Bad Service

I was on vacation the past few days, at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, and discovered that there is a service crisis in other parts of the world as well. Most of the service at all of the restaurants chose to dine at was either sorry or down right horrible. At particular establishment, we got up and left because we could not get waited on. I really should say, after we were sat at our table, we could not get the attention of a waiter, host, or manager; for goodness sakes, just acknowledge your customers!

As far as food quality goes, most of what we ate was mediocre at best. I guess a vacationing couple or family has to face the fact that when dining at a tourist location, prices are going to be very high, and food quality may not exactly be what is expected. I can say with complete and total honesty, we experienced this first hand! What a down right shame. Give me good service and ok food, or great food and bad service and I can swallow that pill. Give me bad food and bad service and I really become miffed!

With all of this said, how do you tip in situations like this? Since I am in the food service industry and have a soft heart for people which rely on tips, I tend to tip a little better that the average person. If you get a 15% tip from me, that is pretty bad; I tend to tip in the 25% range if good service is rendered. Should I start tipping badly to waitstaff which delivers sub-par service?What are your feeling about all of this? Is customer service going the way of the dinosaurs?

Today, I did email the restaurant we walked out. I am never looking for a free meal or special attention so I wrote the email expressing the fact that the management of this restaurant should be made aware of the situation. I usually repay restaurants like this by never going back again. Something similar happened a few years ago here in Roanoke, I contacted the manager of that establishment, and he extended an offer for me to bring in anyone with me for a free meal. I have never and will never step foot in that establishment again.

Oprah

The episode which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Show today dealt with knowing where food we eat comes from and how animals are treated. I did not get to actually see the show but when I came home from work, my wife stated that we are never eating meat again.

One thing I think people should realize about animals in the food chain: These animals are not pets. They are harvested for a single purpose, to feed people. I will not defend the living conditions these animals are subjected to and I think that in the next 5 to 10 years, we will see dramatic changes in the way animals are treated. It all comes back to they are a food source, just like a zucchini, wheat berry, scallop, lobster, or eggplant. These are all living creatures as well.

Happier animals are more productive and produce better tasting proteins but at they end of the day, they still end up on a dinner plate. Yes, we should advocate free range chickens, hogs, lamb, beef cattle, and other protein sources but it will take time to get there. In the mean time...

Beef, it's what's for dinner!

I am a Narcissist

According to a study, most people who choose to post information on web sites like Face Book are basically a narcissist. I guess that is me included. I have a couple of blogs, a personal web site, plus a Face Book page so I guess that is me. What is a narcissist? A person who is consumed with themselves, self love, vain, egotistical. I guess this makes up most people and I am included.
Guess this is all ok. If we do not love ourselves, who else would anyway?

Have been doing much traveling over the past few weeks and all is going well. The garden ended up being a complete bust this year; 1 tomato! Still eating right and taking weight off. Am down over 30 pounds in one month and still going strong! Check back soon for updates!

And the winner is...

Chef Jeff!!! I won the Al's Clubhouse Bash and Chef Showdown last night! It was a bunch of fun and we all had a great time! There was some great competition from 3 other chef's and they were just awesome! I could not of asked for better people to work with and compete against! I had some great help from local culinary students as well and they made the night a bunch of fun and were such a tremendous help! I could not of done this with out the help of these 3 guys!

The other chefs cooked some really great food and I was not expecting to win at all!! But it was a nice surprise to say the least! Congratulations to the three of them as well! The staff at Roanoke Country Club could not of been any nicer and they were all such a big help!

One other positive note: I have now lost 29 pounds in less than 30 day! Wooo Hooo! I am on my way to shrinking down!

Cooking Competition

Will be competing in the Al Pollard Memorial Foundation Chef Signature Dish competition tomorrow night at the Roanoke Country Club! Wish me luck and I hope I win! Will fill in all of the details this weekend!

News and Notes

Nothing much to report over the past month. Things at work are well and the home front is great too! Roasting BBQ tomorrow at church and that is about it. I have started a new blog. I am currently working on trying to eat healthier and exercise more. Check the link on the right for more info. For now, will be putting most of my blogging efforts into this. Check it out and watch me lose some weight and try and become a healthier chef!!

Garden Woes...

I try and think that I am not a demanding person and do not ask for very much. I enjoy the simple things and it really does not take much to please me. I try and be "green when I can", try and be nice to other people and treat everyone with respect, and I love our furry little friends out in the wilderness.

So I go out to the garden the garden this evening to water the tomatoes and my single pepper plant and ALL of my tomatoes are gone, no sign of them anywhere at all. Did a person come by and pick small green tomatoes or was it a dreaded groundhog?

I try and have faith in people and can not think why anyone would want my 8 or 20 tiny tomatoes so I am leaning towards the groundhog theory. I am just really ticked off right now and could really spit nails if there was such a thing. Usually when an animal eats vegetables, they take a bit and move one. So partially eaten parts so I still wonder!

I may not even try a garden next year. Not that I put much into it this year, but this has happened in years past; the groundhogs eat everything. Guess I need to invest in some pest control. There looks to be some interesting solutions out there but do they really work? I wonder!!