chromedome

Yup. The article pointed out that Grubhub orders accounted for about 15% (that number again!) of the chain's business, which is a pretty healthy chunk and presumably worth it on its own merits. The restaurateur's beef wasn't with the size of the cut, but Grubhub's practice of taking that same cut for calls that aren't orders. As an aside, it's yet another example of the mandatory arbitration clauses that have come under increased scrutiny of late. Gee, signing away one's right to sue turned out to be a bad thing...who knew?

She lives in an apartment in town, now, but still washes her dishes in a mixing bowl in the sink. Now she uses tap water, but she's still very frugal in her water management. She doesn't pay for hot water, mind you (it's included in the rent) but old habits die hard.

Well, in my world $249 for a CSO is a price point I haven't yet managed to justify (and I bought my VitaMix used for $25, which is about what it's worth to me). In truth, I've scratched my head over the Thermomix for years and don't really understand its appeal for anyone who isn't restricted to a kitchen the size of a phone booth. Perhaps I'm just a culinary Luddite.

Double is the default here in Canada. I don't think I've seen singles except in really, really vintage houses. Numerous studies have demonstrated that, unless you wash dishes like my Mom, the dishwasher uses less power and water and is the more environmentally friendly option by a considerable margin (my Mom lived for many years in a home with a low-capacity well, and washed her dishes in just a few cups of hot water heated on the wood stove).

Typically lower than that. I've seen varying numbers over the years, and of course a volume-oriented QSR will have a different scenario than a Michelin-starred destination restaurant, but most of the studies I've seen over the years put retained profit at 5-7% for the industry as a whole. The article says it's the commission rate negotiated for that particular regional chain, so clearly it's rate they considered viable when they signed the deal. Presumably, their approach to Indian cuisine yields better than average margins.

The ones I bought were intact, in strips ~1 foot long.

I've never actually seen one "in the wild" anywhere in Canada, and I know from watching reno shows that they're explicitly banned in some jurisdictions. Not sure about Calgary.

I have grandkids, so when my brain encounters "baby [anything]" it automatically fills in the obligatory "doo doo doo doo doo" afterwards.

That's how I generally do it. I crisp the skin side, then finish the "presentation" side. If you have a relatively thick piece, and want pretty grill marks, you can grill the presentation side first and then finish it on the skin side. I'm a huge aficionado of well-crisped skin (that's basically *why* I grill the fish) and care not one whit for grill marks, so I don't do it that way. There's a risk of the fillet being overcooked before the skin crisps properly. YMMV Do you get fresh mackerel in season on your part of the coast? They're a particular favorite of mine for grilling.

That's brutal...a clear example of how the fallacious "restaurants are inherently riskier than other startups" narrative becomes self-fulfilling.

...which is less than the price of oxtail. One day I hope to find out who's the SOB who decided my favorite braising cuts needed to cost more than grilling steaks, and when I do he's going onto a rotisserie over a slow fire. Right beside the guy who decided you don't need to actually be able to retrieve change from the change pocket in a pair of jeans.

Since I work from home, lunch is whatever needs to be used up. Often that's the same thing for a few days in a row, unless I think to package and freeze some of it (assuming, of course, it's freezer-able). Doesn't really bother me much to eat the same thing repeatedly.

It's not Maple Leaf, it's a local company. They sell it in a bucket from the same section of the cooler that has buckets of salt pork riblets. The price is steep, but it's good stuff and the cost isn't out of line with the price of non-cured short ribs. I just usually can't bring myself to buy short ribs anymore unless they're marked down by 50 percent (and ideally, were on sale first).

The last piece I bought was Maple Leaf. IIRC it cost me $13.99 for a piece that was just about 1 kg. The bucket of corned short ribs is $42.99 for four pounds, but I could only bring myself to do that just once.

Regrettably, though Saint John calls itself "Canada's most Irish city," that doesn't happen here. Corned beef remains costly, it just gets easier to find.

My favorite sentence of the day.

Ah, yes, the "undead before it was cool" meme.

No worries, and no apology necessary. As a word-merchant by profession, and a pedant by predilection, I have more than my share of pet peeves. (I also have peeves about my pets, but that's another topic entirely)

Food safety won't be an issue, because in that respect your "freezer life" is essentially infinite, as long as your power never goes out. Freezer burn is the big one, and secondarily the potential to absorb odors from other foods in the freezer. Vacuum sealing is definitely your friend, though heavy-duty freezer bags work well enough if you're really, really diligent about extracting as much air as you can when you package your foods. It can also help to over-wrap with foil, or to enclose your vacuum-sealed bags in a heavy-duty zipper-seal freezer bag. Prepared meals and ground meats are the quickest to become famine food, in my experience (ie you *could* eat it, but probably won't unless starvation is the option). If you have a big slab of frozen ground meat, you can sometimes salvage it by thawing it partially, scraping away the damaged exterior, and then allowing the relatively untainted interior to thaw the rest of the way. You'll still have a whiff of "off" flavor, but it's easily masked in something like a tomato sauce or garlic-heavy meatballs. You can do the same with roasts or extra-thick steaks and chops. Thinner ones, of course, are just too difficult to shave the damaged layer from. If you have skin-on chicken pieces, the damage is sometimes confined to the skin of the chicken and removing that will salvage them. Obviously, these are steps you'll only take if your circumstances warrant the investment in time and/or prohibit just dumping the food in your green bin and buying fresh. In my younger days, when I was feeding my family each month on what most people would consider a week's food budget, that was often the case.

Apparently it exists, but there's minimal resemblance between the US and Canadian iterations of the brand. https://thetakeout.com/canadian-a-w-burger-fast-food-worth-crossing-border-1832757524

Realistically they're probably nearing "peak IP" in the US/Canadian markets, so international expansion is an obvious next step. One or another of their new/upcoming products may yet be a solid hit, if not at the level of the IP itself, which in turn could be rolled out through the international channels once they're established. As far as that goes, if the marriage proves disappointing, it's not at all unknown for acquisitions to be spun off again into standalone companies.

My current one is a Swing-A-Way handheld, which worked beautifully for about six months but is now barely functional. I've used the OXO and found it adequate. I'll have to see if I can find the EZ-Duz-It in Canada, and give that a shot. It's strange to me that something so basic should prove to be so difficult to execute well. If I get the opportunity to build my own house/kitchen at some point, I'll just put a commercial Swing-A-Way at the end of a counter and be done with it.

Does yours actually let go of the lid reliably? My former SIL had one that was similar, and I cut myself many times trying to wrestle can lids away from the damned thing.

My daughter sent me this, and it seemed apropos for this thread: https://notalwaysright.com/theyve-scrambled-a-few-too-many-eggs/139998/

That's weird. It's not like Fast Company is a dodgy site, or anything. And I use Adblock Plus, Ghostery and Firefox's own anti-tracking functions, so usually if the browser is going to break anything it'll break for me.