GROUP DINING PITFALLS

I am not a big fan of eating out in groups. To me a group I am comfortable with is no more than four people in total. I personally think four people are manageable. When having a dining experience with a lower number of people your minds tend to be in the same place with regards to overall dining experience.

Let's use a couple as an example. Going out with a couple is easy, you both know each other and are comfortable with voicing your opinion about what food type you want, athmoshpere, and price range. It's normally pretty easy. There are very little surprises. Even if you go and sit down and both look at the menu only to realize it was more than you bargained for you either suck it up, one covers for the other knowing they will return the favor or pay back, or you both leave.

Two couples get together. When the first couple invites the second couple out at the very least the first couple are pretty much in synch with their dining habits. Most likely one party of the first couple is friendly with the one party of the second couple and it was the two of them who agreed and planned this dinner outing. Therefore, the individual planning parties of each couple are now responsible for being sure their respective partners in their own coupling are fine with the overall dining experience. Yet again no problem!

Things start getting a bit tricky with five or more. Typically when I go out in a group that big it is due to a celebration. But is it every just five? No when you start inviting five there is always a last minute person. Here is a perfect example:

KB's friend had a birthday recently. KB not being one to jump on a group dinner invite was very cautious when the E-vite arrived. I typically hang out with the group of people on the E-vite and it is a fairly modest group. The entire E-vite consisted of 7 people. Yes more than KB's approved number in an outdoor dining experience. However, the guest of honor chose a very modest place for dining. KB didn't really approve of the venue for the food but understood the need to go there for two reasons:

Birthday Boy Love's IT
KB Loves The Budget

Now you are begining to think KB is cheap, far from the truth! I just don't like paying for overzelous people who forget there is a large group and top of the line Scotch ads up. (Another friend who should remain nameless has a habit of ordering top of the line cocktails at group functions knowing the cost will be spread over a larger number of people.) KB just prefers to save his $100 dinners with smaller groups, knowing the dinning experience will be much more pleasurable. You won't be talking over others to have convesation at the other end of the table, food will be shared (KB likes to get a taste of differnt items on the menue and smaller groups tend to feel the same.)

Think before you group dine!

Good Kitchen Help in San Francisco

It really pains me that the people who are creating all the food that actually bring customers into a restaurant are not being compensated correctly. Why is it that the front of the house gets all the credit but the back doesn't see it?

I am referencing this article in the SF Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/12/MN1DSNR7D.DTL&tsp=1

I too have worked in the kitchen of a Bay Area restaurant, the now closed Roxanne's in Larkspur. When i was working for her I was making a whopping $12.50 an hour. I would get to the kitchen by 5:00am and stand on my feet until 5:00pm or longer. It made me sick to see how little I got paid for the work I performed. It was this very reason I chose to leave the restaurant industry and get back into the corporate world and please my passion in other ways.

I too was one of those people graduating from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. At that time I paid $40,000 for a 15 month program. I am still paying that loan off and struggle to do so each month and I am making much more than a chef. Shouldn't the restaurant owner take on some responsibility and provide more salary to the kitchen help? The Golden Gate Restaurant association is suing the city of SF because they are trying to provide access to health care www.healthysanfrancisco.org to the uninsured. But does that make sense to sue when you have $12 per hour kitchen staff working between 8 and 12 hours per shift with no way to get preventative care to help fend off a more serious illness?

Come on people get it right! Yes I understand that waiters have face to face contact with the customer but they are making far more money and less hours. That wealth needs to be shared with the back of the house. If it wasn't for the good food coming out of some of these Bay Area kitchens then the front of the house wouldn't have anyone to service.

It just doesn't seem right. I really hope the Golden Gate Restaurant Association wins their law suit and then all the great chefs leave San Francisco. Good luck to the restaurants. I bet they will then start paying to woo these talented young chefs back.

Pennywise Eat Local Challenge

I am taking the plunge! I am going to try this Pennywise Eat Local Challenge starting on April 23, 2007.

http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/2007/03/all_you_need_to.html

The purpose is to prove whether yuo can eat locally (within 100 miles of my home in San Francisco California) without going bankrupt! Personally I think it will be very difficult. Eating on $10 a day is hard enough as it is but doing it with local limitations will be next to impossible. I know for certain that means not going out to breakfast, lunch or dinner.

During this challenge I plan to keep track of my spending, and grocery list. The following will not be included as a part of this calculation:

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES (ALTHOUGH WINE WILL BE LOCAL)
SPICES (FRESH HERBS WILL BE PART OF THE CHALLENGE)
MISC CONDIMENTS (MUSTARDS, KETCHUPS, ETC)

I am up for the challenge and no doubt I will loose a few pound in the meantime. Wish me luck!

Meatloaf Madness

As a chef people always as me about my favorite food. When I tell them meatloaf they are so surprised. Growing up in New Hampshire meatloaf was somewhat of a white trash food. I can remember my first introduction to meatloaf from my mother. The recipe was something like this:

1 lb ground beef
1 chopped yellow onion
1 chopped green pepper
1 c progresso bread crumbs
1 egg beaten
1 T yellow mustard
1/2 c ketchup
1 package of wishbone Italian dressing

Not exactly gourmet I would say, and most times a bit dry, but for some strange reason I loved it. I guess the fact that we doused it in ketchup like a hamburger helped a great deal.

One day I went to lunch with my mother at this restaurant attached to Bradlee's Department Store http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradlees. On the menu they had meatloaf and mashed potatoes all covered in gravy. Gravy? When did they start doing this? Well of course I had to try it and yet again my meatloaf was taken to a new level.

Fast forward about 20 years. I have guests coming over for dinner. They are a very meat and potatoes type of family. I wanted something I could do ahead of time and just pop in the oven but yet was on a budget. Meatloaf it was but I couldn't do any old meatloaf I needed something upscale. Out came the cookbooks. Flipping and flipping I finally came across a stuffed meatloaf in the Frog Commisary Cookbook. The twist on this meatloaf - it was stuffed with cheese and spinach. The meatloaf mixture was made and then flattened out between two pieces of waxed paper. down the center I crumbled a mixture of blue cheese and sauteed spinach. This meat mix was then rolled like a jelly roll and cooked. Each slice of this yummy stuff contained a small nugget of goodness. My guests were amazed!

Here is is 2007 and meatloaf still reins for me! The other night I whipped up a fantastic turkey meatloaf in no time. It consisted of ground turkey breast, egg, panko crumbs, chopped onion, copped jalepano, diced sundried tomatoes in olive oil, mustard, steak sauce and salt/pepper. As simple as it was, this was some of the most tasty and healthy meatloaf I have ever made.

No doubt there is a meatloaf book already out there but watch for the Kitchen Bitch's version one day. You will be happy you purchased it! Who said meatloaf is white trash anymore, it is gourmet these days.

Hands and Feet

Yesterday I had the sincere pleasure of being hosted my my Sri Lankan friend, we fondly refer to him as STAR or CANDY. It was his birthday so he chose to host a group of 5 for a traditional Sri Lankan dinner at his place.

Upon arriving to his house you should be aware that it is a rule that one must remove their footwear prior to entering his little Taj Mahal. For the unknowing this could present a problem. Let's say perhaps you didn't wear your best socks and your little toe is peaking out. Or perhaps you didn't wear socks at all and your feet could use the services of a belt sander. Overall one could hide their unsightly feet through the entire evening, however, should you be the victim of nasty foot odor you could posibbly be up for some embarassment. Sweaty, stinky feet can ruin a meal. Thankfully the meal consisted of some very fragrant items, curry being the strongest. Curry aroma will cover just about anything.

After all the guest arrived, some later than others, we were treated to a traditional round of tea and cookies. This was a nice edition to the very cold and rainy weather going on outside. Typically I would have enjoyed this after my meal but apparently that is not how it is done in the Indian culture. Never the less it was a nice way to start the meal.

And now the main course was being served. Looking over at the table, it was set with some lovely dishware from Sri Lanka and the linens were bright and festive in nature. Very sparse table, no glassware, no clothe napkins and no eating utensils. Why is that you ask?

I was introduced the Sri Lankan way of eating with your hands. Yes it's true, everything from the rice, to the lentils, chicken curry and spicy shrimp were all consumed with the hand. Our guest showed us the proper method for doing this with as much grace as possible.

• Be sure to thoroughly wash your hands (it's helpful if you have short fingernails as well)


• Place in the middle of your dish sticky rice and surround that with little mounds of your other items.


• With the tips of the fingers of your right hand (apparently the left hand is known for the tool you would us in the cleansing process after you have a bowel movement so it is not allowed)


• Begin to bring some of the wet ingredients into the rice then some dry and mix together forming a sticky mound.


• Scoop this mound up with the fingers only to the mouth, making sure to not allow the fingers to touch he lips.


• Continue this process until all food is cleaned from the plate.


• Avoid washing your hand mid-meal. Wait until you are finished eating.


• If you must wipe the hand and naahn bread is available it is acceptable to wipe it on the naahn and then eat the naahn.


• Never pick up your drinking glass with the hand you have used to eat your meal, save that for the left hand.

For me this was a very interesting method of eating and one that is apparently acceptable. The important thing to remember is not allow the food to get into the palm of your hand. You are considered much higher class if you are able to only use your finger tips.

Next time you are out for Indian food give it a try. You will be looked upon as a freak by Americans but the Indian folks in the restaurant will only look at you and smile, knowing you are sensitive to their traditions. It's odd at first but just like when you first used chopsticks you get used to it. And curry is yummy no matter how you eat it.

Dead Ant...Dead Ant...Dead Ant...

Over the past few weeks it seem to have rained non stop. You could feel the moisture in the air and the mildew smell everywhere you went. The thought of going out in this stuff just didn't happen. The same was true for the ants!

Who would have ever thought in the middle of the winter in San Francisco there would even be an ant alive. Don't the hibernate during this time? Actually I didn't even know what they did during the non picnic season until now!

One day I turned the corner to the kitchen, flipped on the light and freaked out. Had I been the screaming type a shriek would have been heard through the building. However, being the calm and rational KB I am, I just let out a big "What the F.... is that!"

Above the highest cupboard where the ceiling meets the wall, there was a black streak moving along path where these two join, until it turn downward disappearing at the top of the cabinet. Only to reappear about 1 1/2 feet out the side of the cabinet in a straight line over to the side of the refrigerator across the galley kitchen. Here it managed to enter the top of the refrigerator/freezer and disappeared.

Wondering where they went I had to do a little more investigating. With a little trepidation I popped open the freezer door. You wouldn't believe it but they made their way into the packages of frozen meat and ice cubes before some of them came to their immediate death. To them it must have been like walking across the tundra.

Unfortunately not all of them made it to their death. Some of them were still slowly walking around trying to keep warm or perhaps making their way to the lower confines of the refrigerator. For what I am wondering? I didn't see anything opened that would have drawn their attention. There wasn't a trail of juice drippings or unwrapped pizza. It all just seemed too weird to me.

Well without a moments thought I picked up the closest spray bottle too me and began to wipe out an entire colony. Not necessarily the smartest thing as it just created a big mess of wet ants. It took me nearly 20 minutes to wipe this mess clean. After finally finishing I decided to research better ways to handle such a situation.

What to Do If You Have an Ant Emergency?

• Determine what the ants are attracted to and remove the food source
• Vacuum trails, wipe them with soapy water, or spray with window cleaner
• Locate entry points and caulk openings or plug with petroleum jelly
• Put out bait stations or apply gel bait at entry points
• Baits take time to work so continue to clean up trails
• Indoor sprays are not usually necessary

Oyster Buzz Kill!

I didn't have my first raw oyster until my 30th birthday, which was 10 years ago. My first experience was at Zuni in San Francisco. That place has perfected the art of selling oysters.

Move forward 10 years. To me I can't think of a better pairing than oysters and champagne. When I go out for a nice evening and oysters are on the menu my heart skips a beat. To me there is something romantic about oysters. Who would have ever thought I these words would pass my lips. Most people take a look at these little creatures and it just conjures of thoughts of flem coughed up from some truck drive who has been smoking for the past 30 years.

I on the other hand can be bought with the oyster champagne combination. I have always said that if I had a date and they brought me out and on their own ordered oysters and champagne I was theirs! It makes me weak! A little over a year ago I brought the guy I was dating to a nice neighborhood establishment on a night where they had Tuesday night oysters from 6:00 to 7:30 at a small price of $1.00 per oyster. I was all set!

We arrived at 7:00 pm, were immediately seated and I made sure the waitress knew my desire for oysters. I asked for the wine list to see what champagne choices I had available to me. I ordered a fabulous vintage that was $25 per glass. I ordered one for me and my date knowing oysters and champagne had to be any one's favorite. The champagne came along, we ordered oysters and then within 5 minutes after my first sip of champagne the waitress popped my champagne bubble. "Excuse me sir the chef said there are no more oyster for this evening." Mind you at that point it was maybe 7:15 pm and I still had 15 minutes to indulge.

Well the true KB came out in me. "Well given that I came here for the oyster special and ordered this most lovely glass of champagne knowing I would have oysters, I have decided that you can take both glasses of this champagne off my bill and bring us water." Silence...."I'll be right back". Guess what...the chef managed to find oysters to shuck! God knows if he coughed up his own personal oyster to add to the mix, but I didn't care I had what I came for!

I recently tried to recreate this "romantic" oyster champagne experience in my own home. I was fortunate to be given 2 dozen Washington State oysters and two lovely bottles of Champagne. I invited a few people to share this treat with. I haven't shucked an oyster in over 4 years. The only thing I can say is leave the oyster shucking to the restaurant. This process totally ruined my enjoyment for this most wonderful treat. I was slurping them down but it just didn't seem the same. From now on this KB will go out and allow a professional to shuck and serve this most delicious critter.