Julie Bove wrote:

> Heh! When I was young, we knew all of the best places to get Happy
> Hour food. We'd order a soft drink in the bar and fill up on tacos. Not
> quite free but close to it.

This is a thing that didn't exist in my town until the late 90's, when some
pub started offering food items and soon many other followed suit. Nowadays
pubs who don't offer food during the happy hour are the exception. Some of
them, though, have a raise in drinks prices during the buffet time, which is
pure nonsense: we're in happy hour, the drinks should cost less, and you
make us pay more only because there's some (from frozen) food item on the
bar? This has led to the third age of happy hour: some pubs now offer real
food, well hot thanks to hatplates or to the frequent arrival of new plates
from the kitchen. My favorite pub usually has a rice and a pasta (warm in
winter, cold in summer), bowls of baked potatoes & sausages and lots of
finger food such as tartines, potato croquettes, cold cuts and 2 kinds of
cubed bread and focaccia, fries, buffalo wings, cold buckwheat with veggies,
tomato salad, bits of herb pies... I like this trend a lot
--
"Un pasto senza vino e' come un giorno senza sole"
Anthelme Brillat Savarin

"ViLco" > wrote in message
...
> Julie Bove wrote:
>
>> Heh! When I was young, we knew all of the best places to get Happy
>> Hour food. We'd order a soft drink in the bar and fill up on tacos. Not
>> quite free but close to it.
>
> This is a thing that didn't exist in my town until the late 90's, when
> some pub started offering food items and soon many other followed suit.
> Nowadays pubs who don't offer food during the happy hour are the
> exception. Some of them, though, have a raise in drinks prices during the
> buffet time, which is pure nonsense: we're in happy hour, the drinks
> should cost less, and you make us pay more only because there's some (from
> frozen) food item on the bar? This has led to the third age of happy
> hour: some pubs now offer real food, well hot thanks to hatplates or to
> the frequent arrival of new plates from the kitchen. My favorite pub
> usually has a rice and a pasta (warm in winter, cold in summer), bowls of
> baked potatoes & sausages and lots of finger food such as tartines, potato
> croquettes, cold cuts and 2 kinds of cubed bread and focaccia, fries,
> buffalo wings, cold buckwheat with veggies, tomato salad, bits of herb
> pies... I like this trend a lot

I don't know of any places offhand that do free food at happy hour now but I
don't go to bars now so there may well be. I do remember going to some sort
of party at Las Margaritas many years ago. It was a work party. I was
surprised to see this German woman show up to the party. She was older than
me, very rigid and stoic and I think she had some sort of problem but I'm
not sure what. She still lived with her parents and would have probably
been in her late 30's to mid 40's at that point in time. She just didn't
seem like the party type!

They set down some things in front of us for happy hour. I'm not really
sure what they were. Might have been taquitos or flautas although these
didn't have open ends to them. They were more like tiny burritos that had
been deep fried. I don't think they were listed on the menu. But they were
very good. We also got chips and salsa and some other things that I can't
remember now. Anyway... The German woman began freaking out because they
set food in front of her and she hadn't ordered them. When the waiter told
her that the food was free because it was happy hour, she acted like she
didn't believe him. Some others confirmed it. I had never seen her so
happy, ever! She was literally beaming. Said she couldn't wait to go home
and tell her parents about this experience! So perhaps stuff like that
isn't common in Germany?

We also knew were to get the best food samples and on what days they put
them out. I don't think Costco even existed in those days. But you could
get quite a spread at the Fred Meyer health food section. These days the
health food is mixed in with the groceries and I've not seen them put out
any samples. But back then it was a separate department and on Saturdays,
they put out tons of cheese! They also usually had things like crackers,
bread and candy. They also had a machine of frozen stuff called Yodolo. I
could live without it but my parents loved the stuff. I think it was one of
the original frozen yogurts. They would give you a sample if you asked. We
often went there, but one time my one friend got a bit greedy and went back
something like 6 times for cheese. It was good cheese! But the lady behind
the counter told him he'd had enough.

These days, sometimes Costco is a plethora of samples. Other times not so
much and it seems to vary by location. The Everett one seems to always have
a lot more samples for some reason. But it is a smaller store and they
don't seem to stock the bread that we buy so I try not to go to that one.

Most of the grocery stores have bakery and produce samples. And sometimes
you'll see something like cheese or a seafood spread. But Central Market
often has a lot more stuff. They have a little cooking station in the meat
department and there is often stuff there. And if you go in while they are
having a gluten free fair, you can get tons of stuff!

But the samples seem to no longer be like they were when I was a kid. There
were often women and sometimes men cooking up things throughout the store
for us to try. And often samples of beverages.

On Apr 17, 2:18*am, "Julie Bove" > wrote:
> "ViLco" > wrote in message
>
> ...

>
> > Julie Bove wrote:
>
> >> Heh! *When I was young, we knew all of the best places to get Happy
> >> Hour food. *We'd order a soft drink in the bar and fill up on tacos. Not
> >> quite free but close to it.
>
> > This is a thing that didn't exist in my town until the late 90's, when
> > some pub started offering food items and soon many other followed suit.
> > Nowadays pubs who don't offer food during the happy hour are the
> > exception. Some of them, though, have a raise in drinks prices during the
> > buffet time, which is pure nonsense: we're in happy hour, the drinks
> > should cost less, and you make us pay more only because there's some (from
> > frozen) *food item on the bar? This has led to the third age of happy
> > hour: some pubs now offer real food, well hot thanks to hatplates or to
> > the frequent arrival of new plates from the kitchen. My favorite pub
> > usually has a rice and a pasta (warm in winter, cold in summer), bowls of
> > baked potatoes & sausages and lots of finger food such as tartines, potato
> > croquettes, cold cuts and 2 kinds of cubed bread and focaccia, fries,
> > buffalo wings, cold buckwheat with veggies, tomato salad, bits of herb
> > pies... I like this trend a lot
>
> I don't know of any places offhand that do free food at happy hour now but I
> don't go to bars now so there may well be. *I do remember going to some sort
> of party at Las Margaritas many years ago. *It was a work party. *I was
> surprised to see this German woman show up to the party. *She was older than
> me, very rigid and stoic and I think she had some sort of problem but I'm
> not sure what. *She still lived with her parents and would have probably
> been in her late 30's to mid 40's at that point in time. *She just didn't
> seem like the party type!
>
> They set down some things in front of us for happy hour. *I'm not really
> sure what they were. *Might have been taquitos or flautas although these
> didn't have open ends to them. *They were more like tiny burritos that had
> been deep fried. *I don't think they were listed on the menu. *But they were
> very good. *We also got chips and salsa and some other things that I can't
> remember now. *Anyway... *The German woman began freaking out because they
> set food in front of her and she hadn't ordered them. *When the waiter told
> her that the food was free because it was happy hour, she acted like she
> didn't believe him. *Some others confirmed it. *I had never seen her so
> happy, ever! *She was literally beaming. *Said she couldn't wait to go home
> and tell *her parents about this experience! *So perhaps stuff like that
> isn't common in Germany?
>

If you go out to eat in Germany, nothing is free. You will be charged
for even the breadrolls in the breadbasket, should you decide to eat
them.

spamtrap1888 wrote:
> If you go out to eat in Germany, nothing is free. You will be charged
> for even the breadrolls in the breadbasket, should you decide to eat
> them.

Really? Wow!

Julie Bove wrote:
>
> spamtrap1888 wrote:
> > If you go out to eat in Germany, nothing is free. You will be charged
> > for even the breadrolls in the breadbasket, should you decide to eat
> > them.
>
> Really? Wow!

In Japanese cities, if you see what looks like
a bench in a public place, be advised somebody
owns that bench and will charge you for sitting
down. Also, all of the highways are toll roads.
Good thing both of those countries lost the war.

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Julie Bove wrote:
>>
>> spamtrap1888 wrote:
>> > If you go out to eat in Germany, nothing is free. You will be charged
>> > for even the breadrolls in the breadbasket, should you decide to eat
>> > them.
>>
>> Really? Wow!
>
> In Japanese cities, if you see what looks like
> a bench in a public place, be advised somebody
> owns that bench and will charge you for sitting
> down. Also, all of the highways are toll roads.
> Good thing both of those countries lost the war.

Whoa! Really? Good thing I don't like to travel!

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Julie Bove wrote:
>>
>> spamtrap1888 wrote:
>> > If you go out to eat in Germany, nothing is free. You will be charged
>> > for even the breadrolls in the breadbasket, should you decide to eat
>> > them.
>>
>> Really? Wow!
>
> In Japanese cities, if you see what looks like
> a bench in a public place, be advised somebody
> owns that bench and will charge you for sitting
> down. Also, all of the highways are toll roads.
> Good thing both of those countries lost the war.

In India go within a hundred yards of an elephant/monkey/snake and the owner
will be running up for money, whether you have your camera out or not.

--
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:30:09 -0700 (PDT), spamtrap1888
> wrote:



>
>If you go out to eat in Germany, nothing is free. You will be charged
>for even the breadrolls in the breadbasket, should you decide to eat
>them.

It is all in how you do the bookkeeping. Nothing is free at a
restaurant in any country.

On Apr 18, 2:55*am, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:30:09 -0700 (PDT), spamtrap1888
>
> > wrote:
>
> >If you go out to eat in Germany, nothing is free. You will be charged
> >for even the breadrolls in the breadbasket, should you decide to eat
> >them.
>
> It is all in how you do the bookkeeping. *Nothing is free at a
> restaurant in any country.

Yes, but if you're conditioned to expect to pay for everything, having
trays full of unordered food deposited in front of you might make you
fear for your pocketbook.

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 05:55:10 -0400, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:

>On Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:30:09 -0700 (PDT), spamtrap1888
> wrote:
>
>>If you go out to eat in Germany, nothing is free. You will be charged
>>for even the breadrolls in the breadbasket, should you decide to eat
>>them.
>
>It is all in how you do the bookkeeping. Nothing is free at a
>restaurant in any country.

Yup, in a US restaurant you're charged for what's in the bread basket
even if you don't partake... every cost is calculated into your bill,
even if you don't eat that parsley sprig.