Marilyn Haggerty's amazing Olive Garden review and the subsequent viral shitstorm

I made pesto in honor of this thread tonight.

I'm a decent cook but I've never made a pesto better than a good store-bought one

weird. homemade pesto is almost always better than store-bought, ime.

Got some macadamia nuts I'm fixing to turn into a pesto.

Oh, were you talking about a television show? You see, I don't own a tv. In fact, I haven't owned a tv for, let's see... is it four years now? five years. maybe six... no five. I don't miss it at all, you know.

Reading the hilarity of Lex and his phobia about cooking suddenly made me want to put this over here...

the last time i tried to join in on pancake day and toss pancakes, which ended in disaster when i somehow managed to toss the entire frying pan :(

― lex pretend, Wednesday, March 14, 2012 12:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/4/48064/924387-swedish_chef_large.jpg

Artists Rendition

floor-de-foor-de-foor. rihanna-four-de-floor?

OMG I totally read that Onion article in Fry's voice.

Way late to this thread but have to OTM Lex re: pesto. It's different in the UK! That Sacla stuff is one of the very few things I get people to bring over for me from Britain, used to eat it weekly back home and have not found an equivalent despite extensive looking. And I say this as someone that prepares about 90% of my meals from absolute scratch.
Also there is way better bread in Britain (sorry US but it's true). I have a breadmaker because I got fed up of chewy holey bread all the time (it's awesome sometimes, but not for everything) and it IS awesome but I know I won't bother bringing it back to the UK because the fresh bread there is aces.

ftr jarred pesto over here is indeed pretty good. Don't have it often but it's one thing, like custard, that I've never been moptivated to make myself.

I am generally not fond of the "you can and therefore must make it cheaper at home" (which is what Lex is responding to in the first place), but man, a lot of breadmakers are the fucking worst. Now I can know the true happiness of fresh bread, and live simply like (a country-of-origin people who thanks to the global economic factors that allow you to buy a breadmaker, are currently eating styrofoam peanuts or takeaway-grade versions of their own cuisine).

Also eternal lols at ILX's befuddlement that things cost different amounts in different places - in a way this thread is a fine extension of the city vs big city shitstorm which is the nominal subject.

pesto is overrated

Feel like pesto's almost like cheating. Like sure, you put that many pinenuts and that much cheese and oil and basil in something of course it's going to taste fucking awesome.

eating is about cheating! how to end up with something nice in your mouth and filling in your stomach with as little effort or thought as possible

MORE cheats please

Haha yes, the cheats can wind up costing £££ though. Pinenuts are especially ££££

Cilantro, mint, and cashews are good for leaner times.

The only time I've had pesto better than shop-bought was when I made it whilst on holiday in 1995 with my Grandma; she lived near Rome for the last thirty years of her life and her house had pine trees in the garden. I spent a whole morning collecting cones, bashing out the pine nuts and shelling/cleaning them. I think the rest of the ingredients were from local shops, (but olive oil, basil etc is generally p good in semi-rural Italy) and the resulting pesto was delicious.

My Grandma was delighted to have an ally in making it as whenever she'd tried to with my aunt she'd claimed it wouldn't be worth the effort (and not be as good as the stuff in jars). She died shortly after my trip there, so this is a treasured memory for me :)

that is a lovely story.

thanks! she was an amazing woman. And, as it turned out, could make lovely pesto.

I am a competent to good cook but I'm with lex re: preferring to boil ravioli or eat cheese and crackers over cooking about 90% of the time. Especially on a work day after work.

I'm also impressed with so many people's magical medical skills that you can diagnose somebody's health status based entirely on that person being fat and eating at a restaurant you disapprove of. You all should start your own Internet doctor practice with that.

It's called deduction...?

If you're referring to scott's posts yesterday he made conclusions that most of us would have: obese patrons eating truckloads of awful food probably have cholesterol, heart, and/or sugar problems.

Scott and ama's comments, yeah.

How do you know this person is eating a truckload of food? You're seeing this person for one meal. Are the skinny people there eating truckloads of food also unhealthy? How about Scott, since he's there eating, too? What about when you see a fat person eating a salad in public? Do you automatically assume that person is healthy?

Some convenience foods I use regularly:

Chicken stock [I'll make it when I can, but I haven't the spare carcasses, and I hate paying for the gas to leave the stove on all day to simmer]
Canned tomato products
Canned beans
Frozen spinach and peas

How do you know this person is eating a truckload of food?

Portion sizes.

You're seeing this person for one meal.

Sure.

Are the skinny people there eating truckloads of food also unhealthy?

Possibly. I know plenty of thin people with cholesterol problems.

What about when you see a fat person eating a salad in public? Do you automatically assume that person is healthy?

Depends on the salad. A chef or caesar salad is as full of fat and cholesterol as a lot of fried food.

How about Scott, since he's there eating, too?

See above.

I'm not picking a fight. Lots of us watch people in restaurants and make judgments which may be incorrect.

That guy you called fat at the Olive Garden? He has a glandular problem that he has struggled with his whole life. Also, he killed himself five minutes ago.

Lots of us make judgments all the time that may be incorrect but what Scott and Ama and you are doing is taking a judgment that's correctness you cannot possibly verify and repeating it publicly as though it were truth with the intent of shaming fat people who eat in public in places you've randomly deemed insufficiently healthy. If the comments were "People who eat at Shoney's are unhealthy," that would probably be an incorrect generalization, but it would at least not single out fat people for some random shame and ridicule.

xp LOOLLLLLLLLL

I agree w/ CA here. Places like Olive Garden are – and sell themselves as - 'destinations' and 'special nights out' for many (most?) patrons. Making judgments about the broader life habits of the diners is kind of like entering a dive bar and declaring that because they are all drinking conspicuously and being loud, the patrons are all alcoholics. Yes, for some of them it's true. But for others it is an exception or a special occasion.

Now, if we're talking about regulars...

I'll even go you one further and say that the health of a stranger is actually none of your business. If this fat person is a complete fucking glutton who eats ten pounds of food at the all you can eat Golden Corral buffet every night and is doomed to die of congestive heart failure within a year, what's it to you?

"Remy, good to see you, man! What'll it be – the usual?"

"Yeah, a double portion of the steak-gorgonzola alfredo, please."

If this fat person is a complete fucking glutton who eats ten pounds of food at the all you can eat Golden Corral buffet every night and is doomed to die of congestive heart failure within a year, what's it to you?

I find it weirder that apparently you stare at your plate or talk to your date without once making a comment about fellow diners.

Is the only thing you talk to your dates about how fat all the other people at the restaurant are, or can you manage to come up with other topics of conversation?

what do you think

Lots of us watch people in restaurants and make judgments which may be incorrect.

Some convenience foods I use regularly:

Chicken stock [I'll make it when I can, but I haven't the spare carcasses, and I hate paying for the gas to leave the stove on all day to simmer]
Canned tomato products
Canned beans
Frozen spinach and peas

― aka vanilla bean (remy bean), Thursday, March 15, 2012 9:17 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this is pretty much exactly my list. buy everything else fresh.

xp Because I mean, whispering "OMG look at how gross that fat person over there is! She must be so unhealthy!" is shockingly not something I miss in my life as a conversational topic.

Honestly, if I were wealthier I would probably be more of a glutton. I usually eat the cheapest thing on the menu, which is like an expensive meatball wrapped in lettuce and served with air biscuits. Note: air biscuit is slang for a fart, where I'm from.

fwiw we have no idea of scott was talking about these people while he was actually at shoney's. but he decided to mention it to us here, because he found it depressing. when you see a whole family of enormous people blowing tons of money at a shitty unhealthy restaurant, well, it can be depressing if you have any empathy for them. i know what you mean about being judgemental but that's not the vibe i got from what scott wrote.

xp Because I mean, whispering "OMG look at how gross that fat person over there is! She must be so unhealthy!" is shockingly not something I miss in my life as a conversational topic.

At a bar last night: "Look at that guy dipping sweet potato fries in his beer!"

that man is a savage

Well, now that is certainly worthy of commentary.

he should know to pour the beer over the fries

Fries don't even go with beer, onion rings go with beer ffs.

he should know to pour the beer over the fries

was waiting for him to do this tbh.

I guess we're defining "judgmental" differently. Part of the Dining Experience for me is making observations about other diners: what they're eating, what shoes they're wearing, banal shit. If that's judging them, well, fine.

It's called "Speed _________"

fwiw we have no idea of scott was talking about these people while he was actually at shoney's. but he decided to mention it to us here, because he found it depressing. when you see a whole family of enormous people blowing tons of money at a shitty unhealthy restaurant, well, it can be depressing if you have any empathy for them. i know what you mean about being judgemental but that's not the vibe i got from what scott wrote.

Let me say that I like scott a lot (insofar as I can come to that conclusion via message board posts, but you know) so I'm not trying to rake the poor man over the coals. I readily admit this is an issue of mine to read comments like this especially people I do like.

But let me point out that you also cannot make judgment about those fat people's finances. It might be well within their budget to blow "tons of money" at that shitty restaurant. This might be their one night out so they are making the most of their financial investment. Also those shitty restaurants have like $10 all you can eat buffets and kids eat free, so it's probably NOT tons of money.

My point is that you don't actually know, and all of the assumptions you are making are based on preconceived notions about fat people (gluttonous, wasteful, unhealthy).

Those are all fair points.

Can we talk about Puddings again?