Hi there
Years ago, I read about the proper etiquette surrounding table serviettes. 'Napkins' (hehe), if you're American.
Did you know that when you temporarily leave your seat in a restaurant, you are supposed to drop your serviette onto your chair?
No, I didn't know that either. But when I was in Melbourne recently, I was determined to give it a try. I went to lunch at the posh Conservatory buffet restaurant. Somehow, I don't think Miss Manners thought of buffets when the idea was first thought up.
I left my chair seven times. Each time I put my serviette on my chair in an artfully-dropped casual bundle. Each time when I returned with a laden plate, my serviette was on the table where a lovely and attentive but truly misguided waiter had put it there for me.
Tut-tut, the dowager Duchess, operating out of Downton Abbey, would be much displeased.
+++
PS: a 'napkin' or 'nappie' in British-speak is what Americans call 'diaper'.
Showing posts with label Downton Abbey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Downton Abbey. Show all posts
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Monday, August 26, 2013
Eating in Las Vegas
Hi there
Right, let's talk about Las Vegas food. There's so much food in Las Vegas that just one lunch-time buffet would probably feed, for life, a small encampment of refugees from a third world country. I revelled in the food, existing on one immense meal a day yet somehow came home not having put on one extra pound - go figure. On second thoughts, I do figure: it was no doubt all the walking around you have to do in Vegas. When I wasn't stuffing my face, I was walking-walking-walking, or should I say limping, limping, limping. My plantar fasciitis of the heel played up continually. Oh, and don't forget the heat. Every day the temp reached 40c.
Because I am trained British when using a knife and fork, I was scared that I was going to be thought of as a food-swilling oaf. Americans cut their food, then lay down the knife, then elegantly fork up small portions. I, on the other hand, jam as much food as I can onto my fork with my knife, then keep my knife in my left hand whilst simultaneously eating from my tines-facing-downwards fork.
To give myself some kind of cutlery credence, I went completely Over-The-Top with my elegant eating in Las Vegas. One would have thought I had been trained at Downton Abbey. I didn't hold my knife like a pencil (which I'm secretly prone to do at home, when nobody is around), I didn't shovel half a dozen peas onto my fork and eat them like I was drinking soup - No, I elegantly pushed, with my knife, one or two solitary peas onto the fork tines; this took a long time to eat peas but I'm sure Lady Mary would have been proud of me.
When it came to dessert, I positively excelled. In my pre-Las Vegas life, I had usually just scooped up dessert with a spoon. Now, I used a fork to aid said spoon. I placed the cutlery down periodically and sat, all but simpering, with my hands in my lap. Oh, I'm telling you I was more Downton Dowager Duchess than Maggie Smith.
One morning, I went to 'Serendipity 3" and, for fun, ordered their big breakfast. It all came on the one plate. At one end was: potatoes, sausage, sauce, 2 fried eggs, bacon, french toast and butter, At the other end, syrup, pancakes, cream and berries(see pic below). I hadn 't had a fried egg since I was about fifteen.....I could only get through half the meal. And how come NZ restaurants never give you crispy bacon, yet the Americans know how to crisp bacon to perfection?
On another day I went to my fave buffet, MGM Grand ,for breakfast (see the two bottom photos). I reckon they have the best key lime tarts I have ever tasted in America. I can't understand why we don't have key lime tarts in New Zealand. How wonderful, for a sweet tooth like me, that Americans have cakes and ice cream for breakfast. Yum.yum.
Right, let's talk about Las Vegas food. There's so much food in Las Vegas that just one lunch-time buffet would probably feed, for life, a small encampment of refugees from a third world country. I revelled in the food, existing on one immense meal a day yet somehow came home not having put on one extra pound - go figure. On second thoughts, I do figure: it was no doubt all the walking around you have to do in Vegas. When I wasn't stuffing my face, I was walking-walking-walking, or should I say limping, limping, limping. My plantar fasciitis of the heel played up continually. Oh, and don't forget the heat. Every day the temp reached 40c.
Because I am trained British when using a knife and fork, I was scared that I was going to be thought of as a food-swilling oaf. Americans cut their food, then lay down the knife, then elegantly fork up small portions. I, on the other hand, jam as much food as I can onto my fork with my knife, then keep my knife in my left hand whilst simultaneously eating from my tines-facing-downwards fork.
To give myself some kind of cutlery credence, I went completely Over-The-Top with my elegant eating in Las Vegas. One would have thought I had been trained at Downton Abbey. I didn't hold my knife like a pencil (which I'm secretly prone to do at home, when nobody is around), I didn't shovel half a dozen peas onto my fork and eat them like I was drinking soup - No, I elegantly pushed, with my knife, one or two solitary peas onto the fork tines; this took a long time to eat peas but I'm sure Lady Mary would have been proud of me.
When it came to dessert, I positively excelled. In my pre-Las Vegas life, I had usually just scooped up dessert with a spoon. Now, I used a fork to aid said spoon. I placed the cutlery down periodically and sat, all but simpering, with my hands in my lap. Oh, I'm telling you I was more Downton Dowager Duchess than Maggie Smith.
One morning, I went to 'Serendipity 3" and, for fun, ordered their big breakfast. It all came on the one plate. At one end was: potatoes, sausage, sauce, 2 fried eggs, bacon, french toast and butter, At the other end, syrup, pancakes, cream and berries(see pic below). I hadn 't had a fried egg since I was about fifteen.....I could only get through half the meal. And how come NZ restaurants never give you crispy bacon, yet the Americans know how to crisp bacon to perfection?
On another day I went to my fave buffet, MGM Grand ,for breakfast (see the two bottom photos). I reckon they have the best key lime tarts I have ever tasted in America. I can't understand why we don't have key lime tarts in New Zealand. How wonderful, for a sweet tooth like me, that Americans have cakes and ice cream for breakfast. Yum.yum.
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