FOOD!

[Sombre]

Table manners

Not food, but a very important part of any meal nevertheless.

Do you all find that proper table manners are rather rare these days? I'm not even talking about people not knowing the difference between the fish fork and the salad fork; I mean basic things like fork in left hand, knife in right, or not holding the steak knife like a dagger - seriously, the cow's dead already. I used to think it was confined to university campuses where people have no etiquette (I see horrible things on a daily basis), but I see it in restaurants too. I don't know if it's just an American thing, as I don't recall noticing it in Jamaica, but it's rather disturbing.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[theetruscan]

Some of your basic things are, in fact, only regional convention (correct hand to hold a fork). I have no opinion with regards to table etiquette improving or degrading in general, but your view on "proper fork technique" (That phrase is hilarious and I feel stupidly pretentious even saying it, but I dunno what else to call it) is a little provincial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_utensil_etiquette

[Sombre]

Of course it's regional - it's part of western culture, but not eastern. I thought that was a given. Within western culture, however, some things are standard, like the hand with which the fork is held. It may switch in American style, but the fork should always be held in the left hand while cutting. That is what I was referring to in my earlier post about people not knowing how to hold a fork.

You may consider my scrutiny pretentious, but let me go further. Would it not disgust you to see someone licking the entire length of his/her knife? Surely table manners are still relevant.

[theetruscan]

As I said above, I was speaking only about the fork issue you mentioned. I think that is saying "what I'm not familiar with is bad manners," which is wrong.

But, of course (at least in my mind this is an of course), something like licking a knife is different. That's terrible manners, and I think I would find it revulsive if I saw someone doing it in public under almost any circumstances. If this is becoming more frequent, that is disappointing.

One question though: how much time do you spend watching strangers eat? I mean, I don't know that I would really notice people having quietly terrible table manners.

[Sombre]

Fair enough. My mistake.

I don't spend any time "watching" people eat. I live on a university campus, and I eat in a dining hall, so it's almost always full. I notice bad table manners when I sit with someone who is not an ordinary dining companion of mine, or if someone in my immediate vicinity is speaking while chewing. Beyond this, I couldn't take notice of these things even if I wanted to. I can barely see beyond the table next to me.

[lowrey]

Can't say that how someone holds a fork or whether its in the correct hand would really bug me, I don't usually notice it apart from the person sitting across you.

But one thing that really sticks out is posture, almost everywhere in the US I see people literally slouched over their plates at restaurants, other hand resting on the lap, with the fork acting as a power showel used to heave food in. this just seems so brutal to me, what happened to actually using both utensils?

Another thing is attire at restaurants, I've seen people at moderately nice restaurants in gym shorts and wearing baseball caps during eating, a serious wtf.

[Faust]

And Milan is one the opposite end of that spectrum - can't go get a coffee on a Sunday without wearing a suit.

[stereophobic]

Sydney has a high of 37c/98f today and all I could think of is ramen. Specifically tonkotsu or hakata ramen. Slurpy porky milky goodness! I don't even care at this point if I end up sweating like a pig while eating it.

[Stack]

my first attempt at making a pizza from scratch ... base 'n all!

topped with chorizo, peppered-coated salami, wurzelspeck, mushrooms, mixed herbs, olive oil and a drizzle of natural yoghurt once cooked.

doesn't hold a candle to MoFiya's home-cooking but the lady and i enjoyed it!

[endersgame]

anyone tried the mille crepe cake from Lady M?


i was thinking of bring it to a dinner party instead of wine..

http://www.ladymconfections.com/old_html/stores.html

[MoFiya]

Roastbeef, rosemary potatoes, salad...
simple student's food.

Still experiencing how to prepar a good steak. Back at home we usually cook sous-vide (e.g. put the beef in a special oven at 58°C or so for quite a few hours, get it out, roast it short n hot and there you go: perfect medium-rare).
Here, in my students apartment I only have a single induction burner which is not the best when it comes to controlling temperature. Still trying to figure out how to get my beef medium.
Last time, it was quite dry (I put it in the oven at too high temperature), this time no oven but I didn't give it enough time in the alumunium foil. Plus, it was more like ... English :-D

Well, next time.

[Faust]

Almondia = best cookies ever?

[Pinoy]

Back at home we usually cook sous-vide

You have a sous-vide machine AT HOME?

Your family must all be foodies :) Do you have an immersion circulator as well? :)

[MoFiya]

^ yeah we do. I don't know what exactly an immersion circulator is. I just googled it, got to Wikipedia and found out that it is used for low temperature cooking as well, so I dunno the difference between a "sous-vide machine" and an "immersion circulator".
We actually have a think like this


Yeah it's always my father who only cookes on very rare occasions but is always the first when it comes to buying new technique haha

[laika]

faust, what are those cookies please?

craving: honey; scrambled eggs and truffles