Tess

I think there's too much fruit with meat at US restaurants already. That grape thing sounds fine, and some dishes do call for fruit, but I'm tired of seeing mangoes and pineapples and things all over chicken and fish. I think it's been going on for a long time too, at least since the mid-90s.

I would have no compunction about drinking half a bottle on any given night-- at least when I'm not on Weight Watchers. I usually don't because (diet aside) my boyfriend and I don't have meals together every night and I don't want to open a bottle for myself. When we go out to eat, though, we always split a bottle of wine and often have a port or something afterwards, too. That seems like about the perfect amount, to me.

The thing that kills me is people putting ranch dressing on everything, including pizza. The guy I live with tended to put Worcestershire sauce on everything. The first time I made beef bourguignon, he tried to put it on that but I persuaded him to taste it first. I don't really understand that habit because he's Polish. His mother was a good cook and I'm sure she didn't put bottled sauces in everything.

I agree that teachers on the whole should be paid more. But I don't agree that the level of education you need to get into a field has a direct bearing on how much your work is worth on the market. You usually need a PhD to be a philosopher or an art historian, but in many cases people are not willing to pay much at all for your work. On the other hand, a plumber doesn't need an undergraduate degree but his or her work can be very valuable.

I agree about this part and usually adjust the tip on a low bill upwards, although it still doesn't seem fair. On the other hand, I don't find it onerous calculating a 20% tip. I don't know, maybe in an ideal world I would abolish tipping and pay people a straightforward wage. But the way things are now, I can see the logic of tipping people who perform personal services, whether it's a food server or a manicurist or the guy who looks after my dog in the kennel. These people's skill is directly related to my well-being, and filling out the tip personally serves as a recognition of that. Sure, you could throw in something extra if service is included, but I find that awkward. In situations where a tip is not strictly called for but seems appropriate, I often feel a little weird about giving money and worry that the person feels like they're being insulted.

I like the idea of a green vegetable with some bitterness. Greens or maybe asparagus? I also find shredded raw cabbage nice with seared fish. (Some places serve slices of fish atop a bed of cabbage.) Will you have a sauce? If not, you might consider whipping up some wasabi mayonnaise. An alternative to rice or potatoes might be some kind of noodles, perhaps crispy. Or you could go Hawaiian and have macaroni salad.

This is ironic, right? Because it blows my mind that anyone would cite this kind of class reason for doing anything in this day and age.

There happens to be a relevant article in the New York Times today. That waiter you stiffed Most of this will be familiar to those who read around on the internet. I agree, the way to send a message about truly bad service is to say something. There are so many people these days who act self-righteous about not tipping and give overdetermined reasons ("The service was slow; my bread was stale; it was raining; the restaurant owners are capitalist pigs; the whole system of tipping is unfair; I was drunk and I don't remember not tipping") that I would tend to suspect cheapness for being the motive in most cases of non-tipping or gross under-tipping.

When I can get them any more, I use them instead of pearl onions in braised dishes. Or I oven-roast them alone, as you do with shallots. It's harder and harder to find them around here, though. Where I used to get them in bulk, they now come in those funny little packages by Mel!ssa*. She does that to shallots, too, but at least you can sometimes find shallots elsewhere. Last time I saw bulk cipollinis, they were big honking red ones for $6/lb at Whole Foods. I bought one and it was OK, but not a substitute for the little ones. *Public Enemy No. 1 where produce is concerned, in my view.

Homemade chai latte. Late lunch/early dinner is going to be skate wing sauteed with olive oil, capers and olives. I have ripe Comice pears for dessert.

I think this is an important point. If someone gives you a casserole with canned soup and Velveeta, is it good for what it is? Criticism should be on the level of that type of food. Suggesting swapping for a sharper cheese sounds reasonable; suggesting making a whole other kind of recipe doesn't. Even if you make a reasonable suggestion, of course, in most cases the person won't like it. Even people who directly ask for advice usually really don't want it. They're asking you to praise it and to make that praise higher by saying it's in your "professional" opinion. Taking requests for comments too literally can get you in trouble. If you are really having a problem with people finding out you threw the stuff away, there are always things you can say like, "I can't have something like that around the house because I'll eat it all and it's not on my diet."

I'm extremely fond of the fish you get in Hawaii, such as opah, onaga, ono, opakapaka... anything. In any restaurant in Hawaii, I pretty much ask for what's best and freshest, and I always like it. Coming from the Midwest, it is such a treat. I buy it when it turns up in the stores here, but it's not the same. More locally to me, I do like Lake Superior Whitefish if it's cooked right (a big if).

I don't use paper plates or plastic cutlery around the house. I have a dishwasher and a washing machine, so paper products wouldn't save me much time. My partner likes paper napkins but I can't stand them. If we break up, his promiscuous use of those napkins will be one reason! I do, however, have a strange weakness for large plastic Solo brand drinking cups. I put two of them together and use them for the water I drink all day, both at home and at the office. There's something bright, cheerful and light about them-- and also if someone swipes one, I don't care. However, I run them through the dishwasher and reuse them.

Could they be worked into Nigella's recipe for cherry cupcakes, or some other chocolate cake-type thing? I usually just set them on fire and then serve them over ice cream.

Condolences to both of you. I've never dropped a bottle of wine, but one Valentine's day we were having a bottle of Dom. We were drinking it out of regular wine glasses for some reason. While I wasn't looking, my dog got her nose in my glass and polished the whole thing off-- 1/4 of the bottle. At least she didn't get into the chocolates; that would have meant a trip to the vet's. (We knew she was OK with alchohol because she'd stolen people's beers before.)

Tacos from Jack in the Box.

I'd forgotten Hawaiian luaus . Most of those are at least somewhat in a buffet format. I have enjoyed those although I don't really care for the roast pig. They seem less nasty than mainland buffets, perhaps because they are outdoors. I do like the ability to have just a little bit of lots of stuff like poi and haupia that I would not want to eat a whole serving of. Wedding buffets are OK but not if you have to go through the line just to get the same piece of meat and two vegetables that you would get if it was served to you. Without variety, there's no point in my opinion.

Speaking of interesting bottles: Damiana Damiana is a fairly sweet herbal liqueur, kind of like Galliano. I bought it because of the bottle, but it's not bad. There is also a liqueur called Agavero, based on tequila and with damiana-- the herb, not the liqueur brand. We bought some and it's just OK, in my opinion; it sort of tastes like a very concentrated margarita. If we actually drink it up, it will probably be over ice with lime juice. Damiana (the herb again) is supposed to be an aphrodisiac but I don't notice any effect. I really like Cynar, but as a before-dinner drink.

I'm not crazy about buffets either. I have been to some in Las Vegas that I thought were more or less worth the money, like the Rio seafood buffet a few years ago-- before they jacked up the price and lowered the quality. Some of these make hot food to order and keep cold food well iced. (My usual objection to buffets on culinary grounds is that the temperatures never seem quite right.) I just can't get over the ambience of buffets; they always seem kind of stressful. Too many people getting in my personal space and I always suspect (or know) that someone's been sticking their fingers in the food.

My boyfriend went in right when they opened and he said the food was delicious but "kind of sparse." I think what happened was that the guys he was with didn't understand the ordering process and somehow ended up with only a couple of small plates. They may have been sitting at the bar (is there one?) and I'm sure they were drinking, so there may have been some confusion. Anyway, they liked the short ribs. The 1 1/2 stars seems stingy in relation to the content of the review. I get the feeling from the first paragraph that he is not a Lettuce fan, so he may have knocked off a point just for that. At least the review is fairly detailed about what the food is like. I'm still certainly planning to go there.

Sweet things in savory dishes, generally. Sweet salad dressing made with reduced balsamic vinegar. Fruit in main courses. Someone in another thread mentioned rare tuna with blueberries. I knew it would come to that one day. I also can't understand bread baskets that are put out at the beginning of dinner with things like muffins, popovers and date bread. No one holds a gun to my head and makes me eat those, but even the sight of them is somewhat off-putting.

I have found some of the writing in the catalog irritating in the past, and the "Letter from Bill Penzey" irritates me too. The style seems, I don't know, faux-folksy to me. I also agree about the potential lack of objectivity.

NulloModo, I've used all kinds of mushrooms-- commercial; wild; fresh; dried. I did use fresh Portobellas once, and everyone liked them. Knock yourself out!

Dana, I haven't tried Core, but I may. I just felt as if it took me a while to get the hang of Flex, and my weight is still edging down. snowangel, I've read a lot of discussions about Core and watched some diet bloggers experiment with it. It emphasizes whole, less processed foods and does not put a limit on how much you eat of those "core" foods. Other foods are on an allowance. From what I've read, I think it might be hard for me with how often I eat out or am for some other reason not in control of my food supply. On the other hand, you can switch back and forth between plans. Core does sound awfully attractive for anyone who's tired of measuring all their food or feels chronically underfed on other diets. The old system lets you eat anything you want, but in measured amounts.

I love the whole shallots too! I started using them when I couldn't find pearl onions, and now I'll never go back. If there are any cipolline onions, I'll use some of those too. I recently went through a number of beef stew recipes in THE WAY TO COOK, and tried the "beef zinfandel." It was pretty good.