I like smaller places where you can see the kitchen, but many places you would be physically barred or removed if you tried to access the kitchen. I know that all the "chain" type restaurants have prepared/frozen food, virtually nothing is fresh. That's for consistency, you can eat the same meal at Applebee's in Grand Rapids, Michigan as you can in Los Angeles, California. Doesn't make it good, but it's consistent and you can count on it. Ashley worked at Applebee's and at Red Lobster, Elery's daughter works at Olive Garden and used to work at Bob Evan's. Virtually everything comes frozen or in mixes dictated by "headquarters". Are they better than McDonald's and Burger King? Maybe, and I think they are restaurants, but they sure wouldn't be "quality" restaurants. I think it's just adding another level to the designation. I hear about fast food restaurants, eat-in restaurants, chain restaurants. This would just be another designation and I think it's a good idea. Of course, Elery and I eat out about twice a year, it's not something I particularly enjoy. I just keep thinking that I could make that better, cheaper, not have to drive 100 miles. I'm one of the pickiest eaters I know, and I want things done a certain way. Chain restaurants won't/can't deviate much out of their required norm and some of the others that are actually good (i.e. not a chain) get all offended if you ask them to leave something off or fix it differently. Plus, Elery's been on Weight Watchers and I've been kind of tagging along, so eating out is sometimes difficult. We do make regular passes through the local McDonald's drive through, we feed the dog there. A McDonald's Onion Cheddar Burger is his favorite treat, after I pick off all the onions, and their vanilla ice cream cone is his second choice. Ashley says that's a ringing endorsement, I don't eat their food generally, but I'll feed the dog there. (grin) Actually, the best meals normally come from a couple of local "dives", they make soup and bake bread from scratch, homemade pies with their own pastry, everything is fresh and much is local. They each seat about 25 people, so they don't sell a volume that requires mass produced food. Annie

I have a bottle of Thai Sweetened Chili Sauce (for spring roll) that sounds like what you describe. The brand is Pantainorasingh. It's a translucent, sort of thick, orangy, shrimpy colored sauce with bits of carrot and things suspended in it. It's hard to tell from the pick on their site below but it is pretty translucent. The ingredients on the label are sugar, water, red chile, turnip, carrot, salt, garlic, modified starch, and acetic acid. Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Roll Sauce

A spill I would clean up as best I could and if they didn't bring all the replacement food, I would say something. Over a year ago, Lauren and I went to Red Lobster and got very bad service. Took over an hour to get our meal and never got biscuits. They gave us a free meal on our next visit. Went back and it was ok. A few weeks ago the kids and I went back to the same Red Lobster and got the same lousy service, no biscuits, no drink refills and my lobster and shrimp came out burnt. I should have sent the food back and requested not to be charged but I didn't. I was just relieved to finally get my food. Well, it tasted awful. We just joked about being invisible. And one of the waiters kept singing, "you should've been gone"...part of a Journey song over and over, every time he passed our table to go back into the kitchen (which is right by where we were seated. So we had fun with that, saying he must be singing it to us. Well, just talked to a friend who's getting a divorce tomorrow. We're going out to eat to celebrate (she's been separated for years and years) later in the week and she wanted to go to Red Lobster. I told her I would never go back there again and why. So, we're going to the Rigatta (sp?) instead.

I had an small vintage kitchen for years and loved it! I really liked my open shelves and found them easy to maintain - also look for fun small cabinets you can tuck in different spots to add character and storage - fewer cabs def help the look. one thing i did was get a schoolhouse light and customized itso it could carry a lot of wattage (Rejuvenation) and then put it on a dimmer - since i only had one overhead light it helped a lot. here are some photos - i miss it!