divalasvegas

petite tête de chou I so truly adore and deeply admire "closeted hot-heads." Nice to know that we are kindred spirits.

I usually have--knock on wood--anything from adequate to terrific service. However, as I get older I tend to feel the way Jeff L does when he stated: The following two instances of bad service are so bizarre I have to tell myself "yes, these events really did happen." The first was back in my college days. A group of us (all female, about 4 or 5 of us) decided to go out to dinner. We entered a restaurant (this was in Massachusetts) that was really pretty empty. I can't remember if it was near closing time or not. I also can't remember if anyone actually seated us or if we just went ahead, after waiting a while and seated ourselves. Well the table we sat down at was clean but had no tableware, napkins etc. After a few minutes a waitress appeared with a fistfull of knives, forks and spoons and, without saying hello or good evening or anything THREW THE CUTLERY ON THE TABLE IN A PILE AND WALKED OFF. To say that we were stunned would most definitely be an understatement. I think she then brought out glasses of water. I can't remember if she asked to take our order or not at that point. I do distinctly remember that we were at first shocked, then pissed. We proceeded to get up and each of us dropped a penny in each of our water glasses and one us turned over the pitcher of water and left. She came running after us yelling something but we ignored her and kept walking. May I say that we were not foul-mouthed, disrespectful young people in anyway and did nothing to provoke this rudeness. The second instance was years later when I went to lunch with several colleagues to a restaurant in Washington, DC. I really can't remember either the name or location of the restaurant. The place was pretty crowded. We numbered 5 or 6 people all dressed in business attire. When our waitress walked up to our table her demeanor pretty much said what I at least suspected: that she absolutely did not want to wait on our table. When she walked up one of us said hello; she did not return the greeting and kept her gaze on her order pad. She asked us something like "do you know what you want?" or "what do you want?" with an annoyed I'd rather be having a root canal tone of voice. I think I remember a couple of us having a couple of questions about certain menu items to which her response was to snap at us, suck her teeth, and so on. She then snatched the menus off the table and walked off. I believe at that point I turned to my lunchmates and said something in a discreet, ladylike manner such as "I am not putting up with that shit!" and called over a waiter to have the restaurant manager come to our table. The manager did, we explained that we did not want this woman near us or our food, that she was rude and would like another server. To his credit, he was apologetic and replaced her with another person who was just fine. Now, what made this really standout for everyone at our table, apart from her unbelievable behavior was that just a few feet away she was smiling, chatty, and quite sweet as though she had had a personality transplant or something. The only difference was at our table everyone was Black/African American (the same as with the previous scenario, but I have absolutely no evidence that was the reason for our poor treatment at the first restaurant mentioned so we just chalked it up to her being the grumpiest person ever and/or a nutcase) and at the other table everyone was White/Caucasian. There was no mistaking this, this was blatant and I'm not the kind of person that goes around looking for that sort of thing. On the contrary, I usually chalk up lousy service to the person being any combination of the following: tired, overworked, underpaid, poorly trained, even more poorly treated by management/co-workers, brand new, not too bright, an asshole or a gigundus, cavernous, first class asshole. We did leave a good tip for the replacement waitstaff, but we vowed to never go back since having someone like that on your payroll did not make any sense to us whatsoever. On top of the waitress' disgusting behavior, what definitely made me say that I would never dine there again was that later it dawned on me that the manager didn't skip a beat, as in this was not the first time this had happened, as in this was NORMAL behavior for this woman. Totally perpelexing and unacceptable. BTW, as I said at the beginning of this post, I have had far more good/great experiences than the two I just cited. Thank goodness.

Those are gorgeous PPPans! Please share where you purchased these. Thanks.

Your mom is right, true buttermilk is the liquid left after butter's been churned from cream. But that's only the case if the cream's soured ("clabbered" was the term my grandmother used) before churning. The cream's left at room temp for several days while lactic acid-producing bacteria (from the environment) do their magic (which is much faster in the summer than the winter, at least in my grandmother's farmhouse kitchen). The resulting butter has a much stronger butter taste, and the whey is buttermilk. Butter made from unsoured, "sweet" cream has a milder flavor, and the leftover liquid is pretty blah. Almost all butter produced in the U.S. is from sweet cream. So true buttermilk isn't sold in stores because no true buttermilk is produced. True buttermilk is fat-free, by definition: all the fat's in the butter. ← Thanks therese for that explanation. I had no idea that to get buttermilk the cream had to be soured first. And yes, now that you mention it, I definitely remember my mom using the word "clabbered" although she never exactly explained what that meant. Wow, I'd really like to get a taste of butter made the old fashioned way; sounds delicious.

Okay Magus slogan suggestion: "You Just Can’t Find a Better Burger than Mine!" I was going for a rhyming effect with the No. 9.

Hi Magus. I really like the new logo and agree with everyone else that No. 9 is a keeper. However, I was wondering what the significance of the crown on the logo was? Perhaps your slogan could somehow tie-in with the crown symbol. And Sandy I had the exact same reading of "Classic Hamburgers" as you did. Too funny! BTW Magus, Man of Mystery are we ever going to see any photos of your establishment, and especially, those delectable burgers?

Thanks for the advice Rachel; I admit I would've never thought of heating either the cream cheese or sour cream. helenjp I wonder if a combination of the heating technique and slowly beating the gelatin into the cream cheese/sour cream mixture would solve the lumping problem?

Just thought of another one. Forgive me mom, but she would also say: "indejustice" (aka indigestion). Actually makes a strange kind of sense.

Hello Sara, First off, congratulations on your new show on PBS, the station of my culinary heroes: Julia, Jacques, and Justin (Wilson), just to name a few. I am female, over 35, and I was a total Cooking Live groupie. I was always amazed at your energy, especially the fact that you were cooking in real time with detailed explanations of what you were doing, often with guest cooks/chefs in the kitchen with you, and answering questions from viewers by phone and email! Again, amazing. What I like today in a tv food show has not changed all that much from when I was a kid watching black and white reruns of The French Chef: learning about new foods and techniques, and the cultures from which they emanate; watching someone who can truly teach these things (in other words, a good and knowledgeable instructor); and being inspired to try something new. Personality is important too, but not at the expense of those other attributes. As a matter of fact, I'm just enough of a food geek to find learning entertaining. Go figure. Your comments explain a lot about what I see and don't really care for about FTV today: the endless parade of wacky contests (including seeing people jam a sickening amount of food down their throats), food factory tours, the best of this, the top 5, 10, or 20 of that, and so on. There are still wonderful teaching shows on FoodTv--Alton Brown, Ina Garten, and of course "Sara's Secrets." Unfortunately, the instructional, substantive shows don't appear in prime time; the other stuff does to appeal to that demographic I guess. I wish you all the best, but must admit to having one complaint: how do you manage to look younger every year? The interesting part about TVFN's target demographic of 15-35 year old males (not all, just the ones that have no interest in actually cooking anything and see food as solely entertainment or to be made for them by someone else) is that, IMHO, they are notoriously fickle and will drop the Food Network the nano-second something more interesting comes along. Hmmm, would serve them right after losing their most loyal fan base--us loveable foodies/food geeks. Edited for additional comments.

Since my all time favorites "skrimp" and "sammiches" have already been mentioned I submit: From my mom: "ersters" (aka oysters) and "yaw-gut" (aka yogurt); From a woman I worked with long ago: "tuna-fitch" (aka tunafish) and "maynage" (aka mayonaisse; the "nage" part of the word rhymes with "cage"); From me as a kid "cat soup" (aka catsup/ketchup). I just know there's mo'!

Thanks battlepanda. I've found that much of the tastiest food as well as drink comes from raiding the remnants of the fridge/cabinets to come up with something inspired. I've been wanting to come up with a cocktail that includes a cherry/cranberry juice combo or (cranberry/pomegranate) that's not too sweet with a bit of a kick similar to your creation. Perhaps: one part cranberry, one part cherry, dry white wine, ounce of vodka, egg white, and???????????? the tiniest bit of that magical secret ingredient to finish it off. A teaspoon of orgeat syrup (has an almondy flavor I think), or Grand Marnier or___________? Any suggestions appreciated.

Gorgeous desserts TrishCT and Randi and thanks Rachel for your inspiration. I've always loved this creation as well. Do you think that a cream cheese/sour cream mixture would work in place of the vanilla yogurt or whipped topping? This thread is making me somewhat nostalgic for Jello desserts in general.

A piece of advice for the both of you: Next time you make this dish, go wild--really let your hair down--get adventurous! Use canned cream of broccoli soup instead. Or if you are really feeling flush, cream of asparagus. ← Um, well Sandy, I don't know how to break this to you all, but none of you got this right: the only "proper" Campbells soup flavor for tuna casserole (cassoulet?) is Cream of Chicken. Cream of Mushroom may be used but only if the other is not available. Never, ever Cream of either, Celery, Broccoli, or Asparagus (too green). Also, one must add diced onions, green peas, and cheese, with a few drops of Tabasco blended in for the truly adventurous and, for a crispy crust, some bread crumbs or crushed potato chips on top. I mean, let's keep it real people!

Thanks so much for the information Busboy. I'm trying to imagine that wall of seafood; overwhelming indeed. Just a couple of questions: are they Metro accessible? Do they have a website? Live seafood, pork belly and chicken feet sounds like heaven to me!

Hello. This thread is so timely for me since I recently had a co-worker make bleu cheese dip using a recipe that has never, as in ever, failed to please. However, she said it turned out too thin. After much discussion we determined that it was the buttermilk that made the difference. I use Safeway Lucerne buttermilk. I described the texture of the product that I used which was thicker, almost yogurt-like in texture; she said that the buttermilk she used was quite thin; indeed it was described as "skim" buttermilk and had the same texture (wrong term?) as skim milk. Also, she said that the bleu cheese was muted in the final result. BTW, she's in NY and I live in Northern Virginia. She said that she bought the buttermilk from a local chain grocery store. I guess I have more questions than answers. My understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong) is that an enzyme is added to skim milk to make buttermilk, at least the mass produced variety. What happens to the whey produced after butter is produced? My mother who was raised on a farm always told me that that was true buttermilk. So why isn't this sold in stores? Why such a difference in product between NY and the DC/Virginia area? As for freezing buttermilk, I don't see why not since you can definitely freeze regular milk. Any and all answers are greatly appreciated.

Okay honey, I have to ask: were you wearing some kind of weird pheromone based cologne back then, perhaps one called "Eau de Freak-a-zoid?"

Damn Badiane, what a creepily unique experience! Even creepier is that you have mutual friends. I'm not sure that there are words that can accurately describe what he is. Glad you finally found a keeper.

Yes, yes - this usually comes hand in hand with not stopping between bites. I know someone who does this, and I don't like them to begin with, and this just puts them over the top of my wall. EW. ← Thanks Megan. I was beginning to think I was the only one out there who notices or is annoyed by that one!

In addition to my post on this topic in Ya-Roo's/Bond Girl's funny and brilliant "Dining and Discipline" thread, I have to add: d) Heavy breathing while eating. I mean REALLY heavy breathing, as in making an annoying, wheezy, whistling-like sound through their nostrils, inhaling/exhaling vigorously. I have been around people who do this--both male and female--and find it incredibly nauseating. Also, I've observed that this behavior (gag) usually accompanies the objectionable behavior as noted in a) above. Of course, heavy breathing after dinner is perfectly acceptable. e) Making that infantile, scrunchy face and/or that stupefied, mouth hanging open face when presented with something different. It's not that I object to inquiring about a dish or cuisine or ingredient that one has never tasted before, it's the "euwwwww, what is that?" type of inquiry that sends me over the edge. I'm sure there's more.....................................

Oh no moosnsqrl no way can you not give us a first person report of his/his entourage's behavior. Dish girlfriend!

That sounds/looks mighty tasty battlepanda. Did you play around with amounts for the ingredients, or did you knock this one out of the ball park on the first go round? In particular, I was wondering how the relatively small amount of peach schnapps makes a difference in this drink? Did you add it more for aroma (makes perfect sense) than actually taste? And thanks for absolutely the best line of the day, maybe the week:

Beautiful photos and great commentary as usual ulteriorepicure. Your descriptions truly give one a sense what did or didn't work, and why. BTW, since there has been an ongoing discussion elsewhere on eG about taking photos in restaurants, I'd be interested to know how you approach management about taking photos of their dishes. Or do you approach them at all? Also, flash or no flash? Ever get complaints from fellow diners? Thanks.

Didja see my post two up from this one (#36)? Maybe we can get a campaign going: the Campaign for Real Fat! ← Mmmmmmmm MarketStEl eating all the cheese that I want as referenced in post #36. Yes, yes, yes, I'm there. Mmmmmmmm, "THE POWER OF CHEESE!" One of the best series of commercials ever. And I am so up for that campaign: duck fat, goose fat, butter, olive oil, nut oils, chicken fat/schmaltz, beef tallow, lard......................... Absolutely yes. OLESTRA be damned!

WTF is wrong with the world indeed peppyre! If MickyD's wanted to perform a public service, they would bring back their ORIGINAL recipe for french fries--cooked with beef tallow I believe. What they have now tastes like how I would imagine fried cotton might taste. I remember that those things used to taste delicious even when they cooled off. Then they need to add those to a list of must have/must eat foods.

Thanks for the suggestions hzrt8w. I especially like the second one which would maintain the crispy texture of the chicken skin--best part of the chicken IMHO. And the marinade sounds heavenly as well. I'm assuming that for the whole chicken you would coat the chicken the same as you did the chicken breasts. BTW, I'm still on the hunt for a cleaver since I don't think my chef's knife would be up to the task. Now for a pictorial on Chicken Feet in a Clay Pot.