Gigi4808

1. Dirty Bathrooms. If it is a place I have never been before I will find a way to make a stop in the ladies room before I am seated- and if it is a diaster I will not be eatting there at all. There is no excuse for a disgusting bathroom- esp in upscale places. And it may be a sterotype but if they cannot be bothered to keep the area we see clean what must the back look like?. 2. Wet and/or dirty plates/glassware/flatware etc I realize I am not the only person to have used said plate/glass etc but is it really to much to ask that it be dry and clean when presented to me?. 3.Sticky/dirty menus Again this goes back to number #1- but if you don't care that something this small is gross what about the big things. 4. Rude Staff. I want food not a new best friend. We don't have to become buddy's just don't act like you are being put it by doing your job. I am pretty flexable on this one. All I ask is that service be as prompt as the possible- bearing whatever circumstances may be in place in mind -if the place is slammed it stands to reason that there will probably be some slowness- perfectly understandable and expected. But nothing is worse then feeling like you have to send up flares to get the servers attenion in a next to empty section. Keep my drink refilled without begging, if there is some unforeseen delay with my meal just let me know, don't make me sit there wondering if someone is out fishing for my salmon. And lastly that the server does their part to make sure my order is correct, mistakes do happen- example ordered blackened salmon, got broiled. So long as it is taken care of proptly, no problem. If there is hemming and hawing or attitude then do not expect me to be happy in return.

My parents are divorced and my father decided after doing the full Thanksgiving dinner himself a few times that he would just skip the work and all future holiday dinners would be done at restaurants. So one year we ended up going to the big ol' fancy place in town. A place that is know for it's wine list. While he was no stranger to fine dining as a rule he next to never drank, but this year he got inspired to order a bottle of something for the table. The wine steward is brought over, he and my father talk and my father has decided he wants champagne. Many suggestions are made but my father shoots them all down. Finally the steward is at wits end and asks what my father had in mind and my father perceeded to ask if they carry Marti & Rossi Asti-Spumonte. Needless to say the answer was no and my brother and I wondered if it would be possible to have the rest of our meal served to us under the table... it ws down hill from there.

thank you for mentioning that- I have been wanting to try it but was worried that the raspberry would have that cough syrup like taste. I will be picking up a pint!

Tim, I got addicted to this thread and have read all six pages in one sitting but since you have not updated in awhile I am wondering what you have been doing lately. Update please!!

The Mayan Chocolate is hands down the best new flavor since Dulce De Leche. But for classic's it is hard to beat the coffee.

I find it funny that Unilever owns both "Slim Fast" and "Ben & Jerry's" but that does not stop me from buying either.

Oh to be young and both broke and pressed for time!. Since I am currently all of the above I like: *Pizza Rolls- over cooked *Stoufers Veggie lasegna-over cooked *TJ Spanakopita *Alessi Tuscan white bean soup- if left simmering for hours is damn good- if done to directions the "veggie bits" tend to stay rock hard. *Those new microwave single serve dessert bowls, kind of gross but gooey and chocolately at the same time.

I've never minded doing things on my own- and my line of thinking was that if where ever I wanted to go would not serve me solo then that was somewhere I did not wish to spend my money. I can honestly say I have never had that happen but if it did I would have no problem going elsewhere.

It was the presidente- I have gone back to the bar twice since I wrote the O.P. I will have to ask the waiter about the drink you are talking about Zenkimchi that sounds interesting.

This does not strictly count but it was so good I will be doing this at home with drinks. The place I was in last night served my vodka martini with blue cheese stuffed green olives. It was perfect!- tangy, creamy, a little salty, a little bitter. I could have eaten those things all night.

Tried the 7Up Plus in the cherry flavor today and I really liked that. Tastes almost exactly like reg cherry 7Up. I have the Raspberry Diet Rite chilling in the fridge so I will be giving that a try too. Has anyone tried the white grape Diet Rite?

Jsolomon, you owe me a new monitar! I just don't think I will ever get the coke you made me spew off of this one!. I am a bit heartless so I can''t see myself using this. If I am feeling humane they get the knife... if not well.... lobsters liek Spa's don't they?

From the Hannibal Lecter fine Rum collection... OK that was really just a snazzy title- thougt some of you Rum drinkers might find THIS interesting. Once you read the story while it is still as gross as the title would suggest, the reason for doing it is not as vile as however Hannibal would justify it. Enjoy

I love those Oreo ice bream sandwiches. Two big Oreo's stuffed with Oreo ice cream- just like plain ice cream sandwiches I think they are better if you get a box that has been around for a while-then the Oreo's get nice and soft. Also good are the new Ben & Jerry's cones. The Cookie Dough flavor has been popular at my house. But the most decadent of the new bars out this year would have to be the Godiva bars. They have a bar that is the Belgium chocolate ice cream covered in a rich milk chocolate REALLY good.

Thank you guys for saving me the WF trip- having never shopped for Splenda products before I was unaware that they did not carry them- I have purchased Hansen's there so I thought it would not be a problem. I think that one is going to ave to wait until they open a TJ's here.

Is it just the plain 7-Up that you like or is it the fruity ones? So far I have tried the Pepsi One- I thought it was pretty close to "normal" Pepsi (probably because I am a coke drinker and it's been a while since I had a Pepsi) so this has been what I have liked the best so far. I will be trying the Hansens as soon as I can get back to Whole Foods- they carry it but my local publix does not. I love ginger ale so I am really eager to try it. My husband love Diet Rite but it reminded me of chemically tasting sub-generic dollar store "cola" Thanks for the suggestions!

Tommy, Please remember that sales tax will vary from local to local AND the amount that is given when they tally up her totals for the meal is tax AND tip. I am not sure where you are getting your math from but if you take the amount given and figure out the sales tax, subtract that from the total and look at the remaining amount IF the server is lucky they will end up with 10%- and even that is rare. Normally she skirts between 5 and 7%. Second, yes it is a TV show- but it is a show about showing people where to go and what $40.00 will get you- and when you go to any place that is full service you are expected to tip- right, wrong or otherwise that is the way that it is. Her creative accounting flirts over the issue of her near non-existents tipping, and that gives the impression to the viewer that it is acceptable for them to do the same. If she was indeed a former waitress then she would know how important proper tipping is to someone who's livelihood depends on it. She would know that servers as a rule in this country are paid less then half of minimum wage and are taxed as if every table has left them 15%- regardless of if this was the case or not- yes this does vary a bit from state to state but I am not about to sit here and quote each states pay structure. No she is not outright rude to them, but maybe it would be better if she was or if they showed her throwing plates at peoples heads- then the viewer could at least wonder if there was an actual reason for her lacking of tipping. but she IS doing them a disservice. Unfortunately to her lemming followers they are learning from her example and that example is that you tip the bare minimum regardless of the service you receive/total of the check and you will have more money at the end of the day- probably for one of those beers she either loves or hates depending on the story of the day. I implied it before but I will say it flat out now- if you are on such a tight budget that scrimping on the tip is that important to you then go to McDonalds, the Hometown Buffet etc, you do not belong in a real restaurant (even a low rent chain)- clearly you cannot afford it. And if you want to get into the issue that it is not really a tip- well with the same logic she really does not have a $40.00 budget then does she?. With your thinking then why should she even try to stay within the $40.00 range if it doesn't really matter?- and to be fair it seems like she could not do that or felt there was a need to show travel without the restrictions of $40.00 a day- hence the need for "Tasty Travels" (AKA $40.00 a day without the pesky budget). Yes, the servers on the show got the perk of being on TV- and your right they are not going through the motions of the normal service- however in the suspended reality of the show, the total cost of the meal is based on the "normal/real life" version that the viewers would experience- not the glossy 2 minutes of food porn that makes it into the show. It is not the server on the show I am concerned with but the server dealing with one of her lemmings in real life. You know the one who is probably getting the $1.10 tip on the $20.00 tab and is certainly not going to be on TV and DID go through the expected duties that full service entails. THAT is what I take issue with. As for watching her, unfortunately I cannot avoid her no matter how hard I try. The food network is kept on in my office all day long. While yes I attempt to block it out she is on no less then 3 times (if not more) during my normal work day with her shows, perhaps others are better at just ignoring the distraction then I am but I do find my eyes drifting towards the tv several times a day- and lets not forget the many commercials for her shows I lost count of how many of those I hear screeching in my ear. I have no choice in what is kept on for customers so I have to live through that as well. My local bank branch keeps tuned to Food Network. 3 of my doctors offices keep it on in their waiting rooms- personally I have no idea what the local obsession with the Food Network is but is it ever active!. And if by some chance there is something that I want to watch on FN in my free time it is almost always sandwiched between one of her shows. She is popping up on non- Food Network tv more and more (sure to get worse with the new network talk show in the fall) and is all over the newsstand no I do not buy her rag but she is turning up in all of my normal purchases- even the pages of the cheesy gossip mags do I find her joker like grin staring up at me. Bookstores?- forget it. There may be a tiny patch of rain forest left I could go to escape her, but I haven't had all of my shots yet so I will have to get back to you on that. And before someone pulls out the creme de la creme of all Rachael supporter comebacks: "your just jealous!" (can they ever do better then that?) I would like to ask of what?. If her career is what I wanted that may have been a valid point, that is not the case so why would I be jealous?. I am sure that there are those who are in fact jealous of Our Lady Of Boxed Chicken Stock but I have a feeling that if they are it is surely not because of her dog poisoning, cross contaminating, poor tipping, artery hardening, incessantly giggling, baby talking, unmeasured, ignorant, EVOO drenched way... but I could be wrong.

Why do I feel like shouting "Git 'Er Done!" Gigi, who may have been living in Georgia for to long...

I had not seen Moulton do that- but it would not be right for her either, I am actually surprised that she would do that because she is so by the book if you will. The issue is that you risk trapping bacteria on the jewelry and transfering it to other foods/surfaces etc. This was taught to those of us in a food handlers class 15 years ago so if there is a misconception here on that, anyone please point me in the right direction. I will try to nail down the specific episode with the drudging also. You are correct the written recipes do contain the actual measurements. Since I was commenting specificly of the on-air version of the recipe so quite honestly that had slipped my mind.

First let me say that I also post on the Rachael_Ray_Sux LJ board. And before you start throwing knives or bottles of olive oil at me I would like to point out that yes, while you will see posts on that board discussing everything from the huge size of her head to the tiny size of her bust, there is a core group of us that have very good reasons for considering her to be the culinary Ant-Christ. The group I speak of is varied- and well spoken, we have a Chef, Lawyers, Stay at Home Mom's etc but what we all have in common is a love for good food and good chefs. In fact many of us have splintered off into a smaller group on our own board that is specially about the down fall of the Food Network and the dumbing down of the whole food experience as well as the things that we like and love about food. Here are some of our problems with Rachael- I have tried to provide as many links as possible to back my statements up: 1. The constant stressing that whatever she is making is healthy when it in fact is not. Yes, she may start with some fresh ingredients but by the time she is done with the large amounts of full fat cheese and oil, not even taking into account that the vast majority of her "recipes"- the core of her program revolves around some form of mac & cheese, burger, hotdog or hideous combo of both( please review the follow recipe:chili dog bacon cheeseburgers ) and that recipe is not an exception to her regular menu's- that is the norm. And yes, if you view the episode she repeatedly proclaimes how healthy that meal is... will Food Network start paying for my Lipitor if I begin to follow the "heathly" dietary advice of they're little cash cow?. Hm don't think so. If that is what she chooses to make on the program fine- BUT how can you possibly push any of it as healthy?. Paula Deen it seems cannot get through a recipe with out 2 sticks of butter- but you don't hear her telling anyone how great it is for them and how much better off they would be eatting any given dish rather then say fast food- and this cannot be said of Ray. 2. Extra-virgin olive oil is not the best oil for every job- but you would not know that by listening to her. Dress a salad?- sure, drizzle on bread- great. Deep fry chicken- or better yet bacon? (which she has done on more then one show). Do I really need to explain to any of you why deep frying in Extra-virgin olive oil is a bad idea, a poor cooking method and a waste of money?. Considering she now sells her own olive oil: http://store.foodnetwork.com/shop/product....code=2&category are we surprised?. It may not help you out but I am sure her accountant loves it. Who needs vegetable, peanut or any other type of oil when you can just use EVOO. 3. Cross contamination. Did you ever see Julia or Sarah Moulton or insert TV-Chef HERE cook with their rings on, their hair loose, clothes dragging through food?. Using not washed- or- barely washed hands when handling raw foods/ and non raw foods?. Moving raw foods such as chicken IN the flour storage container- not a separate plate or other dredging method but INTO the actual storage container- with no mention that this should never be done. And let us not even get into the utensils, plates and pans. For those of you who may be saying "but Gigi c'mon it's a tv show" it is, but it's a tv show that is claiming to teach people the correct way to cook. and if every other tv chef could properly do these things why can't she. 4. The relentless stupid abbreviations followed by saying the full name/description/etc of whatever was abbreviated followed by a story on why it was so much easier to abbreviate: witness "EVOOextravirginoliveoil" I won't even touch the de rigueur incessant giggle that follows this, but here a thought- if she could take the time to abbreviate, explain what it was she abbreviated and tell a story to go along with it- why couldn't she wash her hands after handling the raw chicken and before tearing pawing through the bag mix salad greens?. 5. The names for things that would make a five year old look at you like you were "special". If I invited any of my friends over for "Sammie's" they would probably call my doctor and tell him my brain tumor has taken a turn for the worse (please note I actually have one so I am not mocking those who do). "Stoup" as in it's not a soup and it's not a stew. This is used constantly but my favorite was when she made coffee mug chicken "pot pie stoup"... yeah it was pot pie alright with no pie- as in no pastry at all (but she did plop a tube biscuit on the top if you want to count that). Should I go on?, she has about a million of them... 6. She repeatedly suggests feeding onions to dogs. She has done an episode dedicated to her now dead dog - the recipes contain- you guessed it onions and she has also printed recipes in her magazine for dogs that contain- you guessed it onions. Great advice to give America. On the other hand maybe she is secretly a cat person. 7. Will not measure anything- and does not explain what "eyeballing it" means. for the experienced cook this is not a big deal. But she does not cater to experienced cooks she caters to those who do not know better- hence why they watch her to begin with. We know she can't bake but is it really that difficult to tell people exactly how much a "palm" of something is- hand sizes do vary you know. 8. Her lack of tipping- thus encouraging people to tip badly in return. There are enough service people here to know that her "tipping" on $40.00 A Day is a joke. I realize that the show is for people on a budget but if you cannot properly tip then you should not be going to places where it is expected. Sorry the wait staff is not there to be your slave. How dare she refer to herself as a former waitress and treat wait staff as she does. 9. And that brings us to her ever changing "back story". she has told so many versions she is constantly contradicting herself. Be it her love or dislike of beer, fast food or her family story. her job titles often change also. Anyone who has heard her speak for more then five minutes knows she was a fountain girl at 'HOJO's" but did you also know she was now a waitress and a line cook there as well?. Yeah that is this week's version. 10. Her main knowledge of food seems to be the fact that she chops various forms of it up and makes burgers out of it. While there are many examples, I think the best one would be the episode of "Inside Dish"- beyond showcasing her fine interviewing "skills" (talking over people is always good) she was with the wonderful Morgan Freeman and at the upscale of his two places in Mississippi they were sharing shrimp and she commented that she was amazed at how they got such fresh seafood since they are so far away from the ocean. Morgan looked at her like she had two heads and said something to the tune of "are you kidding?, the gulf of Mexico is like an hour away!" to which she giggled. Wow, I hope Tony Bourdain is watching his back because she just may wrestle away the Food God title from him yet... Ya know maybe know these things if you are doing shows on food... You are probably thinking, for someone who dislikes her so strongly I sure know an awful a lot about her. And your right- but at this point unless you live under a rock it is impossible to escape her. Yes, we went through this with Emeril too but at least he IS a chef and he DOES know what he is talking about. I and many others have given up on Food Network because it is not about food anymore. It is about personalities and somewhere between the popularity contests, how to use cream-of-something-soup shows and circle jerks you may get to see a show with a chef and they may do something besides spew catch phrases but that is usually around 3:00 am when they are showing reruns from before the downfall. I am sorry this became a novel but I hope that this has given you some insight as to why we feel the way we do. It's easy to point to the rabble rousing of making fun or her voice or her hair etc and miss the valid points we make but I hope that I have helped clear that up.

I just found out that I can have Splenda/sucralose- I am one of those people highly allergic to aspartame (I am talking hospitol grade bad) and it took me awhile to get over my fear of trying Splenda, but I can have it with no problems. This is good because it has opened up many new options for me in my quest to lose those extra five pounds- yes I know just cutting out soda entirely would helop that greatly and admitedly my big diet down fall is soda. Admitedly I drink Coke because I really like it (and I do try to limit to one a day at the most)- but I would also have no problem switching to a diet drink that I liked at least almost as much. But I am not sure where to start. I have tried the Dite Coke with Splenda and really did not like it- all I could taste was the chemically after taste. I thought I would ask all of you for some suggestions as to what you think is the best of what's out there- and if there is something that you hate toss that out too- as many opinions as possible would be great.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I have never been able to stand those. I could scrape the barrel again and go for a Tokyo Tea- which is an AMF with Midori in place of the Curacao. Ugh I am sickend by myself even knowing what this crap is... At least I am not as bad as a coworker I had who's shot of choice was called a "Purple Hooter" or the other coworker who would only order "Muff Dives"- People that is what happens when your only knowledge of cocktails comes from TGI Fridays.

Oh I am probably going to be the freak of this group. I HATE metal in my mouth- be it sterling, stainless or even the goomba-chic 24 karet gold plated of my youth. When at all possible I prefer plastic disposable flatware. Obviously is is often not an option but I admit to being happy when it is. There is also practically nothing I cannot eat with chopsticks.

As promised in the Drinks bartenders hate to make thread, long ago in a galaxy far, far away I would go to my then local chili's and get a deadly combo of steak fajitas for dinner and a drink called an Adios Motherfucker (or AFM if you prefer). Yes, it was as ghastly as it sounds, but having dealt with 14 hours+ of the worst humanity has to offer a sodium rush combined with the buzz of cheap well alcohol can be better then Prozac and less expensive then a few hours at the firing range. The AFM for those who may not know is pretty much a Long Island Iced Tea with Blue Curacao instead of triple sec and and Sprite instead of Coke. If made well it is a bright Kool-aide shade of blue and like a Long Island Iced Tea it is very easy to drink way to much before you realize what you have done to yourself... and if you are like me and have the bartender on your side- who I should point out knew that: A: There was going to be a seriously large tip in it for him -and- B: That I was not driving Well if you have got a bartender who likes you he will skip the Sprite in flavor of extra vodka (um gee not that I did that... ok yeah busted I did). I hadn't had an AFM in years and after talking about it so much recently decided that it was time for a trip down to my now local Chili's. So Friday night we ambled over to the Chili's. Once seated in the bar we had a great waiter and I probably should have heeded his many attempts at suggesting that I would prefer a margarita- but I was on a quest dammit so an AMF it would be. When the AMF made it's way to me it sadly did not live up to the memory. It was the pale blue shade of watered down store brand "I Can't Believe It's Not Windex", there was too much Sprite and alas I am sure he used gin instead of vodka (and I know there are many of you that love gin- I am just not one of them) it was in a word: sad. It really did live up to all the stereotypes of a bad college kid drink- or worse a bad girlie college kid drink. There was some redemption however. I was not leaving until I had a good drink and since the waiter was pushing the margarita's so hard I told him to bring which ever one he liked best and he did bring back with him what is probably the best margarita I have ever had. It didn't have that cheap tequila after bite, it wasn't frozen AND it didn't have one of those sissy girlie fruit flavors. Also in one of the best marketing gimmicks ever they serve it to you in a small (I would say 4 oz) martini glass and you pour your own "refills" from a plastic tumbler, do you get more drink for your buck this way- no, I am sure it is just the normal 16 oz portion but it does give the illusion of value because you can "refill" your glass several times and I could see how that would be a genius move. All in all that was actually good enough to go back for and made it a good dinner... Well almost a good dinner, the fajita's themselves were the salty, rubbery strips of "Meat" I remembered them to be, but since they are just an excuse to eat sour cream I had no problem looking the other way.

CAKE! I love cake- almost any kind but I like lemon the best. The rub is that I really don't like frosting (I know, I know...) so if I have it out I will try the frosting but I almost always scrape mine off. If I bake at home if any one other then family will be eatting it I will make two cakes- one with and the other without frosting. There is but one lone exception to this. Local to me there is a place called the Marrietta Diner. As one could expect from the name they are a diner and while they have the typical huge diner menu what I love them for is the desseryt's. They are known for their huge desserts and indeed on any given visit you will find dozens of mile high cakes. they have a lemon cake that is to die for. It has the perfect sweet/sour balance and rather then a frosting it has some sort of a light and fluffy whipped topping- I have a feeling it is a Jell-o foam of some sort but it is good. The only thing I would change is that they top it with white chocolate- which I scrape off because I HATE white chocolate, if it had some dark or semi-sweet chocolate on it...well it would probably be better then sex. Pies on the other hand are just pies. If I never eat one again I could die ok with that. the exception I make to that is those god awful Hostess brand fruitie pie things. Yes, I know they are disgusting and a crime againest nature- but damnit they are goooood!