rgruby

Deborah, Could you or Arne comment on the backsplash behind the stove (or range, or whatever we're calling it these days)? I'm guessing it's glass? Whatever it is, it looks fantastic. Are you pleased with it? Any drawbacks? I like the idea of no grout in a backsplash - particularly behind the cooktop area. Is it difficult to work with when installing - ie. how difficult is it to cut holes for electrical outlets etc. Is it limited in colour palette available? Thanks for sharing your kitchen with us. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

My kitchen is almost exactly the same size as yours, just a little bit longer (15' 6" x 11' 4") and I too have pondered the island vs penninsula issue. In the end, we decided against either (sort of). Our house is a typical toronto Victorian, and I understand is typical of Boston as well - not very wide, but deep. This means that the flow of the house, if that makes sense, makes the kitchen fifteen feet longish by 11 feet wide. Given the akward layout of doors, windows etc, you couldn't really orient it the other way around. So, that meant an 11' wide kitchen - not quite wide enough for an island, unless we wanted to keep one of the "long" walls free of cabinets. Which didn't make sense for us. So, we went to the idea of a penninsula. But again, that wasn't ideal. Due to the configuration of the doors, there was really only one place it could go. But it would create a bottleneck effect between kitchen and dining room and make the space look and feel smaller. We really only wanted the penninsula for seating (well, more counter space wouldn't have hurt either). So, instead of a penninsula, we've settled on building a table that will slide under the counter (the counter will extend past the last of the cabinets by @ 30", and the table will slide under perpendicular to the counter), that we can pull out and act as the "penninsula" when required, and slide back under the counter (or fold down - we haven't built it yet) to preserve the flow of the kitchen. We've positioned this roughly where we were thinking of putting the penninsula. I hope that made sense. We're actually in the throes of the reno now (cabinets ripped out Monday, plumging unavailable, subfloor ripped out today) - I'd post pics, but I am software challenged and egullet rejects them as too large. I will add that I got the idea for replacing the penninsula with a slide out table while reading this thread - thanks again Dave!. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me earlier, but it didn't. I hope this a) made sense, and b) helped. Good luck with it! Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Well, there you go. I generally don't do the coffee ceremony, so I didn't know it was standard fare. We did have a chicken dish at AA last visit - it seemed ok but I had a bit of a cold so I couldn't taste it as well as I would have liked. We tend to order the veggie sampler and kay and/or alicha watt, or sometimes lamb. Haven't ordered the raw beef dishes (kinda a beef tartar with Ethiopian spicing) in ages. Maybe 2 ages. But, an underrated cuisine in my opinion. the gals at AA had talked about opening for breakfast/brunch with what sounded like completely different fare. That plan was apparently abandoned. Does anybody know of other Ethiopean places in town serving breakfast and/or brunch? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Haven't been to Queen of Sheba in probably a decade. Ethiopean House maybe three or four years ago - but it does seem to be the one favoured by cabbies. So, I can't really compare. To be honest, I find the food pretty similar at all of them. The menus between the three places are fairly similar, I think. The one thing that sets Addis Ababa apart is the coffee ceremony. They bring out the just roasted coffee beans and shake them around under your nose before bringing them back into the kitchen to make your coffee. The smell is intense, and wonderful - the whole restaurant can smell it. And, I'm not really a coffee guy. When the coffee comes out, they also bring a little thingey of frankinsense. I rarely order it because I'd be wired all night, but it is a nice little taste of Ethiopean hospitality. You know, I just like the place because the two sisters who run the place are so charming. And now, the son of one of the sisters sometimes works the front of house. He's also learning to play guitar and is into Zep and Hendrix instead of hiphop. So I like him. They also stuck it out at that corner when it was not so nice. Now it's hipster central between the Gladstone and the Drake, and they're reaping some of the benefits - it seems to be consistently busy now. And, it's probably the closest Ethiopean place to my house. Last visit they were putting teff (a grain from Ethiopia) in the injera. The injera was a little darker, a bit dry, and lacked the lemony tang the non-teff version has. I actually think I like the non-teff version better. I've had injera with teff before, can't remember if the Ethiopia House might be one of the places that does. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Had dinner at Addis Ababa last night. The two sisters who run the place are putting out an Ethiopean cookbook, coming out Dec. 5. That's about all I know about it. There aren't very many of them in English, as far as I know - but if it will let you recreate the food at their restaurant, it will be a welcome addition. I suspect it may be self-published, but I don't really know. I'm supposed to be on their mailing list, so I'll hopefully have some more details in a week or two. And, a new tapas place called Coca has opened up in the place formerly occupied by Gabby's at Queen and Euclid. This has me excited. Doubt I'll be able to check it out before the new year though. If anybody here can check it out, please fill us in. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Wow. The Omnivore's Dilemma seems to be the egulleters' overwhelming choice for food-related book of the year. (Er, does anybody think starting up our version of the Beard or IACP awards is a good idea?) At least those who've taken the time to respond to this thread. I've added it and the Locatelli book to my definitely should check out list. A few other interesting choices as well. Keep 'em coming. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Quite the opposite. Because we are in PEI we have very little choice or variety. We have Malpeque oysters. A real oyster tasting is just not an option here. ← Interesting! I have to say the Malpeques are consistently my favourites. I'd be curious regarding your opinion as to how well they travel. they seem mighty fine to me though. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

There's also a couple of chefs edging into the molecular gastronomy area. The chef from Senses (Aprile I think?) is opening up a place on Colborne. Don't know when it is scheduled to open though. And the guy who was at Lobby for a stint has moved to a place on Brant St. Don't know if that kind of stuff would appeal or not. I'm gonna stick to my recommendation of Perigee for the high-end meal. One of the top restos in the city, so, just on food alone I'd recommend it, and the open kitchen, to offer the students a look at how their meals are being prepared and assembled (as well as the opportunity to ask the cooks and chef questions during the meal) make it a no-brainer in my view. As for ethnic, Chinatown, Little India, Koreatown, maybe College St/Little Italy - but it's very trendoid. The middle eastern places along Lawrence might be interesting, as mentioned. There's a bunch of Iranian places up around Yonge & Finch - I've never gone though. As for Ethiopean, I'm partial to Addis Ababa (I'm actually heading there this evening). Lots of good Vietnamese. For a quick snack, pupusas in Kensington market and/or empanadas would be a must. Even before a peameal in St. Lawrence. Seeing as you're from PEI, you can probably skip the oyster joints! There's a few tapas places now too for Spanish. There's one in Kensington, and a new one just opened up this week on queen West. Good luck with it! Cheers, Geoff Ruby

There's a thread in the Toronto forum on "fun" eating experiences in TO. I might have a look at that - not necessarily high-end stuff, but, well, fun. I'll throw out a couple more ideas. How about dim-sum. Maybe one of the better sushi places. For high end, Perigee might be an option. The restaurant seating is basically arranged all around the open kitchen. So, in addition to fantastic food, it would be a good place to bring aspiring chefs. They get to eat and see their meal being prepared. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

I started a thread about the most essential cookery book of the year (I'm looking for opinions and hoping to spark some debate). In the thread's short life, there are already a few votes for Locatelli's book. Impressive results for a non North-American offering (and without foodtv tie-in)! It does look like a winner. However, can I ask a question? There's a bazillion Italian cookbooks out there. Maybe more. Some of them are pretty good. Or at least will allow you to cook delicious - Italianesque dishes. Alright, I'm beating around the bush a little bit here. My question is, is Locatelli's book pan-Italian, or is it mostly regional to where he's from (the linked article mentioned the north, but did not specify)? Does the world need another chef-driven Italian cookbook? What, exactly, does this book add to the, if I may say, glut of Italian cookbooks out there? None of this should be interpreted as negative; I'm very interested in this book. Just a bit wary of chef-cookbooks in general and owning more Italian cookbooks than anything else (by a long shot), I just want to know how it differs from what's already out there. And, living across the pond, not having eaten at one of his restaurants I have no idea how he is fusing italian with western (or not). Looking forward to your opinions, Geoff Ruby

There's an article on chopsticks in the current issue of Saveur. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

White Point near Liverpool? I stayed there at the beginning of August - everything on their lunch menu comes in big portions. Curry Village? Yes on both counts. White Point near Liverpool, and Curry Village. Not sure when we'll get back to Halifax. I'm hoping to get to Nfld maybe the year after next. That'll probably be the next time for NS and Halifax as well. Thanks to all who helped me out here. Cheers, Geoff Ruby PS - yes, I realize it took me two months to get around to responding. My apologies.

That's one of the exceptions I was referring to at the top of this thread. It does indeed look very interesting. I hardly ever try to cook Vietnamese though - there's a whole whack of Vietnamese joints within a 10 or 15 minute walk from home that are good and inexpensive. I still might pick it up though. There's also been a bunch of Spanish cookbooks released in the last year or so (maybe year and a half) that I'm interested in and would like to hear more about. I know there's a big thread on here about the Jose Andres (sp?) book Tapas. Any comments on it or the other Spanish cookbooks that have come out recently? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

For those Dorrie Greenspan fans - what have you been making out of her book? Is there anything it is particularly strong on? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

I did pick up the Herve This book that was translated into English and came out early this year, I think. Quite interesting, but I've sort of pecked away randomly at it. Hopefully more of his books will be translated into English. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

The End of Food is by Canadian author (I'm a Canuck) and former and current farmer Thomas Pawlich. Like Gina Mallett's and Michael Pollan's books, it deals with some of the drawbacks of modern industrial agriculture. For example, he points out that potatoes have lost 100% of their vitamin A (if memory serves) over the last few decades. Sorry, I can't remember the specific details, but that stood out for me. Many of our vegetables have lost considerable amounts of their nutritional content over the last several decades, sometimes to a staggeringly large extent. I'll give the book a qualified thumbs up - some might find it a bit dry perhaps, but for me all those stats and figures really grabbed my attention. He does give a funny account over his frustration with the current state of the tomatoes we get in this part of the world for most of the year. The most disappointing part of the book, to me, was the last section on how to fight back against the agro-industrial machine. A bit too left-wing screedish perhaps. Or perhaps it was simply a case of nothing particularly new to me ( I happen to read a lot of, and tend to agree with as often as not, left-wing screeds - at least as far as they pertain to our food supply). But, a valuable contribution to this area of the literature, particularly the stats on the decreasing nutrient levels (often accompanied by increased sodium) in our vegetables. I have no idea if it's been published outside Canada. Or if the Pollan book or Marion Nestle's cover the same territory. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

And why. I'm not sure anything I bought this year I'd use the term "essential" for. I enjoyed Heat and the Nasty Bits. I also read Gina Mallett's Last Chance to Eat (although published 2 or 3 years ago) and The End of Food. Not sure I even bought a (new) cookbook this year. And I love cookbooks - I just couldn't get excited about the this years' crop, with a couple of exceptions. I have to admit I haven't followed what's out there as closely as I have in the past; that's part of my reason for posting this. I'm interested in hearing about Marco Pierre White's book, and Michael Pollan's. Fuschia Dunlop's new one too - though I understand it doesn't come out on this side of the pond until the spring. So. What have I missed? What's inspired you? Has anybody done a good cookbook roundup? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

They had plain ones and stuffed ones (with shrimp). I bought both but haven't tried the stuffed ones yet. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Yes it is. This was a medium rye with lots of caraway seeds and a pleasant, sour bite from the sourdough starter. ← So we are talking about just one Food Store.. Not a Market.. So like a Bon Marche in Montreal or Pikes Market in Seattle, or Philly Reading Terminal Market, or Arthur Avenue Market, or the Green Market in NYC doesn't count because they are a collection of stores? I dont know, for me I would go with Citarella in Manhattan.. Just because there meat department is out of this world, they have an interesting Fish Department, and they have great coffee, foie gras,truffles,caviar, a decent smoked fish department, a nice cheese department, an ok baker, but skimp on the vegetabels.. And worse of all, no booze.. Oh well, they are pretty close.. ← Yeah, I'm, thinking a non-market store (unless a market-based store happens to be the best overall store). I know, not really fair to the market places which tend to be more specialized. But ... Tell me more about Citarella - I haven't been there. I don't even know ehere it is. My NYC experiences have been places like Zabars, some of the markets (Union Square and a really small one in a parking lot in the LES - but it had heirloom tomatoes which are only starting to become somewhat widely available here, yuppie joints in the (mostly west) village and latino places in the east village and Queens. I've seen a fair bit of certain parts of NYC - but I'm definitely a tourist there. Cheers, Geof Ruby

There's a name for these guys (I think they're pretty much exclusively guys). My sister, who lived in Mexico for a few years, told me that they actually have a job that is seen as part of a tradition, and is accorded respect. It's not a "would you like fries with that" type of thing at all, but something that requires training and paying your dues, at least in Mexico. I'm not surprised; good tacos al pastor is one of my favorite things to eat on the whole planet. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Ok. Deep breath. In another thread I opined that a shop in my hometown might be one of, if not the best, single food shop in North America. This is certainly very debateable - many might not agree with me that it's even the best food shop in this city. (I'll weigh in on my opinion in good time. This ain't really about my opinion, but I do have one). So, let's debate, but civilly. We can't all have shopped everywhere - I hope what this thread will develop into - if it develops - is a discussion of what we love about our best food shops, and what they do best, and what we want to see (more of) out of them. So, what's the best single food shop where you are? What does it do the best? How does it stack up against other places you've seen in your travels? Cheers, Geoff Ruby

You know, living downtown and not having a car (it's in a transit deprived area), I didn't make it out to the Cheese Boutique for ages. First visit maybe a year and a half ago. I finally talked a friend with a car into checking it out. I literally had been bugging him for a couple of years to wander over for a visit, and we finally did. If either of us had known how good it is, we would have made the trek much, much sooner. I think we spent at least two hours there that first visit. It was a weeknight, and the place wasn't that busy. We just needed that much time to take everything in.(It's also not even that big, in terms of physical footprint). But the selection, especially of imported, canned or bottled foodstuffs is staggering. Tons of stuff I'd never seen before. And the cheese room makes me think I'm on a different continent. And they boast a well trained and informed staff. Did I mention the cheese room? - If they buy a cheese they think will benefit from further aging, they do it themselves before they'll let you buy it. So yeah, I've been back many times since. (Discovered the canned piquillo peppers from Spain the last visit. holy crap they're good! I know, it's a small can, and it's like $8, but trust me on this one.) The question initially was CB vs. Pusateri's. They both have their strengths (and I'll admit I haven't been to the flagship Pusateri's in eons), but if I could only have one, it would be the Cheese Boutique. I'm glad we have both. I'll also toss out the possibility that the Cheese Boutique may be the single best food store on the continent (although there are lots of things they don't do - fresh fish being the most obvious are that springs to mind, and as stated above, not a ton of prepared stuff). (Actually that might be a fun topic for a wider egullet discussion- I'll start polishing my flame retardant suit). So, as you can probably guess, I am a big fan of the Cheese boutique. Just wish it was a little easier to access on transit. I'd spend even more money there. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

I watched this last night. They showed two episodes. I'd say it's more a travel show with a bit more focus on food than, say, the lonely planet shows (which it reminded me of), than it is a show about food that also shows some of the sights. I'd say maybe a third of the show was talking about food. The host is a Brit, and apparently a chef. The camera work is gorgeous (although a bit too much movement in many shots for my liking). Just wish there'd been a bit more focus on food. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Just gonna give this a little bump, as it debuts today. I think it is 8 half hour shows. Cheers, Geoff Ruby

Feast India, is apparently an 8 part series following a guy travelling around India soaking up the food and culture. The first episode is airing this Friday, Oct. 27 on TVO in Ontario. 7 pm, I think. Has anybody seen this? Has it aired elsewhere? Is it worth viewing? Cheers, Geoff Ruby