Carrot Top

Had me wondering there for a moment how long you'd spent at sea. Beef in cans and hardtack, you know. Wow. For a moment I thought Hyacinth was a boat. Love those ideas, but yo ho ho and a bottle of rum you know, the open sea has no zipcodes.

Linda, A lot depends on the size of the boat, how many people will be on-board, how long you'll be off-shore, how big the fridge actually is, whether there is an alternate place to chill beverages, and whether $ is not to be considered for the moment. I lived on a sailboat for two years. Learned to make puff pastry in a thirty-eight foot wooden boat. Your friendly galley slave, Karen

There might be statistics on that here (National Restaurant Association's research tool).

So, Rogov - would it be the food or the people that are most important in your fantasy?

You've basically got my fantasy except I'm avoiding the Maine winters and have added the elements of a children's book and some hot oil.

I often get the three of them (God, Steve, and somebody) confused also, Peter. Very good question about adding local flavorings when cooking from other cuisines, maher. I mean culture *or* ethnicity, Rona. Both are equal as bearers of gifts of personal meaning, in my book. There is a trend in the world of "cooking" today to expand, to go beyond traditional borders, which is fantastic. Though there are places that *do* hold onto their traditional "cuisines" and these cuisines are strong and vital, these cuisines are the ones that people from other cultures are drawn to, to learn from and to cook, for themselves and for others. There is also a trend which seems to be growing, to make cooking into something that can be worn as a badge of some sort of gained sophistication that raises the bearer of such sophistication to higher levels than the normal man or women who just cooks the "usual" things. It all starts with the line from a naive and willing (and usually hungry) mouth: "Oh, you can cook *that*?" and the saga begins, a trail that leads to cooking taking on a professional and credentialized aura so very far from the cooking that many mothers did in the kitchen at home. Worlds apart. One type offers a small world, a private world, a world of tradition, of threads of time going back with the so-personal stories attached to it - the stories of "who we are" that the mother in the kitchen will tell - either with words that tell of the foods she cooks as her mother cooked it or (if one had a quiet mother) simply in the foods themselves that come from that sort of kitchen. A small world of love offered in a very personal way. This thing offers meaning to life, this small personalized thing. In a different way than learning from magazines, TV, etc. does, learning the wonderful foods of others that have no direct personal connection to one's own life except in a way that is further apart from the heart (but which of course should bring those foods and people closer to the heart if approached in the right way). I admit, it sort of spooks me to think of a world where people learn to cook from TV rather than from someone that has meaning in their lives. It seems to me that this alters what food is to the soul in a very basic sort of fashion. I fear this loss, for I know the sense of "nothingness" that the foods held that my own mother who had no traditions of cooking put on the table - as opposed to the very intense sense of "somethingness" (and a good somethingness) that the foods held which my MIL (who had strong traditions of cooking, threads going back in time with cogent meaning) put on the table. So I poke at this thing and try to figure it out. Because I'd like to be sure to offer my children the small private world of love and meaning, of narrative force, attached to the foods. The other world of learning to cook from TV or magazines they can find for themselves, as anyone really can that seeks it. The challenge that exists (for me) is to actually find a culture or ethnicity that is cogent, as all these have been discarded in past generations for the appeal of the "American" generic culture. I don't think I'm alone in this situation, either.

My guess was either that carrying coffeepots around was simply just wearing out everyone (what do you expect at a place named "Applebees" after all? I would get tired working there just thinking of my image as attached to the name which sounds like a pretend orchard where children go on field trips - it would not take long for me to become pale, thin, unable to do very much, and worried about my nails too) or else maybe they just were worried about lawsuits due to happy servers (again, the name Applebee's taken in a different direction, eliciting intense joy, leading to dancing in the aisles) who had been spilling coffee from the pots onto the customer's laps. Could be either one, SB. Either one.

Oh gosh. I read it wrong. You own the rental and want to fix it up as inexpensively as is possible. My answer then differs. Make the world a better place and invest in fixing it right.

Extending out a bit from the tradition of dabbawallas, food sent daily from Mom's kitchen, now there is food sent daily from Dad's kitchen. To the dogs. Home-Cooked Dinner Delivery for Dogs in Bhopal Lucky dogs.

My fantasy restaurant would be outside. It would be in Maine on the shore in the summer and the west coast of Florida on the shore in the winter. It would be the same in either place. There would be about three acres of land abutting the water. It would be nice and grassy with picnic tables spaced not too close, not too far apart. The restaurant itself would consist of one large grill thing, one large deep-fryer thing, and two large beds of shaved ice things. It would be cook-it-yourself. One large bed of ice would be filled with seafood, the other with meat, ready to grill. There would be a table also, with lots of herbs and spices and seasonings that the food could be seasoned with before grilling. There would be individual little grill-things to stick the food in to grill by the people, who would choose what they wanted then season and cook it themselves. Obviously someone would have to stand by the grill to shout at them when they forgot to get their food on time. That (staff) person could have a lounge chair next the grill under an umbrella and they would be in charge of the boom box. Over by the deep-fryer would be a big container of thin-sliced potatoes ready to deep-fry, which the people could also do themselves. Someone would have to sit there and supervise, too, I guess. They could have another lounge chair under an umbrella and I guess they would have to peel and slice potatoes too. Not as good a job as the grill one. There would also have to be a brightly-painted cart set up with a cute little horse, or maybe a donkey, hooked up to it as if it were actually going to go somewhere. Obviously we'd have to change out the donkey several times a day so that standing there he would not get bored or overworked with all the petting and adoration that would come his way. This cart would be filled with baskets of readied salad stuff and big (disposable) bowls to put it in, with squeeze-on dressings there too. The donkey would *not* wear a hat, but he *would* have a friend who was a cat who would jump onto his back now and then and meow to him. There would also be several of those outdoor-shower thingies, one high up to climb completely under if you happened to take a swim then wanted to wash off, one down near foot-level for those whose feet got muddy or sandy or whatever. There would be three large iced tubs of drinks. One of sodas, one of waters, one of beers. One large table with paper goods and utensils. Everybody would come in, cook their own food, hopefully clean up their own mess, and pay, based on what they chose to eat. I guess whomever sat near the donkey could be the money collector, too. The packs on the back of the donkey could be the "cash register". Ahhhh. I am sighing in pleasure just thinking about it. Hours: 11:30 to 9:30, closed Mondays.

I'm guessing that it's not the script that bothered Tino but the mechanical repetition back to him. That sort of aggravates me, too, though I can see the purpose of it. Likely, the employees are trained to repeat the order to be sure that they *heard* it right to avoid errors. This is all well and fine when the employee seems to be thinking as well as parroting back. The thing is that often there is little eye contact (even when one is standing in front of them, they are dully looking at the cash register buttons without expression) and as likely as not, the parroting *still* does not avoid error. It goes as far as repeating the words then the actions that show involvement with the service process (no matter how limited the process is or how boring, there should be involvement in order to accomplish it accurately) are as full of errors often enough as not. I don't believe too much in stupid people, really. I do believe in attitudes that can become ingrained, partially from oneself, partially from one's culture - that can make situations that might otherwise be much better in many ways - much worse. These servers probably do not really have *intelligence* problems that would limit their performance in these jobs. If they are boring jobs, well . . . so be it. Boring jobs can be made less boring by doing them well and by getting involved. One way might be to actually look at the people being served and anticipate their needs. Like a drink needs a straw for example, if it is being carried around with a lid. I can't believe I'm ranting on about this. I can't believe, really, that I care.

You can get store-to-store variation because of one thing: how well management is making sure that all the required details are being followed up on each day over and over and over again. Inventory can be held too long or improperly or at the wrong temperatures, staff can be allowed to switch proportions or timing of cooking . . . same thing as in any restaurant, but the details are so well spelled out that all it really takes is a bit of attention and a good-enough attitude to manage to deliver a consistent product with the few things that go along with it, "right". Perhaps its because we are in a college town with lots of students and turnover in the places. It is irking me, though, that people who are nineteen to twenty-three years old can not seem to remember to give straws with drinks or any number of other idiotic things that they should be able to do if they managed to get into college. Aaaaaargh! It happens here at Burger King, at Wendy's, at McDonald's, at KFC. Only Taco Bell was exempt from this, and now they have started, too. The last time I went they gave me that awful shredded chicken stuff in the usually-bearable Nacho Cheese Gordita. BLECH BLECH BLECH. It's like some alien fog of latent stupidity has invaded all the fast-food places for miles around. Yeah, really. I know. Can you convince my kids of that? I'll pay you. My energy for this sort of thing with them is usually directed towards bigger battles.

Floor: An inexpensive woven carpet or two that can be put in the wash to cover it, that can be taken with you when you go. Lighting is *very* important, almost primary. Some undercounter stick-on tubes can light up a drab kitchen immensely and you can find them for about seven dollars each. Cabinets: You can take the eye off of the worst parts by new hardware that attracts the eye, and if that still is not enough, then surround the knobs with decorative painting using stencils (which can be found at Lowe's sometimes and craft stores more often). That will avoid the investment in time and labor of sanding. One of the best tricks is to make the space appear more spacious by placing a mirror on one wall that reflects or creates a window-like focus. Another is to create one focal point in the best area of the kitchen by placing something very attractive on the countertop. A beautiful big ceramic bowl of fruit, a tall candlestick, on a woven round placemat - or something of similar structure and appeal with make the eye go directly to it, thereby ignoring the rest of the mess. Good luck.

Yes, I would agree, toweringpine, in that circumstance. But what about drive-thru places where supposedly the order taker and the customer speak the same language? Even reviewing what shows up on the screen does not appear to help the orders come out correctly.

Even with computer systems, training systems, limited menu choices, and short point-to-point time from order to hopeful delivery, I find that in general three times out of four something is incorrect on any fast-food order from some places. It does not seem to be geographically based but widespread. If it is not that they forgot the ketchup asked for, it is that they did not provide napkins. If it is not that they ignored the request for a "plain, with nothing on it but the burger and bun" burger and instead loaded it with every limp tomato slice warm lettuce leaf and brightly colored sauce available in the Western world, it is that they do not know which drink is which that they just topped off and handed to you. If it is not that, then the drinks are watery. If it is not that, then they do not have what is on the menu or need time to prep it. Is it just me this happens to?

A story in the LA Times describes a method of reducing debt within the school system from parents who have not paid their children's lunch bills: Gosh, I really do not know *how* I feel about this. Any thoughts?

I bet he was disappointed. The only way to have enough meat from a roast pig is to fill everyone else up on other stuff first. I'm sorry that Charles only took the heart and the liver, though. That would have made a nice pictorial - dealing with *all* the innards creatively. Especially if he wore that nice pink shirt while doing it.

I'm curious about what people cook at home, here in the US and in other places. Do you tend to mostly cook foods or recipes that spring from your home culture, or do you tend to mostly cook things from other cultures? Where are you from and what is it that attracts you to the things you choose to cook? How long have you been cooking, and has your cooking shifted from that of one culture to another over time? How did you learn to cook - from a person, from books, from television, from (?) What direction would you like to see your cooking go in the future - do you have a "plan" or any ideas as to what focus you would like to take?

Did you guys save the innards for anything?

Crystallized ginger slices. Which I am nibbling on right now. Which are very good. They are staving off the hunger as I stare in admiration at the coppery-glaze over deep forest green Umbrian terra-cotta bean pot I also got there today for the grand price of fourteen dollars and ninety nine cents. It is going to be filled with veggies and beans and onions and garlic and maybe even some cinnamon and crystallized ginger* for a medieval tasting sort of thing (if there's any left by the time it hits the oven ). Grazie, TJ Maxx.

I ran across "How to Pick a Peach" in the bookstore today (B&N). It was in the "celebrity chef/food scholar/fancy new books" section ( ), cover prominently displayed, and the cover drew my eyes right to it. Gorgeous-looking colors. The contents were quite satisying. Good information, well-laid out and easy to find and use, just long enough to not overwhelm, and the tone (personality of the writer) was individual enough to attract a reader who dislikes either the rampant pomposity or formal (zzzzzzz) teaching tones that can often be found in books of this sort. Really good recipes, too. Very nice. A worthy book.

I keep clicking on this photo to see if it as funny to me every time I click on it, and it is, each time. These photos would made the basis of a great chldren's book. Really, I don't *know* why it's humorous, but it is. "La Piggie en Deshabille". (She needs some clothes!)

Now *that's* art. It looks sort of like a bomb that's getting ready to be sent somewhere, though. A Happy Bomb. One to make friends with.

My blase attitude towards not scheduling family dinners is not only because I see the kids so much but also just because I prefer the sense of having the day unfold as it will, to a point. Schedules are such demanding and difficult things, with one thing arguing against another for each time slot, when one tries to use them. I *can* use schedules, and naturally did at various times in life - not only for personal/business things but also in terms of scheduling everything it takes BOH and sometimes FOH to make hundreds of meals come out of the kitchen each day - but I don't like to "schedule" unless it's really required. Plus I'd rather cook a bit here and there, nibble a bit here and there, rather than have a whole bunch of stuff landing on the table at the same time (which is sort of part of the family dinner thing - the expanse of food provided). Cooking is just plain too much like "work" to me when approached this way. I'd rather have a sort of organic (not the food but the mood) flow to the both the day and the foods we eat (or the foods we dine upon, again depending on what happens. We do both. ). But I have discovered a latent ambivalency to the idea of the Family Dinner in myself, and this is core, of course. For those who have had good experiences with the thing will most naturally want to try to continue it, of course . . .and those who have not will either try to continue it out of still trying to find the things it provides when it is good, or will just sort of say "You don't fit me well, Family Dinner" as I have done. Both my two best friends when I was growing up had Family Dinners. They happened when the fathers came home from work, and lots of times I was there. The food was to be ready at a certain time, the mothers prepared it. Everything was set, and the family convened (I say convened because at both places it had that sense rather than a sense of gathering) to the table. Everyone ate, there was not much conversation of any sort really though the feeling was not terrible, the father sat at the head of the table and was usually a bit distant, and everyone tried to say "May I be excused" as soon as possible. It was sort of wierd. My own mother served our family (myself and her) our Family Dinner at a regular hour each evening. She would cook something because she knew she was supposed to, not out of any love of cooking, and we would sit there - her silent as usual and me with a book in front of my face as usual. It was a nonenity of a Family Dinner, though it was scheduled and food was there. But worst of all in my memory, and this is what might be at the back of some hints of my distaste at this concept of "Family Dinner" is that often, when I was growing up, I would hear women saying "Yes, I have to have dinner on the table when my husband gets home from work. He likes it to be ready then." And they would be rushing to be sure this scheduled thing was met, they would not be mostly too happy about it. It was like a job they did not like but had to do "or else". And then of course I finally met one of these women who made Family Dinners for husband "on time or else" when he was due home from work. She was one of the unlucky ones, for this husband would beat her if the dinner was not set and ready on the table, and as he liked it, when he arrived home. It was not all that many years ago that I met her - she lived in a rural area and had set her life to do this thing of being married and having children, which she had done when very young. Why she didn't have dinner as he liked it when he liked it is an interesting question to pose, but sometimes she didn't. And I would see her black and blue face and hear her say " He didn't get his dinner on time" and my insides would just crumple right up with thinking of this thing of family dinner being used in such a way, but knowing that I'd heard of this before, too often before, but had simply never come face to face with it. The notion of "Family Dinner" had allowed this to happen in these two lives in some odd way. It *could* have been anything else, of course, but this is one traditional thing used. And having seen this with my own eyes, I can never feel the same about The Family Dinner. It is simply not always what it says it is, and forevermore I question it. If it's worked for you, you are blessed. I imagine that it was one of many tools used in the family structure that worked, because of the underlying strengths of the family. If it's worked for you, if it were me, I'd give it a big kiss and consider myself lucky. But I think it is a thing of many faces, not just the one face that looks out benignly upon the world that says "I am Family Dinner. Schedule me into your life and things will be as they should be."

We actually are face to face often, on an ongoing basis, day to day. Our conversation is an all-day long thing, only interrupted by school or chosen activities. It can range from the bright red extensions that my daughter wants to clip in her hair, to how to cook tripe (and what it is, to start off with), to books or politics. We don't need a table or food for this, for our own dinnertable of conversation is an all-day long buffet with breaks taken as required. Tables and food are wonderful things, and the sharing of them can be one of the best things in life, of course, but the set-piece displayed in a subtle sense of it being something that can save civilization as we know it seems to me to be false. I have nothing at all against the tradition of Family Dinner (when it is good) being passed along in families. But it's not the only way, for everyone. There are other ways to reach towards the same thing and to obtain it. Unless the goal *is* the Family Dinner, to knowing it as Family Dinner and to practice it, the ritual. That is a thing unto itself, but the promises inherent in it do need to be looked at in a general overall sense to see if the Thing is delivering on its promise (as some of the posts above have shown). Rituals can take on sensibilities of their own that can be true and truth-ful or not, depending on the instance and practicioners involved.