mamster

tsquare, was that the ponzu dressing on some kind of tuna salad? That's always my favorite thing at Mashiko.

I like that idea. I think they should also leave a mint on your headrest.

I put some into cowboy beans last night, too. It's really doing great so far--no signs of bolting.

I didn't get over to Bellevue very often to enjoy Porcella, but their salami absolutely blew away the competition in a taste test I held, and their duck confit was a family favorite. I hope these skills are again put to good use at some point.

That sounds awesome.

If you want fresh masa, you're probably going to have to make it yourself from nixtamal or try to get a tortilla factory to sell you some, which is unlikely to save you any money. Homemade tortillas from masa harina are really good, so unless you find them totally inferior to the tortillas of your memory, I'd forget about the fresh masa. There's a lot of good Mexican food in Seattle. What part of town are you in and what are you looking for?

They had the sucker and both sizes of bags at Broadway Market QFC.

Scored one at QFC for $9!

Excellent, I can check Safeway and QFC right about now. Thanks!

Has anyone seen the new Reynolds Handi-Vac vacuum sealer, the super-cheap one, for sale around town? I'm planning to order one online, but thought I'd check first. Thanks.

I tried to take a friend to Kintaro last week and found it papered over an a sign redirecting people to their place down the street. Is Kintaro defunct or just being remodeled, or are they always closed in February, or what?

The meatball sandwich at Baguette Box is everything a meatball sandwich should be.

The tuscan salami is incredible.

That's great news, Shalmanese. Do you remember what block of the Ave it was?

Part of the idea here was to save money, but now I can't wait to buy some of these microfiber towels. To really be economical, maybe I should get a car to go with them.

I'm bringing this back up because I'm trying it out as a New Year's resolution, and here's the part I'm wondering about: how long do you let your wet/dirty towels sit around before carting them to the laundry? Laundry in my building costs $2.50/load, so I'm not going to wash them every day, but I'm also mildewphobic. How many days can wet towels sit around before they get really scary and stinky?

I am currently braising a flank steak I got from Amazon Fresh, but I'm making ropa vieja; I wouldn't usually braise flank steak.

Ah, I should have mentioned this. The minimum for free delivery is $25 unattended, $50 attended. The unattended delivery is available only if they have access to the front door of your unit--you can't do unattended delivery to a secure building. So that's why I won't be ordering again: sometimes I buy $25 worth of groceries, but I never buy $50 worth unless I'm playing with a new web site. Delivery charge is $10.

There are three supermarkets within six blocks of my house, so I have no good reason to order from Amazon Fresh, unless you count the fact that none of the supermarkets carry Green & Black's ice cream. Anyway, it's a new toy and I'm in the delivery area, so I had to try it. It's a lot of fun. The shopping interface is pretty good, although I'd love to see them allow reviews (I want to write a really angry negative review of a red delicious apple!) and, more seriously, show me "people who bought this also bought." They're including a free produce sampler with every order. It's not a very well thought-out assortment. Along with some apples (fine) and an Anjou pear (probably not very good, but I'll taste it when it's ripe), there's a pretty, tasteless hothouse red pepper, some mediocre navel oranges, and a package of that Broccoli Wokly brand broccoli in a bag. I threw some in with my Mac and Cheese at lunch and it was noticeably stale. I mentioned this to Iris and she said, "Then why do they call it Amazon Fresh?" But the produce I ordered is just fine. Cilantro, 49 cents. Honeycrisp apples, $1. Limes, 29 cents. English cucumber, $1. Bananas were something like 29 cents per banana. Meat is also generally inexpensive. Other items are at or above supermarket prices. There are weird holes in their inventory. They had sweet pickle relish but not dill. Their delivery area seems to cover many random parts of Seattle at this point, so put in your address at the site if you want to try it. Tipping is not allowed. Anything else you'd like to know?

Done. The taco gringos in question are two guys, Michael and Taber, who used to cook at Campagne. They live on the hill and had one too many nights out with no tacos, so they got this tiny space and turned it into Taco Gringos. They're going to change up the menu regularly. Tonight it was pork, chicken, veg. The chicken was the best, because it had tomatillos. They're your basic truck-style tacos, albeit with a single tortilla instead of two. There's extra salsa by the squeeze bottle and Mexican sodas--well, one variety each of Jumex and Jarritos, at the moment. Iris will be pleased to know that they'll have a tongue taco; well, not that pleased, since they don't open until past her bedtime. As for the other tacos, I liked the pork, but the vegetarian was TVP-based, which is not really in the spirit of tacos, I don't think. I'd totally go for beans, or something like, hmm, braised chard with red onions and queso fresco. Now I'm going to be lying in bed all night thinking of vegetarian taco fillings. How many tacos will the gringos have to sell to break even? Beats me. "Our money time is going to be between 12:30 and 2:30," predicted Michael. Do drunks love tacos? If so, I think the gringos are going to do all right.

On Bellevue Ave, next to Dinette, is a new place called Taco Gringos. Laurie spotted it the other day. http://tacogringos.com/ I peeked in today, hoping to find lunch, but they're open "Tue-Sat 8pm-late." The menu looked like this: Tacos $2 Soda $1 I believe the taco varieties were pork, chicken, and steak, but there may have been a vegetarian one. Anybody know anything about this? I assume it's either really good or really bad. I will try to swing by this week.

A while ago I mused on my blog about the need for a web site that would be something like a cross between a calendar and a blog where you declare what you've had for dinner and see what people in your area or around the world are eating. I'm pleased to report that JR Tipton took the idea and ran with it, and the result is: Meal Outlaw Among the things you can do: * Post your dinners (upcoming or already eaten) in a simple calendar interface. * Follow other user's dinners. * See dinners on a Google Maps interface. * Get an RSS feed for your meals, other people's meals, all meals you're following. Or get an iCal feed so you can view your meals on another web calendar such as Google Calendar. * Create a widget to show your meals on your blog or Myspace. * Add photos and tags. (So you can see, for example, all recent meals tagged "potato".) * Give your meals star ratings so you can remember your favorites--or see other user's favorites (and disasters). * Post comments and questions. ("What do you put in your meatballs?") I've been using it for a couple weeks and it's tons of fun. The best part is seeing what's cooking in my neighborhood. The developer is adding new features every day and is very responsive to bug reports. I should add that this is in no way designed to compete with the famous eGullet dinner thread, although that was certainly one of the sources of inspiration. And I have no financial or other interest in Meal Outlaw other than as a fan. Give it a try! The more people on Meal Outlaw, the better it will get.

Hey, Fish, I've had the same problem. Give Jim Drohman a call at Le Pichet. I think the chickens he gets are about three pounds. Actually, I know he gets them from Don and Joe's. Have you tried them?

Peet's Coffee is coming to Broadway. Broadway and Denny, in the old Kinko's spot, across from Vivace.

Licorous does.