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Pet Peeve #1

Bread.

Incidentally, I bethought myself to use my forum to attempt to communicate things that I find irritating. These will be provided as I think of them, but not in order of precedence.

I am a bread eater. Some people can eat their steaks and such without bread or toast, but I'm not one of them. There's something about the flavor of dead flesh that asks for a grain product. I'm not sure why.

So anyway, when I sally forth to dine, as I often do, being higher on money than I am on time,* I occasionally find myself ordering a steak. Or barbeque. Or chicken. Whatever. It will more often than not involve a deceased animal. Usually, the restaurant is kind enough to offer bread with my meat.

* Or initiative. Or skill. Or energy.

Then they put it on the plate with the steak. (Or whatever. But you get the idea.) And the collard greens, and whatever else I might have ordered.

I was thinking it was a well-known fact that bread, when dropped in liquid of any sort, becomes soggy.

Raise your hand if you like your bread soggy.

I didn't think so.

Why is it, then, that restaurants* will toss my rolls/french bread/cornbread onto the same plate with my juicy (hopefully) repast? It's a mystery.

* Cooks? Waitresses? Who should I blame?

If I wanted my bread soggy, I would have ordered it that way. "Yes...I'd like the sirloin medium rare, with a baked potato and a giant slice of soggy Texas toast, please." I don't recall ever saying that.

You may respond that they may believe I will use my bread to sop the plate, as is the custom in southern climes. I respond that (1) I don't, in fact, use it in that fashion, and (2) even if I did, I want the soggy to be fresh. It's such a simple concept, but so often overlooked. ("Ignored" may be a better word.)

I send the bread back with a polite request that a non-soggy piece be provided. (Besides...you know I'm paying handsomely for the meal, in most cases. There's no reason to slop everything on the plate like I was back in an Army chow hall.) That's if I don't think to specify when I order that I desire to have bread that has not already sopped up all the juices on the plate--which I shouldn't have to do.

Isn't this common sense? I'd love to understand the other point of view.

d

This entry was posted by diana and filed under home.

9 comments

Comment from: Hinermad
Hinermad

Diana,

I’m not sure why restaurants treat bread that way, but I suspect it’s either laziness or profit motive. (Sometimes the two go hand-in-hand; less work = more money.) Putting the bread on a separate plate takes a little bit more effort, and that costs money.

That’s one advantage of a buffet - you get to mistreat your own food. I’ve never had a good steak at a buffet, though. I had a decent one at Olive Garden, where they put breadsticks in a basket on your table, but that’s an isolated case.

Check the link above. I’ll bet the bread from that would resist getting soggy.

Dave

12/12/05 @ 07:15
Comment from:

I’ve never seen one. Must have hit a development glitch.

Sounds awful, though. The only way they could do such a thing is to suck out all the moisture and flavor…which would make it indistinguishable from MREs. :)

d

12/12/05 @ 17:24
Comment from: Hinermad
Hinermad

Diana,

The thing I remember most about MREs is the textures. The freeze-dried peaches were my favorite. It was like peach-flavored styrofoam. My brother had an interesting description for the potatoes au gratin. It was in a pouch that had to be kneaded to re-mix the sauce. He said it felt like kneading cat’s eyeballs in vaseline.

I wonder how he knew.

BTW, we got the results of Roberta’s biopsy today. It’s pretty much what we feared.

Dave

12/12/05 @ 19:47
Comment from:

Oh no. So what’s the next step? Surgery? Chemo?

d

12/13/05 @ 07:41
Comment from: Hinermad
Hinermad

Diana,

More tests, chemo to shrink the tumor, then surgery.

Dave

12/13/05 @ 09:58
Comment from:

Well, she sounds like a tough lady, Dave–not at all like the sort of person who would let something like this take her down. It’s probably just my scientific ignorance speaking, but it seems to me like anyone’s success fighting cancer is, to some degree, dependent upon her attitude. Your wife, it sounds like to me, loves life. She sounds like she has enough attitude for her and me both.

I think she’ll be fine. Please keep me posted.

d

12/14/05 @ 20:23
Comment from: Hinermad
Hinermad

Diana,

I don’t know to what extent attitude directly affects one’s physical health, but in the case of a cancer patient it drives one to keep seeking answers. There are still a lot of unknowns about it, and one doctor saying “there’s no treatment” doesn’t make it so. Where one patient might accept that statement and give up, another will keep looking and keep trying different treatments. Like Jimmy Dean used to say in his sausage ads, “We’ll treat you so many ways you’re bound to like one of them.”

Be sure I’ll keep you informed of what’s happening. (And I’m sorry to take up so much of your blog. Maybe I should go start my own. If I do, will you come visit?)

Dave

12/14/05 @ 22:54
Comment from:

Yes, of course. :)

d

12/15/05 @ 20:08
Comment from: Hinermad
Hinermad

Diana,

Thanks. Here’s the link. I just set it up today, so there’s not much there. I’ll add a synopsis of the story to date RSN.

Dave

12/15/05 @ 21:24