joiei

"We actually have apple cider in the house. I never associated it with the south though." from Bloviatrix edited because i can not figure out how to reply with quotes from other posts. sorry, Up in North Carolina, I remember some excellent apples and cider over toward the western end of the state when I was younger. It was a treat for a kid from Florida to get to see apples still growing on trees. And the fresh squeezed cider was something I have good memories of. You had to drink it pretty quickly, because its shelf life was short, or at least that is what I wanted to believe. I do not know the varieties of apples grown in North Carolina, but they have apples.

Well, up here on the north side of the Red River, I have a big ole pot of my chili bubbling away for dinner tonight. I will add some jalapeno cornbread to go with it along with a simple little salad and some deeply cold Tecate to go with it.

I would go for the Pol Roger with no second thoughts.

My boss is selling their boat, anybody need a 156' cruiser? Anyway, I have received a couple of books from the galley. "Rosa Mexicano" by Josephina Howard "The Cuisine of Cathay" by GEnia Lee (signed copy) "THe Essential Cook Book" by Caroline Conran, Terence Conran and Simon Hopkinson and I bought "Paris" at my local Williams-Sonoma, they now see me coming and are ready for me. So that is 4 more.

joiei, what if the person ordering lemon water isn't a little old lady, but it's the mean guy in the cubicle next to you who always steals your office supplies and takes credit for your projects? Should I give him charity, too? In fact, why should servers be obliged to give charity more than someone in any other profession? At any rate, the people to whom I serve lemon water are rarely old ladies. At least not in my neck of the woods. ← for the jerk in the next cubicle, let him find his own charity. as for the lemon water, isn't it a judgement call? If your serving an abnormally large number of lemon waters, then charge them as if it were a pot of hot tea. And if you do not want to appear as though your being discrimantory, then menu the lemon water and be done with it. And you can charge for refills if they require another lemon wedge. But you will have to menu the item, don't you think? Similarly with tea refills. Ethically, shouldn't you list the refill policy so the guest is made aware of this standard for the restaurant? Not just present a bill that is bloated with tea refill charges. If I am made aware of the policy in advance, then I have no problem with it. edited to try to clarify my confusion

Azul at the Mandarin.

If I am paying $2.00 for each glass of iced tea, then my consumption will drop dramatically. And if I am not forewarned of the charge , either on the menu (and not in small type) or by the server, then I will be pissed and deduct from the tip that I leave. A precedent has been set in the south and to veer from that long established service, it needs to be brought to the customers attention. I do understand from the waiters point of view about the extra work, but isn't that a part of the service that you sell, to take care of the customer. As for the non tip on the lemon water, think of it this way. That old lady could possibly be your Grandma. If it is not being grossly abused, just take care of her. Sometimes we do things in life just because. Consider it part of your charity. If it is being abused, then just charge for the water and get on with life. You will probably lose that person as a customer, but there are others to take their place, right?

and a lot of that cheesecake is from the freezers at Walmart or sysco. blahh, bad. My favorite pecans come from my uncles back yard in Odessa. Those babys are coddled and protected and he picks them for me, even better. Otherwise, my pecans come from home, Renfroe's just because.

I do an Lentil and chorizo soup that is wonderful. I forget who gave me the recipe, but it has become a favorite. And I have done chorizo in Migas. A friend who is the Chef Instrustor at the Tri Counties Tech Center in Bartlesville makes a rockn' homemade chorizo.

I have always enjoyed Cafe Maxx. Never been to the other so I can not say about that one.

Here is the website for Heberts . The turducken is on the upper left box. He also carries Poche's cause I can get my tasso there. Ed Richard, the owner, is a pretty nice guy. He throws a couple of Louisiana parties every year. h

I am kind of partial to Community "Hotel" blend when I just want a cup of coffee and I special order the 4 cup hotel packs for our guest house.

It is not my total fantasy, but this weekend I will be celebrating my birthday a little late, it is the 55th one. I have booked a room at the Hotel Phillips in Kansas City and am now trying to decide on dinner, Circe, Sour Octapus, Bluestem, or someplace the concierge might recommend. I have eaten at 40 sardines and at Lidia;s. I will do bbq for lunch one day, not sure about breakfasts. I do not know that there is any one particular fantasy, oh maybe being someplace really cool in South America.

Gifted Gourmet, I made your cake for my boss over the weekend. She loved it. It was for a birthday cake for one of her grandsons.

For my every day grab a quick cup while getting dressed in the morning, I drink Tazo Awake. But right now, I am enjoying a cup of China Magnolia Oolong. A while back someone sent us a bunch of samplers from Upton Tea. I have been very frugal with them. Brewing them is unlike most other teas I have found. It is converting me to the world of whole leaf teas instead of the debris found in tea bags. Now I have to figure a way to fit these treasures into my budget. some of the other teas from Upton that I have are China white pekoe Formosa fancy oolong China gunpwder green Formosa Jade oolong I think I am getting quickly spoiled

Wendy, it is my pleasure. I finally broke down and bought a camera and a nifty little device that makes transfering the pictures from the digital cards very easy. No plugging in the camera. Plus, the event was excellent. There were students there from the Texas Culinary institute even.

Banana pudding trifle, I think I will be all over that in a couple of weeks.

maybe it is time for someplace like the CIA to consider going beyonds the borders of the United States and look at opening schools in places they read about. ??

This is my first attempt at not only taking photos of food, but also posting them to the egullet galleries. I would definitely appreciate any constructive criticism. I know that a couple of pictures are double posted, but I could not figure out how to delete the doubles. The awards will not be until tomorrow, Sunday, Oct 10. I will try to designate which ones were the winners. Here is the link - 2004 Oklahoma State Sugar Arts competition There were a lot of pieces that I did not shoot. And the pictures represent an overview of not only masters entries, but subcatagory entries also. As soon as I figure them out, i will try to note on the photos which catagory they are in. egullet member Kerry Vincent organizes this show every year and I think it is a pretty massive job that she does for Sugar Artists.

had a great big ole honkn' one yesterday for lunch. Coarse salt, fresh ground pepper, red pepper flakes and extra unsalted butter. yummm. it weighed in at 2 lbs before cooking.

I recommend a journey to San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico. A quaint old city with excellent restaurants, first class accommodations, and for you, pretty cool shopping. There is an American community there, so you can get by with minimal Spanish. The house tours on Sunday are not to be missed. When I went last December, we rented a casita that was only a block and a half from the Parroquia and the Jardin in the center of town. Definitely a place to consider if you do not want to go to an Americanized resort on the coast of Mexico. I recommend going to restaurant San Augustin for Cocoa after dinner. very Lovely. San Miguel de Allende web site edited to add link

I think I will try the nutter butter next weekend when I am down. go Sooners.

if you put okra in your chili, wouldn't that make it gumbo?

I am now ready for the holidays with Move Over Santa, Ruby's Doin' Christmas by Ruby Ann Boxcar. If you want some light humor in your reading, I highly recommend checking out this book. There are even instructions on how to make a wooden spoon reindeer, Look out Martha, there is some competition coming your way from Arkansas.