... But even the great can make mistakes and it was with aspic that [Antonin] Carême once had a major disaster. The isinglass (a type of gelatin) failed to arrive and, foolishly, Carême tried to mold his charlottes without it; to his chagrin they wobbled so dangerously when turned out that they were unusable. He never forgot the disgrace nor allowed it to happen again.

... [The painting] “Le Dîner” by Albert Guillaume evokes all the carefree gaiety of the belle époque, with its flowers, feathers, and deep décolletages [i.e.: low-cut necklines on evening dresses that exposed the wearer’s neck, shoulders, and lots of cleavage]. Escoffier, king of the kitchens at the time, once recalled the greatest mishap of his career -- the day an inexperienced waiter tipped a dish of peas down a lady’s dress. Losing his nerve completely and stammering in broken English, the poor man began frantically to retrieve the peas one by one, until he was knocked to the floor by her outraged husband.

As reported by Anne Willan, “Great Cooks and Their Recipes: From Taillevent to Escoffier” (NY: McGraw-Hill, 1977)

By Anonymous on Tuesday, August 03, 1999 - 07:02 pm: Edit

... one morning at Harry’s Bar during the Venice Film Festival. Sitting at the bar was a very attractive young Venetian woman with long blond hair, one of whose many lovers had for a while included the director of the film festival. Her black toy poodle was sitting politely at her feet. And I was at the cash register. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the director of the film festival open the door for his wife. The two of them walked in, and the poodle immediately recognized the man -- his old friend and his mistress’s companion. Without knowing the man’s name, the dog honored him with the most frantic, enthusiastic, and passionate outburst of joy I have ever seen. Icy is the best word to describe the atmosphere that the little dog managed to create, unbeknownst to himself. -- Arrigo Cipriani, proprietor of Harry’s Bar (Venice, Italy) and Harry Cipriani and The Bellini (New York City, NY)

By Panini (Panini) on Wednesday, March 29, 2000 - 07:22 pm: Edit

I'm very curious if the industry in your neck of the woods is heavy into sanitation? Do you all have regular inspections? Do you all have to take required courses? and updates? Have any of you read the 2000 FDA guidelines? What do you think about them? What do you think that all fish served raw has to be frozen? Will local areas adopt these guidelines or not?
I raise these questions from some of the threads I've read here. Working out of the home?
Food handling? etc.