Stupid chop sticks!

[The Tree Doctor]

I'd like to see them eat a thick ribeye w/o a barbaric knife.

A day and a half in a crock pot, and that would be entirely possible.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Just manage to get one end of a noodle in your mouth and slurp the rest of the sucker, that isn't bad etiquette. Eat in a noodle shop and the slurping sound is reverberating around the place, then every once-in-awhile someone
coughs. Hold the bowl up to your face too, the steam is good for your skin.

If you ever get invited to eat noodles with the emperor, disregard the above.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

When in Rome I guess. Or Japan as the case maybe. Slurping makes my skin crawl.

 

[woodworkingboy]

It is more an acquired skill. I know what you mean though, I prefer subdued slurping.

 

[SkwerI]

The Japanese eat like pigs because they refuse to use better tools for eating (such as a knife or fork). Just like Mac users muddle their way through the internet because they refuse to use a mouse with more than one button.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Knowing it is ok etiquette in a certain country to slurp or what not I can get over it for a stay. Just have to change the mind set.
I had to do that when I started cooking. I was always taught not to play in my food and that it was gross. Making certain mass quantities of things, you pretty much mix it up right up to your elbows in old school. Tuna, potato salad, mac salad...as examples. I had to get over what I was taught by thinking of sex.
Changing one's mind set

 

[woodworkingboy]

Whoa, I can see I'm going to be late for work again.

I'd agree, there are a few rougher spots in this ancient culture of refinement, eating like pigs though, it doesn't really go with the nice music that they play at the restaurants, and no sounds of animals clanging into metal gates or anything over at the next table. Noodles are one exception, but one of the better things about chopsticks is that you tend to take healthier smaller bites of food, compared to shoveling it in with a fork.

As for the mouse, I totally agree, I have unintentionally erased much more with this dam set-up than have posted. It is pretty frustrating. Practically only have to breath on the thing and the browser goes back. It makes for a total revision of what has been written when everything suddenly disappears, or just the hell with it and don't post.

 

[SkwerI]

Nothing personal, Jay. I was razzing on Mac users in general, but especially Canuckistanian ones.

 

[woodworkingboy]

I got it, but for a moment I thought that you might be under stress.

 

[MasterBlaster]

The Japanese eat like pigs because they refuse to use better tools for eating (such as a knife or fork).

So, if one uses chopsticks, they're pigs?

 

[CurSedVoyce]

I have an affinity for these where soup is concerned.. My hands do not do so well with chop sticks anymore.. Cramp up

 

[Al Smith]

If a clumsy old coot like me can manipulate the things anyone should be able to . I had a very attractive Thai lady teach me their use along with a few other tricks .

In other news my daughter the midget could use them in either hand when she was around 9-10 years old . The look on the waitresses faces at the Chinese place was priceless .

 

[woodworkingboy]

Kids generally start out with short plastic ones, get the hang of the manipulation soon enough.

Actually, getting into the subtleties of it, those heavy round chopsticks that they give at the Chinese places are harder to use than Japanese ones, which are generally four sided and lighter. With the edge against your finger, they are easier to keep in place where you want them, and easier to control.

 

[Old Monkey]

My new Mac Magic Mouse rocks. I'll grant the old one sucked but the new ones are way cool.

 

[woodworkingboy]

That is what I have. It moves the browser when you swipe two fingers across it, that is the part I don't like. Maybe there is a setting to make it harder to move the browser?

 

[woodworkingboy]

Now I see that you can eliminate the swiping feature in preferences. Glad you posted that Darin!

I hear it eats batteries, but I haven't had to recharge mine yet.

 

[Old Monkey]

Yes there are sensitivity adjustments or you can turn that off if you don't like it. Watch the video on that page I linked.

 

[sawinredneck]

Sheesh, I over here starving and all you guys can talk about is computers!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Grab a sandwich.

 

[Old Monkey]

Have an apple.

 

[Al Smith]

Kids generally start out with short plastic ones, get the hang of the manipulation soon enough.

Actually in my daughters' case it was the long ones which are square on the ends .

That lady I mentioned had to be the most elegant women I've ever met .She married a service man and had came from a wealthy family .She would come out to my place and fish in my pond wearing a skirt and blouse with nylons and 4 inch high heeled shoes and never get one bit of fishing residue on herself .45 years old and looked like she was 25,wow .

 

[NickfromWI]

Why? How in the world are they superior to a fork?

For me, it's not so much that the sticks are better. I have 2 reasons. One, when I was in school, I was trying to put on muscle mass to be a better athlete. Doc said part of the prob was that my metabolism was way to fast. He's asian. As a half-joke, he wrote me a prescription for chopsticks, thinking that if he slowed down the rate of food input, it would cause a chain reaction that would slow down how fast my body was using the food, thus allowing more proteins to be absorbed. I ended up liking to eat with them.

The 2nd reason is very different. I, being a 9th degree tree hugger ( ), am very aware and averse to things being created, used once, then discarded. Think about a plastic fork at McDonalds. You use it for what, 3 minutes?..then throw it away and it sits for years (decades?) in a landfill. How many millions (or billions) of forks, knives, straws, spoons, cups, etc are discarded every day? Yikes. So as goofy as it may seem, I use my chopsticks at fast food restaurants when I go out to eat so that I can minimize, however small, part of my impact on the earth.

Just like Mac users muddle their way through the internet because they refuse to use a mouse with more than one button.

I think the skwoyl didn't know about the multi-touch mouse and touchpad when he made his comment about mac users muddling their way through the internet. Silly Windows addicts: still stuck in 2003 and not willing to consider that just because you do something for a decade or two, that doesn't mean it's the best way to do it!

love
nick

 

[bstewert]

using two sticks of wood allows one to get close enough to pluck the food out of the pot without burning themselves.

Plus, in ancient times, they didn't have to worry about a metal fork scraping the teflon off the pot.