Other than in a restaurant, where are some of your favorite places to 
dine/enjoy your meals?  What, if anything, do you do to create 
atmosphere or ambiance?  While dining, do you have background music? 
Watch tv? Light candles or have flowers or some other kind of 'center 
piece'?  Do you usually eat in the same seat at the same table or same 
spot on the couch?

How are your favorite dining settings different when you have friends 
or family over instead of 'just' yourself and immediate family?

Is eating you feel you HAVE to do to live or rather, for the most part, 
enjoy the dining experience?

22 responses total.

At Jim's house we eat on the living room table if it is not covered with
pieces of computers.  If it is, I sit on the futon and eat, using a small
table next to it or at my computer.  We had a guest today, at the living room
table, and provided cloth napkins.  I usually read a book while eating if we
have no guest.   At my apartment we eat at the kitchen table.  Some day we
will eat outside in the back yard after the smokers next door finish moving.
Sometimes I turn on the radio or play a record.  Candles are only for power
shortages.  We don't have any ambiance that I know of.

Hmm, probably my favorite non-restaurant place to dine would be at 
someone else's house! :-)  Though I AM learning to enjoy dining at home 
by myself more.  

I used to always fix something quick and easy and eat on the couch in 
front of the tv, often using paper plates/cups/plastic-ware.  But as 
time goes on, I'm somewhat getting away from that.  Over the past 
couple months, I've eaten at the dining room table more than I have in 
multiple years combined, I'm sure.  And starting this past years, I 
started using 'real' plates and such much more often to where its now 
practically all the time.  IN the house I'm sharing, my housemate has a 
wooden table that's usually covered with a table cloth.  I usually sit 
on the side of the table where I can llok out the sliding glass doors 
and into the yard.

I also enjoy eating outside.  Sometimes I'll take something and eat it 
on the back deck [as long as its something I can set on my lap and pick 
up to eat without a lot of work; I don't have a table out there as 
yet]. Very often, when I go to the beach, I bring food with me. Like 
yesterday, I brought along my little cooler with a couple drinks and a 
turkey sub. There's nothing like enjoying a nice day outside, the 
breeze, the lake, a good lunch, and then a good book to read 
afterwards! [And time to go for a swim, too, of course. Though 
yesterday I only waded partway in; the water's still a bit on the cool 
side...]

re:1, I don't think the ambiance here is all that special to most 
people. But these past couple months, I've actually enjoyed takiing the 
time to fix something to eat and then sit down at the table to chow 
down. And though my two rooms upstairs aren't really tidy right now, 
its nice to eat downstairs where it IS tidier [I've been doing my 
dishes right after eating instead of letting them pile up for a day or 
two; there are advantages to having a room mate!]

In the summer, we eat almost every evening on the deck.  It can happen
in other seasons too, weather permitting, but summer it's almost every
night.  We have a nice deck with a lovely view of the golf course and
evening shade.  It is very peaceful out there.  

Other than that, it's the kitchen table or the living room couch.

But I love to eat outside, so cafe's, my deck or a park would be my
favorite places.

as a matter of fact, I just got done eating breakfast on the deck. :)

I like eating outside too. 

Me, three.

I love grilling.  My mother-in-law cooks the fish on the grill or the
sideburner when I'm not grilling peppers or asparagus.  Last night, we had
salmon and peas.

Re 2, if you are referring to Independence Lake, the water temperature is
about the same now as last August.  I bet you did not grow up on the North
Atlantic.

Yep, I was referring to Independence Lake. As the summer wears on, I'm 
sure I'll venture further out into the lake, even if the temps don't 
change too much.  Wherever I am [Michigan, NC, etc] it takes a little 
time to take the plunge! [as much as I love to swim, though...].  

Nope, I didn't grow up on the North Atlantic [but *have* gone into Lake 
Superior in August].  There's a lake that I regularly went to outside 
of Durham; by late summer, it always felt like bath water. Definitely 
not so refreshing. It had to make due, though, when I couldn't get out 
to the ocean [which was most of the time].

Since so many of us enjoy eating outdoors, we should occasionally meet 
for picnics. There are a number of parks in the area as well as 
Independence Lake. The lake can be nice in the evenings, too.  Years 
ago, I used to go there with some friends after work and we'd stay til 
it closed for the day.  Definitely very relaxing and cooled ya off for 
better sleeping at night.

Oh yeah. On hot days, swimming after dinner is a nice way to cool off
for the night. It does make for better sleeping. I think a picnic by
some lake would be very nice activity. 

I remember swimming in Lake Superior often as a kid... then running up
to the house to jump into the Sauna to warm up. :)

When the hubby and I are having a meal together (generally only lunch
during the week) we prefer to eat at the table. Either without any
background noise, or with some music playing (we're on a classical kick
lately, so either that or classic Sinatra). I keep a little vase with
some fake flowers in it on the table (Leo likes to knock it off the
table and onto the dog...). We used to have placements on the table, but
using them on a daily basis got old. (and if we left them on the table
when we weren't eating they got furry.) But we do use 'real' plates- we
generate enough garbage as it is.

I'm actually not a fan of eating outdoors. Probably because I don't want
to share my meal with bugs and every time I have eaten outdoors, that's
what's happens. 

We have improved the looks of the yard behind my apartment by moving a lot
of the repairman's junk to one end against the wall, pulling out a lot of dead
grapevines and honeysuckle, planting 5 squash seedlings (they have not grown
much, dirt is poor) and 8 big pots with a tomato in each, a couple squash,
and lots of pole beans, against the chainlink fence with the bottoms of weed
trees in it.  The beans are already climbing on the 3' high fence, so I jammed
some pieces of scrap trellis (from the repairman - he leaves all his trash
in this yard for us to get rid of) at the top of the chainlink fence between
it and the 6' high wooden fence that is behind it on the other side of the
weed trees (which I chop the heads off of once in a while).  They will have
big purple or pink flowers in a month, the squash yellow flowers, and the
tomatoes yellow or red fruits.  SO if the neighbors next door ever finish
moving (probably leaving behind their big pile of junk) and the constant
ashtray smell goes away (it comes from their open window), we can eat out
back.  I already cook there in hot weather (electric frypan and pressure
cooker).  The neighbors were going to be out first week of May.  I look
forward to picking tomatoes and beans from the back of the yard ((15' from
the cooking table next to the house).  You can grow potted tomatoes on a
balcony.  The neighbors have to be out by July 1 - they paid rent some place
else.

Eating, i'm "there for the food" (and maybe company); ambience isn't
something i notice much.  About the most i do is to eat a bowl of a 
well-behaved food while sitting in a chair by my living room doowall.
I like sitting by the doorwall and its nice courtyard view to read,
etc., too, so that's really not a food thing.

I like eating on the balcony.  I can see miles of forest and river, and have
full sun in the morning.  Later in the day, it is shaded and breezy.  

When I first moved in, I bought a wrought iron (well, aluminum) sidewalk cafe
table and two chairs.  I eat there every chance I get, and have a hurricane
glass to shelter a pillar candle which I use in the evening.  

During less pleasant weather, I set my dining table with silver and china
every night.  Eating is a pleasure for me, and I like to expand the sensory
input to cover more than just the food in my mouth.  If the food is the only
attractive thing about the meal, I find myself eating too much.  

To add a bit more to this discussion of dining experiences and
preferances, what kinds of  things do you look for when opting to dine
at a restaurant?  Of course, costs and food  pereferances will be
important things to consider but that said, what else do you look for?

One thing that I often notice is much poorer service to solo diners than
for groups.  And  that really frustrates me... I know we've discussed
elsewhere in the past about tipping,  table turnover and all, but
still... Poor service is uncalled for. And there have been times  when
I've mentioned the inattentiveness to the server and/or management but
in many  places, it does continue.  So when I do get a good server [or
even an ok one], I tend to  let them know I appreciate their service and
I tip them better, too.

Maybe if servers stopped assuming that solo diners aren't good tippers
and treat us  decently, they'd come out with higher tips!  They have to
take care of everyone in their  section anyway, so why NOT treat
everyone ok without acting like they're doing some of  us a favor?

We look for NO servers - it is annoying to have someone keep trying to pour
ice water in a cup for you.  Buffets also give you much more choice.
The few we went to have mostly closed - Senegalese, Shahrayar, a couple
Chinese places.
The first two were also outdoors and not next to a street.  We also appreciate
good lighting and no music.

I usually dont eat alone in sit-down restaurants if I can help it. When
I travel I'll go to one but I always feel a little bit awkward. 

Buffets can be nice when one wants a lot of different things at a meal
[or if you're really  really hungry].  But for most of the buffet places
I've been to, the food isn't as good as  when you order something off of
the menu and have it prepared then [or if cooked ahead,  not as much
ahead]. With buffets, unless you get there soon after the lunch or
dinner  buffet has been set up, you don't know how long the food's been
sitting out in those  warmers.

If someone wants to keep refilling my drink every two minutes, I'll just
ask if they'd bring  a pitcher or another full glass and leave it for me
to refill as I want.   It's rare to have to  MUCH attention like that
compared to decent service.  And if I'm dining out [I'm not  talking
fast food here], I *want* food that hasn't been just sitting in a buffet
warmer AND  its nice to be served from time to time!  :-)

When I was traveling a lot for business, I had eating alone down to a
science.  I would generally say to the maitre d' that I wanted to be
seated in a section with someone who understood service, and understood
that tips depended on service, and that I didn't mind waiting.     

That was generally enough conversation to get me a reasonable
waitperson.  If the maitre d was dumb enough to try to seat me next to
the kitchen doors at that point, I loudly and clearly said that the
table wasn't satisfactory.  

I also found that asking if they had a wine list before I was seated
usually got their attention.  I assumed that if I looked professional,
savvy, and assertive, I'd get decent service.  

It also helped a lot to chat with the waitperson.  Treating service
people like human beings, trying to do their job well, often (sadly)
differentiates you from the run-of-the-mill customer.  

I used to always feel that way, too--about dining alone in a sitdown
place [re slynne's response].  But I usually  bring something to read or
write with me to  keep myself entertained while waiting for the  food to
be served. Or sitting back and observing the other diners can be cool,
too.   But so  is dining out with friends, too!

What Colleen mentions is very true, too.  Since I've been in a 'service'
field for many  years, I've learned how people should be treated--and
treating them [the wait-staff]  nicely does help, too.

Amen to that.

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