cdh

I have a stash of Swartenbroeckx belgian chocolate bars... They were an old standby in the Zabar's chocolate selection and were a favorite of mine for the excellent flavor profile in their 77% bars, as well as their cacao nib enhanced bars. About 5 years ago they got rare, and the supply eventually dried up, and my attempts at Belgian corporate archaelogy indicate that the company got bought and the line discontined, sadly. So the 5 bars left in my fridge are the last of that noble kind, as far as I can tell. I'm going through them very slowly, until I find an affordable chocolate that matches or surpasses them.

Seems designed to cater to British travellers and expats. Named after a London landmark... For somebody accustomed to London pricing, and earning pounds rather than dollars, it isn't so expensive...

Stores in my neck of the woods are of two ilks. The POS bar-coded laser-scanned variety, and the weigh-it-on-the-scale-and-write-the-weight-on-the-butcher-paper type. The latter type do the multiplication when they take the cash. And no, I don't remove bar codes... unless there is a rebate involved.

Neither of those seems any more wacky than the old fashioned toasted hoagie, aka the grinder. They're classic sandwiches, and quite tasty when done right. The key is crisping the bread on the outside and maybe warming the meat a little, but leaving the vegetation inside cool.

I love grilled PB&J... they're wonderful things. Butter the outside of the bread, cook like a grilled cheese. Use chunky PB!

Sounds like UE may get a kick out of JB Prince. Very well stocked on baking equipment, aimed at the industry rather than at the off-the-street public. No visible storefront, hidden if you don't know it's there. Their website is at www.jbprince.com.

Yes, and the foxes they started out with in the breeding experiment were fully wild as well. Yet a couple of generations of selected breeding led them to act domesticated. And a couple of generations of random bunny breeding, or "meaty" bunny breeding could just as easily wipe out the short flight distance that made them domesticated... particularly if the meaty bunnies are housed in hutches and don't get the opportunity to express their built-in flight distance.

I don't know that I could agree that there are not hard-coded traits that affect the suitability of a particular beast for keeping as a pet. On PBS recently there was a fascinating documentary on the evolution of dogs from wolves. Click here for the show's webpage. Anyway, they brought to light an experiment in breeding that selected for sociability, and demonstrated that within a couple of generations of selective breeding, the "flight distance" hard wired into an animal can be reduced or eliminated, though doing so also brings along another bunch of traits as well. To select in breeding for "meaty" rather than "friendly" could have a huge impact on how the beastie copes with proximity to people, particularly if "meaty" is not one of the traits that comes bundled with "friendly".

And it is delicious, particularly when it gets properly ripe and runny. It is quite interesting that while the French are discarding their traditional methods of production, they're being picked up by artisan farmers in the US. I imagine that a lot of little secrets and tricks to producing traditional cheeses will be lost when places that have generations of experience in making them "modernize", and new and different ones will emerge from the new experimentation.

Largely because useful input would be: 1) impossible, given the scant information you provided; and 2) legal advice, which many here aren't licensed to give, and none of those who are represent you.

The fundamental question here is which side are you on? Are you looking to impose a contract upon an employee? Are you looking to demand your employer sign a contract with you? Is your employer presenting you with a contract and telling you to sign it or pack up and get out? You need to explain your situation to a lawyer, who will then either put together a draft that covers your requirements, or review what you've been presented with your needs in mind. Then either you or your lawyer gets to tell the other side what you've come up with. Negotiations may then ensue. There is no form book where you rip out a page that says "Chef Employment Contract" and expect it to cover all your bases.

Do a search for the topic called Stove Mods. It details wiring a control device and thermometer into an electric stove, giving you the ability to drop the probe into a pot and control the water temp in it to a reasonable degree. Here's that thread, as I couldn't make search bring it up... so I went hunting manually. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...dpost&p=1302241

Where rates an A on your grading curve?

Have made two visits to Capogiro in the past few days... Tried the Thai Coconut Milk, which was a bit too sweet for my tastes... and then had a wonderfully paired combo of starfruit-lime and grapefruit-campari sorbetti. Yum! When are the cactus pear and honeysuckle coming out?

I've always had good luck ordering from the opposite side of the planet- http://www.gray-seddon-tea.com does a great selection of Chinese teas, and the cost, shipping included, is totally reasonable for the quality of tea offered.

Well, coming from a rural existence in Pennsylvania, I can tell you that here bologna has many different incarnations and types, and can be quite tasty indeed. I have no idea whether the Ohio Amish and their germanic neighbors make Lebanon bologna, or if Ohioans are stuck with pink smooth Oscar Mayer's finest, but there are some damn nice varieties of bologna out there. The Lebanon bologna and cream cheese sandwich is a fond childhood memory.

Hmmmm. I'm going to have to make sure to spray and otherwise take care of the peach tree in my yard... Here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, the trees haven't begun to flower yet because of the cold snap... the magnolia even survived because it had not opened up yet by the time the nights got below freezing. A very late spring indeed.

Wasn't that reasoning, to simplify greatly, "A handshake's a handshake, damn it!" ← And the statute of frauds be damned!

The fact that the case is from Texas does negate its applicability in Philadelphia... and Texas law is very much more amenable to appeals to honor and unspoken duties to others. Just look at the reasoning in Joe Jamail's billion dollar case in Pennzoil v. Texaco. I don't know that that case would have come out the same way in any other state. (Spoken as a graduate of the University of Texas Law School...)

What do you mean by "specialty coffee"? Are you using it like the SCAA does? ... or some other way? I'm not one to be impressed with latte art, or triple ristrettos poured from crotchless portafilters with specially enlarged baskets. I'm usually quite happy with New Mexico Pinon coffee run through an espresso machine... but maybe that's just several years of habit talking.

A fun rant. I don't see the glaring grammatical issues that JAZ brings up... those three examples read just fine to me with the insertion of an obviously elided comma here or there. It's a little snarky, a little jargony, but otherwise quite witty.

How's that math work? $5M gross 18% of gross is a reasonable estimated gratuity = $900,000 3% of $900,000 is $27,000 $150K is the total credit card fees on everything.

How does that play with the IRS assumptions? Are staff taxed on $15 or on $14.47? If the IRS just adds up the Gratuity lines on the receipts and doesn't assume that the CC fees are deducted, then staff would be taxed on more than they make. Could that happen, or does the accounting take it into consideration?

What's meant by "pay the credit card fees"? Are staff being asked to eat their proportional chunk of the CC fees, e.g. $85 check +$15 tip= $100 check-- 3% CC fee= $3. Tip was 17.6% of check, so proportionately tip should be ($15 -($3 *.176) =$14.47. OR Are staff being stuck with eating the whole cost of the card fees, so that on the same check, tip = $12?

"Belgian Tavern"? Did you go to Eulogy or Monk's, or is there another player in the Belgian beer game in town now that I've not heard of yet?