MetsFan5

Happy anniversary! What a cool day to get married! christmas was steak, so NYE will be shrimp cocktail, caprese salad, string beans, sautéed mushrooms with a bit of Marsala and King crab legs. I need a good NY day brunch like item to make-- I asked Kim Shook for the recipe for that gorgeous breakfast bread she posted a while back but it got lost in the shuffle of the upgrade. I have fresh and frozen mango and rum on hand for mango daiquiris to watch the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl since my inlaws will be there (go Stanford)! Any suggestions in case Kim doesn't see this are greatly appreciated!

See this to me goes against my instinct as a diner. My tip is what establishes service, my first time at a restaurant, unless I received horrid service, but I avoid Applebee's and the such like the plague, I tip %25-30. Always. In the true interest of being an American I like to vote with my wallet. And on the other side of the coin, if I were to ever go back to waiting tables, no way, no how would I want to earn a salary. People are servers to NOT earn salaries, take a month off in the winter and make killings during holidays, I earned shittier salaried as a desk jockey than I did as a server. It is literally the only job, besides stripping, where one can walk of on a Saturday night with $400 plus plus dollars in their wallet. Don't even get me started on how much this will hurt staff with shifts that will now be considered OT pay and they will essentially be reduced to a part time job.

Homemade chex mix. I have no idea why I haven't made it before or why I love it so much but I need to bag up the leftovers before I eat it all and make myself sick!

I would be happy to eat bacon whenever I want to and get annual colonoscopies to make sure I'm ok. And I'm 35 and had my first colonoscopy at 34 (due to a still tbd gastrointestinal issue). I rolled my eyes when my issue of Time magazine came and had bacon on the cover.

I'd also consider double ovens if your space permits.

Wow! That is my kind of breakfast buffet!

That fee is like joining a country club without access to pools, golf and tennis. I can validate the cost of a CC but not for a single restaurant. Especially with a buffet lunch.

Cottage cheese in lasagna offends my Italian sensibilities. I make lasagna regularly and it's never salty. And I make sausage lasagna 99% of the time. Use lower fat mozz if you're worried and don't add salt to your sauce (if you make your own that is).

My husband gets Berkshire pork ribs at our local butcher. They are AMAMZING. Absolutely the best ribs I have ever had. Worth every penny and more.

Well, to be honest, I wasn't alive then, or if I was, I was too young to recall such a situation. Yet again, do you tip at MCdonalds or Chick fil a , or Wendy's? Of course not. Such places don't even permit tip 'jars'. Just as weddings without a cash bar (where the host pays) doesn't permit tip jars. Once upon a time I ate a grilled cheese sandwich in a Woolworths at the counter and yes, I'm sure my parents tipped. Just as I tip when I sit at a a counter in a diner or at the bar in a restaurant. There's a very big difference between those situations and a Dunkin Donuts.

They took all the McDonalds out of EWR as well.

No, I don't tip someone who hands me a drink and a donut. Maybe, if they give me actual coin change, then I will. But I don't tip at McDonalds, so why would I tip at D&D? I do tip at Starbucks. All the restaurant I have worked in are in the North East, within a 30 mile radius, some closer, to NYC. I

Have you ever worked as a waiter? Your wife working at the counter of a D&D hardly counts-- I don't tip when I go there and I tend to tip everyone from cable installers to baggage handlers to whomever provides me with take out food at a restaurant Who is "screaming" about making $2.13 an hour? I had days where I would average $50 an hour and days where I had to take cash out of my own pocket-- because customers (mainly foreigners) tipped me so poorly that between tipping out the busboy and the bar, with such shitty tips I had to open my own wallet. When people do not tip appropriately, it costs the server money to wait on them. We can argue whether the current system is right or wrong, or what can be changed, but the bottom line is the system is what it is. If you dislike it so much, you are free to dine at home or at fast food establishments. If there weren't servers out there, busting their asses for tips because of the non existent $2.13 an hour pay, you wouldn't be able to dine out and enjoy being waited on. If you view it as such an issue, please, by all means, do not dine out.

Also? If you haven't lived off of tips alone, well, you don't really have a leg to stand on. I don't work now, simply because my circumstances don't need me to, but I do have a skill that, god forbid, I needed to work and support my family (highly unlikely, but whatever) I could and I could do extremely well. Not a lot of educated people have that to fall back on.,

Host's note: this post and its responses were moved from the Blacklisting Cultural Bad Tippers topic. This is completely untrue. 100% untrue in my vast experience. I reported the bulk, not all of my tips. My "pay" was 2.13$ an hour and would be if I had to go back to the grind. I had a LOT of days where I was in the red-- as in, after working a slow lunch and tipping out the bartender and busboy and getting shitty tips, I owed the 'house' money (which was generally forgiven) AND I had to pay to get my car out of an expensive parking garage-- the only option for me to drive to work. Sorry, not walking six miles in Northern Nj where the weather is precarious at best. But hey, you know on single bartender who makes a lot of money. Bartenders tend to do well and also do not have the 2.13$ hourly wage that servers do, at least not in most states. Also? Before you suggest a person tries a different job, perhaps you should consider the physical, mental and hustle abilities needed in a waiter position. Walk a mile in ones shoes, and THEN talk. I know all about any included fees as an American. I have a BA in Hotel & Restaurant Management. I've spent a decade of my life dedicated to serving people, not as a way to live, because the income is dependent on so many factors, but because I genuinely loved it. But to think a server is being paid decently and even to suggest they might even have access to a solid health care plan is ignorant. Walk a mile in any pair of my shoes that waited on a minimum of 20,000 tables and then let's talk. And because of my experience, that's why my husband felt it was important to educate his employee and continues to do so.

I'm glad your server was able to resign herself to accepting that people from different cultures just won't accept the US culture of tipping (despite them happily accepting 20% from me while I've been in Europe). It is frustrating, but certainly not personal. However, I find it not so much misinformed when Europeans come to the US and don't tip appropriately as they just don't think it's a valid way to spend money and show appreciation. And that pisses me off. I don't go to other countries and expect them to speak English, or basically go with any assumptions that their culture resembles that of my own area of the US. I educate myself and behave accordingly. 98 % of visitors to the US from overseas are well aware of our cultural tipping standard, they just won't part with their money. Any international visitor that seeks out fine dining or well established and well regarded restaurants are well aware of the US tipping culture. They aren't going to Hard Rock or Applebee's, at least in this instance and the instances I found myself in (I have only worked in fine dining). The other 2%? I attribute to business travelers who aren't used to expensing meals where a 20% tip is acceptable to expense. My husband had an awkward moment with one of his reports from the UK who on his visit to NYC only tipped 8% on all expensed meals. Said person genuinely thought any tip higher would raise flags with compliance as it would have had he been in the UK, my husband explained it was fine here. A difficult conversation, sure, but one my husband felt necessary.

I went down to the studs in areas of our kitchen. In February living in northern NJ. It's tough. My floors throughout the house are all oak so I had some sanded down and restrained, mainly in the kitchen. My puppy has done a number in our living room so we are waiting to negate those scratches. Best of luck! Kitchen renos are a bitch!

Scuba-- could you tell me more about the sushi rice sticks? They look awesome. As does the whole meal!

I'm jealous of the corn! Where in Fl did you go? I'm going to Marco Island Saturday for two weeks and looking forward to lots of fresh grouper. Your tomatoes look perfect! And, really, what's a summer meal without good corn? It's been not so great here in Nj so I am super envious of everyone's corn-centric meals!

What size egg do you use?

I've never HAD to cook. My mother is first generation Italian and a decent cook. My dad mastered the grill. I studied Hotel & Restaurant Mgmt in college and worked in high end restaurants so I got used to eating very well. I don't really LOVE to cook; I get easily frustrated with failures that result in money and food tossed in the garbage. It's not so much the money as it is the waste of food. I can make a great sauce, a super lasagna, but I wouldn't say I enjoy cooking. I don't know why anyone would assume that's a given just because someone posts here. I love food, I love dining out, I love eating and I love learning. But I don't love cooking. Not yet. But I think I will get there. ETA- hoping to sneak past my pup recovering from surgery for- GASP- a corndog that I will dip in ketchup as a late night snack, or really, a delayed dinner.

Thanks for the Crepes-- I think it's my user error and not your directions! I also think, from previous posts, I had overblown expectations. Which is fine, the only way I will learn is by trying, and trying again. Much to my pups pleasure!

This is a must try on the BGE.

Also, should I just toss the bowl of olive oil coated smaller bits and try again or is it worth saving and shoving in the fridge to try again tomorrow?

Actually, after testing the temperature after over an hour of having the cauliflower in, the temp turned out to be 412 and not 350 which is even more baffling. While I need to call my contractor who installed my ovens (he's on vacation for a month)- I will buy a cheap oven thermometer.