ScorchedPalate

Along the same lines, I invariably get served my husband's lighter beer, and he gets my dark one. <grrr>

How about when he says "a little drizzle of olive oil" and then proceeds to use a half-cup of the stuff?

There's also a great recipe in Fuchsia Dunlop's szechuan cookbook, Land of Plenty. It's an excellent book, and I would highly recommend it. You may get a better response to this question on the China and Chinese Cuisine forum.

Last night, a bunch of Seattle friends -- a number of whom happen to be active on this thread -- got together and cooked up a Thai potluck deluxe! Here was the menu: - ginger-ini cocktails, made by Dayne - papaya salad (som dtam), made by Reese [ReeseK] and Rob - hot-and-sour prawn soup (dtom yum gkoong), made by Wendy [Little Ms Foodie] and Dayne - beef massaman curry (gaeng massaman nuea), made by Matthew [Mamster] and Laurie [LaurieA-B] - stir-fried beans with tofu (pad prik khing taohu), made by Reese and Rob - crab-and-fish curry custard steamed in banana leaf (hor mok buu bplah), made by yours truly - whole fried fish (bplah rad prik), made by Cameron [seaCrotty] - grilled pineapple with rum caramel and vanilla ice cream made by Judy [HeyJude] and Richard My camera was out of commission, so I used my cellphone to take a few snaps: Ofoto album (Click on the image to bypass the login.) The photos are a little fuzzy, but hopefully you can get the gist. There's also something wrong with Ofoto's thumbnails, but once you're either in the slideshow or browsing the album, you should be able to see all of the pix... It was a great chance to try new recipes and to make all those things that are too much trouble for just 2 people to eat. We had a blast, and everything was delicious. ~Anita

When I was in culinary school in the U.S., we all wore the paper toque as part of our required uniform. When I started, the student toques were half the height of the chef-instructors', but eventually the school changed suppliers and that went out the door. When I took classes in France, the chef-instructor was the only one in a toque. We students all wore white cloth hats akin to an army hat, like a cloth version of an old short-order cook's hat: (from the Cordon Bleu website)

There's a recipe here. I've no idea how authentic it is, though. Seems to be missing some of the ingredients mentioned earlier in the thread.

We ate there more than a year ago, and liked it a lot. But for the almost-$200 we spent, I could have a much nicer dinner at, say, Union. I think Vengroff hit it on the head: It really is a steakhouse that happens to specialize in seafood. ~A

Ooh! I just thought of one more: "Pre-fixe menu". (It's right up there with "expresso" in my book.) Is this the menu a restaurant puts out before it's been fixed? I think I'll wait, then... If you're gonna use a five-dollar word and/or a foreign phrase in a professional capacity, please double-check it. ~A

Also: here's their site, such as it is. I guess they're not open late for nibbles on Thursdays. ~A

Link on Farewell & Welcome Updated link to the Seattle Dining page Cam and I are going to try it out after the theatre on thursday; apparently they're open quite late for nibbles, which I have to say is rather ambitious given their location. ~A

Wow, they have lawyers making coffee drinks now? Or did you mean barista? (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

When we took the charcuterie class at Culinary Communion, Gabriel had a number of ideas, which have all promptly left my brain. I'd recommend dropping him an email (if you're patient) or calling... he's a sweet guy and he's always happy to share info. ~A

Hmm, odd... I can't seem to find them online anywhere. In a pinch, you could order them from Thai Kitchen though they have a $25 minimum order. Most Whole Foods markets sell Thai Kitchen products, if you're near one of those. I don't have any trouble finding wide rice noodles, both fresh and dry, at my local asian grocery, though. ~A

Really? When we remodeled an office using IKEA cabinets years ago, we had them shipped to us. (This was when there was no IKEA in Northern California, where we lived at the time.) ~A

Yeah, we got the 25-for-$25 snub, big time, last year: Here's a link. Alas, in our case, the food wasn't even good enough to make up for it... ~A [edited to fix the link]

I'll jump in and add my two cents about IKEA cabinets. My husband and I remodeled our kitchen ourselves -- aside from help with demo-ing the old floor, adding ventilation, and installing the countertops, and painting (which we abhor) -- and the IKEA cabinets were the most wonderful part of the experience. Really easy to build and install... it's almost impossible to put them together wrong. They're also very well built, so even when we had to re-construct one to fit it around an old chimney, it held up really well. And yes, you can run cabinets all the way to the ceiling; they even sell special tall upper cabinets to do just that. I also heartily second the suggestion to order early and triple-check your order. Out of 150+ pieces, 4 were missing (and there were 4 that weren't ours), but they paid to have the missing pieces UPS Overnighted to us. And once when we discovered a defective piece mid-install, they put a guy in a truck from Tukwila (an hour away) and sent him up with a single drawer-facing. Really impressive. If you're in the mood to slog through 150+ photos, check out our Ofoto remodel album (you don't have to sign in; just click the photo to bypass the login). The cabinets start at about #68. Good luck with your remodel! ~Anita

A little bird told me that Pagliacci's is running through their salumi at a speedy clip, so if you want to try the Primo (again?), I suggest you boogie on down there -- or speak with those swell folks on the delivery line -- before they run out. Sources say that it probably won't last to the end of the month. ~A

Geoff, is this the place you mean? (This is from the PI's article: Your Road Map to Tasty Taco Trucks) ~A

Compared with San Francisco prices, I find the restaurant markup here tolerable, but the state liquor board markup utterly outrageous. In CA, you can get a 6-pack of microbrew for ~$5-$6 at Safeway, a bottle of Bombay Sapphire on sale for under $20, and a decent everyday table wine (fr'zample Ravenswood Vintner's Blend) for $6.99 at Cost Plus. Combine state-sanctioned gouging with our draconian liquor blue laws, and what you may find is that (a) you're drinking less in general, even at home, and (b) the restaurant wine prices don't seem so bad. ~Anita ps: welcome to eGullet, and welcome back to Seattle.

A quick perusal of Amazon Restaurants (where you can search by menu item) comes up with the following ceviche options: Burrito Loco Seastar Tacos Guaymas Blue Water Grill Oceanaire

Ding How Plaza -- home of Seven Stars Pepper -- at the culinary mecca of 12th and Jackson is now also home to The Lemongrass. Pretty slick-looking decor, and they were doing a brisk business last night. I've driven by the other location by Seattle U, but not recently. Anyone know if they've moved or simply branched out? (If it's the latter, that's awfully close!) We found it ironic that their sign makes a big deal of "authentic vietnamese cuisine" when they're next door to two totally decor-free places with hand-written vietnamese signs in the window. ~A

What about those thick paper / thin cardboard takeout soup containers? I wonder if they'd survive the freeze-then-reheat cycle. I keep being very envious of Rachel's stash of containers, planning my own trip to the restaurant supply store... and then I think about the environmental aspects and go back to washing (and losing) Rubbermaid.~A

I was just wondering if there was a designated soupe du semaine for this week. Not that I would have been able to participate with all I've been doing. But I will be back on the bandwagon (soup-wagon?) next week, if there's an 'official' selection. ~Anita

This isn't a scoop -- it was in Nancy Leson's column today -- but La Louisiana has closed. Guess I won't be using that Restaurants.com certificate after all. Edited to add: And apparently our speculation about Maguire's was correct:

Ooh, this one is purty: Bodum Eileen tea set Here's the Bodum store's only warmer (though it's $40 vs. $38 on the link just above): warmers There are also a ton of electric versions that you can find easily through Google. ~A (edited to remove items that duplicated SeaGal's post...)