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The Canadian Privacy Commissioner, whose expense account difficulties kicked off this discussion, seems to have taken his title too literally. The latest revelation is that he used liberal amounts of whiteout to hide expensive stopovers and itemized restaurant bills. Using more ingenuity than the privacy commissioner was able to muster, members of parliament scrutinizing his expenses requisitioned the orginals: http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=08...DF-4E3FDB060FED

Regardless of actual place of invention, the Caesar salad is most popular in the US, and therefore, an American salad. The Bloody Caesar (a bloody Mary made with clamato juice) invented in Calgary in 1969, remains resolutely Canadian. Although some claim it is now the most popular drink in Canada, I doubt that it has won much popularity elsewhere.

Then there's the lockup that's famous for its good food (shrimp, homemade bread, chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy etc): http://www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=14616

Congratulations. Sounds like a great opportunity to learn everything about a kitchen and you seem to have a great attitude. Best of luck.

There are numerous instances where the CEO's spending is approved by the board and its compensation committee. Then some disaster hits the company, and accusations fly that the board was not doing its job and should never have approved such outrageous expense claims, etc etc. In general, though I agree with both Fat Guy and Tommy.

For those who may want to add the WhirlAway and the Mutiny to their tour (crawl) of disgusting dives, details would be appreciated.

The latest and juiciest political scandal in Canada involves the high living habits of the federal privacy commissioner, who ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in restaurant and travel expenses in contravention of public service guidelines. In this case, it's pretty clear that the guy was way out of line. But in the private sector, corporations seem content to let some senior officials spend endlessly--and only start questioning restaurant tabs and other perqs when they're trying to find excuses to get rid of someone. Then, mysteriously, newspapers start getting leaked photocopies of itemized expense accounts, with special attention paid to expensive blowouts at well known establishments. When it comes to expense account abuse, how do you distinguish between witch hunts and white collar crime? http://www.nationalpost.com/national/story...FE-71F36C31A0AA

Browniebaker, Agree about Mickler. The photos are priceless.

Browniebaker, The Cool Whip Salad sounds...interesting. Many of the salad recipes in Ernest Mickler's White Trash Cooking seem to involve a lot of sugar or candy ("little marshmallows, Angel Flake coconut, Libby's Fruit Cocktail...") Just out of curiousity, where in the meal are these salads supposed to come? They do sound a lot like dessert.

The list of truly unique "American" salads may actually be fairly short, as your referenced history seems to indicate. But even if it was originally borrowed from Germany, I think the potato salad, as made on this side of the ocean, has taken on an identifiable American identity. (The chief ingredient, is, of course, New World.) In any case, it's a damn good salad, especially at this time of year. My nomination for most dubious contribution is pasta salad, in all its shapes and varieties--it's still starch, cold and unpleasant.

Chinese cooks and chefs manage to produce very credible versions of all kinds of cooking, but has a non-Chinese ever operated a successful Chinese restaurant?

Sounds like the Mayo clinic might do well in Japan.

The Complete Asian Cookbook (Charmaine Solomon, 1976) and early 1970s Joy of Cooking are both showing their age. But Complete Asian still gets a regular workout and I'm constantly amazed at the comprehensive and useful nature of Joy.

It does sound better than the Chinese food prepared by Chinese that I have tried in a couple of upscale places in Mexico City. It wasn't horrible. Just weird. And definitely an improvement over the Cuban Chinese food places that at one time infested the Upper West Side. They were horrible.

Fingerprints could be a problem, but the wooden models all seemed to be the starter version or something. Priced that way too. BTW, with the promptness and quality of the feedback I got, it did occur to me that Cooks Illustrated and Consumer Reports could be headed for obsolescence.

Chrome. They had some in wood, but they looked a little cheesy.

Got the Peugeot and filled it. Works beautifully and has an impressive heft. Thanks for the advice.

Being more of a consumer than an expert, I'd welcome a thumbs up/thumbs down system for choosing a pleasant, drinkable wine.

Suzanne, Bux, Andrew-- Thanks. Looks like a Peugeot it is. The owner of the newly opened kitchen supply place in the neighborhood assures me that the manufacturer will replace the grinding mechanism free of charge if it does break, although I haven't checked the fine print. There's nothing quite like a quality gadget, is there?

Maggie, Your father has good taste. Labatt India Pale Ale was an early award winner (1878, gold medal at the International Exposition in Paris). But Labatt doesn't seem to make it anymore, or if they do, they don't mention it on their website. (Which is actually quite hilarious, in a very Canadian way. You are cautioned, "You must be of legal drinking age to enter this website.") But one of their regional brands (Keith's in the maritimes) does make an IPA.

We seem to go through a lot of pepper mills (crap grinding mechanism). I'm now looking at a Peugeot. Any experience with this or other models?

If that is what is meant by "essence of emeril": nasty.

Prepackaged salad ingredients have become the second fast selling item in food stores, surpassed only by bottled water (and pay special attention to the byline): http://www.msnbc.com/news/928320.asp?0cv=BB10

Flaying Flay may be the stated purpose of the piece, but the writer does manage a few other nasty sideswipes along the way: "Emeril seems, at all times, dangerously close to actually copulating with the food he prepares."

Santa Monica has decided that their restaurant owners need all the help they can get: http://www.smmirror.com/volume5/issue1/cou...l_gets_into.asp