mongo_jones

barbecue places will often have male wait-staff--but they're usually overseeing rather than serving. in india it is highly unusual to see female waiters. i guess it depends on whether a patriarchal culture is more obsessed with protecting masculinity or guarding femininity.

congratulations prasad! now your username fits even better.

melonpan, see entry 4 in the "one-time onlys" list in post 1 in this thread

thank you very much Mythos at Greek Islands Negra Modela and Bohemia were purchased for Nuevo Leon Still approve? =R= i disapprove of beers being given pretentious names like mythos. however, negro modela and bohemia are beyond reproach. you chicagoans seem to have respect for beer--this makes me want to visit. please start up a ticket fund for me--and don't be cheap, i like the first-class travel.

i approve of the beer that was consumed

what does "frasca" mean? or are they trying to subliminally attract fans of fresca? amy, i suspect what friend of katzenjammy (serial backer-outer-from egullet outings) is getting at is that those who do not have fat wallets may wish to have their stomachs partially filled beforehand so as to avoid penury via a full meal at frasca. but from robin's menu post it sounds like their prices aren't that much more than those at luca d'italia. one could theoretically be at only $21 before tax and tip for the cheapest app and entree. when you consider, that thanks to a moment of insanity, i paid almost as much for mediocre sushi on the hill last afternoon, that doesn't seem very bad at all. i could imagine a good 3 course meal there, inclusive of tax and tip, at <$40 per person. of course, that's not including wine. maybe $50 per person if you only drink one glass of wine each (which is what mrs. jones and i usually do). do they have a good selection of wines by the glass?

glad to hear it. i'd recommend trying the nadan curry as per original recipe as well--the indian grocery on 28th/valmont carries black kokum (just ask for help), and frankly i'm shocked that a cosmopolitan cook such as you doesn't have turmeric on hand.

damn you people, and your access to trader joe's!

Mr. rlm told me I was picky, so I said, "You mean I have a well-developed palate, right?" The response: "Isn't that just a fancy phrase for picky?" i'm not just picky, i put the icky in picky

am i the only one who likes just plain old cheesecake with a graham cracker crust? maybe with some raspberry sauce on the side. maybe. if you want fruit flavor, i say, eat the damned fruit.

I've never really thought of patchouli as smelling like curry. I'll certainly think about it next time. We still get to smell it now and then here in Boulder - it's one of those way-back machine things I love about this place. The REALLY stunning thing is that the second paid hit on google is from Eckerd Drugs, selling Jovan Spray Cologne Fresh Patchouli for $13.99. Going against the grain here, I prefer to grow, dry and extract my own patchouli, rather than buy it from the local grocery in a package, even if that's what the hippie housewives do in the old country. "now and then"? i've had to leave stores for fear of being overcome by the fumes.

i have little to add, but i wanted to say that i enjoy crouching tyler's username. okay, here's a little tidbit: the best-selling cola in india is apparently still thums up. coca cola knew what they were doing when they bought parle rather than compete against thums up.

raghavan, can you say more about your experiences in attracting clients? were people so falling over themselves to learn indian cooking that it wouldn't have mattered that you had a professional and educational background in it, or did that help a lot? thanks, mongo

lance, we're good people--picky but good. well, i'm not--good, that is--but the rest are. actually, i'm not sure about mike k either, but we're all picky. and we can be bought with free burgers. at some point someday i will try your burgers. my cardiologist gets upset if i eat more than 2 burgers a month and so i try to make sure each one is a good one. i'll give you guys a month to settle in and get comfy and then i'll be there. pbr is a good incentive--the southern sun/mountain sun here in boulder have better beers but i'm sure your burger is better (though unlike some i don't sneer at their burgers either).

fred, i've certainly not come across any indian cooking classes for home-cooks; though the owner of yummy yummy thai in aurora apparently gives very cheap thai lessons in her restaurant on sundays. i'm guessing most people who teach these classes do so in their home kitchens--thus low overheads etc. there's the question of getting past zoning requirements and so on i suppose...maybe the trick is to give your neighbours a few free lessons so they don't complain?

edward, thanks for the response--your enthusiasm is certainly palpable. and i hope you won't be offended by my seemingly uncharitable follow-up--i don't mean to disregard your enthusiasm; i'm asking probing questions to better understand how all this works. and again this is aimed not just at you but anyone here who might be teaching indian cooking classes, or for that matter classes in any other cuisines. looking at your background dispassionately a cynic might ask can you really learn enough about a cuisine to then teach it by reading a lot of cookbooks, having some friends from the source culture, and taking a cooking class? now in your case *we here* know that this isn't the whole story and that your students are definitely not being cheated--there are certainly people who've lived their whole lives in india and can't even make rice--but to get people *into* the class is it the julie sahni part of your background that is most helpful? is this set up as a credentialling thing? in other words, do a lot of people who finish sahni's class then start teaching themselves? how long and detailed is this? this may just be very old-fashioned of me, but speaking frankly, i'd have to say that i'd be hesitant to take a cooking class in a specific regional cuisine (say tuscan or provencal) from someone who hadn't spent a long time immersed in it. they don't have to be from there, of course--see rice-making comment above--but i would think it would take a long time for an outsider to get all the nuances of a region's cuisine --mario batali, for instance, spent 2-3 years living in a small village somewhere in italy. you don't have to go quite that far to start cooking a non-home cuisine, but i'd think you'd have to to then be able to teach it to other people, or represent it in any way. i'd be far less hesitant about classes on indian "moghlai" cuisine, since the true region for that is the avg. north indian restaurant! but it sounds like you might have received some of that immersion from your music teacher's wife. so, is bengali cuisine the regional one you teach? i would think most americans who would be interested in learning to cook indian food would want to cook chicken tikka masala and paneer kormas and things like that, so i am glad people like you are introducing them to other things. better you than some of my friends who were born and raised in india, would probably have little trouble attracting people to indian cooking classes, but would have no business teaching them! mongo

anyone sleeping under your table is part of the decor.. well, what do you expect? the man's campaign slogans include, "jab tak samose mein alu rahega, tab tak bihar mein laloo rahega"

that's a very long cup of tea edward

so what of the medium-well/medium-rare controversy? i will not be able to sleep till this is resolved.

by the way, monica, i'd like to take your "indian seafood dishes" class-- http://www.monicabhide.com/pages/classes.htm unfortunately i can't make it to dc on the 19th and on the 23rd i'm hoping to have a date with waheeda rehman!

i'm certainly not implying that x credentials etc. are required for anyone to set up a cooking class--least of all, you monica. i'm just curious how this works and how formal the "industry" is (if it can even be called that). i know many asian chefs etc. have probably started off in this informal way--i think i remember reading that thai chef tommy tang began by feeding his landlady when he was a student in the early 70s and then progressed to feeding her friends and then to classes at a ymca and finally to an enormously successful kitschy restaurant in west hollywood. does this path still hold true for people starting out as "ethnic" cooking teachers today? i think any published, successful cookbook writer has already answered the question, "why should i learn from you?"--though as you point out that doesn't necessarily mean one can teach (something university professors hired on basis of research also bump up against). but how about people who don't have this sort of name recognition yet? does the current generation of indian cooking enthusiasts have access to credentialling from established organizations to overcome this barrier? edward, if you're reading along, i'm sure you get asked questions like "how can you as an american teach regional indian cooking?" a lot. how do you get them past that barrier? i imagine even someone who's gone through a structured cooking degree would face some issues of 'authenticity' if they set out to teach classes on a cuisine from another culture. or are people so enlightened now that they don't worry about things like that? raghavan, i'd forgotten that you too are an experienced (and award-winning) indian culinary teacher--could you share some of your experiences too?

every once in a while an enthusiastic american who eats at my house for the first time effusively tells me to open a restaurant or give cooking lessons. knowing that their only frame of reference is the average indian eatery in the u.s i look upon such misguided enthusiasm with a tolerant eye. recently, however, i've begun to wonder how classes like this get set up and what sorts of credentials those teaching them have. here on this forum we have at least two regulars who either run or are about to start running indian cooking classes. in monica's case i know what her credentials are: two popular cookbooks with third on the way, articles in magazines and newpapers, etc. etc. and on her website one can see how this expertise is being marshalled. edward, would you feel comfortable sharing a little more information about your credentials and setup as well? i'm guessing you too have some sort of professional/experiential background that draws people to your regional cooking classes. if there are others as well who teach formally or informally who're willing to talk about how they operate that would be great. to be clear: i am asking entirely out of curiosity, i have no plans or interest in teaching anyone anything myself--both because i probably need to take many classes myself and because my life is unorganized and crammed enough as it is.

fortunately for me, mrs. jones scorns such practices. unfortunately for me, this means i only get chapchae twice a month (if i'm lucky). some relevant noodles and oyster mushrooms were purchased today, however, so things may be looking up.

i went up bitch creek without a paddle once--remember it distinctly.

are the magnets in these things strong enough to mess with pacemakers or defibrillators?