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New Food Documentary, Food Inc.
RE: "...a civilized horror movie for the socially conscious, the nutritionally curious and the hungry."
"The hungry" usually aren't too squeamish.
Thanks in large part to the nation's food industry, there aren't that many of them. In fact, a far "bigger" problem we have is people eating too much food!
Why Pepperoni Pizza Sucks
I'm just not comfortable with the concpet of pizza snobs.
How Food Porn Is Like Real Porn
Food porn?
How very last millenium!
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Recent Comments | Response to Comments
New Food Documentary, Food Inc.
RE: "...a civilized horror movie for the socially conscious, the nutritionally curious and the hungry."
"The hungry" usually aren't too squeamish.
Thanks in large part to the nation's food industry, there aren't that many of them. In fact, a far "bigger" problem we have is people eating too much food!
Why Pepperoni Pizza Sucks
I'm just not comfortable with the concpet of pizza snobs.
How Food Porn Is Like Real Porn
Food porn?
How very last millenium!
Woman Discovers Strawmato, A Strawberry Inside a Tomato
I try to avoid mixing food and politics, but in the interest of equal time:
Obama voted that it would be okay to remove the live strawberry, squash it, and flush it!
Woman Discovers Strawmato, A Strawberry Inside a Tomato
Pumpkra (pumpkin + okra)
Goobeets (peanuts + beets)
Peatatos (peas + potatos)
Cugli (cucumber + ugli fruit)
Waterleaks (watermelon + leaks)
Peachives (peach + chives)
Broccolime (broccoli + lime)
I gotta quit!
No! Just one more?
Horshitake (horse radish + mushroom)
Another Day, Another Meme: 100 Japanese Foods to Try
100 anything is way too many.
Ideas for Pie Dough Scraps?
My Mom used to re-roll the scraps, tcut them into strips using her "crinkle-edged" cutter, then sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon before baking.
We would get to eat these fresh out of the oven, and called them Pie Dough Biscuits.
I'm so old that I remember (food style)...
This may not have happened had I lived in New York or some other large city, but growing up in Northern Minnesota I can remember .... BEFORE THERE WAS PIZZA!!!!!
Alec Baldwin Calls Himself a Pastry Chef, Possible 'Times' Food Critic
I thought he'd moved to Canada?
Who Should Pay at a Birthday Dinner?
$3,450, or $500+/per head!
It's the thought that counts?
Mott's Selling 50% Juice For the Same Price as 100% Juice
Depends on how much you pay for the water.
Not Surprising: Vegans Have It Rough In Airports
I'm shocked and dismayed that the head of the Humane Society would take peanut butter aboard a plane, and purposely endanger the lives of fellow travelers who might suffer from severe peanut allergies!
Separated at Birth: Tony Bourdain and Tiny Tim
They were what they ate!
'Waiter Rant': The Giveaway
Lill the Waitress
Back in the 1970's my friend Lightning was a guitar player in a local rock band. One night, after he'd finished playing a dance job, we arranged to meet some girls we knew at the pizzeria which was a popular destination after the bars closed. He and I arrived somewhat late after helping to pack up the band equipment.
The restaurant's seating consisted of a row of booths along the wall opposite the entryway, several small tables in a row down the center of the dining room, and two larger round tables near the door, alongside the kitchen area, that usually weren't occupied unless when the place was really busy, as it was that night.
The girls we knew were eating a pizza at the round table nearest to the door. Lightning decided to order something to eat and I was just going to have coffee. At the other round table sat a couple of older, large rough looking characters who had obviously spent quite a few hours in the bars up the street. They were acting up, making the usual wise-guy remarks about long hair, funny clothing, suspected sexual orientation etc.
One of the girls had to work the next morning and asked me if she could get a ride home. She didn't live far away, and since I wasn't going to eat it posed no problem. While driving I mentioned how obnoxious the two guys at the other table had been. She told me that before I arrived they had been behaving even worse. After hearing her relate a few stories I became incensed. I dropped her off and sped back to the restaurant. I searched under my car seat for anything I could use as a weapon, but all I could come up with was pair of pliers, which I stuck in my pocket.
Back inside the other girls had finished eating and were getting ready to leave a bit earlier than they might have otherwise, no doubt due in part to the unpleasant atmosphere. The fact that this now deprived Lightning and I of any chance at some pleasurable female companionship later on didn't put me in any better mood.
While Lightning ate I had a cup of coffee and tried to ignore them. They were still trying to keep up what I'm sure they considered to be a line of witty banter. They even made rude comments to Lill, the matronly waitress. She was used to putting up with drunks on the night shift, and while she maintained her normal neutral disposition I could tell she was irritated by this particular pair. While she refilled my coffee cup I alluded to their antics and she gave me a knowing nod.
Just then one of their jackets fell off the back of the chair where it had been hanging and landed near my feet. I picked it off the floor with the toe of my boot and kicked it off to the side, making sure to leave a dirty footprint.
Now the drunks quit talking and just concentrated on glaring at us. Moments later Lill came back with our bill and, after glancing furtively around, she took a long sharply pointed metal spoon out of her apron and slipped it to me. I took out the money to cover our tab, and just as the two thugs at the next table got up to leave I handed the spoon under the table to Lightning and motioned with my head for him to follow me.
We elbowed our way between them as they went out the door, and once outside we leaned up against the front of the building. Our adversaries stood at the curb facing us. I'm an average sized guy, and I was young and in pretty good shape, but they were both larger than me, and from their outward appearance not unfamiliar with the physical resolution of conflicts. Unfortunately, Lightning was what you might politely describe as scrawny. In a fight he would doubtless prove to be a hinderance more than an asset, but under the circumstances he was all the help I could expect. While I made what I hoped were menacing sounds clicking the pliers he twirled the long pointed spoon that Lil the waitress had so kindly supplied us with between his fingers.
So there I was, leaning up against the front of the pizza joint, armed with a pair of pliers and reinforced by the physically unimposing Lightning twirling the pointed spoon that Lill had provided to us for use in an impending battle against two large drunken ruffians.
The best I could hope for was that either the police would be stopping by for coffee, (since the pizzeria owner's son was on the force), or that restaurant patrons who knew us would intervene before we were pummeled too badly.
Right then our fortunes took a strange turn for the better. Our adversaries turned around and set out across the street toward the town's Pool Hall. They may as well have walked right into my living room. In fact, if you only took waking hours into account, I spent far more time at the Pool Hall than I ever did at home in the living room.
My despair suddenly changed to boldness, I crossed the street with Lightning in tow. Zippy Zollar was on duty behind the counter in the Pool Hall, reading the paper. "I didn't see nobody", was his reply when asked where the strangers went, but just then I spotted them starting down the stairs to the basement.
Although I hadn't recognized them as being locals, they apparently were familiar enough with the town to know about the late night poker games in the Pool Hall basement. This was really turning out to be too good to be true.
We went downstairs and walked around to the opposite side of the card table from where our now-turned-potential-victims were standing. My friend Polar Bear was acting as House Man, and the card players at the time, Geno, Kocko, HJ, Toodles, Secundo, Johnson from Wisconsin, (whose name wasn't Johnson and he wasn't from Wisconsin), and the Spagnolo Brothers were all familiar to me. I leaned over and whispered in Geno's ear for him to look at the two guys standing across the table, whisper to Kocko on his right to do the same thing, and then pass the word around the table.
Before the message reached the first Spagnolo Brother the thugs were hightailing it up the stairs. By the time Lightning and I got around the table and back upstairs they were nowhere in sight. Zippy motioned up the street with a nod of his head, and when we got outside a car was already pulling away from the curb and quickly driving away.
We returned the spoon to Lil at the restaurant the next evening, and she got a good laugh out of hearing our story.
Newspaper Food Sections Cutting Jobs; What Can Be Done?
Newspaper used to be great for washing windows until they switched to some soy-based ink or some such thing.
They also came in handy for wrapping fish, lining bird cages and training puppies.
They can't blame the internet for displacing them in these areas.
Newspaper Food Sections Cutting Jobs; What Can Be Done?
Who still reads newspapers?
Michelle Obama to Deep-Fry on Paula Deen Show
I shudder to think of it!
Endangered Foods: How Do We Save Them?
In the case of foods that are "endangered" by rarity, we could not eat them?
For foods that have just fallen out of popularity, maybe it's because people don't want to eat them?
SB (thinks this is silly)
Dispatch from Slow Food Nation: The Taste Pavilion
Assuming the "nation" referred to in Slow Food Nation is the US, and that other nations are represented as well, why do the always have their convention in Italy?
Not that I wouldn't love to take a business trip to Turino every two years, but it does lend credence to the argument that the movement is somewhat "elitist"?
Dispatch from Slow Food Nation: Speaker Panels
Ay, there lies another rub?
Is Locavorism Practical Where You Live? Freaknomics States the Obvious
Dylan also said "Lotta people ain't got no food on the table, but they gotta lotta forks and knives, and they gotta cut somethin'"
(although Woodie Guthrie wrote it)
In Gear: Flour Sack Kitchen Towels (An Old-Fashioned Staple for Modern Kitchens)
My girlfriend buys these in bulk from crafting stores and embroiders them for gifts. I received the "Happy Kitchenware" pattern, featuring dancing plates and cuddling spoons. She also found a pattern called "Tropical Babies". It's wonderfully/horrifically un-PC.
Pickle Juice
Pickle juice is great if you have high sugar levels due to diabetes to help lower them. Dallas Cowboys have been using it for years as an secret boost of energy rather than chocolate milk, candy, or energy bars that can bring them down due to the sugar. Athletes with diabetes use Pickle juice mixed with water for boost drinks. I it frozen on a stick.
What Are You Doing With Your Pee?
http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-09/fertilizer-future-might-be-closer-we-think
Apparently urine works really well as a fertilizer!
Michelle Obama to Deep-Fry on Paula Deen Show
I was hugely disappointed Michelle Obama would be on Paula Deen's how no one should cook show. Was she sending a message to Americans that fried, battered foods are good for you? I would expect the first lady to set an example of healthy, nutritious food preparation. I can't express how disappointed I am. I know I am being redundant, but I just can't believe she would choose Paula Deen of all the shows on the food network. Absolutely, the worst!
Pickle Juice
I poach chicken and fish in it, it also works well as a marinade for cheaper cuts of beef and pork...it tenderizes them like crazy. For the cheaper dill pickle juices, the ones with a lot of yellow color to them, I mix the juice 50/50 with water to use it or it yellows the meat. It's been a staple for my cooking for several years now.I wish they sold it without the pickles in it. BTW, it's also great for steaming veggies...
How to cook a boston butt?
you gotta love a boston butt... a good way to tenderize a butt or shoulder is if you put it in zing zang bloody mary mix over night. i would think that any bloody mary mix would work. then wrap it in foil twice and put on the grill (medium heat) for about 3 to 5 hours depending on its size.
Adults and baby food?
I use baby food fruits instead of real live bananas as a nice change in my banana bread recipe.
Adults and baby food?
I'm with chisai and mayoxqueen on YoBaby Yogurt!
It's the creamiest, most luscious yogurt ever... I couldn't believe it when I first tasted it before I fed it to my baby (who loved it, too!). I would finish whatever was leftover in the cup :p ... yummmm....
Adults and baby food?
Okay, I must say I love peach baby food and those little puff things for tots! But being a teenager, and eating baby food can be a big problem! Mostly because I get odd looks from people in the check out line........and then everyone has to ask who is the owner of the baby food in the fridge at school.....which is always awkward. But now I'm chill with it, I mean it's just mushed up food, right?
Best way to eat ice cream?
i'm the only person i know who does this - if there is anyone else, please confess! i NEED my ice cream to be nice and soft and melty, but have no patience, so i always zap a cold bowl of it in the microwave for ten seconds to take off the chill. am i the only one?
Sunday Supper: Sloppy Joes
Just made this tonight and it really tastes like the bought stuff; added in s&p, garlic powder, chopped dill stacker, diced and about 1 Tbs. of pickle juice, plus couple of tbs. of diced green pepper. For some reason I didn't need to add the flour ~ was thick enough without it. Good recipe, thanks.
What do your coffee mugs say about you?
I have a Pea Green mug possibly bought at a Chelsea,NYC bootik...a gift, but ...not my favorite deal for coffee or tea.
I prefer drinking my coffee or tea from a nice, deep ceramic bowl
purchased in the Chinatown district of NYC.
Hate having a cup's rim bang me against my nose's bridge, and a bowl
eliminates' that problem.
Photo of the Day: Rainbow Jell-O
Dang. . .the only flavor in my cupboard is strawberry. I gotta do this, it's too beautiful to pass up. . .I just love making memories for the grandkids.
Guilty pleasure--strawberry Jello with fresh bananas and real whipped cream. Oh wait--I love lime with grated carrots and lime with pineapple, too.
@kitchenbea--thanks for the idea. I have a friend who will think this is just so cool.
Bourdain Rants About the Food Network
Hey gabagool - I think both Ina and Paula are good cooks. Grants their style is as different as night and day, but to put down Ina - you are so off the mark. He food is always good, clean and tasty (as I have tried many of her recipes). Also loving Paula with (everything tastes better with butter) attitude - I have also made some of her recipes and enjoyed them just as much. I personally, choose not to pick one over the other. FN is big enough for the both of them.
Bourdain Rants About the Food Network
Anthony Bourdain is an intelligent guy that cracks me up when in interviews, but his show bores me to death.
Giada's food sucks. It has no flavor! What the heck is AB thinking? Please get rid of Sandra Lee, I get a headache when I hear her speak. I feel like everyone is just repeating catch phrases that the other person said. We need ppl that actually know what they're saying. Bring back Mario, Emeril, Wolfgang Puck, hell even bring back Ready Set Cook!
Bourdain Rants About the Food Network
gabagool , that was spot on. Well other than the stupid stereotype of Southern States. I really think it's funny how elitist North Easterners are towards the South. I have family and friends in both regions and I can tell you now, people for the North East really need to look in the mirror before they judge others. Most of the more ignorant, backwards, and racist people I know, live in the North East.
Bigfoot Contessa. That's classic.
Bourdain Rants About the Food Network
@gabagool
The Barefoot Contessa was the name of the Hamptons gourmet food store that Ina bought years ago. Her husband spends his week at Yale and comes home on Fridays. Her friends are a little creepy, but so what!
Paula Deen is probably a decent home cook; she tells you that she isn't a chef ~ which is obvious to anyone who ever cooks anything that isn't loaded with butter, cream cheese and sour cream. And/or deep fried. That stunt with the Krispy Kreme donuts as the hamburger bun, still makes me gag a little. I do find her antics mildly amusing and sometimes grossly embarrassing
What are your coffee shop expectations?
Hi Vicki..I am an Iowa girl. but have lived in the Southwest a long time..so glad to hear that you are located there:) It is so beautiful in Iowa inJune and July...minus the humidity of course!! I grew up outside of Dubuque-You?
Here's an update for you-for some reason the food issue lessened a bit when I wrote "No Outside Food Please" on the large whiteboard sign at the entrance of our cafe. We have had signs on each table since we opened 3 years ago but find that folks ignore them...see last posting, right?!
Anyway, we have no walls separating us from the rest of the library..oh how we wish we did. So it seems that while the Library staff here (who are valued regular customers and truly wonderful folks) support our no food policy, they allow or overlook food and drinks in other Library areas. Hard to draw a line on the floor and say "See? This is the Library and THIS is the cafe..Food is okay here but not over THERE." And there is our food dilemma-even with Library support.
Also, to make our lives more interesting, the Library is under renovation for the next year...80 computers were available and now that is down to 30...and 2 of these 30 sit in the cafe. Again, the way we are constructed means that people waiting for these 2 computers (reserved at the reference desk) sit at our tables and do not purchase any cafe items.
Then, our safe is far away from my office where I do the money managing everyday...I now have to make my way thru these folks carrying the money bags...imagine how secure that feels.
The lady in the office next to mine is a grant writer and organizes the use of our large meeting room. Oftentimes, she is on a teleconference or hosting a "webinar". Throngs of people outside our offices waiting for their computer times are NOT conducive to business. Because you know Mr. Youtube and his teenage buddies are all using the same computer and commenting or playing the latest rap video without considering the others around them. Also, people walk into our offices (Labeled STAFF ONLY!!!) looking for the printers tied to these 2 computers.
I was told today that these 2 computers would be removed from the Cafe-hooray-can't happen soon enough. So, one difficulty down...just the food and messy people to go! Hope you are hanging in there! Have a great weekend-Julie
For an Edible Container, Try Bacon Bowls
I think the lettuce and tomato take away from the presentation.
Tater tots, hash browns, or some cheese and egg concoction would be best.
What are your coffee shop expectations?
Julie,
Sorry it's taken so long to post here!
I had a meeting with our library board and they are in total support of our coffee shop.
They are also understanding of the public's desire to have a place at the library for family eating.
While they had planned for folks to come to the library and buy items from the cafe and eat or drink at the available tables, they did not plan for people bringing their own food. Since this is a public library they would like to accommodate their patrons.
I think they have decided to amend our lease, with no extra cost to us, to include the 6 tables in the entryway. The four tables outside are to be for public use.
This really works for me as I figure the outside tables are least profitable. Here in Iowa they are not used at all during winter and later this summer it will be to hot to sit outside. The tables are metal. I have also stopped maintaining those tables to discourage people from using them! Since they are not part of the lease I feel it's not my responsibility to clean off the bird poop, except for my customers who want to use them, of course!
I highly recommend you meet with your foundation people, they support your shop, yes? and find out what their expectations are for your space. Let them know how detrimental to your business the practice of customers bringing food and beverage into your coffee shop. I know you said you chase them to outside tables, that is good and you must continue to do this. I would encourage you to put signage on your tables letting people know which tables are for coffee shop use exclusively (with the support of the library) and which can be used for the public (hopefully none of them) and be very vocal about enforcing this decision.
I personally told a lady unloading her fast food onto a table the other day that she needed to take it outside. She replied that it was raining (it wasn't!) so I told her she needed to take it inside and she did. I let her know those are my tables and to move on!
Yes the table had signage that said tables reserved for our customers!
Once you let people take over your space they will continue to do so. Most customers appreciate the signs and feel people bringing food in are rude.
Get the support of your library and enforce it!
By the by, I spoke with another library coffee shop and they pay a bit less rent that I do but they only rent the counter and the space behind it so the serving portion of the shop is library property but they still maintain it and ask people to leave if they are busy. They said while they allow people to bring in food and drink it is rare and they really hate it when people leave their trash to be cleaned up! Can you imagine?
Look forward to hearing how you're doing
Vicki
If We Eat Less Meat, Can We Save the Planet and Ourselves?
A meat hangover? Give it a rest.
What are your coffee shop expectations?
Vicki-Pleeeease share any suggestions your friend can pass along! Yesterday, two young men came into our cafe toting a large green cooler and TOLD me (they did not ask for assistance or request my permission) that they were going to be leaving their large cooler in the cafe while they were studying in the library for most of the day. WHAT? We find that more and more folks consider the library as a dining destination -bringing their own food and drinks, or provisions in the case of these two men.
SIlly me, but my first thought when I leave KFC (as if!) with my dinner bucket IS NOT "Hey, let's eat this in the Connections Cafe at the Tempe Library!" Help-any comments and suggestions are welcomed!
As for sanitizing...yeah, we know:) -makes us better consumers if that's all that it does. Continued good luck to you and your exciting venture-do keep me posted...I'll be sending the picnic folks packing til we chat again!! Julie
What are your coffee shop expectations?
Julie,
Thanks for all your comments. I too have used the health department to discourage folks from bringing in outside items. However, when I checked with them the other day I learned they HAVE NO REGULATIONS regarding restaurant seating and tables. They recommend that the tables are cleaned and sanitized a minimum of every 4 hours! Consumers beware! Can you believe that? Behind that counter I practically have to wash my hands every minute and sanitize everything with bleach water after each use, but hey after it leaves the counter you all are on your own! It also turns out that my insurance already covers the outdoor and indoor seating areas so I will meet with the library to see how I can get those tables in the lease for as little money as possible. They are extremely interested in our success and I think are somewhat disappointed in the folks who said "if you build it we will be there". Not that we are struggling but I think that allowing people to bring in food and drink is very detrimental to what I'm trying to accomplish here. I will meet with them next week and keep you posted. For the most part if I ask people to leave they do so as they consider the library tables are something of a picnic ground. They do not know that I pay the library rent, how else would it work? There is another library coffee shop not far away and I know the owner, she has the same problem and I'm going to give her a call and see how she is handling this situation.
TTFN
Vicki
What are your coffee shop expectations?
Hi Vicki-Oh boy do I have a few comments about the outside food and drink!! Since we are located inside the public library there are food and drink restrictions already in place re: maintaining clean surfaces for computer use, books, and study areas. However, once some folks enter the cafe space all bets seem to be off! We have had entire families come in toting their Taco Bell items, fried chicken and even a 6pack of brewskies! We do have signs posted that are pretty blunt in stating "No outside food please" but ...?! I do try to gently remind folks that the Maricopa County Board of Health makes the rules and we must follow them. I do offer these folks a table on outdoor patio but as we approach the AZ summer weather that becomes less of an option. Perhaps that solves a bit of the problem for us. Making the Board of Health the"bad guy" does seem to work with most folks.....so far!
Our Library is beginning to undergo renovation of the lower level which houses, among other things, the entire children's area. This area has been relocated to just near our Cafe and means that we now have to become more family-friendly...and that opens up other cans of worms...but also, how do I handle the mom of the toddler with the little box of Cheerios? That IS outside foood, right? I am a mother myself so I have compassion for the situation...best thing for us is to create a "Kid's Cafe" area with smaller furniture and a kid's menu from the items we already stock...or at least that's the idea so far.
To answer your question about our business structure, I can tell you that we are funded by the Friends of the Tempe Library-see their website also. I do know that we also have grant monies from the Virginia Piper trust...but never enough!!! We do also have non-profit status but I am not sure how those details work.
I hope this info is helpful-got a little long winded! Have a great weekend! J.
Why isn't there pork stock?
My best guess: In most western cuisines, if pork is an element in a soup or other dish, a ham hock or some form of cured/salted pork can be used in small quantities to deliver maximum flavor to the cooking liquid, so the stock is fairly unnecessary.
But, because pork is used in greater frequency in Asian cultures, it makes sense that we see pork stock show up in Asian cuisines - especially in soups and sauces.
Again, just an educated guess, really.
Cheers,
~ Paula
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yeah
great