therese

It depends on your reference point, really. In the U.S. Whole Foods offers a mix of organic and gourmet foods, fresh and packaged (the packaged stuff largely their house brands), as well as household goods like laundry powder and shampoo and pharmaceutical sorts of stuff (mostly along the herbal line). Better butcher than what's generally available in the U.S., but nothing special compared to what's available in London. Lots and lots and lots of prepared foods, so young singles a target demographic along with busy moms. So it would be a convenient place to shop for all that sort of stuff at once, particularly if you don't mind paying more than usual for it: we call it Whole Wallet, or Whole Paycheck, as that's what you can anticipate spending to shop there. There are two within a few miles of my home, but I only shop there as a last resort as I can get better food for less money elsewhere.

I also considered soapstone for my kitchen counters (some of them, anyway, the other are maple butcher block) and also met resistance from my contractor and the counter fabricator he usually used. Neither tried to convince me not to use it, they just said that they didn't have any experience with it (we live in Atlanta), so we'd need to find somebody that did. I ended up going with plain black granite with a honed, flat finish rather than a polished. Plain right angle edge that's got maybe a millimeter angled off the corner to make it less dangerous. So it looks a lot like soapstone, also has a sort of worn-in look, but is much harder. So no problem with dings, but it's cold (nice in summer, chilly in winter) and hard. Overall very happy with the finished product, both look and performance. People often ask me if it actually is soapstone.

I'm not going to be able to make it to the festivities, but I am concerned that you've left something pretty important off the menu: boiled peanuts. Assuming any of the new crop's in yet, of course.

Yes, they are. Winston-Salem, N.C. (and believe me, that's the south).

And now the entire readership of Gourmet knows about it, courtesy of Mr. Bourdain. Let's hope it's not ruined as a consequence.

It makes me want to go to Brasserie Lipp and make a big deal about ordering a salade composee for lunch (assuming they're on offer, of course). Ptipois, have you seen the Jack Nicholson movie "Five Easy Pieces"? I'm reminded of the scene where he is trying to order plain toast, and ends up ordering a chicken sandwich on toast instead, but asking that all of the sandwich contents be "held".

Family, no question. And I've eaten some truly dreadful meals as a result. Your sister is trying to be nice by offering to host this year, and you can turn her offer down nicely by pointing out that traveling with an infant is a thorough thrash. But you needn't forego your family's company either: invite them and cook for them. You'll have all those extra hands to help with the baby, freeing you up to cook. The best of both worlds.

One Midtown Kitchen is indeed located in midtown, though farther north than the part of midtown that many visitors see (midtown is basically the corridor that stretches north from downtown towards Butthead, oops, meant to say Buckhead). It backs up to the north end of Piedmont Park (though the view at the moment is mostly a gravel pit due to some work the city's doing). It's on a tiny little dead end road called Dutch Valley that looks like it couldn't possibly house a restaurant. When you turn onto Dutch Valley (off of Monroe) look for the purple glow (yes, purple glow) of the lights outside. Be sure to check out the bathrooms; they're unisex, feature red lightbulbs over the doors that go on and off depending on occupancy, and are large enough for a small party. I have yet to see more than one person at a time emerge from one, but there's always a first time. Note that the website does not mention the possibility of a tasting menu, and actually doesn't even have a correct menu: the menu listed pre-dates Blais, with only a few of those dishes still remaining. Call the restaurant if you want to do the tasting; otherwise you can book at OpenTable.com (there's a link on the restaurant website). And while you're in town you might want to check out Soto's tasting menu, offered Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. You have to call at least 24 hours in advance, and there are fixed seatings.

I agree. Were the message in both French and English, the French version surely the flowery "chers clients" sort, the English version suitably correct, I wouldn't mind it. But English only, and badly done at that (because, well, why bother?) does not give a nice impression.

More from the article about Dr. Bennett: In the interview this AM he said that the medical education course was on patient communication, and that as part of taking the course he would have had to admit to being (possibly signing something) a "disruptive" physician. When asked whether he's changed his approach he said that since this incident he's prefaced his advice (because he's obviously still giving out this very sound advice) by pointing out that what he's about to say may give offense, but that his intention is not to offend but to help (lots of paraphrasing there).

Terry Bennett, the New Hampshire physician described in this article, was interviewed on at least one of the morning news show shows ("Today", I think). Immediately following the interview the station thanked one of their sponsors, Little Debbie Cakes, and then a commercial showed a family sitting down a breakfast of Honey Buns. [edit for spelling]

We've been a couple of times in the last month, once very last minute on a Saturday where we chose to sit at the bar where he does the tasting. We know him, so even though we'd already ordered from the regular menu he went ahead and gave us several of the items from the tasting menu that he was offering another party (N.B. he doesn't usually do tasting menus on Saturday, preferring Monday and Tuesday so that he's not as swamped with regular dinner service---One Midtown Kitchen is a very busy restaurant at the moment, and only a small number of diners doing full tasting menus; don't worry if you only do the regular menu, as it's also very much a Blais project). We returned on a Tuesday about a week later to experience the full monty: fourteen courses, altogether over the top, lots of cool ideas, a bit heartier and less refined than what he was offering at Blais. Very fun as well, very interactive. Check out the newest addition to this restaurant group, piebar. Very cool space, Blais-designed menu. I went twice during the previews, haven't been back yet due to time constraints. Looks like the deck/balcony will be nice once cooler weather arrives.

They taste and cook up the same as the purple ones. My CSA this year has included various white and white and purple striped sorts, some round and some long and skinny. When I ask the farmer he just says "Heirloom. I can't remember what all the different ones are called." Anyway, they're nice.

This week in Atlanta, GA: eggplant potatoes garlic onions pattypan squash summer squash okra (sorry, chris ) green beans baby turnips broccoli rabe green peppers tomatoes figs charentais melon

Atlanta's got a large and thriving Vietnamese community, and Augusta's close enough that some people commute. Banh xeo's not too hard to find---Viet Chateau in Decatur has it all the time, but you needn't travel that far to get it. It's farther than 100 miles, true, but you can get a lot of other things done while you're here (like shop for food).

Yep. As recently as the early 80's milk from local farms in Italy was still scalded routinely prior to use to prevent potential infection. Pasteurization was initially developed to prevent transmission of bovine TB to humans.

My grandmother. Those recipes that start out, "First, catch a chicken..."? That's how she did it.

I'm actually a bit jealous. Fall won't be here in earnest until October, and summer's charms are already wearing a bit thin. Lots of great produce, true, but our temp today will be in the 90's Fahrenheit. Looking forward to seeing summer up north.

We always called this scalding milk, not scorching (though it's pretty easy to scorch if you don't watch it).

Are we sure that the correct spelling is squeezle? Because I'd have said skweasel. It looks funny, true, but it conveys the whole "creature of the forest" concept.

Strong work on the baby front. Throwing together casseroles with whatever's on hand is pretty easy. Assume one cup of cooked rice and half of an egg per person, add as much of the cream cheese as you'd like, and two cups of vegetables (either steamed or sauteed)---onions and yellow squash very nice together, and good with rice. Put in the largest casserole you've got (assuming you've like the top crispy) and top with breadcrumbs. Heat till bubbling, run under broiler briefly to crisp the breadcrumbs if necessary. Or...you could just order out and go to bed early.

Ditto that. And maybe a couple of shots to go with it.

Glad somebody else pointed this out before me. I wouldn't go with peche Melba either, though. It's the texture/tensile thing that's crucial here. Ile flottante's the thing.

A single piece of cookie (sort of shortbread-ish) instead of layered wafers with chocolate. And a Kit Kat lacks caramel. Caramel very important aspect of a Twix.

I've tried doing this, really I have. And in the end I think it's a question of most concierges simply not knowing enough about food or even about their local dining scene. Case in point: a couple of years ago I was in D.C. for a meeting, and asked the concierge (big chain hotel, site of the meeting) to try booking for me at Nectar. Blank stare. I ended up calling Nectar directly---couldn't get in, but was directed to Komi. No getting blood from a turnip.