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Side by Side, or Face to Face


Juanito

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My preference is to sit facing my sweetie. I want to be able to look at him as we talk and taste the food. I love be able to see his facial expressions. At home we sit at a right angle.

Edited by bloviatrix (log)

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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When we're out for dinner, we're face to face. At home, it depends on where we're eating. At the kitchen table, we're face to face but, at the dining room table, we're at right angles. This is an artifact of the layout of our place in Vancouver. The seat to the right of the Spouse's was nearest to the kitchen and so I sat there to avoid working around the entire table to pop into the kitchen.

What's "PDA crap"? I'm guessing since it came up in the context of snogging and being schmoopy, it's got nothing to do with a Palm...

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I'm not sure if this is for romantic reasons or practical ones, but #1 prefered is at right angles and #2 is across if we can't get a fourtop. The disclaimer is that I have a bad ear so I like to look at the face of the person with whom I'm conversing. If we're seated at a fourtop with two chairs opposite a bench I'll grab the chair.

aka Michael

Chi mangia bene, vive bene!

"...And bring us the finest food you've got, stuffed with the second finest."

"Excellent, sir. Lobster stuffed with tacos."

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What's "PDA crap"? I'm guessing since it came up in the context of snogging and being schmoopy, it's got nothing to do with a Palm...

PDA = Public Display of Affection

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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What's "PDA crap"? I'm guessing since it came up in the context of snogging and being schmoopy, it's got nothing to do with a Palm...

Public displays of affection - people stroking each other, being all overly touchy feely and lovey-dovey mushy-wushy. ICK! Reaching out and stroking the person's hair, face, neck, etc. It's ok in VERY moderate doses but I just dislike PDA in general.

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The Biker Dude insists that we sit side by side, facing the door (a remnant from his shady past, no doubt).  He's the romantic one in this relationship. We have always shared our food, too, from the very first date.

That's funny. Your post reminded me that my wife and I always sit face to face, but I also have to face the door.

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Ive never really thought about it much either...but i do know that when my finace and i eat out... most of the time we sit across from one another and every now and then at a four seater square table we will sit at either a right angle from one another or a left angle..depending upon where the table is in the room.....we only sat side by side once and that was on our second date.....it felt a little odd and so ive made it a point not to do that again and frankly i do prefer to be able to see his face and be able to hold hands with him when we want..and we seem to look for excuses to be able to tocuh on another even if the touch may be a brief patting of the hand or the thigh in a gesture of love and reassurance...sitting side by side...while allowing one to be closer...also takes away from some of the intimacy as well since you are not able to gaze into each others eyes....personally i like the intimacy...sometimes you can get that feeling that the two of you are the only ones that exist in the world ...even in a room full of people when you are able to see into each others eyes and see that special look..... i would not trade that for anything

Edited by ladyyoung98 (log)

a recipe is merely a suggestion

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OK, here's a new one! My husband, a former DC cop, always has to sit so he can 'see' (for a good reason). SO... when we started going out, I had to figure out where he had to be and where I had to be. Now I sit with my back to the door/window, and he gets the great view!!! Such a pain to always look at a wall and miss all the action. But on the plus side, I am now with someone who will share his meal :biggrin: , and (even better) appreciates my efforts in the kitchen and lets me fix whatever I desire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Burgundy makes you think silly things, Bordeaux makes you talk about them, and Champagne makes you do them ---

Brillat-Savarin

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next to always makes me feel like i'm on the bus.

right angle or ftf. if the table is too big - right angle - i hate having to vault across the table to grab a hand...or a sip of his wine. next to when we're with other people.

from overheard in new york:

Kid #1: Paper beats rock. BAM! Your rock is blowed up!

Kid #2: "Bam" doesn't blow up, "bam" makes it spicy. Now I got a SPICY ROCK! You can't defeat that!

--6 Train

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Only time I'd do side by side is if there's no choice, like in a curved booth with a round table, so you're actually sort of at the 90 degree angle anyway, or at the bar. Sitting at the bar is always fun. Or at restaurants that give you one of those cool corner tables where you are at the 90 degree angle. Otherwise, across.

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OK. Have not read thread biblically, but it's rude as a (wee) man not to allow a girl to face the audience.

Get a grip, the rest of you. And for those cops (or policemen) among you - stop watching films and get a life.

slacker,

Padstow, Cornwall

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Face to face is the only way to sit if you intend to play Penn and Teller's "parsley game" - as my roomie and i are constantly doing.

Marsha Lynch aka "zilla369"

Has anyone ever actually seen a bandit making out?

Uh-huh: just as I thought. Stereotyping.

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Face to face is the only way to sit if you intend to play Penn and Teller's "parsley game" - as my roomie and i are constantly doing.

Do tell. Whats the "parsley game?"

Shelley: Would you like some pie?

Gordon: MASSIVE, MASSIVE QUANTITIES AND A GLASS OF WATER, SWEETHEART. MY SOCKS ARE ON FIRE.

Twin Peaks

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At home, we always sit caty-corner, so I guess that's somewhere in between.

At restaurants, always across from each other. Although sometimes, when we're tired of talking to each other and just grabbing something local, we might bring our books. I love reading at dinner.

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Do tell. Whats the "parsley game?"

Heh. Glad you asked.

In their book How to Play With Your Food, wacky magicians Penn & Teller describe a game they developed during years of dining out together while on tour. It could really work with any superfluous, non-messy garnish, but for purists it's only done with parsley sprigs.

The point is to sneak your parsley sprig onto your dining companion's plate while they aren't looking. Whoever ends up with the most parsley on their plate when the check is presented has to spring for the meal. At first it's easy to win, but when your frequent dinner companions catch on, it gets more challenging.

The trick is to play close attention to your plate. In the book, Penn Jillette describes an evening out during which a car actually crashed into the restaurant through the front window...and neither one of them even looked up from their plate. Granted, that's a little extreme. Sometimes i bribe the server to put extra parsley on my buddy's plate. Sometimes i carry several sprigs of parsley in my purse wrapped in tissue.

Yeah, i know. We're sick puppies.

By the way, i highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys all things about food. It's hilarious.

edited: just for the hell of it

Edited by zilla369 (log)

Marsha Lynch aka "zilla369"

Has anyone ever actually seen a bandit making out?

Uh-huh: just as I thought. Stereotyping.

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At home we're FtoF about 363 days out of the year; once or twice, if there's something on the tv that MUST be watched, we'll sit side by side on the couch to eat off the coffee table. (Those are virtually the only time the tv might be on all year.)

Out, we are very often side by side. Easier to yell . . . um . . talk into each other's ear. And while I hate PDAs, if there's a tablecloth to hide it under, I don't object to a bit of kneesies. (After 30+ years!) Besides, that way we have a four-top all to ourselves.

Ninety-degree angle only works if it's a nice big square table. Don't you hate it when you get stuck that way at a teeny tiny two-top?

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Sometimes i bribe the server to put extra parsley on my buddy's plate.  Sometimes i carry several sprigs of parsley in my purse wrapped in tissue.

That's cheating! :shock::biggrin:

Face to face. I'm hearing impaired and I rely on looking at the person I'm talking to.

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  Otherwise I am old school and think if you are at a dinner party you should be at opposite ends of the table chatting up/catching up with strangers-highly risky with the occasional excellent payoff. Or next to old friends you haven't seen in a long while.

I agree with this when hosting a dinner party. When we are out to dinner with friends and collegues, we usually sit side by side.

When out to dinner with clients and spouses, we space ourselves so we are not together but have a client/spouse on either side of us.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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We sit side by side if possible when eating out. If we sit face to face Dayne always makes sure I get to face the restaurant- he is very considerate. If we eat out with friends then the ladies will usually sit side by side, men with their back to the restaurant. I like the right angle thing too, that's how we sit at home. Dinner parties also have us at each end of the table.

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And while I hate PDAs, if there's a tablecloth to hide it under, I don't object to a bit of kneesies. (After 30+ years!) Besides, that way we have a four-top all to ourselves.

Which means you're a fan of SDA (serriptitious displays of affection). :laugh::raz:

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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Face to face, or at right angles. My husband has one ear that doesn't work so well, and even after ten years of marriage I can't remember which one it is, so if we're being seated side by side, we often have to do the shuffle dance so he can hear me.

Also, even though I don't have a hearing problem, I have learned how much I rely on lip reading as a back up system to hearing in a noisy situation (like restaurants). We swim at an indoor pool regularly, and when I don't have my prescription goggles on, I have real problems understanding people because I can't see them. The sound so distorted that it's all just noise, and without the additional clues of seeing them facing me and watching their lips, I usually can't tell if they're talking to me. Dining face to face definitely helps with the conversation.

And yes, sometimes we hold hands across the table. But without making goo goo eyes :biggrin: .

Marcia.

Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted...he lived happily ever after. -- Willy Wonka

eGullet foodblog

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