Rachel Perlow

Indiagirl - I noticed that several of the dishes you enjoyed must have been braised (lamb stew, lamb shanks). Even though you said the shanks were slowly roasted, that cut is usually braised, and I think this was too because of your describtion of the texture of the meat. So, when you see other things on menus that interest you, look out for that word, braised. You will probably enjoy that dish.

If you're doing the roasted cauliflower like Jim Dixon recommended a while back, you'll need a minimum of two large heads - it is so good. If trying to make the salad I described, just roast florets and some sliced carrots, then drizzle tahini sauce over it all.

Frankly, the main reason we got the side burner is our kitchen was to be out of order for a month or so shortly after we got the grill (construction still hasn't begun) and felt it would be handy for when cooking outside is mandatory. We have also used it to make quesadillas (on a flat, round, cast iron skillet/griddle) after grilling the chorizo and veggies. During a family BBQ, we kept the corn boiling pot on a low flame to reheat corn as people came up for seconds (float some butter on top of the hot water and no need to manually butter the corn). It has a stronger flame than our current stove, so I have also used it as a wok burner on occasion. In summary, if you've never wished you had a side burner on the grills you've used in the past (and you don't have extra reasons to get one like we did), you probably don't need the side burner. If you've always yearned for one then it's worth it.

I have a feeling that the endless parade of dishes to sample was because you were a special group. I think that the regular brunch is "just" a fabulous brunch. And if that is the case, there are other, less out of the way, places that also offer such fabulous buffet brunches - The Manor in West Orange and the Hilton at Short Hills to name two. Has anyone been to brunch at The Clinton Inn in Tenafly? It is local to me and I'm curious how it compares to those mentioned above.

I like doing a middle eastern theme and/or grilling for more casual dinners. Hummus, babaganous, cucumber & yogurt, grilled veggies (eggplant, summer squash, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms), vegetable salads (Bennies makes a great roasted carrots and cauliflower with tehini, yum), and grilled meats, kebobs of beef, lamb, chicken, shrimp, swordfish, etc., all eaten with lots of pita bread. Not all of it needs to be homemade.

The phone number is 845-424-4228. If it is not to be as it was when you were there years ago (endless parade of tasting dishes) and instead just a fancy brunch buffet, are people still as interested in going?

Even though this started as a NY topic, there may be people in other areas who may find this a worthy discussion, so I am moving this thread to the General Board.

OK, so Mark called me back. It is a champagne brunch, which means all you can drink champagne, but soft drinks are extra. We will have to limit this to 20 participants as that is the absolute maximum they will accept a reservation for. With tax & tip it will be about $50 per person (anyone know the tax rate in Putnum County?), but if you know you will be ordering juice or soda or other alcoholic beverages bring some extra cash to cover your tab. Anyone have a preference for the date or seating? Again the choices are June 9 or 23 at 11:30AM or 2:30PM. PS to markstevens: I didn't check to be sure they are following the same food format as they did when you went in '94. Could you give them a call to check on this since you are the one who was there then? Thanks.

OK, fine. Then we'll have a dinner at Bella Rosa on May 18th, plan to arrive at 5PM. If it's five of us, fine, if it's 20 great! If less than 10 participants I suggest we just order off the menu, bring our own wine, and split the bill at the end. If more, I will arrange a prix fixe dinner. In either case I doubt the amount will exceed $35 per person total. So, as of right now the participants are Jason & Rachel Perlow Mark Stevens Helena & Ken Robinson Helena Sarin Bob & Sandy Nash Please RSVP by May 10th, to rperlow@hotmail.com. (Helena Sarin - we will do a picnic another time, were you the one up for doing a potluck in your backyard? If so, that sounds great, you choose a date & time. )

OK, I knew Rosie wasn't able to do the 18th, but we got some requests to do the next dinner on a Saturday. If I change it to Sunday the 19th is anyone else interested? Care to suggest other dates? Or, should I not bother with Italian? Is it too pedestrian? Other cuisines we want to do in future include Indian, Vietnamese, Korean... Please suggest any others you'd like to try. I'll be happy to organize most anything. Also suggested was having a BBQ at some point over the summer. I thought the South Mountrain Reservation in Essex County would be perfect as they have lots of beautiful park land. However, we would not be allowed to cook anything on site due to the drought (danger of starting a forest fire I think). Would people be interested in doing a pot luck picnic in a park like that?

Was that the thread where Ruby was trying to figure out whether to sue the theatre because of the heavy on-stage smoking? I'll have to re-read.

I want to come too! Where are we going?

{I must be an idiot. All this time I thought B Edulis was Davy!}

I can't really remember a time when I didn't cook. Around 7 or 8 I took an afterschool activity type course in cooking. I remember making egg drop soup among other things. But she must have taught us some basic techniques. I had my own cookbook for kids that I made a lot of stuff out of, once an entire dinner for my family. I was very proud of that. My mom obviously taught me a lot, and once I learned to follow a recipe, I'd be able make anything she wanted me to, or she'd just tell me how to do it. She worked full time, so I helped out with dinner a lot as I got older, although initially I was just in charge of making the salad for the family dinner. I also took many other kid oriented cooking courses, I particularly remember making egg rolls at the JCC in West Orange, NJ. I have a bunch of recipes from my grandmas, but they never taught me to cook, they usually shooed everyone out of the kitchen at their houses. I really don't remember being taught the how to boil water, really basic stuff. I can recall my dad instructing me on how to make scrambled eggs the way he liked them - still runny. Oh and Girl Scouts, we did a variety of cooking with the Girl Scouts (my mom was a troup leader for a while). But, the only thing I can really remember cooking with the Girl Scouts was pancakes over an open fire at a campout (not from scratch, from one of those milk carton pancake batters).

After reading that entry, I checked my timeshare exchange, Interval International. There is a member resort on Orange Beach in Alabama. Maybe next year...

I called. The brunch is only on Sundays, and they are already too full to have a large party anytime in May (I was thinking we could postpone the Italian dinner and plan this for May instead, but no). Our options in June would be June 9th or 23rd, 11:30 AM or 2:30 PM seatings. Just from the responses so far, it sounds like we have a minimum of 10. The woman I spoke with said they usually limit the parties to 14 at a table, so I left a message for the Maitre'd to discuss doing a larger table, or seating two large tables next to each other. Just so you can get an idea of where it is, according to the directions they faxed me, it is a little more than 50 miles up the Palisades Parkway from the George Washington Bridge, up past the Bear Mountain Bridge.

And unless someone can procure an outside sponsor, individuals will be paying for themselves. Sorry, Mark, nice try.

I haven't finalized plans yet, but assuming we do the next dinner at Bella Rosa in East Hanover on May 18th (that's a Saturday), who would be interested in attending? The price would be similar to the previous dinners and it is BYOB. Here are some links about this restaurant: Recent eGullet thread Daily Record review from March 2002 eGullet thread from Dec 2001/Jan 2002

That sounds great to me. Which Xaviar's was it at? Why don't we call it a joint NY/NJ event?

It's kind of like the International Conventions we had in USY back in high school. It was international because it included the USA and Canada.

This topic is being moved to the Holidays Forum. It may not look like it to newbies, but mail order foods is how that forum got started. We need to change the description to indicate that. BTW - as is obvious to many who've been around for a while, our favorite mail order food is crab, specifically from The Crab Broker.

She didn't say they all have great Thai restaurants, just that they have Thai restaurants. I didn't necessarily agree with the statement, but it was a cute quote.

We got this dried blood at the garden center last year. It is supposed to be a really good fertilizer and keep away animals. Well the veggies loved it, but so did insects. Flies were buzzing around whereever it was distributed, and they came back after it rained and I guess rehydrated the stuff. But at least it doesn't smell as bad as the organic fish emulsion.

No, Arthur said a lot too! Did you realize you'd be on the whole hour? It sounded before like you thought you'd only be on one segment. I'll lend you the tape sometime if you want to hear yourself. Please forgive me if I didn't quote 100% accurately, I didn't relisten to it before posting, but I think I got the gist.

Oh, come on, it's the third page of this topic, I'm sure that certain someone is not reading (besides I just heard of this for the first time, it was on a sign in a bathroom (in a private home) in an episode of HBO's Six Feet Under): "If it's yellow, let it be mellow. If it's brown, flush it down!"