Hadn't heard of this one:

According to various sources, pine nut mouth is the result of a sensitivity to imported pine nuts, which are actually the seeds found in cones of pine trees. While it's not life-threatening, it can be, in Hennesey's words, "brutal" for the seven to 10 days sufferers experience it. Last year, 53 people reported to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that they suffered some form of "pine nut mouth." In France, some 800 cases have been reported to the USDA's counterpart since 2001.

But except for a few blog mentions on foodie Web sites and a short 2001 study available on the Internet, very little is known about "pine nut mouth."

They're importing pine nuts from everywhere now, so maybe some varieties might have this issue, or they just might have been rancid. I'm willing to be more selective in what I buy, but I'm not making pesto without them!

This is a technique I've been playing with that's given me excellent results while minimizing effort, which is what I'm all about, anyway.

I use something like this, they're cheap and the work great:

Walmart Bests Whole Foods in Blind Taste Tests

"WE SUPPORT LOCAL FARMERS," read a sign at an Austin Walmart. I didn't see any farm names listed in the produce section, but I did find plastic tubs of organic baby spinach and "spring mix" greens with modern labeling that looked like it could be at Whole Foods. My list was simple to the point of stark, for a fair fight. Some ingredients seemed identical to what I'd find at Whole Foods. Organic, free-range brown eggs. Promised Land all-natural, hormone-free milk. A bottle of Watkins Madagascar vanilla for panna cotta. I couldn't find much in the way of the seasonal fruit the restaurant had told me the chef would serve with dessert. But I did find, to my surprise, a huge bin of pomegranates, so I bought those, and some Bosc pears. The sticking points were fresh goat cheese, which flummoxed the nice sales people (we found some Alouette brand, hidden), and chicken breasts. I could find organic meat, but no breasts without "up to 12 percent natural chicken broth" added--an attempt to inject flavor and add weight. I wasn't happy with the suppliers, either: Tyson predominated. I bought Pilgrims Pride, but was suspicious. The bill was $126.02.

At the flagship Whole Foods, in downtown Austin, the produce was much more varied, though the spinach and spring mix looked less vibrant. The chicken was properly dry, a fresh ivory color--and more than twice as expensive as Walmart's. My total bill was $175.04; $20 of the extra $50 was for the meat.

I haven't seen anything like this in our area yet, but I'm hopeful. I sure miss Sprouts, but I'm able to find reasonable good produce at Meijer, though their meat department is not great.

(Photo: TPC's Grilled Jalapeño Poppers with grilled Hot Wings. For Julie's take on my bacon cooking "prowess", click here.)

Tim Love says the bacon craze has gone too far:

To professional and amateur chefs alike, it has become more than just a potent tool for infusing fat and flavor. It has become a ubiquitous ingredient in everything from cocktails to crockpots, used by chefs a bit too liberally in favor of that big, familiar taste you've known since Mom first put it on your plate before school. Bacon coffee, bacon cereal, bacon ice cream--America, cut it out!

I hope Biggles and Chilebrown don't figure out where he lives.

Popular Science has a cool article for the gadget geeks. It's a infrared radiant fryer that sounds very promising:

It's essentially a glorified heat lamp, using 10-12 infrared emitters with different wavelengths. Each has a different purpose -- some cook the middle, some heat the surface, and so on. Jalapeno poppers work well because the inside can be cooked at a much lower temperature than the exterior, for instance. "We just literally change the dial on our emitter setting," Keener said.

Even if it's years before we can have them in homes, as someone who's drained a lot of fryers, I'm all for it!

It was pizza night again tonight, and thanks to the pizza dough I portion and freeze regularly, it's a fairly simple process. It's taken me a while to come up with a technique that optimizes taste and simplicity, but I think I'm closing in on it!

The bottom got so beautifully browned, I didn't even have to finish it outside of the pan:

If you ask nicely, I'll post the recipe some day...

Oops, forgot the beer. Be right back.

This was the huge chocolate chip cookie I made for Julie last year. This year's menu:

Nouvelle Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons
Cioppino with Cod, Scallops and Shrimp
Homemade bread
A dessert to be named later

Have a great day no matter what you're eating!

I generally associate oyster sauce dishes with beef, but it was terrific with chicken. Although we gravitate towards the spicy Sczechuan stuff, this was a nice change.

Bravo has announced, via NRN, the chefs that will be competing this year. Some familiar names, but lots I don't know.