shelly59

My 2 cents, added to what everyone else has said: Clean the bathroooms regularly..for heavens sake, how hard can that be? Treat everyone at the table the same way. DO NOT cater to the men and treat the women as an after-thought. IT WILL be reflected in your tip. And we will NOT come back. If English is not your first language you have my admiration & respect for trying to learn it and my annoyance for not being able to answer any of my questions. Sorry, your inability to understand English shouldn't be my problem. But it becomes my problem when you tell me that one of the dessert specials is "Beer Pie" (Pear Tart). Managers! If I see you standing around chit-chatting while we sit waiting for bread/water/butter/whatever or while your FOH staff is having a collective nervous break-down..WE WILL NOT BE BACK. I am a former waitress and that brings back baaaad memories. If I DO manage to catch your eye and request something..JUST DO IT. It makes me batty to: 1) wait 15-30 minutes for my drink/bread/entree/coffee/condiment/check, 2)flag the manager who then goes and finds my waitperson, 3) wait ANOTHER 15 -30 minutes until the waitperson brings my whatever..that REALLY tics me off. Have an adequate number of waitpersons. I understand that the profit margin is narrow, but, that is not MY problem. If I like your place, not only will I be back, but I will tell all of the foodies I know that your place is worth their time & money. If you are chronically understaffed (I will give a place a few goes if slow/ harried service is the ONLY problem...sh*t happens), I will tip the waitperson well, but I will not come back.

Just received my first batch of pods from Baronet. Will post my 2 pence once I get a chance to try them for a few days.

These books are MY go-to-books, too. Both have excellent recipes and are fun to read.

Alchemist: Made this for dinner last night. WONDERFUL!!! Thanks.

That looks yummy, thanks Domaine.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/ This link worked for me. Wonderful site, thanks, Kate. ETA: Well, you have 2 links. ONE of them should get you there, lol!

No, I wouldn't pass off a dish I did not make as my own. It is lying, plain & simple, imho.

Hello and Welcome, RDW!! How did those macaroons turn out? I bought the book just to see if I could even remotely replicate the ones I had in Paris. What did you think?

Thanks, Patrick And, boy! Does your Mozart look delicious

Has anyone tried the Hot Chocolate recipes from the book? I want to serve something approximating what we had at Cafe Angelina in Paris on Christmas Morning.

I can vouch for the Monastary Fruitcakes KOK referenced. They are delicious. The Fraters, slices of fruitcake dipped in chocolate, are also wicked good.

Just saw the above. May all be well with you and your recovery swift and complete. Many thanks for all of your delicious recipes. You and the other "recipe posters" are wonderful teachers and true goodwill ambassadors Shelly

I made the gingerbread today, Chufi, and it was a great success with everyone. What a wonderful recipe, thank you.

"Garlic & Sapphires" is a wonderful book that I "read" as an audio book on flights to and from Paris last Spring. It made the time fly and I, too, got some odd looks when I forgot where I was and laughed out loud a few times. I especially loved that Ms. Reichl shares with the reader the thought processes behind the characters she and her friend created for her incognito reviews. Oh, and there is a delicious brussels sprout recipe somewhere in the book. If you come across it, try it. It is REALLY good.

Wow, Elie. That looks wonderful. And kudos to your inventiveness.

Hmm, maybe you should try DELAWARE beaten biscuits. My grandmother and great-grandmother made the best. Very light. The secret is to beat them a good while. That was my duty as a child, stand with a clean piece of old broomstick and beat the bejeebus out of the biscuits for 30 minutes. I think of beaten biscuits when I think of "DelMarVa" food as my great-grandmother's people were oystermen out of Franklin City, Virginia on the DelMarVa penninsula. Other things that jump out at me are: oysters(duh) in every imaginable manner, chow-chow, sourmilk pancakes, clams(see oysters), flakey biscuits, greens, scrapple..probably more, but I cannot think of them right off. This is fun, although it would amuse my great-grandmother that the foods she and her friends made is even remotely considered "cuisine".

My mom was/is a practical cook of the meat & 2 veg school. She did it because that is what women of her generation did. Period. No hate. No love. Just a part of life. Like dusting. Me? I learned to cook because I love to eat, and I love to eat good food. And because every Saturday morning, Julia Child told me I could be a wonderful cook if I just gave it a try. And I believed her with all of my heart. Seriously. Food MATTERS to me and to some of my friends, women & men. But it just doesn't matter to a lot of people. And with all of the fast foods and the convenience foods and etc., out there, if you don't care about food, why bother to learn to cook it? Who cares? Hmm, I used to really like watching old Gordy’s shows. Not anymore, though. After all I have read here wrt his attitudes, the heck with him. He let a mere female work for him??? No way!

So he IS being sexist. Just checking.

But why pick on the women? Why is it imperative that the WOMEN take the initiative and get into the kitchen"? Its all so odd, to me anyway. Its as if he is implying that the fellas are all excellent cooks, like their mums before them, but the gals have just given up and are content to make the perfect martinis? So, ok if I come over to the UK, I will find the guys in aprons, up to their elbows in Bangers and Mash, and the girls standing around mixing drinks.

I second your opinion, Markk, I LOVED "Garlic & Sapphires", too. Cannot wait to read her first two books. Gourmet Magazine, not so much love. Meh.

If this is the place in the same shopping center as the Calista Grand spa, they do seem to have weird hours and can get full very quickly. ← No, I think the Spa is in West Chester. Flavour of Britain is in Wilmington, De. BUt, you are coorect in that it has weird hours and fills up fast.

I, like Deborah, am not thrilled by the automatic gratuity part of this. I feel that I, not the restaurant, have the right to determine how awesome, bad or indifferent the service is and tip accordingly. Once they have my money, they can throw it on the floor and roll in it, for all I care. And I AM a generous tipper, fwiw.

I think it is further afield than you want, but I love Flavour of Britain on Rt 202(Concord Pike) in Wilmington, DE. Great, tiny tea shop with bakery/gift shop.

Given the crap they pass off as chocolate under their own name, plus what they sell under the Cadbury name, I have no hope whatsoever. SB is good stuff. What a pity.

Strasburg has a very nice little ice cream shop right on the main intersection. It is also home to the Strasburg Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad Musem, both of which are nice places to go. You can get lunch on the Starsburg railroad. Not fancy, but decent.