Tri2Cook

We were a fairly large family with not a lot of money. We very rarely had cold cereal of any type in the house. Breakfast was usually oatmeal, rice or cream of wheat. When we did have cereal it was usually those huge pillowcase size bags of almost-name-brand unsweetened cereals like the generic corn flakes or puffed wheat. I think the cereal dessert thing came from pure greed. There was actually cereal in the house but there was also ice cream... how can I have both?

I don't think you did anything actually "wrong". I just don't think this whole thing was necessary if you already felt the way you felt about the situation and had already decided on your course of action in response regardless of what was said here. As you said, where you decide to dine is your choice. You say you weren't seeking a boycott or to smear their name. You weren't seeking confirmation from the crowd that you were "right". You weren't going to be swayed if the crowd felt you were "wrong". You already decided you weren't going to return. I'm just confused as to what you were seeking here.

Fair enough but you asked for our opinions so you had to know there was a risk that not all of them would support your position on the matter. If you'd already decided on the matter and nothing was going to change the way you view it and you had no motive to smear the name of the business then I'm not sure what the whole point of this was in the first place.

I haven't done it in many years but, when I was a kid, I used to like cornflakes with milk and a scoop of ice cream as a dessert or snack.

You're comparing a business scenario to a pleasure scenario. Nobody's bottom line is depending on the restaurant they're eating at going above and beyond with service.

I'm almost always making ice creams and other frozen desserts, just not from the book this thread relates to (which I don't happen to own). I enjoy reading what everybody else is doing with it though.

I agree with you completely that people appreciate it and may even show loyalty when they get it no matter what type of business it happens to be. What puzzles me is that, outside of the restaurant arena, very few people actively campaign against a business for not going that extra mile above and beyond what the money is paying for. If the customer gets that box of paper after hours, they'll be happy and potentially loyal. If that customer couldn't get that box of paper after hours the customer would think "dammit, why didn't I do this earlier" not "why won't they step away from their dinner and run over here to do what I want, I'm going to tell the world that they suck".

Why is the restaurant industry pretty much the only place where people feel entitled to much more than what they are paying for? I'm not saying nobody appreciates a business going beyond what is required in other areas but nobody becomes hyper-offended and spreads the word on the evils of the business if they don't get it. Nobody expects their local grocery store to valet their car if a rain downpour starts while shopping. If they don't have time to wait, they will suck it up and make a dash for the car. The next time they need groceries they will go to that store again without telling everybody that the store sucks for not making someone get their car for them or not holding an umbrella over them while they loaded their groceries.

Yes, there are. If that's all you were looking for then you didn't need our opinion. Just don't go. I agree with docsconz that there was absolutely no reason to name the business other than to try to ease your unhappiness about the situation by drumming up support for your boycott.

I'm just curious, suppose the owner says "you know what guys, bring the puppy in until the storm ends". Everybody is warm and dry. All of the customers seem fine with the situation. Maybe they've all given their official "it's fine with me" when asked. Then the one (or more) who really wasn't at all happy about it but didn't want to be in the spotlight as the only mean person in the crowd decides the best way to ease their unhappiness is to report it and spread the word. Ok, I've made two nice people from the neighborhood happy so now I guess I'll weigh that against the damage done by the other person/people and see which tips the scale the most. I guess I just don't understand the whole "I'm going to punish you for following the rules and respecting the rights of other people" thing. And where does the line get drawn if there's going to be an outside-the-rules line to play by? I used to keep reptiles when I was younger. Suppose I was sitting there with my 3' savannah monitor lizard on a leash when the storm hit and wanted to bring it inside for a bit.

A lot of really great ideas rolling in. I think it will be easy to make use of them with this crowd as an idea source. Thanks everybody and keep 'em coming.

I'm not entirely sure, I'm not a confections expert. I keep glucose, dextrose, lactose, fructose and maltose on hand and use whichever the recipe calls for unless it's a recipe I'm developing. Then I summon everything I can remember about each from other uses and... fake it.

I'm laughing as I read that because that was one of the first things that crossed my mind. I'm glad I'm not the only twisted person in this thread.

l'epicerie sells atomized glucose for $4.60 lb. or $33.95 for an 11 lb. bag. chefrubber has the glucose powder for $3.50 for 500g or $25.00 for 11 lbs. or $70.00 for 50 lbs. bulkfoods.com sells dextrose for $3.49 lb. or $7.91 for 5 lbs. or $33.40 for 25 lbs. but they don't carry the glucose powder.

By "good supplier" do you mean home hobbyist/small business level or mass quantities level? If the former, there are a lot of good sources online (chef rubber and l'epicerie just to quickly name two).

It's a privately owned independent. I have to drive over an hour to reach any "name-brand" stores.

Whatever pants/shorts I happen to be wearing while I sit on the couch and eat. Actually that's not all, I usually throw a pillow on my lap to set the plate on.

One day last week, I was at the only local grocery store and noticed that, for the first time ever, they have chipotle in adobo on the shelf (Does that give you an idea of how remote it is here and why ingredient sourcing is a lot of fun?). The next thing I noticed was that these shiny new 27 oz. cans of chipotle in adobo are only $1. I know that's not right, it's usually 2 or 3 times that for a 7 oz. can in places with more realistic prices than we pay for everything here. My first instinct is to take them and run. Then my conscience kicks in so I ask the stocker working the aisle if it's correct. He scans it with some gadget and says "yep, that's right". So I grab all 12 cans from the shelf, go to the register and question the price again. The cashier scans it and says "yep that's the price". Are you sure? "Yep." Ok, then. So now I have over 18 lbs. of chipotle in adobo for $12 and no idea what I'm going to do with it all. Good thing it keeps. As a side note, today at the store I noticed that the space those cans occupied is now occupied by the 7 oz. cans selling for $3.98 each. I suspect someone got in trouble.

When I tea smoke things, I don't use wood at all. I use a mixture of tea leaves and rice to create the smoke.

It's an excellent sports drink as well. I sometimes put it in my water bottle with a little half salt (salt/potassium blend) for a change of pace from gatorade.

Both of those ideas would probably be fine. I was just kinda playing with a theme when I did it and wanted to use a specific smoke wood.

I agree white chocolate isn't particularly neutral, I just find it a little easier to push in the background. Especially if I tone it down with some cocoa butter. My most unusual ganache so far was 70% with smoked tomato puree and lemon thyme infused cream.

I wasn't trying to discourage you from trying, I was just trying to taste it in my head and was having a hard time with it.

It sounds like a cool idea but I'm having a hard time picturing how you're going to end up at a flavor even remotely similar to a mojito using dark chocolate. I'm wondering if combining white chocolate and cocoa butter would tone down the chocolate enough to keep it in the background. I've experimented with cocoa butter based ganaches (no chocolate at all) to see if I could get a more pure flavor with good results (I keep meaning to get back to that) but it's a bit cost prohibitive for anything large scale.

I've never done smoked sushi rice. I've done smoked wild rice which I realize isn't the same critter but it did work and was tasty. I smoked ice cubes and used the resulting water in combination with chicken stock until I got a flavor balance I was happy with then cooked the rice (along with onion and mushrooms) in it.