Porthos

Call me foolish if you want but "organic" doesn't inspire me to part with more cash. Organic Junk Food falls into the same catagory. I've read diet and nutrition books off and on for most of my life and the one that finally made sense to this nutritional layman was Dr Agatston's South Beach Diet. It changed the way I look at food and how I choose to eat day in and day out. It finally caused me to start trying new things and specifically for me caused me to increase the quantity of veggies I eat which made me look more carefully at how I was preparing them. That has helped me start serving tastier veggies. It did not inspire me to start concerning myself with whether or not things were organic. For those who do care about selecting organic food items I have no quibble with them making that choice for themselves. My general approach is to follow the South Beach Diet guidelines as best I can for most circumstances and not freak out when I choose to eat (for one given meal once in a while) any old way I feel like. My personal health has improved and I haven't shelled out a dime to avoid those pesky chemicals who's presence doesn't offend me.

I like the title "Destinesia" for this syndrome - reaching your destination then forgeting why you weny there.

My wife's family began a yearly tradition of vacationing high in the eastern Sierras near Yosemite when she was only 6. They added fishing to these trips after a few years. I had fished off and on since before I can even remember. Early in our marriage we booked a cabin at "the lake" and spent a few delightful days of fishing, eating and sleeping. We have gone almost every year since. How long have we been doing this? My older daughter was still in a stroller the first time we went. Now she's finished college, gotten established in a carrer and is headed for the altar. We book the cabin as soon as we can raise someone at the resort in January. Then in early summer (four weeks and counting as I write this post) we go and fish, eat and sleep. Understand that our idea of fishing is sitting at the lake edge with a line in the water just soaking up the beauty of the area. We like it better when we catch fish but fishing is the "excuse" we use for just sitting and relaxing. This year we have dwindled to just my father-in-law (he's a great guy), my sweet wife and myself. We fish for trout. While at "the lake" we will have one dinner of fresh trout, rubbed with olive oil and garlic and then barbercued along with a good zinfindel. The rest of the catch comes home and gets brined and then smoked over fruit woods. No one EVER turns down the smoked trout. I put the lake in quotes because California has many lakes but in our family "the lake" means one very special place.

Okay, I'll admit. When it comes to Feta I'm lazy. I rarely use Feta except for a Spelt & Barley Grain Salad. I hand-prep everything else - and I have crumbled Feta myself when necessary but prefer not to bother. However... Feta is the only cheese we don't slice/shred or whatever ourselves. My DW is a mouse in disguise and good cheese is important to her. For Christmas I went to Trader Joe's and got her small cuts of several cheeses for her stocking instead of candy and such.

Davecap's statement in his opeing post: "My point in raising this is that I have never been treated that way by a restaurant." Your reply to me: Your statement of the "central issue" does not agree with Davecap's stated "point of raising this." I respect your right to not agree with his choice of actions but I do not agree with ignoring his original stated point in deference to one's reaction to his choice of actions. Any retail business assumes the risk of loss the moment they open their doors and if such a loss occurs, it was already established that such a loss could occur. Various restaurants having policies and procedures for attempting to mitigate this loss have been covered in other threads so I will not tread into those waters here. Corrected punctuation.

I have stayed out of this thread based upon the fact the I am not employed in the restaurant trade. However... The point of the original post was based upon how the customer felt he was treated when canceling a reservation. Whether or not he should have planned better is outside of what I see as the central issue (no offence intended - just letting you know where the following comment comes from). I spent 17 months sweeping trash at a world famous amusement park in Anaheim that has flourished for over half a decade. When I hired in one point was emphasized during the guest relations part of my training. Never, never, ever make the customer feel anything less than valued. It's not always easy, and sometimes you bite a hole in your tongue, but you remember that they are your guest and you want them to enjoy themselves and come back again because they had a positive experience. Those employees who crossed that line resulting in a complaint were dealt with appropriately. I felt it was a good atmosphere to work in. This attitude toward one's guests is something I was well aware of decades before working there. It is one of my personal benchmarks for whether I will return to any given establishment be it a restaurant, retail store or place of entertainment. I, for my part, try to not forget that it is fellow human beings who are serving or aiding me. I read name tags and address people by name when I can so that they know I recognize them as more than mere biological necessitates within the organization they represent. I hope they recognize that I am more than a biological necessity for getting greenbacks into the register drawer.

Gee - I haven't done that since - well - last Saturday.

Alton Brown did a show where he weighed 3 groups of mushroom and soaked them for (I think) 10, 20 and 30 minutes. They didn't soak up hardly any moisture and the 30 minute mushroom didn't gain any more water than the 10 minute mushrooms. I was already washing my mushrooms in a bowl of agitated water before seeing this show and had never noticed any untoward wetness when cutting them after cleaning. This show just increased my confidence that I was on the right track. Great Topic.

Thanks, Tracey. I was envisioning some clever folding of the corners of foil or something like that and couldn't figure out how that would make a difference.

Thanks for the answer, FG. I would never have come up with it.

How is "cater wrap" wrapping done? I've never heard the term before.

My wife and I have given up on eating out for Valentine's Day because of the crowds. We were low-brow plus this year. We actually "celebrated" Tuesday evening with our 25 and 19 year-old daughters. Dinner: Meatloaf in the shape of a heart, Au Gratin potatoes, green beans and Cherry Cheesecake for dessert. Didn't even open any wine. What made the meal special was being together. Last night we (don't shoot me for this) had a frozen spinach and feta pizza. My sweetie had an 8:00 appt which didn't leave time for any real cooking. My wife and I are very much in love after 28 years of marriage and we still date so Valentine's Day doesn't mean as much to us as some. She only gets flowers just because - never for a significant day. Chocolates sometimes. Edited 'cause my typing is getting worse by the hour...

Just curious. Did you read the reviews of the product at the bottom of the Amazon.com listing? I would personally be hard-pressed to put out $200 and make space for this device, but then I'm known already as a tightwad when looking at kitchen equipment. I will spend that kind of money (actually I already have) for a Cuisnart Food Processor or a KitchenAid mixer because of the utility I will get from them. This machine almost seems to qualify (as I put on my hard hat and flak jacket) as a unitasker. Just my point of view.

I have Vollrath, Syscoware and Update pans (Full, 2-pans, 3-pans, 6-pans and 9-pans) as well as a few Polar Ware 1/2 sheet baking pans. Once I got some of the different brands I quickly gravitated toward the Vollrath as being worth the extra money, or in my case mostly time, since most of my acquisitions have been by bargain-hunting on ebay.

Last spring I bought of couple of full-size x 2 1/2 inch steam table pans for some volunteer cooking I do seasonally. I liked them so much I bought 2 more and a couple of half-size x 4" pans. I started adding to my now growing collection by bargain-hunting on ebay. I also started using the plastic CAMBRO and Rubbermaid equivilents. Today I keep some of these around the kitchen for everyday use. I find that these clean up easier than most of the consumer kitchen products I have around. Does anyone else out there use these at home or do the esthetics of consumer pans and storage containers win out?

I gave up on Saran wrap a few years ago. Glad's pres'n'seal is my wrap of choice. Even though I am not a professional cook, I have a thing for using S/S steam table pans and CAMBRO/Rubbermaid plastic "hotel pans" and the Glad Pres'n'Seal makes for a very secure covering for the stuff going in the fridge. I got a taste of how easily these pans clean up when I bought a couple to use for some volunteer cooking I do and the rest, as they say, is history (about 60 pans total - many purchased specifically for my volunteer cooking.

As I see it BB did not review the restaurant but rather ranted about a specific experience at that restaurant. Please do not let your passion for the small guy dissuade you from differentiating between the two. Unless you ask for further comment I will bow out of this discussion.

I've been following this thread with interest. It seems that an expectation has been placed upon BB simply because he IS an industry professional. It is my opinion (humble or not) that as the begining words of the post tells the reader that this is not a review of the restaurant but a rant about his feelings regarding one meal and what it did for his perception of the restaurant based upon 2 issues. 1) Serious lack of commuincation regarding the cost of the meal. 2) The expected quality of the food just wasn't there. At no point does he tell others to partonize or avoid the restaurant. He just fullfills the promise of the opening words of his post A note to Holly: With no disrespect meant, please don't forget the motto of this forum: read - chew - discuss. I think that is exactly what BB did. Again, no offense intended, just my POV. As a consumer rather than an industry professional I would not choose to stay away from this restaurant based upon what happened to one person having a meal that was not the standard fare ordered from the menu. BB, I accept your rant for its face value. Rant on when you need too. Edited to fix a typo.

ANOTHER IMAGE TEST

Chad, Thanks for the info. I only do this (the fish cleaning) one week per year so I'm not looking to spend very much for a "special" knife for the job but I do have an idea... Thanks to your eGCI article on knife sharpening I finally screwed up the courage to learn to sharpen my own knives (I'm in my early fifties). I've certainly not become an expert but I am making steady progress. I finally was willing to do a light sharpening of my JA Henkels 8" chef's knife and my 7" JA Henkels Santuko and SUCCEEDED!! BUt like so often I digress... To apply what I learned from your article I bought a lot of 4 knives off of ebay that were in sad need of help, one being a 10" F.Dick. Following your instructions I was able to create a new edge on one of the others knives. The F.Dick has been a little more difficult to put a really good edge on but I am, when I have the time, still working on it. Thanks to your reply I now have a goal for the knife beyond just learning. It will become the knife for the head removal of the trout. Thanks for your reply and the inspriation that has come from it.

Thank you.

Thanksgiving 2005. I hadn't had an accident in the kitchen in years, not knicks or cuts from a knife, no burns, nothing. So we're getting close to putting the Thanksgiving Feast on the table and one of the last tasks is making the gravy. I started to make the roux and got too vigirous and splattered my left hand with hot butter. It took over a month for the blisters (some as big as the size of a penny - which is large on a finger) to go away and the left faint scarring that could be seen for almost a year. Because I know where to look I can still see one in particular but it isn't obvious upon a casaul look. I guess I made up for lost time in the accident department. Porthos Potwatcher The Unrelenting Carnivore

I enjoy reading the threads written by line cooks and such and one term is used that as an outsider I just don't know the working definition of. What is a "cover?" It is used when discussing the quantity of food production but that's all I get. Porthos Potwatcher The Unrelenting Carnivore

I fish for trout in the eastern Sierras. For years I have used a basic fisherman's filet knife to clean the fish including cutting off the head (removal of the head at my wife's request). I struggle to keep an edge on the knife after cleaning the day's catch for my family. It dawned on my that maybe I should be using something more like a chef's knife for the head removal and the filet knife for the balance of the cleaning. Is this rational thinking or should I expect the filet knife to hold up against the fish bones. I typically clean fifteen 12- 16 0z or so trout in a session. Porthos Powatcher The Unrelenting Carnivore