Wilfrid

Also, as you have five people coming to dinner, are you intending to buy more than one bottle, and if so would you like recommendations for different wines? Are you serving steak? I would recommend trying a wine store, but if you can find nothing tempting on Sparks list, most wine stores may turn out to be disappointing too. After all, Sparks does have a Wine Spectator Grand Award, and offers over 1,000 choices. Are you sure they sent you the right list?

By the way, I wasn't advocating legal action against BK either. I was just saying that, as a layman, I could see how someone could try to make out a case. Can everyone see the funny picture I put up?

So, Tommy, you've forgotten Annique already. Listen, if you start taunting the vegetarians, they're going to laugh right back in your face: Don't say I didn't warn you! :p

Don't worry everyone, Tommy just hasn't thought it through yet. And Tommy, when I figure out how to do picture links I will post some ugly effer for you to look at! Which reminds me, Annique left Jimmy's a couple of weeks ago to seek a new life as a movie star in LA. Tragic, but I'll be looking out for her movies! Oh, no-one knows what we're talking about. Sorry.

Real tall chimneys? Dumb idea. It's the chimneys that are letting the smoke out in the first place. Get rid of 'em!

I am not an attorney. However, I think Ron Johnson is spot on, and I can readily see the makings of a claim against BK - but it would only be worth bringing if the offended vegetarian could show damages of some kind (although in these days a suit for a million bucks for offending sensibilities is not inconceivable). I have no doubt that a Veggie Burger is aimed, among others, at vegetarian customers. tommy has summarized what BK''s defense would probably be (although they might not eff so much in court).

I think BK are being naughty. I am in no doubt that they know a lot of people will assume it's a vegetarian choice. But they know it's not and are careful not to say so. This sort of thing gets companies in trouble.

And here I am working. Oh. No, I'm not, I'm on eGullet as usual. :(

Imagine my excitement yesterday afternoon when I logged in and saw from the front page that ajay had just asked Tom Valenti to distinguish between American and French butt. Aha, I thought, this'll shake things up. Then imagine my disappointment when I entered the thread and discovered it was actually a question about butter. Love the way those topic titles cut off sometimes.

That's fantastic. And alliterative too. I have got to work that into a conversation later today. Fact is, of course, I agree with you. My parents never consulted me on important stuff like my name, where we should live, what school I should go to. Most unthoughtful. ;)

I have occasionally pretended that I understand absolutely no English. But then I have to whisper to the waiter for the rest of the evening.

Just thought of another one. If you are serving fried potatoes, I find you can do the first frying whenever you like, and then the second frying to crisp them up just before serving. That saves time.

Some of my friends are vegetarians (despite my best efforts), and I long ago came to the conclusion that they frequently consume animal products inadvertently. 'Vegetarian' food prepared using animal stock.fat is a good example, but many confectionary items - candy, chocolates, cookies - contain undisclosed animal products. And some of the vegetarians I know stuff themselves with sweets to stay cheerful.

Garage, Stefany, yes. Massage and buffet, no I don't see it. And grammar school, indeed. Direct grant, in fact, and the use of 'pudding' to refer to everything from Spotted Dick to lemon sorbet is an absurd, outdated and misleading affectation. So there. :p

Ooh, I'm excited now. I wanted to go to Tabla this weekend, but thought I wouldn't get a table. I forgot that I am in the minority in completely ignoring just about every holiday in the calendar. This should be a good weekend for grabbing tables! :) :) :)

All useful stuff, thanks. I do, in fact, habitually par cook dishes when I am getting ready for a dinner party. Risotto is easy to start off and finish later, and lots of restaurants do it that way. Birds can be roasted rare, breasts and legs removed (or the bird jointed as you prefer) then finished later in a pan with a sauce. Even fish can be cooked just through, kept refrigerated, then finished in a pan when your guests are ready for that course. It's a balance between serving food straight from the range, and being able to spend some time at the table with your guests. I infer from the responses that I should be less nervous about leaving chopped vegetables around for several hours. Do they all benefit - like potatoes - from being kept in cold water?

Can't miss a chance to agree with you, Steve. Winter before last was our first trip to Miami, and we had a cracking dinner at Norman's. I recall an appetizer called "fire and ice" which was two contrasting ways of presenting oysters. I also recall an expensive bottle of J. Phelps Insignia (which year?), of which the meal was more than worthy. (I must figure out a way to keep my old tasting notes more accessible, because my memory is shot!)

Well, you can take the oik out of Romford, but you can't take Romford out of the oik. Tommy, "oik" is pronounced pretty much as it looks, okay?

Interesting comment by Tom Valenti in response to a question. He enjoys doing basic prep tasks early in the day rather than in a final rush, and says "Prep ahead." I like the idea. But I'm always nervous that pre-peeled/chopped/julienned/etc vegetables will curl up, change colour or become otherwise unpalatable if prepped too fra in advance. Am I over-anxious about this? Are there general rules, like covering with cold water, or even just plastic wrap, which will allow prepping several hours before cooking?

It's not the first syllable that's the problem, it's the second. It's "an" not "on". "Mool-an." Likejardin is "jard-an". Seriously, and not meaning to be one up, French is obligatory for all English school children up to the age of 16 (or was in my day). Am I right to think that's not the case in the States? (And I am really not being smug; there's obviously a much better reason for it to be taught in England/Britain than here).

"I've never heard a Brit pronounce valet with the t sounded" With Macrosan on that one, I'm afraid. Americans of course became 'arrivistes' in 1788. Now another American one which irks me is pronouncing 'route' as if it's the result of a battle between England and Scotland (that should reveal whether Yvonne is following the thread...).

Agreed. And what really "sux" is that I don't know for sure if those meals were wonderful or whether I was just easier to please.

Adam, I have sworn an oath under a blasted oaks to resist such remarks. Bux, it had never occurred to me before that the French had an exact word for 'faggots', but I am happy to assume that gayette is it :D Let me confess, I couldn't get any caul fat. I have made various faggot-type titbits before, and while the caul fat unquestionably bastes and adds flavor, and looks pretty, I have always been able carefully to assemble and cook the meatball (broadly speaking) item without it. This slurry wouldn't have gone into any caul fat. So, just a foil-lined loaf tin, as I said. I love the cup cake pate idea. It occurred to me long ago that sourcing sausage skins was unnecessary, and that you could make quite satisfactory hand-shaped rissoles/burgers of whatever sausage mixture you fancied (you lose the snap, of course). I can now see the cup cake idea making them very neat and tidy.

Yes, the breeds were specified, and my waiter seemed very well informed about them. Sorry, Cabrales, my memory won't help with names of breeds. My only problem was that the meat on my plate was not fit for a dog. It really was that bad.* Maybe I was incredibly unlucky. *No, I exaggerate. I think a dog would probably have eaten it.

Although I agree in theory with what Beachfan and Macrosan have said about keeping up standards despite being fabulously wealthy, I am afraid I lack the moral fibre. If money was no object, I would swan about in upmarket places just for the hell of it, and would care a lot less if the food was poor. You would find me reading the paper in the 21 Club over a half-eaten lobster sandwich. I have been broke and I have been moderately well heeled, and I think I would love being rich. Flawless meals are very rare indeed, and I never set that standard for a restaurant. I have had great top end meals at L'Espinasse (Gray Kuntz days), ADNY, Jean-Georges, and so on, but I could pick faults in every one. That's life, and it gets worse as you become more experienced and more fussy. If I had to identify meals approaching the "flawless" level, I would point to much simpler, less ambitious, but still enormously enjoyable affairs, often in fairly unknown locations. Something people haven't addressed much: I absolutely do think the customer has the ability to take control of and steer a dining experience - by being confident, well-informed, relaxed, politely assertive and generally enthusiastic. And, as Cabrales has pointed out, dressing the part helps. I hate complaining, because it tends to mar the evening. It's almost impossible if one's a guest, and it's tricky if one is dining in a group because some people, rightly or wrongly, will be embarrassed. My Beloved other half has pointed that out to me repeatedly. But I will complain if I need to. I've never thought about it before, but it would take something quite out of the ordinary for me to write a letter rather than deal with it at the time. And I'm steering well away from the word "great" too. A while back I posted a list of what I considered fifty good restaurants in Manhattan. If one of them attains greatness the night I'm there, lucky me. I am more worried about getting a good meal than getting a great one, I'm afraid.