mamster

Many of you, I expect, have read the Harry Potter books and are familiar with Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, which are jelly beans in assorted flavors ranging from caramel to earwax. Well, last Christmas they turned into a real product, made of course by Jelly Belly, and I got some for Laurie's stocking. I didn't look closely at the package and figured they were just regular Jelly Bellys in a new pouch. The beans ended up going into the pantry, which Laurie was cleaning out. She found the beans and handed them to me. I looked at them and noticed that while they include some of the regular Jelly Belly flavors, they also feature: Black Pepper Booger Dirt Ear Wax Grass Sardine Spinach Vomit This had to be a joke, I figured, like those green slime candies that just taste like sugar or sour apple or something. Jelly Belly is not big on jokes. I started with black pepper, which is made with real ground pepper (it's on the ingredient list). These are quite good. I moved on to dirt, which could not possibly taste more like real dirt, or at least like the smell of potting soil. Sardine and spinach are similarly spot-on. Ear wax is just kind of vaguely nauseating (I mean, what would earwax taste like?), as is booger. Grass is okay but not strong enough. I think they may have been joking about vomit, since this pouch contained all the other flavors but not this one. I'm going to FAO Schwartz tomorrow to see if they have more of these, which they'd better. I don't want to be reduced to buying them on eBay. But this is the coolest product of modern times. Laurie does not agree.

Last night I had a burger than was not exactly larbish, but it was topped with Thai slaw, which makes an awesome burger topping. Shredded cabbage, a little grated carrot, scallions, fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, chiles, sugar, peanuts. Someone had thrown some portobello slices on the grill and offered me some, so I threw a couple of those on, too. Even with a frozen Costco patty, this was a very good burger.

The Broadway Pagliacci pizza is a special place. In December 1995, before we were married, Laurie and I bought a Seattle Times in Portland, circled some rental listings, and drove up to Seattle with my dad to find an apartment. When we turned the car onto Broadway, we knew this would be our neighborhood. It has been, with only one interruption, ever since. That night, after finding a cheap one bedroom at 10th and Aloha, we had dinner at the Broadway Pagliacci. Pagliacci doesn't serve the best pizza I've ever had, or even the best in town, but it's cheap and reliable, and I've probably been to the Broadway Pagliacci a couple hundred times since then. It's comfortable. I like to go during the day and sit at the counter along the south wall, where they always have many copies of today's Times and P-I to read. Once every two weeks or so, when I'm too busy or lazy to make dinner, Laurie and I will go and sit at one of the two-tops and eat pepperoni slices, or, better, The Works Primo, which is just a pizza with all of the normal toppings (pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and olives, but no pesto). At least, all this was true until recently. Around the second week of June, Pagliacci closed for renovations. They promised to reopen in time for the Gay Pride Parade last weekend, and they did, although the renovation wasn't really done. Now, with a new green neon sign in place, it's complete, and I can give my review: it sucks. I don't fear change. Most restaurant renovations are welcome and long overdue. But let's count all the things they did wrong here: 1. They took out the fountain. 2. My preferred south counter is no longer a counter, it's a string of two-tops with a bench on one side. It's now much less comfortable to eat there solo. 3. The design is all mall. It looks like a Johnny Rocket's. The gayest neighborhood in town and they couldn't find a competent interior decorator? And I hope that poster of a guy eating a piece of a salami ad went to a good home. That thing ruled. 4. Something about the main entrance is wrong. I like that they've made the front more open, but the actual door is weirdly uninviting. It always looks like the place is closed if you're coming from the north. Overall, they took a well-worn and comfortable place and made it gaudy, hard-edged, and dumb. On the upside, they now have a gelato case. It's a good thing I've been working on perfecting my homemade pizza, because I don't think I'll be spending much time at the Broadway Pagliacci anymore.

I spent a week in Venezuela in the early 90s and ate a large amount of grass-fed beef. This was a long time ago, so while I have fond memories of the experience, I don't remember exact taste notes. We ate at some serious beef restaurants, though (the US dollar went a long way), and I remember the beef being good but not as good as the best beef I'd had in the US. Not exactly a scientific comparison. On the whole, I'd rather see people's energy put into figuring out how to make grain-fed beef more environmentally and ethically sound.

Laurie and I were also in Portland and were talking about going to the dessert dim sum, but I had already polished off a sundae and a Pixie bar that day and couldn't imagine more dessert. Glad you enjoyed it, and based on your description we'll definitely go to a future one.

Here's Jim, hawking the JDOO. Those are the salt grains from the Portuguese on the right.

I didn't think Ken's croissant was as good as those from Cafe Besalu or Le Fournil in Seattle. You can't be the best at everything, I guess. I'm in favor of using the term "sourdough" to describe any bread made only with wild yeast, whether it's actually sour or not.

At tighe suggestion, I split this thread into two. Feel free to continue the argument here. Oddly, Ben, I had the opposite thing happen once at Thai-ger room. I ordered some noodle dish, three stars, and they brought it to me and it seemed fine. Then they brought me a whole other plate of it and apologized, saying the first one wasn't spicy enough. I asked them to wrap the second plate, and had it for lunch the next day. I guess it all depends.

Tony, I go to Salumi all the time, and it doesn't taste anything like the food in Bangkok.

Hey, didn't I hear a variation of this discussion at the farmer's market on Saturday? We were in Portland, and bought some olive oil from Jim, who also kindly shared some of his Portuguese salt. Plus we got to meet trillium and Quentin, who are very nice (not to be confused with Really Nice!). Laurie and I both thought the Portland market was a good mix, but then I would probably purchase a sausage-smoke-scented air freshener. Jim, if I post a photo of you selling olive oil, do you want your face Photoshopped out? So, since we were at the market anyway, I got stuff to make dinner for her family on Saturday night. I bought an enormous, beautiful cauliflower head, some spinach, strawberries from Persephone farm, and an onion. We also got a pear, rosemary, and chocolate tartlet and a Pixie bar from Pix. I made linguine with meatballs of dark meat chicken, spinach, pine nuts, and breadcrumbs from the previous day's bread from Ken's Artisan Bakery. I browned the meatballs, then simmered them in a red wine agrodolce to cook them through. With that we had roasted cauliflower with lots of Leonforte oil and flor de sal, and strawberries for dessert. I didn't get any of the free range chicken from Greener Pastures, because I didn't think meatballs would do it justice. I should probably start another thread at this point, but I'm on a roll. We also had a nice lunch at Park Kitchen and made three trips to Ken's, if you include stopping at his stand at the market. Ken's is the best bread I've ever eaten, although admittedly I wasn't a bread nerd yet when we went to France. It is crust and crumb above Grand Central, which is still very good. I've never been to Pearl Bakery, so I can't compare. Ken's baguette, country blonde (sourdough white), and country brown (pain de campagne) are exceptional. He also makes cannelés, which are good, though not any better than nightscotsman's. I really don't understand why Ken Forkish's bread is so great, but I intend to find out. He also makes something I've forgotten the name of (Galette de french name--Jim?), but it's brioche dough, rolled out thin and topped with sugar and orange zest, then baked like a pizza. This should not be missed. I'll have a little more to say about our trip to Portland soon.

No, Craig, I've never been to Italy. Sad but true. How about you fly me out for some intensive gelato tasting and I'll report back at no charge?

Eggs, scallions, pork if available, fish sauce, squeeze of lime. I enjoy fried rice more at breakfast than at any other meal.

engberson, I figured that the braising liquid from the pork would not be so different from pork stock that you could tell behind the kim chi. I don't know what the difference between chigae and gae jang is, either, but I'm betting Jinmyo knows. I'm still very much a newbie with Korean food, but I'm learning as fast as I can. Korean/Japanese restaurants are usually Korean-owned, aren't they?

I know it's not the same, Jinmyo, but I tried it and it was good.

slkinsey, I've noticed that about hot (as in temperature) Korean food as well. And I'm in Seattle, although the first time I went to a Korean restaurant it was The Mill in New York. Certainly dolsot bibimbap is part of the same trend, since it not only produces crispy rice skin but also keeps the dish hot throughout the meal. My recipe for kimchi soup eats just fine at something less than 212 F. Monica, it could be the sesame oil--as delicious as sesame oil is, it's pretty unpleasant if you overdo it. It's also easy to burn if you're not careful.

Karen MacNeil-Fife did a column in Sunset last year asserting that none of the consumer-level wine preservation products (gas blanket, vacuum pump, and so on) work as well as reinserting the cork and leaving the bottle on the counter or in the fridge. Is she right? How do you preserve your partially finished bottles--assuming you have any?

Okay, the superhot oven did not help, so I'm going to try the stovetop/flame tamer route. Thanks, Jinmyo. If that doesn't work, I'll get some metal ones.

Today I'm going to experiment by cranking the oven (I think mine can go to 550) and leaving the dolsots in for an hour or so. If that's not hot enough, it's flame tamer time. Nothing must come between me and my dolsot bibimbap, except a flame tamer.

Okay, the bibimbap came out okay for a first try, but not great. 1. I cooked the rice with too much water. Oops. I can fix this one myself. 2. The bowls weren't hot enough to crisp the rice. They were cool by the time I was done eating, which is definitely a problem. I heated them for about half an hour in a 450 degree oven. I can crank the oven up higher and heat them longer, but will that take me into crispy range? On this awesome dolsot bibimbap site the guy heats his dolsots on the stove. Unfortunately, I have neither gas burner nor flame tamer. Should I get a flame tamer and try the stovetop method? Torakris's bulgogi marinade was superb. Absolutely no complaints about the beef.

I have made up a batch of torakris's bulgogi marinade and put it on some thin-sliced beef from Uwajimaya. Tonight: my first attempt at homemade dolsot bibimbap, topped with the beef, kimchi, spinach, bean sprouts, and of course an egg. Delicious or disaster, you'll hear about it. Anyone know how to make the bean sprout panchan? I'll probably just blanch them if I can't figure it out.

It seems like there would be no advantage to the pre-seasoned cast iron for the deep-fryer, so you'd be better off saving a few bucks and getting the regular. It'll season up nicely while you fry. I tend to deep-fry in a wok, though.

I don't remember the specific businesses very well, but I would like to go back to the topless days. Er, before they put the roof on.

Heretical is a strong word. I'll sneak-preview it. Basically, I wanted some porky broth for my kimchi soup, so I braised and shredded some pork shoulder, skimmed the braising liquid, and threw in kimchi and scallions and boiled until done. It's usually made with tender pork, right?

torakris, totally coincidentally, I am right now (a) eating homemade kimchi chigae, about which I (b) just turned in a TDG column. It's a mildly heretical recipe, but it is very tasty.

They didn't take a wine called Nuthouse seriously? Those jerks.