Tess

I agree, they absolutely should give credit. I would also find it understandable if a chef asked an imitator to take a dish off his or her menu if, for instance, it was all the same ingredients but poorly executed in the original chef's opinion. If work is innovative it could be a real problem if you have inferior versions cropping up all over the place-- with or without credit.

I'll be sticking with it too. I thought the line cooking thing was cool. I have a feeling that in general the immunity challenges are going to be more interesting because they don't feel they have to come up with a gimmick like the sex shop. So far, out of all the contestants, the one I would like to have a meal by is Lee Anne. Although Tiffani's pumpkin thing looked delicious too. I like Miguel the best as a contestant but I'm not sure his food is my favorite.

Why would it be counterproductive? Some people indeed can't follow recipes and this will teach them.

I'd love to hear some of your ideas, in fact! My problem with the topic is partly occupational-- I used to do some writing for publications that always wanted that kind of thing and I got really tired of it. And I'd be told to ask some list of people for their favorite erotic foods and then get answers we couldn't use. (But I don't do that any more so I'm not looking to steal your ideas, just curious.)

To me, the problem was not the sex shop, but the whole erotic food thing. Here I was relieved that all that was over for another year with Valentines just past. Agreed, you have to give Tiffani-- and, to some extent, Miguel-- credit for actually doing something performance art-y with it. I would have been with Lee Anne, reluctant to do the gimmick.

I don't think you can be sure-- either that they didn't throw the sauce out or that K never answered the question. Week after week, I was amazed at hearing Tim Gunn's podcast about Project Runway and finding out how heavy the editing had been. Admittedly, on PR they were very blatant about posting teasers that had been edited to be misleading and then revealing what it was really about the following week, so you knew to suspect some of that. I think they were so excited about PR that they tried to cut and paste this show into it, and they didn't allow enough for the different subject matter. The themes for the immunity challenge-- work on a line; do something with fruit-- have been interesting and revealing but the themes for the other challenges have both been really weak. A signature dish and a sexy dessert-- whoopee. I agree about not trusting the contestants enough too. To be fair, I looked at the ending of the show when they replayed it and they did talk about the taste of the food by the top three a little bit. And seeing the wine guy's face when he didn't come in first was funny. If indeed that's when he made that face. (He's always making a face like "Who stepped in dog s***?")

They thought the party would be good TV, and it sort of was, but the food and sex thing has been done to death from both sides. So to speak. I agree, the discussion at the end was lame. Did they say anything specific about the taste of the food except that the wine guy's champagne was too dry? (I was called away during part of that.)

This is something I'm curious about, not being in the business. What would be the practical value for anyone more than a few years out of school of being on the show? With Project Runway, the publicity value was obvious even if you didn't come in first. The cash grand prize of $100K would be pretty good for the amount of time spent; however, if it's like Project Runway they don't just write you a check, although they make it sound that way. Jay McCarroll of PR didn't even take the money because (as I understood it) it was in return for licensing arrangements that he didn't think were that good. I didn't know what the equivalent would be with food, but I doubt whether they just get a chunk of money, and that's only if you come in first anyway. Also, by going on the show you risk humiliation if you are kicked off early, which would be more of a problem for a person who's farther along. Those shows are not completely fair and it could happen to anyone.

It's more fun than I expected. Bravo's website is interesting too. I notice that Insufferable Boy's bio actually brags about what a blowhard he is. I'm not sure why they would bring in the non-chefs but his dismissal ahead of them increased the Schadenfreude.

Why would it? They are both sensitivities that can have mild to severe effects. Most people get the word "allergy", and most people with other problems would rather leave it at that than get into their medical history. ← Yeah, and some people at the table would rather hear the word "allergy" than some description of their digestive functions while they are trying to eat. Some people would really rather not hear discussions of e.g. gas or diarrhea at the dinner table.

A common theory (the most common, I believe) is that Crohn's is a problem with the immune system. To call what many people get with Crohn's an "upset tummy" is, shall we say, somewhat of an understatement. I have three family members who have, not Crohn's but various other combinations of autoimmune disorders such as scleroderma, Sjogren's syndrome and Hashimoto's, not to mention rheumatoid arthritis. (For some reason, everyone i know seems to get these in threes.) I have seen two of these people drastically improve their health with regimes that include modification of their diets and, yes, avoiding certain foods. I don't care if (as some scoffing older relatives claim) the effect of these regimes is all in their minds; this is what works for them. Sure, some people have irrational fears of certain categories of food but others are just taking care of themselves in the best way that they can. Overall, I think the idea of trying to talk or trick others out of their eating habits-- be those rational or irrational-- is unrealistic and I agree with whoever said just serve enough of a variety so most people will have something to eat.

Yeah, where I am a large cappucino there coasts about 50 cents more than at the drive-though across the street. The drive-through does make a better coffee, but of course Starbucks has indoor seating, which I'm sure is worth the extra money to some.

I bought mine in the Chicago suburbs (Central Bakery in Mt. Prospect) and they tasted richer than doughnuts. I suspect lard was used in their preparation. They looked different too because they were sliced in half with the fillings spread in the middle. Lots of creative fillings although I did not see rosehip jam and would have liked to. I tried the fruit fillings, not the "cannoli" and such. (Polish cannoli?) The ones sold by our local Jewel supermarkets look more like jelly doughnuts or fritters. A guy who was buying some told me they were good but they didn't look worth a try to me.

I'm in Chicago, and I could see traveling to Manitoba to taste the local specialties. I've never had Saskatoon berries and that seems kind of strange.

For a real beginner, I would also give them a couple of Nigella Lawson's books. Some are very good in terms of suggesting formats for a meal that are interesting yet not too overwhelming.

Setting something on fire (crepes, Norwegian omelet, cherries jubilee, etc.) is good for impressing people too. Just make sure you haven't been drinking too much. A guy I know set fire to his ceiling. On the topic of drinking, I swore off the long cocktail hour after a guest passed out in my bed before dinner was served. One drink and a few dry snacks and we're on to the first course.

I'm a huge fan of beef bourguignon for this exact reason. When I started out, one thing that I found reduced the pressure with medium to large groups was to start by serving several small plates (think mezes) and a few different breads, and then bringing a stew type of dish to the table and passing dishes of that around. The small dishes remain on the table and they can fill up on those if they don't like the main. If I've been told that someone is a vegetarian or whatever I will make doubly sure there is something for them, but otherwise I just serve enough different stuff to make it unlikely that anyone will starve. I also agree with candlelight and lots of decent wine, and maybe some not too obtrusive music. I gave up on trying to mix cocktails unless someone else wants to do it.

So there is room for another one! How about Earl Grey tea with little round biscuits and a sherry-flavored ripple? Or Stilton with a port flavored ripple?

Nobody want to be at work all the time, but it can go too far. We were in a fancy restaurant in a casino, having dinner at the bar. Two friends of the bartender, clearly off-duty employees, were sitting there having (I guess) nonalcoholic drinks and the bartender was talking loudly with them the whole time about how horrible it is to drink alcohol. It started out being about one of them trying to stop drinking, but soon became pretty much of an extended sneer at their customers. I know that drunken gamblers can get very obnoxious, and a lot of what goes on can be depressing to watch, but please. I was trying to enjoy some wine with my dinner; I was not trying to get drunk but I felt embarrassed about asking these people for another glass and afraid I would get a lecture. I have to say, I know I would have a hard time being a bartender because of the way a lot of customers act. There always seems to be someone drinking and wanting the bartender to share his or her bizarre political views or something; it must get pretty tiring.

Fritos smell like dogs' feet to me, and I've heard other people make the same comment. I don't care for them. I go like stinky cheese.

Priceless! I think you should bring in decoys too. Possibly unappetizing ones, like packages of cheese crackers with peanut butter, or sugar-free mints.

As another frequent designated driver, I usually make do with water or iced tea with meals out. Too many of the non-alcoholic cocktails that are offered turn out to be way too sugary to go with food. I also like soda or seltzer with a few drops of Angostura or other bitters. Bitters do contain alcohol but you use very little by volume. Any bartender should be able to make this for you. At home when not drinking alcohol, I sometimes make cocktails with selzer and fruit juice. I use Knudsen's cranberry and pomegranate concetrates but there are lots of others. You can try asking for this in restaurants but again, you will often get something way too sugary.

That always sounds so logical, but after losing a decent amount of weight on Weight Watchers (which is about the opposite of a fad diet) I find that I have to continually think of little ways into tricking my body into being satisfied with just enough food to lose weight over a period of time without the weight loss stalling or my energy flagging to the point where it's really hard to work-- or just getting so hungry that I go nuts and start eating everything. This has to do with a balance of foods, what and when I eat, and I am always seeking and benefiting from advice from other people. And, there are indeed certain foods I have to stay away from most of the time (like high sugar during the day because it makes me hungrier later). To answer the original question: I try to time things so I work out when I haven't eaten for a while but and not yet hungry. That seems to be my optimum for having a good workout. If I don't manage that and I am too hungry to go forward with the workout, I am definitely in the camp of eating an orange, a banana or similar. That seems to give the quickest energy bang for the buck without slowing me down or making me a lot hungrier afterwards.

The Landmark theaters in the Chicago area-- which show one of the best selections of movies-- have coffee drinks and popcorn with real butter, and even some pretty good sprinkle-on flavorings for the popcorn. A nice selection of candy too. What I would really like, though, and don't have nearby is a theater that serves beer and wine. I'm not usually looking to have much food during a movie anyway; I'd rather eat before or after.

The Evanston one is Central a couple blocks west of Green Bay. Conveniently located across the street from Foodstuffs.