Chimayo Joe

That looks interesting. I've never used one that turns the soap into foam. I may have to give that a try.

I've had enough dispensers fail that I stopped buying them. Now I just buy a bottle of liquid soap that has a pump and refill that. This one is holding up really well. That's not the scent mind had(mine was Ocean Breeze), but it's been refilled with other soaps so many times I can't even remember what Ocean Breeze smelled like. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Safeguard-Liquid-Hand-Soap-Nourishing-Notes-of-Lavender-15-5-oz/548555258?fulfillmentIntent=In-store&athbdg=L1102&from=/search

I have three Microplane branded graters--the long skinny one, a paddle that's a bit coarser, and a ribbon grater. Which one I use just depends on what I'm grating. Here's another option. I have the fine version of this Good Cook grater. It has bi-directional teeth, and I like it as well as my Microplanes. They also make a coarser version. I got mine at my local Kroger affiliate for several dollars cheaper than what it's selling for on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Good-Cook-Fine-Zester-Grater/dp/B014RXUEV0/ref=sr_1_6?crid=FPTVKDWC0MBI&keywords=Good+cook+grater&qid=1704354431&sprefix=good+cook+grat%2Caps%2C544&sr=8-6 https://www.amazon.com/Good-Cook-Medium-Grater-Zester/dp/B06XDCY785/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=Good+cook+grater&qid=1704356622&sr=8-4

Is this the venue? There's nothing scheduled for her on Dec. 13th which is the date mentioned in the Facebook post. https://greenhills.co/deceased-green-hills-la/ Tentative R.I.P. (but I'm hoping that's premature)

I run into under-roasted cashews from time to time. A few seconds in the microwave fixes them.

I somehow missed seeing this thread until today. Anna's posts were always worth reading. I'll miss her contributions to the forum. Rest in Peace.

Mine is the drawer style. It just has a tray that fits inside the drawer instead of a basket that fits inside the drawer. One of the reasons I got it was that I figured it would be easier to clean. The tray is pretty easy to clean. I have to remember to remove the little rubber bumpers that secure the tray when I wash it because I've almost lost a bumper a couple of times when washing the tray. Removing them just takes a few seconds. Using parchment liners makes it even easier to clean. I usually make my own liners by cutting parchment paper to size, rolling it into a thin tube, flattening that, and using a hole punch on it, but I ran across some air fryer liners at Walmart recently and have been using those lately. They're too big for my air fryer, but fit okay if I cut about an inch off of one side, and that's quicker than making my own. The drawer has to be cleaned, too, but that's usually very easy. The design of mine is similar to the one in the photos.

I haven't had much of Rao's frozen food, but I've had the lasagna, and it's about average for a frozen lasagna, certainly not worth the extra money you pay for something with the Rao's brand. I've had Rao's frozen pepperoni pizza which wasn't bad for a frozen pizza but was far too pricey for what it is. The only other frozen Rao's item I've had was mushroom risotto. I knew there was no chance that was going to work, but I tried it anyway. The flavor was okay, but the texture was sludge. BTW, Chef Ramsay's fish & chips were pretty bad. Heavily battered fish nuggets and dry flavorless chips.

I'm having my first meal from Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay soon. I was surprised to see Chef Ramsay frozen entrees at Walmart last night. 😛 I wasn't aware he was doing that either. I'm not expecting Chef Ramsay's fish & chips to be any good, but I couldn't resist the purchase. I would not have expected him to put his name on that sort of thing.

I'll probably watch it, at least some of it. I didn't even know it was being rebooted. Didn't know Bobby Flay was selling cat food until recently either.

I'm not very fond of them. I will eat them if they are cut very small and thoroughly cooked. They're not so offensive to me that I can't pick them out of a dish and enjoy the food. I wonder how much of the dislike of green peppers is supertaster related. I don't like most bitter foods.

I buy those occasionally. They're not very good, but I keep buying them anyway. Strange.

Here are a few that I see in supermarkets (Walmart, local Kroger affiliate, Safeway.) I've had them and like them. El Yucateco Chipotle Gringo Bandito (Red) Pico Pica Hot Sauce Valentina Black Label Tapatio (Original) Cholula (Original) Cholula Chili Garlic Private Selection Mango Scotch Bonnet Cholula Chipotle El Yucateco XXXtra Hot Kutbil-ik de Nando's Peri-Peri Hot El Yucateco Habanero (Red) Marie Sharp's Habanero

Which Alexia crinkle fries did you have? I like many Alexia products, but I haven't had their crinkle fries except for the sweet potato crinkles. The big supermarkets here don't have them. Sprouts appears to carry Alexia Garlic Fries (which are crinkles), and Natural Grocers appears to carry Organic Oven Crinkles and Smart Classics Crinkles (which are lower fat.) I don't go to those stores as often, but I'll pick up some Alexia crinkles next time I'm there.

I finished the SeaPak beer battered shrimp that I had, and of the frozen battered shrimp I've tried, I liked it the least. The batter is too strongly flavored and there's too much of it for shrimp. I've had SeaPak beer battered fish a few months ago, and it works better on that. I didn't think the fish was great, but it was better than the other battered or breaded frozen fish I've tried.

I've had several items that were new to me since the last time I posted on this thread: Regarding shrimp, none have topped my favorites SeaPak Jumbo Coconut Shrimp and SeaPak Jumbo Butterfly Shrimp, but they've all been pretty good. waterfrontBISTRO Butterfly Shrimp I think are next best after the two previously mentioned SeaPak shrimp. waterfrontBISTRO is a Safeway store brand. Kroger Crunchy Coconut Shrimp and Kroger Crunchy Butterfly Shrimp have batter that's a bit too thick for me, but other than that, they're good. I probably expected too much from SeaPak Tempura Shrimp. They're okay but missing the light crispiness I want from tempura. The jury is still out on SeaPak Budweiser Beer Battered Shrimp. I've only had part of the package of those, and I overcooked them. Moving on to potstickers & similar, Bibigo continues to be my favorite brand. I had the spicy version of Bibigo Mandu Pork & Vegetable Dumpling earlier, and while the regular Mandu Pork & Vegetable Dumplings aren't as much of zing to the palate, they're also very good. Bibigo Pork & Vegetable Mini Wontons also get a thumbs up from me. Others I've liked (roughly in order of preference) are: Wei Chuan Vegetable & Pork Dumplings Gyoza Beksul Crispy Potstickers Vegetable Beef & Pork Dumplings Sprouts Pork Gyoza Pot Stickers Annie Chun's Organic Pork & Vegetable Potstickers Wei Chuan Korean Pork Dumpling InnovAsian Pork Potstickers Tai Pei Pork Potstickers Daylee Pride Pork Gyoza Potstickers Annie Chun's Organic Shiitake & Vegetable Potstickers Ling Ling Potstickers Pork & Vegetable Dumplings Daylee Pride Beef Gyoza Potstickers Chung's Pork Potstickers Only one frozen potato product to add, Ore-Ida Mini Tater Tots which is the best of the Ore-Ida tater tot varieties that I've had. Not as good as my favorite Alexia Yukon Select Puffs, and not as good as Great Value Taters (which were a surprise find), but maybe 3rd in my tater tot rankings (slightly ahead of about a dozen others.)

Those are still one of my favorites.

There's been a lot in the news about using bugs as a protein source recently. That has the potential to have a big impact. Will people be willing to eat that? I think it has a chance, maybe not as whole bugs but as a ground ingredient to boost protein content of foods. I'm not familiar enough with the taste of bugs to know if something like a cricket burger would sell.

Several weeks ago I could only find Kroger's store brand. I haven't noticed how the availabilty is here recently.

I had the SeaPak breaded clam strips. They're okay and have decent clam flavor. I was half expecting them to have the texture of rubber bands, but they're fairly tender. Shrimp are still my seafood of choice in the air fryer, but I might buy these again sometime.

I haven't tried a lot of seafood in my air fryer, yet. I've had a couple of varieties of SeaPak shrimp. I liked the jumbo coconut shrimp better of those, but the jumbo butterfly shrimp was okay, too. I've had a half dozen types of breaded/battered fish (Gorton's, Van de Camp, SeaPak.) They cook better in the air fryer than in the oven, but they're still not very good. I've had waterfrontBISTRO breaded calamari which was pretty bad. waterfrontBISTRO is a Safeway store brand. I'll probably give their shrimp a try sometime. SeaPak has breaded clam strips, and I'll probably give those a try, too.

The stores here don't carry many brands and only a few varieties in the brands they do carry. There are a couple of pork & seafood options, some seafood, some chicken, some vegetable. I'll probably try those after I've tried the pork dumplings available to me. Haven't seen any Pulmuone or Ajinomoto. I don't have a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods nearby. There's a small Asian grocery store here (without a website to see what they carry) that I'm hoping will have some interesting choices.

Still haven't had a frozen dumpling that I didn't like. Pagoda wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, but it was good. Those are fairly similar to the Wei Chuan dumplings in the previous post. I like Pagoda's filling a little better and Wei Chuan's wrapper a little better. I wouldn't say the Bibigo Japchae potstickers with beef and pork were better than the other dumplings, but they are different enough to make them worthwhile. I'm enjoying the smallness of dumplings as opposed to the size of egg rolls. Nice to be able to eat an assortment without feeling stuffed. I'm not very familiar with different types of dumplings, but these were unusual to me in that they don't look like my idea of a dumpling. They're rectangular and flat. I liked the Beksul Duru Duru dumplings least of the five I've had, but even those were good. I went 375° for 9 minutes, flipping halfway, and that was fine.

375° for 8-10 minutes seems like it would be about right in my air fryer.

I tried my first dumplings in the air fryer yesterday, Bibigo Mandu Pork & Vegetable Dumplings and Wei Chuan Vegetable & Pork Dumplings. I overcooked them (on parchment liner, 390° for 12 minutes flipping halfway through.) Too crispy around the edges, but I still liked them enough that I bought three more varieties last night. I'm starting with pork dumplings because I tend to prefer pork egg rolls. Bibigo Mandu were very good. First one I had was really hot. I'm not sure if they are inconsistent or if my mouth just adapted quickly because the next two didn't seem as hot. I'd buy these again, for sure. Wei Chuan didn't pack the punch that the Bibigo did but were very nice. These reminded me of the potstickers from the local Chinese restaurant I frequent. Similar flavor profile, not as vibrant as the Chinese restaurant's potstickers but still good. I'd buy them again, too. The ones I've bought but haven't tried are: Pagoda Pork Potstickers (got these because Pagoda Pork Egg Rolls are my favorite) Beksul Duru Duru Vegetable & Pork Dumplings [I think this is another brand of the same company(CJ Foods) that does Bibigo.] Bibigo Japchae Potstickers Beef & Pork Dumplings (to see if beef brings anything extra to the dumpling)