Have a cigar!

Quote MoHub: I can't imagine the pantry not having a staple like mayo, but it was interesting to me that they tried to hide the label on Richard's jar while there was considerable camera focus on other Whole Foods-labeled products—the herbs, for example. The mayo was Whole Foods "365" brand—I could see enough of the label to discern that— so I can't figure out why the Elves made sure most of the mayonnaise label was facing away from the camera.


That is interesting. I didn't really put 2 and 2 together until you mentioned that they showed the other Whole Foods items. They mention Whole Foods every other sentence. Do you think that if they lost them as their sponsor they would have to use the beep button to hide all the references thereto? I've seen that happen on reruns of other shows (not TC) where they lost a sponsor and had to fuzz all the pictures of that sponsor. The other items from Whole Food: do they fall into the same 365 brand label? If not, is that why they didn't show the mayo? If a tree falls in the woods do the cheftestants have enought Glad Family of Products to safely dispose of it?

Hey, Parts! We're lucky when someone springs for Folgers at work instead of the ground-along-with-mulch store brand stuff. I'm a Dunkin' drinker when possible.

I adore 8 o'clock. I remember when you HAD to have it ground at the A&P. No way around it. I always went shopping with Mom so I could smell the coffees. I like Barstuck's, too. I don't get it very often. It's one of those things I do when I am sans family. Besides it wires me. My other favorite is the Daily Grind out of Virginia. They have one called Jamaican me Crazy that is just way too good.

LMAO! @ with mulch! Shewww that's nasty!
I really like the taste of DD coffee but I literally cannot stomach it. Heartburn just doesn't aptly name the pain.....

Is that with or without the glazed?

Yep--A&P. I'm a spoiled brat--we have the grind and brew coffee maker. Throw in the whole beans and water, set the timer and you wake to the most incredible aroma and wonderful coffee. It brews into a thermal carafe so it doesn't sit on a hot plate and keep on cooking. 8 O'clock is great, Millstone is great.

Whoa... I um... nope... whoa

Now I have a cultural differences story, too! My dad lives down in banjo twang town. This past Christmas I drove down. I remembered that he doesn't buy half & half for the coffee so I decided I would stop at a conveniece store and pick up a carton. Now, this is biscuit country and I mean buttermilk biscuit country. I walk in, go to the dairy section, and there's no half and half. There's buttermilk, but not half & half. I asked the girl behind the counter and she said, "What? You mean them li'l cup thangs? What you want with them?" I got caught in the cultural differences zone. I can go into any convenience store around here and pick up h&h but I'll be damned if you can scoot in for a quick grab of buttermilk!
The other thing that enthralls me is going to the grocery stores by my dad and seeing the 50 pound bags of Self Rising Flour! Here, you're lucky to find a 1 pound pouch!

Chef Tom's blog: the blues, Bruce, and BOB all in one trip!!!! Oh, yeah, and food

Your dad's store have white or yella cornmeal?

Gotta scoot--talk later!

Mmmm! I like the sound of that coffee pot!
Have you tried Green Mountain coffees? Another of my favorites!

BBBUUUURRRRPPPP! 'Scuse me! Gotta go find some Tums!

AH! Very good! And the answer is: white, white, white. Yellow's for cows.
And you cain't make no gravy with sweet milk.

It dosen't end there. I am in New Jersey and spent the summer in Las Vegas. I tried everywhere to find light cream, I even called the local daries and got the same response, never heard of it and don't even know what it is. Well now I know why dunkin dounuts aren't there, its what they put in their coffee. It's what floats to the top of regular milk. The people I stayed with never heard of it either and soon as I returned to Jersey, I went to my local WaWA'S and took pictures of it. If you never had it, you don't know what you are missing, it even makes bad coffee taste good besides everything else we use it in.

It's frustrating isn't it. I had never heard of Pork Roll before moving to Jersey. I enjoy trying to explain it to folks! I noticed you are trying to quote and maybe having some difficulty? When you click Reply it brings up the post to which you are replying inside of "quote" in brackets. Place your cursor below the "quote" and it will add your response as you type. After you're done, click Add Reply and all will be good. Others explain this much more eloquently than I but I hope this helps! Welcome to the boards, by the way! And, hey! Where in Jersey are you?

If you get a grinder you will notice an incredible difference in taste. I love coffee--like the fancy ones but my fav is fresh brewed black coffee.

OK. Here's another food related cultural difference I stumbled into. Was visiting friends in Southern Ohio. Pike County, lest I irritate anyone. Went to order some pizza for the gang. I read over the toppings list and my eyes fell onto mangoes. Hmmm, I thought. I don't know if I want mangoes on my pizza. So I ordered the pizza and calmly stated 2 with everything, except mangoes and anchovies. She stared at me for a second, shook her head, wrote down the order, and told me it'd be about 20 minutes. I took a seat and a short while later she came up to me and asked if I wanted green peppers on my pizza. I said of course I want green peppers, just not mangoes. She turned pink and stuttered, "Well, w-what's a mango if it isn't a green pepper?!" I said, "It's a FRUIT from South America!" I didn't know that's what they called green peppers in that area! Wouldn't you know, they put double the mang... er... green peppers on my pizzas!

Since I can't start a new topic and can't sort through all 36 pages of replies, I'm gonna just include this comment here:

What's with all the expletives in Episode 1? I mean, I didn't go back and get an exact count, but there must have been at least 8 "f*ck"s or "fuckin'"s, and a few "sh!t"s.....now, I'm no prude (I've been known to drop a few choice words in my time), but it was distracting to hear that friggin' bleep going off every other sentence in the little interview cut-scenes. Seems like part of being a "top chef" would be the ability to speak without using the word "f*ck" as casually as the "the, and, of, or from"....I'm not sure if it's just that the contestants have foul mouths and have no desire to curb it, or if the Top Chef producers think they're being "edgy" by including more "mature" language. Anyone else notice this?

The herbs they showed had the Whole Foods label, but it's just that different store-brand products carry different names. Like Safeway has Safeway-labeled stuff, but its dairy items are Lucerne. I'm not sure how Whole Foods draws the line as to what gets what labeling, but TC sure as h-e-double hockey sticks made sure the labels that said "Whole Foods" were front and center in the camera's eye!

We like Eight O'Clock too. French Roast. Hubby does the grinding.

AFM13, what would happen in Las Vegas if one asked for cream for the coffee? They wouldn't put heavy cream into it would they?

How can some Americans not have light cream or know what it is?

Guess I'm a real coffee snob. I order whole-bean Celebes Kalossi (also known as Sulawesi) by the 2-pound bag from Don Francisco Coffee Roasters. I hate to tell you what I pay for it, but it ain't cheap! I store my beans in a vacuum-sealed canister and fresh-grind them for each pot.

My mother-in-law buys Folger's, and I just can't drink that stuff at all!

Intro, I think a lot of people noticed that. Even ROCCO! ™ noticed it, mentions it in his blog, and he has been known to drop the F-Bomb sometimes.

To at least some extent, it does go to a lack of professionalism in the workplace. I don't want to hear about Gordon Ramsey or Anthony Bourdain or any other accomplished chef who swears. Nor want to hear about how "This is Top Chef, not Top Linguist." I already know that. Still... while colorful and inventive swearing is always respected in the kitchen, a nonstop stream of boring @ss F-Bombs is not. It's easy to overlook a strong dose of bad language but it doesn't earn respect or loyalty.

I mean, who would you prefer to spend hours with, working along side, Tre from last year? Or a guy who needs to drop F-Bombs nonstop?

Well, if it's Gordon Ramsay, I'd go with Gordon! And his cursing is out of passion for his craft, not just to exhibit a limited vocab!

Yeah, this is my first time too joining in on what is obviously a very fun and active board. I must admit, I was a little overwhelmed at all the posts already on this topic by the time I got around to joining this morning, so I didn't read them all. We tivo TC, but didn't get a chance to watch it until last night, cuz our daughter has been sick n we've had a buncha other stuff going on. I'm not sure how active I'll actually manage to be on this board but just wanted to say hello (and offer something other than a lament about all the bleeped expletives on episode 1). Viva Top Chef!

Welcome to the madness! I think you'll find this board very addictive. There's no quota, but you'll find yourself posting a lot more than you thought you would!

Heh, heh....ok, glad it wasn't just me. Sorry to bring up a topic that was probably already hashed out here and other places.....thanks for your reply!

You aren't alone. It wasn't the words so much as the bleeps that bothered me so much. That annoying sound calls too much attention to the words that are being edited. It would be more fun if they would have someone voice-over whatever is being bleeped so viewers could say, "That isn't what he said!" like in some movies.

The language really is part of the culture of the kitchen. I've worked in them: nothing that was said surprised me in the least. And it's like that with many professions. My husband is a jarhead, and those people are some of the most creative swearers I've had the pleasure of hearing (really, for some its almost an artform!).

But still...those damn beeps were seriously annoying!

And on that note, I would like to introduce myself, officially as the OrkDork (orchestra dork), say I adore TC and PR and finally am making some time to actually write on the board instead of just reading them.

No need to apologize! This forum is like walking into your neighborhood pub and/or coffee shop and joining in on some conversation. Everything goes in circles. I know I'm guilty of going off topic but at least it's usually food related so it's nice for some one to get me back on track about the show. Welcome to the board! Sit down and hava a cuppa coffee. What's your pleasure?

I am from the south...and love Duke's Mayo. Folks from the north swear by Hellman's. Both are great products. Miracle Whip...IMHO....sucks!!!!! Not the same. And I have made homemade mayo in the blender...not an expert...but it was pretty good as well.

I tried several times only to facial light cream. I guess I'll take as much as I can on my next trip in May. Thanks for the effort.

I and hubby dearest will eat anything that will not eat us first....except licorice...the anise flavor.

We love Top Chef ,but there always has to be at least one contestant that we can't stand, who annoys us right up to the last few episodes (Tiffany, Marcel). Looks like it will be Andrew this time.
What's with all the "bleeps"? Are these people professional, serious chefs? When half of your comment is deleted, you don't come off as having much intelligence, taste, or class. Hopefully the expression-challenged will go off quickly.

Welcome to the boards! Your comment about your husband the Marine is funny! My father is also a jarhead. You're right... it's an artform and one I have picked up but try very hard to keep it off the board otherwise I might fry someone's hard drive! When I get riled my hub calls me Trucker Mouth and then I know I need to bring it down a notch or 5.

I thought it strange that the competitor who had mayo did not say...I have some. Help yourself.

Man! The overwhelming amount of people I have encountered that don't like anise is mind boggling! LOL! MoHub? Is it a conspiracy? Doesn't anyone eat biscotti anymore? (pssst! It's got anise!)

Hubby and I volunteer for the Humane Society here. Actually, I am on the board. We have four animals, two cats...Big Bad Billy Bob and Bubba. We have two schnoodles....Zoomer....and Zephyr. All are rescue animals.
Here is our web site....which I do myself.

Nassau Humane Society

Thanks to all for the words and woofs of welcome!! I am only on page 23 (or 24), still catching up...on all the insights.

Hopefully, I will have an insightful comment or dumb joke by episode 2.

TTFN!

I've never been an anise/licorice fan, but I must admit, I've had a Spanish version of elephant ear pastry (tortas) that are slightly sweet and made with olive oil and a very light dusting of aniseeds, and it's quite good, especially warmed up and topped with vanilla ice cream! (Coincidentally, they sell it at Whole Foods, although I've been ordering it from Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, MI.) They could change your thinking about anise.

http://www.zingermans.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=G-TOR

Hi, Love your comment. I agree that this is nothing we haven't heard before, but of all of our service men and women have the sense to tone it down when they're being interviewed on TV!

Well thanks!

Being that I am a professor, I am pretty good about keeping "the language" to a minimum, but when I forget, my husband only has to say, "Hon, you sound like the troops". If I'm really ticked, my reply will be "Good!"

Vituperations are wonderful. As I say to my Creative Writing students, if Chaucer and Shakespeare could use the words, the rest of us can, too. Just not as well.

Goodness! Did you ever get this one right! Perfect!

I love it here!

Smooches,
tcfan

Well, all I can say is....when I was in high school...10,000 years ago...my friends took me to an A&W root beer drive in...ordered root beer... and I had to get out of the car...made me sick to smell the stuff!

Andrew Zimmern.... I will take your food anytime!

I have that problem with pancakes, waffles, french toast, and maple syrup or any of it's cheaper dirivatives. Became a scent aversion while pregnant and it never left. My hubby and daughter adore pancakes so I make them and then skeeedaddle!

Awww! I gots me some smoochies! Thanks, tcfan!

Aha! Another humanist! Hooray! MoHub is a Chaucer-ite. KSBear is a humanist. The list goes on and on! Yay!

sorry if this has been addressed

I seem to remember a blog from Gail last where she stated there were foods that she didn't like (can't remeber details...maybe black beans??) but she eats the stuff anyway as it is part of her job and tries not to let her personal preferences interefere with her judgement (if that is possible)