What I learned today (Take Two)

Yes, it is meant to be eaten at room temperature, or just very very slightly warmed. I put a bowl of it in the microwave for 20 seconds, e.g.

A lot of the big-box stores are actually terrible. I keep my interactions with all of them to an absolute minimum -- meaning, if I just can't find the thing anywhere else.

Anyway, does it make sense that they can sell a TJ product if TJ itself doesn't have it???

I wonder of places like Walmart pick up that a product is going to be discontinued, so they buy a load of it.?

I wonder of places like Walmart pick up that a product is going to be discontinued, so they buy a load of it.?

It's not a bad thought, but I'd guess that there isn't enough to go around. How many stores does Walmart have to keep "in supply"? Hundreds? Thousands?

There are a number of stores that sell discontinued merchandise, excess inventory, or merchandise from store bankruptcies. I've purchased plenty of such stuff.

In our area, Grocery Outlet would be the first place I'd look. I can't say I've ever seen a TJ's product there, though.

[Jenise]

Anyway, does it make sense that they can sell a TJ product if TJ itself doesn't have it???

Yes maybe. TJ's only recently ran out, and as I understand it this offer wasn't from Walmart itself so much as another supplier who vends thru them--Walmart has never carried TJ's products on their shelves.

But my 'sale' got cancelled as well. And am I surprised? Not at all. I hate Walmart and have only ever been a customer when we were on the road in our van and it was where we could get camp stove gas, ice, and a steak at one stop. Otherwise--never.

Our daughter is a special needs teacher in Ohio and has been for over 2 decades. A few years ago, she decided she wanted to pay her dad and me off for a house loan. So, along with her full-time job at the school, she worked at Walmart after school got out and worked until the loan was paid off. She had so many stories to tell about co-workers who did not do their jobs, and she had to do them so she could do her work. She would speak with management, but they did nothing to help her and totally ignored the situation. If she needed advice on something, she was ignored. Very sad, and she was so happy to get out of there. I have also heard stories from locals here in Redding about similar situations. Never again will I buy anything from them.

[Jenise]

Very sad, and she was so happy to get out of there. I have also heard stories from locals here in Redding about similar situations. Never again will I buy anything from them.

You may remember that Walmart, and I doubt things have changed, made a practice of hiring zillions of part-time employees and limiting their hours in order to avoid paying for benefits. I hate them for that, and in general hate the big box stores for the way when they move into an area and put all the moms and pops who have been meeting the needs of their community for eons out of business. I watched it happen in Anchorage, Alaska; they're unscrupulous.

I hate them for that, and in general hate the big box stores for the way when they move into an area and put all the moms and pops who have been meeting the needs of their community for eons out of business. I watched it happen in Anchorage, Alaska; they're unscrupulous.

And the shoppers are cheap: they could continue to shop at the mom & pops, right? (I know that isn't ordinary shopper behavior; my point is to reserve a half-teaspoon of ire for a community that does not act in its own best interest.)

Very sad, and she was so happy to get out of there. I have also heard stories from locals here in Redding about similar situations. Never again will I buy anything from them.

You may remember that Walmart, and I doubt things have changed, made a practice of hiring zillions of part-time employees and limiting their hours in order to avoid paying for benefits. I hate them for that, and in general hate the big box stores for the way when they move into an area and put all the moms and pops who have been meeting the needs of their community for eons out of business. I watched it happen in Anchorage, Alaska; they're unscrupulous.

I feel the same way about WalMart. I watched them destroy the main street in my hometown. Sad.

[Jenise]

And the shoppers are cheap: they could continue to shop at the mom & pops, right? (I know that isn't ordinary shopper behavior; my point is to reserve a half-teaspoon of ire for a community that does not act in its own best interest.)

Exactly right. They'll even wax nostalgic over the fact that their son got his first job out of high school at Old Joe's hardware store and in the next breath brag about the new toaster they bought at Walmart. They don't see the dichotomy at all.

Now yes, I do shop at Costco, who take care of their employees and is headquartered where I live. Most of what I buy there isn't easily available elsewhere in my area. And I sometimes buy from Amazon, but again for things not really available in my area or if I could find one, then only one or two and not the ten or twelve I'd have for choices online. But never Walmart.

[Jenise]

Karen, in paying my credit card yesterday, I noted that on the 14th Walmart charged me $11 for the jar of tomato-onion crunch that they DID send, that on the 14th they show the other order being cancelled but I was nonetheless charged $24.95 for the cancelled portion on the 17th. I'll get it fixed, but the BASTARDS!

I was just watching Jacques Pepin prepare linguini a la carbonara. He was, of course, talking while chopping and throwing cubed pancetta into a hot frying pan. He continued this all the way through 5 oz of pancetta. And, as I'm watching this, I'm thinking to myself that this is making things a little harder for himself because those bits are not all going to be cooked to the same degree: the first ones in the pan will be golden (and start caramelizing) before the last ones even arrive.

And that suddenly connected to a different cooking practice that I had always dismissed as mere internet puffery: We've all seen recipes that start with, "gather the ingredients" and you get a composed shot of a bunch of pretty bowls of different sizes filled with a bit of this and a bit of that. And, yes, that's definitely speaks of showmanship but, I now realize, it also makes you get everything really ready... like, say, all 5 oz of the pancetta.

I know that professional chefs have mise en place -- but they also have sous-chefs to do their work. And there are popularizers, like Bittman (and others), who tell you to do Y while X is happening rather than being ready at the start.

Strict mise en place is mandatory for many if not all Chinese stir-fry dishes. For example, many Sichuan dishes have a step where dried chiles (and/or Sichuan peppercorn) are fried in a bit of oil just until fragrant and slightly darkened in color and then some moist ingredient such as doubanjiang is added. The moist ingredient stops the chiles/peppercorns from burning. You must have it ready to go immediately. There is no time to open the jar and measure out the doubanjiang.

The practice of measuring out and cutting everything ahead of time is ingrained in my psyche. When I find myself making something where there is a long simmer of a first set of ingredients and then a second set of ingredients is added, I have to stop myself from reflexively preparing the second set at the same time as the first.

-Paul W.