The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[marcel]

New Question:

Why are you not supposed to serve cheese with seafood?

There's a chef judge on "Chopped" (Scott Conant) who cringes whenever someone sprinkles mozzarella or parmesan or some other cheese on pasta with seafood.

I made some salmon tonight and thought about a pasta with alfredo sauce for a side dish, then I thought about an episode of Chopped where all the judges were yelling "Don't  do it!" when one of the competing chefs started sprinkling cheese on her seafood dish. Scott Conant said "I won't even eat this."

(So I served my pasta side with a pesto sauce instead.)


Why is this taboo?

Allthough I have never heard of such a taboo, I can understand why they say it in these shows, because most cheeses have a very strong flavour, that does not balance well with fish flavour, so to do a combination of cheese and fish, you have to be very carefull not to completely destroy the flavour. by either using a little, or a not too strong cheese.


I mostly posted to say that cheese is one of the main ingredients of pesto, so you were still having cheese with your fish in the end.

[jpcher]

Cracea  -- thanks for the link!

The only place that I heard of this taboo was on that show, by that one judge. So while it seems to be a strong belief, it is not known by a lot of people.

Interesting.

I mostly posted to say that cheese is one of the main ingredients of pesto, so you were still having cheese with your fish in the end.

I did not know this. I guess I should read the ingredients on the jar . . . I've never made my own.


Thanks, everybody!

[Thipu1]

Several decades ago we visited a local Italian restaurant.  When I asked for grated cheese on my order of linguini with white clam sauce, the server looked at me with great concern.

Could it be that I REALLY wanted THAT? 

That was when I heard about the prohibition of fish served with cheese. 

Okay, I may be the woman with the Naugahyde palate but I see nothing wrong with a bit of Parmesan on my linguini.  It thickens rhe sauce so nicely.   

[GreenEyedHawk]

Not to mention, in my mind nothing beats a good plateful of fetuccini with shrimp and Alfredo sauce.  Mmmmmm.

[violinp]

Not to mention, in my mind nothing beats a good plateful of fetuccini with shrimp and Alfredo sauce.  Mmmmmm.

Dagnabbit, now I want shrimp alfredo, and no restaurant is open this late around here! 

[Girlie]

Is it customary to tip housekeeping in U.S. hotels?

I'm getting all sorts of mixed messages. I was raised to tip, and I feel uncomfortable NOT tipping, but it seems that I'm a rarity among my friends and collegues.

[RebeccainGA]

Is it customary to tip housekeeping in U.S. hotels?

I'm getting all sorts of mixed messages. I was raised to tip, and I feel uncomfortable NOT tipping, but it seems that I'm a rarity among my friends and collegues.

It depends - if you're a reasonable guest, don't request special services, don't leave things trashed, then no, unless it's a REALLY long stay. If you have small children that grind crackers in the carpet when you're not looking, have an unhousebroken Great Dane staying with you, or ask for your room to be cleaned three times a day, then most definitely.

In general, if you're asking for more than normal amounts of service, then you do - if not, you don't. Sometimes I'll tip if it's a long stay, as they tend to have to work around more stuff and I want the service to continue to be good when I return (if its a long stay for me, it's a long repeat stay). 

[Luci45]

I never tipped until we retired. Now, I overtip to kind of make up for it.

If the room is perfect, I tip about 5%. If there are awful housekeeping issues, I lower it to as low as $1 per person and leave a kind note. Things that lower the tip are dust on the TP and towel holders, popcorn kernels under the table that I see when I bend down to plug in our electronics, and sticky stuff on anything.

Once, I had to clean our own bathroom. Fortunately, the laundry room was open and I could sneak some bleach. No tip. No note.

I had heard long ago that the tip is really based on the way you find the room so it all evens out. However, I agree with:
 

It depends - if you're a reasonable guest, don't request special services, don't leave things trashed, then no, unless it's a REALLY long stay. If you have small children that grind crackers in the carpet when you're not looking, have an unhousebroken Great Dane staying with you, or ask for your room to be cleaned three times a day, then most definitely.

In general, if you're asking for more than normal amounts of service, then you do - if not, you don't. Sometimes I'll tip if it's a long stay, as they tend to have to work around more stuff and I want the service to continue to be good when I return (if its a long stay for me, it's a long repeat stay). 

[ScubaGirl]

#1aunt wrote:

"Mine was doing that at well.  It was the water in the tank filling up too much and running into the overflow drain.  I was able to adjust the bulb-float and it hasn't done it since."

That should make the water run constantly, not switch on and off, unless your float is balanced just so that it doesn't quite cut off the supply when the water tops off.  Since this is a new problem with a decade-old toilet, I'd suspect a leak instead of a bad adjustment.

Virg

Thank you all for your suggestions.  I'll look into it when I get home.

UPDATE (in case anyone was interested ):  I went home and pulled up on the bulb-float and it seemed to work for a while.  Then the toilet began to run a little again, on and off.  It seemed fine for a day or two and then would run.  I never got around to fussing with it further until a couple weeks ago.  I don't generally sleep well on Sunday nights and the toilet that is in our master bath  - so not far from my head.  I heard it go through the cycle twice while trying to go to sleep.  Fed up, I lifted the lid and pulled up on the bulb-float again.  But apparently I used too much strength as it broke off in my hand!  Now the toilet was running with busto and a purpose as it figured the toilet had been flushed.  I held up the little bit that was remaining of the bulb arm to stop it but I couldn't let it go to find a better situation (old 70s sitcoms came into my mind at that point).  It was a little after midnight so, no, I didn't think about turning off the water at the base.  Finally I was able to shove the broken bulb arm under the remaining piece and wedged it in so it wouldn't run.  I was still awake (that little incident sort of woke me up even more ) when my husband got up around 1am to use the bathroom.  I told him to use the powder room as I had "broken the toilet". 

But, happy ending, I called the local plumber at 7:30am that morning and it was fixed a little after 8:00 am (I love small towns).  The problem was, as Virg and someone else mentioned, a leak.  The rubber seal at the bottom of the tank had warped a little, which they are apt to do after a long time. 

[violinp]

Is it customary to tip housekeeping in U.S. hotels?

I'm getting all sorts of mixed messages. I was raised to tip, and I feel uncomfortable NOT tipping, but it seems that I'm a rarity among my friends and collegues.

I always tip hotel cleaning. When traveling with family, each person in the room contributes a dollar a day, and five dollars at the end of the stay.

[ScubaGirl]

Is it customary to tip housekeeping in U.S. hotels?

I'm getting all sorts of mixed messages. I was raised to tip, and I feel uncomfortable NOT tipping, but it seems that I'm a rarity among my friends and collegues.

I always tip hotel cleaning. When traveling with family, each person in the room contributes a dollar a day, and five dollars at the end of the stay.

I've only tipped once and that is because the person went above and beyond simply straightening up our room.  I don't understand tipping at hotels.  But I'm starting to feel more and more pressure to do so and I really dislike that.

[Mental Magpie]

Is it customary to tip housekeeping in U.S. hotels?

I'm getting all sorts of mixed messages. I was raised to tip, and I feel uncomfortable NOT tipping, but it seems that I'm a rarity among my friends and collegues.

I always tip hotel cleaning. When traveling with family, each person in the room contributes a dollar a day, and five dollars at the end of the stay.

I've only tipped once and that is because the person went above and beyond simply straightening up our room.  I don't understand tipping at hotels.  But I'm starting to feel more and more pressure to do so and I really dislike that.

That's how I feel as well, ScubaGirl.  I'd never heard of tipping in a hotel (short of waitstaff because that's expected no matter where you are) until about 2 years ago.  I will only tip someone if they go above and beyond.

[lilfox]

Here's an odd one:

What's with the mustaches lately?  Not actual facial hair, I mean the sudden rise in apparent popularity of wearing shirts with a mustache logo, mustache wall prints, mustache temp tattoos for your fingers (to hold over your upper lip), mustache key rings...

Now I haven't actually see anyone wearing or carrying these things, but I see them in stores all over the place.  Did I miss the hipster memo on this?

[Outdoor Girl]

If you go to GivesMeHope.com, one of their affiliate blogs is 'Memestache'.  Maybe that's it?

[cabbagegirl28]

Here's an odd one:

What's with the mustaches lately?  Not actual facial hair, I mean the sudden rise in apparent popularity of wearing shirts with a mustache logo, mustache wall prints, mustache temp tattoos for your fingers (to hold over your upper lip), mustache key rings...

Now I haven't actually see anyone wearing or carrying these things, but I see them in stores all over the place.  Did I miss the hipster memo on this?

From my female friends, it's like dressing like a guy. Something fun to do that pushes boundaries.