Etc...

Keep out. This means you!

As 20 or so patrons sat at dinner last Saturday night in Gabby's Seafood Restaurant in the coastal Australian resort town of Gerringong, they were treated to some truly comic entertainment. And, no, the management hadn't booked a stand-up comedian for the occasion. As the diners watched transfixed, three hooded would-be robbers - one of them armed with a knife - approached the reinforced glass front door and tried to push through it. When that failed, they kicked it repeatedly. Ultimately, they gave up in frustration, ran to a car, and fled. All the while, the restaurant door was unlocked. But what the intruders failed to realize is that it's on a track and slides from side to side rather than swinging open.

Even among seasoned cooks at Thanksgiving, timing is a major concern. In fact, in a survey conducted for the Jennie-O Turkey Store, a subsidiary of Hormel Foods Corp., timing was the No. 1 worry of more than 1,000 respondents - all of them female. This was the case virtually across the board, from women who never before prepared a Thanksgiving meal to those with five or more turns in the kitchen. Clearly, the length of preparations complicates the timing. Sixty-four percent of those responsible for Thanksgiving dinner said they spend four or more hours cooking; 29 percent spend six or more hours. Almost half said they expect the turkey to be the most difficult item on the menu to prepare. The biggest concerns of Thanksgiving hostesses, from the survey:
1. Timing everything just right
2. Cleaning/making the house presentable
3. Making sure all guests or family members enjoy themselves
4. Finding enough time to finish everything
5. Having enough food
6. Preparing the turkey
7. Having enough china, silverware, and seating