Toliver

They're grown here locally. The grape grower bred them specifically for the flavor, which is odd, in my opnion, because cotton candy doesn't really have a flavor unless he's going for that warm/burnt sugar flavoring. Aren't grapes sweet enough without having to make them taste like sugar? The grower has been test marketing them to see if there's any demand for them. They've been selling out here. The only place you can buy them here is in a local sweets shop/bakery. They're supposed to be seling for $5 per pound. Edited to add, here's a link to a recent story on them from a local news station: "Local company produces cotton candy grapes"

I've had similar issues when picking up sandwiches at Subway. The person making my sandwich donned clear plastic gloves and then, as she slid my sandwich down the line on a paper sheet, she wiped the counter clean into the little trash openings with her gloved hand and then went back to making my sandwich. I yelled at her to stop and put new gloves on. I had another Subway employee stop making my sandwich to answer the phone and then she came back to finish making my sandwich with her now-contaminated gloves. I also stopped her from touching my sandwich and told her to put new gloves on. What's sad is they have this deer-in-the-headlights look when you try to explain what they did wrong and they just don't get it.

HungryC is sort of right about the orange juice we buy from the store. Here is an interesting article on how Coca Cola (who owns Minute Maid) uses an algorithm to make sure the orange juice they bottle/can tastes consistent from season to season: "Coke engineers its OJ -- with an algorithm" Basically they "dismantle" the orange, its juice, its oils, etc, into parts and then recombine the parts (which could be called additives) into a specific mixture so the consumer will get a consistent juice product. So technically speaking, the processed juice we drink isn't really just juice from an orange. It's a concoction or recipe. And logically you'd think Coca Cola isn't the only company doing something like this.

You need to work on your PR spin. I sure you meant to say "How efficient can I get?"

I'm coveting your ice cubes! Do you have a special ice cube tray to make them?

This. The melted cheese doesn't stick to the foil.

Thanks for posting this. I always have a small yellow can of El Pato in my cupboard. Not anymore! I know the story was about hot sauces, but it's likely they use the same lead-contaminated salt & pepper in the rest of their sauces, too. Better safe than sorry.

I made Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla Ice Cream for our 4th of July BBQ. I made 2 & 1/2 times the recipe to reach the fill line on the inside of the (electric) ice cream maker canister. I also cut back on the sugar, using 3/4 cup less than called for. The mixture was cooked the day before so it could sit in the refrigerator overnight for the flavors to meld. The actual ice cream was made just before the BBQ so it could ripen in the freezer for a bit. After everyone came back for seconds, there wasn't a scoop left.

Padma bites the hand that feeds her: "Padma Lakshmi slams 'Top Chef' product placements" Poor Padma...the burdens you must shoulder...

I certainly wish her accusers in the media would have taken the time to read the 149 page deposition. She admits that she said that word decades ago and knows better now than to say it. Nowhere in the deposition does she say she has said it recently. Her brother Bubba (the albatross around her neck) may have but Paula says she didn't. It's boiled down to a he-said/she-said issue with each side of the lawsuit having their own perspective, of course. Yes, she uses foul language (fair warning...that's in the deposition so NSFW perhaps). She comes across as having a bawdy, "un-PC" sense of humor. I'm not excusing her for it but understanding her background and her culture growing up helps to understand who she is today. As for the wedding with the african american waiters. Yes, she did eventually say she had an ante/post-bellum wedding in mind. But when she spoke about the waiters (in the deposition), it was with what I thought was complete and utter respect for them. She encountered them at a restaurant. They were dressed immpeccably and were all about the same age and knew how to do their jobs with precision and talent. It reminded me of French waiters where they're not actors just biding their time until their big break comes through (like in America) but where being a waiter is a chosen career where you know how to do it and you do it well. Plus, I think she was visuallizing the wedding and was so impressed with those waiters visually that she thought they would have made for a grand wedding reception/dinner. Granted, having a Civil War era themed wedding would have meant they would be playing the part of slaves but that didn't occur to Paula at first (see the deposition). Did the Food Network even read the deposition before canning her (no pun intended)? The Food Network dropping her like a hot non-PC potato is just typical and predictable corporate chicken sh!t CYA.

One of the reasons why I thought this was worth mentioning is how it harkens back to the McDonald's french fries fried in beef tallow issue in the past (originally frying in beef tallow and then later adding beef flavoring to the vegetable oil). Vegetarian and customers of the Hindu faith were outraged that they weren't made aware of the beef tallow and, later, the beef flavoring. So now with Chipotle, consumers who choose not to consume GMO products may have assumed that given Chipotle's focus on "Food with integrity" this would have meant not worrying about GMO's in Chipotle's food ingredients. It's a logical assumption, isn't it? Apparently, Chipotle talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk to back up the "integrity" part of their credo.

On their web site (but not in their stores) Chipotle has listed the GMO ingredients they use in their food. "Chipotle Starts Labeling GMO Ingredients On Website Menu" Half of the ingredients they use are GMO's. For a company that has crowed about their conscientious ingredient sourcing, this revelation has come as quite a surprise. Will it impact your choice of whether or not to patronize Chipotle?

McD's is having a short-lived BOGO (buy one get one free) special for the new Quarter Pounders that ends tomorrow. A coworker and I bought two and split them so we could try the different flavors. The Bacon Ranch Habañero was very good though I couldn't discern any ranch (dressing) flavoring at all. I normally can't stand habañero but the chile added quite a nice spicey kick to the burger. I would order it again. My coworker ordered the Bacon & Cheese which in an earlier post I didn't care for since the burger I had was so dry. It turns out the first one I tried wasn't made properly! Go figure. This time the Bacon & Cheese (notice it doens't say "cheddar"...just generic "cheese") had a boatload of condiments, so to speak. It had long slices of dill pickle and sliced tomatoes. It also tasted a lot better than the version I had posted about earlier and I would order it again.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned NYC's Sushi Yasuda's decision to no longer allow tipping: "Tip 15, 20 or 25 Percent? Here, They Strongly Suggest Zero" The article also mentions Per Se's automatic 20% service charge added to every tab as their way of dealing with tipping. I'm not their target audience but I wouldn't dine there. Who says every dining experience is worth a 20% service charge/tip? I am sure the service is impeccable.But what if you dined there and your server was having a bad day? Can you get 5% taken off your service charge?

Being a professional machine, can it be plugged into any home outlet, or does it have special electrical needs?

Ann_T...That coconut cream pie looks to die for! It's funny but coconut cream pies always remind me of the old TV show "Gilligan's Island". Mary Ann was always making them (where'd she get the eggs and flour?). Long ago I put a recipe for a Pineapple Cream Pie in RecipeGullet. It's refreshing during the summertime. I'm not a fan of meringue, so I always use whipped cream to top it. edited to clarify

I've tried the new Burger King Rib sandwich, twice. I tried it the second time to see if what I had the first time was normal or a "one-off". The first time I tried it, it was quite good. It took longer than normal to receive my order which I chalked up to it being made new, "off the broiler" in BK lingo. The sandwich had a very nice smokey flavor, the BBQ sauce had a nice tang to it and the thick slices of bread and butter pickles were a very nice change from the usual thin, limp dill pickle chip you normally get in a fast food burger. And though the "rib" burger patty itself tasted sort of generic, I thought it was a good sandwich overall. When I tried it the second time, again, it took longer than normal to receive my order. Unfortunately, the second sandwich had no smokey flavoring at all. I noticed this time that the BBQ sauce had the slightest bit of spiciness to it which I enjoyed. The thick slices of bread and butter pickles were again, a positive element on the sandwich. So it was a mixed experience for me. Has anyone else tried the new BK Rib sandwich? I'll be trying the Pulled Pork sandwich next.

I tried one of the new "Quarter Pounders". Of the three versions offered I selected the bacon cheddar burger. I about choked on it it was so dry. Somehow the original Quarter Pounder, stripped down as it is, remains edible...but add a layer of bacon and more cheese and a fancy schmancy bun and you have to make sure you have a drink on hand to wash the burger down your throat. What a disappointment. I suppose a solution would be to ask for extra condiments on it. Has anyone else tried any of the new Quarter Pounders?

puffed rice is similar to rice krispies. But puffed rice is more uniform in shape. Suppose they crushed the puffed rice in something like a mortar and pestle to make the coating/flour for the chicken. Some rice bits would be broken into smaller chunks and not completely pulverized, providing an explanation as to why some rice bits are smaller than others.

Nora Ephron did something similar with her novel "Heartburn", where the food (and recipes) popped up regularly in the book (the protagonist was a cookbook author and cooking show host). I never attempted any of the recipes from the book but they did sound good.

Mother's has added new Fudge and Vanilla iced animal cookies. You can see them currently featured on the Mother's Cookies home page (click).

M&M's Chocoate Bar I haven't seen this candy bar before. I don't know if it comes in different flavors. This is the wrapper of a candy bar that I consumed and then scanned on my office scanner. It's exactly what you think it is. It's a chocolate bar...the same chocolate found inside the M&M's candies...with a sprinkling of teeny tiny M&M candies embedded in the bar. The tiny M&M's candy shell provides a little crispy crunch to the bar as you eat it. What's not to like in this candy bar? Two thumbs up!

I tried the small blueberry pomegranate. You were right....the tartness wasn't overpowering and it wasn't overly sweet. It was refreshing. The only issue I have with the smoothie is that if you put a gun to my head, I wouldn't be able to tell you what kind of berries were in the smoothie. It didn't really taste of blueberries or pomegranate. In fact, when I first tasted the smoothie, I swore there were seeds as if it had raspberries in it. edited to reduce repetitive redundancy

It's been happening. This person made an oreo cookie butter (I haven't tried it) and they were inspired by biscoff: http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2012/03/27/oreo-cookie-spread/ Here's another one (this one looks better texturally, I think): http://www.thekitchenpaper.com/oreo-cookie-butter/ As much as I dislike linking anything paleo, this girl made a cookie dough butter: http://www.girlgonecountry.com/recipes-2/cookie-dough-butter-primal-gluten-free-low-carb/ Oh. My. Gosh. The Oreo Cookie Butters look positively decadent! But what to use it on/with (besides a large tasting spoon )?

When I baked them, there was no Pam on the tots themselves. I did use Pam just on the foil lining the cookie sheet so they wouldn't stick. As I said in my original post, where they made contact with the foil-covered cookie sheet, they blackened instead of crisping due to the cookie sheet being a dark brown metallic pan.The sheet overrode any crisping effect the Pam on the foil could have had (I should have used an air-cushioned cookie sheet). I may try a split experiment the next time. Half the package on a cookie sheet, spraying the tots with Pam, and the other half fried in a skillet. We'll figure this out yet!