Pickles

I have to admit, my beloved Auntie isn't a very good cook. But bless her...she thinks she is. So we humor her when she brings out a baked ziti--the cheesy topping hard as a brown, shiny linoleum floor; her baked breaded chicken breasts that you could bounce into the next town (cut from the joke rubber chickens....) and her odd desserts (Proudly: "I didn't have sour cream....so I used mayonnaise !") Some other treats: Soup with left-over egg-salad in it. Braised turkey neck (frozen since Thanksgiving....1976?) with pasta Meatballs on toothpicks, floating in a sauce made with grape jelly, and a can of Hormel Chili Cookies and cakes she makes MONTHS ahead of time and keeps in tins and insists they are fresh. I love her dearly...but... . My cousin, her daughter, is a fairly good " from recipes only" cook, but serves no variety when she entertains. If one dish has a cream-based sauce...then all the other dishes on the buffet have cream sauces. And it's all 50's type foods. She makes this GAWD-awful brunch strata with cheddar cheese and sausage links. She always cooks it at too high a temperature, and for too long. The center of the thing is always raw, and the sausages stick up..proudly erect....from the upper layer of bread. Lord...it's a mess! So...what's the worst food you've been served? Who's the worst cook in your family?

I mailed in my check around the first of the month for Slammed. I am looking forward to getting my first issue. Will post about it when it arrives! ~~Pickles

If the food is thoroughly cooked, all bacteria will be killed. It's still a good idea to keep raw and cooked foods as far away from one another as possible. Many times I've eaten a bit of green pepper from my cutting board, and then realized I'd just cut up my chicken breast on it. I haven't gotten sick yet. YET.

If I am at a REALLY swanky place, I will not ask for my salad with dressing on the side because I think in that environment, it would be very tacky and nearly very bad manners to be scooping/dipping my own dressing onto my greens. If I am at a relaxed and fun Steak House type place with my pals, or out at another casual place, or watching my waist line for that matter, I will ask that my blue cheese be put on the side.

I can't really agree with that totally. If you're talking about e coli contamination, that usually happens in rare ground beef. The outside of a steak has been seared or cooked long enough to kill any bugs. The bacteria really can't infiltrate the inner portion of the steak. As for any other bugs, I can't really say. But cooking a steak to the same recommended internal temp of 160-165 for ground beef (killing e coli, etc.) would surely ruin it. I don't like eating luggage.

When the steak gets up and goes across the plate and eats my corn...it's too rare.

Richard Simmons' diet trick: By all means order the blue cheese if you're watching your weight, but order the dressing on the side, dip your fork into the dressing, and then spear some salad. You don't use as much.

That $18 wasn't just for the prawns though. It was for the sauce on the prawns, the salary of the people who prepared the prawns....

The topic is about why we send food back. So my term "improperly cooked" means "improperly cooked....for me."

The thought of eating raw chicken...

Gee...I'd love a 20-year-old dishwasher...

Not if they're punched out by disgruntled managers!

They better hold you back when the waitron comes and *sits next to you* all cozy-like, and rubs your back and gets all "Hi Mama's Day Lady!! My Name Is TAD And I'll Be Your Server Today!!! " on you!

I am always suspect of authors who remember verbatim conversation that happened 30 years ago....but I enjoyed her first book. How does one know her writing is mostly fiction anyway? Have you insider information? I think most of us M.F.K. fans can say that her writings contain a great deal of inconsistencies and....imagination. But I don't get snippy about it. I accept it.

Welcome to the world of M.F.K.! Don't stop here....read them ALL. Even her non-food books. I recommend "Last House" and "Among Friends." Then you'll need to read all the stuff written about her. http://www.mfkfisher.com/friends.htm I read all the non-fiction food books I can get my hands on. Tender At The Bone by Ruth Reichel is about to come out for a second read. I also enjoyed Pepin's new book. There's the Julia biography, too that I loved Appetite For Life.

Scroll down and have a listen to "Cheeseburger With Parasites, and Cleaning Out The Fridge." The rest you can look up yourselves! http://www.bobrivers.com/show/vault/alpha.asp?Var=C

I have most definitely seen the wash don't rinse behavior. It's called wash and wipe. The dishes are swabbed off with soapy water and then wiped with a "clean" (albeit soon to be soap-laden) dish cloth. Oooook.

I send food back if it's improperly cooked or otherwise flawed. Some examples: Raw broiled chicken...bloody at the bone. Sent it back 3 times for more cooking. Manager came out and said it was perfectly cooked. They gave it to me for free. After I squawked. Salmon arrived raw in center. If I want sushi, I'll order it. Sent it back. Got it cooked right. Pesto on a piece of fish that was all GRIT. No one could have tasted that sauce and not got a mouthful of sand. Sent THAT back. Got free dessert. Chicken Parm that was undercooked and spongy in texture...at a *nice* restaurant. Sent THAT back for more fire. Got free dessert! I am jinxed when it comes to dining out. Something usually goes way wrong!

Oh sure I remember her...and Good Seasons. I love that stuff! So "garlicky" and almost overly Good Seasoned. Matter of fact, I haven't bought it in years and I have a hankering since you mentioned it. You can just buy the packets now sans cruet (with the lines to tell you how much oil, vinegar and...water to add). ".....in a taxi, honey...!"

Yes. Oh please....you're there to please the customer, not to save yourself steps.

Someone may have chopped garlic for the aioli on a board where someone just prepared raw fish or chicken. Hard to tell exactly what may have happened there. Could have been the garlic, too. I think all of us have been struck down with a "tummy flu" that was indeed food poisoning.

You sure the mayo got you? Sure it wasn't the actual seafood involved? Mayo gets a bad rap at times. Interesting Stuff Here On Mayo and: More....

That was a very good little poem--intentional or not!

Or...as it's known in fine French cookbooks... BLEHmange.

I've mentioned this (admitted this?) in another thread, but I was recently charged for "red cabbage" when what was in the bag was actually raddicchio. Didn't catch that until I saw the receipt at home. Not to sound like Saint Pickles of ShopRite ... but I usually catch the error and correct them. Sometimes it isn't even in my favor. I'll say "That's not spinach...it's swiss chard!" And then the swiss chard is a buck more a pound! The kids at the check-out have held up cabbages and asked me what kind of vegetable it is. And I have been charged for leeks when buying scallions, and usually get charged for vidalia onions when I am getting just plain ol' yellow onions. I know it's not ethical for me to keep the items for which I have been undercharged, but I have been overcharged for many items at ShopRite at times, too. I look at all those kids eating "free" donuts and cookies that their Moms get for them while shopping and never pay for, and I feel pretty snarky and smug when I eat my raddicchio salad. My justification for my "actions" is that these people should really know what they are selling, and it's not my fault if every so often I benefit because they don't.