Porthos

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Looking in the Rancho Cucamonga area. A post about month ago got me thinking. I decided to make an effort to start locating individualy-owned restaurants to try. Non-chain restaurants seem to be hard to come by unless I want to spend $$ for a special night out. A couple of places not to mention. The Magic Lamp - the last time I was there it was like visiting a singles bar. The Sycamore Inn - not in my price range except for a special night out (it does have sentimental value for me - my father used to sub for the regular piano player in the bar when I was in high school in the late 60s.) So who can suggest places that I could try that aren't chains.

I don't know if Sam's Club carries boneless, skinless chicken thighs but I know for sure that Costco does. You might want to check on your next visit. It's not always right next to the breasts.

My wife and I will be cooking a meal for my brother and his wife at their home this coming weekend. Even though we are very familiar with their likes and dislikes my sweetie asked them today via email what their preferences are - who knows what may have changed. We strive to work within the framework of the likes and needs of whomever we are cooking for. We have a dear friend in San Diego who is both a type 1 diabetic and has celiac (sp?). It's never a problem to fix food for them because - here's the important thing - we know in ADVANCE what we need to do. Sometimes we have had to flex a bit but it was never catastrophic - such as the time we were preparing artichokes for dinner and our friend casually mentioned that he didn't like artichokes. One quick look in the freezer and another veggie was added to the menu. About the most I would do in the case of your step-daugher is to make sure there are other dishes she can fill up on. My take on reading this is that she has been accomodated for way too long and hasn't quite figured out how actual adults treat each other - food choices or otherwise. To me (sorry if this is harsh) your SO is out of line asking you to change at the last minute to accomodate her adult daughter. Take my thoughts with one specific insight into my personal bias: I don't deal well with last-minute surprizes - especially when my wife and I have carefully put together a menu.

Saturday night we were camping with friends and I volunteered to mix the drinks. For the gin-and-tonics we had fresh limes to slice. I get teased in a friendly way because even though there are other knives available I bring my own. I have "graduated" to carrying them in a knife roll (using edge guards) and I bring along a knife block to boot. I welcome anyone who wants to use them to do so. Othere knives get put into the block also just to keep things tidy. When I went to slice the limes I grabbed a cutting board and knife and proceeded to cut up a lime. I couldn't believe how hard a time I was having. It was more like using a table knife than a kitchen knife but I got the job done. Sunday morning when I went to clean up I found the reason for my frustration. I had grabbed someone else's knive that they don't keep sharp. Which brings me to my "pleasant surprize"... I found the eGullet Society while doing a web search on learning to sharpen knives and found Chad Ward's excellent and thorough article. His patient and detailed explanation of what went into making a knife and what went into sharpening a knife gave me the confidence to try again (after a 30 year gap of trying) to learn to sharpen my knives. I even bought some old damaged knives off of ebay to work on. However, even though I thought I was doing ok I had no real comparison to judge by - just how my knives worked for me. The knife that was dull as a rock was from the same maker as the knives I was carrying (not very expensive by the way - the good knives stay home). This caused my to do a little bit of a happy dance - I could tell my knives had markedly sharper edges and I wasn't just me fooling myself. The reason I am posting this is not to congratulate myself, though. I still have a loooonnngggg way to go in learning this skill. But instead I want to encourage anybody who has been sitting on the fence of whether to try to learn sharpening for themselves or to keep using a professional service to take the leap of faith, study Chad's article and learn this new skill. You can do it!

Growing up there was always plain white bread and butter on the dinner table. It was almost never touched - particularly the butter. The bread did get used as a base to put leftover gravy on. Settiing the table was my job for many years and three things had to be on the table regardless of what was being served. The afforementioned bread and butter, and my parents insisted on each having a glass of ice water at their places. The fact that they rarely ever actually took a drink didn't change the requirement. My dad drank his coffee and my mother drank her tea with meals so it wasn't like they were in danger of going thirsty. Good rolls on the table for holiday meals now - you bet - and with butter.

I understand the perfume thing perfectly. I can get a serious sinus headache in less than a minute if the fragrance is strong enough. I've had to leave church for the same reason. It has to be a "quantity of application" thing since my wife wears fragrance every day. Particularly in restaurants I find it irritating. I don't want to have the nose of my wine masked by the perfumy odor of another guest. I don't want the taste of my salmon mixed with the smell of gardenias, etc. I work in a building with long halls. I actually have to hold my nose when following behind a couple of employees who leave a discernable wake as they walk down the hall. It's hold my nose or not get any work done for an hour. Holding my nose is easier.

Got my roll - got my guards - this happy camper is good to go!

I finally saw a place on Tustin Ave near Palmyra called El Taco of Orange. Still in the same city but not exactly "just down the street." Is this the place you are talking about? Since it looks like a well-maintained business on a major street I'm guessing that it is not the same place. If so, please let me know. I'm still waiting to check it out.

The Messermeister guards that I purchased look similar to what you're using, S/D97. This is what they look like: They come sized both for length and depth. I think I paid about $8 USD for 2 guards, one for my 8" chef's knife and one for my 3" paring knife. The plastic they are made from is reasonably thick, maybe 3/32nds or a tiny bit more. The shop I went to had a decent selection so I am confident that I will be able to get guards to protect the other knives I will be carrying in the roll. What's important to me is that beyond the fact that the edges and my knife roll will be protected is that I felt confident in inserting and removing my knives from these holders.

I had posted up-thread that if I could find some of the Edgemags locally I would probably give them a try. However, the description of having to pry them off instead of slipping them off has caused me to reconsider. My arthritis, which started in my spine, has moved into my hands and is slowly but surely taking away some of my dexterity as well as mobility. The idea of requiring some level of careful dexterity to remove the Edgemags from around the hopefully sharp edge of the knife is cause for concern. The guards that I have purchased have a goodly amount of grip so that they won't come off inadvertently with reasonable handling so for now I am going to stick with them since the knife roll the knives go into is the primary source of containment and protection. That's just for me in my kitchen... Regarding the progression of my arthiritis: I miss the health of my youth but I don't miss the youthful angst that went with it. I've grown old enough to value contentment with my lot in life.

Susan, We have been annual pass-holders at Disneyland for years and because we can visit whenever our schedule allows (we live an hour's drive away) we generally only go for 5-6 hours and we will buy dinner somewhere in the park. My 26 y/o daughter asked for an all-day trip before we got busy with the Northern California Pleasure Faire because for about 2 1/2 months we just can't make it. Looking at our money we figured to take a picnic lunch to eat in the picnic area and then buy dinner - which we did. Your descriptions of just having nooshing stuff around for lunch up at the cabin inspired me. Instead of our usual sandwiches, yogurt and fruit lunches we took something a bit more fun. My sweet wife had found a 3-pack of Kerrigold cheeses (Sharp cheddar, Dubliner, and something Gouda-ish) so we started with that and for other protein (I'm a die-hard carnivore) we added some sliced salami and sliced chicken breast. She made fresh hummis Saturday night (with enough garlic to guarantee no vampires) and we already had pita pockets in the freezer. Add some crackers, our ever-present celery and carrots and some tasty red grapes and we had a tasty and different lunch. Thanks for helping me think outside the (lunch)box.

I called a local cutlery shop and asked if the had the Forschner Edgemag product. THey didn't but they did have the Messermeister product. I measured a couple of my knives and went over last night and bought 2, one for my cook's knife and one for my 3" paring knife. They are heavy-weight plastic and grip the blades securely. As stated above they have a variety of sizes, both in length and in width, to match the knife you are trying to protect. If I can find a local retailer that carries the Forschner product I will most likely acquire a couple of those for other knives that I carry and that will give me a side-by-side comparison.

I LIKE my garlic peeler. Sure I can smash cloves with my knife and frequently do so but when I need a pile of peeled WHOLE garlic cloves this little tube does a great job and takes up very little space. It's been interesting to me to follow this thread. It truly points up how we are each a unique cook - and why for serious cooks it's hard to cook in someone elses kitchen. We know not only where things are - we also know what is there that we like and use. I'll also confess to laziness. The only time I use whole cloves is in my volunteer cooking and since I need a lot of them when I do need them I buy the pre-peeled ones at Costco.

Actually I was looking at these plastic edge guards from JB Prince.

Is this where I admit to buying one a few years ago and then NEVER using it. I guess that proves that at least in my kitchen it must be useless.

I'm a die-hard for my wooden spoons. Good hard olivewood spoons are what I have. I do put them in the dishwasher and I usually run the machine on the sanitize cycle. I have plastic et al for serving but not for stirring. I just thought about one thing. Where I do my volunteer cooking it hard to get things as clean as I like so I do own stainless steel spoons to use there.

I: 1) Along with my wife cook one or 2 meals a month for my father-in-law; 2) Do volunteer cooking on the weekends about 13 weekends a year; and 3) I bring my own knives when on vacation at the house-keeping cabin we rent. Because I take my own knives to these places I recently bought a roll-up knife case. Should I buy edge guards for the knives that I carry in the case?

I have dealt with a "Ms Percher" at social functions for the company my wife works at. I had an ah-ha moment recently regarding this particular behavior - although I don't claim this is a 100% covers-all explanation. I'm a reasonable short guy by today's averages. I have very short legs for a guy (25" inseam - try buying that size off the rack) and have found over the years that some chairs and some booths are constructed such that the padding is not sufficient to keep my hamstrings off of the frame of the chair/booth. What I end up experiencing is a lot of localized pressure transversing the muscles in the back of my leg since my stumpy legs don't touch the ground. This eventually gets painfull and I have to get up and walk around for a minute to give my legs a break. The ah-ha moment came when I realized that the "Ms Percher" that I deal with has really short legs also. I came to the conclusion that she sits on the edge of the chair to avoid the muscle pain I described above. It's still a pain to have to maneuver around her but it did give me some new insight.

Fortunately my daughters are kinda of past that at 20 and 26 years old. This kind of situation I can understand and appreciate. Those people to whom I was refering have no mitigating circumstances such as children in the cart. They are either unaccompanied adults or sometimes 2 adults shoping together. Which leads me to a peeve that is more my problem than others. I see, say 3 people, shopping together and there isn't much in their basket so I get in line behind the at the checkout stand only to discover that they are making 3 separate purchases which adds time to my wait. If each had their own cart it would alert other shoppers that if there are other, shorter lines they may want to choose them. edited because I hit the post button instead of the preview button,

Thank you for posting on the stresses that a server in a chain restaurant has to cope with in the name of shareholder profits. While not an issue with servers I have another reason that I despise certain chains. Red Robin is a great example of a place where they believe that the correct level of sound is that level which prevents normal conversation for the guests. When I can't hear the server ask questions about choices of sides and such something is wrong. Simply because of the noise level I avoid most chains. I guess I really am getting old - at least in public. I still crank up my music where others don't have to share in it.

This used to be a problem because our old dishwasher wa just slightly less noisy than a space shuttle launch (or so it seemed.) Our last dishwasher was so quiet that we couldn't here it at the other end of the room. For unimportant reasons it failed and by the time I had both time and money it get it fixed the motor/pump had rusted together and would not longer work period. Been hand-washing dishes for half a year. But hold what yonder light breaks - can it be - yes! yes! yes! it is the glint of light off of the shiny new replacment dishwasher. That cardboard carton holds a true treasure, the end of my hand-washing days. The replacement dishwasher will be installed (by me) this Firday. And I reqd through the warranty this time so as not to get stuck if this one fails prematurily.

Magnets seem iffy to me since their properties are affected by heat.

Or course it doesn't take the whole family being there to block an aisle. How about the shopper who places their cart against one side of the aisle and then stands on the other side of the aisle to look at the products they're interested in completely blocking the aisle by doing so. I try really hard to remember to put my cart on the same side of the aisle I am standing on.

I wish the major chain store I shop at offered cart return places. There are 6 aisles of parking at at the end of 2 is a small area demarcated by some curbing and it isn't big enough for the larger of the 2 cart sizes available. I do return carts when I can but the store needs to provide the place to return them. IMHO Kroger = Kheap.