Porthos

Gratuity - something given voluntarily or beyond obligation usually for some service. The moment you have a specific amount added to a bill it is no longer a gratuity. It is a restaurant-imposed server service fee. I'm curious about the legal implication - can the imposition of a "gratuity" that the diner declines to pay become an actionable offense?

The concensous (sp?) at our table was that she had already started partying before arriving. It was, to my old guy way of thinking, typical of the "it's all about me" behavior that seems to be ever-increasing coupled with lowered social inhibition. Just my take... I don't hold the restaurant responsible for her actions.

Orange County, California.

A friend of ours took a class on stand-up comedy and had her debut (along with other students) at a restaurant in mid-Orange County. A group of her friend including us went to see her and outside of seeing her do her thing had a generally poor time. Although not the restaurant's fault the evening was capped off by another customer who was part of a surprize party coming to our table and asking us to leave because the guest of honor was arriving soon and they needed our table moved! But the topic I want to get input on is this: Five of us were seated at one table and we poured over the menu (this was a new place to all of us) and since service was a bit slow we had ample time to make up our minds. When I ordered my Garden Vegetable Pizza our server informed us that they were out of all the varieties of pizzzas and then named other things on the menu that they were out of (it wan't but maybe 7:30 at the latest). Fortunately for me I had been interested in another dish and was served that. Here's the question: should the server have told us the things they were out of when presenting the menu? I can't believe for the life of me that they ran out of so much food between seating us and taking our orders. The five of us all agreed that we would not care to dine there again since, except for my meal, the food was not very interesting: the fresh fruit offered was still rock-hard unripe, for instance.

I'd completely forgottem about Into The Fire. I really enjoyed that show. My clearest memory was a chef finding out that there was a private buffet for 500 people coming up at midnight that he didn't know about. He had to create a menu and get it cooked by his staff of line cooks inbetween preparing the food for the current service.

This is must-see TV for me. The Good: I like seeing him pull a menu togther and I like watching the food prep. The Bad: Some of the conflict seems staged. The Ugly: Not getting to taste the food he comes up with. For a mild chuckle: Wednesday night I'm lounging in bed watching the Pixar episode (and really enjoying it) when my wife tells me that my daughter needs me to get my hotel pans off of the dining room table (finished up a 6 weekend run of volunteer cooking and haven't got them put away yet). I wait for a commercial and then went to move them and start laughing to myself - I'm watching a pro cook and during the commercial I'm moving my own commercial stuff. Since I'm not anything close to a food professional (I'm an engineer) I found this amusing.

I'm generally seriously board with reality food shows and this new offering didn't have any hook or twist to make me want to watch another episode. I watched part of one episode and all of last night's episode. Count me out. The single biggest thing that got my attention was the "manufactured" tension. The feeling I kept getting what that they were playing to the camera, as in play-acting, instead of being documented doing what they do. As a contrast I enjoy Dinner: Impossible but some of the conflicts on that show seems staged also. However, with D:I there is enough going on menu and food-prep wise to hold my interest. If the "2 guys" company can make a living catering that's a good thing, but they'll have to do it without me viewing their efforts.

With our major holiday cookie baking frenzy (enough cookies to fill 30 tims and several plates) coming up I will go check it out. After my wife discovered my 1/2 sheet pans and parchment paper she doesn't care to use anything else and I couldn't agree more. Susan, have you ever tried baking bacon on parchment on 1/2 sheet pans instead of frying?

In Anaheim, CA: Concord on Anaheim Blvd at Ball Road. They leave you alone to shop but will gladly help you if you ask for it. I get gift money from my f.i.l (birthday/Christmas) and recently bought a new 12" knife steel at Concord for $9 to be part of my traveling knife set. In Montclair, CA (approx 30 miles east of LA): Arrow Restaurant Supply on Arrow west of Monte Vista: Again, they leave you alone to shop. I like to wander these stores like my wife likes to look at jewelry. I would never have guessed that they run sales just like any other business - which since I'm not normally desparate for any given item makes it really fun to look around for my latest find. I do have enough discipline, however, to only part cash for items I will actually use. Sam's Club has a limited selection of supplies also. I just added a 13 Qt Tramaltina (sp?) S/S steel mixing bowl to my collection of S/S mixing bowls. (There's a reason I have to have a large capacity dishwasher ) Last but not least: eBay!!! You have to know what things are worth but I have purchased a lot of Vollrath hotel pans and Cambro & Rubbermaid plastic hotel pans. Steaming baskets, a pasta pot, an Edlund can opener - just some of the goodies I've purchased. However, I'm a bargain hunter. I have 3 searches bookmarked with a $20.00 curent max bid limit. That keeps my from drooling over things that look nice but I don't need and shouldn't spend money on. A major part of my eBay shopping is for things that I use for my volunteer cooking.

Context is everything. In 12-step recovery circles foodies are compulsive overeaters. My dear wife loves to make me cringe with: Yummo. (arrrggg!)

We've frozen bacon for years. Works just fine. Can't help you with the odor but it's a welcome fragrance in our home. Want a less-grease-fumes (at least that's my take) method for cooking bacon -especially since you don't cook it too often. Put a piece of parchment paper on a half-sheet cookie sheet, lay out your bacon strips on the parchemtn paper and bake them at 375 until done to your liking. You don't have to turn them and constantly watch over them. I picked that one up from a grill that sells breakfast.

I am an unabashed Alton Brown fan but I can weigh on on jarred salsa based upon something he often says about what he will be doing in a given show: "With a little know-how, some basic ingredients and a little time..." It's that "a little time" that is my point. I love to cook but I spend 13 hours away from home weekdays and generally have errands to run in the evening. If we're having a "make your own tacos" dinner, by the time we've reheated the pre-cooked taco meat, shredded the cheese and lettuce, sliced the olives, heated up some beans and heated up the tortillas I've used up about all the time I've have to get dinner on the table. I would have to forgo salsa out of shear lack of time. Beyond that, even though I know what I can make at home is superior, I rather happen to like Pace's chunky salsa. So in the end, it about having enough time, and I'd much rather have freshly grated cheese and store-bought salsa than already-shredded cheese and fresh salsa. I long for the day when time isn't so much the enemy.

We were in a Henry's Farmer's Market the other day and they had whole carrots that had been peeled and trimmed and were loose in a bin. And some of them were HUGE!. I dunno. Washing and then peeling loose carrots is fine with me but somehow I don't want food that has lost its natural wrapper and been handled by who knows how many people. Amen to onion salt and garlic salt. I'm almost rabid about having my kosher salt anyway...

We usually whip our own, but sometimes for traveling we use canned - it's not always convenient to try and whip cream while, say, camping... Why does anyone buy whole carrots that have already been peeled ?

While I'm the only one with food alergies (and a mild one at that) we do take them seriously in our menu planning here. We have one dear friend who is both a Type I diabetic and suffers from Celiac (sp?) but having that knowledge in advance means we can prepare a menu that has the balance she needs diabetes-wise and doesn't contain the wheat/barley/rye/oats celiac-triggering ingredients. I have developed a sensitivity to some chemical that is used by some but not all tomato growers. My tongue swells and pushes into my molars and can make just speaking and swallowning very painful with the molars cutting into my tongue. Not like-threatening but still painful.

We don't do large group dinner parties except for holidays. We fix what we like, put out way too many choices anyway, and figure that nobody can hate everything we choose. We could eat for over a week on the leftovers after sending stuff home with others. I am tolerant of vegatarians but I've had to deal with some very militant vegans who had no tolerance for other people's veiwpoints and that soured me big-time. We normally only have one couple over at a time and always tailor the menu for their likes and needs. That's just good manners in my book. My wife and I just came off of six weekends of cooking a rennaisance-feast-style lunch on Saturdays and Sunday for approximately 70 people who are a mix of omnivores, vegatarians and vegans. With the exception of the mushrooms and potatoes we fixed all hot vegatables to be vegan; potatoes were split into t2 dishes, one with butter, one without. My wife made grain-based hot dishes that were vegan, and we also serve raw vegatables. We serve bread for everyone as well as a variety of cheeses. For the carnivores like me there is roast beef, roast port, chicken and sausages. In this setting I have a clear understanding that vegans need real food choices and the ones in this group are not borderline rabid about their personal choice. I got one "comment style" complaint about the fact that we use strawberries for decoration on the meat platters. We put strawberries on the veggie/cheese platters also so there were strawberries available for the vegans and vegatarians.The complaint was that vegans and vegatarians won't eat them becasue they've been on the meat platter. I simply responded that the omnivore will eat them.

Chad, What an exciting time for you. Next spring can't come soon enough. I just let my sweet wife know that I would be buying your book as soon as it becomes available. Cheers,

Just looking at those handles makes my hands hurt.

Syrah, We celebrated my f-i-l's and my birithdays at the Napa Rose 2 weeks ago and had a wonderful evening. I can highly recommend the "Lamb served 2 ways." The salmon dish was well executed also.

Jeff, After reading your excerpts I asked my wife for the book. I just finished it Monday night and all I can say is thank you for sharing your story. It touched me on several levels. Hope realized is still a beautiful thing.

We opted for the Hamilton Beach Brew Station a couple of years ago. Our coffee maker sits on an area of counter without overhead cabinets so moving it to use it doesn't count. I have always figured that the average "cup" makers refer to is around 6 oz but I have never personally cared. I use mugs ranging from 12 to 16 oz and I always make a full pot. With the Brew Station I can dispense the last cup 2 days later and nuke it back to life with the flavor intact. We bought a Brew Station for my f-i-l last Christmas. The arthritis in his elbows and hands are getting to the point that picking up a full carafe from an everyday drip maker was causing him pain. He fills the resevoir in 2 or 3 stages so that he doesn't have to lift all of the water weight at once. Once brewed, coffee dispensing is similar to filling a soda cup at the soda fountain so he only has to deal with the weight of one filled mug and he's good to go. Yes, I am a fan of this product. The only thing I have figured out over the years is that the "cups" a particular machine makes is meaningless to me. I buy a machine and then figure out how much coffee the machine being used needs for the taste I'm looking for. Generally this takes no more than 2 or 3 pots.

I was at the Los Angeles County Fair last night and saw some (what I believe to be) mass-produced knives that the mfg has put the "Damsascus" pattern onto. I could be wrong but since I have a friend who collects custom daggers and knives and have seen the real McCoy up close I doubt the knives I saw were anything more than some line of their knives with the pattern etched in. They didn't really match what I saw on display for Shun or Global at my local W-S (which I like to walk through but very rarely actually buy anything from). If anyone knows of a reputable US mfg of the real thing then please let me know. At this point I am only "Highly Suspicious" of what I saw rather than confident of my observations. Chris, you've picked out a beautiful knife. edited to correct my poor english...

In my mind's eye I see scenes from "Close Encounters" with the tower starting to take shape using the meatloaf...

Just a guess but it looks like something for forming freshly-churned butter into blocks.

I've added my 2 cents before over poorly bagged groceries but... Last week I bought a package of dill as part of a larger foray into a Kroger (ugg!) owned store. I bought several other produce items for the same dish and my wife picked up produce she needed. We did other shopping there as well. 2 days later I'm cooking the dish the dill goes in (which is going on a road trip with us) and can't find it. Call the wife at work - she never saw the dill. I clearly remember putting it on the belt so I figure that it stayed at the checkstand when we left. Quick trip to the store to get the dill because this recipe really needs fresh dill. Fast forward to being on our road trip. I go to get one of the the 2 liter bottles of gatorade purchased for that trip that we had left in the car - lo and behold there is my now-baked-baked-to-death package of dill. Arrggg! Yes, I know that I left that bag in the car - but would it really have been that hard to keep the dill with the rest of the produce instead of putting it in a bag with multiple bottles of fluid that weigh 4 pounds apiece???