A few Fridays ago, I attended the opening of a new club. The party was great; there was no line to get in, our names were actually on the list, it wasn't overcrowded, and the music was perfect! What put me in a bad mood very quickly was the wait to get a drink. The bar was completely understaffed. I stood at the front of the bar trying to get the bartender's attention for a half an hour! I know it's hard to make a lot of drinks super quickly — I was a bartender once — but the owner should know how many bartenders are needed based on the amount of people invited.
This is something to consider when hosting any party — a wedding, a birthday, or a shower — with a staffed bar. If you don't want guests (or bartenders) getting cranky because they had to wait forever for a cocktail, be sure your bar is staffed appropriately.
So what's the longest you've ever had to wait to get a drink? Have you ever left a party or bar because it took too long to get served?
Run Ramsay Run!
A whole range of celebrities pushed themselves to the limit by taking part in the Flora London Marathon yesterday. The rain may have poured down, but that didn't stop Gordon Ramsay, who was running his ninth marathon and completed the 26.2 miles in 3 hours 45 minutes.
Every time I visit my mom, she always sends me home with jars of her homemade pao tsai, aka pickled vegetables. Hers are sort of like kimchee and they're a little bit spicy and a little bit sweet. Last week, when I visited my mom, she only had one jar to hand over and demanded that I give it to my sister. Her reasoning was that my sister was busy and that I could just make my own. I couldn't really argue with her and decided to prove to her that I could. The technique is actually really simple and quick — it took about 15 minutes to make, plus a day to sit — and the results are pretty nice. See the recipe I used — just tweak it to suit your own palate — when you read more
Yesterday, over 80 chefs gathered together to make a giant vat of Gallo Pinto. The dish, which is considered to be the national dish of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, is a mix of beans and rice fried together with spices. The reason for the giant vat? Try the first Gallo Pinto National Festival in San José, Costa Rica. To celebrate the event, they created enough gallo pinto — over 4,400 pounds of black beans and 4,000 pounds of rice — to feed 30,000 people. The main reason for the quantity was to defeat Nicaragua's record of serving up 20,000 people the year before!
When I came across this recipe for a chipotle chicken burrito, it brought back memories of La Burrita — the tasty, late-night burrito joint that was across the street from my college apartment. I can't wait to relive old times by making my own variation of this scrumptious looking burrito! — The Kitchen Sink
On April 14, 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg and sunk. We're all familiar with the details of the ship's sinking thanks to James Cameron's blockbuster film, but do you know anything about the food that was served on the grand ocean liner? I've put together a quiz to commemorate the date and the questions are all about the food that was eaten before its demise. To learn more about it, take the quiz now!
A few Fridays ago, I attended the opening of a new club. The party was great; there was no line to get in, our names were actually on the list, it wasn't overcrowded, and the music was perfect! What put me in a bad mood very quickly was the wait to get a drink. The bar was completely understaffed. I stood at the front of the bar trying to get the bartender's attention for a half an hour! I know it's hard to make a lot of drinks super quickly — I was a bartender once — but the owner should know how many bartenders are needed based on the amount of people invited. 
Mulberry
Citizens of Humanity
Bruno Magli