Kitchen Crash

The other day I posted about the show Supermarket Stakeout.  That's a cooking show on Food Network.  At times, not just during a pandemic, I get sucked into watching networks, not even particular shows, just the network.  And I think that's played a bit of a part in this post (and my new obsession) about another Food Network show, Kitchen Crash.

 

It's in season one.  The host is chef Jeff Mauro.  Jeff takes three chefs into a neighborhood and gives them ten minutes to "shop" at people's houses.  If they can convince the occupants of the home to give them all their food and groceries, they have a chance at splitting $10,000 with the chef. They want spices, drinks, meats - especially meats, fruits, vegetables, leftover - just anything they have that can be used in whatever challenges may be thrown at them.  

Meanwhile a mini-kitchen is set up for each of the contestant chefs.

Like other chef competitions on the Food Network, there are three rounds.  But since there are only three chefs competing, no one goes home in round one.  BUT, one chef will win the round and they get an advantage over the other two chefs in round two.  An example of an advantage given is the winner had the choice of taking away either the other two contestants' butter, oil or salt in one competition (she took away their salt).  Someone goes home after round two. And a winner is crowned after round three and the chef and the family who sacrificed their groceries split $10,000.

Now, it's worth noting something I wondered about and that they showed in one of their episodes - all the participating families are reimbursed for their groceries, which is good because who would want to have to replace them all when your chef didn't win?

It's all in good fun and everyone seems to enjoy it and now I'm hooked and have another show to watch.  I binged the entire show (three whole episodes at the time - four now, which I've also watched) so now I have to wait for episodes to air.

But there was one particular episode that had a funny start to it, if you will.  When they told the chefs they had ten minutes to get a family to give them their groceries, one took off running with a chef's knife in hand.  At the time I wasn't looking at the screen but thought of the saying "don't run with scissors" or whatever it is and didn't give it another thought. 

That is until the family that worked with him did a confessional type interview saying they were a bit freaked out when someone came to the door holding a knife and "demanding" their groceries.  Can you imagine?  Imagine something like this. 

  Plus, I think he's wearing his mask wrong.  😂

What are you watching?

Supermarket Stakeout

Have you seen the cooking competition show on Food Network called Supermarket Stakeout?  It's host is Alex Guarnaschelli, an Iron Chef and a regular judge on Chopped.

The premise of the show is that four chefs compete using groceries bought at the grocery store.  The twist is, the chefs have to buy the groceries from people coming out of the grocery store - the competitors don't go into the store themselves to shop. 

After the chef buys the groceries they have to use the ingredients of the groceries that they bought to create a dish that matches whatever challenge they've been given.  An example of a challenge given is "handheld" meaning whatever they created had to be able to be eaten without utensils, just using their hands.

In the first round they buy all of someone's groceries without knowing what the shopper has bought.  If it turns out they don't have the ingredients to make whatever would fit their challenge, they can go back and buy more groceries - still not knowing what they're buying.

In the second round, they can paw through the shopper's baskets before buying but they can only buy from one person who hopefully have enough ingredients to make the challenged dish.

The third, and final, round allows the remaining contestants to shop from as many people as they want but they can only buy five ingredients.  The contestants start with $500 to spend on groceries and it has to last for all three rounds.

The one who makes the best final dish (of the remaining two), wins $10,000.

That's how the competition works.  I only recently started watching it but I do enjoy it.  It's only been on a few seasons and I wondered if they'd be able to continue, considering the pandemic and all.  Well, it turns out they are continuing the show.

Now, when they shop, they wear masks.  Except when they're "shopping" (from actual grocery store customers), they are maskless.  Which brings me to the whole point of this post.

I went to the grocery store shortly before the world shut down last March.  My last time in the store, I wore a mask and gloves and I was the only one with any "protective" gear on.  When the world shut down, I started having groceries delivered to my house so that I didn't have to go into the grocery store.  I was paying roughly $12 per delivery for that convenience and it was totally worth it to me.  Then I reached a point where I mainly needed cleaning supplies - which were impossible to get - and I didn't want to pay $12 for an empty grocery bag so I scheduled a curbside pick up.  It was so easy I've been doing that ever since. 

So, with the exception of the weekend after Thanksgiving, I have not stepped foot inside a grocery store in more than ten months.  Which makes me think, if I broke down and went to the grocery store to do my own shopping, there's no way in the world I would even consider selling my groceries to someone, causing me to need to go back into the store and shop some more.  At least not during a time when the risk of exposure to covid is so great.  As I said, the contestants only have $500 to spend I don't think if they pooled all their resources together to buy my groceries it would be enough to persuade me to consider selling them if it meant I had to go back into a place I've avoided for almost a year now.

Bottom line, I enjoy the show but am surprised, and a bit disappointed, that they would be filming it during a global pandemic with infection rates as high as they are.

Question is, is it just me that feels this way or would you consider selling your groceries to the competitors?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Barking Dogs

Have you ever watched a television show or a movie where the neighbor had a barking dog that sounded canned?  Like it was some sort of manufactured sound and had no basis in reality of what any dog has ever sounded like?

 

Well, I have something to tell you - that's what my neighbor's dog sounds like.  I don't know if they've recorded one of these shows or movies and strategically put a box or something in their backyard so that it will go off and bark from time to time, but, that's what I hear on a daily basis.

 

A canned barking dog sound.

 

I've met this neighbor and while we've talked about our dogs, I've never met or actually seen hers.

 

So, as I hear her "dog" barking at me, all I can ask is - is it live, or is it memorex?  😄