Rachel Perlow

It's not that ST is bad, it's mostly just that ST is not as good as every other place mentioned above (although my brother did have a case of upset tummy after eating at the Mountainside location, ~8 years ago). It is very touristy, but if your roommate is set on it, then you can go, I doubt your group will be disappointed. The something concrete you can tell her is that we are recommending places that locals eat at that are better than ST. As for Forno's, 98% as touristy as ST, and the food was just bad the last time we ate there. Eight blocks to Spanish Tavern...

If someone has mobility problems, I'd go with Seabra's Mediterranean Manor over Casa Vasca. The seating at CV is very tight, the bar is very smokey and I don't think there's handicapped access. Med Manor definitely has an entrance ramp, but I don't think the rest room is handicapped accessible. 10 blocks to Spanish Tavern...

Sorry Curlz. Next Sunday? You could really see the construction of them, as well. After you bit down into the soupy part and drank that, there was a cube shaped depression remaining in the shrimp paste. I confirmed with Cecil, the stock is chilled and the shrimp ball is formed around a cube of the gelatin.

Not to mention that they (Sub Zeros) are so hard to open, my cousin is always breaking fingernails on the door handle.

And you don't know the half of it, I've done some more research and edited my post above, but we're talking $7000-8000 for a high end all fridge all freezer combo. Not to mention, you're taking up wall space that could be used for an electric convection wall oven, and save the money and put it into a high end dishwasher. Instead of being 4x the cost of a regular dishwasher, they're only like 2x the cost, so are a better value. I love my dishwasher, a Miele with a third silverware drawer at the very top.

They exist, but now we're starting to get into the multiple-thousand dollar range, like SubZero (~$8000) or GE Monogram (~$7000). If you can live with white ($1350) or stainless steel ($2000) fronts, then you may want to go with the Whirlpool set (fridge linked above, here's the freezer).

The inside might be sterile, but how clean is the outside? Does it make sense to wash the shells before cracking?

Checked Consumer Reports. Interestingly, both the top and bottom mounted refrigerators are pretty close in energy efficiency. Both are better than side-by-side models. They recommend the 33-inch-wide LG brand model #LRDC22731, with its fancy tilt-down bottom-freezer drawer front, ice maker and high energy efficiency rating. However, is costs $1300 and you don't need the ice maker. For around $500 less, you could get the basic Amana or Samsung models,* which actually have slightly more usable space, but with the wide swinging bottom door. *I'd recommend Sears for online fridge shopping/comparison, they have more brands than CR listed, and far less $ on the basic appliances. Unfortunately, you can't select no ice maker or bottom door type as search options on their website. Kenmore (Sears brand) does have a freezerless fridge, for $400. Totally basic, but I just looked up how expensive ice makers are ($850 minimum for a Kenmore). Are you sure you don't want a fridge that makes ice? That LG model might be a good compromise. (BTW - Sears doesn't seem to carry LG, but Best Buy does, but I can't find that model on their website, perhaps they could order it? Here's LG's website. The "French doors" look cool.) Whirlpool also makes a freezerless fridge, model #EL7ATRRMQ, which has more bells & whistles (bins & such), and is therefore more expensive ($720) than the Kenmore. Interestingly, they list it with the side-by-side models, because the idea is to pair it up with an all-freezer matching appliance.

Why do you need an asparagus steamer when roasting is the best method for preparing asparagus?

You know it is possible to get a fridge only refridgerator, if the extra freezer is nearby, like in the laundry room, it may be the way to go. Note: Anna and I must have great minds, since we think alike.

If you are getting a separate ice maker, then I agree with your wife that a bottom drawer freezer is the way to go. It is more economical both price-wise and energy efficiency-wise (heat rises, so coldest part on the bottom makes the most sense). Like I said, as long as you don't want it for ice or water dispensing. Everything in the fridge is at a great height and you have nice wide shelves for when you need to get in party platters or what have you. Get the pull out drawer for the bottom, rather than the kind where there's a cabinet like door, and then bins to pull out. It's great for everything except for having to pull out a huge frozen turkey from the depths. I so wanted a separate stove top and wall oven because I wanted a gas stove top and an electric oven. As you may or may not know, a by-product of natural gas being heated is H2O. Not good for when you want stuff to get crisp in the oven. The huge gas oven takes a while to heat and retains heat for a LONG time. I have found myself using our small Cusinart convection toaster oven with far greater frequency than our Garland range oven. So, while I don't know anything about your current range, if it has a big gas oven, and you have room for an additional electric oven, I don't think you'll regret having it, especially with convection. Yeah, wood floors! I'm not going to let anyone talk me out of wood floors in the kitchen, next time I have to do a kitchen. I have decided I hate tile. Tile sucks.

Those recipes sound great, but I wish JS had gotten Meredith's OO gelato recipe as well.

Finally made it to the Englewood market in the pouring rain today. Two produce vendors, a bread stand and a prepared foods stand (including fresh mozzarella) by Hoboken Farms.

I realized after the fact that I didn't follow my own advice here. This watermelon doesn't have the pale side that comes from a fully grown watermelon sitting on the ground for a few days, ripening, before being cut from the vine. It is a good watermelon, but isn't great. You can see that the flesh isn't as red as it could be and it isn't as flavorful as it could be either.

It is complicated, but it's for when you don't want to have seeds in your watermelon, like when doing a fancy fruit salad, or if you just don't like to bother with seeds. If you're having a big casual bbq in the back yard, then cutting in large slices is the most fun way to go. However, I really highly recommend the scrubbing for all melons. The stores don't wash them, you don't know who's been handling them, either in the store or before it got there. When you cut through the rind into the flesh, anything untoward ends up in your fruit salad. When I said how sick I got last year, I meant it. Very very unpleasant, 'nuff said. (And no, I haven't gotten sick in the same way since I started scrubbing the melons like they were a gunky pot.)

You're welcome. I'm planning on taking step-by-step photos the next time I deal with a watermelon. OK, so it's a year later. But to be fair, all the watermelons I've seen or bought at supermarkets (and even farmers markets!!!) have been seedless varieties. As I discussed above, not only do seedless varieties tend to have less flavor, there's no point in discussing watermelon surgery when you aren't worried about the seeds. Thankfully, this past weekend we spied a watermelon guy along the side of a road, and he had long big honking seeded watermelons. We bought one for $8. I didn't weigh it but it's way bigger than last year's Thanksgiving turkey, so I'm thinking it's at least 30 lbs. Therefore the price was ~25 cents a pound. Not bad. Not a huge bargain, but then I can't seem to get seeded watermelons anywhere else these days. So last night, Jason's like, "we gotta eat that huge watermelon before it goes bad." I manage to get it into the sink and give it a good scrub with soap and hot water. Jason had to lug it out of the sink and into the bowl. I sliced off one end to eat that night. The completely peeled watermelon, trimmed of all the white pith. See how nice and seed free that perimeter flesh is? Cut this up into cubes and place in another bowl. The center of this area is what I call "the heart" of the watermelon. Cut away the seeded area in slabs and you are left with the heart. Cut the seeded slabs into seeded and unseeded sections: I find it easiest to just discard or make a granita (after blending and straining the flesh) from the very seeded sections. As you can see from this image, there isn't much waste if you just toss it: Next time, just cut a couple inch thick slice from the cut end. I should be able to do that two or three times before reaching the level of the top of the bowl. Mmm. Watermelon.

We just finished the swiss chard goma-ae as an appetizer to tonight's dinner of BBQ chicken. While not my favorite way to have goma-ae (tied between green beans and spinach), it is my new favorite way to have swiss chard (usually we just sauteed w/oo & garlic).

And who will unload your cart full of unbagged items into your car and from the car to your house?

from that article: What, no FrozFruit? And I don't understand a strawberry fruit bar being described as creamy? Note, that on the east coast of the US, the top rated Dreyers, is known as Edy's.

I wasn't sure if your post was really about two different issues. Fiirst, is there anything you can do to improve the restaurant, which I think you are on the right track (great specials, no discounts). The other issue is how can he drum up more and repeat business. Like Rosie said, you need to take every possible opportunity to generate positive PR.

Here is my email to them: Here is their response to my inquiry:

Amazing Watermelon Facts and other useful information.

Do you need to stay right in AC? For seafood, where the locals go is Crabby's. Mmm, Crabby's. Best buffet we went to was the Friday night seafood buffet at the Seaview Marriott in Absecon. Some things are just worth the drive. Of course, you must hit White House Subs. And last time we were there, there was a great Vietnamese restaurant in AC, but away from the Boardwalk area. I can search for the name if that is of interest. NJ2FLA - why stay away from the Taj Mahal buffet? Edit: Found a link to my previous long post about our trip to AC in 1999. The name of the Vietnamese place is Little Saigon.

Thanks Kear!

That's the Thursday Livingston one. Bethb reported above that there's one at the Livingston Mall on Monday. I've PMed her for more details.