Gifted Gourmet

But don't you see how the importing of various Hong Kong favorites to America has increased our sense of culinary choices? There are so many more items which we have available now than when I grew up here. And just maybe the "novelty" of American fast food will cause certain boredom in the minds of these same folks over time, at which time they may chooe to return to their more comforting, familiar cuisines and just consider it nostalgia ...

One of the primary reasons I had for posting this story was because it contains a variety of ramifications when a chef chooses something different for a career move ... and there are other threads here on similar choices. Which is not unlike a conclusion which I drew as well ...Au Bon Pain has seen the possibilities inherent in choosing a chef of his calibre to "upgrade" their line of products. It augurs well for both the chef and for the company he opts to join.

So much to think about nowadays with a rendezvous: perhaps a brief checklist? cash or credit card? reservations? Food? vegan, ovo lacto veg, low fat, low carb, too much fibre, not enough fibre ... breath mints for Italian garlicky snacks? clothing? optional? getaway car? enough petrol? pager and cell? .. on or vibrate? Plugra and/or Viagra? doctor phone number for too much Viagra? paper knapkins for greasy hands, lips, if fried chicken option is selected?

The China Standard article for this one needs no chopsticks .... looks like this is the hit of the year with the people of Hong Kong ....now I need to use a currency converter to figure out the value of the HK dollar ....

Well, bless my baklava, Jon, you are a virtual well of information on the upcoming Athens festivities ... yep, Aramark was deeply entrenched when the Olympics were here in Atlanta recently .. and I loved the article in the NYT on the kosher food preparations ...

Not so much "on the face of" as much as "under the tuchas of"...

Ah yes, the requisite postcoital pork chop ... smoke 'em if you got 'em ...

Those damned spongemonkies, no doubt! The daughter is under 10, I presume?? Yep, chemprof, outta Austin .. and before Dell!

yes, but the two sometimes tend to overlap on a great rendezvous ....

purely a subjective view, m'dear .... depends on who, or perhaps what, is being eaten ....

Glad the trip was generally positive foodwise for you .. yes, Oswald is terrific and I am pleased that you enjoyed it ... don't know about the other two though ... and, yes, Manresa is one of the best choices one can possibly make in that area! Thanks for the followup!

although I have no beef with your response, tryska, I am also not chicken to ask: what kind of gravy are we talking about here?? your answers are usually brief and succinct but inquiring minds do want to know!! or let's just play "Name that Gravy"!

and just who among us can resist the tart, crisply flavored, ruby-red shimmer of a freshly-made raspberry coulis under a creamy slice of cheesecake??

Truly delighted with this photograph, theakston!! It really "grabbed" my attention! and now for a little "squid pro quo" for you: A very big Thank you for offering it to us here at eG!

Would love to hear a few more details on this place, Sandra, should you wish to share them with us ...

Since I have been planning to visit SFMOMA for some time now, I think your post has made it imperative that I now do so with alacrity! Thanks for the impetus to get me moving on this very important museum, Squeat!!

and that would be this , perhaps: Sriracha: made from sun ripened chilies which are ground into a smooth paste along with garlic..... excellent in soups, sauces, pastas, pizzas, hot dogs, or on anything else, to give a deliciously spicy taste??

This thread is a spinoff of a previous thread "What your condiment says about you" ... which got so long and missed out on so many possible choices that it became evident to Tommy and me that the situation needed to be expanded and explored in further depth. but nowadays, we use sauces to enhance and enrich our meals ... not to disguise poor ones .. exception? my home ... Hence, sauces ... what is your favorite sauce? Do you order it in restaurants because it is easier or make it at home? Why did you select this particular choice?

So it shall be written, so it shall be done .... not Yul Brynner in the DeMille Ten Commandments ... GG on eG .... click here for the very sauciest of threads!

article from Bloomberg UK When I read this article on dining at the Tate Galleries in London, it made me think a bit about other experiences I have had eating at other museums ... There is a lovely, ultra modern cafeteria in the British Museum where I always made it a point to stop perusing the galleries and checking out the wide range of foods available to museum goers ... .. (their description is better than mine)The Cafe at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna has an elegant display of all types of Austrian strudel served in an elaborately baroque atrium on the second floor .... but extremely overpriced .. a smoked salmon sandwich with coffee and strudel ran almost $20 ...photograph and description (note: click on Information, then on Cafe to see the picture) The Louvre has a restaurant with a long wait so we opted for something more cafeteria style to eat and get back to the museum itself ... Any experiences with museum food that you might wish to share with us here? let's hear about what and where you ate! Or was it so tangential to the entire experience that you remember it only vaguely and, in fact, rushed through it and wanted to get back to the museum itself?

Souvlaki is one of my favorite Greek foods ... maybe cause I think of it as a Greek "hamburger" ... a meat of some sort, beef or perhaps lamb, on a giant vertical rotisserie ....... slicing off the meat as it becomes done ... on a round pita bread with lettuce, tomato, onions, and tzatziki, a cucumber-yogurt-garlic kind of dressing ... perhaps a few kalamatas ... my idea of marvelously Greek cuisine!

goyimesque? I haven't heard that term before ... might it have something to do with "portion control"?? from the rest of your post, I derive the fact that you find them to be a bit too "thrifty" on the meats .... "cheap" is too simple a word ... or perhaps, spartan, abstemious, ascetic, austere, chintzy, close, closefisted, frugal, grudging, illiberal, lean, limited, little, meager, miserly, narrow, niggardly, paltry, parsimonious, penny-pinching, penurious, skimpy, sparing, sparse, stingy, tightfisted, ungenerous ... yeah, in retrospect, maybe your word said it all .. and much, much better ...

an article on Greek foods and the Olympics So my question for you today is simply this: what is your very favorite Greek dish? where did you first experience it? and do you prepare it at home?

sigh .... see my previous 2000+ posts ... deeper sigh .... I guess this incident rather set the tone for his level of cooking when we were first married .. he made scrambled eggs for me and used allspice thinking it was a blend of several types of savory spices .. I choked it down amid tears of laughter .. it tasted like pumpkin pie .. he was crushed ... and I said, "that's nothing to fret about" and he really never forgot that and subsequently encouraged me to continue with meals he has loved ... As we all know only too well, it is all about tasting as one cooks .. he doesn't ... sigh ....

4-6 Roma tomatoes 3 tablespoons dairy sour cream 1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil 1 tablespoon fine dry bread crumbs 1 tablespoon finely shredded or grated Parmesan cheese salt and pepper to taste cut tomatoes in half crosswise.... spread cut side of each tomato with sour cream... sprinkle with basil and then bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.... arrange tomato halves in a foil pan. ... place the foil pan containing tomatoes on grill ..... cover and grill for 10 to 15 minutes or until tomatoes are heated through. garnish with fresh basil .... makes 4 servings.