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bergerka

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Everything posted by bergerka

  1. Don't be jealous. Newborns are much more important than hamburgers. My best friend reports that hers is almost as tasty as a hamburger, though. *ducks and runs* K
  2. Aw...piffle. I missed cool people, anti-cancer pub people and onion rings. I promise to make it to the next one, if I have to sacrifice a small goat to get there. K
  3. SALT. FAT. SUGAR. MEAT. Not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily all together. I can make a perfectly happy PMS meal out of a Ben & Jerry's waffle cone filled with peanut butter cup ice cream, or chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, or really any ice cream that ISN'T chunky monkey. K
  4. no pork. beef. Beef AND pork! I strongly disagree with whoever said that Bacon burgers are for those who like bacon rather than burgers. Bacon by itself is, well, just BACON, but the combination of beef and pork can be downright otherworldly. BUT...for the purposes of burger club, I withdraw the bacon complaint. I guess. I'll just sulk a little, ok? *sulk* *sulk sulk* *sulk sulk sulk* There, I'm over it. K
  5. Wait. What do you mean we can't have bacon? Bacon COMPLEMENTS a good burger, but IMHO doesn't DISTRACT from the quality of said burger.
  6. What was your family food culture when you were growing up? Dad = New Jersey Jew, Mom = California WASP, so I guess you could say our "food culture" was pretty much everything, with some nice Southwestern influences since we were living in AZ. Some specialties: chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy (I requested this as my birthday dinner about six years in a row), grilled flank steak with this fab rice dish made from cheese, rice, sour cream and green chilis all layered and a salad, potato blinzes with sour cream (and cheese blinzes for dessert), potato kugel, mom made a totally fabulous potato/leek soup, chicken "tetrazzini" (I think my mom made up the recipe, as it doesn't really bear much resemblance to the more traditional one I've come to know, but it was GOOOOD). Was meal time important? Yes. Mom got up every morning to make breakfast for us before we went off to school and sat and talked with us while we ate it, and dinner was together, sometimes with one or more of my siblings, their significant other(s) and/or their kids. No reading at the table, either. Mealtime is for talking to your family and enjoying your food. Was cooking important? Yes, in that my mother is really a very good cook. Every once in a while, usually when they were going out, we were allowed to get a pizza or go out for fast food, but not much. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? Penalties? We were reminded to take 'em off, is all. Who cooked in the family? Mom, though dad made breakfast, was in charge of anything grilled on the bbq, and makes delicious matzo brei. On holidays, everyone pitched in. Were restaurant meals common, or for special occasions? Only every once in a while. Occasionally for a "special occasion," but more often dad would just come home and say "I'm in the mood for Mexican--let's go to La Perla!" or something like that. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? Only on Christmas and Thanksgiving, when the whooooole fam-damily was over and there wasn't enough room at the big table for everyone. Now the kids and adults are all mixed up at two tables on holidays. When did you get that first sip of wine? I was little, probably at a Passover seder. Was there a pre-meal prayer? Not generally. My family isn't religious. Before you get all confused, we did and do celebrate Passover, Easter, Christmas, Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah, but for tradition's sake, not religion's. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? No. It was "what mom feels like cooking today" with some input from the peanut gallery. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? Uh--that's hard to say, because I really don't cook. I would say that our frequent entertaining and our friends' apparent enjoyment of and enthusiasm for our dinner parties (we have been told several times that people really feel "at home" in our apartment) and our enthusiasm for good food of all kinds replicates the attitudes with which I grew up, for sure. And I do make mom's lemon bread for Christmas presents, her (originally my paternal grandmother's) honey cake, and several of her other sweet recipes, when I bake. And I still crave her stuffing at holidays. Did I miss anything? K
  7. Weasel indeed. That is sweet baby Zebulun, the middle ferret of the three belonging to Sam & me. Issachar, the baby, is the weasely one. K
  8. Although since this is Elyse's idea, I hereby give y'all notice that I'm holding her solely responsible for my waistline as long as Burger Club is in existence. K
  9. I have to think the volume problem was the conductor's fault...unless the Lyric's acoustics are abominable (and I hear they're excellent, never seen a show there), we usually don't have any trouble hearing D'arcangelo (who, in addition to a lovely voice, has the coolest name in opera now that Fiamma Izzo d'Amico has disappeared without a trace) at the Met, unless, oh, Simone Young is conducting (more on that at another time). SHAME on Sir Oblivious for covering the singers like that. Shame, I say. Shame. No excuse for it, whatsoever. It's OT, but would you mind elaborating on RAS' Countess? Maybe privately? I like her, see. And just to keep this on food...mmm, perfectly crisp bacon! K
  10. Blame it on the motorcycle < s > THAT WAS IT! I blame it on the motorcycle, the chickens, and the Jets' loss to the Patriots...I mean, really, who could fault me for being distracted with all THAT going on???? K
  11. You were practically sitting next to it! It was on the other side of that table with that lovely sangria--at least during the later stages of the affair... Also, tommy and Steven were gathered around it. I was? Oh. Damn. I must've been distracted by the chickens. I blame it all on the chickens. K
  12. Suvir, thank you. You have articulated far more clearly than I, in my muddled way, ever could, exactly what I was trying to get at. From the beginning, I considered the problem here to be one of manners and respect for one's fellow human beings, rather than one of rules and regulations, and that while vegetarianism is what I call a "lifestyle choice," that does not make it any less deeply felt or committed to than, say, keeping Kosher. The vegetarian is just as physically capable of eating meat as the observant Jew is of eating pork or shellfish, but each has specifically chosen to live his or her life according to a code, religion or philosophy that makes sense to him or her - and respect for the one is no less important than respect for the other. Thanks for another really beautifully written post, a pleasure to read. K Edited to add that I'm not posting out of my ass about the observant Jew making a choice to keep Kosher. While my family (1/2 Jewish) does not keep kosher, my father's certainly did growing up, and he made the conscious choice to break with that tradition as an adult.
  13. It seems to me the REALLY important question here is: Will you be having the chocolate chip pancakes at IHOP??????? MMM. chocolate chip pancakes. K, eating the last of the ginger snaps--why the hell did this batch come out CHEWY?????
  14. Suvir! Your posts are wonderful--thank you so much! (Just had to say that, ok?) K
  15. oh no not at all. i approached this stuff as i would a good and unique wine. i had a little bit, and sipped it for some time. i left the rest for others, as i wanted to make sure as many people had it as possible. ...There was cider? Shit, I totally missed it. I LOVE cider too. I'll have to drown my sorrows in more sangria. K, who has been living on cheese for two days.
  16. (psst. tommy. Sam doesn't do dishes. Shh). K don't worry, you're invited too. *opens mouth to make really obnoxious comment* *thinks better of it* *closes mouth before a bug flies in* No problem! I charge $100/hr with a four-hour minimum, plus you have to feed me steak and red wine. See you shortly! K
  17. Well, first I have to stop hyperventilating...you have to understand...between my family and my SO, it's been YEARS since someone offered me the last word. Would you accept the Oxford English Dictionary's definition? It seems to sum up my thoughts (again: MY thoughts. not your thoughts. Not that guy over there's thoughts) pretty clearly: Vegetarianism: The doctrine or practice of vegetarians; abstention from eating meat, fish or other animal products. and before you say it, yeah, yeah, yeah, by that definition, only...like...VEGAN (or whatever word you use for non-ovo-lacto-fisho-tarians) restaurants are reaaaallly vegetarian, so go right ahead and take that chicken to the restaurant that uses eggs & milk. I still won't, though. Now back to your regularly scheduled program. K
  18. (psst. tommy. Sam doesn't do dishes. Shh). K
  19. May I suggest you call Rick Bayless first? Will he throw money at me? I do believe it is unequivocally rude to bring meat into a vegetarian restaurant, but I HAVE said "IMO," "IMHO" and "just my opinion" pretty frequently. Furthermore, I'm not actually trying to STOP you from walking into a vegetarian restaurant with a leg o' lamb, I'm just saying that if you do it, I'll think you're being rude. Whether or not you CARE what I think...something else entirely. I suppose that for me (again: for me. MHO. M.H.O.) this comes down to a bigger issue--I feel it is disrespectful to the philosophy of vegetarianism to bring meat into a vegetarian restaurant, and I don't feel the owners of the restaurants have to be unified on that issue for me to think so. I wouldn't do it even if the owner of said restaurant said "ok, sure, fine, slap that steak down here and I'll grill it right up for you"--I'd just go to Peter Luger instead (and eat THEIR meat, since it would undoubtedly be better than anything I'd bring in). Furthermore, I wouldn't do it even if I thought vegetarianism was a silly philosophy. Having said that...I hereby present you with the last word. No. Please. You must take it. Seriously...you must. I WANT you to have it. K
  20. So if we can find some vegetarian-restaurant operators who will say, "I don't mind at all if some mother brings a jar of chicken-based baby-food into the restaurant for her baby" then this argument is over, right? Or--for a counterexample--if I take a random sampling of 100 people off the street and ask them what they think of when they hear the word "vegetarian," if all 100 reply "someone who doesn't eat meat," is the argument also over? Actually, you'd have to ask them if they'd mind HEATING THE FOOD UP, not just having it in the restaurant at all, wouldn't you? Don't laugh too hard, I might just do that at lunchtime tomorrow if I'm really THAT bored. Maybe one of 'em will throw money at me. It could happen. K Edited to once again agree with what Hest88 said. So there. Neener, neener, neener.
  21. Sam, first, please read my posts. As I said before, I think you make a false (and patently silly) comparison when you compare people who "call themselves vegetarians" but eat chicken, fish, blah blah blah with a restaurant that ADVERTISES itself as vegetarian. Further, with regard to Ozu: do they advertise THEMSELVES as "vegetarian?" I can answer that, because I just (as in, about fifteen seconds before typing this paragraph) called the place and asked if they were a vegetarian restaurant. The answer, as given to me by whoever picked up the phone: "No...we serve many vegetarian dishes but we also serve fish. We do not serve other meat." There you have it. Whoever answered the phone at Ozu apparently understood that "vegetarian" indicated "no meat." For approximately the third (fourth) time: I haven't even danced AROUND the subject of what such restaurants ought to be "allowed" to serve (and I believe it was addressed earlier that the "assumption" is that vegetarian implies no meat, vegan implies no animal products), nor do I care to. I am discussing the fact that in common usage, "vegetarian" clearly implies "NO MEAT." Hence, it is (not "can be," IS) rude--and IMHO probably either deliberately inflammatory or plain stupid--to bring meat into a vegetarian restaurant. K
  22. You have, however, totally missed my point. "Personal dietary code," "religion-du-jour" or whatever you may choose to call it, the idea that meat or meat products would be--or should be--welcome in an atmosphere that defines itself as vegetarian is rude. Nor did I say that a vegetarian WOULDN'T eat in a restaurant that otherwise serves meat. I was ONLY addressing the question of whether or not one ought to bring meat into a vegetarian restaurant. I don't really care what vegetarians do or don't eat elsewhere. I don't really think the point here is whether or not YOU consider vegetarianism to be a deep commitment or the equivalent of the wise-ass kid in grade school. Furthermore, I think anyone who brought your suggested leg of lamb into a vegetarian restaurant would be the equivalent of the kid who deliberately tries to piss off the kids on the playground who espouse a philosophy with which he disagrees. Eventually, that kid gets a really nasty wedgie. Tana, you said: >"Lifestyle"? Not always. A deep commitment is a deep commitment, and it's no one else's place to judge or dismiss that. < I was neither judging nor dismissing it by calling it a "lifestyle choice," and I'm sorry you took it that way. Lifestyle choices are frequently deeply felt and committed to, and I do not feel the term implies any shallowness. Being an opera singer is a "lifestyle choice," and I would bristle mightily if anyone attempted to dismiss it (I don't really give a damn if they judge it or not).
  23. Ah. So should meat products be allowed inside a non-religion-based vegetarian restaurant, but not in a vegetarian restaurant catering to, say, Hindus? Very reasonable. I don't believe it unreasonable to define keeping kosher as a "lifestyle choice," but I won't get into that argument, because I believe my point is still valid. Let us say it this way...you may recognize the wording: Many people believe that eating meat is wrong, and whatever dietary guidelines may go along with this belief (regardless of the reason for the belief), are not a matter of choice. Or a different way: It is not an unreasonable assumption that no pork would be allowed in a restaurant advertising itself as kosher, even though not all of its patrons may keep kosher on a regular basis (e.g. a nonkosher patron may certainly eat in a kosher restaurant), as the term "kosher" has easily recognizable associations with certain dietary rules and restrictions, hence it is a "common assumption" that certain foods will neither be served nor allowed. It is also not an unreasonable assumption that no meat or meat products would be allowed in a restaurant that advertises itself as vegetarian, as the word "vegetarian" has easily recognizable associations with certain dietary rules and restrictions, hence it is (or should be) a common assumption that certain foods will neither be served nor allowed. I don't believe that comparing a vegetarian restaurant to a so-called "vegetarian" who happens to eat chicken or fish is a valid analogy; rather, one ought to compare it with products that are marketed or sold as "vegetarian" in your grocery store. Which are not permitted to contain meat. Or meat products. You can buy meat elsewhere in the store, but it won't be contained within the product packaging. Similarly, you can go to a restaurant next door that serves meat, but you ought to have the manners and good sense not to bring it into a restaurant that--for whatever reason--defines itself by the fact that it does not serve meat or meat products. K
  24. Very hot and salty french fries dipped in very cold and sweet chocolate milkshakes make Sam go "ew," but I love them. Then again, twinkies make Sam go "ew," too, so what does he know? oh and boloney sandwiches on wonder bread with um...fritos...on the sandwich. K
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