SLB

I think beans are good-looking! (ps -- sucking up in order to get a spot in the bean club)

Me too! It's my favorite kind of exercise! Stay tuned.

For me, this is the utility of the fatties: I won't eat as many. They function like a true "side". Cause with [any variety] of French Fries, I'll eat a mountain of them in bliss, and then lick the salt off the plate after. It's not really the taste that gets me all fiended out, it's more like the texture or something. I don't know. But I get so lost in french fries I sometimes can't remember nothing about the protein.

I know plenty of African-Americans who won't even eat watermelon in the company of white people, because they don't want to bring to anyone's mind anything even close to one of those horrible pictures. This is old-school, for sure; but it persists. It's a trope that's left a pretty deeply felt sense of insult.

Here's an article on the history of the derogatory association of watermelon with an irrationally negative view of African-Americans: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/how-watermelons-became-a-racist-trope/383529/

I thought line cooks at fine-dining-type restos made good money. Actually, I really thought I'd read that this was the case in "Kitchen Confidential" way backalong. So that's why I was startled.

Woah.

Having done the math, I now think the MA meal tax was not applied to the surcharge here, so that concern is allayed.

But can they collect sales tax on it? I was talking about sales tax. However -- this is going off topic.

I suspect it probably does. Thanks.

I'm back in my office today and reviewed the receipt. You will see, the Kitchen Appreciation Charge is actually subject to sales tax. Taxing a surcharge seems, frankly, questionable. And -- since most customers would tip on either the total or subtotal -- which includes the surcharge -- wouldn't the disparity in compensation be replicated -- bigger basis for tips for the FOH?

I haven't loved cauliflower rice, and one thing this thread has made clear, I'm doing it wrong. I'm overprocessing the cauliflower to a pulp, and then cooking it too long (I was wondering why mine is ALWAYS yuckily mushy unless I've essentially fried it). One question -- do any of you freeze it raw after ricing it? If so, do you blanch it all all (which I do when prepping florets for the freezer). I confess I tried it once and it was a disaster. But in my head, frozen un-blanched cauliflower is not a good idea. This is possibly something I got from my grandma who died thirty years ago, but it stuck. Actually -- I have a second question -- I am stunned at how little rice you get out of a whole cauliflower (and I trim and rice the stem, too). It seems . . . wrong or something. Does this bother anyone else???

I was presented with this at a resto near Boston: Actually, what I was presented was the other side of this card, which said "Kitchen Appreciation Notice" on it, or something like that. I didn't turn it over until I got the bill and saw the surcharge, at which point I walked over to the hostess station and picked the card up (they had collected it from where we were after we got a few dishes into our meal). Given the notice, it's not the slick move that put @donk79 off; but I admit, it hit me a little weird.

Hello folks, long time no bean-posts. I'm looking for ideas of what to do with pigeon peas besides Caribbean-style rice-n-peas. I find pigeon peas to have a distinct (and kind of funky) taste, so I never want to eat them plain as a side. I do like rice-n-peas quite a bit, but I have a pound of the beans in my cupboard, and another half pound cooked up in my freezer; I thought maybe I could branch out. Who eats these? What are you doing with them?

This article may be of interest: https://story.californiasunday.com/resnick-a-kingdom-from-dust

I live in a NYC apartment with windowboxes only, and in any event failed to get winter stuff planted this year. [I think that's supposed to go in the Flower Gardening thread . . . .] But anyway, I spied this on the train the other day, on the back of someone's very large instrument case. I thought of y'all.

I confess I had forgotten all about Pimento cheese until I recently ran across a picture from @Shelby who was having a sandwich of it for breakfast on one of those blogs. Suddenly I wanted a pimento cheese sandwich, bad. And then this thread. And finally, I just came back from Vermont, where the cheddar is EXCELLENT. It's gonna be a weekend of pimento cheese trials, that's for sure.

Thanks for the tip, Shalmanese.

I read something recently that suggested that I substitute different less-refined sugars -- such as demerara or turbinado -- for the brown sugar that is called for in so many confections. What do y'all think of this? Does it make sense? It seems that the volumes would be dramatically different, because of the large crystals in retail raw sugars.

Thanks!

Bumping this topic, as I'm thinking about getting me a cleaver (for bones). @kayb, are you happy with your selection? Those Dexters look heavy. But my, are they beautiful.

Here is my wee batch of very-late-season aji dulce peppers, with a few hotter ones in there for good measure. I started out thinking I was going to use a recipe with strong seasonings like horseradish, and mid-stream realized that I was not gonna do alla that. Because I like basic pickled peppers on my food (the kind you buy at the store!). Plus, I kind of wanted to taste just this pepper.

I mean, it is the holidays . . . .

Mushrooms. I'm comparing HungryChris's pickled 'shrooms with two pickle recipes from the Joy of Pickling, the "Marinated Herbed Mushrooms", and "Polish Mushroom Pickles". None of these is processed. I kinda messed up the HungryChris procedure, I made my own vinaigrette instead of the prescribed "good Italian dressing", which I didn't have. My own vinaigrette was tasty enough, but the olive oil in it promptly solidified -- duh -- making for a nice grease cap. Not the worst that could happen, but not adding much to the flavor mingle, either. Also, I'm pickling a very small quantity of aji dulce peppers that some nice dude had at the farmer's market. They were delicious raw, I hope I don't mess 'em up.

ChocoMom, I have an excellent family recipe for baked beans that has ground beef in it. I encourage you to give it a try.