Am I the only one who lives in a magic house? A lighthearted look at ourselves & food safety
Sam Fujisaka | Nov 15, 200804:05 AM 331
I sometimes feel like I live in a magic house completely uncontaminated by food pathogens and in which food can be left out without spoilage or infection. Guests may come dirty, but walk through the front door and are magically sterilized. Although I keep a very clean kitchen and store things properly, I just donāt worry about food poisoning in my magic house.
What about you? How do you rate yourself, from food slob in a magic house to a follower of all the food handling ārulesā in a dark, contaminated universe?
Please keep this lighthearted and fun. Just provide your approach. No citing of USDA or other rules and recommendations, please.
This is a copy and paste of what I just pasted there; Iām going to have to go back and harvest a few things before itās gone.
Good times! Iām going to have to find my favorite threads from the good old days. The meatball thread, the tuna salad thread, the macaroni and cheeses thread, the Thanksgiving blow by blow, coming back every year for the beginning of the SF crab season, and Melanieāspost about steaming Dungeness crab. My annual preserved lemon, spiced nuts, and whole preserved fig experiments. The āJust got braces and everything hurtsā thread! Iām glad thereās HO. Iāve posted links there in the past, but Iām guessing they wonāt work.
Oh, and the trip reports!
And donāt forget the Mooch and Hooch thread from JanetfromRichmond, @shrinkrap. Janet is a friend of mine, so that thread was a fun one, since I knew the restaurants she was talking about. (Thankfully I never mer Mooch and Hooch!) Janet had another one that was a total WTF? thread, but I canāt remember the topic.
I do! Although much less frequently during these 2 years of the pandemic. Only two or three times during 2021, if I recall correctly. 
Definitely NOT enough! Iāve actually been craving their warmth and hospitality, and am hoping to get in there in the next week or so. 
I havenāt figure out how, but I was reminded of the āView from the Kitchen Windowā thread. How can I find that one?
Found it! @Harters !
JanetfromRichmondās Mooch & Hooch thread:
How to tactfully avoid inviting others.
Janet from Richmond | Jan 19, 200909:44 AM 217
We are friends with two other couples. Nearly every Friday night, we go to dinner with one of the couples and often with both. There is another couple who shows up at our watering hole and expects to be included. In the past we have, but it is always an added stress to the evening.
Last Friday I just pretended they were not at our watering hole and avoided them and therefore the subject and the woman asked why I am mad at her/them. Iām not angry, I just donāt want to go to dinner with them.
In the past they have gone so far to ask the bartenders where we are having dinner if they arrive after weāve left the bar and headed to dinner elsewhere. We also have a newer watering hole and they followed us there. I am not good at tactful confrontations and would prefer not to be a full out bitch this coming Friday. Any advice is welcomed.
The thread is long (SEVENTEEN CH pages long!) and jfood is credited with coming up with the Mooch and Hooch names. Although he never did copyright the name! LOL
YayaDave summarizes it with his song lyrics:
Mooch and Hooch went up a hill
To see what they could find.
Bumpt into Janet of Richmond
And her Chowhound friends behind.
No dice, you mice,
Itās been fun, but weāre done.
Look elsewhere to Mooch and Hooch,
Go elsewhere Mr. Mooch and Mrs. Hooch
But OBTW Mooch and Hooch,
Youāll be gone but not un-read.
Now youāre a Chowhound Classic
Subject of a remembered thread.
I used to love jfoodās posts. So funny.
I took me ages to realise that he was writing as though he was the familyās dog.
I canāt seem to copy a whole thread discussion easily. For now, hereās my post on a custard vs bechamel macaroni and cheese thread
Custard. But I do a hybrid.My Aunt Helen meets Cooks Illustrated meets Alton Brown meets Patti LaBelle meets John Thorne. And uncooked elbows, stirred intermittently. Lately I am leaning toward shorter baking times for a looser finish.
http://www.thebittenword.com/thebitteā¦
Great story! Are you still in touch with Janet? Is she doing well?
We are FB friends, and yes, sheās doing very well!
That was a great thread! I love how the whole community came to her defense with some clever ways to get her out of the sticky situation. Was Janet ever able to ditch Mooch and Hooch? If yes, what method did she use? Sorry, I didnāt have a chance to read all 17 pages to see if the issue was ever resolved 
Greatest thread ever . IS A HOT DOG SANDWICH.
She did. They worked with the bartenders at several of their restaurants who let them know when M&H were in looking for Janet and her husband the night before. IIRC, there eventually was an occasion when Janetās party of 4 was having drinks pre-dinner when M&H came in. The bartender immediately told Janet āYour table of 4 is ready for your group!ā And hustled them to their table. And then there was another instance where Janet and her group were able to avoid having M&H join them. They got the idea after that.
I was SO disappointed when CH removed the April 1st Banana thread instead of just locking it after everyone had their fun. I forget the premise, but it was a GREAT thread.
I was going to mention the Banana board as a great thread created by a CH employee back when they were allowed to have a sense of humor\whimsy. I think there was a subsequent Spatula board started by some mischievous hounds (I was not, of course, among them 
I remember the many spatula avatars that cropped up. LOL
My absolute, favorite post of all time.
