Rachel Perlow

Thanks for that Tracey. Not defending any place here, but look at any Chinese takeout menu. If you order more rice than "goes" with a dish, you get charged for it. If you order a noodle dish, it typically doesn't come with rice, unless you ask for it. Actually, I didn't know that C46 even had brown rice. I'll have to ask for it next time. BTW, the only thing on that list that is on the banquet menu is fried squid as one of the apps.

Just a reminder, link above.

Yes, for example, the Lion Dancers are there for the whole restaurant, not just us. And, C46 has a special Chinese New Year menu available, that is not the same as our menu. I believe you can order off the regular menu as well. In the past, friends with small children (they are welcome, but most parents haven't wanted to impose their kids on a bunch of "strangers") or eG members with special diets have chosen to come the night of the event, but sit at their own table and order their own food. This way, you can say hi, meet some people, etc., but have control over your own menu. It's very hard to create a banquet menu for a large group that will please everyone. The Lion Dancers perform between 7 and 8 PM, so I'd recommend making your reservation for around 6:30, if you're not planning a 3 hour banquet!What has become an annual Chinese New Year dinner at China 46 is now also a fundraiser for The eGullet Society. So we hope you choose to make a donation, even if you don't plan on attending the official event. Click here for info on where a lot of the money we raise goes.

Actually, Anna, somewhere in the depths of the files of eGullet, Rachel Perlow explains that it is not particularly difficult ... to me it looks quite complex ... ← Exactly as Randi said, it's not hard, you just have to pay attention to it every 20 minutes for 3 hours. Coincidentially, I just wrote up a bunch of tips for TrishCT, who was also making the rainbow mold this weekend! Perhaps the three of us should work on a demo thread. For Jell-O! BTW Randi, it looks great, I love the idea of making them jigglers. But you forgot the orange! One of my tips, if you can't find orange (I've had this issue in the past), is that, in jello, a full box of red + a full box of yellow, DOES NOT equal orange. A box of yellow, plus a spoonful or two of red (do this once liquid) will work, add the red just a bit at a time. As I've explained before, the taste of these is just, um, Jello. The flavors blend, so it really isn't important that your orange tastes like cherry-lemon. Another important tip is to premeasure your mold (measure how much water it will hold), and then calculate how many boxes you will need. For the regular mold, figure 1 2/3 cups per box (you don't use the full 2 cups of water as called for on the boxes). I don't know about jigglers. Randi? (Seriously, we should start a fancy jello thread).

It is a strip mall with parking right in front. I think there may be parking in the back as well, but we haven't had to park back there either of the times we visited.

I still remember the tuna hero Dino, of the late Dino's Bakery (now a Domino's ) in Cliffside Park, made me once. It was a good quality olive oil packed tuna with herbs and chopped tomatoes mixed in. Mmm. Jason's favorite day after roast turkey dinner sandwich is sliced turkey breast with a lot of black pepper ground on, romaine lettuce and a thin schmear of mayo on the bread. We usually use wheat, but any bread is acceptable, the main thing is to use an obscene amount of ground pepper. Mayo the bread, grind on the pepper so you don't really see the mayo anymore, then the turkey and lettuce. Do you ever do "leftover" based sandwiches? Jewish style (braised) brisket makes a great next day sandwich, hot (when hot with gravy, it can get rather messy, perhaps serve open faced, or just with a warning that it may need to be eaten with a knife and fork because of the gravy) or cold. What about meatloaf? I was also going to suggest cubanos. They don't have to be served on long bread, I'll bet your foccacia rolls would panini into great cubanos. It's the combination of meat/cheese and pickle/mustard flavor that gets me. Shouldn't be over loaded with meat, just enough. I don't know if you ever do eggplant, but if you do, I hate most pizzeria eggplant parm. The eggplant is sliced too thin and then breaded/fried. It usually tastes like breading parmesan to me. When I do it at home, I make thicker eggplant cutlets, baked with a very light breading. Of course, this is something I make at home, so I wouldn't order it, but someone who doesn't like to cook (Anonymouze?) might appreciate this as a casserole or sandwich. Hummos or Babaganoush with Israeli salad stuffed into pita. I know it's weird and not gourmet, but for your bargain menu on the bottom of the page, something my mom used to pack me for school lunches, chicken roll with ketchup on white or rye. Yes, the processed kind of chicken roll. Just for something tacky and nostalgic? I'm really curious if this would sell.

If you show up the weekend of the 28-29th, you could even come to the Chinese New Year dinner in NJ! Link

This event is fast approaching. We've gotten several RSVPs via PayPal in addition to the ones here, but there are still seats available. We are setting an RSVP and payment deadline of Wednesday, January 25th, since we need to give Cecil a headcount by Thursday. If you're still on the fence, I hope you decide to come. We look forward to seeing you there! Payment Link

That sounds like it might be an interesting discussion. However, you should feel free to start it in a more appropriate forum, like General, not in a thread about a particular hot dog specializing restaurant. Thank you.

They're open until 5 except for when they are closed. That is, if they have a big catering event, they may also close for lunch that day and it will be announced on the daily page of the website. They may also close when they run out of everything, so it is best to call ahead. 201-262-5505.

How does your food co-op work? Do you have to put in sweat equity?

Martha Stewart was demonstrating a coffee cake last week. Her secret to big crumbs? Squeezing the crumb mixture with your hands into big clumps before assembling the cake. Cardomom Streusel Coffee Cake recipe Video demo of making the cake with Rita Moreno (there's a commercial first)

Jason and I finally made it over to Picnic the other day. Wow, what fabulous food. Those of you lucky enough to be in delivery range should take advantage. The only problem for those of us not, is finding a place to eat while the food is still hot. We just stayed and chatted with the staff and Christine. Anyway, you know what that could mean, so get there now before they are inundated! Oh, I love it that they have a different daily menu every day, updated on their website, click Stacey's link above to check it out.

Uh, human's are primates, and how else are you supposed to eat a banana?

Would or wouldn't get? I just assumed it was indicating "not good." Is there something more?

This is a confusing paragraph, I attempted to highlight the portions I was to cite, but it was half of it! If they were serious about produce, they'd have high end dairy??? Is this something particular about Australian English that I'm not getting? That is, using the word "produce" to mean all ingredient sourcing?

The collegan dissolved in the stock is what makes it gelatinous when you store it, not emulsified fat. Well made, perfectly clear and defatted stock should be gelatinous when chilled.

Wait, she hasn't eaten any potato chips since that night? The commercial was for Lays, "Bet you can't eat just one (Lays) potato chip." Therefore, the bet should have been to never eat another Lays potato chip, she should have been allowed to eat other brands or homemade potato chips without violating the spirit of the bet. Besides, I always felt that "bet" was to only eat one at one sitting or one out of a bag or something, not that you could never again have another Lays potato chip. There's a bowl of chips out at a party, "bet you can't eat just one" that night, for example. There was an episode of the late TV show Ed about this. The title character and his friend have a hook where they are always betting each other $10 to do weird/stupid/embarrassing things -- and you HAVE to do the thing, it was a macho dare contest. One time, out of spite, the friend bets Ed to eat a Lays potato chip. He takes a long time deliberating on this one, because he too once ate one Lays potato chip and hasn't eaten another one since. In the end, he did it, because the integrity of the tradition with his friend was more important than a vow he made as a teenager.

I hope not, they're not open on Sundays, and well, not officially open yet, at all. Although I suppose they could have been there today going through last minute, pre-opening stuff.

I have the take out menu right here... Yes, a side of cheese wiz is available for $1. Other good sauces available for the Belgian style fries as well, we had the chipotle mayo.

I was thinking triangular shaped petit-fours would be perfect. Pouring over the white (tinted?) glaze would be easier than fondant. Or, you could just go with triangles of white chocolate, that creamy color looks just like a white cheese.

No, it was cheesey enough* for me, but it wasn't saucey enough for me. In Marlena's new book, she mentions (p. 28) that a bechamel based on 1.5 cups of milk (plus cheese, etc) was enough for 12-16 oz of noodles. Since I started with 2 cups of milk, I figured that would be enough for 16 oz of elbows. Next time, if I need to make a full box of noodles (like for a party), I'll start with a 3 cup bechamel; this time I was just making a treat for Jason and me (because I'm reading Marlena's book and it makes you crave mac & cheese), so making a smaller casserole would have been perfectly acceptable. The 2 cups of milk was a convenience factor since I freeze excess milk in pint containers.*** I used about 10 oz of cheese. If I were just using straight not extra sharp cheddar, it might not have been enough, but combining some strong flavors (parmesean, horseraddish jack) with the medium and mild (sharp cheddar and swiss, respectively), it was enough for me. Next time I might reserve some to shred & blend in with the sauce, but it's just so damn easy to use the VitaMix to do everything. I'll have to just reserve some to add to the sauce at the last minute and only pulse it a bit to grind rather than blend it in. ** Milk is cheaper by the gallon than by the quart. I rarely use more than a quart before it goes bad. Actually, I use milk sporadically. If I'm in the mood for it, I could go through a 1/2 gallon before it goes bad, and a quart usually seems like not enough. Other times, I would have a quart go bad before I finish it, or I have no milk in the house when I want it. By buying a gallon and freezing about 3/4 of it in pints, I always have milk when I need/want it. It defrosts easily in the microwave, but be sure to pour out the liquid as it defrosts and mix well when it is almost completely defrosted (just a little ice left), since the watery parts seem to defrost first.

The place looks great, Eric, congratulations and best of luck! While all the signature dogs were great, our favorites were actually the simplest, the My Schmiero (the cream cheese is a great conveyer of the green onions, nice flavor/temperature/texture contrast on this one) and the NJ Breakfast (excellently fried egg binded to bacon wrapped dog with cheese). Fabulous fries and Boylan Red from the fountain. Excellent all around!

Huh, I think I used too much macaroni. I used a whole box of elbox (1 lb), to a morney (?) sauce based on 2 cups lowfat milk, 2 T butter, 2 T flour, 1 small garlic clove, 1/2 tsp salt. When the sauce thickened I added the cheese, a combination of parmesean, swiss, cheddar and horseradish flavored jack, then adjusted with a few shakes of pepper sauce, tumeric and paprika (will skip tumeric next time, too yellow, not the color I was going for). I use my VitaMix to make the bechamel: milk, butter, flour, on high for 5 minutes, add garlic and salt. Then the cheese. Basically, I trimmed all the edges off all the cheese in our fridge -- anything starting to look like it might get hard. It had a nice flavor, but I think it was just a little too little sauce for the amount of noodles. Next time I'll reserve a cup of the cooked noodles and make some macaroni salad or something.

The stuff in tubes is definitely tomato paste in the US.