Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I saw one episode (the one with the grilled radicchio) and I was sort bored. The food looked good, but it came off as "yet another Food Network show", nothing original, nothing that really grabs ya or is even unique. I'm thankful that she's a real chef, but I found it hard to resist to stifle a yawn.

As for her judging skills on Chopped. The premise of the show is just gawd-awful (I think it's just a truncated version of Iron Chef with more battle participants), but her comments could be valid, she's got the credentials. The contestants are professions, not foodie amateurs with no experience. At this level, judges have to get really nitpicky about the food because everyone is a good chef with lots of experience and the expections should be high.

A lot of stuff happens and often is left out to squeeze episodes into the allotted time or to skew the impressions. How do we know that Alex wasn't responding to something else when she was rude to the contestant?

No camera, but ...

My roommate and I held a Halloween Pregame Potluck, for which I made pumpkin and black bean enchiladas (and I didn't skimp on the chipotle, either).

And I've been eating mashed pumpkin in my lunch everyday.

This weekend I made marbled pumpkin cheesecake http://www.kirbiecravings.com/2009/11/marbled-pumpkin-cheesecake.html.html

I've been doing a lot of pumpkin the last two weeks. I've also made pumpkin mochi, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin tea cake, chocolate chip pumpkin bread , pumpkin spice chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin bread

There's a great russian deli in central, NJ in Marlboro called Arbat Deli that has Kvass and lots of other russian delicatessens. Also a few doors down theres an amazing russian restaurant called Russian Dream.

I forgot to add that the reason I ended up making the pumpkin cookies was that I first made Paula Deen's pumkin gooey butter cake and when I went shopping for the canned pumpkin, I forgot to check what size can I needed. So I bought the big one and needed the small one. The cookies used up most of the rest of the can. I've got a little left...sigh.

I do have photos, so if I get ambitious, I'll get 'em off the camera and onto photograzing.

I think Alex is such a jerk! She's really rude to the contestants on Chopped. To a contestant who was just conversing casually with her and agreeing with her, she actually said, "I'm sorry would you like to sit in my chair?". Then proceeded to pause and glare at the contestant.

I don't watch television anymore (haven't turned it one since august) because I don't like negative energy spewing into my home in the form of nasty interactions like that one.

I also ended up making peanut butter pumpkin cookies. mmmmm.

I make a variation on Tyler's recipe as well. There are many ingredients, but it is simple to execute:

Beef Chili w/Chocolate
6–8 servings Cooking time: 3 hrs.

2–1/2 lbs. boneless chuck steak, cut into large cubes
1 quart beef stock
2 medium onions, diced
4 shallots, minced
5 garlic cloves, minced
4 medium bell peppers, roasted, skinned, and roughly chopped
1–28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2–15.5 oz. cans pink beans
1/4 cup cornmeal
2 tbsp. ancho chili powder
2 tbsp. ground coriander
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. smoked sweet Spanish paprika
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
salt & pepper

Season the beef cubes with salt and pepper, and set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the ancho chili powder, coriander, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic powder, and cinnamon to make a seasoning mixture.
Place the beef cubes in the pot and add the stock. Add additional water, if necessary, to cover meat by 1”. Bring to a boil over medium–high heat, and skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Add in the onions, shallots, roasted peppers, and garlic. Stir in the seasoning mixture. Crush the tomatoes in a large mixing bowl with your hands. Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste to the pot. Simmer until the meat comes apart with no resistance, about 2 hrs. As it cooks down, add a small amount of water, if necessary.
Using 2 forks, pull the meat chunks apart into shreds. Drain and rinse the beans. Stir in the beans and the cornmeal. Simmer for another 45 min. uncovered. Stir in the cocoa powder and simmer another 5 min. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Beer can chicken is a favorite around here, on the grill or in the oven. Open can, hand to husband to drink 1/3 of beer. Snatch it back before he has more than he's supposed to, add some of the rub to the can that was used on the chicken. Punch a few more holes in the can and coat the outside with oil for easier removal when the bird is done. Insert can into chicken and carefully place on grill, using legs to make a balanced tri-pod. Regular 12 oz. cans work well for 3-4 lb. fryers, and 16 oz. tall boys work well for 6-7 lb. roasters. Brings back summer when done in the middle of winter.

'chopped' bugs me....the host's odd speech pattern, the judges' shitty remarks, and honestly, most of the contestants--they literally bleed and sweat into the food far too much.

so, no interest in watching alex's day off, since i don't like her when she's 'at work'.

that sanchez dude's other show is crap too.

it's like fn has contractual obligations to give all of those hacks in their own shows.

gee, i'm a delight today, huh?

I always freeze my veggie scraps, unless I have immediate plans for them. Frozen and then unfrozen carrots normally aren't good if you want a dish with carrots in them, but they're perfect for soup/sauce bases. Unless you use liquid nitrogen to insta-freeze them, and how many of us have that sitting in the cupboard at home?

you may not want soup now, but when it comes time to make stock or soup and you have to go buy your mirepoix ingredients just for that you'll kick yourself for tossing the scraps.

I'm with making a mirepoix and freezing in measured amounts for future soups etc. If frozen cooked then a fresh soup would be just a few minutes away. Add some rotisserie chicken, broth, noodles, and you've got chicken soup in 10 minutes.