halloweencat

if any of you are dealing with antique or vintage linens, i would strongly advise you not to use salt as a remover, and to proceed with caution with others. salt eats away at fibers as if it were acid. this is ok for modern, non-heirloom type materials, but disasterious for grandmother's banquet-sized battenburg tablecloth. using salt on silk is also extremely risky. you may or may not get the stain out while leaving the material intact, but you will certainly shorten the lifespan of the fabric. also, in the '20s, rayon became widely used in table linens, sometimes on its own, sometimes blended with linen or cotton. if you use some cleaners on antique rayon (i've forgotten which these are, but could look them up), you will risk winding up with shredded antique linens. another also...i've used oxyclean on some antique/vintage linens with varying results. it's kind of harsh. on some pieces it cleaned things nicely, which is good for an initial (NOT ongoing cleaning), but on others it ate away at the fibers, leaving gaping holes in antique/vintage linens. cheers :) hc

should the person with allergies pay more? cheers :) hc

i don't think that's the only valid view, 'tho i appreciate yours. if someone is looking to feel good about eating, and want to go where the staff truly cares about the food, why should they be relegated to some place that isn't going to care as much? this is where the line seems to be drawn between "acceptable" requests and "unacceptable." what patrons fear: staff making judgement calls about the reason s for the requests. i'm not talking about the bullemic or anorexic who is out of control. i'm talking about someone who just wants a little control over what he/she puts in his/her mouth. which, in essence, is similar to what a person with an allergy wants. i don't understand why one person's needs can be accomodated, and another's not. and let's not assume that the requests of these folks are all extreme, because that would not be accurate. cheers :) hc

yes, that's the site where i first encountered this issue...'tho you can just google "chocolate" and "slavery/child slavery/slaves" and get many, many, many links. cheers -- hc

no questions asked? is the diner supposed to disclose his/her immune status, or how is it determined why the request is being made? i would opine that the diner's immune status is his or her own business, and not to be determined by the server. ← absolutely. i get the feeling that in many establishments, and with many servers, there is an "acceptable" reason for a request, and this confounds many patrons. i'd also like to add that there are folks who are recovering anorexics, recovering bullemics and the like with food issues. i don't think this should preclude them from a good meal in a healthy environment, and with healthy associations (friends, etc.) an alcoholic can choose (as hard is it may be) to abstain from liquor entirely. someone with food issues has to find a way to work within them, as everyone needs to eat to stay alive. cheers :) hc

i had read on that site (which i cannot now find) that scharffenberger is aware and concerned about the issue, and states that none of it's cocoa is a product of child labor. is anyone else familiar with this issue? cheers :) hc

has this ever been discussed on egullet before? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/africa/2042474.stm i had come across information on this a while ago, via an individual's site. he contacted or tried to contact all the cocoa producers he knew of to get verification from them that they did not purchase chocolate that came from these sources. apparently it's not uncommon to cut the soles of the feet of the children to prevent them from running away. i'm still trying to find that particular site again, but in the meantime... <snip> Meeting the 'chocolate slaves' By Humphrey Hawksley BBC, Mali Former child slave ... Next door was 20-year-old Moussa Doumbia. He slipped off a freshly pressed pink shirt to reveal welted scars where he had been made to carry sacks of cocoa until he managed to escape two years ago. At night he slept on the floor in a locked room. He was given food once a day. If he complained, he was beaten. The boys who tried to escape had their feet cut with razors. ... ... with chocolate you don't know for sure which country the cocoa comes from. The chances are, though, it is the Ivory Coast, which produces almost half the world's cocoa. ...the big household names, such as Cadbury Schweppes, Mars and Nestle, refuse to speak individually on the thorny issue of child labour. ... (more....) </snip> cheers --

i'm confused... is some real person actually advocating putting a live iguana in boiling water? or was this just a character in a movie? cheers -- hc

well, i did find this... http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/14519 so if no one winds up personally recommending a great recipie, i will go with that. cheers :) hc

melissa, many thanks! :) cheers :) hc

ok. i must make these for tonight. but --- can anyone point me to a good recepie for garlcky mashed potatoes? my repetoire is exceedingly small. that dish may be simple (garlic mashed potatoes), but i haven't cooked it before. many thanks in advance. cheers :) hc

skyflyer :) heh :) you already are a patron of the chi-chi place -- it's the tea cup. i've never been, mind. but my SO knows i like tea, so has been there a few times to bring me back nice things. :) i love your pyrex tea cup habit. cheers :) hc

one more reason not to include music --- it's a nasty surprise for those who click into the site at the workplace. reprocussions range from embarassment to perhaps a little trouble. also, fwiw, the flash intro that chef shogun describes should really be an option, not something a user is forced to view every time he/she wishes to grab some info off the site. people might be in a rush to choose a site for dinner, looking to see what's open, what's close, directions, a phone number, etc. if a user is doing this alone or in the midst of a clamoring gang, waiting for "flash dinner theater" to end can be an annoyance and an inconvenience. and it may make the individual/the group bounce to the next restaurant on their list (instead of yours). cheers :) hc

i'm akin to the poster upthread who never really considered (or knew) the virtues of le creuset until this thread, but who is now considering acquiring a couple of pieces. i'm interested in acquiring pieces that are versatile, and i'm unsure of how the different volumes play out in the kitchen (3.5 vs. 4.5 vs. 5.5 qt and so on). can anyone give examples of use? for example, stew for 6 people -- would a 3.5 quart do? would you prefer the 5.5? i'm primarily looking to do stews and soups and vegetable roasting with these. many thanks and cheers in advance. :) hc

is there any difference between hash browns and rosti? i've been knee-deep in patrick o'connell's "refined american cuisine" and made the rosti/scrambled egg dish....very similar to what is being described here except he instructs to steam the potato for 15 minutes, let cool, then grate, and to use clarified butter (which i did not, because i don't like butter). cheers :) hc

i wonder if that's just not going to be to the betterment of your traffic, rather than its detriment. with both locales within eyeshot, and with a&c location being so exquisite, i wonder if regulars to starbucks would just gradually drift over, and frequent your establishment more often (or enough to give you a nice boost). btw, my SO is an ardent patron of starbucks -- not for the coffee (he cannot abide coffe), but for their unsweetened black iced tea. apparently there are lots of overlooked unsweetened ice tea drinkers (at least 'round here, nj), and it's not so easy to find someplace that makes a good BUIT +and+ makes it regularly. he goes every day, and they frequently have his order prepped before he arrives. he can always tell if they mistakenly used a pitcher for coffee or a fruit tea (they're always happy to remake it). anyway, not sure if that would be a hot item up there, but i mention it. :) btw (sorry for the unsolicited suggestion), using some of the wall space for local artists (or a mural done by a local artist) might be a nice way to connect with the community.</end of unsolicited idea> cheers :) hc

i'm just stunned at how the good bones of this place were fortunate to find folks who were sensitive to history, architecture and design, and had the funds to pull it all off. coming from a gal who has a strong familiarity with design cannons and a strong interest in antique/vintage architecture, your beautiful coffeehouse is really impressive. i want to say "breathtaking," but i fear i would sound silly. i was especially impressed at how the vertical lines of the artisan stained glass (wavy glass, a nice touch) worked with the horizontal lines of the existing frames. the whole thing was a&c/prairie, but (to my mind) with a very faint splash of bauhaus. nicely done! cheers :) hc

many thanks, beccaboo. :) cheers :) hc

also, i've been unable to pinpoint these books on amazon... i've love to check them out, but i'd need a title or author. (if anyone can supply either :) ). thanks and cheers :) hc

are any of these largely free of cheese- and cream-based recipies? i don't like cheese, nor cream. :) cheers in advance :) hc

right, but not every user has flash or wants to download the latest version; some will be at a loss as to how to download, have trouble downloading, etc. those are huge issues with a diverse user environment, especially if users are checking the site out for very simple information (hours, prices, etc.). cheers :) hc

just to say...one doesn't need flash to make menus easily updateable with a text file. overall, i'd advise staying away from flash. flash often traps customers in a technological box, and in most cases doesn't give them anything they need that isn't do-able another, more simple (and less costly) way. cheers :) hc

another professional web developer here, with a concentration in UI and usability. stay far, far away from anything that puts itself between you and your customers. this includes music, fancy animations that someone has to sit through to get to the needed information, grandiose splash pages that do the same etc. stay away from tricks. your first job is to get the information your customers (and, especially important, your potential customers). <b>good UI (user interface) is essential.</b> pictures, font styles, layout will be part of usability, and should work hand-in-hand with it, never supercede it. <b>pretty pictures and cool-looking design is not necessarily good design.</b> plenty of print designers/graphic artists jumped on the web bandwagon when the industry opened up. the vast majority of them had/have no experience or training in usability / UI, in designing something to perform a task or channel user behavior effectively. this results in a lot of sites that look professional, cool, elegant, what have you, but actually are terrible to use. i strongly suggest you look for a person or a team that has someone with usability / UI, not just a designer who can do something that looks like a glossy magazine spread. everything from a site to a form needs good UI. good UI/usability is frequently "invisible" or seems so common-sense and natural that you take it for granted. it actually is a special skillset. it's worth the extra time and effort to bring that skillset to your project. cheers :) hc

many, many and profuse thanks for all those who responded to this thread. :) i had forgotten about separately purchaseable infusers -- i even have one -- doh! thanks for reminding me, FG. :) my SO had brought it back from some chi-chi tea place in seattle. the proprietor(s) are very into teas, estate teas included. they recently went to some tea show and bough a "gentleman farmer's" entire production. he produces tea irregularly, and in small batches. sometimes nothing is offered in a season,. i will do a comparision between that method and andiesenji's double-pot method. my recollections of infusing large amounts is that they were not nearly as tasty or reliably produceable as a mesh tea ball -- perhaps because the greater mass of leaves? i checked out the cat-tea site (thank you for the forward). for those of you in the nj area, you might be interested to know that sally lunn's closed its location in princeton ('tho the chester locale is still open). the site says there's a tearoom just a stone's throw away from me, in edison, so i'll have to check that out. btw, i've come a long, long, long way from 10 years ago when i didn't know what all the fuss about tea was about -- using lipton tea bags and letting them steep for 20-30 minutes, an hour or so, whenever i remembered to take it out (honestly!). frankly, i think i enjoy the aroma of tea more than the tea itself (which is saying something, as the achievement of a good cup of tea is something). i tend not to like fruit teas, but confess i am mad for both mango and apricot. we were in a sushi place in nyc last week, just across the street from lincoln center, next to an eatery called josephine's. the green tea we ordered came in one of those glass-sided presses. although it gave lukewarm tea (we even ordered a second, because we thought the temperature was a mistake), it was worth it because the tea had barley kernels in it. i've never heard of that, let alone tasted it. it was interesting and very appealing. cheers :) hc

interesting. :) when i entertain, i eagerly listen for loud(ish), boisterous conversation. then i know people are having a really great time. :) cheers :) hc