EdS

I remember La Fondue being the place to take a date. Every one of my friends took at least one date there back in my early 20's . I haven't been there in over 10 years but I remember having a good time and enjoying the food.

I'll toss out some ideas: Ashland, OR - Nice town with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I took a girlfriend up there once and we stuffed ourselves with bangers and mash at a cool pub, got drunk, then went to see a play. We did the exact same thing the following day. Humboldt/Eureka/Arcata - The People's Republic of Arcata is kind of like a tiny Berkeley by the Sea. The Hotel Arcata on the historic square is a good place to stay. I had some good granola . There are logging towns, Victorian mansions, etc. Santa Barbara - 90210 by the Sea with Jacko's ranch of horrors nearby. Hearst Castle - I finally did this a few years ago and to my surprise I had a great time. I thought it'd merely be a tourist trap. I like winesonoma's idea. Columbia is worth a visit. I bet if you hit those cities on Hwy. 99 between Sacramento and Bakersfield you'd find lots of good Mexican and other things. Sorry, I'm half asleep so pardon me if my comments aren't very helpful. I'm sure in any of these places you could find some good down-to-Earth food.

The University of Lausanne has an online Introduction to Phonetics which not only describes the International Phonetic Alphabet as used in many dictionaries but also has downloadable examples of each sound. Every language uses a subset of the sounds described by the IPA. Very often there is not a one-to-one match between a sound in one language and that in another. The French nasal sounds do not exist in English, for example. Thus, it can be very difficult or often impossible to describe a sound in one language using sounds from another. To better answer the question about how Spanish "ll" is pronounced without using possibly poor English approximations, I give you the following links. Palatal non-fricative lateral: Parts of Spain and parts of Latin America Voiced palatal fricative (hisser): Parts of Latin America and rapidly becoming more widely accepted in Spain Voiced alveolar fricative (husher): Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, parts of Spain (considered somewhat vulgar in Spain) I didn't want to link to the actual sound files so you'll need to scroll on each page to find each example. I've updated the information above based on information in my Collins English-Spanish dictionary and The Romance Languages by Martin Harris and Nigel Vincent.

I've never noticed a Spanish speaker who used a strong "l" sound for a double "ll". The "ly" I describe above is like a y sound but with a very slight l sound in front of it. Subtle. Once again, I haven't been to Spain. Rather, I've spoken to people from Spain. There could be some regional variation of which I am unaware.

Not very close. "ll" is a separate letter in Spanish, and I don't know of anywhere where "ll" is pronounced like "l". "ll" = English "y" or "j", not "l". Anyone disagree? ← I do. I posted this recently... I've found a Spanish (Spain) pronunciation guide that supports my observation of how some speakers from Spain pronounce the double "l".

The pronunciation of fillet with a sounded "t" in some dialects of English is entirely correct. Like so many words in the English language, fillet was absorbed into English from another language, in this case Middle French. Once a word enters into a language, that word is subject to any pronunciation, spelling, or usage changes that may occur over time. The word fillet used by an English speaker in an English language context is an English word not a French word.

Okra is Okay! This okra hate makes me want to conjure up an okra and cilantro dish and see who my real friends are.

I've been using magnetic knife racks for a couple of years and have not seen any damage caused by them. My local knife dealer has an entire wall with hundreds of knives on magnetic racks and I've never seen damage to those either. I'd guess that one could damage a knife by sloppily placing it on the rack blade first but that can be avoided just like dropping a knife on its tip can be avoided. Even the cleavers hold firm. My racks are not anywhere where the knives can be bumped hard enough to knock them off.

A frittata. Quick to make and suitable ingredients are always on hand.

Cynthia, I suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome off and on for about three years. I made some changes and haven't had any symptoms in over a year. I do remember quite well what it was like. It was pure hell. The way I've avoided a relapse is by trying to keep my wrists neutral when possible while typing and doing other repetitive tasks. Applying that idea to using a knife in the kitchen, here are a couple things you might want to consider. 1. Adjust the height of your cutting surface I'm 5'10". If I hold my chef's knife with the blade vertically against my standard height countertop, my wrist is arched. If I were to chop at that height, my wrist would keep bending upward which is exactly what you don't want. I have a chopping block that raises the cutting surface four inches above the countertop. If I hold my blade against that surface, my wrist begins the chop in a nearly neutral position. 2. Think about using a longer knife Here's my theory. When you're using a shorter chef's knife and pivoting it on its point, you need to lift the handle pretty high to fit a large item underneath. Your wrist can remain relatively neutral only part way through that motion. With a longer knife, the necessary range of motion is less for the same item. You can avoid this problem by switching to a push cut with larger items but having a longer knife lessens the need to do this. In any case, let the muscles in your shoulder and upper arm do the work rather than your wrist. Edited to add: I re-read your message and see your problem is in the elbow rather than the wrist. My #2 may not apply to you but I'll leave it there anyway.

Wow, what happened to the century-old idea of making stock from just bones, water, mirepoix, and aromatics? It was good enough for Escoffier, Point, Ducasse, Robuchon, LaVerty, and suddenly we need to throw in a couple of whole chickens? ... ← Stock made with the addition of meat has better flavor but obviously the cost goes up. I've done chicken stock made from from just backs and other bones and then from whole chicken and compared the result. There's no question in my mind that stock made with more meat has more depth of flavor. I think if I were cooking at a restaurant I'd have a lot more bones laying around so in that case I could see making bone stock and then also making a better stock for those uses where I really needed the flavor and not just body. But at home I really don't want to be bothered with this complexity. If my meaty stock is overkill for some applications and costing me a little extra, I'm ok with that. I'll usually have at least a few chicken backs in my freezer and on stockmaking day I'll run down to Costco and buy one of those three-packs of whole chicken at $0.89/lb. here. I'll remove some pieces that I'll use over the next few days and then throw everything else like the useless breasts into the stockpot.

A large chilled block of tofu, fresh from the tofu shop, with shaved bonito flakes and soy sauce

I know from the context that I've seen it used such as in "kabayaki unagi" and the above that kabayaki means a soy-based grilled dish but could someone tell me what exactly "kaba" means? Thanks.

Thank you for tonight's dinner, sizzleteeth and Hiroyuki. The stawberry wasabi mayo works well. The berry flavor is a nice addition. I had everything here but the kanzuri. Next time I'll try it with kanzuri and I'll back off on the sugar in my yakitori sauce to compensate a little for the extra sweetness added by the dipping sauce.

Made some tacos filled with roasted poblano chiles, sauteed onions, and crema fresca.

My mom never used a cutting board. She did everything with a large paring knife doing just like you said. She was born and raised in Hawaii and would make some Japanese-inspired dishes like teriyaki chicken or beef. However, the presentation was very non-Japanese. Everything was kind of dumped on one plate until there was no more room. I guess that is Hawaiian plate lunch style!

I've been content with my ponzu though not totally excited about using it. Then it struck me that maybe I don't have the "good" stuff. I ran to the fridge and found I have aji-pon made with "citrus". If they can't be bothered to name the fruit used, I figure it must be whatever is cheapest and maybe not very good. I'm going to get myself some real yuzu ponzu!

The fact that it's 2.0mm rather than 2.5mm might actually be a benefit if overall performance includes practicality. The northern Chinese woks with their long single handles are picked up and the contents tossed about. In Breath of a Wok there's a close-up photo of a Chinese restaurant cook's forearm demonstrating the muscularity that one achieves from doing this all day. Although they are of different designs, it might be interesting to know how the weight of this new pan compares to that of the curved sauteuse evasee as some may be choosing between the two.

'Cuz it would make for really short threads. A. ← My favorite threads here are when people "don't get along" and argue their points to build a case for their beliefs. It can be informative and entertaining. What's wrong with a little heat? As long as it doesn't devolve into personal attack, I'm all for it. My all-time favorite eGullet thread is Does Italy lack culinary relevance?

I use three different types of eating chopsticks at home. The brown bamboo ones on the bottom are the ones I use most. They came in a package of five pairs. The middle ones are stainless steel. I presume from reading this thread that they are Korean. I bought them at the Wok Shop in SF Chinatown for less than $3. I use these mostly if I'm having a late night snack and I know I'm going to be too lazy to wash them before going to bed. I don't have to worry about ruining them with moisture and can toss them into the sink. The ones on top are unusually thick. I thought they might be interesting to try. I can't say they bother me much and I have small hands. The brown and stainless steel pairs each weigh 18 grams. The black pair weighs 30 grams. I also use cooking chopsticks when I'm cooking small pieces of things in a pan that need to be manipulated individually. I like the chopsticks better than tongs for this. I'm Caucasian and never ate with chopsticks at home growing up. However, the fact that a third of people in this part of the Bay Area are Asian means that there are plenty of Asian restaurants and lots of non-Asian people know how to use them. I learned young how to use chopsticks from eating out. Ironically, I think I see fewer people using chopsticks in Chinatown because so many people there are tourists! I prefer Japanese chopsticks because they taper to a narrow point. The ones I hate are those plastic sticks at some pho and Chinese places. It's like sticking two fingers into your mouth. Why?

Mauviel actually makes two copper/stainless lines with a cast iron handle. There is a 2.5 mm copper/stainless line with a cast iron handle, and there is also a 2.0 mm copper/stainless line with a cast iron handle. In addition, there is a 2.0 mm line with a solid stainless steel handle. It's also never been entirely clear to me that Mauviel only sells the Table Service line (which is 1.6 mm thick and not designed for cooking) with a brass handle. Bridge Kitchenware, for example, has the same price for a 11.75 inch frypan with a brass handle and with a cast iron handle. If the brass handle version were from the Table Service line, I would expect it to cost much less. On the other hand, it could be that there is some mistake in the way Bridge is listing these items. ← One of the advantages of the Falk product line is that it isn't so confusing. Speaking of confusing, what's the deal with the Mauviel copper non-stick frypan? It's definitely optimal, uh, something.

OK, it finally registered in my brain that you're using shoyu in that marinade so it's not really a simple seared ahi like I've had countless times (usually good) on top of wasabi mash. If you follow my suggestion, you'll sort of have a donburi so that's probably not the way to go if you want something less Asian. I'm now thinking "something with vinaigrette".

How about a dashi-based risotto?

I have trouble eating food that isn't a common food color. Blue, purple, and even certain shades of yellow are trouble for me. That also goes for the plating. I can't eat off of certain colors. Screw the Atkins diet, how about the Blue Plate Special diet? Edited to say: Gifted Gourmet, I didn't read your response before I wrote mine. So, who's going to write the Blue Plate Diet Book?

The confusion is because there is more than one proper pronunciation of the double "l" in Spanish. How one pronounces the double "l" is dependent on where one has learned to speak the language. Making a broad generalization, I'd say the following is true. Most of Latin America (Mexico, Peru, etc.): y as in "yes" River Plate countries (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay): zh as in "vision" Spain: ly as in "million" or y as in "yes" I've traveled around Latin America but not to Spain so my experience with people from the latter is limited. I know I've heard that "ly" sound faintly from people from Spain but I'm not sure if it's consistent. Maybe I was hearing things. So, I'd expect to hear variations of the word paella with the stress on the second to last syllable: Pah-E-ya Pah-E-zha Pah-E-lya