Susan G

In every place I've worked that pooled tips, even among equally talented servers, there was always poor morale about the safety of the "kitty": Rumors were flying about this server or that busser secretly taking cash out of the pool.

[quote name=Carolyn Tillie While the doctors and their guests had no difficulty consuming starter' date=' entree, and dessert during the projection of these images, my poor newbie waitress was puking her guts out so that I had to fill in as a server. Fortunately, I have a strong stomach. I've been at a lunch like that: A hospital presentation on treatment of acute burns, complete with slideshow on a huge screen. The entree during the show of blisters, swollen red body parts and oozings? Chicken and cheese enchiladas with red chile sauce! The ER staff and EMS folks were chowing down, no problem: The respiratory therapists and floor nurses were gasping and turning pale!

I want to make it clear that my snarkiness about poor service comes *because* I used to be a waitress for many years. Behaviors and attitudes I wouldn't have dreamed of showing in the workplace, I now encounter on a regular basis when I dine out. It's so discouraging. I despise feeling trapped in a restaurant. It makes the positive experiences pale into oblivion. But a good server can make poor food worth the experience!

In today's edition? Or some other day?

As a basis for a sesame-OJ vinagrette Chinese hot and sour soup Marinade for pork chops

A traditional apple pie with the tartest apples you can find - -like Cortlant - and raisins. I believe this is called "Hugenot pie" - and since we're talking about the Amish, this would be very appropriate! (Both were persecuted Protestants)

With the exception of being smiled at and having the server repeat my order (both of which I consider the bare minimum for professional service), I find *all* those "charm tricks" to be the basis for lowering the tip, not increasing it! Lower your face next to mine, squat next to me, and I'll think you've just started working in the restaurant. If I get a check with a smiley face, I'll think you're too young for working papers. Give me candy, and I'll tuck it away only to find it after it went through the wash - if I've ordered dessert, I've got that pleasant taste in my mouth: Why would I spoil it with cheap sugar? DO NOT touch me unless I require the Heimlich! Just because I'm patronizing the restaurant does not mean I wish to be patronized in turn....................

That article inspired me to go to the nearest imported cheese shop (in Albuquerque, that would be Whole Foods) and buy several ounces of the funkiest, weirdest looking products I could find!

Gotta stop reading this at work: Just gave a loud shout of laughter that made all heads turn around to look at me.............how to explain??

For freezing them (if you're tired of making jam) add a cup of sugar to six cups or so or berries...........they're less likely to stick together.

Fruit porn! My favorite scary fruit is rambutan.............the hairy spines look like some deep sea creature!

Never been a teenage boy, nor do I have one in the wings, but when my brother went through the "bottomless pit" stage, Mom used to keep several dozen boxes of the BLue Boxes on hand, and several dozen hotdogs. Quick, filling, relatively cheap, and has protein! I also like the whey powder suggestion. I used to love canned pineapple with unsweetened yogurt as an afterschool snack. Haven't craved it in years!

This would send *me* over the edge!! My microwave is the last out/first in............if I can have a hot mug of something, I'm soothed...........

And what's a lafa? Is it yeast based?

It's also altitude-dependent: I live at 6,000' and have to boil my filled jars extra long to get rid of the bacteria.

Mentioned in the movie "Amadeus": Tits of Venus

Ahem. The new owners of B. Riley's haven't answered my e-mail yet about the chile, so I'll have to stop in tomorrow and ask............ The Raley's supermarket on Central and Tramway has set up a roasting cage for fresh green chiles...........there's a really distinctive pungency in the smoke!

I was raised in the NYC suburbs of Westchester County.........I associate suburban kitchens with fatigue. Both parents commuted five times a week to work, taking three to four hours a day on top of their nine hour workday. By the time they got home, all they wanted was something reliable, fast, and reasonably nutritious for dinner. I think comfort food played a big part here.......... Not to put too fine a point on it, but my classmates were pretty homogenous: Although many of them were third-generation Americans, we were overwhelmingly White. I think the difference between city and suburb would be the accessibility of different cuisine staples, and the willingness to try new/ fusion foods.

How high is the humidity in your area? The receipe might have originated from a much drier location.............that would affect the "uncrusted" bits. Shaping them differently isn't going to make them taste any better, though. Sounds like the recipe needs a modification.

Yes, yes, YES! As I recall, my Nanjing professor told us that the reason the narrator is looking up from bed (but unable to walk to the window) is because the narrator is dead drunk. But maybe that was just extrapolation from the poet's own life! Gotta get me some mooncakes and chrysanthemum tea!

Was this written by the poet who was constantly drunk? And died by trying to reach the moon in the river....he fell overboard and drowned? (Reaching, reaching for those long-ago lectures on Chinese arts............and failing miserably to grasp onto them!!)

Do you have an oven thermometer? Are you sure the heat in your oven is constant?

Hey Joel! Glad you're having a good time eating!! My favorites were: Yu xiang xiezi (stir-fried eggplant) Mien tang (noodle soup) Xiao long bao (soup dumplings!) tang cu yu (sweet and sour fish, steamed and presented whole) ba si pingguo (batter fried cubes of apples covered in a caramel sauce which hardens when you dip it in water - dessert, obviously!) Is the heat affecting your appetite?

Yes, I eat them. I eat them incorrectly: I have rarely ever sliced one before biting into it...........I eat them in private (also incorrect form!). Red bean paste ones are my favorites, followed by nut-and-fruit ones. One is supposed to drink tea while eating them?? This is a revelation! I was always outside, freezing my hands and nose, admiring the roundness of the moon while popping them down!

I do a cheesecake with pralined granny smith apples as a topping. Almond slivers, almond flavoring with canned cherries and a little kirsh also works well...........