Dining Etiquette

As a hospitality graduate, dining etiquette was given as a subject at school. As a Food & Beverage lover, I've considered it a very important 'procedure'. However I say procedure, but it's actually a part of the dining experience.

When you go to a fast food joint, you won't expect any table set up. When you go to a casual dining place, you expect that they have a decent table set up ( at least, all the utensils and glasses). If you might ever visit a fine dining restaurant, you will experience the proper way a table should be set up.

You might think: "dining is dining, what does it matter with which fork I eat or how I place my utensils at the end?" The answer is 'it makes the biggest difference about your manners and the respect to dining and your host/hostess".

As many might hesitate this idea, but even the Chinese dining has its table etiquette. For instance, when eating with chopstick, don't rub the chopsticks together. Rubbing chopsticks together is mostly done for the wooden take-out chopsticks, so by doing so you give the host/hostess the feeling you're given cheap chopsticks to use.

Of course, going out with friends is different than dining with your boss or being on business dinners.
With friends, it's a more casual setting, but when it's business- related, your dining etiquettes really does matter. It reflects your personality.

So...what is the proper dining etiquette?

Some are very logical, like being on time, don't overdo it if you get to order and don't overdo it with  alcohol. But what to do if you've never taught what the proper dining etiquette is?

Here is a cheat sheet if you might need to attend such an invite:

1. RSVP stands for "répondez s’il vous plait". It stands for 'Please respond', so not only if you can't attend.

2. Place your napkin on your lap as soon as you get seated. The napkin is not to be used as a bib.

    If you need to leave your place during the meal, put your napkin on the left of your plates or on a chair.

3. Don't order food that you can't eat properly with knife and fork or spoon.

4. Wait for everyone to have their food before eating

5. Transport food to your mouth…not your mouth to the food.

6. When passing food platters, pass them around the table not across.

7. Never put silverware on the table surface after it has been used, lay it on the butter plate.
8. How you put your utensils, are signs for the waiter:




9. Never request seconds. Accept them graciously if they are offered.
10. If you don't have the cheat sheet and really forgot everything about how and what, just observe the others around you, especially the hostess. If they themselves don't know the business etiquette, it's no biggie, but if they do: just copy + paste.

For those of you, who would like to know more than the cheat sheet about dining etiquette, I'd like to refer you to this site: http://www.gentlemansgazette.com/table-etiquette-guide-informal-dining-manners/

informal set-up

formal set up

Nature: food to the soul!

However it would seem that Suriname is mostly popular for its multicultural food varieties, but there is another thing that makes Suriname so popular: The Untouched Rainforest.

Many tourists have seen the most beautiful places in the interior in contrary to most of the locals.  It might come as a shock, but most locals are not able to pay for a trip to our popular interior since the prices are so high compared to their pay. During school's big break, everybody is longing for some way to cool down, so all nearby recreation resorts are packed with big groups of people. Where as many hoped for some way to relax, many just can't since most of the resorts are letting in as many people as possible. Probably they don't want to disappoint some visitors or just to gain some extra's.


http://surinamedashboard.com/surinamerecreatieoorden.php

Nevertheless, this has been the main reason why I haven't been to a recreation resort for the longest time.


http://wilderness-explorers.com/suriname/lodges/

Everyone has a different expectation of a night in the 'jungle'. Some see it as a place to party and have fun, where as sleeping is not part of it. The main ingredients for a successful trip for them is: lots of food, music, and lots of alcohol. Then there are some who are there to relax and quiet down from the stress and hassle of the city. For the first group, it would not matter that the place will be packed. The more the merrier. But for the second group, they might get even grumpier than they arrived.

http://www.surinamecamping.com/

I used to be in the first group, but probably I really got to admit I'm not getting any younger. I notice that I prefer the nice and quiet of the interior. The smell of trees, the sounds of hidden animals/bugs and if you're lucky, the many stars above you shining brighter than ever.

Last weekend I have finally been to a place where I could enjoy these moments of tranquility. It is this place called Palulu Camping. In contrary to the other recreation resorts, this one demands a reservation and keeps a limit to the amount of visitors at once. And however the names states a camping, but it has all the needed simple luxuries like a flushable toilet, a well-equipped kitchen and even tents for rent. If you happen to go there, the only thing you need to bring is ingredients to cook, your personal stuff and yourself of course.

http://www.surinamecamping.com/

However I could not see the many stars due to a cloudy sky, but I could hear the raindrops falling and had enjoyed a well-rested weekend.

What are the must have's when you go to a recreation resort? Does the nature brings out the wild side or does it give you peace of mind?

Interested in the place? Check their website: http://surinamecamping.com/index.html
The owners Donovan and Iris will surely try to make your stay a memorable one.

I made it to the Friends & Family Cook-out!!

Yay!! The team worked their schnitzels off to have the Sunday off! So thanx a bunch to the team and everyone, who rooted for me!

As I said in my last blog, I was invited to be a judge at the Family & Friends Cook-out at Suit, made possible by Soeng Ngie & Co and Suit NV. I got there around 5:30 pm and there was a crowd, but not that busy yet. There were at least 3 bouncy castles on one side for the kids, drinking stations, and at the other side Soeng Ngie had a widespread set-up. In between were the participants and other stand holders. So, there was quite some to see.

I thought, as the past experiences, I would also be part of the technical judge team. But no...this time I was part of the tasting committee. This is so cool!

At 6pm, all participants have to hand over their participating dish. There were 7 participants, so quite some to taste!


Just like before, I'll be giving my opinion about the dishes and at the end the top 3.

#1. Samenkomst
the meaning of this dish is 'get-together'.
The participant hollow the cassave and filled it with 3 different fillings. One was salt fish, the other shrimp, but about the last one I was not sure what it was.

Pro's:
- I give them an A for effort!! Hollowing out cassave is not easy to do and it's quite some work.
- they used the Her Heri concept and creatively create a different dish out of it

Cons:
- the cassave was still tough. It could've used some more cooking time, but I believe they were afraid it would fall apart. My advice in this would be to hollow it out and deep fry it. It would give the cassave a nice crispy yet soft texture and still keep the form.
 
#2 . Creamy wonton
The creator substituted the commonly known meat filling for a cream cheese-veggie filling.

Pro's:
- The crisp of the wonton wrapper and the creamy filling made a great combination.
- The flavor was really good.

Cons:
- The sauce was not a good match. They used the sweet chili sauce, which overpowered the flavor of the wonton. It would be a better choice to use the Turkish sauce participant #3 used in his dish.
- The presentation was so-so. The food would have popped more if they'd used a different background. What would've made it looked really nice, would've been a white-blue porcelain plate.

#3. Popcorn chicken

The chicken was coated in a tempura batter and deep fried.

Pro's:
- The Turkish sauce was awesome!! It came with two sauces, but the Turkish sauce surely left an impression. I hear the other judges say that it's sold in Soeng Ngie, so I should check that out.

Cons:
- I missed creativity in this one
- The plate used was brown. Since the popcorn chicken is yellow-brown-ish it did not really pop.

#4. Crunchy Monster

BBQ chicken 'patty' on a home-made sesame bun and baked potato strings. At least I had my burger.

Pro's:
- The presentation is appealing.
- The bun was fluffy and light. And since it's home-made they got extra points from me for that

Cons:
- The chicken was a bit burned, so it tasted a bit bitter.
- They were a bit heavy with the five spice. That flavor was a bit too much.

#5.Seafood pasta
Fish on a bed of creamy tagliatelle pasta. My apologies for the missing picture.

Pro's:
- I don't have any pros for this dish actually. It's not bad, but not that good either.

Cons:
- The flavor was blend
- It was not creative for me

#6. Orange Pineapple Fish

Rice with sweet and sour tempura-battered fish

Pro's:
- The presentation of this dish was the best. The white bowl with the green and yellow of the broccoli and fruits and the green dummy chopstick. And especially the dummy chopsticks were a great add-on. Anybody can use it!!

Cons:
- the broccoli was either overcooked or undercooked. Those that were cooked with the sauce were overcooked and the garnish was undercooked
- the fish was surrounded by a thick layer of tempura batter. It was a bit too much

#7. Hete Bamie

Translated from dutch this should be a Hot Javanese noodle.
Before I go to pros and cons, I'd like to mention my expectations. For one, I expected hot in temperature and hot in spiciness. And next to that, I was thinking they either went traditional with this one or totally different from it.

Pro's:
- there are no pro's for this one, but I'll give it that they substituted the chicken for chicken kidneys.

Cons:
- the presentation was bad!!! In the picture it was in a foam box, but we were told it was not even given that fancy when it was handed over.
- the kidney was tough and lacked taste
- the noodle was blend
- no pepper in the noodle and also none on the side


The top 3 dishes were finally:
1. creamy wonton -> Bits II Bytes

    They received $1000,- prize money,their dish will be sold in Sha-gi's for a year and they get to cook their  dish on the tv show: Soeng Ngie's Keukengeheimen
2. popcorn chicken -> Pink Events
3. Crunchy Monster -> Lounge One



Overall it was a great event! By the time the winners got announced, the place was packed!! Micle Fung gave a great fried rice demonstration. He really knows how to give out a show!

The nice thing about the organization is that all participants got their participating fee back.

The nicer thing is that the judges got red pockets from the organization!! I really like doing this and don't expect anything back, but it was really an awesome surprise. It really showed us the great appreciation from the organization!