Pennington's Foodstory

This is less about food and more about etiquette, for anyone who has dined out with me knows my biggest peeve is people who wear baseball caps in restaurants. It drives me bonkers! I guess it goes back to the manners instilled upon me by my parents. Never was it acceptable to wear a hat indoors, much less at the table. This I have carried with me. I mean really, what's the point of wearing a hat indoors? Does it help block out the sun? No, I don't think so. And what's the deal with wearing the brim off to the side? Are you trying to shade one side of your face? I can understand wearing a ball cap backwards to avoid it blowing off, but that's about it. Wearing a baseball cap in any way other than the way it's supposed to be worn, makes people look like they're too dumb to work a hat. I was visiting my mom back when she still lived in Raleigh, when one night we decided to order out from a Chinese restaurant named the "Red Dragon". As I was walkin...

Do you read cookbooks like novels? Do you subscribe to food magazines? Do you keep to-go menus from restaurants? Do you cook? Do you bake? Do you grill on week nights? Do you cut out recipes from magazines? Do you have a recipe box filled with index cards? Do you have recipes that have been past down? Do you follow food trends? Do you watch cooking shows? Do you seek out fresh local produce and meats? Do you have a membership to a CSA? Do you have a garden? Do you visit food websites? Do you post pictures of dishes on Pinterest? Do you regularly have dinner parties? Do you ask restaurants for recipes? Do you have online recipe boxes? Do you read food blogs? (trick question.) Do you pair wine and beer with food? Do you have a well stocked pantry? Do you know how to sharpen a knife? Do you not shutter at the price of good cookware knowing it will last a lifetime? Do you visit the Farmers' Market? Do you buy organic foods? Do you buy any foods through mail or...

Every night on my way home from work I pass a small family-owned Italian restaurant that just happens to be next door to a Carrabba’s. As you can probably guess, their parking lot is basically empty while the Carrabba’s lot is full. This just pisses me off; actually it makes me sad. Here’s a mom & pop establishment run by hard working people who make REAL Italian food from scratch, while the corporate monster next door churns out industrialized food product for the sheep who have been lured in by tantalizing television commercials, billboards, and other forms of print media. The folks in corporate restaurants are hard-working people too; it’s just that they are now part of the machine, and in the immortal words of Pink Floyd,  "Welcome to the Machine!” The most important factor for any restaurant is consistency. Restaurants want their food to taste the same way every time someone dines there. Anyone who has worked in a kitchen knows the importance of following a recipe...