Today's Friday Five

1. What is your favorite restaurant and why?
Hmmm, don't know that I really have one. I love the Ruth's Chris chain of steakhouses--does that count? I guess if I have to name one, I'd list Nicola's on the main drag in Lake Placid, NY. Love the restaurant, love the town, love the people I usually dine with there. On the other end of the spectrum, I love my local IHOP. I know what I'm getting, it's always open, and what a great place to go after a skating event or movie.

2. What fast food restaurant are you partial to?
This one is easier. My current favorite is Arby's, although when I'm at a skating event or convention I tend to look for a Subway, because it's easy to take their stuff out, and they're quite often open 24 hours. The one a block from my hotel in Vancouver, BC was a godsend.

3. What are your standards and rules for tipping?
I'm a pushover, mostly. The server has to be obviously rude before I tip less than 15%. And I tend to give the benefit of the doubt... I know the "word" is that women, and women dining alone in particular, are poor tippers, and I want to make sure I don't fall into that statistic.

4. Do you usually order an appetizer and/or dessert?
Almost never. Unless I'm with Karen, of course, who *always* orders dessert. Then it's about 50/50. If everyone else is having dessert and I'm not interested, there's always coffee.

5. What do you usually order to drink at a restaurant?
For breakfast, usually coffee, no juice. Any other time, a cola (preferable Pepsi). Not a wine or beer drinker, so the lighter alcoholic beverages are out for me. If I've time before dinner, I might have a vodka collins or vodka sour, or a screwdriver if I'm somewhere that can't make blender drinks.