FabulousFoodBabe

Wayne Nish, from March, am I correct? (I loveloveloved March, when I was close enough to be there). Next time at HH, though, we've got to plan a time when the Helen Hayes Theater is not having some show or other. Parking was really difficult!

Ahhh, that's where I saw that guy before! BTW, you gotta love that he yelled that he was a trained chef. Most of the boys at the CIA believe that about themselves. But really, an Executive Chef stooping to hazing him?

Most of the time, people want to do something instead of just standing around watching me work. It makes me feel more at home in others' homes, too, if I am asked to do something. So, we write jobs on slips of paper folded up in a basket, and have people draw their jobs for the night; everything from "clear salad plates," to "set out coffee cups." The only hard and fast rule I have is, NO cleaning the kitchen! If I don't have cleanup help, I bar people from the kitchen after dinner. These are my guests and I don't ever let them do dirty work, or sit and wait for me to be done loading the dishwasher.

I wonder if the network is worried about negatively stereotyping Latinos by showing them in such positions. I wish they'd have a Latino cook who used to be the porter, etc. etc. Haven't heard the Blonde lobby kicking up a fuss over the 'ho-stess, though. I liked the the scene where the two male customers were hitting on her, and that she was allowed to seem not-so-stupid after all.

I think how one perceives The Jungle, like most other things that hit people close to home, is viewed through the filter of personal experience and feelings. You are the first person I've "met" who thinks of its undercoverings as somewhat spurious. Most agree that its publication was correctly the force behind setting industry standards.

It exposed the meatpacking industry. It is about food. Do you think that some purveyors wiggle around the truth, or out and out fib? Well, I never. If you want to be absolutely sure something is done the way you want it, do it yourself. If you can't do it yourself, do your homework before you commit.

Just wanted to say, I completely agree with you. It's now required reading for lots of college freshmen, and I'll bet it's soon up there with The Jungle.

Rut-roh, looks like I better get back to work, because I'm surely not curing anything besides bacon these days. Seriously, I don't think it's right for one species to eat its own (cue the vision of the cannibal hamsters that my son and I saw).

I'm a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, where they top the slice with a big hunk of yellow cheddar cheese. It's not cool to do cheese and ice cream at the same time.

Here's what I think: If one is not willing to slaughter and butcher an animal, they should not be willing to eat it. Chickens, pigs, turkeys, all types of fish, I've participated in or done by myself. Beef and lamb, I've butchered but not yet slaughtered, and will as soon as I have the opportunity. I think it's hard to appreciate the whole animal and feel ambivalent about wasting any part of it, when you've not seen it alive, or not seen it in whole as it's butchered. I also can't get all romantic about animals, respect them as I do. I doubt the cows would be curing cancer or turkeys would be doing anything important if we didn't eat them.

If you knew how much skill it takes to prepare vegetables like that, you probably wouldn't find it so hard to believe. Like at the bottom of the Applebee's menu, where it says that gratuity will be added to parties of more than 8, and maybe add "$5.00 charge for splitting entrees?" Imagine if they did put that blurb on the menu. Can't you see someone arguing with teh GM over their right to tip 15%? "How dare you tell me how much money to give your waiters."

One of the New Yorker stories led with something like this, asking friends of a chef what fish he'd be, if he were a fish. I thought it was silly. I'd be a marshmallow peep. Yellow, beady eyes, sweet on the outside, and explodes in the microwave.

Any business' first purpose is to return a profit to its investors. They're in the business to make money. (As for the bottled-water "scamming," welll, in this day and age, imagine not offering bottled water, or not offering still AND bubbly? Imagine the outcry ... hell, imagine it when restaurants don't put salt on the tables. Anyway, servers are not mind-readers and while I almost always order Aqua Bloomberg at dinner, I know way too many people who want bubbly with their salads, etc. etc. So, I'm not buying the scamming of customers.) Food is one of the few things we all think we know. We can feed ourselves quickly; we can go to the grocery store and figure out what the raw materials cost. And when eating in a restaurant, all too often, people then say, "ripoff! I can roast a chicken and cook some carrots for 1/4 that price!" And because it only costs just a wee little bit, and the place is charging so so much for this food, why not toss in a few freebies? Wave that magic wand and out it comes ... But no one claims to be able to make a cashmere sweater at home, or one that satisfies just as much. And I know more people who think they can run a restaurant and make it profitable, than think they can open a sweater business.

Look -- I adore my sons, but there are times and places where kids just don't belong. A place like Pegu is one of them. I've also seen that when children are introduced into such a situation, the general attitude is that things should revolve around them (if the baby is trying to sleep, or the toddler wants to show off, everyone should keep it quiet, don't cuss, pay attention to the kiddo, that type of thing). No judgment being made here, of course; I know too many people who believe that the world should be child centered for all sorts of reasons. Really, though, hanging out at bars is something Mr. FB and I gave up when we had little kids and didn't want to leave them with sitters. I don't think so, if the place falls into the "alcohol consumption being its primary purpose" rule, or whatever.

Oh, wow. What a way to go. Ahhhh ... I guess the recipe assumes there are leftover donuts? Not gonna happen Chez Foodbabe, I'm afraid.

Whenever we go to someone else's place for Thanksgiving, we come home and make "leftovers" -- basically, a smaller version of the meal we have every year at our house. We started to do this after a meal at my SIL's, that featured stuffing with pepperoni, olives, parmesan cheese.

Fat lady at doctor: If he didn't make a personal comment or try to publicly humiliate her for being fat, I wonder what the problem is? Maybe she should look at her own attitudes toward fat people. Why does obesity offend and surprise people who are themselves obese? You don't just wake up one day 100 pounds too heavy. I think people can be beautiful and active when they're fat. But it's ultimately not healthy. When my kids were very little, they were aghast at that man who lived in one room and "washed himself with a rag on a stick" (apologies to Bart Simpson). I just told them he's not lazy, stupid, or dirty -- but if he can't leave his room, someone is bringing him a case of Coca-cola and four dozen eggs for breakfast. Shame on them!

I've seen and heard restaurant dishes described as being prepared in a certain way, or containing certain ingredients, that I know is incorrect. But still, these are "experts" and I really wish people would keep their opinions in perspective. Reviews -- in the print, online, or the grocery store -- are just one person's opinion.

Yeah, I posted this on the Caribbean board because I'm a knucklehead. So -- anyone been to this place, or nearby? In-laws are considering it for their 50th anniversary next year, taking the whole family. All twenty of us, adults and kids. MIL would like to put everyone on a hotel meal plan, but I really don't want to do that. The rest of the family is not really adventurous about food, and likes "regular" mealtimes, but the four of us (Mr. Foodbabe, and teenaged sons) like to find good local stuff and write our own schedules.

Oh, yeah. It's a Polish thing, you wouldn't understand. I wonder why anyone would say something like this. Did he think you'd comp him? Sad but true: A local "food writer/critic" described -- in print! -- the 'chorizo' she had at an Italian restaurant. I'm still shaking my head over that one.

Except in lovely suburban Atlanta, Georgia, where custom Snaidero cabinets, a Sub-Zero refrigerator with seprate freezer drawers, a Thermador warming drawer and 36" dual-fuel range, separate Miele oven and induction cooktop, Francke sinks and hardware, and acres of the most gorgeous granite you've ever seen, means nothing to 99% of the home buyers. Do it for yourself, because you deserve it and you've worked hard for it. Every time I stepped into that kitchen, I smiled. And the people I knew and loved smiled, too.

Could you tell me who you consider to be a celebrity chef? That would help me understand more what you mean. Have you staged/trailed anywhere yet?

Well, hel-LO? That's part of being a busy, modern American! Less time spent on kitchen drudgery means more time to spend worshiping and enriching the pockets of someone whose head is in her tablescape!

No luck at the Key Foods in Pleasantville, which is the closest place that the website says has the Smart Chickens. I've been looking around at other towns as much as I can, but am not having any luck there, either. And I really don't want to order quantity from the website, just for tasting purposes. Any other ideas are welcome -- -Fabster

Yeah, I read it this morning, too. Loved that Chef Scheib basically said that she's a good chef, deserves this promotion and position, and refused to give much attention to the "First Woman" thing.