Rachel Perlow

If you think it is dark now, you should have seen it before. The walls were a darker color, there were these weird room dividers. KT has painted the walls a light yellow, but mixed the colors of the lights, white and red. That and the red neon sign in the window casts a red glow on the inside. Don't think of it as depressing, but as moody or romantic.

I'm glad other people use this method as well. Whenever I do this I get these looks as if I just burned a bundle of hundred dollar bills. Yes, they don't soften immediately, so they need that rest of a minute or so to make them easier to roll. What's funny about what you just said is how cheap the banh trang are, buy an extra package in case you mess up a few. Other tips, try to add the shrimp in such a way that it shows through on the rice paper top of the roll. And/or add herbs in a way that they show on top or stick out the ends slightly, this works well for chives and cilantro. Also, my local Vietnamese place calls these Summer Rolls. Their spring rolls are fried.

Golf courses tend to us A LOT of chemicals to keep the grass perfect. You should check with groundskeeper to make sure they're safe to eat, or at least wash them really well.

Welcome tilda2! Where do you like to dine in NJ? Or, do you prefer to stay home and cook? If so, you should check out RecipeGullet, and the eGullet Culinary Institute for some great ideas.

*** Damp tea towels or paper towels between each briefly soaked wrapper.***

They also usually have a basket weave pattern on the dried sheets (square or round) from when they were dried on bamboo mats. I usually have a couple of clean damp tea towels or paper towels on the counter next to the dipping container. Dip for a few seconds then lay it on a tea towel. Fold over the towel or lay another towel on top. Dip the next wrapper, and lay on towel. By the time the third wrapper is being layered in the toweling, the first is ready to use for rolling. Edited for clarity.

Cecil might correct me, but I'm pretty sure they're not open before 11:30.

Wow, I just paid ~$2.50 for a gallon of 1% yesterday in NJ. It was on sale though.

Wednesday's link works now (for the next week), see, there's the headline, top right.

Since this recipe has been worked over so much by you, it is now yours, any chance of you posting it in RecipeGullet?

A good experience as a couple, sure. As good as it could be with a group, no. Don't worry about it, go, enjoy, go back with friends.

Hey look, tommy got a haircut, looks clean shaven, and is that a collar I see on that shirt? May I ask, what was the occasion? Did Fink bring the tent too?

There's already a lot of posts about it above, click here for a good place to start reading.

The more people you bring, the less it costs per person. When we go with a group, it is generally around $25-30 pp, and we're talking A LOT of very good and interesting food. When it is just the two of you, if you want to try a variety of dishes, you might get a little higher than that, but not by much, it depends. Their full menu is on their website, http://www.china46.com/, and it is BYOB, and the Sunday brunch is an amazing deal, especially because it isn't full of crappy chinese-american food, like most chinese buffets.

As many of you might not make it over to the New Jersey forum, I thought you all might like to read an article from the Newark Star-Ledger about eGullet inspired by this thread. E- food : On line forums spread the tasty word, electronically, of course, by Suzanne Zimmer Lowery There's some great artwork accompanying the article that, unfortunately, didn't make it into the online version. This included a cartoon-like drawing combining a person riding a computer mouse, a computer in the background and various food items, a photograph of your truly cooking in my kitchen with my poodles looking on, and a picture of the zucchini frittata I made. The recipes also did not make it in the online version, but most of them are from our very own RecipeGullet: torakris' Zucchini Frittata My Strawberry Sorbet Marlene's Baby Back Ribs Marlene's Potato Salad

The Adventures in Eating reference was in regard to the Costco-a-go-go thread. I have a feeling that the article was edited. It was unfortunate that eGullet wasn't mentioned until the continued section, but at least the recipes were all credited appropriately to eGullet, if not to their actual contributors. BTW, in addition to the frittata and strawberry sorbet (recipes linked above), there were also recipes for Marlene's Baby Back Ribs and Potato Salad and a Mango Salsa credited to nj.com (I can't find a link).

Those wings were great. Reminded me of the grilled chicken KT used to make at Saigon Gourmet. The chicken curry was amazing, and I generally don't like curry. It was chicken stewed with coconut milk, batatas and lots of other seasonings, but wasn't overwhelmingly "curry" if you know what I mean. Felt like it was grandma's cooking (if your grandma is Vietnamese). I tried it because I like stewed chicken and it was one of the few dishes that isn't a duplicate of Saigon R's menu (where I've tried everything, more than twice), and I was glad I did.

Yes, KT purposefully didn't call us. :( She wanted to have a very soft opening. Heck, her staff didn't even know they were going to open (this past) Saturday until Friday. They got all their permits (finally) and she said, "let's open tomorrow." So they did. With no fan fare, not even an "open" sign in the window. People just walked in. They served about 30 people Saturday night. We had a late lunch/early dinner and there were other people there, at 3:30. Joe's been sending overage over to Fort Lee. Jason's started another thread about Mo Pho, so I suppose we should continue this discussion over there.

The link just wasn't online this morning. Thanks go to MJ Crowley, online/archive editor at the Star Ledger, for getting it online when I emailed her an inquiry. Here is a link to the discussion the article on nj.com's "recipe swap" forum. I invited the participant there to find the recipes on RecipeGullet (linked in my previous post, above). In addition to the picture of me cooking (with the dogs looking on), there was a picture of the zucchini frittata I made and some fabulous artwork detailing food and a computer. The article was on the cover of the Savor section, and a headline leading to it was on the front page of the paper.* The sans dairy comment was to mean cream or milk, as Jason was comparing it to quiche. There was cheese in it, which, of course, is dairy; but I don't think it provided the luscious-factor. * This link http://www.nj.com/starledger/pdf/wednesday.pdf should bring you to the front page, where the headline should be in the upper-right hand corner. However, it is still linking to last week's Wednesday paper. Probably by tomorrow you should be able to see the headline.

The article is about "e-food." It starts out with a profile of Rosie, discussing the rise of the internet and food sites on the internet. Then it describes eGullet, from its founding to the present day; positively comparing it to some other food sites, like NJ.com's food forum. An example of how eGullet helps the home cook is found in the Costco-a-go-go thread, where I make a couple recipes. There are pictures of me cooking in my kitchen, with Truffle and Bailey looking on. (Bailey is looking up, hoping I throw him something. Truffle is watching the floor, in case something falls. Truffle is smarter.) Recipes include torakris' Zucchini Frittata and my Strawberry Sorbet.

What a nice article. Thanks Dean.

What size eggs? The character in the book was probably using eggs from chickens on their property. They may be more like medium rather than large eggs.

How's it going, Dean?

I'm backing you up 150% Rachel. Close, but no, sorry. Asparagus must be pan-braised with butter. OK, but you don't need an asparagus steamer for that either. Um, when you say pan braised, how much butter are we talking about? Like a slow saute, or like the asparagus is completely covered by the butter a la butter poached lobster?

Three blocks to Spanish Tavern...