It looks like I'm going to be adopting a little whippet by the name of "Cheeks," and this being America I want to make sure that my dog gets the proper amount of exercise. So, on those days when I just don't feel like I'll be able to give him the long walk that he needs, what do I do? Well, whippets love to chase fast moving objects (they can run up to 37 mph) and so I bought this:

I love the TV show Survivor. I'm a fan, to the point where I watch reruns of previous seasons on the Versus TV network.

Why would I be a fan of such dreck? Of the bane of our modern existence, reality TV? Because Survivor is such an illustration of human nature. You're surprised that someone stabbed you in the back? Well duh. It also brings out the best in people, with Ian's bowing out of Survivor: Pulau to regain Tom's respect as being one of the classiest moments in the history of the game.

In any case, it's fascinating to watch how quickly paranoia spreads, how quickly someone will flip sides in order to protect themselves. It's a valuable lesson for anyone in a people related business to see how, if there is discord and strife within a team, things will fall apart quickly. Provide them with an external foe, something to strive for, and harmony will reign.

That being said, they violated a major tenet of the show this season with giving one team a luxury environment (well, relative one) for their camp. The adversity of living in the jungle just adds to the discord of the show, not to mention the fact that the easy life seems to have given one team a huge advantage. Might have worked for the Apprentice this season, but not Survivor.

It tastes better. It's better for you. It supports sustainable agriculture. It's better for the planet, etc. All of that is well and good.

But the real reason that I want to have raw dairy, dairy that's not pasteurized or homogenized is this: On Jacques Pepin's show I just watched him whip a 1/4 cup of cream into soft peaks in about 5 seconds. Unreal.

I had a very poor meal last Friday night at Crush. I had been looking forward to going there for a year and a few friends accompanied me to the restaurant. We had to wait 15 minutes for our table, normally not a big deal, but with the fact that they have absolutely no space for a waiting area bugged me as we had to constantly move out of the way whenever a party entered/left the restaurant (hint: reverse the hinges on the front door). As we waited I was able to look into the kitchen and saw that the staff was very relaxed and not too rushed, even though the restaurant was full, and that the chef was at the pass. Anyway, when we were seated the wait wasn't really acknowledged, and that bugged me the most.It took a long while to get service once we sat down and we ended up ordering the tasting menu. That's where things went bad. The courses:

• First Course - Sunchoke soup with truffle oil. My prejudice for truffle oil aside, the soup was good, however two of the bowls had some large bits of green herbage stuck to the sides. Not a good sign since the soup had to be touched by at least the line cook, the chef and the waiter before getting to our table and yet they still served it. I made a point of telling the waiter about the dirty dishes at the end of the course. Not that big of a deal, except ...
• Second Course - Yes, the salad course (bibb lettuce with a creamy herb dressing and prosciutto chip) had dirty edges on the plates as well. They had obviously been wiped down, yet the very sides of my dish had some dressing on them. The ribs on the bibb lettuce were turning brown and the salad had no seasoning. As a cook I felt bad about doing this, but I had to ask for salt in order to give the dish some flavor. As I finished the dish I noticed a fruit fly buzzing around my plate. In summer this would not be that big of a deal, but it's winter. I'm left to wondering how they have fruit flies in the restaurant in winter.
• Third Course - Seared sea bass with creamed root veg and caviar sauce. This dish was the best of the savory dishes and I had no complaints. The sea bass had super crispy skin and the caviar sauce had a nice bit of saltiness.
• Fourth Course - The famous short ribs with mashers and root veg. It was great except it was garnished with truffle oil which was totally unnecessary.
• Fifth Course - The desserts were the most successful part of the evening. The spiced rum cake with the candied citrus was fantastic; the candied citrus managed to retain a wonderful sourness that worked well with the richness of the cake. There was also a great chocolate bombe (very decadent) and I had the mini donuts with the cinnamon sauce.

Overall, I felt like the mistakes were pretty bad and the rest of the meal just couldn't make up for them ... dirty dishware is something that every member of the team should be on the lookout for and it felt sloppy when three different pairs of hands let dirty dishes get to the table. And to have the first thing you learn in culinary school, proper seasoning of your dish, be neglected in a salad that was made with old greens was just sloppy.

After getting named one of the 10 best in F&W, I was expecting more, at least getting the basics right, but the impression I got is that the restaurant was coasting. To me it doesn't matter that we came in on a Friday night and had this experience; no matter when a customer comes they should get a great experience. They seemed to have enough staff in the kitchen to handle the rush, but FOH seemed to be dragging (we had long waits to order, for example).

I know I shouldn't completely judge a place on just one visit, but since I'm just a line cook, I can't really afford to make another one, especially when the first one was so off.

So I've decided to get a new dog, and a whippet seems to be a great fit for my living situation, so I've been going through the adoption process for the past five months. Things have begun to get a bit frustrating after a breeder that I sent a depost to returned it, saying that my apartment was too small for a puppy. For a pup, I can understand, but I am beginning to get frustrated with other breeders with older dogs that I'm calling that say that they don't want to sell me a dog because I've got a small apartment and I work 40 hours a week.

It's not like I haven't had a dog before. I have. It's not like I don't understand the commitment involved. I'm planning on giving the dog vigorous exersice an hour each day. I've got a dog walker lined up. And if I have to take my dog to work, I work in a dog friendly environment. I want to get an RC car so on those days I feel like having a rest, I can take the dog to a field and let them run around chasing the RC car. I am anal to the point of ridiculousness when it comes to researching something and understanding what's involved before I get started. I wouldn't have even considered getting a dog if I couldn't afford one, physically, financially or emotionally.

So I haven't been watching Top Chef Season 2 because I wanted to TiVo the whole season and watch it back to back. Now that it's over, I'm starting to watch it.

Like the first season, the first rounds of peiosdes deal with the themes of teamwork and food for the masses rather than fine dining, which I think is great. The show isn't Top Fine Dining Chef, but simply Top Chef and in order to win you've got to have a great knowledge of both blue collar food and gourmet food. It amazes me that every season you have these fine dining cooks bitch and moan about being asked to cook blue collar food. My favorite episode so far was the TGIFriday's episode. Not everyone can afford to eat at a fine dining restaurant and to see them whine about having to cook food for a turn and burn operation is priceless.

Classically trained chefs love classic peasant food. TGIFriday's is modern peasant food.