Lore

This issue is the one most cited behind the new fixed (meaning: included) tipping rates at many top-end restaurants, including Thomas Keller's. Daniel Boulud mentions that a promising sous-chef left his kitchen to wait tables, because that's where there was money to be made. I've waited tables in several restaurants, and I know it can be hard work. The pay can sometimes be low: I once worked in a place where the owner got all the tips, and we subsisted on minimum wage (needless to say, there was a high turnover on staff there). But in general, waiting tables pays much, much better than other jobs that also require hard work. I can't imagine that the constant whining by waiters, a la Waiter Rant, gets much sympathy from kitchen staff... or anyone else working a low-wage, customer service job.

From working in the food industry for several years, I'm sad to see how often marketing matters more than the quality of the product. The 'vibe' your customers get when they come to get your sandwich may affect them more than whether or not you use single-breast turkey and artisan pickles... unless the artisan pickles are part of what they're coming to get.

This month, I've realized I've become what I feared: a food snob. It's not a good thing. Some of my old treats are lost to me, and I just don't enjoy them anymore. Hershey's bar left over from Halloween? Gone. I can't eat one without thinking of the bite of Chocolat Bonnat it might have been, or at the very least, Chocolove. Lay's chips? Too salty. Snickers bar? Too sweet. I can't even conjure up how I used to like Corn Nuts. Yet some are still with me: Haagen Daz pints, or Ben & Jerry's. Goldfish. Peanut M&M's. Am I the lone closet food-snob? Have you lost anything you used to enjoy, or are there favorites still with you?

You go backpacking, only to forget the maps while remembering every ingredient for Spanish paella (which I've done. All was forgiven.).

That's a terrific idea. I've been soaking sweet potatoes and then squeezing out all the water in a kitchen towel to make a variation on Potato Rosti (adapted from a good recipe in a recent Cook's Magazine), and the soak/squeeze makes all the difference when aiming for a crisp tart. But I never thought of trying that for potato chips. I, too, have struggled with making good ones at home - especially with sweet potatoes - and now I'm excited to try. Thanks for that link!

The rubber base on my Oxo spinner is so grippy, I can toss in the greens, give the handle two hard pumps, and walk away while it spins merrily dry. Faster than paper towels, nearly as easy, and strangely satisfying...

I'm on the special-spoon bandwagon. I can enjoy grapefruit to its fullest only with my devoted spoon, one of the few pieces of silverware I have. It's not a true grapefruit-spoon, which I think must have a serrated edge, but it's narrow and most importantly, it's DEEP, which allows you to capture more juice in each bite. Perfect! Great poem sig, Lexy.

At Babbo's, I had an insanely good linguine with a sauce made from Sungold tomatoes, and I had to try it at home. At first, I didn't deal well with their sweetness. No sugar needed to cut the acid, definitely, but it wasn't until I added a fair bit more salt (roughly a tbls/pint) that it tasted right. Onions, rather than shallots, and garlic. Delicious!

I agree that industrial wrap, like Sysco's, requires lots less fuss than Saran. It's strong with just the right amount of cling, plus it often comes in a box with a grit-blade edge for tearing. Works great and doesn't nick your fingers. I'm also fond of Clean Wrap, available at Whole Foods and other such places, which supposedly is made to a higher "food-safe" standard. I can't vouch for that, but it's also easy to work with, though slightly less clingy than most industrial wrap.

Scarffle The brief, silent finger-scuffle that occurs when two of you reach at once for the same cookie, chip, nut, etc.

This is a terrific list to read and hard to expand, but just to round out the West Coast choices, I'll add San Francisco's Quince, the (relatively) new venture from chef Michael Tusk, formerly of Chez Panisse and Oliveto. I've been only once so far, but that one time was one of those meals where the outside world really slipped away, and all that remained was sensual eating. The food was inventive without being trendy, and everything was flat-out delicious, better, in fact, than our visit to Chez Panisse. Now if I can just figure out the other nine...

Such tempting raw, soft cheeses abroad! I've heard separately from two importers that the FDA is reviewing a lighter method of pasteurization used in Europe. Anyone heard anything about this? I don't know if it's a high-temp, short-time or a higher-pressure method. Or even if it's really being seriously reviewed. BUt I'm sure curous. I'd love to have more choices available here.

Sound advice and this worked wonderfully Dtour wine I don't know how available it is outside of New York, but it's decent wine. Best of all, the vacuum bag means that it stays perfectly fresh no matter how often you tap half a glass from the box.