Skip to content
0 Shares

Four Jobs I’ve Had:

1. Restocking the salad bar at The Vineyard restaurant.

You wouldn’t eat the hard-boiled eggs at a salad bar if you saw where they come from.

And I don’t mean the chickens.

2. The photo processing counter at Service Merchandise.

We would wait for certain customers to drop off their film.

Some were famous.

At least amongst us.

Especially Mr. Sabatini.

3. Bonanza Sirloin Pit.

My first job.

The waitresses wore naugahyde mini-skirts and the cooks wore leather-like aprons.

Reminiscent of a bar in San Francisco that I used to visit.

Except the women weren’t really women.

At least I don’t think so.

I loved the Texas Toast at Bonanza the most: A huge, thick slab of white bread, drenched with a melted butter-like-substitute, then char-broiled over the open fire until crispy.
If we wanted real butter, we had to pay 5 cents extra.

If caught using real butter, the manager would throw a fit and threaten to fire us.

Gee, I wonder what he’s doing now?

I live in Paris.

4. Scooping Ice Cream at the University Deli.

We were famous for giving HUGE scoops, really huge, of ice cream. Some jerk would invariably come in and say, “I want just one scoop, but one really, really HUGE scoop of cream!

We perfected making that one HUGE scoop…one that was hollow inside. The moment they got outside and took their first lick, the ball of ice cream would flop over onto the sidewalk.

People never learn: Don’t mess with people serving you food.
They will mess back.

Sometimes you can even see it.

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:

1. Freeway
2. Auntie Mame
3. 9½ Weeks
4. Showgirls (The Unrated, Director’s Cut only, please!)

Four Places I’ve Lived:

1. Ithaca, New York
2. San Francisco
3. Paris
4. Honolulu

(Ok, I only dream about living in Hawaii.)

Four TV Shows I Love:

1. The Sopranos
2. Six Feet Under
3. Strangers With Candy
4. The Nanny

Four Highly-Regarded and Recommended TV Shows That I’ve Never Watched:

1. West Wing
2. Lost
3. The O’Reilly Report
4. A Very Brady Christmas

(Ok, I confess. I did watch the last one.
But only because it was “Highly-Regarded and Recommended”)

Four Places I’ve Vacationed:

1. Bangkok
2. Merida, Mexico
3. Sarajevo
4. Istanbul

Four of My Favorite Dishes:

1. Fried Chicken, without gravy
2. Malomars™
3. Duck Confit
4. Hot Corned-Beef on Rye Bread

Four Sites I Visit Daily:

1. The New York Times
2. Pandora
3. Gawker
4. PostSecret

Four Places I’d Rather Be Right Now:

1. On a warm beach in Hawaii
2. On a warm beach in Thailand
3. On a warm beach in Mexico
4. Anywhere it’s not cold or raining

Four Bloggers I am Tagging:

Hehehe….You Know Who You Are and You Can’t Escape…

0 Shares

26 comments

    • faustianbargain

    for some reason, i read your vacation spots as ‘Four Places I’ve Vaccinated’.

    not that they are not excellent places to vaccinate.

    • Alicat

    Ooo I am totally with you on your first 3 tv shows! Strangers with candy?! I never would’ve thought you’d be into that David…you kick ass. ;)

    • Marianne

    Fried Chicken and Duck Confit are two of my favorite foods, too…in fact, I made my perfect fried chicken less than a week ago but could eat it again RIGHT NOW. Oh, yum.

    • Jessica

    I smiled at your website list because I was at PostSecret right before I came here. Excellent taste we have.

    • Nina

    If only I could break off my affair with Defamer and switch to Gawker… The NY native in me knows it’s the right thing to do, but the CA dweller I have become is so frickin’ committed.

    • Cathy

    I’ve always suspected those hard-boiled eggs were cut from long tubes of egg-like stuff… the slices were just a little too uniform. Are they, are they???

    • David

    FB: I did visit the Red Cross in Bangkok to watch them milk cobras for venim. Luckily, I didn’t need any (but the crazy Texan who tried to take a picture of the snakes, even though he was told not to, almost did!)

    Alicat: It took me a few episodes to ‘get it’, then I was hooked. Can’t wait for the movie.

    Marianne: Where did you say you lived??

    Jessica: PostSecret is amazing; lovely and touching at the same time.

    Nina: Defamer is kinda dull to me. I guess Gawker reflects the excitement of NY and I always find something really funny there.

    Cathy: The hard-boiled eggs come from a big plastic tub. You pry off the lid and they’re all swimming in some sort of chemical solution. Icky.

    We used to have to put this white powder, an anti-oxidant, in the lettuce that we washed to keep it from browning. Now you can’t do it, since it was sulfides, and people who are allergic to them can have a stroke. An uncle of mine did since waiters didn’t know that (and he asked… he was a lawyer, and worked to get the laws changed.)

    I used to call the salad bar “The Trough” because of the way people would behave around it. I was in Las Vegas once and the people at the table next to me were eating so fast they could barely breathe. Literally. I thought they were going to pass out. And it wasn’t from the sulfides. Oink Oink!

    • Taina

    David: a Sopranos-Paris connection for you!
    I was an extra in a commercial shot at CDG last week (NOT as glamorous as it sounds) and met a gorgeous ex-model who was to be an extra the following day in a Sopranos episode being filmed at the Hotel du Louvre! Some restaurant scene, I think. It’ll be interesting to see how Paris fits into the final episodes…is there a French Mob??
    And re Hawaii, if you ever do end up going, let me know. My mom is from there & I’ve been to 4 of the 7 main islands (Kauai is my personal fave).

    • keiko

    I love this post, David :) Did you enjoy staying in Sarajevo? I’d like to visit there some time… Oh and I love Six Feet Under too! (sorry I’m still laughing about faustianbargain’s comment)

    • michèle

    David, dearest, I failed you on the last one so I promise you that I will make you proud this time. But really, I can’t believe you watch the Nanny..

    • Julie

    It’s just a little sad and frightening that at my house we’re so deeply excited about the new season of Sopranos. We’ve been counting down the days for months — and finally it’s less than two weeks away. What shall I make for dinner that night as a fitting accompaniment…

    • shauna

    Auntie Mame? That’s beautiful.

    Six Feet Under — genius.

    Your ice cream cone story? Had me rolling from side to side in my chair, laughing.

    Gawker? I nearly fell off my chair when Gawker linked to my website yesterday. That was more exciting than living in Sting’s house.

    You? Rock.

    • Jeff

    O’Reilly Report? Please tell me that is not the same as The O’Reilly Factor. If it is, I’m afraid I’ll have to delete you from my blogroll. :(

    • Fatemeh

    The Sirloin Pit? Yea, that SO makes me think of “Tales of the City”… Brian should have worked there.

    • Dolores

    Auntie Mame! “Black coffee and a sidecar, little love… Auntie needs fuel!”

    • Meg

    Funny, as I was reading your post I was mentally answering with my own. Guess I’d better get cracking – haven’t been tagged in a while and I was starting to feel like a wallflower in the blogging world!

    I too used to work a salad bar (at Arby’s) and was somewhat disgusted by the large bag labelled “processed pasteurized shredded American cheese food.” Yum.

    • Narelle

    Talking of salad bars…my mum just emailed me from downunder and said all the Sizzlers have been shut down – as they found rat pellets in thru the salads in the salad bars!
    It turns out there was an unhappy customer dishing adding the crunchy additives to the bowls…hmmmmm

    and I love your comment about your old boss…I too say to myself when thinking of past jobs and bosses – Ha! I live in Paris – so there!

    • David

    Jeff: Delete me not. I think it’s the same program, if it’s the one where this obnoxious guy invites people onto his show, then yells at them for the entire program (imagine if you did that to your guests!) The entry is “….shows that I’ve never watched”; I’m not a fan. Maybe if he yelled at the people who deserve it, I might be more inclined!

    • Ellen

    great site-i agree with so much of what you like-i love the nanny and all the jewish stuff they threw in-i am crazy for freeway-fried chicken, don’t get me started-paris, sopranos, hawaii-what am i doing at work-my mind is wondering…have a great day!!

    • Jules

    That is so weird. I had never even heard of Freeway until a friend brought it over last night, saying, “You have to see this movie.”

    And I did. And she was right. And here it is in your blog, which I haven’t been able to read for a week or so.

    • Jeff

    Oh, I see. You’re safe, then :) I misunderstood and thought that you were recommending it also. Carry on!

    • jess

    Freeway is the best movie ever! You have a sick sense of humor. Still

    • Nancy

    David, you are a treat! I love Pandora and have been telling all about it! Auntie Mame, the Nanny, and Duck Confit all in the same post. That’s why we love you.

    • Alicat

    A movie?? What what?

    • Jennifer

    I’ve discovered three other bloggers this week who’ve lived in Ithaca–I’m thinking that there’s a connection between Ithaca and Berkeley (I’ve lived in both) and foodies. And thanks for the heads up on the egg yolks!

    • cindym

    Oh man, you STINKER! i fell behind and i just read this. NOT AGAIN!

    It’s bad enough that you put up that delicious picture of chouquettes…and now you tag me??

A

Get David's newsletter sent right to your Inbox!

15987

Sign up for my newsletter and get my FREE guidebook to the best bakeries and pastry shops in Paris...