Toliver

JIB has re-vamped their onion rings and they are quite a bit better. They're now Panko crusted and are crispy as can be. Unfortunately, they didn't re-vamp any of the seasonings in the batter so they taste the same as their previous incarnation. Which is fine with me since I jazz them up with some of Penzey's Fast Forward seasoning (basically it's Seasoned Salt without the salt. Then I add a little salt of my own. ). I keep seeing televisions commercials touting that they're bringing back the Swiss Mushroom Butter Burger which I thought was da' bomb! Can't wait for it to hit my local JIB's.

File this under "Things that make you go 'Hmmm' "... McD's has re-launched their McPick 2 promotion...but with one major exception. The most recent incarnation of McPick 2 for $5 (as opposed to the original McPick 2 which was $2 ) featured four choices: The Filet O'Fish, the Quarter Pounder, the Big Mac, and the 10 piece McNuggets. Now it's down to three items ...they dropped the Quarter Pounder from the McPick choices. As if their customers will just forget that they're offering less to the consumer. edited for clarity

The article: "E. coli outbreak prompts massive General Mills flour recall" There is a link at the bottom of the article that takes you to the General Mills Contact page if you have questions.

I debated whether I should put this post here or in that 3am Drunk Meal discussion... "The Bacon Weave Taco" Look, Ma, no carbs! No organized actual recipe on the web page...just a discussion of how it was made. I believe he also used this method to make the Bacon Weave Quesadilla. This dude gets an "A" for effort!

A page with lots of GIFs (scroll down) illustrating the making of "Tater Tot & Bacon Grilled Cheese in a Waffle Iron".

The weather was cool enough so I could finally cook something in the oven. I had the Trader Joe's Steak and Ale Pies (click) this past Sunday evening. The crust was very flaky and the beef mixture inside smelled quite "boozy" , which I didn't mind...really. I didn't see the alleged carrots and mushrooms that were supposed to be part of the inner mixture. I did see the steak and potatoes in the ale gravy and, overall, I thought it was good.

My brother dries his abundant harvest of chiles. He then uses a dedicated spice grinder to grind the peppers into flakes/powder. Every Christmas, he and his wife gift small shaker jars of the chile flakes to family members and friends who enjoy the spicier things in life. Just a suggestion...!

Even if you make your own (click and scroll down)?

I received an email from Penzey's that this weekend, they have free shipping for online orders of $20(US) or more.

Rumored to be coming this July: Reese's Pieces inside Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Edited to add something about the Department of Redundancy Department

Excuse me for reviving this ancient discussion but I give you "Grilled Cheese Tacos" (click).

Uhm...buying it from Trader Joe's.

Love the duck feet at the base! Thanks for sharing.

So I tried the Filled Cupcake Oreos which are supposed to taste like a Hostess Cupcake. The cover of the package suggested to "Twist and Lick" (hey! no snickers from the peanut gallery! ) The problem with that advice was that the filling came off in one lick. DOH! The cookies smell great but they taste super sweet and not even close to the Hostess Cupcakes. I've always found the Hostess Cupcakes to have a slight molasses flavor to them. These cookies had none of that. I don't recommend this limited Oreo edition flavor. It wasn't very good.

We're going to have a week full of storms traveling through here...I hope they head in your direction, Shelby! And I hope you get your spiders again once your garden starts growing.

Mars/M&M's have announced three new temporary M&M flavors (sort of like the Lay's Potato Chip new flavor campaign). The public gets to vote which one they like best and the winning flavor will go into full production. "Chili M&M's? CNET taste-tests three...new flavors" Has anyone spotted the new flavors? If so, take some for the team and report back with your impressions!

My local Walmart Neighborhood Market had the cupcake Oreos which I bought and haven't tried, yet. They also had Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Oreos. It's the creme in the sandwich cookie that has the peanut butter flavor. The aroma of the cookie is exactly like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. But when you eat the cookie, it tastes more like the Girl Scout Cookie called Do-Si-Do, which is a peanut butter sandwich cookie. I was momentarily saddened that it didn't taste like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but turned happy when I realized they were like Do-Si-Do's. I'm easy to please...what can I say?

When I was new to my current hometown, I used Chile Verde as my test dish for local Mexican restaurants. Not to sound racist but in general I'd ask myself if it was it authentic Mexican food or was it "white people's" Mexican food? There's a huge difference between the two. There are some popular Mexican restaurants here locally that I will not eat at because the food is "white people's" Mexican food...ground beef tacos Chile Verde with not a hint of spiciness or dishes topped with sour cream that somehow resists melting on hot food . I agree with what others have posted...that using something simple as a test dish like potstickers for a Chinese restaurant can give you an indication of how the restaurant is being run. Do the potstickers have any flavor to them? So were they bought frozen from some supplier, or were they hand-made in the restaurant's kitchen because they have an assertive ginger flavor, which store-bought potstickers won't have? That sort of goes along with Claudine Pepin's guide to look at technique...meaning that, in this case, they were making their own recipe for potstickers and just added a little too much ginger. Fresh-made versus frozen. And here's an easy one...does the Chinese fried rice contain peas and carrots? That's a kitchen short-cut...using frozen veggies in the fried rice instead of chopping your own veggies. The restaurant is trying to save time and money by using frozen veggies because, after all, it's "just rice". Really?

One thing that keeps surprising me at TJ's is they sell their own brand of butter cheaper than any other chain grocery store around. Even the Walmart grocery store that opened up near my home charges more for their butter than TJ's. This excludes any comparison to Costco, though, which I am sure is cheaper but I don't need their "Crate-O-Butter" until Xmas time when I do a lot of baking. One thing that really bugs me about checking out at TJ's is how the check-out employees (aka cashiers) always make positive comments on your purchases..."Ooo, I love that olive oil. It has such a great flavor!" "Those potato chips are da bomb!", etc Enough already with the upsell. I'm buying it and taking it home so shuddup!

I concur with Andie. Because the blade is slightly curved...it helps when slicing the pizza (or whatever) from one side to the other which uses a rocking motion. It makes quick work of slicing a large pizza (my local pizza joint uses a similarly curved knife on their pizza pies). It's almost very mezzaluna-ish in operation. I used to work in a cheese shop during my college days. We mainly used wires (strung between to wooden handles/knobs) for the huge cheese wheels, wire cutting boards for smaller wheels and very large, crazy sharp knives (run under very hot water and then dried) that practically melted their way through the cheese wheels. Andie's double-handled knife would have come in handy in the cheese shop.

After several mentions of Aldi in the Trader Joe's Products discussion, I thought I would start it separate discussion for the chain store. Coincidentally, I read an online article this morning about Aldi coming to America and targeting Walmart: "The German chain that's beating Wal-Mart at its own game" We don't have them in my area, yet. What are the store's strengths? And what are their weaknesses?

My mom was always a STWIP planter when it came to her tomatoes - STWIP - So That's What I Planted! Then one year she said she was too old to take care of the growing of the 'maters. So an older brother of mine took to planting 'maters in some of her planter pots and would never tell her what kind he planted so the STWIP method continues to this day. As long as he plants some cherry or pear 'maters for her, she's happy.

Patrick S, Your Nutella Brioche Flower looks far better than the one shown in the original recipe you linked to. I am sure the glaze helps with that but yours looks like it rose more and ended up more golden. Good job! How did it taste?

My...it doesn't look too appetizing, does it? Thanks to you and Kerry for partaking in the dubious experiment. I hope you can recover from it soon!

Penzey's Spices has another "Spend $20, Get Free Shipping" weekend. The details: