tirgoddess

Some things, besides the food, that I notice about a resturant influence my decision on wheter or not I will return for a meal. One is the restroom. A clean, well stocked restroom shows me that the staff and patrons have the necessary tools to maintain sanitary standards. Sometimes I notice that the soap has been diluted to stretch the dollar. A dirty, unkept restroom will ensure that I never visit that resturant again. Another pet peeve is sweeping or cleaning near my table while I am eating. Food on the floor, dishes in plastic bins on the floor, trash in the parking lot, at the entrance of or piled in back of the resturant is another. Resturants should descreetly provide cigarette/trash recepticals near the entrance of the resturant so that well meaning customers have a place to throw these items, instead of the curb or sidewalk. I wish resturant reviewers would make note of these types of things, so that resturant operators know how important it is to maintain high standards of sanitation. Any other pet peeves out there?

Oh yeah, why the hell don;t they have conveyer belts at the checkout? It would save a lot of time. I think it is because it would take up too much real estate. Our store was recently remodeled, but the check-out area didn't change too much. Folks kinda stand in a cluster with their baskets and carts and muddle through the process. I was wondering why the "manager" area has such a high wall. One can hardly see out into the store from behind it and customers cannot make eye contact with employess behind it unless they go around to where the swing door is located. It is kinda like a high pen. Not to accessible. The truck that brings the pallets of product has to take up a huge area in a busy parking lot. An employee off loads all the pallets in the parking lot, then as the day goes on, moves the pallets into the warehouse behind the store. I just see these things as quirks to be endured in order to get good products at great prices.

I have the William Sonoma Brassiere w/ the green stripe (set), I have since purchased basic white pasta bowls and other accessories that mix and match well. The Gilroy outlets have a Dansk outlet (and Le Cruset). There is a Mikasa outlet in Tracy. There is also a Crate & Barrel warehouse in Oakland. I am dying to go to East Bay Resturant Supply, tell us what it is like if you go. If you start with a basic look, you can dress it up or down with your table linens and accessories and the basic look will facilitate various food preparations of the season.

Tanabutler, Thanks for the bacon and pizza dough tip, I have been wanting to try both. I forgot about the great mushrooms and nuts. I was just there today and the "snack ladies" were pushing bagels and cream cheese. Love that, espeically when I am with kids. I usually buy whatever I taste from them. Recently I got a tip from my friend who works there regarding biological vitamin E. She said that it works just as well as Lancome or Lauder eye serum. Thought I would try this - at $3.99 a bottle, it's worth the experiment. Just to comment on the plastic, in our city we can recycle most all plastic, including bags and dry cleaner plastic - milk cartons and all paper, including junk mail envelopes w/ plastic windows. We can even place small batteries in a plastic bag and recycle those too. The city ajacent to us does not have to sort, they just throw it all in a separate "recycle" bin. I hope our city will get there soon!

Awbrig - thanks for the great photos and input. You seem like a person that would be fun to know! I break up my shopping between Coscto, Trader Joes, Safeway and very select items from Whole Foods. We have had to rethink our gormet luxury items and Trader Joe's has helped - so has the FoodSaver from Costco (that's another thread). I am lucky to have a TJ's to walk (SF Bay Area) to so I can get there in a pinch. My sister's have started shopping there as well. My sister needs organic milk for her kids and TJ's has the best price. What I like at TJ's: Coffee - we had to switch from Peet's and this is a great sub for less $ Canned black & white beans - much cheaper than Safeway and not mushy Avacado - 5 for 4.19 Frozen edamame, blueberries, veggies great value Frozen shrimp and scallops, shrimp is great for last min. pot luck hors d'oeuvre Wine - is there such a thing as a good, low price Pinot Noir? Frozen cheesecake, key lime pie, choc. decadence cake - great for pot luck's on the run Whole Wheat Tortillas Potted Plants - cute presentation, easy to cart as hostess gift Blank Greeting Cards - .99 each Dried Pasta - rustic, rough exterior, cooks up nice and sauce sticks well Cereal - maple pecan crunch, great snack in baggies Best deal and variety on spices is at Whole Foods, where they sell them in bulk, even coarse sea salt. I've started stocking my empty spice containers for their products. Comes in handy if you are doing sesame coated whatever or making rubs in bulk.

After reading this thread, I have to throw my two cents in. I am currently a smoker, I have tried to quit twice. In college, my best friend from New Jersey (a Malboro Red smoker), taught me how to play pool at the neighborhood bar. I picked up on the game and for many years played in pool leagues at neighborhood bars, bars one could walk to and walk home from. I enjoyed my Thursday night competitions and my weekend socializing with my fellow working "class" buddies. During this time I was single and needed a place to go to blow off the work steam, laugh and kick ass on the pool table. Smoking was still legal and a non-issue. The California smoking ban came along and most bars complied. The neighborhood bars (windowless dives) switched to disposable ashtrays and opaque cups with water. A DA in my county pursued these bars and fined them to the point where they eventually had to comply. I agree with Bourdain that everyone needs a place to go to relax with a drink and a smoke. There is comfort to be found in windowless dives that is integral to America and should not be allowd to become extinct. I agree that smoking bothers some people. Most all of the folks at these types of establishments know that smoking is part of the package and they smoke themselves, or they don't mind profiting from their smoking clientele. Personally, if I was trying to quit again, I would not want to be around smokers and could not drink either. Shooting pool with out a cigarette would be a tough one as well. So when I decide to quit again I will have to forgo pool and drink for awhile. Until then, my friend who is a bartender, calls me up and lets me know when the bar is slow so I can shoot pool with her and other smokers at my leisure. The law in NY will stick as it has in CA, businesses and people will adjust. There are a couple of cities (or towns) in both Northern and Southern CA that forbid smoking outside in their towns. This to me is extremist and elitiest. I try to openly smoke in these cities whenever I visit. This snobishness I can do without. I can also do without being itentified as a "smoker". I consider myself to be a polite smoker. I can't stand it when my smoking friends throw their buts on my porch, patio or into my garden. Why can't they ask where the ashtray is? Why do I have to tell them, after finding a butt or two, to please use the ashtray?! Also, why if after having not seen me for a while, so my friends/associates comment on the fact that I am or am not smoking? Why does that have to be the topic of discussion? I usually have to shut them down right there and change the subject. Often times when meeting new people I hold back from smoking so that they can see that I am a smart, thoughtful person. I can't count how many times I have heard, "You don't look like a smoker!" Well, I yam what I yam, when I yam.

I have 15 tomato plants going in my California garden right now. I have frozen about 5 gallons of sauce so far. Sauce making is what I was doing last night. I peel and seed the tomatos by hand. While the water is boiling for this I process onions and garlic and set aside. Then I process various meats - pork, hot italian sausage, and beef and set in fridge. After tomatos are peeled and seeded, (messy and time consuming), I saute onion and garlic, add dried basil, oregano and chili flakes. I remove this, set aside, and saute meat. I strain the meat and add with onion mix back to pan w/ tomatos. Then I simmer it down for about 5 hours. It is delicious, and wonderful to pull out mid winter for quitesential comfort meal. I have also slow roasted tomato slices w/ garlic, olive oil and salt at 250 for about 5 hours and tossed w/ angel hair. Excellent preparation as well.

This was on my menu for my supper club. It was fantastic and a hit with our group. I added a lime wedge in the beer can and after about 20 min of roasting, foil topped the necks for more steam. I did not to a honey/balsamic glaze and it was very moist and flavorful. Very fun summer party meal.

Thanks for the informative lesson. I have a few pieces of (orange) Descoware (Belgium) from my mother's pan collection. This cookware is what got me to purchase the Le Cruset line. What can you tell me about Descoware? Is it available today? What other similar, maybe less costly brands, are available? Thanks in advance for your reply!