach state -- South Carolina.

I've made a fantastic beef kabobs w/ peanut sauce from the Weber grilling cookbook that combines the (boiled) marinade with peanut butter. But that is with beef -- I wouldn't do that with anything else.

Just waiting for it to pop up "recent posts"... They could've eliminated a few last night -- both guys. I'm glad they kicked off the obnoxious idiot who said "that was a Paula Deen" recipe. Duh. And did he even taste the food? Had he, he could've eliminated some of the onions, easily. And health girl is still just as awful. In her short bit with Tyler, she said something about not spending money on proteins, but on beans, instead. Might want to check the label on those beans...

Espresso/cappuccino maker. That never gets used. Sushi-making kit.

Oh, earth girl is the next to go. There's nothing I like better than some lean protein with a side of antioxidants and minerals.

They were immensely better on camera this season, though. Only 1 or 2 had major flubs.

If you want to know what the chefs will be working with this week, here is a story about Lost. Yes, the TV show Lost has something to do with this week's episode.