AlaMoi

a recent 'article' suggested, and given the state of today's smart-phone-thumbs crowd,,,,the primary source of "news" is social media. social media used to be semi-dominated by trolls. today, social media is totally dominated by AI-bots. methinks the same is happening on many 'cooking oriented' sites - """authors""" are using AI to generate content. this morning, on a cooking forum style site, there is a new post, first post by new user, that is utterly swarmy AI garbage. now, the site owner (of multiple declining sites....) has no objections to AI bots posting - they're in it for the money and no other reason. forum type sites are dying - following a forum on a 3" cell phone screen is much more painful than following a 128 character string of tweets . . .

I'll have a drink at a resto, or wine, or beer . . . last time I recall "going to a bar" was 1969 . . . back then you plunked down a $5, or $10 and the barkeep deducted on service. actually, come to think of it, . . . having a drink with crowd, waiting to be seated . . . the tab was transferred to the resto eating tab . . . business stuff, when I was nominated to pay the bill . . .

yup. we go out to eat. that almost always provokes a "Even I can do better at this!" and we go home 'recharged' . . .

what he said ^ infused oils using anything - herbs/spices/leaves - that grew in soil - aka had soil contact - have the potential to erupt into botulism. that mechanism take time, the time is 'delayed' by refrigeration. hence the 'not longer than' storage theory . . . this my fav 'bread dipping' schufft: 1 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 1 teaspoon fresh basil leaves, finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (adjust to taste) 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt I only do 1/2 of the recipe (for two) so we can use it up before it may go wonky

bad idea. olive oil - EVOO or other - congeals when refrigerated - various compounds congeal at different temps. to "make it whole" requires extended 'thaw' times - the thawing attracts moisture and 'un-nice stuff' from the air. buy what you use within +/- one year, keep it in a dark glass bottle, keep it from constant light exposure, store in a cool dark place . . . as is the phrase. if you do "infused (olive) oil" then yes - use fresh, refrigerate left overs, and use before ~ two weeks.

-----uhmmmm, freezing is a mega-difference than refrigerating . . . I frequently see "Use or Freeze By: " dating on meat products. imho, yeah - held too long before use.... altho otoh . . . if I'm reading 05/11/2025 correctly , , , that's not outrageous "old" - so indeed, may be "just bad beef" there's a lot of bad stuff being sold . . .

ours is not used daily - but days at a stretch for keeping homemade bread/pastries/pies/cobblers....

we use Quaker traditional style - the instructions say 15-20 minutes on the stove top, since we usually do a small qty, it goes faster than that.

just go with conventional aka 'non-instant' - very few people have found 'instant' to be acceptable . . . btw, same with oatmeal. the difference in cooking time is not a big deal.

I right regular fine dice fresh local strawberries as filling for crepes / toppings for x,y,z . . . I make a point of macerating them over-night . . . and left overs go into 2-3 days. operative words: fresh local I'm wondering if the 'forced red color but not really ripe' played a role?

not a single item in inventory cost has increased 'by tariffs' your store/the company is ripping you off.

cast iron and carbon steel pans require time to properly 'season' cast iron needs about 2x of carbon steel. fry/high temp cook fatty stuff in the pan for a minimum of 20 'events' before judging 'non-stick' they will never ever be "ala Teflon" - but they get so close as to be an entirely acceptable alternative.

I was gifted a Calphalon fry pan. as it's 'non-stick' degraded to 'sorta' stick' to 'sticks' I've used BarKeepersFriend on it multiple times. not much help. I no longer even consider it when needing anything non-stick. I have found the ceramic 'non-sticks' ala Blue Diamond much more durable. they do 'clog up' but a quick cleanup with BKF brings them back to their original "sorta' maybe kinda' non-stick" performance.

once upon a time, there was an industry size agreement: Broilers: Chickens 6 to 8 weeks old and weighing about 2 1/2 pounds Fryers: Chickens 6 to 8 weeks old and weighing 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds Roasters: Chickens less than 8 months old and weighing 3 1/2 to 5 pounds Stewing Chickens: Chickens (usually hens) over 10 months old and weighing 5 to 7 pounds Capons: Castrated males that weigh 6 to 8 pounds Cock/Rooster: Male chickens over 10 months old weighing 6 to 8 pounds that time has gone. chickens in the supermarket labeled "Fryer" are in the 5-6lb range if you look at the chickens supermarkets use for RTE "rotisserie chicken" - they are tiny.

"The vision was actually to wake up to a complete breakfast . . . " one egg sunny side up is not a "complete" breakfast. just saying . . . so,,,, whadda' about the rest of it? next, from timer "Start" to 'egg all done' is how many minutes:seconds? how does that time duration compare to people woken by an alarm, hit the toilet, wash up, brush their teeth, get on a robe and go wander into the kitchen? ..... and make a slice of toast . . . given that it takes +/- 2 minutes to preheat a pan to fry an egg, and cracking an egg into the pan is 3-6 seconds, and ~3-4 minutes to cook the egg - any number and anyway you want . . . what does this device accomplish? the disassembly/wash/clean up looks to take that much time or more , , , so, what is the net time saving for one/two eggs sunny side up?

methinks making such generalizations is a really really dicey thing . . . example: was once a local farm stand operated by Mennonite family, with relatives/contacts in the Carolinas. they would have the mostest superbest early berries and corn . . . one of the family would drive a truck full of stuff up to PA once/twice a week - so they always had the best stuff from a climate 'ahead' of us.... picked ripe, delivered next day . . . I have found early supermarket berries and "sweet corn" are not at all 'reliable' in terms of quality. sometimes they get a hit, most of the time they miss it by a still-green mile. even "in season" the local stuff is far superior . . .

Pepin is an outstanding tutor for crepes and omelets. the MSN link doesn't have the same pic, but the text is similar/same . . . perhaps the author 'sharing' or editors 'editing'?

I think I found the same here - no paywall https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/us/what-jacques-pépin-taught-me-about-omelets-and-life/ar-AA1BCRt9

I think the only reason one has time "free to do other things" is the video "starting in a cold oven" putting a sheet pan with ground beef 8 inches under my pre-heated (electric) broiler would produce ciders in not very many minutes.... a good chili takes time for flavors to meld. so "instant" chili is not really an attractive idea . . . 'from a can' may well have a better taste/texture.

some confusion perhaps? clear plastic "clamshells" are made of recyclable plastics. styrofoam "clamshells" like fast food did / does come it are not generally recyclable. recycling varies widely by location and time of day. our township stopped recycling paper and corrugated. eh? two of the most potent waste streams . . . we have a trash-to-steam plant....does paper/corrugated not burn well? only plastics and glass - not steel cans! - may be recycled.... steel cans are perhaps the singularly most easily recovered materials from any waste stream . . . but . . . .

if home made room air dried pasta was dangerous, Italy would have a very small population . . .

since ten thousand years ago, Diamond has been "renown" aka "famous" for the crystal flakes of "kosher salt" vs. the "big chunks" of other "kosher salts" it would be my guess that somehow a batch of cartons improperly labeled made it onto the production line . . . altho . . . given the ability to scan/verify "codes" on every single box . . . makes that unlikely. unless, , , , of course, , , , they knew and decided it was simply more trouble than it was worth to "fix" the issue.

hard to believe . . . but our local markets only have corned beef available the day before (St Patty's) and then days to weeks after (left over stock - on sale - really good prices....) at an 'off major' market I did find an off-brand, thin cut, point,,,, corned beef. it was terrible. any opinions on the "best" national brand?

it might be helpful to point out / know / consider . . . eggs are more a 'local item' than 'from anywhere' eggs are not shipped from the west coast to the east coast (or the east coast to the west coast... north/south/etc) this has a pretty big influence on costs in any given area - when local/semi-local egg producers are forced to kill every chicken in the coop because of bird flu . . . prices spike - since any supply has to come from further further further away. there is, however, a supporting fact to 'price gouging' - the "bird flu problem/all chickens are dead" has not had a severe impact in south-eastern states. but,,,, egg prices are up there as well.... which one could ascribe to "supply and demand" - or not. is this not deja vu all over again . . . . like the toilet paper issue? or, , , Tickle-me-Elmo dolls?

the big ones don't fit on a toasted muffin . . . I find it curious that supermarkets - despite the well documented trend in aging and 1/2 person households - continue to carry 'pretty much nothing but mega-size' stuff. there's no economy in buying in bulk and throwing some/most away . . . oh - wait - the squirrels have registered their disagreement . . . .