These are great suggestions. I think I do need to be a little bit frivolous and try things that might not work (ie savory dishes) as well as gifting.
By the way, when my friend gave them to me and my jaw dropped through the floor, she said "What? The whole kilo cost me $20. I kept a quarter, gave one to my mom, one to you, and one to my brother's girlfriend." Anyone want to run the math on how much money is to be made flying to Madagascar and spending $100 on vanilla? :)
Ars Coquinaria
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@stonechiper I would never demand it, or bring it up when the check came, but I would expect it. I would also expect to be paying for the birthday person when I was invited out to a birthday dinner. If I didn't feel comfortable chipping in, I wouldn't go. I think its presumptive to order the expensive food, but not to expect the birthday person to not pay for stuff.
I don't think your shopping example holds. Birthday dinners are situations where people know what they're getting into--more like including a reference to a gift registry in a wedding invitation. It's one thing to only put large appliances and designer sheets on a wedding registry--a classy bride and groom will provide a wide price range so that all of their guests can afford something off of it. Likewise, a classy birthday person will allow the other guests--ie, those paying--to suggest bottles of wine etc. that they are comfortable with instead of demanding expensive items. He or she should also try to pick a restaurant that fits within all of the guests' budgets. When these things don't happen, I think that's tacky. But I also think its tacky to expect someone to pay for dinner on their birthday. I just do.
Wow... I'm really surprised by the majority of the responses to this topic. I would totally expect my friends to pay for me, mostly because I would never, ever let someone pay for their dinner or drinks on their birthday. I also wouldn't pick a super expensive restaurant, but certainly somewhere fairly nice. I think... um, I don't want to alienate anybody, but I'm going to go ahead and say that birthdays are not times to be cheap. I understand being on a budget--I'm 24--and I would panic if someone asked me to drop $500 on a birthday dinner, but regardless of who invites who, birthday boys/girls do not touch their wallets. Period.
Nevermind, I found it. It's Dote, if anyone is curious.
Wait--SERIOUSLY? Over 90%? Every DAY? I have chocolate like once a month, maybe.
I just (like three minutes ago) finished my first McDonalds southern-style chicken biscuit breakfast sandwich. It was ok, but I would like to throw Wendy's breakfast chicken biscuit sandwich into the mix, which is much, MUCH better than McDonalds'. Chick-Fil-A reigns supreme, however.
When I was little, my dad took me to bars to watch Packers games. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything, and I don't think they could've happened outside of a bar.
I understand the liability thing. I also understand that most people (myself included) don't want to have to watch their language (among other behaviors) while drinking. That's cool. I don't think it messes up the kids any, though, and for me, at least, it was a positive experience.
So I ended up serving it with Negronis Sbagliatos, which are Negronis with Spumante instead of gin (and actually Prosecco instead of Spumante). I wasn't feeding a terribly adventurous crowd; my roommate's nose crinkled at the very thought of Campari (*eye-roll*), but I did my best. Thanks for all your suggestions!
The Norske Nook has always somewhat underwhelmed me, although I have to say that when I was a little girl I absolutely covetted the waitress' outfits.
And Ed! Don't forget A&M in Grinnell, now!
I'm keeping a running list on my blog:
You'd think that maybe if Dallas knows about chutney, they'd carry it at grocery stores in Austin.
Oh, I know, I know, they have it at Central Market for like $7 a jar. In Wisconsin we had it for $3.50, and at the normal supermarket.
Grumblegrumblegrumble.
Man oh man do I love me some Claiborne. Also Mimi Sheraton. And Pei Mei! I love Pei Mei.
At my high school (East in Madison, WI), they had this thing called the Pi Mile. On March 14th (right? 3/14? Pi day? I'm not a math person) they would have a bunch of students bake pies, and then a bunch of students would run 3.14 K and if you ran you got one of the pies. The whole thing was to raise money for underprivileged kids to get graphing calculators. I'm not kidding. Maybe the dorkiest fund-raiser ever, but pretty cute.
No worries, Ed. I don't know squat about Manhattan.
Heh. Uh, high five, mskilgore?
I'm confused. And from Madison, Wisconsin. Which is neither North nor South but West of Milwaukee? And Culver's is from Wisconsin too, but Sauk City? And Kopp's does have the best frozen custard. But where is mention of frozen custard's best friend the butter burger, featured prominently at both Kopp's and Culver's and Michael's, although they don't call it a butter burger at Michael's?
This might be too picky. It's early and I'm sleepy. I'm also homesick, though, and it's not terribly often that Wisconsin treats like frozen custard are discussed in a national venue.
Really? At most Whole Foods the frozen/prepared foods section is small? Really? I live in Austin, about half a mile from the Whole Foods Mothership, and the quantity of prepared foods there is insane. Actually, the whole place is insane. *shudder*
Ruth Reichl's recipe in I think Comfort Me With Apples for onion soup is the best I've ever tasted. It involves a lot of garlic and eggs and baking. FYI.
According to ettiquette books, there is no ettiquette for turning down an invitation from a head of state. It is not something that you do.
You may, however, eat cherry tomatoes with your fingers.
When I worked in catering, we always served romesco sauce with crudites. Our version was pretty bread-heavy, so flat bread or tortillas would have been too heavy. I liked it best with bell peppers (duh) and broccoli. There's something about the consistency of the sauce that clings to broccoli florets in such a mouth-watering way... Mmm. Now I want to go make some myself!
A friend of mine was in the Peace Corps in Madagascar and brought me back a quarter kilo of vanilla beans. This is approximately 300 vanilla beans. I'm not /quite/ sure what to do with them. I know make vanilla extract, and I know make gifts of vanilla extract, and I know vanilla sugar and creme brulee. But is there some ingenious way to store/prepare vanilla beans I'm missing out on? I want to take full advantage of my windfall. ;)
I'm writing something on MFK Fisher and moving simultaneously--a dangerous combination because ALL of my food references are packed. Anyway, I've looked all over the internet and can't figure out the following information: Fisher had a nickname that her friends and family called her that was Doty, or Dodie, or Dotie--I think pronounced dough-tee--does anyone know how it's spelled? You guys have always helped me before with my weird food questions, I know someone knows the answer!
Thanks in advance.
So I'm throwing a very Italian dinner party for my very Italian boyfriend's birthday, and I want to serve Bagna Cauda with cocktails before dinner. While I can find many, many, many websites recommending you serve Bagna Cauda with cocktails, I haven't found any recommendations for which ones. A friend suggested martinis, but that's kind of boring and normal, and we're going to be drinking a lot of wine with dinner and probably don't want to make the meal too top-heavy booze-wise, as it were. Any ideas?
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I made this recipe for Thanksgiving and it kind of sucked. Not nearly enough liquid. You'll have to at least double the fats.