annabelle

That's a shame, Darienne. I can't recall the last time I ate out at breakfast, but I ordered poached eggs.

Most restaurants will serve poached eggs at breakfast. Close enough, if you ask me.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, young parents. My children ate healthy, homecooked meals and fruit snacks with homemade treats on birthdays and holidays. Along came school. With school came birthday parties at other children's homes. School, although private, required the kids to bring a packed lunch and trade off bringing snacks. Other kids had tempting store-bought treats and mozzarella sticks to trade at lunch. Snacks weren't always apples and oranges but sometimes Oreos and Chips Ahoys. It's wrong to demonize these foods because, as others have said, it makes them forbidden fruit. An occasional trip to McDonald's never killed anyone. DQ's Blizzard's are tasty on a hot summer day. Grandma loves to make pies with a heavy hand on the sugar. They'll live.

I think eating foods that are in season makes a difference, too. I used to take the kids berry picking at one of those U-Pick places. I always felt like the owners were getting ripped off since the evidence of theft was on the cheeks of my boys. I'd buy some already picked fruit, too, to make up for it, though.

My middle son (he of the nice grill) ate nothing but bacon for at least two years with the odd piece of toast between the ages of 14-30 months. Don't sweat the small stuff like Twinkies and other items that strike horror in the hearts of many.

Slave labor is a problem in nearly every industry in Asia, from fisheries to sweat shops that produce cheap clothing. Boycotts, though well intentioned, tend to force the trade into sex slavery. This happened when there was a hue and cry about children working in factories that made soccer balls some years back. Other than forcing all industries to show compassion and humanity (get back to us when that switch is flipped) to their employees/workers/slaves, boycotts are so much feel-goodism for those of us in first world countries. This is my 2¢ and certainly not a gospel on working conditions at teh factory level.

Good job, Porthos! It warmed by cold black heart when my son sent me some cell phone pictures he had taken of his freshly prepared pesto pasta dish proudly served on nice china with cloth napkins. Now that he's scored a nice grill, I'll wait for the summer cook-out pictures. He's found that the ladies dig a guy who can cook, so bonus!

I'm with annachan on this. My folks always fed us what they were having and I did the same with my children. We're all built like whippets, so I guess we're doing something right even though I bake a lot.

Jimmy Buffet: Cheeseburger in Paradise; Margaritaville Al Yankovik: Eat It

Chico Marx -- "A Cuppa Coffee, a Sandwich and You" from the Opera "I eat-a"

Louis Prima - "Angelina" "I eat antipasto twice, just because she is so nice, Angelina"

Rosemary Clooney's "Mambo Italiano" also.

The duck confit issue could have been curtailed if the chef had gone out and apologized to the customer personally. Stuff happens in the best of kitchens and this seems to be a one off. My managerial spidey-sense is still telling me that there is more to this than meets the eye --- especially since the owner/chef's eyes are in the kitchen and not on the floor. Just from rereading this thread, the server sounds a bit entitled herself: she is paid double the tipped wage already (!), she is grousing about a "lousy" tipper when he is still tipping nearly 10% and, she is literally crying on the boss's shoulder about what a meany-head the customer is and wants him banned. If she hasn't outright suggested a ban, then she certainly seems to have planted the seed. Make some calls to your fellow restaurateurs and ask some general questions about how they have handled a similar situation. That's what I would do since you know your city better than we do here.

Bob Wills and the Texas Cowboys: 'Tater Pie

No, they weren't. In fact Olney was actually a very prolific painter and portraitist. He edited "The Good Cook" series and wrote many humorous essays about food, but he was never a chef and neither was Julia Child.

That's a rather large jump in pricing at one go. Also, I'd sleep on turning that money over to the server. You're setting a precedent when you do that and it could come back to bite you in hind quarters.

I worked in commissioned sales for many years and my experience is the same as Jaymes; I've only told a customer to take their business elsewhere twice. Either the server values her job enough to understand that you take the bitter with the sweet or she needs to find another line of work that pays a straight wage. For the life of me, I don't know how you could tell this patron that they need to cough up another 5-10% or be "nicer" to the server. She is there to wait on the guests and, truly, they don't need to tip her at all. If she is as popular with your other guests as is portrayed in this post, then she should be making it up in "sympathy" tips. Tears? Seriously?

What a find, Anna! I bought all the books by subscription in the late 70's ($9 plus shipping) and learned to cook from them as a newlywed. My poor husband suffered through a lot of failures, but I got my stubborn German face on and made it all work out in time. Granted it was a few years before I got to the point that all would pass muster with guests and I still take flack from my mother for being "fancy". Time-Life (or whomever owns the imprimatur) should re-release them in an anniversary set.

That's right. I had forgotten about that since I didn't even bother to watch more than one episode of the last installment.

You'd think they'd save the travel budget and just go back to New York. I hope they have to cook for the Crewing Team at Harvard.

Already done: March 14, pi day.

Aren't most cheeses produced with an ersatz rennet these days?

Spam!

Thanks, Anna. I didn't bother to read the comments, so I'm glad you did! I, too, noticed that he mentioned the lack of seasoning or the lack of an aggressive seasoning twice. I would imagine that if this cake were to be served with ham or another cured meat that it would serve as a foil to the meat. If it is meant to stand alone or to be the main, then the seasoning could be kicked up or the cake could be accompanied with a sauce or coulis. I take issue with this recipe serving 10! Ten mice? Ten children who hate green food? I'd think "serves 6" would be more accurate.

I don't get insulted if people don't want to try new things or at least things that are new to them. You have to know your audience. People who live on casseroles and snacks aren't going to appreciate "fancy" food. It's best to pack up your pride and just be a good host and a better guest.