FauxPas

When I was still working full-time and only had the chance to do real cooking on some weekends, I would often listen to All Blues on NPR with John Kessler. Saturdays and Sundays, 6 pm to midnight, easy to tune into for an hour or two. Or more. 🙂 https://www.knkx.org/allblues

I make mango bread every now and then. I love mangoes but sometimes buy more than I can eat right away so I peel, cut up and freeze the extra ones. I have some in the freezer right now and was thinking I should either make chutney or a quick bread. Thrifty Foods had ataulfo mangoes for a really good price last week and maybe still does? I think they were $1.25 each. I don't have a favourite recipe as I don't make it that often. But I do like a mix of pureed and diced fruit. Either of these recipes would be a good starting point for me. https://www.garlicandzest.com/mango-bread-recipe/ https://whattocooktoday.com/easy-hawaiian-mango-bread.html

I like Buddha's comments on the episode. https://people.com/top-chef-wisconsin-recap-buddha-lo-episode-1-8611775

Totally agree that the camera work and/or editing was distracting. I definitely noticed that while watching the episode. I hope it calms down a bit so that we can see more of the details and in a less frenetic manner. And better food and chef shots/angles, etc. I had mixed feelings on abandoning the QuickFire challenge. As @blue_dolphinsaid, it's hard to get a feeling for the chefs in the first episode with all 15 doing their own thing. Maybe the grouped challenges would make sense and make it easier to follow each one. But then the camera stuff was so offputting, I still had a hard time figuring things out. More time for one challenge could have been better managed, I think. And then they just added a different kind of challenge on to the end. It felt like Next Level Chef a bit though. And I just want Top Chef to stay Top Chef, darn it. 🙂 In the past the QuickFires sometimes seemed so random that it felt like luck rather than skill to get the win and it seemed unfair to be able to get immunity based on that. But many of the QuickFires were also FUN and some definitely showed skills. I still want to see them but agree that dropping the immunity part makes sense. I thought Kristen was fine. It will be nice to see how she develops the hosting role.

hahahahaha 🤣 Also, totally agree about the grocery store derby. But I guess Whole Foods likes having a big old ad right in the middle of the show. I recorded it last night, will likely watch tonight.

There's also a variety called Early Jersey Wakefield that looks somewhat similar to the Caraflex. They say it was grown in 1840 in Jersey City. https://www.westcoastseeds.com/products/early-jersey-wakefield

I also see them referred to as Conehead or Caraflex cabbages. Article and recipes at Taste: https://tastecooking.com/caraflex-ultimate-cabbage-flex/ Seeds are available for home growing: https://www.reneesgarden.com/products/conehead https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/cabbage/fresh-market-cabbage/caraflex-f1-cabbage-seed-109.html

A local store sells "meatloaf mix" which is equal parts ground beef, veal, and pork. It's my fave mix for meatloaf but i also like it for Bolognese and for meatballs. I don't think I've ever had an issue with the texture or quality of ground pork from that store, either. Maybe you got a bit of a bad batch?

I'm glad that Il Terrazzo worked out so well! We used to like going there and especially in the summer when the patio was open. And Happy Birthday! 😄

I hadn't heard of them before now but I see that T&T Supermarket carries the Wei Long brand ones at least. T&T is a Vancouver-based grocery chain that specializes in Asian foods. They carry big ones and mini latiao but hard to know how much they sell or how many other stores in Richmond, BC (large Chinese-Canadian population) might also sell them. https://www.tntsupermarket.com/eng/51537101-wei-long-big-la-tiao-400g.html https://www.tntsupermarket.com/eng/51537001-wei-long-mini-la-tiao-360g.html

I use the Olivieri ones, which I think are wonderful. No precooking or anything - just layer and bake. They are sized nicely for most pans. I use a half-size pan to make smaller batches and these fit my pan almost perfectly. Two sheets would make one layer in most larger lasagna pans. The only potential downside is that I find they can lost some of their texture if left to sit too long after assembling and before baking. But if you bake fairly soon after layering, they are terrific and have a really nice texture. This is a Canadian company so not sure if this brand is available in the US, but I'm sure you can find similar ones. https://olivieri.ca/products/lasagna-sheets/

@Katie Meadow, hope you are not in pain and fully mobile soon!

It looks (and sounds) like a pretty stalwart appliance! 🙂 My husband adores burnt toast. Set-off-the-smoke-alarm burnt toast. Sometimes I have to open windows, even in midst of winter. Something about that smell is very off-putting to me, but seems to perk up his salivary glands! 😄

I have a garden plan in my mind. Unfortunately, it's far more generous than the space I actually have available, ha. 😄 I have offered to share seeds with a couple of friends. We did that last year and it worked out pretty well. Also shared some seedlings that we each started.