jackal10

Brilliant food...I wish I could plate like you do.. Smoking a pipe of tobacco is more satisfying...

At a local outdoor event there were hired portable loos. In the mens urinal trailer, just at eye height it read "For this relief we give much thanks to <name of hire company>" WHich I guess takes us onto graffiti. Written on the ceiling "You are now peeing on your shoes"

Its a standard sucker ratchet. The bet is that you will lose money and need to go back to them for more, which you will inevitably. That's OK. You gave away say 30% for the first round. Generously they will let you have the second round on the same terms, and they now own 60%, and they have control. Three rounds and its 90% and all your work is for nothing, just as it begins to turn the corner. A nastier variant in these times is the death spiral. Here the proposition is that the investors value is maintained even if the value of the asset declines. Thus you start with 30% for which you buy nice new shiny equipment. You need more (or want to cash out), or its review time. The equipment is worth less, having been used, or the economy and the restaurant trade has delcined, or you haven't made the projected numbers. The value of the business is say half what it was. The financiers therfore own 60%, even without putting in new money. Down rounds are really tough. Actually (at least here) it is really tough to find an investor who would put in the majority of the money without owning the majority of the stock, or without an asset backing or other guarantee. If the investor owns only 30% you will need personally put in the other 70%, which under the schemes above you lose rapidly. The sort of person that would put in money without stock or guarantees, you probably don't want as an investor, and may be even more expensive or difficult to service.

I believe the normal procedure in such places (not that I go to them) is to point to the pictures and grunt. The pictures are helpfully provided for the majority of their customer's normal forms of communication... OTOH what would a kosher restaurant be without the repartee... "I want chicken soup mit Knaidlach, and a kind word" "Here's the soup" "And the kind word?" "Don't eat the knaidlach!"

In the UK its usually with an "n" - sarnie. You might have a cucumber sarnie, or a an egg sarnie or tinned salmon sarnie. More refined than its op north version, a Butty (as in Chip Butty or Bacon Butty) - thick white bread, lots of butter and whatever filling..

Yumm! But we need recipes, ideally in the recipe section, especially for the delicious looking ice. Is it really that colour? How are you going to serve it? Tuile? Biscuits? Balsamic splash?

Its a rip-off, and demeaning The restaurant should pay their staff properly so that they should not need to beg for tips. I wonder what percentage the restaurant takes?

Chicken quenelles, with eggs and cream... In soup, or with hollandaise source.

I'm also a laxed Atkins, but even so I now rarely eat outright starches like bread, potatoes or biscuits. What works for me is just to eat one meal a day, so no lunch, and just coffee for breakfast. If I have the munchies mid day a small amount of strongly flavored food seems to work - an apple or cheese, or a pickled cucumber or onion. or all of them.

Fromhttp://www.easygourmet.com/nut_pages/1_index_page.htm Bean Sprouts 1 cup: 15 calories, 2.7g carb, 0mg chol, 0.1g fat Can't find yucca, except as an extract which has 4g carbs/100g

I agree, but you might just as well eat a small portion of potato: 18g/ for half a cup of mashed vs 11g for rutagaba. Much nicer.

Not that low: 11g/100g and a high glycemic index

BACON BEEF BREAD

Forgot to add bean sprouts as a pasta substitute

Sauce bigardes Seville oranges are bitter, and with thick peel Marmalade is the traditional use, although I've stopped making it, since we don't eat that much, and there is still marmalade from the year before last in the cupboard. Also you can buy good marmalade, sand you need only buy a jar at a time..

Look after it. Florence Lin's Complete Book Of Chinese Noodles, Dumplings And Breads is now quite rare and sells for over £100...

Pseudo-cassoulet: Add onions, beans (I use tinned), garlic, maybe some duck or goose, and two sorts of sausage all in a casserole; breadcrumbs and put a hottish oven util bubbling and a crust forms... Chinese style pork buns: Florence Lin has a good recipe.

A tomato typically contains 5g of carbohydrate, so in moderation The target is 25g-50g/day depending on the stage of the diet. A portion (8 fl oz) of plain whole milk yogurt is more like 10g carbs, so most avoid. Many yogurts have sugar or honey added; low fat or diet ones are the worst since the fat has been replaced with starches to give mouth feel. I guess they are OK as a marinade, since not much stays on the meat.

30% is tough but possible with big markups on wine and extras Rough budget is: 30% food costs 30% Staff costs 30% overheads (heat, light, power, phones, insurance, rates, taxes, card charges, printing, marketing, flowers, laundry, linen, breakages, maintenance etc etc) That leaves 10% profit. Maybe. No allowance for contingencies, or bad weather...

lets see... suppose the profit on a cover is $100 top end..implies a bill of around $300/cover or more. Tough, but possible for a top end restaurant with a serious wine list. and they do say 100 covers/day, or $10K/day, £3M/year roughly, That would pay the interest on 12M easy

where are the spices? A thin spice cupboard handy for the sove is useful. I have one on the diagonal corner, that was too small for anyhing else.

Lose the Corian. Its only for looking at.

cabbage leaves for wrappers, or instead of lasagne sheets flourless souffles, and the same mix for roulades, sponges Blumenthal's wicked molten chocolate fondant mix and variantshttp://www.ukgourmet.com/chocfondant.html. Egg white only and don't beat them.

A recent email from Alex Riley, as an example Vincent Girardin 38. 1999 Volnay 1er Cru « Santenots » £22.00 WA: « On the palate this gorgeous wine reveals violets, sweet back cherries, cassis liqueur, in addition to a beguiling freshness. A concentrated wine, it also boasts an extremely long, supple, fruit-filled finish. Drink it over the next 8 years. 89-91 points.” 39. 1999 Pommard 1er Cru “Les Grands Epenots” £28.00 WA: “The virtually black-coloured [Epenots] has an exuberant blackberry and cassis-scented nose. This is a massive, full-bodied, powerful, pure wine. Concentrated layers of blackberries, liquorice, and cassis liqueur can be found in this compelling Pommard. It also has magnificently ripe tannins that can be found in its long and supple finish. 92-93+ points.”

Can you swill it down? Use tile or better sealed lino (vinyl for cheapskates, but it won't wear)