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Your Dekalb Farmers Market (aka YDFM) in Atlanta (well, Decatur, but the same thing), Georgia gets my vote.

I've got two bottles of it in my kitchen at this very moment, both of them Christmas gifts from a Chinese colleague. Very cool bottles (one of them is the sort depicted in Hiroyuki's wikipedia link upthread), very strong liquor with a distinctive taste that I find, um, off-putting.

I've always wanted to do a walking holiday in France. Where would you choose to stay if you were charged with arranging the DIY version of this trip?

Homemade, absolutely. And those are a couple of very cute kids you've got there.

Next time skip the Tylenol (acetominophen) in favor of ibuprofen. Acetominophen is toxic to your liver, and so the acetominophen and alcohol combo is a poor one. If you take the ibuprofen (otherwise known as "Vitamin I" in our house for this exact reason) before bed, along with a giant glass of water, you might be able to skip the hangover altogether.

Looks like great fun. In culo alla balena.

The entire family is taking Italian lessons? Well, sounds like you should all be speaking Italian (and only Italian) together. No English at all: no email, no newspapers, no TV, no movies. Even though none of you is actually italophone it will still force you to use your Italian all the time, and you'll make faster progress. And listening to Italian radio and TV, in addition to conversations with your neighbors, will help your ear. I speak French and Italian, and don't mix them up unless I'm actually speaking them at the same time (speaking French with one friend or colleague, Italian with another, all in the same conversation) and then I can have some trouble "switching gears." You'll have similar problems with "switching gears" between English and Italian if you switch back and forth between them. Dinner on the rooftop terrace looks just wonderful. I am beyond jealous.

And Rooney's it was, in the end, the local boy's pick. And no, the local boy is not GordonCooks, not unless he's leading a very improbably second life.

It's actually the water transferring its heat to the meat. [Heh, heh: heat to the meat---I sound like I'm 12] I've never thought about it from a food safety point of view apart from the fact that you want the meat to thaw quickly, and changing the water will make it thaw more quickly. I really don't the critters in the water are going to be a significant issue.

Really looking forward to this blog. Thanks for doing it.

The guest of honor at this meal is actually a local boy, somebody I'm trying to hire. And so it's entirely possible that he's already dined at Nick Tahou's. It does sound like the sort of place I might well try, and if I'm ever in the area will keep it in mind. But in this particular case I'm not actually going to be in the area myself: it's my boss who is doing the entertaining, flying up to Rochester specifically to interview this guy. The point is to make him feel very special indeed (and believe me, if my boss is flying to Rochester for dinner it's a big deal) and so ideally the meal would be something fancy enough that he wouldn't usually go there himself. I know for sure that he's been to 2 Vines. The final decision is up to my boss. I'll let you know how it turned out.

I've been called a lot of things, but lazy isn't one of them. So, yes, I'd already checked out this thread, but didn't necessarily want to hijack it with my plea for farthest upmarket possible. Do you have a link for Rio? There's something called Rio Bambo, but it doesn't look like what you're talking about. Max at Eastman Place looks like a possibility. Sienna Grill & Bar looks pleasant, but not as formal as I'm like. Restaurant 2 Vine also looks very good, but again, not quite as nosebleedingly impressive as I need. It may well be that what I'm looking for doesn't exist, in which case I'd appreciate your help deciding among the available options.

I'm arranging a business dinner in Rochester that needs to be (a) fantastic and (b) expensive. Money no object (literally the more expensive the better) and no dietary restrictions. Help, please.

Return flight from Milan to Atlanta yesterday. My request for "cold seafood meal" made a week earlier was honored. Just in case I'd also brought along a sandwich of prosciutto crudo, and since I'd had very little for breakfast and the 11:00 departure was pushed back a little it came in very handy. As usual, my meal arrived well in advance of usual food service, and this time featured cold grilled shrimp with pasta salad. I despise pasta salad, so just had the shrimp and fruit. The remainder of the plate featured small mixed salads that had been stored unwrapped in low humidity, so were really more liked salad fossils. These salads were also featured on the other diners plates, and they also had some sort of cookie dessert instead of my fruit. My snack at the end of the flight was tuna with mayonnaise on a sort of baguettte, and a stroopwaffel for dessert. Free alcoholic beverage with the meal (white wine, South African, not too bad) and the flight attendant "bought" me a beer with my tuna sandwich (which is to say that she waived the usual charge). Comfortable, uneventful flight all around, except for the delay out of Malpensa which meant that we had to wait for a disembarkation gate in Atlanta.

The cantine at my lycee in Deauville was excellent: like the author of the article in The New Yorker, I found the food far and away the most interesting thing there (well, after the boys, I suppose). Since I wasn't officially getting credit for anything other than French I was free to skip school, either reading in the library (I appeared to be the only student that had ever crossed its threshold) or walking on the beach and town, drinking limonade or hot tea. Recent experiences (over several years) at one of the branches of the university mensa in Urbino (in Le Marche, in Italy) not nearly so great, though edible. Clearly lots of frozen items used, etc.

Just wait. The US airlines are not going to do this right now for fear of looking to greedy in the face of new regulations, but I bet anything in the near future they will charge for sodas. Since you can't bring any liquid on the plane they have a new source of revenue. ← I doubt this will happen, particularly on long haul flights. U.S. airlines are interested in staying in business, and there is a limit as to how uncomfortable you can make people before they revolt. Our flight was delayed on the ground in Atlanta about 30 minutes after anticipated take off as there was a mechanical issue with the air-conditioning that might have meant our having to change to new equipment had it not been resolved. Delta flight attendants brought around glasses of water within 10 minutes of the delay being announced, and it wasn't even all that stuffy on the plane. Everybody played nice and we all got to Italy. On the other, I wouldn't mind paying a dollar for a soft drink or juice so long as I could get water for free. And I wouldn't mind paying $8 or $10 dollars for a nice glass of wine.

Yes. Alcoholic ones are free when one flies Air Canada across the Atlantic. ← Yes, non-alcoholic beverages are free on Delta, regardless of class or type of flight (though some very short flights have a limited selection). Until a few years ago all transatlantic flights included pretty much unlimited free alcohol (though quality wasn't great in coach), but a few years ago U.S.-based airlines started charging in transatlantic coach the way they've done for a long time on domestic flights. European carriers continue to offer free alcohol, and these days some people will choose European carriers for this reason (and it sure as hell isn't because of the food). This particular flight had coach and "Business Elite" classes, no first class. The flight attendant actually set up a cart across the aisle to keep those of us in cheap seats from sneaking up and using one of their really cool WCs, and used the cart to open wines and pour drinks. Based on the amounts she was pouring I'm surprised that any of them managed to stagger off the plane. I've not heard that other U.S. carriers are offering any complimentary alcohol in coach, but then I fly almost exclusively Delta, so will have to rely eG collective experience re other airlines. Anybody?

I generally bring my own food when I fly, as I find the usual airline food truly hideous, and if I'm flying east across the Atlantic I'm hoping to sleep, so want to eat early and then take a sleeping pill. But this time I didn't really have time to get anything, and didn't want the potential hassle of arguing with somebody about whether or not some component of the meal might be considered a liquid or a gel. So I called Delta and asked for a special meal. There are several options, and I chose "cold seafood", figuring that the absolute worst would be fake crab or not great shrimp. What I ended up with pretty amazing---certainly the best food I've been served in coach in the last two decades. Salmon (baked or broiled, and a little on the dry side, but still fine), red jacket potatoes in dill dressing, cucumbers, and roma tomatoes. The potatoes were a little undercooked, but the perfect tomato made up for that. Delta also offers one complimentary alcoholic beverage, served at the same time as meal service. Drinks ordered before or after are $5 or 4€. I'd seen mention of this on the Delta web site a little while ago, but when I asked the Delta reservationist from whom I requested the special meal he was entirely unaware of it. As typically occurs, my meal was served at the very beginning of meal service, so no waiting for the trundling cart of unappetizing nasties to wend its way down the aisle towards me.

I'm flying to Italy tomorrow, direct from Atlanta to Milan on Delta. I've just called and requested a special meal (cold seafood) which isn't going to be anything particularly great, but will likely be somewhat less nauseating than the typical economy class hot food (the thought makes me queasy) and I can almost certainly get the flight attendant to retrieve it for me in advance of regular meal service. That way I'll be able to start my body's switch to local time as soon as possible, and also have a relatively empty stomach on which to take Ambien. Meal requested for return flight as well, but I'll likely be rounding that out with something great from the trip.

Just looking at your to do list makes me tired. I'm going back to bed.

Almost any dress works, as dresses don't really have waistbands. I have a lot of little black dresses: the key's finding cotton, machine-washable versions. Oh, and bag stockings entirely, at least the sort that have a waistband.

Got those fridge shots lined up yet? Looking forward to more.

Two ideas: Use an almond "base," either an almond-flavored rice pudding or dense sweet cake that uses marzipan, or an almond-flavored dairy item like mascarpone or panna cotta. Almond pairs really well with both peaches and raspberries. Crepes, however you'd like to configure them. You could do a last minute flambe for fun.

Day 7: I'd purposely booked a flight home that left late enough (3:00) for us to fit in one more meal on Saturday, probably dim sum in Flushing. But when Thursday turned out to be the day that air travel suddenly got a bit more difficult we figured we'd get to the airport early,to avoid possible delay. Uneventful cab ride to LGA, quick and easy check-in, no lines at security, and lots of time at the gate. Which was fortunate, as we decided we'd get Nathan's for lunch, and the line was long. Good hot dog, smooshy bun, and possibly the worst french fries ever. The ambience at LGA lacks a certain something, but the people watching is great.

Yep, and had the mildly wrenched neck to prove it. Had we done the Russian dinner we'd have probably done Nathan's for lunch. But then I'd probably have had to undergo an emergency cholecystecomy, so just as well.