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I don't think New Yorkers are any more or less likely to be ill-mannered than people anywhere else. The ill-mannered people I observe are my fellow Canadians, and Canadians are stereotypically (and wrongly) considered to be unusually polite.

Yes, I'm sure that in other areas of their life the same people find other reasons to feel entitled.

I don't know whether this is a new thing (probably not) or whether I'm just encountering it a lot more because of a baby boom (explosion) going on in our neighborhood. Many young mothers are very considerate about other people and their children, but there seems to be a sizable minority who travel in packs and consider it to be their right to crowd other people (often older women) off sidewalks with their outsize baby carriages and to sprawl all over local coffee houses in large groups with all of their possessions stacked on and around tables. Nero observes that they seem to feel entitled in some way, and it's hard to escape the conclusion that some people feel having a child elevates them above the rules of civility.

The term "droll" was coined for this book.

I prefer no tv during meals, but my wife and I have been known to (by agreement) read through meals, which is more antisocial than tv by far. If it enhances the experience for people to watch tv while they eat, I say watch to your belly's content.

Don't think so.

The telemarketers seem to have figured out that the best time to reach people is around the dinner hour. But invariably they are at out of town (perhaps even out of country) call centres, so we just ignore any long distance ring around that time--don't even have to check call display. I'm sure they'll figure a way around this in due course.

It's been a few years since I was in Cozumel, but the best, most authentic food, no surprise, was in the old town of San Miguel. Can't recall any names, but there are a ton of small, family run places where they'll show you the fish or whatever they have on hand before cooking it. It's right downtown, a comfortable stroll, as I recall, from the main beach. Avoid the "duty-free" stores.

Here's a story in which that vintage, and others, are rated. Doesn't sound like you'll be disappointed: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/food/lonsford/2001428

Canada beat 'em to it: http://www.google.ca/search?as_q=&num=10&h...ch=&safe=images

I'd be inclined to go right to the CEO of Sub-Zero and scream bloody murder. A gas range is not, or shouldn't be, very complicated. If Sub-Zero took over the line they should assume responsibility. Seven years--these things should last a lifetime.

Maybe you should try a new repairman before you try a new stove. This guy sounds shockingly incompetent.

I notice that both Bourdain and Battali say Spain will be a major influence in food, lifestyle.

TV is great. But it is, in my experience, not great for many of the reasons people often claim, or used to claim. It is wonderful entertainment, but lousy as an educational medium. And the news comes at you in such a jumble of image and emotion that it is worse than useless--it's often dangerously misleading. At least with a newspaper or the Internet you can pause and say, "That's horseshit." And read it again, or move on.

A review of Trading Up, The New American Luxury in the current Atlantic asserts that "75 per cent" of all Viking ranges "are never used." If you happen on one of these orphaned appliances, please let me know and I will give it a loving home and lots of attention.

Best on fresh fruit, so depending on where you are, you might want to wait a few months before making your next batch. It lasts a while, but a few weeks might be pushing it.

Makes sense. The really cheap stuff has a discernable taste--like impending death. The better stuff, no. So you are paying bigger and bigger dollars for an absence of taste?

It's usually made from grains (as whiskeys are) occasionally from potatoes but could be made from pretty much anything, I'd think, including sugar, so long as all the flavors were filtered out.

Our kitchen is the centre of the house, no question. It has a large centre island with a couple of stools and a small table off to one side, which seats four. Most of our meals and a great deal of discussion takes place in the kitchen, although we do have a radio which is often tuned to a public affairs program and the news while dinner is being prepared. Lately, I've noticed that a laptop computer has crept in and is used regularly by my wife to scan news sites and occasionally by my son to listen to music. The kitchen opens onto a rear deck with a natural gas fired Weber, which is used throughout the year. During the summer we dine most nights in the backyard, often wrestling with our son and his friends for the privilege. Otherwise, almost all but the most ceremonial meals are taken in the kitchen. The dining room gets used, I'd say, less than a dozen times a year. When ribs, pizza or a few other meals of this sort are being planned, I'm often informed by my son that "some" of his friends will be joining us. "Some" can mean up to six. They're mostly pretty helpful and unobtrusive. If there's a basketball game on, they help themselves and disappear into his basement lair. We do have friends with a tv in every room in the house, including the kitchen. Madness.

What you say makes a lot of sense. If a smallish restaurant was worried about wastage because of selling wine by the glass, one answer might be to offer a rotating selection of two or three, and make some attempt to explain to customers why these particular wines are being featured--in other words, do some extremely basic marketing.

Skimmed Nigel Slater's Appetite, a Christmas present. A lovely looking book, but pretty basic. A few pages into Michael Bond's Monsieur Pamplemousse Omnibus, about a former Surete detective who is now a gourmand and inspector for a Michelin-like restaurant rating company.

Wonder how long it will be until truly tasteless mad cow jokes sweep the US, as they did Canada?

I guess this extends all the way up the ladder. Wine sales, as I understand it, have actually been in decline in the US for some time. Wonder why wine distributors aren't offering free courses to servers and others in restaurants on the wines they distribute, or even on wines generally? Or are they?

It may not be illegal, but it is, um, a motherhood issue. How many restaurants want to court notoriety by announcing they exclude ANY class of customer?

Since everything else about restaurants and food service has been studied to death, there must be some research indicating whether knowledgable servers and a good wine selection translates into a better bottom line. I'd think this would be the case in most restaurants which serve wine, but does anyone have access to such research?