ScoopKW

1) It's "garnish" and "garnishment." I don't think "garnisheeing" is a word, even in Canada. Garnishment is what the government does to those who fail to pay their taxes. Unions charge dues. They do not garnish wages, although dues usually come right out of one's paycheck. Don't like it? Don't work for a union shop. Personally, I'm happy with my union. I make far more in wages than the cooks at non-union casinos. So it's $500 per year well spent. 2) And I don't find fault with visitors. I very much enjoy showing them our country. But I am very much disappointed that they absolutely refuse to get with the program in regards to tipping American service workers. I follow your customs when visiting your country. Why don't you follow mine? It's a simple quid pro quo issue. You may not like our wage laws, and I don't blame you. But don't punish those who work for less than minimum wage by exploiting them in the name of "moral obligation to combat an unfair system."

1) I'm all for anything that beats Teflon. I don't dislike Teflon, but I have to be VERY careful with it, because we have pet birds. Heat it up too much, and the fumes will kill a bird but quick. 2) And since "canary in a coalmine" is still a useful idiom, I'm reluctant to use anything that, if overheated, kills birds but quick. We have ONE teflon pan -- for eggs and eggs only. Everything else is stainless and copper. Low tech, but time tested. I'll give this new Wundergunk some time before trying it.

Everybody who will listen. Unfortunately, Europeans, Canadians, Australians and most everyone else refuse to listen. REFUSE. It has been addressed several times. And our courts have ALWAYS sided with the restaurant owners. Because the vast majority of Americans understand that they should mentally add 15-20% as a tip, because they know the server makes squat for an hourly wage. It's only the foreign visitors who seem to be willfully ignorant about this. They are not thumbing their noses at minimum wage laws. The laws make a specific exception for tipped employees. And it is spelled out on the employment law poster that every place of business in the United States slaps on a hallway somewhere. They DO acknowledge this. But they cannot do anything about it, because it is the law of the land. Because these issues have already been fought, and lost, at the appellate level. States have the right to set their wage laws as they see fit. Most states make a minimum wage exception for tipped employees, trainees, apprentices, and a few others. We try and try and try. But you refuse to listen. Look, if you don't like the system, vote with your wallet and DON'T VISIT THE UNITED STATES. Show your disapproval for our medieval wage laws by spending your vacation dollar elsewhere. But don't add insult to injury by stiffing a tipped employee under some pretense of "high moral expectations." All you're doing is driving up how much we have to tip to make up for your miserly ways. Used to be 10% was fine. Then 15%. Now it's 20%. And in some metro areas, 25% is the norm. Who's paying that? We are. Who isn't? Your countrymen.

So let me distill your argument down to two sentences: 1) You are vehemently against restaurant owners exploiting their workers with a non-living wage, forcing them to rely on tips to earn a reasonable living. 2) To show your distaste with the system, you make these same exploited people work hard to serve you food and drinks, and then refuse to tip them on moral grounds, thus exploiting them further. Got it.

In every place I've worked, the server tips out the busperson and the bartender. The bartender tips out the barback. Back of the house doesn't get any tips, unless they're working a front of the house cooking position -- sushi bar, teppanyaki or similar. In general, front of the house makes more money. Back of the house is more steady. Front of the house sometimes will work all day and not make a penny. (If a guest walks out on a bill, it almost ALWAYS comes out of the servers pay. So, I've seen expensive "dine and dash" (aka, the "chew and screw") where servers have their hourly garnished for weeks to pay for a party of thieves*. * I have never seen foreign visitors to the US perform the "dine and dash." That seems to be a home-grown crime. But I'll wager servers lose more income yearly from poor-tipping foreign visitors than they do from dine-and-dashers.

And depending on where you live, community colleges and reputable culinary schools might be a better option. But not all of us are lucky enough to live within driving distance of Hyde Park, St. Helena, San Antonio or Singapore. And not every community has a college with a good culinary program. Just watch out for the "schools" that do a lot of TV advertising. Tuition is far too high for what they offer, in my opinion. But even with school, there's no substitute for actually cooking in a professional environment. You'll learn more nuts-and-bolts technique quicker that way.

I'm not convinced ignorance is the only reason for non-tipping and under tipping. I've simply seen too many instances where "stingy, parsimonious, niggardly, miserly, and just plain mean" are better descriptors. Especially when they call for the manager to have the tip removed from the bill, and then leave the restaurant laughing about it. This happens far too often to be chalked up to simple ignorance of our customs. And there's still that German guidebook I read -- I have a feeling many visitors use this tactic to stretch their vacation Euro a little farther.

I'm partial to Oban 14. But I like 'em peaty.

Pecan Brittle I just use my favorite peanut brittle recipe and substitute pecans.

I just re-tiled my bathroom with help from a friend who does professional tile work. You're right, sticking the tile on is not the hard part - prepping the wall is, but there is definitely a learning curve with cutting and spacing and making sure you don't end up with impossible little pieces in weird corners. I'd recommend Diana get a laser level and set it up in the kitchen. No question about what a straight line looks like then! We bought a top-of-the-line Felker tile saw on Craigslist. Used it for the job. I was going to sell it, but my wife nixed that. She wants a wet-saw for her tile mosaic projects. No tricky corners and jigsaw puzzle pieces are a match for the saw. And the tile saw is easily the safest tool I own. We can touch the spinning blade, because it's not sharp. No kickback, nothing to it at all. Anyone can use one. Tile is nowhere NEAR as hard as laying down a hardwood floor or building furniture. (Those are my hobbies.)

Well, using different-sized spacers is simply unacceptable. He (I assume he) should make it right. No "ha ha what a silly mistake" excuses. My stance would be, "Make it right or get out of the house. And then deal with the feedback I'm going to leave on Angieslist, and every remodeling forum I can find."

Tell him to rip out all the tile (it's easy) and do it ALL with the same spacing. You'd never get that kind of slipshod work in rural Greece. Go there and look at the tile yourself. It's certainly not amateur-hour on the Aegean. That's just incompetence. If the contractor balks, fire him, withhold the "end of job" money and find someone else. Find a Greek. Or even better, a Moroccan. THERE is a culture that knows a whole lot about tile. But no matter what you decide to do, there is no end of tradesmen who are out of work. Most will jump at the chance for a job, no matter how small -- good references drive their business. Or do it yourself. Tiling is NOT hard. My wife and I did 2,000 sqft of it when we bought our house. We'd never done it before. It came out great. Nobody does a better job on a house than the homeowners. You can learn everything you need to know in a couple hours on YouTube.

And if you have read this thread you will know the reason for this difference, and it has absolutely NOTHING to do with being a tightwad. Zip, nada, niks. The reason is that in Europe employers are required to pay a liveable wage so that the tip is REALLY only for service above the norm (= €5 on a €400 meal may simply reflect iffy food, service, etc. and be perfectly justifiable and transparent). In the USA employers in this industry are allowed by law to pay starvation wages. Is it the 'fault' of the European visitor for not knowing about this medieval practice? If so, let's go out onto the web and inform them to turn their watches back 120 years after crossing the Atlantic. Please do tell them. Foreign visitors to the United States never seem to believe us when we try to tell them. Maybe you will have better luck.

Well, you can go treat it like a fun-filled journey. Or you can grumble about it, trying to compare other beverages to wine. If I were in your shoes, I'd try to find some local beer tastings. Beer is a far more complex beverage than wine -- at least chemically. And beer pairs with more foods than wine does. (For instance, I've yet to find a wine that really pairs well with chocolate. I can think of 50 beers off the top of my head that pair.)

Feeling the same way. I'm not even going to bother for awhile. I simply don't have the time.

I lightly "pinch" the bagle, vertically. My serrated knife fits in the space between my thumb and index finger. Then it's just a matter of cutting straight down. There's no chance of injury, because there is no part of my hand close to the sharp edge of the knife. I don't like the horizontal method, because I never get an even cut that way.

I had a "say it ain't so" moment and checked -- nowhere could I find the thickness measured in millimeters. So you must be right. "Extra thick" is not a measurement. It is an opinion. Compared to quantum particles, 0.5mm is "extra thick." That explains why I tend to gravitate to my Falk pieces.

This thread gives new dimension to "Go big or go home."

I'm of the mind that 2.5mm copper/stainless cookware is 2.5mm copper/stainless cookware. And unless you plan on hanging them on a pot rack and never using them (you'd be surprised how many people do just that), I'd buy used. It'll save you at least half that way. I don't have even $1,000 into my copper set, and I have more than 20 pots and pans. They came from eBay, Craigslist, yard sales, thrift stores, and the used restaurant supply store near my wife's bank. But, I have pieces from All-Clad, Mauviel, Bourgeat, Falk, and several that defy identification. Who cares? They all shine up nicely and cook REALLY well on my anemic gas range. Best bet? Find someone on Craigslist with an unused copper set for sale. I find one every week or two -- Martha Stewart wannabees who bought the copper as decoration. Now that times are hard, they're selling at half-off retail. And you can usually haggle them down another hundred or two. There isn't much of a market locally for expensive copper cookware.

Big difference between interning for a two years at a hospital and staging for a few days at a restaurant. I've worked all kinds of short-term "jobs" on vacation. Usually I received room, or board, or both. In reality I would have paid them for the experience. They've easily been my favorite vacations. Never once a problem. And I doubt Jaya will have a problem, either. But there's always the slim chance that INS agents raid the restaurant during staging. Me, I'd accept that risk.

If you're not being paid, you can do whatever the hell you want -- it's not "work" as far as the government is concerned, unless you can pay taxes on it. So I wouldn't worry in the least. Come on a tourist visa. I've done crazier things than working in a kitchen on vacation. (I volunteered at a zoo for three weeks once.) Where are you going, incidentally? Can you share specifics?

No, no bank worries. My wife forgot to carry the six when deciding how much to transfer into the "pay the bills" account.

I am going to TEACH my wife not to send me on her errands. I needed to run to my wife's bank to day, and put some cash in to cover a math error. The used kitchen supply place is on the way home. Ten, count 'em, TEN gigantic, heavy, thick, copper pots and pans. (Stainless interior, thick copper exterior.) The cost was anywhere from $20-50 each. The smallest pan is twice the size of my largest copper All-Clad saute pan. Bought them all. I'll post a picture when I shine them up. I could use help with ID'ing them. No markings whatsoever.

I wish I was rich enough to pay someone to digest this thread for me, now that all 40 pounds of MC arrived. Next up? Home-grown immersion circulator.

Finally... some time to write. As you can guess from my on-again, off-again posts, my schedule kicks my butt. I work five nights, sleep most of the day, and then get up and have just a few hours to get ready to do it again. The promotion kicked in recently, so there won't be many bake shop or garde manger shifts in my future. This past week, I was in the main kitchen on a swing shift -- my least favorite shift. And main kitchen has turned out to be my least favorite kitchen. Main kitchen "cooks" all the food for the buffet and the EDR. And I'm using quotation marks because when I say "cook" I mean "reheat." We take industrial processed food out of aluminum tins, slap it into hotel pans, wrap it and steam it. That's it. It's hardly cooking at all. My first opinion of the chef I was working under turned out to be dead wrong. At first, I thought he was a jerk. "Cover these speed racks with bags and write the contents on the bag with a marker," chef said. He added, "Do you know how to spell?" He also asked me a couple minutes later if I completed high school. Really? I answered his questions honestly, and without attitude. If he wanted to, chef could make my life miserable. We don't want that. Later on, after he saw that he wasn't getting to me, and that I work quickly, he apologized. "I hope you don't mind what I said before. It's just that a lot of guys come through here, and not all of them can spell." I told him it was OK -- it's a kitchen, not a popularity contest. After that, we worked great together -- went to break together, talked a lot about the business. He even consoled me when I burned myself this week. I know I've mentioned the sauce bagging machine that will someday take someone's finger off. There's one in the banquet kitchen, and another one in main kitchen. Well, I burned myself but good with hot marinara a few days back. The bag ripped, and scalding-hot sauce ran down my pant leg and into my shoe. I was able to keep my pants away from my legs. But my heel got burnt. I was hopping around, holding my pants and trying to remove my kitchen shoes -- which DID NOT WANT TO BUDGE. Agonizing. But, it turned out to be a minor first-degree burn. Chef immediately sent me on break, and I cleaned up and smeared Neosporin on the burn. By the end of the night, it didn't even bother me. I have a blister the size of a baseball card on my heel even now. But I don't feel any pain. So it's all good. So the consolation from chef? "I did the same thing to myself once, but I burnt my dick." Ow. Because main kitchen is attached to the buffet, I spent some time there last week, too. And I saw one of the grossest things ever. We all know that sneeze guards are basically useless -- little kids cough and sneeze on the food just fine, and I see them reaching for food with their grubby hands, instead of using tongs. Whenever I see that, I throw the entire pan of food away, and replace it with a fresh pan. But now the tongs are suspect as well. The other day, I saw a guest eating on line. That really ticks me off. They shove food into their fat faces, touching their lips with their fingers. And then they grab the tongs and pile more food on their plates. I'm not allowed to "tut-tut" them. I just quietly replace the tongs and go about my business. But the other day, I saw someone doing that, and she had a big, nasty cold sore on her lip. Oh, great. Now we have herpes tongs. I changed out the tongs, and then took off my gloves and then washed my hands, soaked them in the sanitizer bucket, and put on new gloves. What a frikkin' pig. So my advice for buffet goers? Wash your hands often. Use the hand sanitizer stations, often. If you see a pig eating on line and touching their nasty herpes-infected lips, give them hell about it before they can grab the tongs. I'm not allowed to say it. But since you're the guest, you can raise hell. And you should. -------------------- There's a lot of things they simply don't teach in culinary school. How to properly sharpen a knife. Most shortcuts. And the little things that make all the difference. I noticed when I started a lot of the older guys wore light cotton gloves under their latex gloves. I wondered why, until the burning incident. I probably wouldn't have burned myself if I had the extra gloves. A little goes a long way. (I'd use my welding gloves, but they're too clumsy for a lot of the work I do.) So, I ordered 24 pairs of cotton work gloves. Another thing I've learned is that I'm always in need of a utility knife for opening boxes, cutting plastic bags and such. Most cooks use a box cutter. But I don't like that solution -- they're not heavy-duty enough for a lot of the tasks I face. I used to just carry a rather dull Wusthof paring knife in my apron. But it's only a matter of time before I trip and impale myself. So I wanted a folder. And it's gotta be a one-handed opening operation. (I usually have something in my other hand when I need my knife. I'd buy a switchblade, but that's a felony in this state. (What a dumb law.) So I found a spring-action "not at all a switchblade, but functionally identical" knife made by Benchmade. I only bought it last week, and it easily gets more use than all the rest of my knives combined. It's as sharp as any of my knives, deploys in less than a second, and I can immerse the knife in sanitizer before I cut cryovac chickens and similar. So -- welding gloves, cotton gloves, and a switchblade. That's my equipment advice for this week. Tomorrow, I'm actually cooking -- and I'm cooking in the most fun kitchen on property. And you perverts that keep asking for sex stories, remind me to tell you about Julietta. We caught her and another cook in the walk in last week.