KateW

Oooh, I forgot about the cheese sauce machine. 90% of the time, it didn't work, but oh boy, when it did, everyone had a field day. Nice hot fresh fries, salted and covered in that stuff...Mmmmm.

At Johnson and Wales, I had this vision of eating gourmet food day and night and I was dismayed to see that the dining hall in my dorm was just like any other cafeteria. The only good part was the sandwich bar where you go up and get a sandwich made to order by some poor student who, more often than not, didn't know that you slice the pita bread in half and open it like a pocket, not roll it up. But when they got it right, it was good. The soups were almost always overseasoned or underseasoned. A few things were good like when they did Chinese style cuisine that almost always came out well. So did the fried chicken, and breakfast. Actually, most things were decent, I guess, but not what I expected from a culinary school!

I just had to come home from my family reunion Saturday and post in this thread, late or not. Maybe I'm just out of the loop but I ate some things I hope to never encounter again...Here are examples of the weirdest things. Croutons--big ones--in a creamy cheesy white sauce that had lobster in it. I can't say it was really white trash because of the lobster, but if there weren't lobster in it... Cubed potatoes--about a 1/4 inch cubed and so perfectly shaped I suspect they were store bought--also in a creamy cheesy white sauce. Ok...potatoes au gratin...kind of. But not good. A dip that was SO garlicky...I love garlic and so does my whole family (apparently) but this was over the top. I remember past family reunions having great food. I'm not sure why this was an off year. On the other hand, I usually pig out so much it was kind of a good thing the food sucked.

Just watched the Restaurant show for the first time all the way through last night. What was the deal with the stand up? Did he actually think that "shout out" joke was funny? I was embarrassed for him. I thought some of the romance stuff was sort of staged, but hey at least he didn't turn her down...I thought he was gonna totally forget to read the note though, with all that crap that was going down back there... That cook is wicked cute though. My fiance said "Now watch this, this is what you say you want to do." (During the cooking scenes) I said, I don't want to base my opinion on a "reality" show. But he said "Well they can't really fake much about the cooking." I guess that's kind of true...

I make stuff my SO (oh by the way he's my fiance now as of August 15 ) would never touch and would cringe to see me eat. Rare steak/burger is an example. I do eat that stuff when he is around too, but it's so much more fun when he's gone because I get to make "yummy" noises and not gross him out. I also take alone time to experiment; that way if it turns out gross I won't have to subject him to it too, and if it's yummy I can surprise him with it one night.

My boyfriend bought me a microwave cart and I hate to say it but it's just about the coolest thing he's ever gotten for me (besides jewelry, of course). I don't keep my microwave on it but I keep my cutting board/knife drawer (drawer pulls out of the board) on it, and inside it I keep baking goods, my oils, a box of straws, a stack of saucepans, stuff like that. Basically everything that was in a big box or bag is in there and not cluttering up my cupboards and counters. It also has hooks and a bar for towels, oven mitts, etc. I keep my cutting boards on the bottom shelf. There is practically nothing on my counters anymore except the microwave, blender and toaster. I'll stop gushing now.

I tentatively bought a single 20 oz. bottle of Pepsi Vanilla today at the grocery store because I had been warned. But I was surprised. It's better than Vanilla Coke. I like Vanilla Coke (I like coke better in general) but Pepsi Vanilla has a natural aftertaste and Vanilla Coke doesn't. Pepsi V.'s aftertaste is like vanilla ice cream. I swear! It's a good thing Pepsi V. is better because Pepsi products are a hell of a lot cheaper than Coke products around here.

i just fear being spread so thin that I don't learn much of anything. Jack of all trades, master of none..but I think it would be a cool experience anyway! Maybe not so rushed as a restaurant--people at a restaurant are there only to eat, while people at a hotel are there mostly for the lodging and tend to go out to eat, right? Or am I wrong again? LOL The one time I had the pleasure of dining at the Westin was when my room mate's family took me with them for brunch once. It was pretty good, but I had just read Kitchen Confidential and kept thinking about the horrors of brunch...lol. I still enjoyed it though. I'd love to hear your stories, Raynickben. (Sounds like 3 different guys!) I'm willing to try anything once!

The Westin Hotel seems pretty nice and is really easy to get to from my school via public transportation. Perhaps I could do something there before or after my shift at school, depending on when it is. (Wish I knew already!! Gahhhh) The menu looks pretty yummy. Check it out here. The menus are under "Amenities" and require acrobat reader which is free...but if you don't wanna download it you can still check out the rest of the webpage. However, I think the menu is worth the download!

There are no hotels that serve meals in my area, but I can look into the ones in Providence. There are some nice ones there.

The manager on duty yesterday has heard me sing the praises of salad bar and said if I just wanted to do salad bar, he can offer me Saturday and Tuesday. I think they're both closing shifts, so Saturday would be like 5:00 to 1 a.m. and Tuesday would be 6ish to around midnight. Other than that he said "We would just call you in if we needed you" (for cooking too, I assume). This would work, unless I have night classes. Then I wouldn't be able to do Tuesdays. But I won't know until September 7. I was thinking, depending on my school schedule, I could get another part time job, either just for Fridays and Sundays, or if I am going to school in the morning, I could pull an evening shift somewhere. BUT, I don't know if I like the restaurant atmosphere. I am leaning towards a more focused job, something specific, but I don't know exactly what. I have been looking at the job of personal or private chef, and it's hard to find really specific information on it. It sounds interesting though, and I really enjoyed the part of nutrition class where we learned how to cater to specific dietary needs. I think something more personal and "real" cooking is more my speed, but naturally there is a lot I don't know about it. I definitely want a job that includes creativity and I don't think I will find that in a restaurant, unless I own my own, and this is not one of my goals. Well just wanted to update. Any input is welcome!

I think grapefruit goes well with mint. Not sure how you can incorporate that into a smoothie though.

i still eat this now. one of the few meals i can eat 5 days in a row. So do I. Thought I was a real genius when I thought of it Also I take those ramen packets, boil the noodles, and stir fry them with the seasoning packet, tofu, and scrambled egg. Just the egg if I have no tofu. The possibilities are endless.

Maybe I will go back, but my boyfriend didn't like it either. The sandwiches are too specialized...we kinda go for the "make your own" type thing, like Subway. Quiznos is good with making sure you want everything on it that is offered. I'm not a fan of shredded lettuce though. But they don't say no when you ask for none.

I think there is some debate on the "correct" way to hold a knife. I remember asking a while ago both at school and on this board if people liked to hold the knife the way you showed, or to simply grasp the handle, and the result seemed kind of split. I instinctively grasp the handle because that's how I've been doing it since I was old enough to help mom chop vegetables in her kitchen, but I can see how you might get more control doing it the way you showed us.

You guys must have tiny litter boxes, or really big plastic bags, because the plastic bags we get would only hold like a quarter of the kitty litter in our one box. That's why we use paper bags for that.

Panera Bread doesn't sit well with my boyfriend and me because the one time we went there, I asked if I could get no onions on my sandwich and they said no.

Good point, going to the doctor would be good for at least finding out if she has health problems, but probably wouldn't be good for getting her off the habit. We need to find out the real issues here, as you said.

I wasn't totally kidding when I said aversion therapy. I don't mean anything cruel, like making her sick from it or anything. Although if she were gonna get tired of it, she probably would have by now. Maybe you could switch her to low fat cheese so it at least isn't such a health issue. As for the mayo...have her make her own mayo every time she wants it...or switch to a healthier mayo... I don't know if going to a doctor would help, because she probably already realizes that cheese and mayo aren't the best things for her. I think the idea of making good food for her, sans cheese and mayo, might work. Maybe she grew up eating awful food that she had to smother in order to get it down.

Powerspraying sounds like the best idea. And I like the image of the person holding it at arm's length.

You could try some weird aversion therapy where you make her so sick of cheese and mayo she will never eat it again

I hardly ever get plastic bags unless I'm only picking up a couple things. When I ask for paper the baggers like to put it in plastic first and then paper, which defeats the purpose to me, so I have to say "JUST paper", and then I get nasty looks, and sometimes an "I KNOW"...well if you KNOW, teach your coworkers ;) I usually end up reorganizing my bags in the trunk anyway. The baggers like to put alike things together, which is cute, but can get heavy when all the fruit is together, all the drinks are together, etc. As for bag disposal we use the paper bags for kitty litter disposal and the plastic bags for returnable cans. We have a lot of extra bags :)

I thought for some reason that these Q&A's only lasted for like a weekend at the most but I am delighted to see you're still here. You're still here...right? Anyway, I gave in yesterday and bought the French Laundry cookbook. It's been sitting on my wish list for quite a while and I couldn't wait until Christmas. It's beautiful. I think you definitely "told the story", Michael. I know you didn't do it, but the photography is amazing--I can practically feel the California sunshine in those outdoor shots. The writing makes me feel like I've already been to the French Laundry. Wonderful job, once again!

Hahaha true Universalist style! Don'tcha know, when there's a fire in their respective churches, the Catholics will save the Bible, the Jewish will save the Koran, and the UU's will save the coffeemaker.

Well, if we're polling the whole family, my SO says grapes, my cat Happy says ketchup, cat George says "Anything" (He runs into the kitchen eagerly no matter what I'm getting from there) and cat Mona says "I lick my own butt constantly--does that count?"