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What I wouldn't do to work for Jim at SSB! I have such a passion for bread baking. I am a self taught bread maker and bake lots of bread but none as awesome as his. Jim, the texture and flavor is the best ever. I'll work for free!

I've made chicken fried steak with panko, and it really does make a difference texturally. It's so nice and crispy. Not traditional, but at least to me, much, much better.

I don't see how using panko would alter the taste. It can only improve the texture. Panko tastes the same as any other bread crumb. I guess that would turn your Chicken-fried steak into Katsu steak.

Hi I realize this is pretty late in the game to post but esmesbell mentioned the Cheerios smell in Buffalo, NY. It's from the General Mills Plant on the canal. They alternate between Cheerios and Coco Puffs.

I live in a little town in Yorkshire, England, and there's a health-food shop called the Bear Co-Op near me that always smells really strongly of spices and herbs. I've always loved it, since I was a little girl.

i enjoyed this season. as i see it, the name is 'top chef'. so really isnt it the whole package. the best food, the best host, the best 'can do' whatever is put before them....... as so many my feelings, opinions...how the chefs conducted themselves sure made me pick and choose. but as the final days are here. and having the top four..BOY. I WISH I COULD TASTE WHAT IS BEING SERVED!!! i do hope the most deserving wins. (but i do have my fav's and i do love the judges)

In 1965-66 I lived in Gilroy CA and the summer smells from the garlic processing plant and the tomato canning plant were almost overwhelming. Skip 30 years and Oakland's Chinatown fortune cookie factory would occasionally goof up and burn those sweet cookies...I liked that better than when the then closed down Nabisco plant burned theirs....that was too much even though it was obvious that it was food, not houses, burning.

My g-ma lives in oak park, IL...a mere 1/4 mile from the ferrara pan factory. You can tell exactly when Boston Baked Beans, LemonHeads and other various candies are being made.

@iliana & ovrw8- I don't see anything wrong with the use of the word "pussy" to call someone (especially one's self) a "wuss." I also don't think it necessarily has anything to do with referring to someone as a "woman" in a derogatory sense.

"Genitalia
The word "pussy" often refers to the female genitalia. Used in conjunction with "some", the phrase some pussy refers to sexual intercourse itself. Most dictionaries mark the anatomical meaning as "vulgar" or "offensive" and its use is frowned upon in polite company. The German form is cognate (Fotze; compare "Puss-y" to "Fotz-e" [in the style of Futs-sy]), and the (vulgar) French term "chatte" (literally a female cat) is analogous.

Weakness
The meaning "weak or cowardly person" has a separate etymology. Websters 1913 Revised Unabridged Dictionary lists this version of pussy as an alternate spelling of "pursy," an otherwise obsolete English word meaning "fat and short-breathed; fat, short, and thick; swelled with pampering ..."[1] The interpretation is often misconstrued, as it contains multiple meanings which some consider derogatory.[2] In fact, when pussy appears in the earlier 1828 edition of the dictionary, this definition is presented for the word, while the older pursy is simply offered as a "corrupt orthography.""

The point being, that the word "pussy" meaning "woman" or "the genitals of a woman" has a different origin than the word "pussy" meaning "weak or pampered." As a previous poster said, let's get our panties out of the proverbial wad, shall we? Obviously, SE, Top Chef and Fabio all know many successful chefs are women.

That being said, I never thought I would say this at the beginning of the season (really, through the first 5 or 6 episodes) but Stefan has grown on me! Not just because of his food, technique and work ethic, which are usually head and shoulders above the other cheftestants', but because of his personality! I know, I know... but cockiness aside (and I have never known a timid chef), his critiques (and snarky comments) about the other chefs have proven themselves true time and time again. He also seems to have a pretty good sense of humor, and his no-nonsense attitude about food is very familiar to me, as I am currently living in Europe. Go Stefan! (Then, go Fabio, Carla, and finally, Hosea.)

Decatur, IL - has an ADM plant that makes cornstarch and the whole town smells like corn flakes.

Its neither a good nor a bad smell.... just corny and ubiquitous.

I prefer my own local autumn "large scale" smell of roasting green chiles on nearly every parking lot surface in town. Tingly nose-burning wonderment...

@overw8, i have seen the v monologues, my bachelor is in women's studies. don't get your panties in a wad, you give feminists a bad name.

@dmarina - you can have a filthy mouth without being demeaning to women. If you don't know the difference, go see the Vagina Monologues. It's playing this week at a theater near you.