therese

Yep. You want to start it? General Food, I guess. We could ask people to post about their experiences, perceptions in their cultures, etc. But I can tie this thread up neatly, referring back to my original post and my experience with screaming babies in a restaurant in France (at a thalasso spa for anybody who doesn't want to go back and read the whole thing). A nursing baby is a non-screaming baby, and young babies usually rock right off to sleep when they're done.

Well, this presents a problem. Because I either revert to ordering just one beer at a time, or go ahead and order three.

You make excellent points, both re early return to work making nursing difficult and physicians' adjusting their recommendations to conform to societal expectations. Difficulty nursing after returning to work is not only a question of convenience, but of physiology. I returned to work 3 months after the birth of my first child, 6 months after the birth of the second. Despite a demanding full-time work schedule I continued to nurse, pumping twice daily at work and nursing at home. The inconvenience was minimal, and more than offset by the infrequency of illnesses in my children (relative to their non-nursing peers both in and out of daycare). A much more significant physiologic barrier to nursing for working mothers is too early return to work. In the U.S. this is frequently only a month (all that I was entitled to, in fact---I took additional unpaid leave after each birth), with six weeks considered generous. Lactation is tied to frequency/intensity of nursing, and a new mother will have difficulty maintaining adequate milk supply without it. Pumping is a poor substitute for an infant in this respect, and many women will inadvertently wean their children in this way. So when French pediatricians voice concerns about nursing damaging a woman's health they may well be correct under these circumstances, as a woman who is told that she should be nursing but can't will likely be under a great deal of stress.

In Portuguese, though, you have to order three. ← Is this because I need to be extra drunk? Or because you still have to know the gender of said item to correctly ask for two of them?

So clearly one should just make a point of ordering more than one. A classic ploy for getting around not knowing the gender of something: can't remember where it's un biere or une biere? No problem, just order deux bieres. Plurals in Italian are actually sort of complicated (and not even taking into account some of the weirder exceptions) and I really can't get too upset when non-speakers screw them up. It is cool when you see it done correctly. An pizzeria here in town (Italian-owned trendo place) lists "pizzas" as "pizze". Too bad their pizze suck.

Interesting statements from the pediatricians, as those of us who have procreated and nursed know that nursing's not really all that taxing on the mother's body, particuarly compared to pregnancy and parturition, and a lot easier than endless bottles and formula and attendant crap. And it also doesn't ruin your breasts (just trust me on this one). Physicians not endorsing nursing beyond three months (or even at all) does, in effect, render it socially unacceptable: if it's not necesssary then why do it? Is there something wrong with the mother? As touargesand implies there's a fair amount of variation in nursing practice in the U.S. I nursed children in both California (Palo Alto and surrounding areas) and Georgia (Atlanta), frequently in public, including restaurants, and actually got a bit more push back in California than in Georgia.

Our CSA has also been heavy on leaves: I recommend soup and other cooking uses asap: it helps reduce the bulk of green that looks at your when you open the fridge. And or make a large salad and take it to a party... ← Cool---I came over to post on my CSA for this last week to find that chardgirl had done it for me. The quote re "leaves" above is from the Weight Watchers thread. A CSA is great if you're trying to keep your weight in line. Soup is exactly what I made with young broccoli, cutting celery, and Vidalia onions (from another source, not my CSA). Bright green, very pretty. I also went ahead and cooked all the spinach. New stuff this week was some young squash and lambs quarters.

I toured Moët & Chandon in Epernay in the late 1980s and the tour guide was very specific about the "t" in Moët being pronounced, and this is how I've usually heard it. Seems like the family was of Dutch or Flemish origin.

Last week's Taste of the Nation benefit in Atlanta included a booth for davidburke & donatella. Any idea why? I'm pretty sure I actually met David Burke about 10 seconds after we'd walked in. He approached me while holding this odd-looking arrangement of sweets on sticks (apparently a cheesecake lollipop tree). I declined, as it was the very beginning of the evening and I didn't want to start out by eating sweets. Turns out the interaction was taped and used on one of the local station's evening news. I'd no idea that anybody was filming, so it was a bit odd to hear the next day that I'd been on the news the night before. Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out why davidburke & donatella would have been at this event. Anybody have a clue?

The breastfeeding question is one that particularly interests me, and I make it a point of asking new mothers about their own experiences as well as their impressions of general practice in their communities. Spas (the setting of my original query re screaming infants) are a particularly great place for this sort of conversation, of course, but I also often bring it up with colleagues at meetings and so forth. Based on those conversations with French women (and men---I really will talk about anything with anybody) it seems like jennahan's experience reflects the general impression that breastfeeding is something that mothers should consider, and may even do for brief periods (1 to 2 months) but rarely continue beyond three months. Six months was considered perhaps excessive, and the three mothers of young infants (all under six months, none nursing) at the spa that visit were all very surprised that I'd nursed mine for 12 and 14 months. So overall the attitudes in France seemed very similar to those in most of the U.S. Lots of factors influence nursing practices in both countries: education, income, cultural and family nursing history, etc.

I also did a double take on canelles at first, thinking "Huh? Is this something to do with cinnamon? Wow, Loic's mom really was willing to do some serious recipe modification." But then I thought about it some more. More great pics. I'm not sure this is going to help me with my diet.

The friend, a chef himself, has decided upon the seafood restaurant in that area, Six Feet Under ... a well written, positive opinion by an epinion.com reader here here ← Ask him to please report back. I've not been myself, and so far have heard only bad news re this place from people I know and trust. But that was soon after it had opened, so maybe things have improved. It's near Agave if things get too bad.

Korean groceries are also a likely source for daifuku. Super H Mart is an especially large and nice one that's a chain. They carry several different brands of daifuku.

LOL

You can use safrole to make MDMA, aka Ecstasy. Just in case you were planning a rave as part of this week's blog.

I've never been to to an "event" at the 755 Club (and by the way, do you know where the 755 Club gets its name?), just to a game and dinner. But they do host all sorts of events, including weddings (and boy, wouldn't that be just a dream wedding?), and catering's generally decent in Atlanta. The quality of the food will depend on the budget and your host's taste. If you'd like a preview you can view it here. Look towards the back for the nicer stuff. I've used a number of caterers in Atlanta and they probably could have done better on the food side of things, but Turner Field actually is a very nice stadium. Assuming that you can leave the event and walk around with the hoi polloi I'd encourage you to do so.

Zuma's not "downtown", it's "intown". When Atlantans talk about downtown they're talking about a relatively small area of highrise office buildings and hotels and sports venues located in the very center of town. Atlantans (some of them) go downtown for work and school and to attend sporting events and large concerts. And that's pretty much it. When they go out to dinner they either stick to their own neighborhoods (often a great distance from downtown if they live outside the perimeter, in the suburbs) or travel to one known for its restaurants. Neighborhoods known for their restaurants are generally "intown". They encircle downtown like a donut encircles its hole. The donut's thicker on the north half, thickest on the northeast quarter. Neighborhoods with lots of restaurants include Virginia-Highland, Midtown, Little Five Points, East Atlanta, etc. Even Decatur (officially a separate town) is functionally an intown neighborhood. So the typical visitor staying in a downtown Atlanta highrise hotel is walking distance to very few restaurants, particularly nice restaurants that serve dinner. The two I can personally recommend are City Grill and Luxe. Intown neighborhoods do not have much in the way of lodging, unfortunately (Midtown being the exception that that rule). Maybe I should open a B&B. It would tie in nicely with my culinary tourism venture...

Zuma is actually located in the NE quadrant, at the southernmost end of the Poncey-Highland neighborhood (or I guess you could call it Midtown). Easy access from the bike/walk park that flanks the Freedom Parkway if you wanted to get there without a car. It's also across the street from the original Jake's ice cream shop. Glad to hear it's doing well. I went soon after it had opened and it was good, but hadn't quite hit its stride.

Woohoo! Just the encouragement I need to get back on track. Really looking forward to this.

I'll agree re generally excellent service at Bacchanalia et al. (Quatrano and Harrison), but have had pretty poor experiences with service at Nava and Kyma (both Buckhead Life) recently. Best service in town is at The Dining Room. Lots of mid-range places in town have very good service, actually, so it's not desperately bad here, just not as good as it could be at the top end.

Seems like you get a fresh napkin at Seeger's rather than a re-folded one, though that could have changed since my last visit. The WC escort thing is carried out with somewhat more panache at The Dining Room, in part because it's a longer trip that actually does require some direction if you've never been, or have forgotten since your last visit. The WC is Joel can be hard to find as well, as it's back in the bar and the doors aren't too clearly marked as to which is which. And once you're done and ready to wash your hands (you do wash your hands, right?) it can also get a bit tricky, as the sensors that turn on the water are at your feet. Wave your hands around all you want, but it's shuffling your feet that will pay off. Stand back from the edge of the sink if you don't want a wet lap. The WC at Seeger's is in the basement, so you have to negotiate stairs. Fortunately the wine is so expensive you won't be too drunk to manage.

Hmm, Joel Antunes vs Gunther Seeger... Both alums of The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton, both chef/owners of restaurants named for themselves, both veterans of public whippings vis-a-vis FOH issues... But they're not as similar as they sound, and the restaurants are very different indeed. The restaurant Joel is a fairly large, purpose-built space on the ground level of a glam office/condo complex. Very cool bar when you first enter that has its own scene, including lights embedded in the surface of the bar that change gradually from pink to green to aqua to whatever. If you decide to have a drink in the bar first you will likely be surrounded by pretty women wearing clothing in the same colors. They may well be drinking color-coordinated beverages. They will probably be smarter than the men in the room. The dining room itself is similarly pretty: dark wood furnishings, but everything else either white or some shade of orange. The service is adequate, but not great, and certainly not as amazingly great as the food merits. Because the food really is great, and all the more wonderful when you realize that a three course prix fixe (offered Monday-Friday, yes, including Friday) is $39. Everything else is a la carte, still on a three course formula. Back when it first opened (several years ago) I had a couple of things at Joel that I found less than amazing, but my last few visits the food's been pretty close to perfect. Seeger's is located in a glam neighborhood, Buckhead (or Butthead as we locals fondly refer to it), but is distinctly un-glam from the outside. It's a small house with no signage apparent from the street---you park in the lot behind the house and walk up a hill to the front of the house. The dining room's nicely appointed, elegant but not too stuffy. No real bar, just an alcove to one side of the dining room, and if you really wanted a drink you'd do best to have one before you get there. Menu options are five course prix fixe (several choices for most of them) and one or two tasting menus (more courses, choices fixed). The food is consistently great if a bit restrained. I've never been disappointed in the food at Seeger's. Would that I could say the same for the service: it's not just nowhere as great as the food merits, it borders on the comically inept. Bad enough that it distracts from the food, frankly. I keep going back to Seeger's in hopes that it will improve, but no longer risk taking guests who might take offense. All in all I'd describe Seeger's food as more elegant, Antune's as more vibrant.

Not necessarily. I'm pretty sure you can bring your own food into Turner Field if you'd like, and of course lots of people tailgate in the parking lot (especially the one closest to the stadium). The food quality at Turner Field (what Gifted Gourmet means when she says "the Ted") has varied a lot in the few years it's been open. The most elaborate food that I've had at Turner Field is in the 755 Club, where there's a bar area and typically some sort of buffet dinner service. It's $500/season to join, and some season ticket packages include membership. The last hotdog I got there was last season: we were in the nice seats in the front where somebody actually comes to your seat and takes your order and then somebody else shows up with it a few minutes later. It was actually not too bad, but I don't know if it's the same sort sold at the vending stands. The real issue is that there's not much around Turner Field or even downtown, as the only people who generally eat downtown are from out of town, and they are a captive audience that's generally satisfied with not particularly great food.

Nothing to suggest as they're isn't anything worth pursuing in the area. We eat on our way to Turner Field, so it depends on what route they'll take to get there.

Just got my first CSA box last week from Taylor Farm (outside Atlanta). I pick up the box from the Morningside Market near my house. I have both a vegetable and a fruit share. I got: salad mix braising mix baby beets (with greens) radishes leeks arugula kale spinach dandelion greens some sort of garlic where you eat the stems red onion (described perhaps as "bullet"?) kohlrabi strawberries (grown at another farm) tomatoes (also from another farm) I chose this farm in part because they do a big business in blueberries and they've got figs in the summer. As of today I've still got beet greens, a few radishes, one kohlrabi, kale, half the spinach, and the dandelion greens. Oh, and the salad mix and the braising mix. Husband out of town most of this week, so vegetable consumption down for the week. I'm already looking forward to seeing what I get this week. Very exciting. [edit to add link]