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Default Olive Garden

Watching Batali & Scott do their Iron Chef with cheese while writing this.
I've never seen the chefs scurry so fast. I'm also cheering for Mario.

Today was a shopping day, so decided to eat out at the newest restaurant in
Winchester (Olive Garden) and an espresso at Borders, the new Borders
without windows in the coffee shop! Since there was no one ordering I
decided to decide what a double espresso really cost there. It was not
easy.

In a 12 oz. cup, a single shot is $1.70; one additional shot with the single
shot is $.55 making it $2.25.
In a 16 oz. cup, a double is $1.95.
Now don't ask me what an Americano is, that's a whole different ball game.

So -- I ordered a double espresso in a 16 oz. cup, asking for about 1/4 cup
of HOT water. I discussed with the person that I liked hot coffee the
reason that I wanted a little water with the espresso. The person gave us a
porcelain cup for our espressos (DH ordered same). Joy did not last long --
the person had put cold water into the espresso.

As we were getting a new Mp3 player installed in our car we had time to go
to Olive Garden -- we had planned it this way -- even though it was around
1:00 pm, it looked like an hour's wait. We went back at 2:00 and were
served at 2:30. DH ordered steak with noodles with alfredo/gorgonzola.
Quite good. Me -- cheese raviolis -- nothing to write home about, but
edible. Salad not as good as the I remember a few years back, I've never
liked the little soft long garlic rolls. The wine that they were serving
for $4.95 & $5.95 a glass I was familiar with and would not buy the wine for
private use. So I decided to try the $3.25 per glass house brand and it
wasn't bad, so we both had a glass. No coffee, no dessert. Lunch with 1
glass wine each with tax and tip, a little over $37.00. They have a
different menu at night.

Since they have such an overwhelming amount of customers they are glad that
Red Lobster will be coming soon. We'll try that once and just stick with
straight fish -- no noodles.

Yahoo!!!! 53 Batali; Campbell 40!!!!
On to Emeril making Comfort Foods, making a kicked up green bean
casserole --- you be the judge - I wouldn't consider that a comfort food;
others might.
Dee Dee









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Dee Randall wrote:
> Watching Batali & Scott do their Iron Chef with cheese while writing this.
> I've never seen the chefs scurry so fast. I'm also cheering for Mario.
>
> Today was a shopping day, so decided to eat out at the newest restaurant in
> Winchester (Olive Garden) and an espresso at Borders, the new Borders
> without windows in the coffee shop! Since there was no one ordering I
> decided to decide what a double espresso really cost there. It was not
> easy.
>
> In a 12 oz. cup, a single shot is $1.70; one additional shot with the single
> shot is $.55 making it $2.25.
> In a 16 oz. cup, a double is $1.95.
> Now don't ask me what an Americano is, that's a whole different ball game.


I like Americano, with heavy cream and Splenda. That's a nice way to
make coffee.
>
> So -- I ordered a double espresso in a 16 oz. cup, asking for about 1/4 cup
> of HOT water. I discussed with the person that I liked hot coffee the
> reason that I wanted a little water with the espresso. The person gave us a
> porcelain cup for our espressos (DH ordered same). Joy did not last long --
> the person had put cold water into the espresso.
>
> As we were getting a new Mp3 player installed in our car we had time to go
> to Olive Garden -- we had planned it this way -- even though it was around
> 1:00 pm, it looked like an hour's wait. We went back at 2:00 and were
> served at 2:30. DH ordered steak with noodles with alfredo/gorgonzola.
> Quite good. Me -- cheese raviolis -- nothing to write home about, but
> edible. Salad not as good as the I remember a few years back, I've never
> liked the little soft long garlic rolls. The wine that they were serving
> for $4.95 & $5.95 a glass I was familiar with and would not buy the wine for
> private use. So I decided to try the $3.25 per glass house brand and it
> wasn't bad, so we both had a glass. No coffee, no dessert. Lunch with 1
> glass wine each with tax and tip, a little over $37.00. They have a
> different menu at night.
>
> Since they have such an overwhelming amount of customers they are glad that
> Red Lobster will be coming soon. We'll try that once and just stick with
> straight fish -- no noodles.


Aren't Olive Garden and Red Lobster the same company?
>
> Dee Dee


--Bryan

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In article >,
Steve Wertz > wrote:

> On 23 Mar 2006 21:50:23 -0800, "Food Snob" >
> wrote:
>
> >Aren't Olive Garden and Red Lobster the same company?

>
> Same customers, at least.



That too. I've never ever seen one without the other right next door.

--
Dan Abel

Petaluma, California, USA
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In article >,
Dan Abel > wrote:

> In article >,
> Steve Wertz > wrote:
>
> > On 23 Mar 2006 21:50:23 -0800, "Food Snob" >
> > wrote:
> >
> > >Aren't Olive Garden and Red Lobster the same company?

> >
> > Same customers, at least.

>
>
> That too. I've never ever seen one without the other right next door.


This is a Canadian site, but it talks about all of North America:

http://www.redlobstercanada.restaurantjobs.hcareers.ca/

Here's part of what it says:

"Darden Restaurants, Inc. is the largest publicly traded casual dining
restaurant company in the world. We serve more than 300 million meals
annually at 1,381 restaurants in 49 states and Canada. Our five
restaurant concepts are Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, Bahama
Breeze and our newest concept Seasons 52."

--
Dan Abel

Petaluma, California, USA
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Default Olive Garden

>As we were getting a new Mp3 player installed in our car we had time to go
>to Olive Garden

I wonder if the best Olive Garden in the world is in Italy. :-)


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"Steve Wertz" > wrote in message
...
> On 23 Mar 2006 21:50:23 -0800, "Food Snob" >
> wrote:
>
>>Aren't Olive Garden and Red Lobster the same company?

>
> Same customers, at least.
>
> -sw


Ha, Ha, that's a good one -- but I think that's very true for both.
Dee Dee


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"Abe" > wrote in message
...
> >As we were getting a new Mp3 player installed in our car we had time to
> >go
>>to Olive Garden

> I wonder if the best Olive Garden in the world is in Italy. :-)


There is no question about that.
Need plane fare.
Dee Dee


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In article >,
"Dee Randall"

> Since they have such an overwhelming amount of customers they are glad that
> Red Lobster will be coming soon. We'll try that once and just stick with
> straight fish -- no noodles.


Both were owned by General Mills before they spun off their restaurants
to Darden Corporation. (I think that's the name.) I like the OG salad.

Best walleye I ever had was at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. :-)
--
-Barb
<www.jamlady.eboard.com> Updated 3-21-2006 Hot Stuff!

"If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all."
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In article >,
Dan Abel > wrote:
> Here's part of what it says:
>
> "Darden Restaurants, Inc. is th
> . Our five
> restaurant concepts are Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, Bahama
> Breeze and our newest concept Seasons 52."


"Restaurant concept." Nice phrase.

--
-Barb
<www.jamlady.eboard.com> Updated 3-21-2006 Hot Stuff!

"If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all."
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>> I wonder if the best Olive Garden in the world is in Italy. :-)

> There is no question about that.
> Need plane fare.


I just got back from Italy and I'll tell you, the food is worse than
Olive Garden (at least where I went: Venice, Florence, Milan). There
are soooo many tourists that they can serve any kind of cr@p and still
stay in business. Sure, there are good restaurants, but they were
quite expensive and off the beaten track.

I can't really complain: prosciutto or grilled vegetable sandwiches
were just a couple bucks, and Campari soda or prosecco (local
champagne) washed them down. But I never ate so many sandwiches in my
life, and by week three I was *dying* for a plate of spaghetti with a
nice marinara sauce.



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Peter A wrote:

>
> I never heard anything so ridiculous in my entire life. If you go to
> Italy and can't find excellent cheap food you have only yourself to
> blame. It's like going to Germany and complaining about the beer.
>


Maybe you need more time than I had. We were travelling on a rail pass and
had to ration our time because we got shanghaied by relatives in
Switzerland. My wife insisted on Venice so we had to spend a long day on
the train across northern Italy to Venice and then had to go all the way
back to Paris and wanted to stop in Nice on the way. We ended up in Venice
for one night. We ate at a place right on the Grand Canal. This was 13
years ago, 1993. Dinner was not grandiose, no appetizers, only one person
had desert. We had a bottle of wine and one soft drink, two coffees. I still
have the bill 315,000 Lire... 1,000 lire to the dollar..... $315 for a
mediocre dinner for three.


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> I never heard anything so ridiculous in my entire life. If you go to
> Italy and can't find excellent cheap food you have only yourself to
> blame. It's like going to Germany and complaining about the beer.


First, let me ask a question. Why are people here so quick to negate
-- not refute, not question -- other peoples' opinions? Aside from the
sheer egotistical gall of it, hasn't anybody ever heard of TACT? There
are polite ways to question somebody's veracity, and the word
"ridiculous" doesn't feature in any of them. For the second time in
two days I find my opinion being leapt on by some clueless yahoo, and
frankly I thought this was a nicer newsgroup than that.

Mr. Aitken, do me a favor: Go to Google and search for "+venice +italy
+food +overpriced +tourist." You'll get four hundred hits. The first
one says "And to be honest, no-one goes to Venice for the food. It is
among the least interesting in Italy, little more than nosh if it’s
authentic, and often very ... "

We'll never know what Venetian food is often very, because the page is
gone, but anybody who scored over a hundred on their SATs will probably
guess the next word is "bad."

The second hit, at epinions, says "Expensive and lousy food, tourist
traps." And another one farther down says "Venice has a reputation for
having uninspired restauranteurs. It's the only place in Italy where
you long to return to America for food. . . ." Gosh, which is EXACTLY
what I said.

In the future, Mr. Aitken, stay the hell away from my posts until
you've learned some manners. I have better things to do that argue
with egotistical little yahoos.

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> wrote in message
oups.com...
>>> I wonder if the best Olive Garden in the world is in Italy. :-)

>
>> There is no question about that.
>> Need plane fare.

>
> I just got back from Italy and I'll tell you, the food is worse than
> Olive Garden (at least where I went: Venice, Florence, Milan). There
> are soooo many tourists that they can serve any kind of cr@p and still
> stay in business. Sure, there are good restaurants, but they were
> quite expensive and off the beaten track.
>
> I can't really complain: prosciutto or grilled vegetable sandwiches
> were just a couple bucks, and Campari soda or prosecco (local
> champagne) washed them down. But I never ate so many sandwiches in my
> life, and by week three I was *dying* for a plate of spaghetti with a
> nice marinara sauce.
>

I can believe what you say. We were in Florence many, many years ago and
there were so many people on the streets and in the stores that you could
hardly move. I would never want to go there again. We went to Verona,
looked at our hotel -- I still remember the name -- Romeo and Juliet --
cancelled, had a coffee at the concert stadium in the middle of the town
where we were forced to listen to the music blaring out of the forum which
gave us a complete headache and we high-tailed it to Riva del Garden -- Ah,
I relive those few days at Riva often.
Now that I look back on that 3 week trip I can recall nothing exceptionally
about the food; but I was not so aware of food at that time.
Thanks for your travel-log -- I love to hear these little personal travel
stories.
Dee Dee





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> We were in Florence many, many years ago and there were
> so many people on the streets and in the stores that you could
> hardly move. *I would never want to go there again.


Dee, that's my sentiment exactly. I know *somebody* told me to go
there, but when I got home everybody pleaded the Fifth. All my friends
said they hated it, for those exactly reasons. The streets are too
small, it's too crowded, there are AGGRESSIVE bums and drunks, and huge
speeding tour buses and suicidal kids on Vespas ready to flatten
anybody who lets their mind drift for a second.

Venice, on the other hand, is absolute heaven on earth. I went there
during some magical window: it was warm enough I didn't need a jacket
(well, for a couple days), and there were NO tourists. I've been to
some great places -- Paris, London, south of France, San Francisco --
and nowhere comes close to Venice. Honestly, for the rest of my life
I'm going to be haunted by its startling, unbelievable beauty.

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Actually, let's make the best of a bad situation. While in Venice I
actually came up with a list of clues that a restaurant has bad food:

1. There's plastic food in the window.
2. The menu posted outside is translated into forty different
languages.
3. A blackboard outside says you get a free can of soda with every
pizza.
4. The eaves of the building are decorated with flags from many lands.
5. The owner is standing in the doorway yelling (in English), "Good
food! Good food!"
6. The chef is standing in the doorway smoking.
7. The restaurant has a logo that includes a soccer-playing dog.
8. Everything in the bread basket is hermetically sealed in plastic.
9. There's an ATM machine cut into the front window.
10. You're in Venice.

(Actually, I just threw in that last one for Mr. Aitken. )

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> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Actually, let's make the best of a bad situation. While in Venice I
> actually came up with a list of clues that a restaurant has bad food:
>
> 1. There's plastic food in the window.
> 2. The menu posted outside is translated into forty different
> languages.
> 3. A blackboard outside says you get a free can of soda with every
> pizza.
> 4. The eaves of the building are decorated with flags from many lands.
> 5. The owner is standing in the doorway yelling (in English), "Good
> food! Good food!"
> 6. The chef is standing in the doorway smoking.
> 7. The restaurant has a logo that includes a soccer-playing dog.
> 8. Everything in the bread basket is hermetically sealed in plastic.
> 9. There's an ATM machine cut into the front window.
> 10. You're in Venice.
>
> (Actually, I just threw in that last one for Mr. Aitken. )
>


While I don't doubt your experiences (there are an awful lot
of tourist trap restaurants in Venice -- and the rest of Italy),
my wife and I had just the opposite experience (although it's
been several years). We used the Arthur Frommer guidebook
and our own devices. Actually had one of the best chinese
meals we've ever had in Venice. Native Venetian food
concentrates on, among other things, the local seafood. If
you want marinara, you're much better off in southern Italy.


By the way, except for number 10, your guidance is right on.


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I just received their monthly rent check for storage. It comes from GMRI,
Inc. and they also own Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey
Bones. These are listed on the bottom of their check.

--

Joe Cilinceon



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> We used the Arthur Frommer guidebook and our own devices.

Now *that's* the way to disagree. Thanks, Tom.

There definitely are great restaurants in Venice, and I found a couple.
But these are the REAL exception to the rule, and as your use of
Frommer indicates, you have to go hunting for them.

As you say, the seafood is fantastic, but seafood isn't cheap. Both
the restaurants I'd recommend are at least $50 per person (which is
what I, an irredeemably cheap *******, call "quite expensive.")
Naturally there are different prices for the residents -- rumor has it
they pay somewhere around half the menu rate -- which leads to my call
of "overpriced."

If there is "excellent cheap food" in Venice -- and it isn't a sandwich
-- Mr. Aitken is keeping the name of the place to himself.



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> wrote in message
oups.com...
> We were in Florence many, many years ago and there were
> so many people on the streets and in the stores that you could
> hardly move. I would never want to go there again.


Dee, that's my sentiment exactly. I know *somebody* told me to go
there, but when I got home everybody pleaded the Fifth. All my friends
said they hated it, for those exactly reasons. The streets are too
small, it's too crowded, there are AGGRESSIVE bums and drunks, and huge
speeding tour buses and suicidal kids on Vespas ready to flatten
anybody who lets their mind drift for a second.

Venice, on the other hand, is absolute heaven on earth. I went there
during some magical window: it was warm enough I didn't need a jacket
(well, for a couple days), and there were NO tourists. I've been to
some great places -- Paris, London, south of France, San Francisco --
and nowhere comes close to Venice. Honestly, for the rest of my life
I'm going to be haunted by its startling, unbelievable beauty.

I went with DH and then later went back with a girlfriend (GF) on a trip
and we drove ourselves down those sheer cliffs along the highway down to
Dubrovnik -- what a thrill! In Venice GF and I stayed at a hotel on St.
Marks square, went to the glass-blowing factory on a nearby boatride and
bought a couple of pieces. Just this last year I bought a couple of
bracelets (evil-eye) made from the glass made from this glass factory. Fun
to have them.
DH and I had an ugly 2 days in Venice, raining and blowing wind; but GF and
I had beautiful weather, like you.
A site that will remain in my memory forever, absolutely forever (until I
die, of course) is coming out of the train station and seeing that view!
OMG! Nothing like it!
Dee Dee



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"Tom Royer" > wrote in message
...
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> Actually, let's make the best of a bad situation. While in Venice I
>> actually came up with a list of clues that a restaurant has bad food:
>>
>> 1. There's plastic food in the window.
>> 2. The menu posted outside is translated into forty different
>> languages.
>> 3. A blackboard outside says you get a free can of soda with every
>> pizza.
>> 4. The eaves of the building are decorated with flags from many lands.
>> 5. The owner is standing in the doorway yelling (in English), "Good
>> food! Good food!"
>> 6. The chef is standing in the doorway smoking.
>> 7. The restaurant has a logo that includes a soccer-playing dog.
>> 8. Everything in the bread basket is hermetically sealed in plastic.
>> 9. There's an ATM machine cut into the front window.
>> 10. You're in Venice.
>>
>> (Actually, I just threw in that last one for Mr. Aitken. )
>>

>
> While I don't doubt your experiences (there are an awful lot
> of tourist trap restaurants in Venice -- and the rest of Italy),
> my wife and I had just the opposite experience (although it's
> been several years). We used the Arthur Frommer guidebook
> and our own devices. Actually had one of the best chinese
> meals we've ever had in Venice. Native Venetian food
> concentrates on, among other things, the local seafood. If
> you want marinara, you're much better off in southern Italy.
>

The best Venetian restaurant I ever ate in was in Tokyo -- high rise, first
class -- or at least I thought so at the time.
You might wonder why we ate Italian in Tokyo -- DH used to like to use the
Michelin guide -- tee hee.
Dee Dee


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"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" > wrote in message
...
> "Dee Randall" > hitched up their panties and posted
> :
> <snipola>
>
>> We were laughing about a person's relating to us that they had a long
>> wait at this Olive Garden, so they went out and watched a DVD in their
>> van. I suppose those little battery-operated beepers worked all the
>> way out to the parking lot.
>> Dee Dee

>
> LOL... We pretty much avoid a lot of places like Olive Garden. We have
> too
> much diversity in St. Louis, and the chain type of restaurant is not to
> our
> liking.


We have hardly anything else except chains and really not that many until
abt 5 years ago -- at least I've not seen it. Olive Garden just opened and
it might be the only time we'll eat there. We did that with Chili's, and
the other chain restaurants here like Ruby Tuesdays, Pargos, etc. Some of
the barbecue chains we haven't even tried. There was a hyped NY type
Italian restaurant that opened up a few years ago, but it was nothing to
write home about. We went to a German restaurant in another town that had
good reviews and a few people we know like it -- I don't know what's the
matter with us -- we just don't like anything well enough to trot back more
than once or twice unless it's an emergency.
Tee Hee
Dee Dee



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Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan wrote:

>
> > wife and I and a soft drink for our son, one piece of cake that one of
> > us ordered ...... $315. I would suggest that 13 years later, you 'd
> > be hard pressed to find a place there for $50 per person.

>
> I'll never forget when Steven's father took the entire family out to The
> Chase for my birthday. There were 10 of us. When Harry got the bill he gave
> it to me to see how much to tip. The entire bill was $1500. Gratuity was
> automatically added in at 15%. I made him pay an extra $150


Why? It sounds like the waiter already has a sizeable tip.
If I were paying for the meal and the bill included an automatic 15% tip , more
of a service charge than a gratuity), you would dbe welcome to leave any extra
tip that you thought necessary.


> Damned, he
> was a good doobie and I really miss him. We got to fight about the bill all
> the way around the corner to our my and Steven's condo. Unfortunately at
> Kingshighway and West Pine we were slammed into by someone running from the
> police. Well, I almost smothered from the front and side airbags in his
> car. In the ER he told me I got my comeuppance from forcing an added tip
>


Yep. He's right :-)




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Steve Wertz wrote:

> On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:03:53 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> > wrote:
>
> >We've just gotten a new one called "Big Bear Grill", or something like
> >that. I got a to-go menu. Pretty standard steak like place.

>
> Who orders steaks to go? Maybe they could put a popscicle stick
> in it so you can eat it while driving.


I will raise my hand on that one. We had a wonderful restaurant in my town.
It was our favourite restaurant. The food was wonderful, but it was quite
reasonable, $20-23 for a three course meal. The owner had to give it up
due to heart problems, but after recuperating for a year or so he started
offering take out dinners that he cooked at his house. I get an email every
Wednesday night with his menu for Thur. and Fri. and you have to call by
noon on Fri to order. Just let him know what time you want to pick it up
and it will be ready when you get there. I have done it a few times and the
food is great. I ordered the steak once. It was good.

However.... I will admit it is the exception rather than the rule.


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Steve Wertz > writes:

>On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:03:53 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> wrote:


>>We've just gotten a new one called "Big Bear Grill", or something like
>>that. I got a to-go menu. Pretty standard steak like place.


>Who orders steaks to go? Maybe they could put a popscicle stick
>in it so you can eat it while driving.


Many Friday nights we get Applebee's steaks to go for dinner. The
restaurant is about 5 minutes away. Almost every time they're just
fine, but last week the steaks really sucked. It's not like Applebee's
is our first choice, though. We live in a small town with nothing much
open after my husband gets off work, and trying to shop at the grocery
store on Fridays for some nice dinner to start the weekend is
impossible, as good cuts of meat/fish sell out so quickly.
I love our new house and I love living in a town under 100,000
people... except I am so sick of having so few choices for shopping and
eating! This week we had to order DH's work jeans, some Torani
grenadine syrup, and a water filter for the fridge online because you
can't find them in town. The UPS man hates us!

Stacia

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Glitter Ninja wrote:

> Steve Wertz > writes:
>
>
>>On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:03:53 GMT, "Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan"
> wrote:

>
>
>>>We've just gotten a new one called "Big Bear Grill", or something like
>>>that. I got a to-go menu. Pretty standard steak like place.

>
>
>>Who orders steaks to go? Maybe they could put a popscicle stick
>>in it so you can eat it while driving.

>
>
> Many Friday nights we get Applebee's steaks to go for dinner. The
> restaurant is about 5 minutes away. Almost every time they're just
> fine, but last week the steaks really sucked. It's not like Applebee's
> is our first choice, though. We live in a small town with nothing much
> open after my husband gets off work, and trying to shop at the grocery
> store on Fridays for some nice dinner to start the weekend is
> impossible, as good cuts of meat/fish sell out so quickly.
> I love our new house and I love living in a town under 100,000
> people... except I am so sick of having so few choices for shopping and
> eating! This week we had to order DH's work jeans, some Torani
> grenadine syrup, and a water filter for the fridge online because you
> can't find them in town. The UPS man hates us!
>
> Stacia
>


Oh you poor thing <VBG>. We live in a town of about 400. Needless to
say choices for shopping and eating are rather non-existent. The only
choice to drive somewhere and that's usually a pain.


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Default Olive Garden

>> just got back from Italy and I'll tell you, the food is worse than
Olive Garden (at least where I went: Venice, Florence, Milan). There
are soooo many tourists that they can serve any kind of cr@p and still
stay in business. Sure, there are good restaurants, but they were
quite expensive and off the beaten track. <<

If you wanted to make bucks off a bunch of tourists from around the
world, where would you put it? Beaten track sound good? Venice and
Florence both are so small it isn't hard to get off that track!
Anybody who wants to come to Italy should check out www.slowtrav.com
where you will find enormous resources to keep you from wasting your
money in bad restaurants that are there primarily to feed cheap food to
people who don't know any better. The big three, Rome, Venice and
Florence, abound in places to take some moola off you because you
didn't bother to find out where to go.
Out of those three places depend on local eaters more and are pretty
reliable.
Food is expensive here, and so is fuel and labor, so we pay more for a
simple meal, but I know 100s of restaurants where I can get a full meal
with bottled water and house wine for €10-15, more for fish. If I am
going to a city I don't yet know well, I check out the reviews on
slowtrav first.

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This week we had to order DH's work jeans, some Torani
>> grenadine syrup, and a water filter for the fridge online because you
>> can't find them in town. The UPS man hates us!
>>
>> Stacia
>>

>
> Oh you poor thing <VBG>. We live in a town of about 400. Needless to say
> choices for shopping and eating are rather non-existent. The only choice
> to drive somewhere and that's usually a pain.



My town was 200 when we first moved here; it's growing, but we still have to
drive a long ways to shop; to shop, we take our choice: 1) 7 miles -
Walmart with unacceptable produce and don't know whether they will have what
we need. 2) Winchester - good shopping and services 30 miles away --
completely boring. 3) go to the big city of Fairfax, Vienna, etc. about
70-75 miles away -- gets my juices going -- ethnic groceries! 4) D.C. 90
miles away for serious medical needs.

Even though we have a Circuit City 30 miles away, we ordered the car stereo
online because we were shopping online for it and were able to make price
comparisons and it was what we wanted. Here's the way you can do it at
Circuit City. Buy it online, pay for it online, and it will be waiting for
you at the counter when you get there. At Staples we order many things -
over $50 it is free shipping, and believe it or not, it will be here in 2
days --

We've ordered everything you can imagine -- but, I have to agree that the
UPS, DHL, USPS, Fedexpress -- they are getting lax in their deliveries.
Just recently, my Fiesta was not delivered (I've never missed something
shipped before) my Jenn-Air cartridge box looked like it had been run over
by a truck, a small order from a kitchen supply place was obviously
run-over - looked to me there was still a tire-track on it. I wouldn't go
so far as to say 'the UPS man hates us,' but I'm wondering if any of them
like their job - driving around in this beautiful countryside -- what could
be so bad? I've heard the UPS have a pretty good salary besides. I'll bet
all of them do.

Dee Dee


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"me" > wrote in message
...
> In article .com>,
> wrote:
>
>> Venice, on the other hand, is absolute heaven on earth. I went there
>> during some magical window: it was warm enough I didn't need a jacket
>> (well, for a couple days), and there were NO tourists. I've been to
>> some great places -- Paris, London, south of France, San Francisco --
>> and nowhere comes close to Venice. Honestly, for the rest of my life
>> I'm going to be haunted by its startling, unbelievable beauty.

>
> Agreed! It's one of those places you've heard about and seen
> pictures of for your entire life -- and then you're _there_.
> Magical, indeed. We did a lot of research before we went, so we had
> a decent hotel for not much money and we ate at better places (there
> is a very large tourist trade and it largely fills out the list
> someone else posted in this thread). The only things I regret were
> not being able to spend more time there and not buying any Murano
> glass (though getting it back might have been an adventure in
> itself). If I ever get married again, I would love to go back to
> Italy for the honeymoon.
>
> sd


I recall that when we went to the glass factory I persuaded my friend to buy
some glass, telling her that she probably would regret later in life that
she had not bought a piece. But as most all things, once you done it -- the
mystery is gone.
Dee Dee


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Dee Randall wrote:

> This week we had to order DH's work jeans, some Torani
>
>>>grenadine syrup, and a water filter for the fridge online because you
>>>can't find them in town. The UPS man hates us!
>>>
>>>Stacia
>>>

>>
>>Oh you poor thing <VBG>. We live in a town of about 400. Needless to say
>>choices for shopping and eating are rather non-existent. The only choice
>>to drive somewhere and that's usually a pain.

>
>
>
> My town was 200 when we first moved here; it's growing, but we still have to
> drive a long ways to shop; to shop, we take our choice: 1) 7 miles -
> Walmart with unacceptable produce and don't know whether they will have what
> we need. 2) Winchester - good shopping and services 30 miles away --
> completely boring. 3) go to the big city of Fairfax, Vienna, etc. about
> 70-75 miles away -- gets my juices going -- ethnic groceries! 4) D.C. 90
> miles away for serious medical needs.
>


I really like small communities. I think they are so much nicer than
larger ones and we can always drive if need be. We are close to the US
too so we can shop there as well. For our basics - meats, eggs, poultry
most bought from farmers, fruite/veggies either home grown or bought
from orchards, u-picks and stands - we're have more than enough local
resources. We really have to drive if I want special sauces, oils, and
some ethnic items. Still we wouldn't change where we live.

> Even though we have a Circuit City 30 miles away, we ordered the car stereo
> online because we were shopping online for it and were able to make price
> comparisons and it was what we wanted. Here's the way you can do it at
> Circuit City. Buy it online, pay for it online, and it will be waiting for
> you at the counter when you get there. At Staples we order many things -
> over $50 it is free shipping, and believe it or not, it will be here in 2
> days --


We shop online as well. Really it has become the modern version of
catelogue shopping. Some of these online stores have specials that they
don't offer at their B&M stores. We shop ebay too
>
> We've ordered everything you can imagine -- but, I have to agree that the
> UPS, DHL, USPS, Fedexpress -- they are getting lax in their deliveries.
> Just recently, my Fiesta was not delivered (I've never missed something
> shipped before) my Jenn-Air cartridge box looked like it had been run over
> by a truck, a small order from a kitchen supply place was obviously
> run-over - looked to me there was still a tire-track on it. I wouldn't go
> so far as to say 'the UPS man hates us,' but I'm wondering if any of them
> like their job - driving around in this beautiful countryside -- what could
> be so bad? I've heard the UPS have a pretty good salary besides. I'll bet
> all of them do.


I haven't had a problem with the ground delivery when I've bought things
from a Canadian seller. I use USPS to our US PO box when buying from a
US seller because the ground delivery services charge a brokerage fee of
IIRC $30 to bring the item across the boarder.
>
> Dee Dee
>
>



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~patches~ wrote:

> I really like small communities. I think they are so much nicer than
> larger ones and we can always drive if need be. We are close to the US
> too so we can shop there as well. For our basics - meats, eggs, poultry
> most bought from farmers, fruite/veggies either home grown or bought
> from orchards, u-picks and stands - we're have more than enough local
> resources. We really have to drive if I want special sauces, oils, and
> some ethnic items. Still we wouldn't change where we live.


It's nice to have the best of both worlds. I live in a rural area. It's less than
10 minutes to drive to town, or 10 minutes to the adjacent city, and 25 minutes
to two other cities, an hour to "the big city". I get to enjoy the peace an
quiet of the country, access to fresh fruit, vegetables and eggs. and it is not a
major trek to go to a city for special items.

There are a lot of advantages to living an hour from "the big city". You can
scoot in and spend a day, or an evening, and then turn around and be home in a
little more than an hour. You get to enjoy the sights and the shops without
having to endure the negatives, like congestion and high cost of property.

My wife went to school in the city and we used to go back for parties with her old
classmates. One time someone asked us how we could stand being so far from the
city and didn't we miss the theatre, the galleries, museums, downtown shopping and
restaurants. So I asked the group a few questions. We used to go into the city
every 2-3 weeks. We had an out of town membership to the museum and used it as out
meeting place. We had a membership to the local art gallery that got us into the
art gallery for free. It turned out that we had been to their art gallery and
museum , their theatres and shopping in downtown in their city more often than
they did.



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"~patches~" > wrote in message
...
> Dee Randall wrote:
>
> We shop online as well. Really it has become the modern version of
> catelogue shopping. >>


That must be why I like it so -- we, as kids, had nothing else to entertain
ourselves with indoors except a worn-out monopology board game and the Sears
& Monkey-Wards catalogs; it's so nice to "drop in shopping cart" come back
and look again, change your mind, see if it's a good deal, research
opinions. Oh, it's so much fun -- how could someone not like to shop
online. I buy only a teensy-bit of what I shop for -- just like from the
old Sears catalogs days (where, of course, I never bought anything except in
my mind).
Dee Dee



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