Toliver

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:

The article: "Kraft Changed Its Mac and Cheese and Nobody Noticed" Of course, they're crowing all about their successful switching of ingredients (don't break your corporate arm, Kraft, patting yourself on the back for doing something you should have done in the first place ). So has anyone noticed any difference when making what's in the Blue Box? Or does it taste the same, so all is right with the world once again?

I had nothing to do with this but thought y'all might enjoy seeing it: A Chocolate Teapot...Because (click)

The article: "Ugly fruit is taking Canada by storm. Here's why you should care." This new push of selling normally discarded produce & fruit and giving it a second chance could change eating habits and perhaps the environment. After all, how pretty does that apricot have to look if it's going to end up being turned into jam? There was a similar eGullet discussion years ago about ugly tomatoes and how the state of Florida was preventing local farmers from selling "ugly" heirloom tomatoes out of state because they didn't look pretty. Here's a link to an article posted in that discussion about this subject from way back when (12 years ago): "Florida Keeps Ugly Tomatoes to Itself" Ironically, today my local grocery store now has an "Ugly Tomato" bin in their produce section where they sell heirloom tomatoes. (at higher prices than regular tomatoes ). So there's a market out there for ugly produce, blemished or not...when will the U.S. follow Canada's lead on this? Or is it already happening?