My mother-in-law is cooking Thanksgiving, and I think she's probably going to get a grocery-store turkey injected with weird saline and chemicals. How can I steer her towards something more sustainable/natural?
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on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
I recently read an article in my local paper about the "best neighborhoods for trick-or-treating" and was a little annoyed by the premise, which seemed to be that it's now de rigueur for families to drive around town trolling for the best loot. When I was a kid, my parents would never have driven me to the other side of town to trick-or-treat, and I think doing so is bad form.
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on Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
A few months ago, I was invited to a high-end New York restaurant to review it. Usually when reviewing restaurants, I pay my own expenses, but in this case the meal was comped. Still, I wanted to leave a tip. I had forgotten my credit card at home, so I simply left a $10 bill, all I had in my wallet. Later, upon calculating the tip, I realized that it should have been well over $25. How does one remedy this?
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on Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
My friend forages for mushrooms, and knows I'm interested in doing so myself. But every time I ask him if I can go, he just gets this smug little smile and says, "I don't want to give away my spots." It seems kind of rude. Or am I just not wise to the ways of mushroom foraging?
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on Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
My fiancé and I are in our late 30s and we already have a fully equipped kitchen, so I won't be asking for pots and pans on our wedding registry. But we are considering asking for a $2,400 espresso system. I don't expect any one person to buy that for us obviously, but if 10 people wanted to go in on it together, that's something I actually want. Is it tacky to even put it on there though?
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on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
A good friend of mine is getting married in a few weeks, and we recently became aware of the plans for the bachelorette party, which are rather unexpected. Part of the evening includes an exercise activity between dinner and dancing. The kicker here isn't that we'll be all sweaty after dinner and before dancing, but that out of the blue, they've assumed that all of the guests will chip in for the cost of the activity. I was always under the impression that when you throw a party, you cover the cost. Am I being a cheapskate for being annoyed that I am expected to chip in?
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on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
A restaurant trend I'm noticing lately is to be seated at community-style shared tables if your party doesn't fill the whole table. I'm never really sure what's appropriate when my party is being seated with strangers. I don't want to intrude on someone's romantic evening out, nor do I want to be rude. What is the best way to approach the communal table?
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on Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
I have a friend who always brings some home-brew when he comes over and asks me to tell him what I think. Some of it tastes really bad. Should I tell him the truth?
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on Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
Some friends of mine had a home birth and are very gung-ho about the fact that they ate their placenta. Am I in the wrong for considering this oversharing, or has placenta-eating become mainstream enough that it's politically incorrect of me to have a problem with it?
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on Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
I am planning a small drinks party and am concerned that some of my guests will not leave until after midnight. Is it rude to specify an ending time on the invitation?
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on Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
My mother-in-law is cooking Thanksgiving, and I think she's probably going to get a grocery-store turkey injected with weird saline and chemicals. How can I steer her towards something more sustainable/natural? READ MORE 
