we are the....

Question: Are Americans so unsure of themselves that they don’t trust their own taste enough to determine what they like?   I guess it is easier to let some unknown person(s) put out a list of “things” that are “Best” (herein after referred to “B”), then blindly follow that advice.  By letting someone else think for them, they must feel assured that they are on the inside because they always go to, buy, eat, whatever somebody considers the B and therefore they are guaranteed to be better than the rest of us.  Something along those lines apparently drives publishers of magazines to proclaim that this issue will provide you with the

Cities will tell you where to eat

Others will tell you what to serve, eat, drink, and where to shop 

And, this mentality is not just limited to just food and cities

Although in this case, it is these peoples jobs to “scientifically” rate things, but they chose to use the B word, not me.  And because I know eager minds want to know, their results show: 

Freshest:  Wegmans; 

Cleanest: Wegmans; 

Best Bakeries (?): Wegmans; 

Cheapest for Organics: Trader Joe’s, Wegmans;   

do I see a trend here?  And just for completeness:  

Lowest overall: Walmart Supercenter.    

From the digs:

Closest Wegmans: Lanham, (MD); 65 miles.  

Closest Walmart: 2.2 miles.  

Draw your own conclusion..

I guess this “B” thing is just part of our culture of wanting to know “Who’s Number One” which engenders AP polls, March Madness, and similar things designed to make everything but the tops of those lists considered meaningless.  And invariably, what is B this week is supplanted by a new list next month.  How long does one deserve to be called the B?

Cheese+cake

Speaking of which, somebody sent me a link to a story about the Cheesecake Factory, and how they “Crush the Competition”.  They are one of those gray area “chains” in that while they do have a couple of other brands like Grand Lux Café and Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen, 165 stores out of the 185 are Cheesecake Factories.  They are not part of some conglomerate like Darden.  The reasons for their popularity given were fresh ingredients, in house preparations, etc.  It also contained an interesting graph showing daily visitations of many of the places we’re all (too) familiar with.

Quite the list of names...

Steak (last two titles are like a sandwich!)

With the weather finally getting more livable we’re breaking out the Weber (no green egg yet FOJ’s) and getting back grilling again.  The other night we broke out a locally produced steak from Willy Goddard

And.... I gooned it up.  Yup, the wanna be gourmet cook turned out an inferior job on the steak.  Normally when I grill meats I use the “press test” to determine doneness.  Sort of like the old saw that medium is like the last joint on your thumb, down to rare in your palm.  Normally, I nail it. So I used it on the steak the other night.  Well, after I brought it in, it came out pretty rare in the middle.  Not exactly raw (or blue as it is sometimes called), but less done than we would have liked.  I thought about it some with a wine glass in hand, and I finally have a theory.  The local beef for whatever reason is “firmer” than the store bought kind.  I don’t know if it has to do with fat content, freshness, or what, but I have observed that before.  It should have translated to going further up my thumb, so to speak, but it didn’t.  Felt medium rare, but nope. I pretty often use an instant read thermometer, but that is tough (no pun intended) on a steak.  You can go in from the side, but it is not reliable.  Anyway, something for you to consider.

and before closing, one more "B" (actually two) word, sadly from one of my favorite magazines, but he's so handsome

Shadow Oak Bo - National Champion Bird Dog - English Setter

Oh, and not once in all those magazines was an article on how to "B"

DFD