Text 22615, 145 rader
Skriven 2015-01-05 21:40:00 av NANCY BACKUS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Re: oddities 10
=======================
-=> Quoting Michael Loo to Nancy Backus on 01-03-15  07:09 <=-

 NB>> I'd go for the sweet potato fries or onion rings substitutes
 NB>> myself... chips or beans being not so much better in my book
 NB>> than the fries themselves...  :)
 ML> Last night we went out with friends to this place that, as
 ML> Mike gleefully said, was serving a prime rib special. I was
 ML> in a mood and asked for mac & cheese as my side. Turned out
 ML> the mac & cheese was, aside from the pitcher of Yuengling,
 ML> the best part of the meal. 

Now that's sad.  Unless the mac & cheese was especially wonderful...

 ML> The waitress had assured us that
 ML> all donenesses were available, even extra rare, so we got
 ML> one blue rare, one rare, and one medium-rare. Mike's wife
 ML> cleverly got a grilled cheese sandwich and their daughter
 ML> cleverly got chicken fingers. The meals took an incredibly
 ML> long time to come out, and all the prime ribs appeared as
 ML> medium to medium-well, the meat having the texture of
 ML> cotton batting. I ate most of the mac & cheese and the
 ML> beef fat and left most of the beef. Peculiar.

Oh, dear...

 ML> The waitress apologized and said that they'd just had
 ML> the cook quit, and "she" (meaning I believe the owner)
 ML> was doing her best.

So did the cook quit before or after the order...??
 
 NB>> I nuke frozen salmon fillets... one has to be careful not to overcook,
 NB>> but it makes for a quicker meal..  ;)
 ML>> With the nuker you can usually cook incrementally without
 ML>> harming the food.
 NB>> I watch through the window to see how it's coming, generally... :)
 ML> That's no doubt what the window is for. I on the other hand
 ML> am more inclined to set the timer for half as long as I think
 ML> the job will take and do a finger test at that point, adding
 ML> time accordingly. 

I've done it enough that I can generally judge where it is...

 ML> SOW, I discovered yesterday that the time
 ML> needed to reheat a slice of scrapple (in Annie's nuker) is
 ML> 9 seconds. Less than 7 it's cold; more than 10 it wilts.

Not much of a window there, is it...

 NB>> we went to Taste of Japan to wish Fu and Linh Merry Christmas, and give
 NB>> them a little business on their first Christmas open

 ML> Good for you, I think. Encouraging them in a potentially
 ML> losing proposition might not be quite as kind as your
 ML> intentions, though.

It doesn't seem to be much of a losing proposition... although it was
pretty quiet when we went (lunch time), apparently it got pretty busy
that night.  And when we went on New Years Day, a little later in the
day more towards suppertime, business was already starting to pick up. 
Today we met my brother there (he's in town for my family's celebration
that was on Saturday) for lunch... 

 ML> Would they be looking for a substantial Japanese clientele?

Not necessarily so.  I think they might get it anyway, but there are
a number of other options in the area, including one just up the road...
of course, that one, despite being called Tokyo, has about the same
reputation for Japanese that its sister restaurant (same building, same
owners) called Shanghai has for Chinese food... not particularly
authentic or particularly good... :)  But, his last post was at Arigato,
which did have a fairly good reputation as a Japanese place, and he has
many regulars from there that are gradually finding their way to his new
place..  :)  Not sure either what sort of Japanese population we have
versus say Korean, Chinese, Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese, Cambodian etc...

 ML> If so better to do research beforehand, as the only thing worse
 ML> than ticking off a Japanese would be a Chinese person ticking off
 ML> a Japanese.
 
I think they'll be ok... :)

 NB>> BTW, rather than be rude, when my son called, I asked him if he knew
 NB>> their ethnicities, since he'd worked with them at Arigato.  He was
 NB>> sure that Fu is full Chinese, at least one generation past arrival,
 NB>> maybe more, and that he identifies himself more as Chinese-American,
 NB>> and/or a world citizen...  ;)

 ML> Maybe I should start a restaurant. Nah, too much work. 

Fu would probably agree with you there.... at least as to the fact that
it is a lot of work...  Even when he complains, he's obviously enjoying
it though...  :)

 ML> And I discover that people in the foodservice biz take at most
 ML> one vacation a year, and I couldn't bear that. Speaking of which,
 ML> we're going to the Herdic House for NYE tonight. That's the
 ML> place where I guest cheffed, but I doubt I get a break on the
 ML> bill. It was Carolyn (the public health person) and her husband's
 ML> idea. I anticipate being soaked for triple digits - certainly
 ML> between Annie and me, possibly me alone. (After the ball drops,
 ML> the restaurant owners are going to rake in their ill-gotten gains
 ML> and spend two weeks in Florida, which is why the speaking of
 ML> which.) After which I pack up and go to Singapore and Manila with
 ML> a couple domestic detours. [this part written of course before NYE
 ML> - it turns out that in Williamsport they drop a giant baseball;
 ML> also, the bill came to an eye-popping $90 each]

Fancy prices for a fancy place on NYE, I guess... having venison soup
at Lydia's might not be all that fancy, but it was much more
affordable... (G)

 NB>> already had a couple of orders of wings by the time we got there, and
 NB>> Marty (sister's hubby) was working on an order of onion rings.  MG was
 NB>> the only one having beer.  The onion rings were huge, probably like the
 NB>> ones you described recently.  A couple more orders of wings, one hot,
 NB>> one herb and parm (I think), arrived shortly after we did.
 ML> Sounds good but likely out of a foodservice prepared food
 ML> catalogue.

Could be... dunno, though... that's been my one and only visit there, at
least so far..  :)
 
 NB>> soup or salad.  I got curious about what the bar's single malt
 NB>> selection might be, so MG and John checked and all they had was
 NB>> Glenfiddich, not bad at all, and John bought himself and me each a
 ML> Not bad at all. Our lunch place offered no such thing.

I generally am curious enough to at least scan bar offerings, not
necessarily to imbibe, but just to see if they carry anything decent,
from my point of view... ;)
 
 NB>> ... Now we all sit through Shakespeare in order to recognise the
 NB>> quotation 
 ML> Some truth to that.

Indeed.  Had something to do with my snagging it in the first place.. ;)

ttyl         neb

... When I'm not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded.

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