therese

Second visit to Little Rock last week, and we managed to check out several restaurants as well as the River Market. Little Rock has put considerable effort into developing the downtown/waterfront area over the last decade, and the recent opening of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum is bringing lots of tourists to town. Both locals and tourists crowd a place called Flying Fish. You line up to order from a long list of seafood like fried catfish and boiled shrimp and crayfish and take your seat. Big place, with large windows open to the street in nice weather (which it very definitely was while we were there). I didn't manage to eat here, but my husband and daughter did and they both enjoyed it. We all had dinner together one night at a place located west of downtown but still on the river called Brave New Restaurant. Really lovely location, with a terrace that offers lovely views of the river and downtown. The chef/owner, Peter Brave, is also part owner of a local shrimp farm, Brave New Shrimp, and I started with a shrimp, avocado, and grapefruit appetizer that was excellent. My main was veal scallopini with lime and potato pancake---very good, particularly the pancake, but I couldn't even begin to finish it. I did save room for some excellent home-made (well, restaurant-made) sorbets, strawberry and honeydew. I also tried some of my husband's vanilla ice cream, which was outstanding. Very dense, just like we make it at home in the summer.

No running water makes the entire enterprise problematic, in my opinion. Eat out, take out, and stick to microwave reheating and/or toasting in disposable containers, served on disposable plates. If you don't like plastic utensils become proficient at using chopsticks.

I've used the same company to rent a flat in London (the flat below the company owners' house in London, actually) and did like it. I will say that I found them a bit pricey for Paris. The place we did rent (described in the thread to which I link in my previous post here) was larger and cheaper and in a lovely location. But the view of the Eiffel Tower is pretty darn cool, and the apartment will be exactly as described.

Details of our trip in this thread. Not many pictures, as I took very few photos of food, but we did have some very nice meals. Apartment was great.

I'm feeling a bit queasy myself, though perhaps it's the 12 course brunch at the Four Seasons I just finished that's the problem and not the thought of your meal at Blaue Gans. I need to go on a water fast, I think.

Yep, it was definitely Liptauer Cheese the night we were there. Fortunately I only like Liptauer Cheese a little bit, so didn't overdo.

So, yes, I may have to agree: you may in fact be a much bigger big than Mr. Therese. Or perhaps the serving size of the wurstsalat's been adjusted.

You got me with this one. Would those be fingers of monks or nuns? In either case, pretty difficult to source these days. ← Fortunately for everybody involved, Benedictine Finger Sandwiches are made with a spread made of cream cheese and cucumber. There's controversy surrounding the use of green food coloring to tint it a pale shade of green. So, rich, are you making the Benedictine yourself? And if you are will you be tinting the final product? Prettier if you're using white bread for the sandwiches, but no matter if you're using a dark bread. Except that people won't necessarily recognize them if the filling's not green. And I'd still use strawberries.

If I were in Kentucky (I'm not, though my parents live in Lexington) and if I were having a Derby Party (which I'm not, but that's beside the point) I'd be serving baked country ham on beaten biscuits. And I'd be using strawberries instead of peaches, as it's not time for peaches yet. I wonder how many other people here know what Benedectine Finger Sandwiches are.

I had the exact same appetizer/entree combination Monday. I note it, first, because it was all some of the best food I've yet had at this by-now-personal-favorite restaurant. But second, I must be a much bigger pig than Mr. Therese, cuz I had no trouble at all finishing both courses and then not stinting on dessert. I disgust myself. ← So what did you have for dessert?

What I've eaten and cooked as lambs quarter (it shows up in my CSA sometimes) isn't much like mache, at least not the mache I've eaten here and in Europe. It is delicately flavored, though.

Too cool. A holiday that's about shopping.

Fiber works as a bulking agent: it actually draws water from the surrounding tissues into the lumen of the large intestine, stimulating the intestine to, um, "move things along." Enough fiber, along with sufficient water, can produce a very definite "shove" in many people, particularly those with low baseline fiber intake. Bacteria are very important to the health of your gut, and Dannon bills Bifidus regularis as one that produces relatively more gas than others, purportedly because it survives better in the large intestine. Your intestine interprets the increased volume (essentially stretching of the gut wall) associated with the gas produced by Bifidus regularis the same way it interprets increased bulk from water-logged fiber from bran, etc. and will "move things along" appropriately. The pdf scientific summary on the site (which summarizes the medical literature on the topic reasonably well) points out that people with initially slower transit times will generally experience the largest change, and the change tends to be more marked in women and the elderly (who are, by the way, more likely to have slow transit times). Consumers with "normal" transit times didn't report any difference. I'm guessing I wouldn't notice any difference. In the interest of science and the common good I will make a point of trying this produce next time I get the chance.

Exactly. It's basically just barely solidified water. Because it's already packed in water it's as hydrated as it's going to get, and won't swell further in your gut. So you shouldn't experience any post-prandial bloating, but you also won't feel full for too long.

Sweeten it yourself using whatever you'd like: sugar, honey, agave nectar, Splenda. You can adjust the sweetness to the inherent sourness (which can vary).I rarely eat pre-flavored yogurts, preferring to use my own flavorings and fruit. Frozen fruits work great (especially if you're packing a lunch) and so do fruit preserves.

As a salad green, typically mixed with cold roast vegetables (like beets, onions, whatever) and an apple cider vinaigrette.

Although cheesecake typically includes a crust, I rarely find it very interesting: soggy cookie crumb sort of thing, easily ignored. A real pie includes crust that's important to the dessert.

See, now you're just weaselling to back up your original answer, because you've re-thought the whole issue, and a whole, knotty bunch of outliers have reared their ugly, yet delicious, heads. Cheesecake is clearly pie, and how could you disagree with Alton Brown, anyway? You two are practically the same person. ← Cheesecake isn't one of my favorites, actually, though I do prefer it to some other desserts. So I'm not worried about which category it falls into myself, I just didn't want anybody else to think that cheesecake need be characterized as either cake or pie. And I stand by my statement that it's neither cake nor pie.

Cheesecake is neither cake nor pie, so should be excluded. And Boston cream pie is also obviously really cake, so it should also be excluded.

I'm in the cake camp. I like pie, but find many, especially American-style fruit pies, to be gooey and wet. A waste of fruit. Plus there's no frosting on pie, dammit.

Love the orange apple drink. Look's like it's carbonated, so along the lines of the apple cider "champagne" children here drink around the holidays. Is orange flavoring added?

Feedback on my trip to Little Rock... First meal was dinner at Bosco's, a brew pub located right on the Arkansas River. Great outside dining area, which is important to know because it's the best thing about this place. Or at least it was the night I was there. I had a salad that featured partially frozen lettuce and a pizza that I won't even bother to describe apart from saying that it had none of the qualities that a person looks for in pizza. The beer was okay. Thing improved enormously the next day, when we ended up eating lunch at a place called Vieux Carre (no web site that I can find). On Kavanaugh, next to a bar called The Afterthought (that's being remodeled at the moment---apparently it's been around for a very long time) with which it shares owners. Storefrong location, decor runs to yellows, white linens, a bit "ladies who lunch." In keeping with that impression I had the chicken salad plate, and it was one of the best version of same I've had in recent memory. I'm just sorry we didn't have time for dessert. Dinner that night at So. Again, no web site, or at least none that I could find (though admittedly "so" does not lend itself to narrow google searches). Storefront space, decor somewhere between trendo and old-fashioned bar. We were seated in the front room, which is lighter than the rest of the place. It was warmer than usual, so the ceiling fans and air conditioning weren't quite managing to keep the temperature cool enough for the consumption of hot foods, so I started with shrimp cocktail, continued with something called patio salad (stacked tomato, mango, avocado, and fresh mozzarella, topped with lobster; excellent), and finished with a dessert called quattro leches (why quattro? maybe the fourth dairy ingredient was mascarpone? I didn't pay sufficient attention). Actually quite a good version of this dessert. Lunch the next day at an outpost of Boulevard Bread Co. Great sandwichs, including mine of fresh mozzarella, tomato, and pesto on baguette (and I'd have gone back and ordered a second if I'd been paying). Aranciata to drink. My macchiato afterwards was too foamy, but nothing in life is perfect. General impression of Little Rock very favorable: the river front's being developed in a pedestrian-friendly way, pleasant hillside neighborhoods feature nice residential-commercial mix, plenty of kids, plenty of yuppies, plenty of seniors.

Very sorry to hear, Susan, but very good news that you made it to surgery. Chocolate is an excellent post-op food.

When we embarked upon our renovation our architect remarked that she'd never had a couple divorce in the course of or as the result of a remodel under her watch. So far her record has held.

Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and admit that I fulfill all criteria for GRITS. Listening to Johnny Cash's "Hey Porter" has prompted me to reveal this information.