Recipe calling for powdered sugar, but you're all out? Here's how to make your own.

Those of us who follow food blogs are well acquainted with Elise of Simply Recipes. Her recipes are always dependable and she seems to have cooked just about everything in creation, which means that her website is something of a definitive resource.

However, if you haven't been following her for a long time, you might have missed a particularly useful blender tip she offered nearly three years ago. Lucky for all us internet readers, those eagle-eyed editors at Lifehacker found this particular tip and have brought it to prominence for our edification.

She suggests using a canning jar in place of your blender carafe when mixing up small batches of things. Apparently, most blenders are designed so that their bottom blade contraption will screw onto a standard sized canning jar. This way you can blend or chop inside a jar, remove the blender blade and store easily by popping on a regular old jar lid. It's like the predecessor to the Magic Bullet.

[via Lifehacker]

It's a stereotype that foreign diners in the US are bad tippers. Whether this is true or not varies from restaurant to restaurant, but it isn't difficult to see why waiters and waitresses might expect people who aren't used to tipping their servers 15-20% at the end of a meal to simply not do it. If a waiter gets stiffed on the tip, the only real recourse is to curse at bad luck before continuing on to the next table. But the manager of the restaurant Aquagrill in New York decided that something should be done about this perceived issue. He decided to add an automatic 18% gratuity to the bill when the diners were foreign, because "foreigners don't tip."

In this instance, the party that was taxed consisted of four diners who all reside in the US, ordered in English and conversed amongst themselves in French during their meal. Their "foreignness" was apparently identified because they all spoke French, so the tax was applied. Adding a tax to a bill without informing the diners in advance is illegal, at least in New York City, where the Department of Consumer Affairs allows a 15% gratuity to be added to parties of 8 or more, as long as notification is conspicuously printed on the menu. The group confronted the manager and eventually paid the bill, noting that they would not return to the restaurant.

The owner of the restaurant, Jennifer Marshall, has since refunded their bill in full and blamed the poor judgment of the manager for the gaff.

[via the food section]

Michael Bauer, the restaurant critic for the SF Chronicle, brought up the subject of service charges at restaurants on his blog. Tipping, whether you like it or not, is still the standard in the US and diners are used to it. Up until recently, the only time that a service charge was included on the bill in lieu of a tip was when you had a very large party out for dinner. Some restaurants, notably higher-end places like Chez Panisse and Per Se, have flat-rate service charged tacked on to the bill regardless of how many diners are in your party, streamlining the process for those footing the bill and giving the restaurant staff an ample enough fee that some of that charge can be diverted to "tip" the back of the house staff.

More recently, in a strange hybrid between the two styles of gratuity payment, at least one restaurant has begun to add on a service charge to cover the back of the house, while expecting customers to tip the waitstaff. Incanto, in San Francisco, is the example that Bauer pointed to. He noticed that they added a 5% service charge to his bill with no explanation. When he asked his waiter, he was told that it was supposed to be in addition to the normal tip, although some customers deducted it from what they would usually leave. Clearly, having both additional fees wasn't working out well for the front of the house staff even if it did benefit those in the kitchen.

As Bauer points out, it sounds like we may be reaching a turning point in this country when it comes to tipping. He says he is "beginning to edge closer to the opinion that maybe an automatic service charge should be applied, or that prices of the menu should fully compensate the staff." It certainly sounds like a reasonable solution.

It is a relatively simple matter to grease and flour a cake pan. Jus spray it with cooking spray (rub with butter), sprinkle some flour on top, turning the pan to coat it evenly, and you're ready to go. Lining a cake pan with parchment paper can pose a problem for some, especially if you try to draw a circle out on the paper and ever-so-carefully cut around it because it is easy to screw up, not to mention that it is tedious work. Fortunately, there is a simple way to get a piece of paper to fit exactly inside of the circular pan. It's as easy as following the photos above and will take no longer than reading this post:

1. Take a piece of parchment paper larger than your pan and fold it into quarters. Fold that piece in half, then in half again until it is quite slim.
2. Place the point of the paper in the center of the upside down pan.
3. Use scissors to cut a straight line just inside the outer edge of the pan.
4. Unfold and place in pan, if necessary, fold back up and trim a corner to make it fit better.

Hot on the heels of our discussion about tipping, the NY Daily News came out with a piece about tipping tips from the experts. That is to say that they went to people in each industry and asked what an appropriate tip was. They (rightly) point out that in some cases, tips can make the difference between making a living - or not, though it seems that more people are gettting tipped than ever before. The article covers cab drivers (20%), hair stylists (15-20%) and doormen ($5-$10). It also mentions that babysitters and camp counselors are tipped, something which I am positive did not happen when I was the one watching neighborhood kids on Saturday nights.

The most relevant to us here at Slashfood is, of course, the restaurant tipping guide.

• The average restaurant tip in New York City is 18.8%. "Leave 20% if you're really happy with the service, 18% if the service was good and 15% if you're unhappy, [Tim Zagat, of the Zagat guide], advised."
• Tip 15-20% on drinks in a bar and the same at "modest coffee shops."
• Pizza delivery should justify 10-20%, especially if you live in a walk-up.
• Tips are optional for the guy at the deli that makes sandwiches to-go.

A Starbucks representative told the Daily News that it was not necessary to tip baristas to get legendary service - but( trust me) they appreciate it and always remember someone who tips well.

[via Waiter Rant]

When we were talking about how much we tip in restaurants last week, some people expressed a bit of consternation over having to do math right after eating to come up with the tip. A Tip Table, which denotes what 15% and 20% are of various dollar amounts, makes tipping easier because it eliminates the need to think about how much to leave.

I will note, however, that the Tip Table is not without problems. For example, though the range it gives will certainly cover many meals and it's not too difficult to combine various amounts to reach higher totals, is it really necessary to say that 20% of $1 is 20¢? And is it even appropriate to leave such a small tip - regardless of the percentage - in all instances?

I agree with the commenters in the previous post who said that tipping rules are not hard and fast - especially when you want to be generous. And the Tip Table, practical as it may seem, cannot take exceptions into account. Leave more than 20% when you sit sipping your $1 coffee for an hour and reward outstanding service in general.

Every so often - by which I mean frequently - a thread (or three) comes up at Chowhound about tipping. Since Chowhound is a community of people who not only love food, but love to eat out in restaurants, the debates can get pretty heated. Though some feel that the new minimum tip should be 20%, the standard tip is about 15% of the check. Since most places have a significantly lowered minimum wage for tipped employees, tips are not bonuses, but a substantial part of the income of servers.

Tipping philosophies vary widely with age, life experiences and even personality. Some people tip the same percentage - no matter what. Others take into consideration every aspect of the service, as though they have a formula that deducts or adds percentage points accordingly. A few seem to begrudge the fact that they have to pay to eat out at all (despite the fact that these people often eat out frequently) and tip little to nothing.

In California, where the sales tax is fairly high, I double it to get the tip amount and usually end up tipping somewhere from 16-18%, depending on which county/city I am in. If I'm visiting friends in a state with low sales tax (6% or less), I'll triple it. This makes my calculations short and sweet, though I'll definitely consider tipping extra for excellent service or if a member of my party was difficult for some reason.

How much do you tip, and would anything about the service change the amount?

Kate, the Accidental Hedonist, may have compiled the most comprehensive list of potato tips, tricks and how-to's that has been seen on a food blog, if not in other forms of media. Any question you had relating to potatoes can certainly be found on the list, which includes such tips as:

• Choose potatoes that are firm, smooth and fairly clean
• Storing potatoes below 40 degrees F will allow the potatoes to have a sweeter taste, yet will result in a darker look when cooked
• Oiling the skin of a baked potato prior to placing in the oven will ensure a crispy skin.
• Russet potatoes are best for baking.

The only things Kate has not included are potato recipes, but a few other blogs (including Slashfood) can step in to fill that void:

• Patatas Bravas
• Gratin Dauphinois
• Loaded Potato Skins
• Microwaved Potato Chips
• Rustic Potato Chowder