Dorian Wallace
Many Sims worry about the details of eating. Which way do you pass the bread, left or right? Well since Sims don’t eat bread, nor pass food, the question is null and void. However, there are many aspects of dining that do require simple etiquette.
When eating at home, make sure there are plenty of chairs for each visitor, visitors hate to stand and eat if everyone else is sitting down. The chairs should be easy to access as the meal is not as enjoyable if one spends ten minutes trying to get to the chair and finally sits down as everyone else is leaving. Also, make sure that there is proper lighting in the room, you don’t want to grab what you think is the leg of lamb and leave with a slap from a jealous lover. The most important thing is to leave a little food on the plate, it’s an old Simmish tradition so that the flies may have a little food and grace the house with their presence.
If you are the host, you and your family should clean up after dinner, however if your guest is nice and insists on washing their own plate, allow them to. After the meal, allow the guest use of the restroom first, so that they’re in good spirits for the remainder of the time spent in your home. Now with pets in the family, it is very important that pets are locked in another room during the meal to avoid unnecessary begging.
When eating downtown, go to the restaurant as soon as you arrive. This ensures that the wait time is minimum as it's very embarrassing to show up and have to wait an extended period of time for a table, leaving a very bad impression on your date. When your food arrives, proper dining etiquette requires you to eat at a moderate pace so that you have time to talk. It is bad dining etiquette if you gobble down your food and you spend the rest of the time watching your date eat.
If you follow those simple hints, guests will always want to eat with you and your family.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Cramped and Cluttered to Cozy and Country
Prisalla Lake
I recently remodeled a kitchen in the home of a Greymount resident who wishes to remain unnamed due to a secret experiment or some sort. The tenant of a small cramped studio apartment had a limited budget and no taste. The tenent is a gardener doing a few gardening experiments to perfect a top secret fertilizer. I agreed to remodel the kitchen and create a space of order and warmth.
The kitchen proved to be very challenging. The budget was set at $2500 and the kitchen was housed in a room that served as the bedroom and living room of a small studio apartment.
The kitchen contained two old desks from a yard sale and a rusty fridge that was donated by a friend. The appliances were ill arranged and the only salvaged items from the old kitchen was the stove and the appliances. The kitchen needed a complete makeover-however, I had a budget and a time constraint.
The decor in the room was horrible, a dull clapboard wall and blue carpeting, but I decided to use the wall as a design theme and create a country/garden kitchen. The design worked well with the tenent, a gardener. My main goals were to update the current appliances, install more storage space for the room and create a seperate space for the kitchen.
I started by replacing the old fridge, buying a double basin sink and installing opened faced counters. The counters gave more space for food and other items in the room and provided a clean garden feeling. I also laid down a wooden floor made from scrapwood salvaged at the local mill and installed a beautiful anitque window that the tenant's grandmother had saved from her first home. Finnaly, I painted a series of three paintings for the wall and added plants to the counterspace to create a cozy yet open country kitchen.
In all I spent $2350, under budget!!!
Shopping List
[all items can be found in the Maxis Buying Catalog and the Maxis Building Catalog]
Appliances:
Porcina Fridge
Double Basin Sink
Surfaces:
Opened Face Counters
Decorations:
Paintings by art student
Flooring:
Grange Wood Panels
Windows
Windser Window
I recently remodeled a kitchen in the home of a Greymount resident who wishes to remain unnamed due to a secret experiment or some sort. The tenant of a small cramped studio apartment had a limited budget and no taste. The tenent is a gardener doing a few gardening experiments to perfect a top secret fertilizer. I agreed to remodel the kitchen and create a space of order and warmth.
The kitchen proved to be very challenging. The budget was set at $2500 and the kitchen was housed in a room that served as the bedroom and living room of a small studio apartment.
The kitchen contained two old desks from a yard sale and a rusty fridge that was donated by a friend. The appliances were ill arranged and the only salvaged items from the old kitchen was the stove and the appliances. The kitchen needed a complete makeover-however, I had a budget and a time constraint.
The decor in the room was horrible, a dull clapboard wall and blue carpeting, but I decided to use the wall as a design theme and create a country/garden kitchen. The design worked well with the tenent, a gardener. My main goals were to update the current appliances, install more storage space for the room and create a seperate space for the kitchen.
I started by replacing the old fridge, buying a double basin sink and installing opened faced counters. The counters gave more space for food and other items in the room and provided a clean garden feeling. I also laid down a wooden floor made from scrapwood salvaged at the local mill and installed a beautiful anitque window that the tenant's grandmother had saved from her first home. Finnaly, I painted a series of three paintings for the wall and added plants to the counterspace to create a cozy yet open country kitchen.
In all I spent $2350, under budget!!!
Shopping List
[all items can be found in the Maxis Buying Catalog and the Maxis Building Catalog]
Appliances:
Porcina Fridge
Double Basin Sink
Surfaces:
Opened Face Counters
Decorations:
Paintings by art student
Flooring:
Grange Wood Panels
Windows
Windser Window
Kitchen Space Planning
Prisilla Lake
When planning your kitchen, think efficiency. Most Sims spend about 20% of their time in the kitchen, with some simple rearrangements, Sims could spend 10% of their time in the kitchen.
Lets look at the typical Sim cooking pattern. First remove the food from the refrigerator, then prepare it on a counter, mix it in the food processor, and heat. Some Sims skip a step or two depending on the recipe, however this is the long version.
Based on this order, your fridge should have an empty counter next to it. Next to the empty counter should be the food processor and beside that your heating device (toaster, microwave or stove).
Once you have the order of your appliances, then you should concern yourself with the space in the kitchen. Even though only one Sim will probably be cooking at a time, everyone will want to congregate in the kitchen to sample the still raw goodies. Due to this desire it is important to leave at least two tiles of free space around your cooking devices.
For some reason, Sims sometimes rush to clean up after meals and there is usually a line at the dishwater, sink or bathroom sinks. I suggest have a dishwater and a sink and make sure to leave at least two free tiles in front of the sink or dishwasher.
Using these methods, your kitchen will be better spaced out and planned, thus resulting in better and quicker meals for the entire family.
When planning your kitchen, think efficiency. Most Sims spend about 20% of their time in the kitchen, with some simple rearrangements, Sims could spend 10% of their time in the kitchen.
Lets look at the typical Sim cooking pattern. First remove the food from the refrigerator, then prepare it on a counter, mix it in the food processor, and heat. Some Sims skip a step or two depending on the recipe, however this is the long version.
Based on this order, your fridge should have an empty counter next to it. Next to the empty counter should be the food processor and beside that your heating device (toaster, microwave or stove).
Once you have the order of your appliances, then you should concern yourself with the space in the kitchen. Even though only one Sim will probably be cooking at a time, everyone will want to congregate in the kitchen to sample the still raw goodies. Due to this desire it is important to leave at least two tiles of free space around your cooking devices.
For some reason, Sims sometimes rush to clean up after meals and there is usually a line at the dishwater, sink or bathroom sinks. I suggest have a dishwater and a sink and make sure to leave at least two free tiles in front of the sink or dishwasher.
Using these methods, your kitchen will be better spaced out and planned, thus resulting in better and quicker meals for the entire family.
Hunger Fulfillment
Hunger Fulfillment
Gina Deere, scientist-Sim Laboratories
All Sims must eat and eating is what most Sims do best. However, what most households don’t know is that they may be spending unnecessary Simeolons on appliances that are not needed. Before shopping for your new kitchen, let’s look at the basics.
Every kitchen must have a fridge, once this is purchased, a food processor should be next on the list. Afterwards, any appliance that will heat the food from a toaster oven to a stove can be purchased. When cooking, Sims tend to use only one heating device for each meal, so it is not necessary to have both a stove and a microwave, but if you like variety in your kitchen and have the funds-go ahead and purchase multiple heating devices.
Now, what about those quality points? The quality points from appliances are calculated and this will give you your hunger value after using these appliances. We want a value of ten, which is full and happy, so we’ll be looking for hunger quality point combinations that give as close to ten as possible.
Finally, the most economical combination that was found gives a hunger score of nine. To purchase this combination the shopping list is detailed below:
Llamark refrigerator= $600 =6 hunger points
Food Processor =$220= 3 hunger points
Microwave= $250 =2 hunger points
Total =$1070= 9 hunger points
This simple combination streamlines the cooking time and maximizes the hunger score for less than the price of purchasing the Porcina refrigerator. Also, by using Simmerville’s PTS calculator it was discovered that most of the refrigerators and stoves in the standard catalog are overpriced. Outside of the suggested shopping list, I recommend purchasing the appliances if they complement your kitchen design.
Gina Deere, scientist-Sim Laboratories
All Sims must eat and eating is what most Sims do best. However, what most households don’t know is that they may be spending unnecessary Simeolons on appliances that are not needed. Before shopping for your new kitchen, let’s look at the basics.
Every kitchen must have a fridge, once this is purchased, a food processor should be next on the list. Afterwards, any appliance that will heat the food from a toaster oven to a stove can be purchased. When cooking, Sims tend to use only one heating device for each meal, so it is not necessary to have both a stove and a microwave, but if you like variety in your kitchen and have the funds-go ahead and purchase multiple heating devices.
Now, what about those quality points? The quality points from appliances are calculated and this will give you your hunger value after using these appliances. We want a value of ten, which is full and happy, so we’ll be looking for hunger quality point combinations that give as close to ten as possible.
Finally, the most economical combination that was found gives a hunger score of nine. To purchase this combination the shopping list is detailed below:
Llamark refrigerator= $600 =6 hunger points
Food Processor =$220= 3 hunger points
Microwave= $250 =2 hunger points
Total =$1070= 9 hunger points
This simple combination streamlines the cooking time and maximizes the hunger score for less than the price of purchasing the Porcina refrigerator. Also, by using Simmerville’s PTS calculator it was discovered that most of the refrigerators and stoves in the standard catalog are overpriced. Outside of the suggested shopping list, I recommend purchasing the appliances if they complement your kitchen design.
History of Greymount Through Food
History of Greymount Through Food
Dorian Wallace
Henry Greymount founded Greymount in 1832, since then artifacts found in backyards and community property has revealed the history of Greymount.
The oldest known food artifact is a piece of bread; the dough was made from a local rye and mixed with local berries. This was the main staple of the first settlement of Greymount. After this, a mouse was found wrapped in the skin of an armadillo. This was the main element of the residents of 1851 when there was a drought and only road kill was found to eat.
After the drought of 1851, the residents rebelled against simple food and government and started dining on roasted lamb and rosemary seasoned vegetables. This diet fad did not last long as the residents experienced a flux of immigrants in the 1890’s. The immigrants, from all over, brought their native foods and diets. Greymount experienced a delightful switch from a staple diet to an eclectic mix of food, including stuffed grape leaves, chicken burritos, jalapeno cornbread, clam chowder, sushi and much more.
The 1920’s brought about meals consisting of sandwiches and milk such that families could spend time importing spirits illegally. The diets of the immigrants were blended together in the civil rights era of the1960’s to form Greymount style meals; sample meals included chicken burritos with grape stuffed leaves and jalapeno cornbread or clam chowder with cucumber sushi.
Now the diets of Greymount residents are as varied as its residents.
Dorian Wallace
Henry Greymount founded Greymount in 1832, since then artifacts found in backyards and community property has revealed the history of Greymount.
The oldest known food artifact is a piece of bread; the dough was made from a local rye and mixed with local berries. This was the main staple of the first settlement of Greymount. After this, a mouse was found wrapped in the skin of an armadillo. This was the main element of the residents of 1851 when there was a drought and only road kill was found to eat.
After the drought of 1851, the residents rebelled against simple food and government and started dining on roasted lamb and rosemary seasoned vegetables. This diet fad did not last long as the residents experienced a flux of immigrants in the 1890’s. The immigrants, from all over, brought their native foods and diets. Greymount experienced a delightful switch from a staple diet to an eclectic mix of food, including stuffed grape leaves, chicken burritos, jalapeno cornbread, clam chowder, sushi and much more.
The 1920’s brought about meals consisting of sandwiches and milk such that families could spend time importing spirits illegally. The diets of the immigrants were blended together in the civil rights era of the1960’s to form Greymount style meals; sample meals included chicken burritos with grape stuffed leaves and jalapeno cornbread or clam chowder with cucumber sushi.
Now the diets of Greymount residents are as varied as its residents.
Food Expo 2003 Overview
SimCity's Food Expo 2003
Food Expo 2003
June 1: Opening Ceremony
Catered by Parié
Opening Address: Starr Grey, Spokesperson
History of Greymount Through Food: Dorian Wallace
Ribbon Cutting of Food Expo Site: MR and MRS Food Expo 2003
June: Food in the Garden
The Greymount Gardening Association present a series of short lectures about the vegetable garden: including advice on choosing seeds, garden layouts, planting, weeding, plant tonic, pests, harvesting, selling versus storing and a state of the art indoor garden
July: Food in the Kitchen
The Best Food Fulfillment Combination: Gina Deere, scientist-Sim Laboratories
Space Planning for the Kitchen: Prisilla Lake, interior designer-Lake Designs & Homes
Kitchen Makeover Results: Prisilla Lake, interior designer-Lake Designs & Homes
August: Food on the Table
Dining Etiquette: Dorian Wallace-chef, Parie
Dinner and a Movie, The Concept of Food in Dating: Jack Daniels
Dining Room Makeover Results: Prisilla Lake, interior designer-Lake Designs & Homes
Dining Room Makeover Results #2: Prisilla Lake, interior designer-Lake Designs & Homes
Romantic Dinners At Home: Jack Daniels
August 31: Closing Ceremony
Catered by Macaroni Grille, [Wallace Enterprises]
Closing Address: Starr Grey, Spokesperson
Results and Future of Food Expo: Dorian Wallace
Best Contributor 2003 Presentation
Neighborhood Dinner
The Food Expo has ended and Greymount closed the city-wide event with a large closing ceremony and presentation of the Best Contributor award for 2003.
"The dinner was great and served to introduce us to any other neighbors we did not know!" ~Veronika Kent
"Congratulations to Prisilla Lake, enjoy the win because next year, I will get the Best Contributor Award" ~Jack Daniels
Results and Future of Food Expo: Dorian Wallace
The Food Expo brought Greymount a lot of publicity and forged ties with other neighborhoods. 678 Sims visited the Food Expo section for advice on gardening, cooking and decorating tips. Locally, Greymount had numerous visitors from downtown and even a few celebrities from StudioTown visit the Food Expo with thier friends from Greymount. The Food Expo helped create the Greymount Gardening Association and the event successfully married off two residents-Matt and Jennifer Grayson. Overall, the Food Expo was a large success for Greymount and SimCity!
The future of the Food Expo is as exciting as the event itself. Greymount was looked upon very favorably and had the option to be the main host for the Food Expo 2004. However, due to the small neighborhood and lack of farmers and food lovers at the moment-Greymount declined the option. However, Greymount is looking forward to co-hosting the Food Expo 2004 and is possibly looking into becoming the main host for the Food Expo 2005!
Best Contributor 2003
The race for Best Contributor 2003 was close and the three candidates: Jack Daniels, Prisilla Lake and Dorian Wallace were all very talented and presented great lectures. However with 65% of the votes-the winner recieved the Honorary Food Expo Lawn Gnome and $250.
Congratulations to Prisilla Lake!
"Next year they better have stuff for us kids!" ~Laura Hick
"There should be a Food Lover's Club-then we could plan the Food Expo to be bigger and even better than ever!" ~Matt Grayson
Food Expo 2003
June 1: Opening Ceremony
Catered by Parié
Opening Address: Starr Grey, Spokesperson
History of Greymount Through Food: Dorian Wallace
Ribbon Cutting of Food Expo Site: MR and MRS Food Expo 2003
June: Food in the Garden
The Greymount Gardening Association present a series of short lectures about the vegetable garden: including advice on choosing seeds, garden layouts, planting, weeding, plant tonic, pests, harvesting, selling versus storing and a state of the art indoor garden
July: Food in the Kitchen
The Best Food Fulfillment Combination: Gina Deere, scientist-Sim Laboratories
Space Planning for the Kitchen: Prisilla Lake, interior designer-Lake Designs & Homes
Kitchen Makeover Results: Prisilla Lake, interior designer-Lake Designs & Homes
August: Food on the Table
Dining Etiquette: Dorian Wallace-chef, Parie
Dinner and a Movie, The Concept of Food in Dating: Jack Daniels
Dining Room Makeover Results: Prisilla Lake, interior designer-Lake Designs & Homes
Dining Room Makeover Results #2: Prisilla Lake, interior designer-Lake Designs & Homes
Romantic Dinners At Home: Jack Daniels
August 31: Closing Ceremony
Catered by Macaroni Grille, [Wallace Enterprises]
Closing Address: Starr Grey, Spokesperson
Results and Future of Food Expo: Dorian Wallace
Best Contributor 2003 Presentation
Neighborhood Dinner
The Food Expo has ended and Greymount closed the city-wide event with a large closing ceremony and presentation of the Best Contributor award for 2003.
"The dinner was great and served to introduce us to any other neighbors we did not know!" ~Veronika Kent
"Congratulations to Prisilla Lake, enjoy the win because next year, I will get the Best Contributor Award" ~Jack Daniels
Results and Future of Food Expo: Dorian Wallace
The Food Expo brought Greymount a lot of publicity and forged ties with other neighborhoods. 678 Sims visited the Food Expo section for advice on gardening, cooking and decorating tips. Locally, Greymount had numerous visitors from downtown and even a few celebrities from StudioTown visit the Food Expo with thier friends from Greymount. The Food Expo helped create the Greymount Gardening Association and the event successfully married off two residents-Matt and Jennifer Grayson. Overall, the Food Expo was a large success for Greymount and SimCity!
The future of the Food Expo is as exciting as the event itself. Greymount was looked upon very favorably and had the option to be the main host for the Food Expo 2004. However, due to the small neighborhood and lack of farmers and food lovers at the moment-Greymount declined the option. However, Greymount is looking forward to co-hosting the Food Expo 2004 and is possibly looking into becoming the main host for the Food Expo 2005!
Best Contributor 2003
The race for Best Contributor 2003 was close and the three candidates: Jack Daniels, Prisilla Lake and Dorian Wallace were all very talented and presented great lectures. However with 65% of the votes-the winner recieved the Honorary Food Expo Lawn Gnome and $250.
Congratulations to Prisilla Lake!
"Next year they better have stuff for us kids!" ~Laura Hick
"There should be a Food Lover's Club-then we could plan the Food Expo to be bigger and even better than ever!" ~Matt Grayson
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Throwing a GREAT Party
by Alisa Crawston-Pennelson
I'm no party expert, but I have thrown good parties – roof raisers, in the past. My parties have been well atended by local celebrities and the elite alike! I've decided to share a few tips so that you can have a raging party as well.
GUEST LIST
Try to make sure that the guests that you are inviting get along with each other. You will learn that with the more parties you have, if your guests all get along that's great, but if you see that some are fighting change your guest list next time. You don't want bad relations to spoil the party mood.
MUSIC
Make sure you have music. What's a party without some classic CDs and jamming tunes. I play a variety of stations and sometimes even give a few performances. Soon everyone will be around the radio dancing together and showing off thier moves.
DRINKS
After all that dancing, your guests will be tired and thisty. Buy a few bottles of good champagne and toast away! Everyone loves a toast! I always spend a little more on my parties and make sure that the bar is fully stocked and hire a few bartenders to serve the partygoers. Wee! Good fun!
ENTERTAINMENT
Playing video games is a fun group activity that party guests can do together, also pick up a few party games-all sims love to play games and if they can play together-even better!
FOOD
Get a fully stocked buffet table-make it two or three! Oh, and be sure to have a place for sims to sit while they’re eating, party guests love to sit down together and talk or gossip about the poor drunken sim in the corner.
DON'T FORGET
No matter what, a good party can be ruined with the lack of toliets. Try to make sure toilets are available to your guests. If they are near the buffet tables and feature lots of room to manuever around in, the better! It's not fun when all of your guests get stuck in the only bathroom, trying to shoo each other out, instead of engaging in the fun activies you’ve provided for them.
BUDGET PARTY
But of course, you don’t have to be dramatic with the money-spending just to throw a good party, though it always works for me. You can do just fine with a cheap radio, good homecooked food and some fun games and of course available toilets.
HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS
Sometimes your party might be going dull, in those rare instances do not be afraid to pause and think. Sometimes when the party isn’t so great, I pause and try to think what I should do to make it more fun. Sometimes I run over to the champagne and toast someone, or get everyone grooving to a good song. Just try to always have your guests doing something and take time to chat with each person, if only for a few seconds.
Good luck on your next bash!
I'm no party expert, but I have thrown good parties – roof raisers, in the past. My parties have been well atended by local celebrities and the elite alike! I've decided to share a few tips so that you can have a raging party as well.
GUEST LIST
Try to make sure that the guests that you are inviting get along with each other. You will learn that with the more parties you have, if your guests all get along that's great, but if you see that some are fighting change your guest list next time. You don't want bad relations to spoil the party mood.
MUSIC
Make sure you have music. What's a party without some classic CDs and jamming tunes. I play a variety of stations and sometimes even give a few performances. Soon everyone will be around the radio dancing together and showing off thier moves.
DRINKS
After all that dancing, your guests will be tired and thisty. Buy a few bottles of good champagne and toast away! Everyone loves a toast! I always spend a little more on my parties and make sure that the bar is fully stocked and hire a few bartenders to serve the partygoers. Wee! Good fun!
ENTERTAINMENT
Playing video games is a fun group activity that party guests can do together, also pick up a few party games-all sims love to play games and if they can play together-even better!
FOOD
Get a fully stocked buffet table-make it two or three! Oh, and be sure to have a place for sims to sit while they’re eating, party guests love to sit down together and talk or gossip about the poor drunken sim in the corner.
DON'T FORGET
No matter what, a good party can be ruined with the lack of toliets. Try to make sure toilets are available to your guests. If they are near the buffet tables and feature lots of room to manuever around in, the better! It's not fun when all of your guests get stuck in the only bathroom, trying to shoo each other out, instead of engaging in the fun activies you’ve provided for them.
BUDGET PARTY
But of course, you don’t have to be dramatic with the money-spending just to throw a good party, though it always works for me. You can do just fine with a cheap radio, good homecooked food and some fun games and of course available toilets.
HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS
Sometimes your party might be going dull, in those rare instances do not be afraid to pause and think. Sometimes when the party isn’t so great, I pause and try to think what I should do to make it more fun. Sometimes I run over to the champagne and toast someone, or get everyone grooving to a good song. Just try to always have your guests doing something and take time to chat with each person, if only for a few seconds.
Good luck on your next bash!
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