RAHiggins1

Zone 7 planting schedule, legumes in the fall, root veggies in the winter, etc.. anyone have one? I intend to keep the garden going through out the year this year. I finally got a break in the endless floods to get out and turn over the dirt and mix in a little composted manure (5/5/5). I've got the ground covered with landscaping fabric to deter weed growth until I can plant. My intent is to leave the fabriv down and cut openings for plants. I had a massive weed problem last year. Another question, I've got nine rows that are about a yeard apart from each other, is there an order I should use for what get planted in each? Are there things that should not be planted close to each other? An example is last year I planted corn, it didn't fair well and I really only wanted enough to make some fall/harvest decorations. I had it next to the cucumbers and was constantly having to untangle the cuke vines from the stalks.

What time should we all arrive?

Agreed. To foodies it might provoke disdain, but she is definately making herself known to the great unwashed out there who don't know who she or top chef is.

I've found a Shiro Tamari (white soy sauce) but have not found where to order it outside of contacting this company.

Yea go get in a kitchen and see if it is for you. I currently work 2 jobs, one is in computers and pays the mortgage, but the other is on the fryer at a four star. So I'm self inflicting 70-80 hours a week at the moment. The hours spent in the kitchen are like Zen for me. I thoroughly enjoy doing it.

His attitude has changed drastically since he became a homemaker and father. I bet he's taken up crafting and scrapbooking as well.

I am sad to report that NBC has taken too many notes from the Fox playbook.

I am reluctant to experiment for the obvious reasons of time and money, however it seems inevitable. How many 12-24-36-48 hour braises at how many different temperatures can I stand before i find something solid or lose my mind and become dibilitatingly discouraged? I am going to try lamb shoulders tonight at the temps and times given in roca. I will post results tomorrow. The only variable will be that I wont be using suckling lamb. ← Ok, let me make sure I understand what you are asking here. You want to sear meat and then sous vide it to a desired temp?

Yea fry ahead and pan off in a single layer, then after they are frozen you can move them to a larger storage container to keep during service.

It's kind of cornball, but... If you are going to have displays on the tables perhaps you could do a "Max Headroom" type persona and only reveal yourself at the end.

Vietnam is one of the best episodes to date. It truly evoked my desire to go there.

Rob, put the headcount in the contract. Put in the charge per person over the head count. Pay someone to count people at the door. Hold them to it. Prep for double what they tell you and take any leftovers to serve on the lunch menu/dinner menus the next day at the Kumquat.

Flip's wait times aren't as bad as they were now that its been open longer. I'd say go ahead and go it doesn't take long to get seated. Or, go for lunch on sunday and get seated right away. Last weekend was the first timeit was open on Sunday and really it was wide open all day long.

Yea I was young and dumb. ← I was young and dumb once too. Now I'm older. I hear you. I hate to think how miserable I would be if I had to approach every situation with distrust. I'd rather assume the best initially and be disappointed by a few than the alternative. At least you received a learning experience from it. ← Nah, I'm slow and thick like molasses. Part deux will be posted eventually, encapsulating the other lost 6 years of my life. Of course I'm not mentioning how I adapted and recovered or how even through it all I was able to elevate the restaurant's sales and profits.

Yea I was young and dumb. I also had a huge blindspot coming from a place where superiors are above reproach and unquestionable as such.

Of all my past experiences, I'd have to say that the one I rue the most is my involvement with the Waffle House as a Manager Trainee and then Unit manager. From the very beginning the relationship cost me more than it was worth. I had just moved to Atlanta and had moved in to the spare bedroom of my brother's apartment. As I was searching for gainful employ, I responded to an ad in the Atlanta Journal-constitution. I had at the time just separated from four years of service in the Marines as a Food Service Specialist (cook) and it was the base of my experience. The ad as it turns out was from AAA Employment. I had no experience with these kinds of services and quickly found myself being taken advantage. I interviewed twice, once with a management recruiter for Waffle House and then with my future division manager Jim H. We negotiated a salary and the fee for AAA was supposedly added to it. Once I accepted the terms and had started the training program, AAA contacted me wanting their money right away. Waffle House had pulled a bait and switch! I discovered after I had started, that the "Salary" we negotiated was simply the basis upon which a hourly wage was determined while I was in training and once I actually became a Unit Manager, I would make a base salary plus a package of bonuses. AAA was adamant when I tried to explain my situation to them that I had to pay them or I could not take the job. I should have taken the “or”. So the next six weeks of hourly pay, or practically the whole training period at “Waffle House University” went to AAA and I depended heavily on my brother's good nature. In retrospect I should have seen what was coming when I had to sign a contract that essentially made me financially responsible and accountable for all food and money in the restaurant. The next chapter in this story opens with me moving out of my brother's place and into a one bedroom apartment in Lithonia, GA in order to be assigned to my first Waffle House as a prerequisite. The restaurant I was eventually assigned after working “Internships” at other Waffle Houses in Jim's division was unit #580 on Evans Mill Rd. in Lithonia. I showed up at 6:30am to discover I was replacing one of my management training classmates. I was instructed to send him to the district manager's other store which was on the opposite side of the interstate exit we were adjacent to. I then proceeded to meet the staff of my first restaurant as manager and worked the entire day with them. Unit Manager at Waffle House is pretty straight forward. You cook the first shift of the day, 7:00am to 2:00pm. You then change shifts, count out the sales from the first shift, replace the cash register drawer with the new shift, fill out a sales report and make a bank deposit for sales from the last twenty four hours. After which the manager inventories the food on the floor and replaces what was used during the last day from the commissary which is kept under lock and key. My mistake as I would later learn was that I was not properly “Checked in” to the restaurant by the district manager that morning and had thusly assumed all responsibility blindly. The district manager “Darrel” showed up at the next shift change (9pm) to do a audit of food and money. As this was all new and exciting to me and I have a habit in general to trust people, found myself being taken to the bank. Darrel audited the cash which came out just fine. Then we went to the commissary and inventoried all the food, which also came out fine. BUT, when we came back to the office we discovered we (I) had not secured the cash in the safe and after recounting discovered five hundred dollars missing. I was afforded the opportunity to replace the cash personally or it would have to be reported and I would most likely lose my job on the first day and the money would have been deducted from my pay and a bill sent to me for the remainder. Thus was the nature of the contract I had signed.

Pretty much what the title says. Flip is now open sundays.

You should have eaten last night. Canapes by Richard Blais Main course by Wylie Dufresne and Sean Brock. Pastry by Johnny Iuzzini

I'm not sure how the contracting works with Louisiana farmers and fishermen, but I'm thinking that somebody might be locked into a set price. As for outragious local prices, my guess is large orders are filled and shipped first and there aren't many leftover.

I checked the sack price at "Your Dekalb Farmer's Market" here in Atlanta, $1.54/lb I asked them where they came from and they said "Louisiana". Maybe I need to start buying them and shipping them back for $2.99/lb.

Well after learning more from the Cattle farmers I would have to say you are correct. One thing I dont want is waste...of food or money. I will need to go outside my area to find a good butcher whome I feel I can trust. ← http://www.halperns.com/home/home.asp

Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Tagliatelle and Tom-cuke salad.

I just took a entry level position at a 4 star a couple of months ago. The co-workers of latin descent call me "Chico", which is funny because I am twice their age so it's probably a pecking order thing. They also tell me I work rapido. I'm full steam from start to finish even though I just worked all day at the job that pays my mortgage. This job feeds my soul. If I don't have anything to do, I find something to do, usually reorganize the spice rack, and dry stores or go do the walk-in/freezer the same way. I make sure its all the way the Sous likes it. Labeled with green tape, sorted by type, then size and all lids on the cambros with the tab to the right. If I see something is not right I immediately make someone aware of it. I've worked the lead spot on the fry station 3 times, first was the busiest day of the week and I started in the weeds, but got ahead of it and helped to clear the board with 50+ people waiting to be seated. the second was a slow night and worked it solo, and the last time I had come in early to a short staffed kitchen where the sous was on fry and in the weeds and passed it to me. I didn't recover and when more cooks showed up I was pulled back off, I had to choke down a lot of pride. The two most common phrases I say are "Yes, Chef!" and "Tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it". I ask lots of questions when I see something or do something that I have not done yet, but usually only have to be told or shown once. The next time I can just be told to do it. I do however stop and ask a chef to check my work in progress. Is this chopped finely enough or is this mixed well enough, etc.. And of course getting them to taste or inspect my work. I've been yelled at on the line when food is not out but not at any other time. It's old hat to me as I served in the Marines two and a half decades ago. I usually find what the chef is saying fairly comical because there is usualy a fair amount of dry humor and or sarcasm in it. But I'm smart enough to not laugh when its directed at me.

I can think of 2 little holes in the wall off 316 on 120, if you turn left there is the "Jerk Shack" just past Aldi's. If you turn right there is a place on the left just past the bank of america and a chinese buffet in a little office plaza. Both are good, but I like the place next to BOA better, the chef's palate is more refined. The Jerk Shack is more of a jamaican fast food type. The owners at both are very personable. There is also a columbian place in the same plaza on the backside. I've eaten there once, it was ok, but I asked for a lemon for my tea and got a bowl of lime wedges and $2 added to my check.

I'm always baffled when people assert that nouvelle cuisine had no lasting effect on culinary culture. It's not like we've all taken a reactionary stance against nouvelle cuisine by eliminating reduced sauces from our repertoire and returning to the wisdom of roux-thickened sauces! ← I don't know whether you're including me as one of those who is asserting that nouvelle cuisine had no lasting effecxt on culinary culture, but I was thinking more along the lines that nouvelle cuisine had become a parody of itself, and that molecular gastronomy could head in the same direction. Any worthwhile contributions may be forgotten as people (and it's the general public) only remember and mock the excesses. But even with the jokes aimed at nouvelle cuisine, chefs like Bocuse, Troisgros, Verge, and co. are still revered because their contributions had substance. If molecular gastronomy ends up in the popular culture as something to be laughed at, I'm sure that the likes of Adria, Blumenthal, Achatz, and co. will still be revered due to the value of their work. ← What's funny here is that people consider MG "Avant Garde". If you search for posts here with "Sodium Alginate" in them you will discover a discussion of how Burger King has always used it in the extruding process in their onion rings. If you look on the ingredients of everyone's favorite Thai hot sauce you will find Xanthem Gum. The phenomena of MG isn't really a phenomena at all. This stuff has simply left the big test kitchens and found its way into restaurants. I find it funny that people are gaga over Sous Vide, which has been around for a long, long, time. It's only our awareness and perceptions that have changed. Long after sferifications and other obvious displays have passed the limelight, the science will remain behind. As for Collichio, who among us would turn down a coke endorsement contract? I don't begrudge anyone turning their hard work into profit.