jsmith

I think my issue is with pretty much any noun used to label me due to my interests. I like Star Trek but would cringe at being called a Trekkie. I tried running through a list of things I enjoy (aquariums, movies, etc.) and coming up with names to give people who enjoy them and they all bothered me. I don't know why this is, but it may be the reason people object to all the previously mentioned terms. Nothing against people who use these terms to describe themselves, just saying I hate it when any are used on me.

According to this article you can buy Wagyu beef at "The Butchers". http://www.nationalpost.com/life/story.html?id=280422 They do a taste off of varius beef bought around Toronto. The Cheese Boutique 70 day dry aged beef wins by a narrow margin.

I just wanted to thank everyone for the great advice. I'm still wading through wedding details, so I haven't had a chance to make any final decisions, but the above will be very helpful when I do. I also wanted to add that as cheezy as it sounds, bartending for dummies turned out to have a lot of really useful information about the above concerns. Our library had about 15 of them.

Just wanted to add that the less meat philosophy is good, but it doesn't apply to everyone. The above protein figures are for inactive people. Atheletes and people who weightlift are recommended to eat 0.5 to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day. This is pretty much impossible to do without eating meat and dairy on a daily basis.

Add me to the disgusted crowd. Ignoring the hygienic and consideration issues, correct me if I'm wrong but aren't there enzymes in saliva that help break down food faster?

Hi, I am getting married in April and the wedding will have an open bar. The venue will provide a bartender, but to cut down on costs we will be ordering the booze. It will be standard drinks (wine, beer, vodka, gin, whiskey, rum) with standard mixers. Both our families are pretty average drinkers, and there will be about 50 guests. How much booze does one order for this? It seems like a pretty common problem, so I know there must be a forumula somewhere for X number of drinks per guest per hour, but I can't find it anywhere. Also, what are the ratios of booze to order? I assume more rum than gin would be consumed, but other than that I don't know where to look. If anyone could point me in the direction of some resources it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Beer has about 50% more calories than spirits. A can of beer is about 150 calories, while the equivelant shot of vodka (1.5 oz) is about 100 calories. The calories in mixers can push the mixed drink beyond the beer though.

Anyone find the mid to higher level chocolate bars sold in stores stale? I mean a Green and Black/Dagoba/hippie rainforest chocolate is about $4 here, but it still has a plastic taste/texture. I'm not sure what level Dagoba and Green and Black are, but at triple the price they should taste a lot better than they do. If I spend $5 I can go to my local chocolate shop where they package the bar themselves, and it's much fresher (and bigger)

Great blogs so far, I just wanted to add how much I love the toothpick in the blackberries. It screams "love" like only the little things can.

I was a vegetarian for about 7 years, and I thought about bacon all the time. When I started eating meat again, it was bacon that I started on. I was alarmed to discover that fatty meat was really hard to eat out of the gate (it would make me nauseous), and boneless skinless chicken breast was pretty much the only thing I could handle eating for about a year afterward.

Just to add to the confusion some Western style Japanese knives don't use Japanese steel. My Misono (Minoso?) uses Swedish steel if I remember correctly.

Commercial dishwashers I've used have had a large reservoir of water that is intended to be used for many washings. You'd have to be doing the dishes for everyone on the block before it became practical.

Fresh clams are far superior to canned.

I don't have experience with this camera, but my general experience with preset modes on cameras is that one is better off getting one that lets you set the aperature, shutter speed, and focus manually and then just set it to what the situation calls for. The settings aren't very complicated. A smaller aperature number makes the picture brighter, but less of the picture will be in focus (not always a bad thing). A slower shutter speed will also make the picture brighter, but will be more susceptible to shaky hands.

Melted cheese tasted good on everything, it stood to reason it would taste good melted over a bowl of cheerios and milk...

Globe and Mail article on beef at Cumbrae's and Pusteri's

If you exercise regularily it is important to get enough protein, which is hard to do without meat. Vegetarians will tell you that you can get enough through beans, tofu, etc. but if you look up the protein levels of beans and meat, you will see meat is much, much higher. Another issue is that when I was vegetarian I consumed tons of cheese and dairy, and my cravings went way down when I started eating meat. I see a lot of vegetarians eating a lot of cheese which is not exactly healthy.

Just out of curiosity what is ghee used to treat?

I used to take protein suplements when I was weight lifting. I find the flavour profile pretty similar, and my conclusion was that I got sick of them all after short while. My strategy was to get chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla powder. Then I would have the three base flavours, plus chocolate-strawberry, strawberry-vanilla, and chocolate vanilla. I know you are allergic to strawberry, but maybe a similar strategy would help?

I'm positive they're saying 15 year old spices are a bad thing. I think they pick 15 years instead of something like 3 because everyone would agree that 15 year old spices are bad, but I'm sure people would argue that their 4 year old spices will be ok for a while longer. It's a great idea to get people to buy new spices, but I guess from the confusion here it wasn't so superbly executed.

Not sure about the kitchen world, but in the business world it is fine to ask. A few points: Ask when you give your notice as people will do it much faster when you see them everyday instead of when you are an ex employee, and your accomplishments will be fresh in their memory. Proof read it and have your employer correct any errors. A reference letter with typos is less than useless, and most first drafts have them. Bosses won't (or shouldn't) be offended by this. Don't go asking for one two years after quitting (many people do this).

I feel ashamed to say this as a Canadian, but I hate Tim Hortons. Bad coffee - I drink black, but GF always complains they have to do the coffee for you. Single Single is way too sweet, but she feels weird asking for a 1/2-1/2. Bad frappucino wannabee - makes a Slurpee look low in sugar Mediocre donuts - ok, almost all donuts are mediocre, but people talk about it like it's the holy grail. Give me a bag of fresh made mini-donuts from a fair anyday. Same with anything else I've ever had there - it univerally tasted like crap. I think it's something you have to grow up with. I somehow avoided them until a few years ago (they weren't as big in Vancouver growing up, although they seem to be all over the place now). And yes, there is always a huge lineup.

The description is hilarious!

Not picking on you, but this brings up a question. What is an acceptable way to say "hey Im back to check and make sure theres no rusty nails in your food"? It seems like many ways of presenting oneself for the "check up" are either too narrow or too broad, or somehow too informal. There has to be some universal standard that we can all agree on? ← Is everything ok? I don't get bothered by "How does it taste?" either, so maybe this one is bad as well.

Just out of curiosity, is cock fighting legal in the US?