megaira

On a date, a guy ordered Fettuccini. Stuck a forkful in his mouth and proceeded to lean over the plate, bite off the ends and let them fall from his mouth back to the plate. Not even the one strand spaghetti-slurp. It looked like he was spitting his food out every time he took a bite (well, I guess he technically was). I wanted to sink under the table and die. To make matters worse, we happened to be in a restaurant in the small town where I grew up...right next to my old high school. The server had been in my art class, my parents were 3 tables over and other people I knew were wandering in and out.

Read reviews and do some research and decide what you want...then go hunt... When you know what you're looking for, it makes it much easier to walk away from stuff that looks good, but you're not quite sure about..and you end up buying quality pieces that'll last you a long time, vs. cheap stuff that'll die in a year or two. A friend of mine watches rebates constantly and walked off with a 40$ basic nonstick bakeware set for free through amazon. I'll walk through thrift stores from time to time as well, just in case. Back when I was broke and needed bake/cookware, they supplied me with some decent pyrex pieces. Target also occasionally has some great deals. Sign yourself up to Bed Bath & Beyond's coupon mailing list -they regularily send out 5$ off coupons and 20% off coupons... I use the 20% off ones on bigger appliances like a KA mixer, cuisinart food processor, KA blender, etc. William's Sonoma, BB&B and I *think* Linens 'n Things will pricematch. Anyway, on to the bargains...I heartily agree to the TJ Max & Marshalls thing - just have to sift through the junk that sits on the shelves with the good stuff. I found a Le Crueset 8 qt french oven for 90$ at Marshalls... I've bought cutting boards, mixing bowls, sifters, strainers, wooden spoons and other odds and ends there as well. First place I made a beeline for is their kitchen section... second place I head for is their books... I found the Cook's Illustrated Poultry book there for a few bucks... as well as Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen and a couple others on my list. I've found some pretty fancy looking copper pots stashed in the back behind cheapo t-fal and lower end stuff (I don't need or want copper pots, so they stayed there to be someone elses great bargain). Calphalon put out their anniversary edition of the 10" professional nonstick omelette pan (there's another one out now, either updated or a different model, not sure which) for 24 (or 28, can't quite recall now)$ at Bed Bath & Beyond. The only difference between it and the 80$ version was the box. They have another one now at amazon for about 20$. I also picked up the KA 5qt mixer for about 200$, the cuisenart 11 cup for 150$. Picked up pizza screens from www.katom.com for 3 or 4$ each - beware their shipping costs, however. Picked up 2 used pizza hut 16" deep dish pans for 2$ each off ebay. They're in great shape & work fine! I saved about 15$ on my Henkel's 4 star chef knife at BB&B vs. WS. TJ Max has supplied me with a couple very nice saucepans that have done me well...both were under 30$ and both are clad. I'd have to go look to see what they were exactly... the only complaint I have is with my wimpy wrists, the one, when full, is a pain to pick up and pour. Another place to pop into is Cost Plus Imports... generally they have cheap quality stuff, but you can pick up plain ceramic ramikens there cheap as well as the odd kitchen utensil like a ricer or microplane inexpensively. They have woks and steamers as well as some cast iron and grill utensils...lots of cutting boards, pot racks, etc. I'm just in the process of making out a new shopping/wish list...I need breadpans, sheet cake pans, a new pizza stone, silpat sheets, jelly roll pans, large saute pan, a light saucepan with a pour spout.... the list is getting longer every day...

ETA - I guess I should have added that's the remains of a run of the mill, but oh so yummy, tuna salad sandwich that I had to go make after reading this thread.

Mouth noises are right up there with noisy neighbor sex. The more you try to ignore them, the louder they get. Somewhere, on a work related message board, she's complaining about the mean girl at work who bitched her out for eating at her desk. "I really have no idea what her problem is...one day I was just sitting there having a snack..."

Phew... Felt like I'd really gone and put my head on the chopping block there.

I'm going to have to make it again and do some reading on it... for me, I tried chai at an indian restaurant and loved it so I went home and did my best to try to emulate it and I've had that particular taste in mind ever since when I think of chai. Suvir, feel free to put me in my place because I know I'm going at it completely backwards from what appears to be the traditional method: It's been quite a while, but when I've made it, I've started out with either half milk & half water or 3/4 whole milk and 1/4 water (eta -I have a taste for it being quite rich & dense in texture) and treat it almost like a custard. I'll put the teaball in to steep from the start and bring it slowly to a boil with all the spices (cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardemom, ginger and peppercorns for me, maybe nutmeg - eta, this always varies to whim & according to mood, but is usually roughly about 2 3-4" cinnamon sticks, 8 peppercorns, 6 cardemom pods, 8 cloves... ginger I was formerly useing powdered because that was what I had on hand, i'll try it with 2 slices of fresh ginger next time), then lower the heat and add sugar. I just let it steep until it takes on the color/flavor I'm looking for from the tea - a light caramel color - then add sugar, reheat to nearly a boil, strain and serve. I never thought of pounding the spices beforehand. I also never thought of just throwing the tea leaves in loose near the end instead of using the tea ball... I'm going to strain it anyway, so might as well.

Neither? The KA looks overpriced - smaller feed tube as well (I hate having to cut something up to put it through the food processor. My brain says: why not just finish cutting the stupid thing up and not use the FP at all?). The one nifty perk, IMO, is the minibowl. But, having not used it, I tend to wonder if that is conveniant, or a pain in the butt. The cuisinart mini prep is about 30$, so with the rebate, technically you're getting the minibowl attachment for free & if it works as well and isn't a hassle, then that's not too shabby. The one thing I like about the KA FP's is that they seem to have a better variety of attachments...juicer, beaters, etc. KA is all about attachments, it seems. speaking of: the Cuisinart mini prep I like, but, I've replaced one already due to the unpleasant burning metal smell it blasts out at you...oh, and smoke...and the new one does the same thing regarding smell (no smoke so far), so I'm somewhat resigned to it now. Anyone else have the same problem or do I just keep getting freak lemon Food Processors? The holes in the top of the lid for adding oil are quite small, as well. The minibowl on the KA might indeed be an improvement - one less appliance on the counter, at any rate. The cuisinart, IMO, I prefer the newer style ("power prep plus") - the heavy base helps keep it from going anywhere on the counter except with heavy dough, and I like the wipe off control buttons. The extra "dough" blade and setting doesn't do anything for me, since I just use the regular blade for doughs, but some might find that useful. I picked it up for the same price as the one you listed at BB&B using the 20% off coupon. I wish I'd picked up the 14c instead of the 11 however. If a dough recipe goes into the 4c. flour range, it has problems. This one in the ad you posted looks like it still has the complicated lid and it doesn't appear to come with the extra flat lid people are raving about here -so if that's a feature you're looking for, you may want to double check first. I have seen it with the model Bed, Bath & Beyond is selling. Cuisinart needs a better variety of attachments (the beaters & juicer you can get for the KA are a neat touch -but who knows how well they work) & the extra blades and attachments are an arm & a leg unless you shop for them on ebay. Perhaps it's best to sit down and write out the pros/cons of each model and compare - quality wise I don't think you'd be doing any worse or better with one or the other, so it comes down to more of: what is best equipped to do the jobs you want it to do? You may also want to, if there's one nearby, run over to BB&B or Linens & Things or something, buy one, try it out and see what you think, then return it. Sure, a little less than the "nice" thing to do, but you'll know that what you're getting is what you really like and want. Whatever you do... do *not* buy the cuisinert blender/food processor combo. At best, the FP is anemic and good for only chopping onions, etc. The blender did me no favors, I gave up and returned mine and bought the KA blender after a while.

I hate the mouth noises too...and probably am way over the line of oversensitive about it. It doesn't even have to be a noisy eater, but if everything is quiet and that's what I'm hearing, I'm sitting there going crosseyed trying to not get up and leave. If the person is noisy in the sense they're making "mm mm" noises, even worse! I have to have some sort of background noise on - music, tv, a fan, something, anything. Hub: "what, like you don't make noises?" me: "yeah, but, they're...mine." I think during my years waitressing, I must have been subliminally hearing all those mouths chewing, slurping, and grinding away at their food under the restaurant noise and music. It must have worn me down. It's the same way with the animals, too... for some reason horses don't bother me, but the dog, my god, she's like a pig at a trough. SHLURP! crunch crunch crunch...SHRLUP SHLURP! SHLURP! I have to walk out of the room when I feed her.

Made me paranoid there for a second, thought I'd inadvertantly linked to crazy asian knife throwing porn or something. Not that I'd know about that. I couldn't make those when dining out - maybe at home. The temptation to make sound effects would be too strong. ETA - come to think of it, the dragon would probably create the same problem.

Shuriken?

Dragon Or, get really good at folding teensy tiny squares? www.origami.com I tend to tear mine into squares and make teensy tiny cranes. It's figit control. I'm sure it drives people around me crazy. This is kind of sad: Origami for depraved people who haven't had any sex in a long, long time

I will buy you a plane ticket and pay for the rental car if you would.

These kind of comments are just begging the other person to pick up their steak and bitchslap the offender upside the head with it. "Well, what do you know! There's still some life in the ole' girl yet!" Perhaps there was a Dicken's-like twist & he was visited in the night by the Spirit of Ted Nugent. Dining out: There's not too much that bothers me when we go out to eat...we usually have to really like someone to feel like going out to eat with them and we're blessed to usually have pretty easy going, polite friends. That, or I'm out with a group of people and we're too busy talking for annoying habits to get too noticeable. The only thing about going out that has bothered me regarding dining companions in the last few years has been hub smoking at the table, if we somehow end up in the smoking section. He has a blind spot with that one, despite that he refrains from smoking in the house, car with me, etc. I'm afraid to admit that if there's a situation where we have crappy service, I'm the annoying person - it drives me bananas and I have to force myself to keep my mouth shut. I get tense and exude...tenseness. I try to chill out, but then...figit figit figit (I'm figiting now thinking about it). We don't eat out too much and avoid chain restaurants all together if we can -if not, then we make a point to skip dinner rushes, etc. Dining in, however... We have houseguests that invite themselves out to visit regularily and they're both picky, persnickity eaters. Cooking for them is a giant pain in the butt, where normally I'd look forward to cooking for a guest. Last visit, Hubby finally got fed up with watching me struggle with them trying to figure out to make: "how about.... ok, how about..... alright, fine, how about...." and said to them "why don't you write a list of what you DO like, there's only about 5 things on it, how hard can it be?" and walked off. So there's first the puzzle of sorting out what they want to/will even eat, then there's the cooking with the background critique (below), then it's hub and I cleaning up alone in the kitchen while they wander off. In this case, it's just best to narrow down the gipes to the biggest one, and that is the critique. Her mother worked in food service, and therefore is somehow the fucking guru of all that is food. I don't mind suggestions, I do mind being told how to do/not do something. her: "well my mother does it this way" me: "that's not the way I'm doing it" her: "well my mother worked for X years in food service, I should think she'd know." In the back of my head, my internal bitch offers to drop kick her the 600 miles back to her mother's house,where she'll probably be just on time for dinner. The one arguement was that chicken had to be cooked to a temperature of 180 degrees to be "safe." I can't even remember how it came up, other than that I was making fried chicken. I pointed out the instant kill temp for salmonella is 160. Like a tape on "loop": "well my mother worked in food service for X number of years and if anyone knows food safety it's her and she says ..." We ended up having to haul out Corriher, McGee, Alton etc. before she'd be satisfied. Another morning, I thought I'd get up and make them some pancakes. Her mother, however, doesn't let pancake batter rest and in the 20 years she's been making pancakes... Funny, I don't remember owning a pair of pjs with a "dump your unsolicited opinion on me about my cooking while I make your f'ing breakfast."

Speaking of...I've heard of a couple places around here serving pizza using naan as the crust. There's a pizza place on the other side of town that serves a spicy chicken vindaloo pizza.

Nope. It was a place by the mall in Littleton...you & the inlaws are safe! I don't think anyone with out of town guests would take them there. There's three sushi bars/restaurants, of them all within a mile, all mediocre, all with their pros and cons. One has the largest selection, but questionable quality...another has pretty good quality but a short selection... the third has medium selection, a very tasty house roll and hit & miss quality. I was jonesing for the tasty house roll. edited to fix wierd typos.

Hmm, maybe we should have taken the transfer to MN. I could write out pages on this topic, it's one dear to my heart. It's awesome that you can give your kids these memories to start out their lives -I'll never forget those parts of my history and they've become an integral part of who I am today and what I think of when I'm craving "home" and "peace." My memory of my grandparents cottage (actually a house they built for themselves & the family after a series of cottages) has become in part, my dreamhouse. The design, certian aspects of it, the smell... since we're still paying down some debt and not ready to buy a second property yet, I've been "cottagifying" my house here and there. Certian things just make it feel more like "up north," even if I can't quite put my finger on why that is. My grandparent's place was on a more populated lake with a small town at the south end of the water (www.sirsamsinn.com - we were next to this resort, actually. The resort owners bought the house in '83). Yours sounds much quieter than ours was, but for me those sounds worked their way in and set up camp. I liked seeing the lights and hearing voices carry across the lake at night, or oddly enough, the sound of a chainsaw rattling away in the distance. I miss the loons like crazy and just the whole atmosphere of being on the lake. I miss the water slapping against the boat and jostling the barrels under the dock, the smell of the lake, feel of the air (it's pretty dry here)... I get heartsick thinking about it. The clams & crawfish, water logged strips of bark that washed up and tangled into everything and the mica in the sand. In the winter the ice would freeze clear in areas and it would be transparent and black with airbubbles trapped in it -we'd lay there with our noses pressed against the ice trying to see frozen fish. In early spring (around easter) the neighbors would get together and build a giant bonfire on the lake (always scared the heck out of me, I figured the ice would melt and we'd all go right through, but the ice was well over a foot thick). My parents bought another property back in '92 up there on a lake, but it wasn't quite the same. It was a smaller, shallower lake and springfed rather than part of a chain (you'd swim, get out and feel dirtier than when you'd jumped in) and a snowmobile trail went right through the property -they spent all their time cleaning up the litter and crap the past owners or snowmobilers & hunters had left around the place, rather than enjoying it as they should. They eventually realized they'd never be able to build a place and have it stay unvandalized, so it was sold. I miss NE Ontario tremendously and I'm always homesick for it, but to try to buy a cabin up there and travel from CO to the Algonquin area on a regular basis is just not logical, so I just try to find the simularities out here and appreciate what we have here for its own strengths (love the mountians). There are times when it rains and I walk outside and it smells *just* like it does up there. And I do love it here for what it is, rather than what I want it to be, but sometimes you just can't help it when nostalgia hits. I get so excited to find hummingbirds in the garden or hear a blue jay, and aspens can sometimes look like birch trees if you squint. *ramble ramble* At any rate, count me amoung those who are aspiring to reaquire that lost part of our lives. You're very blessed & I'm just a touch envious. - finished this post and ended up spending another oh, half hour, hour or so looking up pictures of NE Ontario, haliburton, muskoka, etc. (making myself bloody miserable) My parents must have taken us around more places than I thought, I recognize a heck of a lot of the places I'm seeing. A little bit of NE Ontario flavor. Edited to fix laughing emoticon - I have no idea how that got clicked. Oh, and the link. d'oh

#1 = Pineapple (or pear, but I like the tanginess of pineapple) upside down cake - the kinds with a nice sugary crispness at the edges, contrasted with the sweet, pineappley syrupy goodness. #2 = Home made carrot cake - I'm particular to the very dense ones with plenty of nuts, some pineapple and lots of cream cheese frosting...and especially the homemade ones that are maybe iced unevenly and I can pick out the ones that look like they have more frosting... ("Meg, why are all four corners of the cake gone?") A girl who came to a message board gathering at my house brought one and it had a glaze,then the frosting... It was one of those things where everyone went home and I had another piece of cake...then a few hours later, it was dark, so I had another piece of cake. Then at 12:30, Futurama came on cartoon network and that was a good time for more cake... and certianly carrot cake is better than cheerios for breakfast? It has carrots in it -who can argue with the healthiness of vegetables for breakfast? #3 = Chocolate torte. Nothing fancy, just lots of rich dark chocolately goodness...maybe some rasberries on top. I think I found one that worked quite well out of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. It had a ground roasted pecan crust. 4-ish .... Youknowhobucks had a nice idea with a chocolate pound cake - the first time I tried it (talked into it while getting my coffee and my defenses were down! I was hungry. ) it was moist, dense, rich and delicious - nearly the perfect combination of cake and brownie with creamy chunks of chocolate scattered throughout. That was inspiring, so I had it again, and it *stunk*... it was a completely different beast and so dry. The first one didn't make it to the second stoplight, the second one made it home and was eventually tossed. At any rate, the idea was nice, so I've added chocolate pound cake-should-I-ever-duplicate-what-I-liked-about-it, to my list. I think if I wanted perfection, there would be crumbled up After Eight mints in it or something. Dark chocolate and mint...mrmm. 5 a. moist devils food cake with a bit of buttercream on it - not enough to smother it, not so little the cake feels naked. No doctoring or crazy stuff done to it, just plain old devil's food. 5 b. citrusy cheesecakes with lots of zest or plain cheesecake with strawberries, cherries, etc. over it. A leftover childhood craving from sneaking sara lee cherry cheesecake out of mom's freezer.

Well, on the bright side, she was at the door and not in front of us making our food. "is that a seseme seed, it's really chewy!" There was a minute though where Hubby and I looked at each other and the look said "is that what I think that is?"

My husband has the same opinion, though, he views the description as accurate. Shiitakes are on his very small list of dislikes. Perhaps they could change them to: "exotic asian mushrooms" "tasty mushrooms with a garlic flair" "mushrooms of the orient!" I'm surprised, actually, that given the regularity in which we reshape and respell words to suit our purposes, that shiitakes haven't been since respelled "shetalkies." I love it when I get a server who can't pronounce items on their own menu. No thank you, I don't want the quesa-dill-a. (or, speaking of shiitakes - "she-takes") We went out for sushi last night. While we were waiting for our food I heard a tell tale "snip, snip, snip" - it was a lull at the door and the hostess was clipping her nails. Mmm...fingernail clippings.

I have no idea what the heck you're talking about. Hard hitting critique on what? The "two foot long dissertations" are made because I like to keep track of what I'm replying to & it's much more efficient than quoting the whole 10 foot long post. Not to mention, it retains clarity. Perhaps there was something in my posts that I missed, but there was no pissing match intended at *all,* not to mention any "attack." I was amused, if becoming exhasperated, up until the point you sent that PM. I was, IMO, defending my opinion & being a bit of a silly smartass. In fact, I had joked that things were much more civilised than they could have been & apologized over the joke about the rats, to which you had obviously taken offense. The only thing that I see as perhaps instigating, which certianly was not intended to be that way, was the first paragraph of the post where I said I felt your opinion was odd. If there was some other comment that I made that was overly bitchy, please, share it with me and I'll make my apologies. I see, so it's better to PM the "offensive crap" instead? Submit my posts to moderator review as you've threatened. If I'm booted from egullet, then so be it. Your PM comments will also be fowarded to them if that can be put into consideration. I have nothing to hide, and if this is a board where it is "ok" to patronize and put newbies "in their place," I'll be happy to unwelcome myself. You feel free to quote and rip apart my posts and "expose my angst," beans, knock yourself out. I don't take kindly to a faux nice face on the board & threats off of it from someone who can't handle the same discussion she said I should expect. You said to me: And the old public restrooms "test" are hardly indicative of the cleanliness of the kitchen and prep areas. but earlier said (emphasis mine): As for general filth observations (tables, chairs, floors, restrooms, menus, etc.), I'll leave and not order food after a quickie cocktail. Why bother? After all it is my hard earned money that is paying for the experience? So it is ok for you to hold the opinion that restaurant bathrooms may indeed be an indicator of why one would not want to dine there, but not ok for me. I took a look at your profile before your implosion here and I see you're in Cleveland. I grew up there, so I do indeed know the Flats and downtown atmosphere quite well and have been to most of the places where you've worked. I waitressed in Cleveland, catered there, worked food service there, partied there, ate there. I thought for sure, the way you were talking, you were someplace like NY. If there are no roaches it is because they spray for them like crazy. I've done my share of "bugs nights." Just updated the thread and I'm sorry we had to have this conversation, because indeed, I would have been interested to chit chat with you and catch up on what's been going on in that area since I left. Despite Cleveland's reputation, I get quite homesick for it. I apologize if I've put anyone out by sidetracking the thread. Thank you, bilrus, for trying to clarify where I was coming from. I should have just left it at that and walked away without making a comment or feeling the urge to defend my statements. I honestly did not think, when making them, they'd spark such a gyser of crap.

beans: Perhaps take your own advice - you've both appeared to make this personal as well as take some tongue in cheek lighthearted comments quite to heart. What do your credentials have to do with my finding you taking issue with my personal, subjective opinion based pet peeves odd? You're somehow more qualified to tell me my opinion is wrong? You're missing the important point that the nit you picked was with my comment regarding a sushi bar that had one restroom for both patrons and staff, not restrooms segregated into public and staff. Again, it matters little to me how many sinks are in the place. The one restaurant where I worked had sinks all over, it doesn't mean everyone on staff used them. If I see one, I'm out of there. I don't care how clean the place is. I said if I saw a fly, I was out the door - did you bother to ask if I was pointing this out as a cleanliness issue at all? No. Roaches freak me out, rats freak me out, I'll be out the door if I see one. I don't want to fight a fly to get to my food and that's my personal pet peeve. I lived in cleveland, I know quite well a place could be spotless and still have roaches. Doesn't freak me out *any* less. I did not poke fun at this as a cleanliness issue. I never said it had to do with anything being "unclean." I said it's not an enjoyable part of restaurant atmosphere & it's something that would cause me, myself and I to not patronize a place. I'm sorry you took offense to my joke, but it certianly was not meant to offend or slander your workplace. I'm not sure how my personal pet peeves matter to you unless it's your particular restaurant I visited and am complaining about or I'm naming places and saying "don't go here, it's a sty!"? Again, nothing in there about flies being an indication of cleanliness, only that I find them a giant pain in the ass. Like I said, I can't stand it if *one* is in the house either. I'll hunt that sucker down and kill it the minute I see it. No, I don't and I don't particularily care about your workplace...or the state of it's bathrooms, or the insects or rodents in or around the place. I see the point that you're trying to get to, though, again, no idea how a sushi bar with one bathroom and no soap parallels a larger restaurant with a public restroom and sloppy patrons, but let's just leave it at that you made your point, much at my expense, shall we? You said:I make a point that there are in fact culinary professionals with scruples. I'm not sure how I "mis-skewed" anything when I pointed out I'd never said anything to indicate otherwise. Nor did I ever give any indication that I felt there was a general dearth in the culinary profession regarding cleanliness. It was a moot point, there isn't a person here, I'm sure, that does not recognize this fact. So maybe you could clarify just what you were trying to say and how I misskewed it. On second thought, don't. Most are, I'm sure. I don't assume all are. There are many things that go into choosing a sushi bar and one would be reputation. If no reputation to go on, then I'll base my opinion on other methods. It seems you're taking up the flags of sushi chefs everywhere over my choice to not dine in one particular restaurant based on an experiance I had there. It makes little sense to me, given that I've said that I patronize another place. It might be another if I said (which, I never did say at any point, again) all sushi chefs were untrustworthy and unclean and swore off sushi based on such nonsense. Indeed.

Why thank you... Please do not get the impression that I'm sitting here hot under the collar about you disagreeing with me, as odd as I think your point of view is. Perplexed, perhaps... angry or put out, certianly not (hence my editing to tone down the acidity). It is certianly handled better than many message boards, on which a reply may have been "PHU(K U, I W@$H my h@|\|D$!" It does seem, that out of all these complaints and some quite conflicting, a bit odd to point out a dislike of flies in the dining area and a problem with lack of soap in the bathrooms as unusual. Because, I'm not sure there's anyone out there who enjoys the buzz of flies about their head or, in your case, as you've pointed out, the pitter patter of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh around the dumpster, as "atmosphere." However, would you say that, if you walked into an upscale restaurant and found yourself the unlikely love interest of a fly throughout the course of your meal, you'd think to yourself "wow, this is the bestest place ever"? Now, have 3 flies buzzing about your head in a small dining room, lighting on the lip of your wine glass, your plate, the dinner rolls and consider whether or not you feel very dignified about bringing your friends to dinner at such a place? I personally believe it leaves much to be desired if, during your dining experiance, you're waving flies away from your food constantly (Jeff Goldblum included). But again, as I said before, this is my subjective opinion. (I've got to say, if you find a rat with more than four legs around your dumpsters, cleanliness may be the least of your worries.) At any rate: You said: Guess alfresco is out for you. Our entire restaurant is open air in the temperate times of the year. Given your first sentence, I assumed you were replying to me specifically and offering your restaurant as an example of outdoor dining complete with natural wonders. I clarified that I was referring to flies inside, not outside. Not your restaurant or outdoors areas, etc. etc. I was also agreeing that alfresco dining was not particularily my cup of tea (coffee, maybe). The roaches was an aside, and again, nothing to do with you (why would it be? Do I know you? Are you the guy that keyed my jeep? ).. I don't recall making a generalized statement, or implying in any way that all culinary professionals don't have scruples. Did I miss something? Yes, indeed, and when I waitressed and otherwise worked in food service, there were many of us who were very conscientious of handwashing and cleanliness and thank god, most of them were the cooks, bar one or two. A great many people use the washing station. However, that does not logically equate to "because they are there, everyone uses them, and they are used everywhere, every single time." This was sadly evidenced by the rest of us poor clean & tidy schelps having to take a field trip to the local clinic and get a hepititis A vaccinnation in the rump. I'd never bared my ass to a nurse before (well, let me specify "when coherent and operating within normal faculties"), it was a memorable & humbling experiance. Granted, the shots were later revealed to be thanks to a dishwasher who was eating the food off of plates coming back to the kitchen (he was a couple fries short of a basket). At any rate, the point there would be: not everyone holds to the same standards of cleanliness across the board. You mean someone went and patented it and I didn't know? Dang. I thought I was just observing the staff's behavior and general attitude about cleanliness, drawing my own conclusions and deciding whether or not I wanted to eat there in the future. I'm assuming (and hoping) that the drunk female is a customer and therefore not a staff member? Do health inspectors check customers now, too? (three inspections? how long was this chick in the bathroom?) Were she a staff member, indeed, I'd be very curious as to what her attitudes are in regards to food handling...especially if she's drinking on the job. If she's the drunk customer, it's not entirely relevant, is it? I'm not going to go home with her and eat at her house. I specifically outlined a scenerio - the staff is entering and leaving the bathroom without washing their hands or bothering to refill the soap. Just as an unshaven man with bloodshot eyes and smelling vaugely of alcohol might not be the person you'd consider hiring to wire your house, I'm not likely to assume a staff member who does not consider soap a priority in the washroom will be real diligent about keeping themselves sanitary around my food. I do not assume that because *I* would be a neat freak about other's food, someone else would as well. Obviously I've stated that I'm not completely anal about this, as in some cases the staff has their own washroom & may not be aware of the front bathroom being out of soap, or perhaps you can see the sushi chef washing his hands at the sink before preparing your food - but if I see my server come walking out of a bathroom without washing her hands (unless perhaps she's a miracle creature who has selfsanitizing hands. oo! oo! I want HER genes)... well. ugh. Would you feel better, perhaps, if I changed my peeve to "dirty servers"? I do not blindly trust the staff of every place I walk into. Your mileage obviously varies and that is quite fine, that's your perogative and you're entitled to operate under your own rules of discretion, as am I. We have a sushi bar we like now -it has it's issues, but we know most of the sushi chefs and enjoy their work. The place we originally frequented unfortunately closed - so we'd been looking for a new "haunt" when we stumbled across the No Soap Sushi Bar. This is Denver, we're not exactly known for our sushi here, we're known for things like our football team and ...well, our football team...well, once. Ok, so we have mountians... Meg

Do you know/can you explain why they added fruit to curry? Someone just wake up and say "I think I'll try apples in this"? I'm hesitant to do it myself, I'm curious as to what purpose it serves & what, if anything, it does for (or against) the dish.

I'm sorry, was this "critique the pet peeve" thread? I believe most of us realize that our pet peeves aren't the end of the world, and we each have our own criteria for what makes a restaurant work for us, or not. That would be considered subjective, yes? I usually skip the patio unless I'm having coffee or a beer. However, it's flies inside that I was referring to, not outside. I can't stand them in my house, I don't want to fight them off when I eat. If I somehow find myself on Survivor, I likely won't be so choosy. (Oh & roaches. I loathe roaches.) As I said, I expect the experiance to reflect what I'm paying for it. If I'm spending 28$ to 50$ per person per entreé, I sure as heck don't want to see a fly buzzing around my plate. You can do the nature thing if you please, I'll pack a picnic when I feel the urge. The pet peeve was no soap in the bathroom. The example was a specific situation that turned me off so badly I left. You remark that wash areas are mandatory. So what? Just because there's a washing station does not mean people use it! It is not such a big deal to me if it's a larger restaurant where it's obvious the staff uses a seperate restroom in the back. It's another thing entirely if I see staff going in and out of the main washroom and the soap remains unfilled. If the staff is not concerned about washing their hands after using the restroom, or that guests might want to wash their hands after using the bathroom, what is their hygiene like elsewhere? That, to me, indicates an all around general state of uncleanliness. That is not a place I want to eat. In the case of the specific example: the sushi bar. There was one restroom in the restaurant. I'm sure during the course of the day, other staff members used the restroom, did no one there figure it out on their own that it was necessary refill the soap? I don't want that mentality around my food. Who the hell knows what they don't think is necessary elsewhere. In this case, the evidence was obvious that someone, at least our waitress (unless she was going in there to have a smoke or something), didn't consider it a priority to fill the soap. It certianly wasn't in "out of sight, out of mind" territory. You would agree that it pays to use discretion when choosing a restaurant in which you're about to be enjoying a platter of raw fish, yes? I'd be out of my head if I thought other people were as touchy as I am about food and handwashing. Having worked in restaurants and food service for several years, I sure as hell know better. But just as in the case of when the guy at subway lopped open his finger, then stuck a glove on over his cut (he was dripping all over like a faucet) and prepared to make our subs sans bandaid and cleanup, there are limits to what I feel are acceptable. No soap in the restroom was the pet peeve. The example I gave was a specific example that turned me off completely. I haven't eaten there since and won't bother with it again. Edited to tone down the acidity.

Chicken curry with apples & raisins, perhaps? Or perhaps the concept of curry powder. Way back when I'd first tried an indian dinner & realized I liked it, I looked all around for a "curry spice" on it's own without other spices added to it before I finally clued in to the realization that curry was a sauce, not a singular spice. Aloo Paratha mix in a bag, sauces in jars. Chicken tikka masala? I would think it's been "blandified" for american tastes.