StudentChefEclipse

There's a theme here: salt, chocolate, fat, spice, starch... I am wondering if there's ever been a study on PMS food cravings and what makes our bodies torture us for this stuff? Or maybe on PMS cravings and if they occur in places where the diet is fairly limited... say, the Kalahari and those folks who live there? Anybody know of anything? PM me please, 'cause I don't want to hijack the thread, but I am really curious. Thanks!

If nuts weren't what I'm allergic to, I'd share NulloModo's nusstorte with y'all. And I am absolutely going to clone FoodTutor and supply all restaurants with the clones.

"But here is another question: Has anyone in this food and word-wise group ever previously heard of this word in general use? Karen Resta-Bateman" (Sorry, my quote feature just is not happening for me...I am cutting and pasting like mad!) I first heard flexitarian in conjunction with a Moosewood cookbook that came about, I want to say, last November or so. It included recipes for animal-flesh, which is of course a departure for the Moosewood folks. Someone in school mentioned this business and I asked where they'd gotten that word. I guess it appeared in the Moosewood PR stuff about the cook book. Where Moosewood got it from, I have no idea. If they made it up, I think someone should speak with them, vociferously.

Just to clarify a couple of things: Yes, the test for an allergy is normally a skin scratch test. A small amount of whatever is being tested get dropped on the skin, which is then scratched to allow a reaction to occur. If you DO get a reaction, then you ARE allergic. There can be mild reactions and severe reactions, but they are all allergic reactions. Take for example, the peanuts vs. peanut oil business. A mild reaction would account for the ability to tolerate peanut oil. This is, I think, the hardest bit about food allergies. Not all of us are going to end up needing an epi-pen and a call to 911. Doesn't mean we aren't going to experience symptoms that will ruin our night out, or whatever. My reactions are fairly mild, but continuing a meal with a tingly, slightly swollen and painful mouth is just not going to happen. As for servers who don't care to take requests seriously leading to allergy fibs: My gripe is when they don't take anything seriously. Hence the comment I once got, "You can scrape them off." That was wrong and goofy on so many levels. Food Tutor... I wish I could tip you over the lines here. You are probably the server I would most like to clone and send to restaurants everywhere. Basically, I am in favor of this card. I think it will help divide the fibbers from the allergic, and give us all a break from the likes of Mr. Mayo-Jerk.

Nothing against vegetarians; everything against people who are idiotic with the language.

I sorta like the apple newtons, but they are awfully sweet for my taste. On a bit of a side note: when I lived in Richmond, VA it was rather hard to get fresh figs. I asked one store's produce manager if it were possible to get fresh figs and his response was, "There are no fresh figs. They all go into making Fig Newtons." And, yes, he was dead serious.

I came across the following bit this morning: "Phil Lempert Introduces the Food Allergy Buddy (FAB) Dining Card "When a person presents the FAB card at a restaurant, it underscores the significance for them of avoiding those specific ingredients -- it's not just about disliking the taste or asking for it on the side," said Lempert. "The FAB Card is all about clear communication without the embarrassment, and in some situations it can mean the difference between life and death." ..." So, I like this idea. But I feel a little odd about the idea of communicating your allergy being considered an "embarrassment." For those of you who are allergic, or even just have bad reactions to certain foods, is this something you are shy about communicating? AND... what's the worst response you ever had from someone at a restaurant when you did say something? (I once got a server who told me it would be okay to just pick the nuts out of the brownie. Uh huh.) *edited to remove some of the article stuff*

"Meat eating vegetarians..." I suspect that might also win an award for Oxymoron of The Year. Didn't we used to call these folks Omnivores?

Food and History - Reay Tannahill (My favorite food history author; her book on sex and history is superb as well.) The Devil's Cup and In the Devil's Garden - both by Stewart Lee Allen (Great books on coffee and "forbidden" foods respectively; humorous and well-researched.)

Never try making up your own sign if you don't exactly know one, either. A friend of mine tried asking a deaf fellow out for a piece of pie by forming a wedge shape with her fingers. Much too much like the sign for vagina. *wheeeee*

QUOTE(StudentChefEclipse @ Sep 6 2004, 10:17 AM) Most of the servers in town here get $2.13 an hour. I don't know who does and does not pool tips, but i suspect if you are paying someone that little AND expecting them to share what they earn by the sweat of their brow.... That's just wrong. The servers in your town are earning just $2.13 and hour AND 20% of the restaurant sales and sales tax. Very profitable brow sweat. My understanding is that the sharing of tips with other staff is for the same reason servers are tipped in the first place. To insure proper service from those they rely upon such as the bus person. It also is probably a survival thing. Eases the animosity between servers going home with $25 or more an hour and bus people pocketing what's left after taxes on maybe $8 an hour. hrmmm.. thanks for the heads-up on that HM. The guys from school who worked as servers bitched mightily about the $2.13 and never mentioned the other. You are talking Phoenix/Scottsdale, right? *trying to work out the new quote feature... i am SOOOO not technological!*

Would Julia Child really approve of this kind of shenanigans? I would like think not. I would also like to think that winning a Beard Award, either as chef or as writer, really meant something. Though I have, sadly, been exposed to a few chef who win the award then slack off on quality in their restaurants or who grow too snobby to live. Drats. I think the organization could do some good, once they get out of that more, More, MORE for us mentality.

The original Calvin Trillin trilogy: "American Fried" "Alice, Let's Eat" "Third Helpings" My favorite Trillin piece: Spaghetti Carbonara Day. When I was younger and the book was new, it actually convinced me to try spaghetti carbonara. Now I've added "Feeding a Yen" and I know that will stay on the shelf forever as well.

Most of the servers in town here get $2.13 an hour. I don't know who does and does not pool tips, but i suspect if you are paying someone that little AND expecting them to share what they earn by the sweat of their brow.... That's just wrong.

"Well. Someone has to be the poster child for the 'Don't' side of the poster."

FoodTutor, nothing makes me appreciate a really good server than having it done for all of a month at school. It was a negligible experience next to someone who does it for a living, but believe me, it gave me the education I needed. Not to say I still don't get on the case of servers who touch me or are otherwise *way* too familiar. It's just, I think, that bad service and good food, or worse bad service and bad food, linger so in our minds. A really good service experience might stay, but not as long. Sad, isn't it? I *am* really glad to hear that your place puts a premium on their service though. Maybe more places, even casual ones, will come to realize the benefits.

Someone just up and gives you $5,000 to spend on kitchen gadgetry, small appliances, what have you. How do you spend it? Or do you spend it? Some people think kitchen gadgets are unnecessary and a waste of space.

During my class in front of the house at the school's fine-dining restaurant, I was waiting table for a party of five of those women... the skinny, siliconed, overteased hair women. While I was delivering entrees, one turned to the woman on her left and said, "Oh those vegetables are pretty enough for your next hat." I, of course, had to forward the comment back to my classmates in the kitchen as "compliments to the chef."

Champagne, pear nectar and ginger juice. Or a real, honest Bellini... WHEEEE...

My nephew is being raised vegetarian, which when he was younger he had a hard time saying. So he would say, "I'm a vegetablearian."

You realize that now there is NOTHING left to say about this?

Crouching near me, or worse, sitting at my table will generally get a server 0 extra in my book. Touching me, or calling me honey, sweetie or babe gets the management called to the table. I give extra in the tip department when I get fast, professional, courteous service. That's all I want, too.

And there you have it... I feel that if management cannot maintain a clean restroom, they are probably unable to maintain a kitchen clean enough to earn my money. Our academic achievement group arranged several tours of fine-dining establishments around the area, and I found this to be the case. In every place where I thought the kitchen was not up to standards, I also discovered a restroom that was, to put it mildly, disheveled. Now... if you know people are coming to look you over, does it matter that they aren't the health inspector? Could Ya Clean Up A Little?!? **this rant officially over**

The Two Fat Ladies did a show featuring Nipples of Venus. They used fraise de bois for the actual nipples, which appeared centered on a strawberry-Cinzano cream concoction. A friend of mine once did a dessert he called Surprise Surprise, which was a balsamic ice cream featuring garlic-roasted peanuts. Good name, really.

I heard somewhere that Cordon bleu was originally the (blue ribbon) award given to women for their culinary prowess - But reading up I can't find that detail anywhere. What I had heard in school was that the Cordon Bleu was given to chefs of boths genders for their prowess, but that the original CB cooking schools were limited to women, and specifically housewives who wanted a good kitchen education. (My school is a CB NorthAmerica school so I am inclined to believe this is either true, or great propaganda from the CB people.)