Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

My mom used to win 4H prizes for her angel-food cake. She says that the boxed versions are just as good with way less work. =) Then again, she's also a fan of frozen vegetables, so she could be wrong there.

And if you're in a hurry, the peanut sauce can be made with chili-garlic sauce if you keep that sort of thing in the fridge. For days when I don't feel fiddly.

Here's the link to that article, StBernard -

http://www.gourmet.com/magazine/2000s/2004/08/shattered_myths

Very good article, too. I mean, seriously - they're using the tongue map as a guide to where to impact the wine's flavor? There's no such thing. I'm all for good wine glasses, and the shape will definitely impact the aromas and how you perceive the wine. I notice the way the tastings were set up really led people through it - she would set the expectations and people would taste what they were told they would.

It's like scented geraniums. Sure, that's a "pineapple" scented geranium... but if you didn't know that beforehand, you wouldn't place that scent as being pineapple.

@marchpane No, green's perfectly normal - it all tastes the same. I seem to see bright red on the smallest stalks when ours comes up. The rest are primarily pinky-green.

I like rhubarb fool, and I've been making it a lot. Really simple, and if you have too much, you can just freeze it and eat like an ice cream. =)

Things like aspirin and NSAIDs can cause ulcers, but between 60-90% of stomach-y ulcers are caused by heliobacter colonies. Chiles would be able to aggravate an existing ulcer, but not cause one.

No argument about the exit though. Ow.

Thanks, @jabby, @Cassaendra - that sums up what I wanted to say perfectly. I tip based on service and I don't tip 20% unless I actually get good service. Honestly, most of the time service is average at best. (Standard disclaimer - I live in Canada, and servers here get real wages plus tips as opposed to in the States, where the tips make up part of the wages.)

@producestories - If I'm tipping low, I don't honestly care whether the restaurant knows why - and I've got no fear of repercussions from servers because if I get bad service, I won't be back. If they didn't care enough to give me decent service in the first place, why would I think they'd care to improve it?

Funny, really... the arguments seem so similar to the ones you get between off-leash/on-leash dog people. It seems like there's very little middle ground here - and while I understand the frustration, I can't see why so many people seem unable to concede a little.

Yes, children learn by example, and actually taking them out in public is an excellent education for them. Yes, letting them run around loose is unacceptable and "free rein" isn't the lesson they need to be getting. I am seeing some consensus that if you go earlier regardless of whether it's a set children time, you'll get a bit more leeway to be free of the dirty looks.

Oh, and for the no-children-in-restaurants people... it's in your best interests for parents to teach their children proper going-out manners. Cut them a bit of slack, and try not to terrify the poor kids.

Sadly, I have no access to Lee's. =) What I'm wondering about with the new sandwiches is whether they'll end up like the old ones. When they first came out, they were reasonably tasty. After about 3 weeks, they were terrible.

I loved the line in the story that said that a car with Jersey plates showed up at the restaurant the day after the video got out - the guys asked for Joey Calco. Looks like it's definitely him. ;)

I go with soup, because water gets dead boring if you're drinking that much of it. Best I've found is water or chicken broth, with a lot of grated ginger, some cayenne, and lemon. Then throw in some broccoli. You can change the amount of spice and lemon depending on how sick you are (ie, what you can taste). The flavours are really good together and it really makes me feel much better - lots of good stuff too.

That flatbread - is it made from potatoes by any chance? 'Cause if that's lefse, I could seriously do with having it sometimes without all the rolling. =)

Oh, and the local grocery store just got those crispy oat cookies in - I bought two boxes. They're called "double chocolate crisps" and the ones I have were made by Gille.

We do a Norwegian wine punch called julglogg - never had any problems getting people to finish it. It's got almonds, raisins, figs, orange peel and wine. I particularly like eating all the soaked fruit, and any bits left over go into biscotti.