FunnyJohn

Interesting :

"Yelp claims the[y] use a secret algorithm to review reviews but can't explain how it filters out good reviews and leaves bad ones of businesses like mine. This bias and secrecy will not serve them well. Fairness and openness would serve everyone better, but that isn't how Yelp works."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.co...L#ixzz1ociUeGTN

I get she didn't want to lose her livelihood, but the whole healthy eating, lose weight, we are an obese nation bandwagon is big and getting bigger. There is plenty of money to be made going that route. I'm sure some network would pay big bucks to have her on some weight loss show.

Her son is already cashing in. He has a show in which he converts Deen's Diabetes Inducing recipes into "more healthy" ones on the Cooking Channel. Hilarious [not really] -- he then sends him to his Mom for her to say how yummy they really are.

It's called polygenic hypercholesterolemia, and it runs in my family. Fat or thin, dieting or not, we all have high cholesterol than is most effectively controlled by medication. The specific genes involved haven't been discovered as far as I know.

Interesting -- I had never heard the specific term for the condition. When I went on Lipitor about 15 years ago, I tried for about a year before to control my cholesterol through diet, and no matter what, my number remained constant. The way my Dr. explained it was that some people just produce more cholesterol irrespective of diet, and, yep, Lipitor is for them. BTW I read an article some time ago about the other benefits of statins and that the Brits were considering just giving all males above the age of 40 a pill that was a cocktail of statins, aspirin and other anti-inflammatories routinely. Don't think they followed through though, probably due to cost.

A tip from Chef Bourdain

"Get online and write something along the lines of, "hey guys, I just had the absolute best chicken rice at [restaurant x] in Singapore, no questions asked, hands down, everything else pales in comparison," then sit back and enjoy the show as the internet foodie elite each jump into the fray to defend their own picks to the death. You'll get a much bigger response, more passionate praise, and it'll probably end up being a little fun to boot."

More here

[and none of us would never ever do this -- nah]

A Picture is worth 1,000 words

=

Scale of gradation could range from Rocks Swell to Sucks Ventworm Nuts -- I'll leave it to other more creative minds to fill-in the in-betweens.

Like this place has ever cared about VA wine code?!

Man, you want to talk about thumbing your nose at the law for the past 15+ years ...

Absolutely true. Not going to violate your rules here, though, with a discussion of concrete examples. Let's just say when the violations were in my favor I didn't mind. Suggest we start an "Alice's Restarurant" movement by having Rockwellians order bottles of wine here and try to walk out with the unused portions. Maybe it will stimulate the management to actually take a look at the basic regulations.

Apologies if some other intrepid Rockwellian has already provided a link to this website , but it is a good forum for Qs and As on how food is produced and associated repercussions thereof.

Page 21 of the Virginia Retail Licensee Guide:

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q. A couple dining at your restaurant order a bottle of wine during dinner and do not finish drinking all of it.

Are they allowed to take it home?

A. Yes. The couple may take the wine home as long as it is still in the original bottle and it has been

resealed. [3 VAC 5-40-30]

Many Thanks for the reassurance! I feel embarrassed for losing my cool, nevertheless. A violation of my code.

The Wife and I celebrated Chinese New Year again at Mark's and had a great meal odering from the New Year menu (stuff that has a double entendre -- in Chinese -- meaning for health, wealth, good fortune etc.). This year our choices included pepper steak, walnut shrimp and clay-pot braised pork shank. since it was just the two of us we have plenty of left-overs. Unfortunately our experience was marred at the very end when I asked our waiter for a cork for the bottle of riesling I ordered, so I could take it with me. He informed me that I couldn't take wine out and I said that in VA, I could, then the manager came over and said the same thing. Again I insisted that a wine and beer license for a restaraunt in VA explicitly states that any beverage ordered and begun in the establishment, but not finished, could be taken out by the customer in a sealed bottle. The owner came over and again stated their license was for in-house only. I got exasperated and upended the one third full bottle in the wine bucket and said, I would not be back. Have I missed a memo or something, and we are no longer permitted to take unfinished wine out of a restaurant in VA?

Don - it's not just aging baby boomers who are developing type 2 diabetes -- it's becoming a big problem with teens and even younger people. I do not accept that we are the inevitable victims of what is now readily edible. To think that this is something we need to accept means that we will become a nation of patients with truly life limiting disabilities which no health care system can cope with.

While diet may or may not be a cause of type 2 diabetes -- obesity is most definitely one. To the extent that obesity may be controled through a diet, and in the overwhelming number of cases it can, with exercise too, diet is a factor in developing type 2 diabetes. Although I haven't watched her shows very often, I have seen Deen a number of times recently in appearances on other talk shows, etc. and I have never heard her utter a word of caution about over-indulging in the type of food she was preparing -- high fat/high carb. And now she is earning a paycheck as a spokesperson for a diabetes drug...

[full disclosure: I have been at the tipping point for type 2 diabetes for nearly a decade, and it is a daily struggle staying on the right side of the precipice, so I hope y'all forgive me for a little rightious indignation -- diabetes is nearly epidemic in this country and it need not be]

I confess that I enjoy many of the personalities on the Food Network, yes even Bobby and Rachel (sorry Dan). Deen, however, has always put me off my feed, and her recipes have always struck me as downright lethal. I often asked myself:so when will she be having her coronary bypass? Now we know -- damn soon.

A former Congressman (now deceased) had two sons-in-law: Dick Swett (also a Congressman, briefly and US Ambassador), and Tim Burdick -- they both had large families.

Hi RJ. Hope you are doing well. You are missed but best to take time and REST rather than trying to make a quick return. Don's right: good meds = interesting, lucid posts, so look forward to hearing from you during recovery. [Thanks to Don for starting this thread]

Shocking News!

Willow had its Halloween observance on Saturday Night. Anticipating a full bar and wanting a seat at it I timed my arrival early and came in during the staff meal. Tracy and Deb, gracious as ever, welcomed me and asked if I would like a bowl of what everyone else was having -- a lucious mac and cheese with baby peas. I said sure, but didn't want to interrupt their meeting (they were also going over additions/deletions from the wine list and the menu), but Deb soon came over and placed the mac 'n' cheese in front of me. Since I hadn't had lunch, it disappeared quickly along with the first glass of red that evening.

The purpose of this post, however, is to highlight an item on the nosh menu -- pork belly "porchetta" which Tracy said she may remove from the menu soon because no one orders it. If it happens this may not be a national emergency, but would certainly be sad for all those who haven't had a chance to sample it. It is pork belly cured, then pounded a little and then wrapped around pork loin. I don't know how, but on the plate it looks like a single cut of meat and the effect is the fattiness and porkiness of the belly is firmed up with the meatiness of the loin. Oh and it is served with a jus -- I think with a note of sage -- that makes the whole thing all the more juicy. Really a clever and flavorful take on pork belly. Hope those who can will hop over and try it for themselves while it remains available.

A good crowd of Halloween revelers materialized early in the evening and general merriment ensued. Photos here .

Just saw this. I gotta say...saying that restaurant jobs aren't "real" jobs really pisses me off (because it is my career and livelihood). I know for many people they are a temporary thing, but the job pays the bills. Any job that pays the bills is a "real" job. Standing down from my soapbox now...

Well Dave, that's how he put it

Do they go to Arlington?

I saw them a few days ago tooling down Rt. 50 in that direction, but they may have just as easily been heading to DC. I think they have been in Ballston on at least one or two occasions.

VALUE

As I wrote at the beginning, I'll definitely be heading back to Willow; likely for dinner next. But, hard to call this a good value at $75 for two for lunch pre tip and tax and without any alcohol. We enjoyed everything we had but it wasn't exceptional so kind of expensive on the value meter IMHO. I look forward to more "research" to inform a more comprehensive view.

PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT

I was taken enough by the coconut cake to ask our server about Willow's pastry chef. As I'm sure many on this board know and as I learned, there is indeed a dedicated pastry chef who is also Willow's co-owner. Well no wonder, I thought. After leaving Willow, I thought about what ownership does to improve the quality of a restaurant's offerings. This cake was better than most others I've had so it of course made sense that the owner made it and it's what she specializes in. I had a talk recently with a different restauranteur about considering sharing equity (ownership) in a restaurant with key staff as a way not only to retain but also to ensure high morale, productivity and consistently superior output. My sense is that's not very common in the business but maybe worth considering for some. Howard Schultz (Starbuck's founder) was ridiculed in the early days for sharing equity with baristas. But that and generally better-than-average benefits and management were central to the success Starbucks later enjoyed.

All that inspired by a damn fine piece of coconut cream cake. If you own part of a business...and you're formally trained to bake...your cake is probably better than the other guy's...or gal's.

Well, coincidentally, Tracy has just introduced a Nosh Menu which is intended to offer some items on the full dinner menu individually priced. It merges the old bar menu offerings (which still are pretty good value for money) with these additional items. And I still say that Kate's Cakes are absolutely THE BEST! (although I can no longer eat them due to my no carb routine )

This just in:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesperson

For Immediate Release September 13, 2011

2011/1475

MEDIA NOTE

Award-Winning Chef José Andrés Joins Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves as Culinary Ambassador

Click here for a photo of Secretary Clinton meeting with José Andrés today.

Chef José Andrés joins the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves as “Culinary Ambassador,” helping to raise awareness of an issue that causes nearly two million deaths each year: toxic smoke from traditional cooking stoves. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who launched the Alliance last year, today met with Chef Andrés to thank him for his commitment and discuss their mutual interest and determination to bring clean cooking solutions to the developing world.

In his new role, Chef Andrés, alongside Secretary Clinton, the United Nations Foundation, and a rapidly growing list of over 160 other Alliance partners, will be instrumental in achieving the Alliance’s '100 by 20' goal, which calls for 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020. Chef Andrés’ passion for economic and social empowerment through sustainable, safe and clean cooking practices in the developing world has few rivals. After witnessing the impact of dirty cooking conditions while assisting in post-earthquake humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti, Chef Andrés formed World Central Kitchen to deploy clean and innovative cooking solutions throughout the developing world.

Every day, nearly 3 billion people use a crude stove or open fire to cook their meals – typically fueled by biomass such as wood, charcoal or dung – in homes with poor or no ventilation. Exposure to smoke from these stoves has been categorized by the World Health Organization as the fifth biggest health risk factor in the developing world and causes two million people to die each year, mostly from acute pneumonia and chronic lung disease. The vast majority of deaths are among women and children in the developing world.

Encouraging the development and use of clean cookstoves in cultures, communities, and countries throughout the developing world is consistent with the core principles of U.S. foreign policy and development efforts, which focus on improving the lives of the world’s most vulnerable populations. In September 2010, Secretary Clinton announced the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private partnership to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. The U.S. Government has committed more than $50 million over the first five years to the Alliance.

It's the end of an era with the departure of its (almost) founding bartender Jim Malfatti who has decided to get a real job as a teacher in Loudon County. His departure did not occur without a hale and farewell, however. Sigh, the departure of yet another bartender that I spent so much time and effort on breaking in.

Not on the Island itself, but just over the bridge -- Kantlers Crab House. Harris' is good too though. If you drive down Rt. 8 there is a small community that has several dining options -- it's the place where there is a small landing strip and everyone has a personal aircraft in their garage.

Well, you might also read the transcript here. Articulate, erudite -- not to mention, perspicacious.

I'm watching Fox News "Special Report" (for the unintiated -- it's the 6:00 Hour Evening News Program) and they have a special 4th of July Panel discussing the economy. Michael is one of the members of this panel representing the small business entrepreneur and he's great! Kudos to Fox for recognizing Michael's role during this recession in bucking the trends by going out and creating jobs, and most of all, kudos to Michaei for doing it. The other night at Ray's -- I introduced Michael to some of my hard right friends, as a "Socialist", but a Socialist deserving of respect, because he actually walks the walk and takes care of his employees first. Michael was gracious and accepted the label, and we all agreed that true socialism and true conservatism aren't that much different in their views of the importance of the individual. If you missed this episode, contact Fox and demand a return engagement for Mr. Landrum.