dty's Profile
When the host is late serving the meal - also rude? Is it ok for guests to leave?
So it's not a life-and-death situation, but it's still annoying for a dinner to stretch for hours on end. While the host is being generous to invite friends over, s/he should also think about the guests' time, which is also valuable. Different people have different preferences, so deal with it.
Dissapointing Dinner at Friends House
People who reciprocate are important to me. People who don't make an effort in cultivating a two-way friendship don't deserve the friendship.
What shocked you the first time you ate it?
When I bit into the mushy flesh for the first time, my immediate thought was, "This is probably what sh*t tastes like."
How do you tell your mother-in-law her dinner parties/family dinners are not fun?
I don't see ANYTHING wrong with starting a tradition with your own nuclear family AND going to the in-laws during the same holiday season. While others have been dogpiling unnecesssarily on the OP, I actually find OP's posts reasonable and thoughtful. If anybody's expectation is unreasonable, it's not the OP's but her MIL's. My in-laws have a Xmas party every year, but they are practical and thoughtful enough not to force their schedule on everyone in the family; after all, the kids and the grandchildren have families and in-laws of their own to celebrate the holidays with. I look at my mother, and she is sane enough to let her children's family take on more and more celebration duties. If I live to be that old, I certainly would not want to burden my kids with my dictates.
Good Customer Relations
If the restaurant is willing to cater to bad customers' unreasonable demands, then I do believe the establishment has a problem. Forcing the staff to put up with and accommodate bad behavior from bad customers alienates the staff and the good customers also. Why should an establishment bent over backwards to entertain the whims of the bad apples while neglecting the good customers?
Good Customer Relations
"The customer is always right."
Not when he wants the restaurant to pay for his own mistake, and not in a million other scenarios I can think of. I certainly don't want my favorite restaurant to waste resources on trying to please bad customers at the expense of their good customers.
Bad Hosts: Invites you and, after you accept, asks you to bring dessert for everyone.
Why shouldn't she? It's a perfectly legitimate question to ask.
I want to lash out against the chicken breast-ification of restaurant food
You call it delicate, I call it bland.
I want to lash out against the chicken breast-ification of restaurant food
Hear hear! Chicken breast is the tofu of meats. It can taste good, but by itself it's essentially tasteless. One really has to cook it the right way to make it delicious. The other parts of the chicken--thighs, legs, bones, liver, feet, etc.--are way more interesting to eat than the breast.
"We can't be friends..."
No, you're not insane. As someone who's worked in customer service, I'm also hypersensitive to how people around me treat service people. I don't see anything wrong if you're not comfortable being with them in a restaurant environment.
coupon on first date
Hmmm...if not using coupons leads to the decline of marriage in America, my better half and I must commit ourselves to dining out at oh-so-mediocre restaurants, the type that usually issues this kind of coupons, so that we can build up enough residual karma to save other marriages.
Marie Callender's, here we come.
coupon on first date
I equate going out to dinner with a date/inviting guests over to my house for a meal with showing my appreciation/love for them with generosity. If I can't even fork over the extra $15-$30 bucks on a first date, what does it say about my willingness to take care of that potential someone whom I'm gonna spend possibly the rest of my life with? I was taught since I was little that it is mandatory/convivial to bring a gift to a host/hostess to show appreciation for their invitation, to overcook a meal if I'm hosting so my guests won't starve, and to not scrimp on my friends and loved ones when we go out.
coupon on first date
Frugality is using the coupon to try out a restaurant. Cheapness and tackiness is when you use it on the first date. Just as I don't go on an interview in my flip flops, why should I ruin a first impression on using a coupon?
coupon on first date
Yes it's tacky. Use the coupon on some other occasion rather than a 1st dinner date.
Wedding Breakfast at Zen Peninsula in Millbrae
Supposedly they stop making Macanese style tarts at noon on Sundays. And because they get snatched up so quickly once they come out of the kitchen, you better order them off the checklist.
Difference between a chowhound and food snob
People who agree with you on this board are chowhounds.
People who disagree with you are food snobs/reverse food snobs.
Picnic lunch for Alcatraz tour
Just a word of caution: the smell of guano all over the island can really ruin your appetite. My very nice S.O. packed a picnic lunch for us, but I wasn't able to really enjoy the meal and the scenery because of the (to me) overwhelming odor of seagull poop everywhere.
Top Chef-Healthy meal
Didn't Dale use Napa Cabbage as the wraps?
And I felt like reaching into the TV and slapping all 3 losers silly.
Food Odors at Work
Well, the article doesn't include cumin on the list, so I feel a little better...
I used to eat lunch in the company lunch room, usually with 3 other coworkers. Two of them are Indian, and one of them usually brought his home-cooked meals. Sometimes his lunch had a really overpowering smell, almost reeking of armpits.
At first I thought there was something wrong with me, since nobody else complained. After a while it really affected my appetite, so I started eating lunch at my cube. It was not until I read the "Most disgusting Taste" thread here that I realized I'm not the only one who equates cumin to the armpit smell.
I've eaten Indian food throughout my life, but I've never encountered such a strong odor from its food.
Hostess tried to return my cake?
You are being gracious for bringing a gift to a hostess; she's being rude for returning it.
Sriracha Chili Sauce Condiment or Crack?!
"Cock sauce"? The 12-year-old in me is so tempted to use that term one of these days when I have to rummage through the company fridge for that communal bottle of Sriracha...
Koi Garden Open in Dublin
4 of us went there last night (reservation recommended) for the $72 peking duck set menu:
-8 XLBs: decent version by a Cantonese resto; the skin didn't break when handled by the chopsticks; plenty of soup inside
-Peking Duck cooked 3 ways:
1. Duck skin with buns (not wrappers) served with scallions and hoi-sin sauce: average; I was intrigued by the buns, which are not the usual big doughy buns, but smaller ones that are formed by strands of doughs (should've taken pictures)
2. Sauteed strips of duck meat with mung bean noodles and enoki? Again, average, but the whole table lapped it up
3. Tofu and mustard green soup with the carcass: very good for cutting down on the grease after the skins and the stir-fry
-Steamed crab with chopped garlic: meaty crab; would've preferred shrimp for easier eating
-Steamed cat fish: average; I thought the flesh was a bit muddy-tasting; the rest of the table was pleased with it.
-Wedges of oranges to round out the meal
Steamed rice served in a baby-sized bowl was $2. Other than that, we all agree it was a bargain price for that much decent food. All the dishes came out of the kitchen quickly. Service was a bit disorganized; we saw more managers and supervisors than waiters. We'll have to come back here to sample more individual dishes.
What do you do when you know a customer IS wrong....it happens
Hear hear. Rewarding bad customers is a bad use of resources; focusing on serving the good customers will generate much better returns in the future.
What's Your Position on "Portions"? [moved from Austin board]
That was exactly what happened to me when I was traveling in Phoenix and trying out CF for the first time. My friend and I had no idea the portions were so ginormous; we wound up ordering a main course for each person AND an appetizer to share. Needless to say, we had enough leftovers to feed both of us for a second meal but didn't doggy bag it because it wouldn't last in the car.
Speaking of traveling, every time I vacation overseas, I have the same reaction when I have my first meal in a restaurant on the first day, "Gee, these people are so stingy with their servings." Then I realize that it's not the rest of the world that isn't serving enough food, but rather we at home are so accustomed to huge portions. In a way, I prefer this because my stomach has more room to sample other dishes.
TOPCHEF - 19 sept [SPOILERS]
Was he bitching about it? I think he was stating it rather matter-of-factly. "I messed up on the pommes dauphines because I was busy plating, and at that time no one was available." I did not interpret his statement as laying the blame on somebody else.
Top Chef Aug 22nd. [Spoilers]
I thought he was just totally in the zone prepping/cooking away, and Dale was snapping him out and back down to earth with the news.
Soup Dumpling on No Reservations-Shanghai
I think you meant to say that "xiao" means small and "long" means steamer.
