Carrot Top

Scanning too quickly, first I read your post then mixed it up with another one following soon after, which said 'Good as sushi' and something about hot peppers...

Very nice posting/article and comment afterwards...I have to admit, all my usual notions about 'How to Tip Correctly and Why' go right out the door when faced with a celebrity at table. Seems to me they have a responsibility to overtip, overtip like mad, regardless of the service they receive...not only because they have the money but because it would make our world so much richer with good stories.... I love the idea of hundred dollar bills being left on the table, yeah!

Mm hmm. There are cheesecake recipes that use farmers cheese, ricotta, sour cream, mascarpone, cottage cheese (they use this a lot in low fat recipes) and even tofu for the cheese-challenged.... I've seen recipes for savory 'cheesecakes' that included blue cheeses, triple creams like St. Andre, mascarpone, etc. with walnuts or pistachios or occasionally something like asparagus, sometimes with a crust, sometimes not, but usually I think of these as 'Tortas' or 'Tortes' rather than a cheesecake....

There are so many people interested in going into foodservice ventures in these times that many health departments have tightened up their codes. Unless you live in an unpopulated or rural area, it is not likely that you will find a commercial kitchen that co-rents or shares (though I am not saying it is impossible, just not very common), and the inspectors have taken to tightening up physical space requirements and rules on kitchens in churches and such, also. It can be done 'under the table' sometimes if you have connections but of course then you are taking a risk with your future reputation if you happen to get found out... It is unhappy that these codes are being written so much more stringently that many people can not enter into a small business that in previous years would have had a chance...but at the same time, food handling and sanitation are very important things to have good controls over. If we don't, people get food-borne illnesses. If it finally comes to the point where you want to take the jump but not a jump as big as opening a full service bakery the thing I've seen work best for people is just to retro-fit their own kitchen or expand into another area of their home, building to code. Expensive, yes. Hopefully the money will be made back eventually.... You've just gotta love this thing, to do it....and yes, good luck to you all!

Other than working for other people (which is a great idea because that is really learning the actuality and reality of the thing) the only thing I can think of is being a Personal Chef perhaps specializing in baked goods. Not sure how it would fly though...if you read many of the threads in this forum you will note that the field is squeezed and competitive already, due to low-cost production baked goods being so widely available. Abra has written a food blog on a week in her life as a personal chef...it is posted in one of the cooking forums.

Here's a question...all summer long I have wanted to make some coffee granite (which if the coffee houses sold I would buy in bulk!). I can never find the time to focus on it because of the timing that is needed...the watching and chopping up of the coffee-in-freezing-process at 'just the right time'...because my children are running through the house with their friends and my thoughts get scattered. I wonder if it would work 'in reverse' so to speak. If you had these already-sweetened frozen coffee cubes, if just allowing them to sit at room temp for five or ten minutes, then processing them quickly in a blender...if that would create something that would be close to the texture of a granite. Anyone ever tried it?

My personal favorite is a soufleed lime cheesecake....

Fantastic idea, that ice cube shot thing...don't know why I never thought of it...but it is one of those simple pure details that can really make something great. Thanks...

...what, specifically, was the food? I'm curious....

What was the best meal you've ever had in your entire life? (Yes, very hard to answer, I know, but certainly fun to think about... ) What was it that made it the best meal...the food, the company, the ambiance, the timing, anything else...?

That is quite a Macchiavellian idea but rather nice at the same time....

They say that for every door closed there is another one to be opened, and this is true. It is also often true that the damn corridor down to that next open door can seem endless. But it IS there...

Fantastic name! I bet you could package that up and sell it to Cracker Barrel for their stores and become a millionaire!

Can I hire you to handle my shopping please?

Hmmm. There may be an opportunity here for 'moving time' caterers, who could find out from the truck companies when people were going to move, then they could come in with a proposal to feed them during the process... We've moved quite a bit and it is ridiculous. You will go nutty trying to make anything to eat yourself. It is expensive, but it must be planned for in your budget (and budgets DO go haywire when moving, so many unexpected and new expenses! ) to eat out. The other option of course is roast chicken and deli salads from the grocery store, or a good loaf of bread and cheese, etc... I've always packed up all my (non-perishable) half-used bottles of this and that, AND my half used cleaning supplies and either found a friend that was happy to have the addition to their pantries, or have given them to any variety of churches that have little kitchens where they prepare food sometimes. Seems silly, but when you look at what is there that would be thrown out...it adds up, and many people are glad of the small gift.

Wonderful story, andiesenji, and will try the recipe. I wonder if the mash...as it is creating a natural yeast...makes the cornbread light...

In answer to your question above, I would call and ask the person you order from 'how they handle tipping usually' in these situations. Could be they have a person designated and paid to do this job, but then again maybe not. Each restaurant has its own policies and ways of doing take-out and/or delivery. Most of the restaurants I've seen that were mid-range in cost...had one of the floor servers running to put together take-out orders as they came in. Usually this server was one of the nicer people on the staff...as generally the manager would not dare to ask a seasoned old dragon to take time from caring for their tables (and therefore the amount, ultimately, of their tips!) to put together these orders for pickup. Usually if I get take-out, I ask what the place's policy is...(this often surprises people, but what the heck)...is there tip-sharing (very common nowadays and a subject in itself with pros and cons), or has a floor server put together my order. I always tip something..usually more if it has been put together by someone who has had to leave their station to prepare my order. This is a potential area for great inequity to the servers with a 'easier' personality, and should be addressed by management, but often is not. Even if I order a (too-expensive) cappucino, I will drop a small tip in the basket if it has been served quickly and with a smile, as that is not always common practice and should be rewarded if possible... Here's another subject to toss out on the table... what is the general feeling out there in eGulletland about tip sharing in smaller moderately upscale restaurants that serve wine? I have seen situations where a server particularly knowledgeable about wine and able to 'sell' it would have ended up the evening with tips from a large table equalling at least 20% of the bill, with a very large chunk of the final bill being for the wine...a very nice renumeration... (and have also been sure that the party of guests had every intention of tipping the server in such a happy manner)...but the policy of the restaurant was to tip-share, on the philosophy that every person in the place contributed to the meal (including the kitchen staff...) Thoughts?

...but does anyone find (as I do) that if I get the list completed, meals planned out, shopping done correctly...that THAT is when the entire week's schedules will go haywire...requiring freezing lots of stuff, losing fresh veggies to age, and having to re-plan the entire next weeks menus based on all the stuff that wasn't used...

Hmmm. I seem to be the sole voice of dissent here. Here's my philosophy on the thing: Speaking as someone who has had a very successful career in managing both front and back of house, all aspects... It is the burden of the restaurant to be sure the guest is happy. Each and every guest...as far as is reasonable...for if one person walks out unhappy, that is negative word of mouth, and that is not good! In a market economy, the customer is always right (uh, yeah, even when they are wrong, in certain paradoxical ways), and their dollar does the talking. That the restaurant offered to comp the meal shows admission that something had been done wrong, and that is good...for even if you screw up, if you can then make it up to the customer, you may develop a good reputation and get a solid customer 'for life' so to speak. Restaurant managers and owners WANT to know when something is not going well. A meal comp will show this, if the manager or owner can not be there twentyfour hours a day. It is documentation of some sort of problem, which can be followed up on and straightened out, however it happened. In the EG baking forum, there is a thread which discusses why bakeries go out of business...and the comment was made, by someone who did go out of business...that in the transition of closing the doors, some ongoing mistakes that were being made by an employee were actually seen in person,(never noticed before) with the inevitable question of how much this inadequate performance had affected the demise of the business. Good service should be tipped accordingly, excellent service abundantly. Poor service should be tipped poorly or not at all. This is the reality of consequences for behavior which teach us all...and there is no reason to tolerate mediocrity if you are paying for it, unless that is what you want... Any restaurant worth its beans wants to know when things have not gone as good as could be, and any server should too and not get miffy about it. Sorry to rant, but if we don't demand excellence, we won't get it. And it feels good to everybody when you get it...to both the receivers and the givers.

Um, hmm. Absolutely. But different cuts of meat have differing needs in ways of cooking..all pork roasts are not the same and I must say that even moreso all beef roasts are not the same! The amount of time you would want to cook the roast and the temperature it would best cook at (depending on your ultimate goal in terms of recipe type) are affected by whether or not the meat is boneless or not...and whether the particular cut you have is higher or lower in fat. I'm not sure what that label means (and though I could hazard a totally off base off color remark, I won't... ) but if the roast is evenly shaped and sort of tubular without too much connective tissue showing, it is probably a pork loin. Could be rib end, loin end, or center cut. All slightly different. These cuts can take to a variety of cooking methods. If it is rather triangular looking it could be a shoulder or a fresh ham or several other things, all of which need long slow cooking either as a braise or as a well-basted roast. If you go to high heat on this cut of meat or try to cut short the cooking time, it will be tough. Good luck! Let us know what you come up with...even mentioning pork roast makes me salivate, no matter how it is cooked!

Common sense will determine how long a meal should take to be served...each situation is slightly different, as you say. But the missing point here was communication. It is a server's job to be sure that the customers/guests are comfortable and pleased, as much as possible within the parameters of the restaurant's ability. They don't get compensated for just carrying food to the table. That is the smallest part of the job. To me, it sounds like there was some sort of problem in the kitchen that night. Could have been any of a zillion things. But regardless of that, your server should have seen, by a thoughtful glance at your faces and body language, how you were 'doing', and should have taken steps to keep you comfortable. So no, I would not feel too badly that you did not leave a tip. If it WAS the kitchen's 'fault', next time she will cover her own a** better, ultimately providing better service to her customers and insuring her future 'tips'.

Grocery lists! Well then, there are all sorts of opportunities for lists in my life. And I prefer to make the lists then sort of ignore them. It feels so organized and sort of sickeningly....righteous...to make the lists, you know. I can pat myself on the back and feel so good about things. But when actuality hits, and the grocery store looms before you, it seems just too boring to monotonously trudge down the aisles doing what you're supposed to do. Much more thrilling to just go into 'hunt and shoot' mode, you know..."Oh! There's a beautiful melon. Too large? Who cares...I must have it! Let me squeeze in before that other woman gets it, I see her eye on it too...What?! A sale on paper towels? Hurry, smush it into the bottom on the cart. That will save money, the budget will heretofore be a marvel of perfection after this buy...!", and so on and so forth. The most boring lists are those written for WalMart. There is all sorts of nonsense on those lists, it seems my small family cannot survive a week without piles of ...stuff. Just... stuff. And WalMart...has the largest list of 'stuff I don't want to buy' which includes most of the things my children enjoy eating, and having survived myself eating the same definitely non-gourmet viandes growing up and thoroughly enjoying each WASP'y bologna and yellow american cheese on textureless white bread with mayo accompanied by potato chips and cookies and ice cream with loads of hallucinogenic sweet toppings...how can I deny them this (dubious) pleasure? I am going to stick to the Farmer's Market this summer, for as long as it is open. Can't really write a list for going there, just gotta go and be Zen-Like....ahhhhhhh.

Mmmm...you are one lucky person...PORK ROAST! I agree with the all the previous posts about rubs and mojo marinades...it doesn't get much better than those particular flavors, with a pork roast. Here's a side question, though. Is it a center cut pork loin or some other cut? Which cut do 'you all' prefer? My favorite is a center cut pork loin with the rib bones left on for juiciness and flavor, with the chane bones on the bottom either cracked or removed...but I find this cut very difficult to locate in the past several years in a standard grocery store. Instead, you can find the cryovac boneless pork roasts, which to me do not have the savor of a roast with the bones left on... P.S. Leftovers (if any!) make a great start to a Cuban Sandwich....

The only places I've seen shaved ice anywhere in the United States (lately) is at carnivals, fairs, and the occasional 'Hawaiian Ice' shop which is a franchise sort of thing. Used to be, in the Hispanic neighborhoods in NYC in the summertime, there would always be a guy wheeling around a huge block of ice on a cart that he would hand-shave when you ordered , then would pour the syrup over it. Low-cost business...quite entertaining...a wonderful part of the 'street life'. I wish they still were around, I'd love my kids to be able to order an ice...watch the ice chips wing into the air as he made the ices... Of course, we don't have any ice cream trucks ringing their bells as they drive through suburban neighborhoods anymore either. A terrible shame.

Thanks for the reference to the previous thread (I had searched but did not find it, don't know why...)...AND these recipes! Paula Deen made a recipe on TV the other day which I half-watched while busy around the house...the cornmeal was cooked into a grits-like mixture previous to baking...and included cracklings in the recipe ...but I can not find the recipe on the FoodNetwork site... Here is a sort of yuppified but nonetheless delicious recipe that I put together while consulting for a take-out cafe business. These are really good hot and fresh but do not hold well, however...and even freezing and defrosting seems to affect the taste, so it requires that you only make what will be eaten up quick...(not a good recipe for a certain type of production kitchen...). Not a light muffin...sort of a meal in itself.... Jalapeno-Cornmeal Muffins (12 servings) Preheat oven to 325 F ..................................................................................... 3 C yellow cornmeal 1 C unbleached flour 2 T baking powder 2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 5 large eggs 2 C sour cream 1/2 C butter, melted in microwave 1 (16 oz.) can cream-style sweet corn 2 C (8 oz.) coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese 3/4 C chopped pickled jalapenos 1. Gather and prep all ingredients. 2. In mixer with paddle or in large bowl by hand, mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. 3. In another bowl whisk together eggs and sour cream till smooth. Whisk in butter. Stir in corn, cheese, and jalapenos. 4. Blend moist ingredients into flour mix gently, till just blended. 5. Spoon into twelve paper muffin cups placed into muffin tins. These are large sized muffins... 6. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. (Shorten time if using convection oven.) Test with wooden pick in center.