Tri2Cook

I'm extremely anti-PC in it's current form. I'm a fan of the concept but it went completely wrong somewhere along the way and has become much more divisive than anything it was meant to repair. When you can't even say something because it may remind someone of something else and offend or upset them, it's gone off the rails. It has to be brought into check at some point. The way it's going, someone will post on twitter about the awesome waffles they made this morning and have a crowd of people blow up at them because they all have loved ones who choked to death on waffles. How dare he say they were wafflicious, that sounds almost like wafflvicious and upsets us! I agree that Adam didn't handle it particularly well... but only as a career move. From a human response angle, he handled it pretty close to the way I would have.

I suppose they'll be attacking the Christie brand next for having the nerve to call their snacks "Thinsations".

I hope so. Now I really want to see a picture of someone panning some crickets.

I hope the weather holds for you. It's chilly and wet here, the local festivities have already been rescheduled for Saturday. I've never had egg and tomato like that but it does look tasty. Gonna have to try it.

That's exactly it's function in spherification. Adjusting PH.

I'm waiting too. I've already been scouting but it looks like they're still at least a couple weeks out at this end. We've been having a cool, wet spring/early summer so far, which I don't particularly like but the blueberries seem to love. The plants are loaded.

Apologies, missed that. I'd say problem solved then. If you have the same stuff from the same supplier, that pretty much removes the "maybe".

It is a higher ratio than other recipes I've seen for processed cheeses but I've done the MC recipe and there was definitely no sour taste. But that doesn't look like any sodium citrate I've worked with and I've purchased it from probably at least 4 different sources. I've never ordered it from Willpowder but what's already been mentioned, a mixup on the order, is a definite possibility (though I'm hoping that's just what Willpowder's sodium citrate looks like, that'd be a bit of a nasty mistake on their part). Calcium chloride in largish amounts, to me, makes for a very nasty sharp bitter taste but maybe there's some interaction with the cheese that leads to sour instead (if that's what happened here).

One of my favorite times of year on eGullet. I always look forward to this announcement and the fun that follows.

That sent me to check the site for availability at this end and I got my first glimpse of the new LCBO site... gonna have to navigate around it a bit but it looks like they've made browsing needlessly more annoying.

Agreed. I've met a couple of exceptions that I enjoyed but as a novelty, not a preference. In general, for me, a burger gets salt and pepper. If I want meatloaf, I'll make meatloaf... but not in burger form.

I agree and basically said as much in my initial response. But did you reply to the original post only or follow the conversation all the way through? Because more information of a different nature was supplied as the discussion went on. It evolved past the tipping issue, which Rob already said he's dealt with, to the customer also being rude and disruptive. It is well within any business's rights to continue to provide service under those circumstances but, like tipping, it isn't mandatory. I personally will not tolerate abuse to servers or the disrupting of other customers in the interest of not losing a customer.

The first thing I'd address is where you said "it tastes pretty awful". I'm no expert but it seems to me that, if you don't like the taste of the drink without the bubbles, you're probably not going to like the taste much more with the bubbles.

I get your frustration with their choice of wording but maybe it wouldn't hurt to give a little tiny piece of that rat's ass concerning why they won't do it. I understand that won't solve your frustration but it may help ease your anger a bit if you knew that, despite their poor choice of words, they simply (for whatever reason) don't have the means to do what you want them to do. That they're not just refusing to do it. It could be something as simple as the new cook doesn't know how to poach/shirr/coddle/soft boil an egg*. Then again, maybe nothing will do but for them to burn the menus and make new ones. *Laugh if you want but if you think every restaurant has a trained professional or even an experienced cook back there running the show, prepare yourself for some heartbreak. It's entirely possible to learn a menu and the timing involved with the items on that menu through repetition well enough to do the job without having any formal cooking knowledge. You get a job in a kitchen, pay attention, show interest, maybe watch things for the cook while he goes for a smoke during a slow time and one day, when the cook decides to leave, you tell the boss you can do the job. And you probably can... as long as nobody asks for something different than you've been doing. And the easy way out of that situation is "sorry, we don't do/have that".

Buttermilk Biscuits by Sir Mixalot. Once the song gets going, it's pretty much entirely about food... buttermilk biscuits in particular.

Coconut by Widespread Panic - "I like coconuts, you can break them open and they smell like ladies lying in the sun. And if I had my way, I'd give a coconut to everyone." Ice Cream Man by Van Halen - "I got good lemonade, Dixie Cups, all flavors and Push-Ups too. I'm your ice cream man, stop me when I'm passin' by. All my flavors are guaranteed to satisfy."

The Dead Kennedys - Soup Is Good Food Going way back to the punk music of my youth... and nothing beyond the title is actually about food.

I didn't post the full song lyrics... I left off all of the outro chorus repeats and ad-libs.

Too High For The Supermarket by The Uninvited is about a stoned guy going shopping for the stuff to make the tuna sandwich he's craving. Pretty much food-focused all the way through... Got the craving for some lunch but I ain't got nothing to munch. My mind is set on just one wish, a big ol' sandwich... tuna fish. Time to make a grocery run, I'll walk there in the morning sun. Make a list of what I need most, tuna fish and bread for toast. And though my stomach may be empty, I'll feed my head from the horn of plenty. Roll a joint Bob Marley style and smoke it 'till it makes me smile. Starting off in aisle one, fruits and veggies by the ton. Hey check it out, radicchio, these red leaves, man, they almost glow. And bok choy, I've always wanted to try it. I wonder if I have enough to buy it? It's grown in Japan, or maybe China or maybe some farm in South Carolina? Just then I hear a voice in my head, stay focused, man, tuna and bread. But right now I'm in produce bliss. Oh man, I'm too high for this. Too high for the supermarket. Too high for the grocery store. Too high for the supermarket. Ain't gonna shop like this no more. Everyone in here is staring at me. Sixteen different brands of tuna, Chicken of the Sea or Big Kahuna. Packed in oil, packed in water. Dolphin friendly, dolphin slaughtered. And oh God, what about the bread? Should I get white or wheat instead? Or rye, rye's the best I've tasted. Rye is best whenever you're wasted. Too high for the supermarket. Too high for the grocery store. Too high for the supermarket. Ain't gonna shop like this no more. Finally done, it's check-out time. Searching for the shortest line. The Express Lane! But they don't take checks and you've got to have ten items or less. So let's see, Ding Dongs, a bag of chips, Cap n' Crunch and some onion dip. It's sugar and salt, space and schism. The yin and yang of munchie Taoism. I got my favorite beer, Carlinger and pre-sweetened Kool-Aid you eat with your finger You lick your finger, then you stick it in the bag, then your stick it down your throat but not too far or you gag That's less than ten, check me out, go ahead. Oh, I forgot the tuna and the bread. Too high for the supermarket. Too high for the grocery store. Too high for the supermarket. Ain't gonna shop like this no more.

That's what I thought, that we'd already got past the issue of the tipping. I thought we'd moved on to discussing that the customer is definitely being disruptive and possibly being abusive.

Today's example paints a bit of a different picture than the entitled server I think we were all envisioning. This is about more than tips and a bit of a bad attitude. There's a difference between a customer being cheap and a bit of a grump and someone who thinks their money buys them a license to be an ass. I'd try to have a quiet conversation away from the dining area with him and see if I could get a feel for the reason behind the behavior. I'd explain that we understand if he's not happy with something and that we will always do our best to solve the problem but I'd also make it clear that we simply can't have him being disruptive to the entire dining room and abusive to staff. I never want an unhappy customer but there are times when it's unavoidable. Despite it being a catchy slogan, the customer is not always right. It sometimes comes down to how much wrong we're willing to tolerate... and there should be a limit. I wouldn't base it on one occasion but if that sort of thing happens enough that it's a strong area of concern for you and your staff and it's affecting your other customers, asking him not to return might end up being the right way to go. It's also possible that talking to him about it may help the situation... sometimes someone being an ass needs to be told they're being an ass.

A server the customers love that apparently works hard and is accustomed to being shown that she does a good job via nice tips. It's easy to cast stones but I can understand where her frustration is coming from. The thing is, it's still a person supporting the business and without the business there's no need for a server. We have a regular customer who comes in 4 - 5 nights a week on average. She almost always complains about something, she's generally somewhat rude with the servers and she doesn't tip particularly well. But she spends her money in the restaurant 4 - 5 nights a week. I've talked with the cooks at the restaurant she goes to for lunch (very small town with only a few restaurants, we all know each other) and apparently she does the exact same thing there. It's just her thing, she's happy when she's complaining. But she's at least as valuable to the business as someone who is an absolute delight and tips obscene amounts but only comes in once a month. Hopefully your employee will understand what you're trying to tell her because it sounds more like frustration than bad attitude to me. The big picture is that she's working in a busy successful restaurant and averaging a very good tip percentage overall. If she can focus on that, the occasional bad tipper will seem less bothersome.

I have no doubt this is where you would have ended up anyway.

I'd much rather have a customer telling people "the restaurant is great, I eat there all the time" than a customer telling people they were banned from the restaurant because they don't tip to the server's expectations. We have regulars where I work who love the place that never tip the servers at all and it is definitely culturally biased. We would never even consider banning them. I understand that servers rely to an extent on tips but it's kinda like the car salesman that relies on commission. Sometimes you sell a new Mercedes, sometimes you sell a used Yugo. I'm betting they get a whole lot of regulars who tip above average which makes this person stand out even more but I think banning would be an incredibly bad idea.

Even that, outside of a restaurant/food service setting, is technically a preference. It's an advisable preference but not a requirement. Nobody will inspect or enforce it, it comes down to whether or not a person is willing to accept the potential consequences.