Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

If you ask before ordering, it is not a problem, at least for me. I have to organize my notes and make sure I put all of the items that belong on a particular check in the little box that corresponds to the people on that check. Any server who is careful about note-taking should not have a problem knowing who had what. It can be VERY time consuming, however, to split a check. Every POS system that I have worked with only permits you to split items off of a check after they have all been ordered. If you have to scroll through a very long list of food and drinks, it is hard to find everything in a timely fashion. But your problem seems to stem from the server's inability to keep good notes as to who had what.

That said, asking your server to split a check for a large party at the end of a meal can be problematic. It's hard to know who had what and how many. This is particularly true with a table that drinks a lot.

Years ago, I purged by giant Gourmet collection. Little did I know they would end publication and I'd regret it. I find myself buying old issues again at used book stores.

Fried chix. Even with a thermometer and careful heat management, my chix is burnt on the outside and dangerously raw in the middle.

Heinz makes a ketchup without HFCS. Making one's own food is always better, but not always worth the effort. I use so little ketchup, it would be a waste of energy to make it myself. I'm also from Pittsburgh, so I gotta stick with Heinz. But, if one has time on their hands and tomato paste to spare, who am I to begrudge them for making ketchup.

@Tupper Cooks: She isn't saying all schools have to accept her, she is only asking that people suggest schools that will.

If you can't find a job in a kitchen without experience, try starting as a hostess or waitstaff. This will also give you some perspective into what it is like to work in a restaurant. You will quickly discover that the kitchen is really hot, the cooks get yelled at by all of the servers and managers, and your only friends will be those with whom you work. My brother went to the CIA and happens to have a job that is exactly as it described here. Fortunately, he got in with a corporate restaurant and is in upper kitchen management and makes far more than I make as a teacher and server. He is one of the few lucky ones.

Restaurants hire servers often because there is always someone who can't hack it or gets fired for stealing steaks. In all of the restaurants in which I have worked, none of them had advertised jobs. I just walked in and applied, and I don't live in NY. If the city is big enough to have a bus system, there are restaurants hiring whether they are advertising or not. Trust me, tell your friend to just try it. Never assume.

I put the leaves in salads and use the entire shoot in stir fry. Yummy. Use the entire shoot in anything that is cooked. You can use them like you would use peas in pasta.

My teeth hurt.

I seriously have NO IDEA why I spelled vegetable veggie table.

Really Fred? You've never tried unsalted pasta after eating salted pasta and found it tastes terrible? If you cook from scratch and avoid processed foods, you can add salt to your food. Why are you a serious eats reader if you like bland food?

Vegetables. I can't stand adults that don't like veggies. That is soooo childish.

I've served and worked as a hostess for almost 20 years. While men do tip better then women about half the time, seating is not based on this expectation. The server most deserving of the crappiest tip does not have the worst table in his or her section. Seating is based on whose turn it is to get a table. I do find it odd that you would get a terribly poor table when others are available. But, it is possible that it was that server's turn and there was nothing else available in his or her section.