It should be summer...

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... Alpacas next door have been shaved.

When no money is expected.

www.howtoeat.net Let us know what you think about table manners.

The rules of the game dictate that if you go out and order your meal, you normally have to pay the bill. But we guess not if you 've been warned in advance you didn't have to. Nobody know whether he paid. But he definitely showed up.

The space between the bites.

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We were on the way back from the classical music concert. I was in the middle of trying to explain politely why no applause is expected between the movements. And than she said :" but you are just a snob!" We are still friends though. And she doesn't clap anymore between Largo and Allegretto. At least when I am there. Pretentious? Moi?

I would prefer to see myself as a holistic perceiver. The one that sees the shapes and the spaces in between as a whole. As one piece of art where shapes and emptiness are united in a way which creates the beauty of the whole. Where shapes can not be detached from the emptiness which actually makes them the shapes. The beauty of a shape doesn't exist without some space around it.

The same about food. Space full of conversations, delightful activities. Attentive listening. Productive activities. Or mindless wondering.
If you eat non-stop you just simply lose it. The beauty of eating goes away.
A lovely, much more down-to-earth piece about this. Full of irony too.

Public eating is fraught. If hotdogs at the cinema are OK, why not a bacon bap at a play?

GALA's DINNER

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A gala , according to vocabulary.com

is a big party. If you're going to a gala, you'll want to wear your fanciest ball gown — you'll want to look great for the best party of the year. A gala often features entertainment and dinner, and sometimes dancing and an auction. It's like a prom — but for adults.

A Gala Dinner requires at least a starter, a soup, some sorbet to clean your palate before entrée, a pudding, demitasse and some after dinner mints or equivalent.

There are wild galas. Some of them are charity events to protect wild life of all sorts, some of them were held to celebrate Jack London, the author of the Call of the wild and many more great books, some galas are simply just wild. And for adults only. Many people keep the menus from those gala dinners they attended. Easier than keeping clear memories after seven courses accompanied by "pairing" wines.Everyone at some point thinks about putting together his or her favourite recipes. Not only mothers-in-law dreaming about the wives of their sons bringing the sweet childhood memories to the table. A sure way to be at the table at least in spirit, even if they don't think much about inviting you in person. Some even publish them.

But nothing compares to Gala's dinners. Or to be precise,  Les Dîners de Gala by Salvador Dalí.
It  is definitely a book for adults. Most of the chapters are about aphrodisiacs. It is surreal. But it is not enough to be Dali to create a masterpiece like that. You need Gala to dine with.

“One can choose not to eat; one cannot accept to eat poorly,” said Salvador Dalí

Gala was a Russian born wife first of Paul Éluard and later of Salvador Dalí. She inspired many authors and writers, her dinners were most famous. They were not about healthy eating, far from it. The dinners were more of performance rather than cooking. Like the whole life created and managed by Gala for her Dali. This book is not a cult of dinner. It is a cult of Gala.
Enjoy watching. But don't try it at home.

EATING IN PUBLIC

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UK family spends on average more than £45 a week on restaurants and hotels for the first time in five years, according to the Office for National Statistics report "Family Spending in the UK".

Londoners are spending even more.

Do people care more about table manners when they go out more often? Apparently, yes. But not in a way you would necessarily expect. At least not according to Jemma, a young marketing manager based in Fitzrovia.

I want to relax when I go out. I won't go to places where they expect me to use five sets of cutlery. I won't go out with people who judge others, especially if the judgement is based on forks and knives. Eating should not be complicated. And going out should be fun not trial. It is enough I visit my grandparents twice a year.

A few minutes later into conversation and Jemma makes her own judgement. About the girl who drinks her gin with a straw. It is not a done thing in Jemma’s circles. The full sausage hanging on the fork and gnawed on each side in turns is fine. But a straw in a glass… How further low can you go?

Table manners start well before you get to the table.

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Saying where table manners start and where they end is not that easy. Yes, there is a word “table” in it, but you cannot say that the table manners apply only to the things we do around the table. What about cocktail parties? OK, then. Is it everything around food? That’s closer. It is considered to be a bad manner to serve food which is out of season. And no doubt serving the food which is slightly off is no go either. Hence the infographic below has a lot to do with table manners. How to keep your food fresh longer.

And more about cutlery... How NOT to eat

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This is not about being left handed. This is NOT about not using your left hand for eating.

This is more about how you hold it. Stabbing of food might be OK as a first step for a toddler. Just to get interested in using the cutlery . But some interests might be better left behind when you grow up...

(Thanks to the model!)