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RAHiggins1

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Everything posted by RAHiggins1

  1. I'm editing this question to make it more on topic. What experiences and background got you to this point culinarily? Does your current daytime job play into it at all? Obviuosly from posts after this one you are looking to move away from your current revenue stream, is there anything from there besides former co-workers who wistfully stare at your new found passion that you are taking with you that will benefit your new life? Also, what are you having to do with the bank to buy out Mel? Business plan? Insurance? workmen's comp, etc? Any other hoops? Do you have to transfer the business license, permits, etc?
  2. Do you work all three or one in particular? And will you be working there during the sale?
  3. My first encounter with Brunch was serving it on the weekends in the Marines Mess Hall. It was mostly your standard breakfsat stuff with snackbar style food. Scrambled eggs and a Chili dog anyone? I think the important factor was that instead of opening for breakfast at 4:30am and serving until 8:00am, then breaking down and setting up to do lunch from 11:30am to 1:00pm, we would do one serving from 7:00am to 11:00am and close until dinner service at 4:30pm until 6:00pm. that gave us time mid-day to go run 5 miles and take a shower before starting to cook Dinner.
  4. RAHiggins1

    Brunch

    I'm still waiting for you to say where your restaurant is located and the name too please I'm hoping you are near Atlanta.
  5. I sort of have that problem. we run a ebay store for computer stuff at my job. We pay to use their "Blackthorne" software which is a MS Access database. When we add an item to the store we put in the quantity on hand and it lists that item until there is no more inventory. It also allows us to export inventory into a spreadsheet and import it back in with the new numbers when we restock and it updates all the quantities. It's ideal just to import the quantites you want to update, so if you get a new shipment of cornichons you can update just that item. Then on my website I have the sript running that lets you brwose my inventory on ebay. www.synergyresourceinc.com The downside is that after ebay fees and paypal fees, if you use paypal, its about 10% of your sale.
  6. Hmmm...someone must know some inside info into gourmet stores In a way I'm looking at the restaurant being easier than the store, although my money is on being proven wrong after a few days. We've had this store for over four years now and get all sorts of national accolades, but we got hit hard by the economy and its hurting. As long as we can pay the bills, we can be patient for the economy to turn - and it will turn. I eluded to the biggest problem with gourmet stores - customers expect you to have every obscure ingredient that they see on the Food Network. And while we have argan oil, British bangers, bootleg Kinder eggs and pretty much any uncommon spice or herb that is required for international cooking, inevitably a customer will need something we don't have. That's not a good customer experience. That causes me immense stress. So for the restaurant, I believe that I'll be able to substitute and modify quickly enough with my wealth of ingredients that customers won't even know. We'll see. BTW - shameless plug - It really is crucial to support your independent stores because large stores can't/won't carry the diversity of products that we carry. I can't tell you how many times customers have requested products after the local mega store special ordered for them and never carried it again. Our shelves are full of those ingredients - and I can sell them because I know what to do with them. So enjoy your Whole Foods and City Markets, but remember the little guys...please! (or if every eGullet member lived in Silver City I would be rich beyond my wildest dream.) ← If you had more than a frontpage on your website, you'd make a lot more. I went to check out the store and unless I buy a plane ticket , I'll never know what I'm missing. Do you have a catalog you can send? Just so you know, I have been boycotting Whole Paycheck ever since they moved to a more "Affluent" neighborhood. I only went there for the seafoos anyways, I hate their prepared foods.
  7. I could not find Palm sugar at Super H mart. I ended up using Badia brand raw cane sugar that come in cones and is mixed with a little molasses. Super H mart did not have Kaffir lime leaves that I could find. I sort of cheated and substituted a little lime peel. I'm sure I lost a subtle component in my hot and sour dish.
  8. If it were 1983 again and I was trying to decide what I would do, I'd not have gone in the marines and applied to the CIA instead. I was completely ignorant of such things at the time. I find myself wishing now that I had done that. I like many others see the fallacy of trying to go back and do it now. I have a mortgage and a marriage to maintain. So racking up a 50K student loan at a culinary school and trying to pay for it with a $10/hr line cook job just ain't happening. If I were to try to do anything it would be to start doing catering part time for some one, learn the trade and move towards starting my own catering service. Develop menus and vendors, put a bottom line in a bank account, build the business, work hard,(continue to keep my daytime job) and eventually plan out the format and business plan to get my catering business established in a location where I could maybe put in some tables and open up to walk in customers. Stick to what you know and do it well. Keep it simple. This is tried and true advice. I think I'm going to go start work on that, right after I start a post on what do you need to know before you try to do it.
  9. RAHiggins1

    Brunch

    It's ok to give a shameless plug for your place when making me salivate.
  10. RAHiggins1

    Bubble Tea

    I had my first taste of Bubble Tea, if you haven't had this, you need to try it. Basically its a tea infused with flavorings, mine was pineapple, and blended with ice that is then served with large Tapicoa Pearls in the bottom. Bubble Tea
  11. RAHiggins1

    Brunch

    I've always thought brunch could be a very fun, special, and exciting meal. The combination of foods, families, styles, etc -- breakfast, lunch, desserts, you name it! LOL. I've also found that sometimes it's a "lost art" so to speak. I am looking forward to some of the comments on this thread -- thanks. Eric ← Here in Atlanta the 57th Fighter Group (Closed now) served a champagne brunch on sundays. It was classic brunch faire. Every place I've seen since does brunch ala carte. So to me thats more like "Diner Day", cause really you're just expanding the menu to cover 2 meals. I'd like to find someplace that does a sunday Brunch Buffet, I love Raw Bars for breakfast, then an omelet and a waffle. Wash it all down with a Mimosa. Then maybe some lamb and scrambled eggs. OM NOM NOM!!!
  12. RAHiggins1

    Dinner! 2008

    Thai Hot and Sour Prawn soup with Pan Fried Dumplings (I did not make the dumplings) Shrimp Curry with Jasmine Rice
  13. I like tomatos with my cukes and onions, coated with olive oil and balsamic. I put ripe olives in as well. Its great served cold on a hot summer day and has a nice mediterranean feel to it.
  14. Y'all are forgetting the fruit of the "Okefenokee", the Mayhaw. Its luscious juices turn into the most amazing jelly.
  15. I found this link Minor Fruits and Nuts in Georgia Basically Georgia can sustain the following exotic and uncommon fruits and nuts. Banana Mayhaw Cherry Medlar Chinese Mulberry (Che) Mulberry Elderberry Pawpaw Feijoa Pomegranate Gooseberry and Currant Quince Jujube Almond Juneberry Chestnut Kiwifruit Black Walnut Loquat Carpathian Walnut I think Quince has made it on to my list although it's not a eat of the tree variety.
  16. Hmmm.. I have it tivo's but not watched it since it aired so many years ago. Ok, I'm curious, anyone think Thomas Keller is the Nouveau Escoffier? Has he completely re-standardized modern day cooking?
  17. Learn to write about food. Start a blog and build from there. If you are good at it maybe you can make a career out of it. Then you write a couple of books, create a web based foodie society and kick back and enjoy the mediocre life.
  18. I'm no programmer but I am certain that what you want to do can be done, sort of.. First not all the sites you have listed offer their recipes online, like Intermezzo. Second, some of the site provide a search engine but not an index or their recipes. Saveur does this. Third some redirect you to an entirely different site altogether. Bon appetite sends you to epicurious.com What I would suggest is that you use a programming language called PHP to go search all the available sites at your favorite magazines and return the data as links on your webpage. It would still require you to go to the actual sites to view the link, but at least you would have all the available recipes listed on your page for comparison. I do not know how to write it, but I'm sure its an achievable conception.
  19. hehe, yeah. When I first looked at the pictures, I was dumbfounded that he didn't have another 20 or 30 tomato plants of at least 10 different varieties! All that space! I have a rarer variety (only two SSE listers) that I am working with this Fall called "Albany Georgia Heirloom" - pink beefsteak. I'd like to see it get more exposure. If all goes well, I will be doing a seed for SASE offer for next early Spring (January/February) that will include that and some others, and will handle it in this forum via PM's. I promised some people at the Agrirama in Tifton, GA first dibs, though. He is in that heavy Georgia clay it looks like, and it does need some amending. Good call. He shouldn't have too much trouble finding Oak leaves in that area this Fall. What kind of peas/beans are those RAHiggins? And the dimensions of your plot? Having any drainage issues? Also, I don't know the directional orientation of that plot, but I worry about that corn eventually shading some of the other stuff. ← I'll probably plant more varieties next year, this my first large attempt. The Garden is 25" x 25". I tilled 10 rows and planted most of it. I did get a late start as I had to build the fencing first to keep my dogs out of it. The soil itself is actually nice with no clay in the topsoil. It's not as dark as I'd like but is fairly sandy and retains moisture well. I oriented the rows to more or less be in line with the sun's path (east to west) I also tilled the rows so that rain would collect between the rows but would flow from north to south if there were a lot of it. I do have a mple tree right nest to the garden and i will be tossing all the leaves ofer the fence this fall. I placed the corn to act as a natural barrier between my cukes, zukes and squash and the rest of the garden. I don't really expect much yield from it. My hope was to use the stalkes for Halloween/harvest decorations. The green beanes are a hybrid tendergreen bush and the cukes are burpless hybrid. I have another question, my tomatoes are not ripening. I've picked them and even placed them in a paper bag with a banana in a dark place and they are still green.
  20. FIRST OF ALL, I'D LIKE TO STRESS THAT THERE IS NO CONSENSUS IN JAPAN AS TO THE PROPER WAY TO EAT SUSHI. It's up to you whether to use your hands or chopsticks to have nigiri. I personally prefer using chopsticks so I don't have to clean my hands with a wet towel (oshibori) frequently. Batteleships (gunkan in Japanese) can be eaten in various ways, including: 1. Dip the rice at the bottom in soy sauce. 2. Tilt the gunkan to one side a little, and dip the nori in soy sauce. 3. Pick up some gari (pickled ginger), dip it in soy sauce, and pat the gari on the top of the neta (topping) to apply the sauce sauce. 4. Simply eat the gunkan, with no soy sauce. I personally have gunkan in way 1. Note that at some sushi shops, gunkan and nigiri are pre-seasoned by the sushi chef so you don't apply any more soy sauce. I can't answer your second question. I think it's better to use soy sauce sparingly for any type of neta. As for your last question, is it a joke or something? Maybe the Japanese are more lenient to burping in public than other nations, but we never burp to show appreciation! ← The burping is a common misconception for a lot of Americans. I think I saw it portrayed on "The Brady Bunch". There are some table manners in China that I know are taboo here, such as slurping soup and placing bones on the tablecloth. As far as chopsticks, I have always been told to not stick chopsticks standing upright into a plate or bowl of food as this is how it is served to the deceased in the Shinto religion and is considered disrespectful otherwise. As far as eating Sushi/sashimi this thread has definately altered my method. I've always used Gari to cleanse the palate, but I no longer add wasabi to soy sauce and only very lightly dip anything if at all before eating. I also find my self trying to discern the various distinguishments in the flavors and mouth feel more. There is also another thread around here somewhere in regards to the freshness of fish, sushi grade, and other common misgnomers that has had an effect on where I get my sushi, I've decided that "all you can eat" buffets for the most part are just grindng out different things but most of it seems to taste the same. Which is ok if you are going to dip it completely into a bowl of Soy mixed with a large glob of wasabi into a slurry. I do have a question about Nigiri Sushi, it is often served in pairs and sometimes can be quite large, are you supposed to just stuff the whole thing in your mouth, or is it ok to eat it in two bites. Also, how do you prevent the second bite from falling apart as you are dipping it in soy?
  21. It's dark. It's cold. Three hours will pass before the sun even thinks about rising. But it's time to get up, light the stoves and prepare the first of three meals this day. Work will not end until well after the evening meal when the kitchen is returned to it's pristine state for a repeat performance tomorrow. Great Chefs of the Marine Corps: Serving up hot chow and morale. By Mary Karcher Having served as a food service specialist in the Marines, this article brought that era back in vivid detail for me. My memories are nostalgia filled but I remember it was back breaking work with as long of hours as anyone else in the food industry. I hope that the readers here will appreciate the hard work and dedication of the Marine Corps cook, they certainly deserve it. Semper Fidelis
  22. As FG stated, "the proof is in the pudding". Have you ever watched a barbecue or grilling cook off? I can say without a doubt that I do not recall ever seeing anyone competing in one of these competitions who didn't use wood burning or charcoal grills and smokers. I have a charcoal/wood grill that I can smoke in, but I also have a charcoal/wood smoker as well. I use Gas to heal boil and fry pots, maybe for a outdoor wok as well. I usually use Kingsford as well, but just as a starter. I add wood and let it turn to coal as well before cooking.
  23. RAHiggins1

    Beef

    I never buy anything already seasoned in a package. There are just too many chemicals in the food supply to trust any of it.
  24. RAHiggins1

    Dinner! 2008

    Green Beans and Zucchini fresh from my garden with onions and capers. Other ingredients were olive oil, salt, pepper, and some dried basil (was out of fresh).
  25. The French Laundry episode is playing this week.
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