Sunday, October 24, 2010

Want a culinary experience . . or just a meal?

Living in Hawaii, most of us get the same questions from visitors. They all want to know where they can go to dinner. However, we need to know whether they just want to eat, or if they want a dining experience.

Some people like a place with decor and ambiance. Along with it, they get menus describing each portion with many superlatives.

For example, the vegetables specify where they are grown, how they are picked, and placed on a bed of some special herb that comes from still another place.

The steak dishes give the entire history of the steak from the time the cattle were born to when it gets on your plate.

In a fine dining restaurant, reading the menu is like hanging around a library.

But for those who just want to eat, I send them to my kind of place.

(Letter published in the Maui News July 30, 2010, and Lahaina News August 12, 2010)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Outsourcing has gone too far

Outsourcing of American products has gone too far. We know that for years, our cars, refrigerators, appliances, clothing, furniture, tools, etc. are being built in other countries.

It is a shock to find that now, Pepto-Bismol is being made in Mexico. Just thinking of it gives me indigestion.

(Letter published in The Maui News September 26, 2010, and Lahaina News September 30, 2010)