cakewench
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Posts posted by cakewench
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Christophe is Michelin-starred, and reasonably centrally located. It is pricey, and you will need to book in advacne (don't know when your trip is.)
But I think this is much to classic for ginger chef.
Oh, sorry. He said above that he was looking for Michelin-rated restaurants. I assumed that meant stars.
Clearly, I am confused.
*edited* to say yeah, just ignore me now. I AM confused.
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I've just read this thread. I'm so amused to find out that my local Safeway as a child was the UnSafeway.
Not disagreeing with the title, mind you. Just amused.
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two cents:
I skim through her chats when I am able to. I used to read every single one, but I started to notice that there was a lot of repetition (and not totally her fault, as she and other Live Online hosts are subjected to the same questions often).
I think she's excellent for people who are afraid of cooking, or simply think they don't have the time for it. She tries to calm them down a bit, and get them to feel more laid-back about the whole idea of taking on a meal, or a recipe, or even an (gasp!) exotic vegetable.
I can totally see how this wouldn't be the forum for a lot of eG'ers, but her style seems to work for a lot of people, especially newbies.
(flip side to this: I know she makes mistakes from time to time. Sometimes people ask her about a foreign ingredient, and she isn't always able to answer, or she'll take a stab at it and turn out to be incorrect. I guess I can't feel too much animosity over this, though, as she is doing the chat in the space of an hour, and doesn't exactly have an editor double-checking everything. From what I recall, she is generally good about admitting her errors.)
When it comes down to it, I think this is a similar discussion to some that I have readin the News Forum on eG, re: some Food TV hosts. She is (ideally) serving the purpose of getting people interested in trying out fresh foods and new recipes. If she is succeeding, which it sounds like she is, more power to her.
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I like Rabieng a lot. And the associated market next door.
Duangrats... hm. I had REALLY nice fish there, once upon a time.
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Christophe is Michelin-starred, and reasonably centrally located. It is pricey, and you will need to book in advacne (don't know when your trip is.)
address: Leliegracht 46 ('Grachtengordel west' neighborhood), phone is 020 625 0807
For Dutch-oriented food, De Silveren Spiegel is highly rated (but am not sure re: Michelin). phone 202 624 6589 address Kattengat 4 (in the Old Centre)
I've recently moved to the area, myself, and those are two places I'm looking forward to. Let us know what you try while you're in town!
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peon, if it matters any, I found your answer very informative. In particular, I appreciated the description of the refridgeration process. I like learning about stuff like that, and expanding my knowledge beyond "drr, things go in, they come out cold."
Freezing is what I did with bread in the US, and I might do it again if we ever get a house over here with a freestanding freezer. Unfortunately, with the tiny fridge we have now, the freezer compartment is miniscule. Yes, in keeping with the theme, it is smaller than a breadbox. ha-ha.
Best freezing advice I've heard came from a friend of mine with several children. She stores the big loaf of sandwich bread in the freezer, and pulls the frozen pieces out in the morning to make lunch sandwiches. She says it's easier to spread er, spreads on them, among other benefits.
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oi. What a great problem to have.
We had the same 'problem' about a month ago. My in-laws have a good amount of raspberry bushes in their yard. We took home two boxes of them.
I froze most of them (the method described above is certainly optimal. With a smaller-than-a-breadbox freezer, though, I just had to take my chances with them in a tupperware bowl. They were fine for my purpose.)
I used them in muffins, and they were great. You can take any standard blueberry muffin and substitute. yum.
We had a LOT of muffins last month.
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GG Mora- very humid. We moved to Amsterdam recently, and it is (as to be expected) moist here. We haven't had problems with the last few breads we have made here in Amsterdam, though, so I didn't mention the change in location..
Thanks for the recommendations. We did clean out the breadbox, and it's been open to dry (ha, ha) over the weekend. I've now made a new bread, and we shall see how that goes.
Our typical storage is to place it, sliced side down, on a piece of parchment paper, inside the box. We'll see how our new, clean, dry box goes. I think I'd like a nice paper bag, but I haven't really seen them over here much.
Interesting observation which you can comment on if it seems to warrant it: The bread with the mold problem managed to grow the mold over the period of hours. It was amazing, really. We had both had bread for breakfast (yes, peon, we have similar eating habits to your son over here! Bread and cheese is a common meal...
) and there was no mold then. Then, in the evening, we went to pack up our bread for our weekend trip back to Deutschland, and it was fairly thoroughly molded. Mold on a corner of the sliced bit, and mold throughout the rest. (if you looked carefully, which we obviously did, you could see slight fuzziness in the little bread holes) I'm sure it doesn't help that our preferred bread is a sunflower/linseed/other seed bread. It seems like the seeds would retain more moisture than regular bread. Again, though, it hasn't been an issue before.
Okay. I'll stop now. I just do hate wasting perfectly good bread, especially when we were eating it right on schedule and everything!
I appreciate all of the input, btw.
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Anyone else here use one of these? It's a typical style, with a rolltop lid. Doesn't seal tightly at all, but that has never been an issue, until now.
Our last bread (we make our own, in our machine) got moldy within just a day or two.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to avoid this? I would really like to avoid storing it in our tiny European fridge. I guess I would just like to know if there is something we should be wrapping the bread in? Sitting it on?
Thanks!
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll respect my elders on this issue.
At least webster.com agrees with me.
I think the 'urban' makes a whole lot more sense, possibly why they changed it? Otherwise, they would be 'yumpies'.
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QUOTE (jbonne @ Aug 24 2004, 04:17 PM)
suburban food? well ... Cheesecake Factory. big portions of either uninspired fare or food that has a soupcon of ethnic flavoring without in any way being authentic.
This is a huge generalization. Immigrant demographics are changing, with more people gravitating to the suburbs. Have you been to the DC 'burbs? Many of the suburbs here are hubs for immigrants and it's where most of the authentic ethnic food is. Yes, CF and the like are represented. However, most of the authentic Chinese, Latino, African, Thai, Indian, etc., restaurants are in the the suburbs.
[woe, my quoting skills are lacking]
I totally agree. Annandale, of all places, is THE place for authentic Korean food in the DC area.
Shame that it isn't Urban enough.
Unfortunately, I don't think quality really plays into the equation, as it was initially laid out in this thread. And I think I've already blah-blah'd enough on the subject in my previous post.
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My two cents:
Yes, they are dealing in stereotypes.
In my (20-something, living in a European city, means nothing but I'm giving my demographic anyway) opinion, which I will state as fact, 'urban' is the new word for 'hip'. No one in my age group, or looking to entertain people in my age group, would say "we need to draw in the hip, young crowd."
You might as well say you want the place to be the bee's knees or something. Even the word 'hipster' (could still be possible to say that you want to attract the 'hipster crowd', and not have too many eyes rolled behind your back) is on the decline.
'Urban' conveys trendiness, infers either youth, or people who still want to have fun and spend loads of money they have because they are still single and don't have kids. key phrase there, lots of money.
It is the word of the moment. Give it a few more years, and there will be a new one. Alas, 'suburban' and 'suburbanite' have never had a good connotation that I can remember, so that might be here to stay. Especially as long as 20-something Urbanites are making the marketing decisions.
Does anyone remember what the YUP in yuppie stood for? Yes, I think making that key 'urban' designation has been around longer than just my generation.
*MASSIVE DISCLAIMER* because I feel like I'm going to be landed upon by lots of suburbanites with children: I'm just the messenger here. I am not complaining about the 'burbs. I am not anti-children. And I will even confess to enjoying a nice bloomin' onion now and again, when I'm back in the States.
I'm merely speaking as someone with lots of experience with young 'new media professionals' in NYC. (read: marketing.) -
I agree with a lot of the posts here. I won't tell you which ones.
I'm posting to comment on the 'the place was only xyz full' observation, and it's implied reflection on service times in restaurants. I see it often here, and by posters on Sietsema's WP.com chats.
If a restaurant isn't busy, there is a really good chance that some staff have been sent home to compensate for this. Or, if it's something like a dead Monday or Tuesday, they might not have scheduled full staff in the first place. FOH and BOH. Especially if we are talking about a casual place, or something which isn't a 'destination restaurant'.
Also, like beans said, someone could have called in sick. For some kitchens, one person missing is all it takes, especially if they have a lot of new staff on in other positions (typical for a Mon or Tues, when new folks generally train.)
And really, re: customers wanting or not wanting to know the status of their food... We already know that eG members are more informed than the average restaurant patron. Yes, some people do like to know the whole backstory behind their missing food ("well, you see, Steve the prep cook had a fight with his girlfriend, and he stormed out in a huff before he could be bothered to finish chopping/fileting/assembling whatevers, so the BOH is trying to compensate for that now while simultaniously trying to do their current cooking duties. Also, Tom the line cook has decided that he hates me today, because I had the gall to order a dish for a guest the way they asked for it, instead of the way it is normally served. Now, all of my tickets are taking an extra ten minutes to come out. And lets not EVEN get started on the fact that... "), but most people find this very tedious. Even if you just keep the line to "I'm so sorry, the kitchen is running behind this evening." the response is rarely "oh, we're so glad you let us know." Most people don't want to hear it, they just want their food. And will say as much.
I worked in restaurants for five years, and it's been another five since I have worked in one. It doesn't feel like it has been that long.
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Did anyone ever notice that a peanut butter sandwich made with a piece of bread folded in half tastes completely different from one made with two pieces of bread?
astute observation, as usual.
My current OB obsession: a thick slice of our homemade bread (oh, okay, we use the bread machine. Touch the pearls!
), which is heavy on sunflower and linseeds, and add a thin layer of creamy PB. I'll use whatever is around. The Dutch pindakaas is without sugar, but I keep a jar of Skippy around for my sweeter needs.Which are:
PB and strawberry preserves.
PB with honey.
and since no one else here has the cajones to cop to it.... PB and MARSHMALLOW FLUFF.
Admittedly, though, I don't get to have that last one as much as I'd like. I think the last jar of Fluff I had was consumed straight from the jar, mixed with spoons of PB.
That was several years ago, now.
sigh.
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Marzipan chocolates. jebus. They are all over in Germany. I made the mistake of taking one when it was offered to me around Christmas, at my in-laws' house. My f-i-l just loves them, so I felt like I should finish it so as not to be the one who wasted his chocolate. bleeeeeeeh.
I haven't seen them in Holland too often, but the Dutch have their own atrocities. Double salted licorice.
(and yep, I fully expect to see 5 people respond to this in defence of salted licorice and Mozart chocolates. I'm not listening, I'm not listening. nyah.
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Said it before, and I'll say it again: the raspberry filling that Godiva uses in its um... leaves? (help me out here, beans, I'm pretty sure you're the one who agreed with me!) gets me every damn time. It's been years since I've had one, but I can still conjure up the memories. mmmm.
Generally, though, I don't go for fruit fillings. Not the 'jellyfied' kind, anyway.
I'll vote for the peanut butter, too. What the heck.
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So you're nostalgic for the sound of clonking concrete slabs beneath your feet?
(what am I saying... maybe they didn't clonk quite so loudly, ten years ago. They sure do now, though!)
I hope you'll be able to report back on any good meals you have while you're there. Have fun!
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dipardoo-
If you don't mind me asking: is the purpose of your trip to visit the Ruhr Universitat?
I only ask because that is why we were living there (we will be going back soon so that my husband can defend his thesis). We lived very close to the Uni.
Anyway, the reason I ask is because he reminded me that my truly favorite place to go was a pizza place just near the subway/metro stop there. There is a nice(ish) restaurant called the Mediteranee, and it has a takeout place attached to it. The pizzas there are very cheap, and it's obvious their ingredients are fresh.
It's not gourmet, but for 3 euro, it can't be beat.
(BTW, the fancy place he said he really liked is called The Living Room. It's located in city centre area)
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I lived in Bochum with my husband before we moved to the Netherlands. I'm absolutely shocked to see anyone mention it here.
...
Okay, I'm over that now.
Unfortunately, I can't remember most of the places we liked by name. There is an excellent Thai place (we were brought there by one of his colleagues who is Thai). Also, there was some expense-account type place which he liked the one time he tried it, but we never went there together. I can get the name from him later, if you're interested.
I just checked my journal, and found the name of the Greek restaurant we liked in the area. It's called Xenos, and the address is listed as Brüderstr. 1. It's very close to the Hauptbahnhof.
If you aren't familiar with travelling and eating in Germany, it's also worth your while to check out the many döner kepab places. There are a lot of Turkish people in the area, and it seems like half of them have opened imbiss places. They are extremely cheap, and usually very good.
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ah yes, I went to St. Peters. You must know a thing or two about the parochial school system in DC.
My graduating class consisted of 13 kids. Not exactly a huge school, but I imagine that could have changed since then ('90). My favorite things from Smithsonian gift shops were the freeze-dried ice cream and the onion-paper Constitutions you could buy from the American History Museum (and others.) god I was a weird kid.
I agree about the restaurants nearby. Unfortunately (or not!), their presence goes virtually undetected by the tourist masses.
I suppose we should just be happy they haven't managed to plant a McD's on the base of the Monument or something.
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Another vote for the gelato bar!
But, then, I actually like the ice cream bar at the American History Museum, as well...
The freeze dried ice-cream... well, I used to get it when I was a kid. I went to a small Catholic school on Capitol Hill, and it seemed like anytime they didn't know what to do with us, they marched us all down to the Air and Space Museum. The gift shop was a popular exhibit there.
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My lovely husband handles the important task of making the coffee in the morning. He always gets up before I do. He'll even make breakfast for me if I look/sound as if I'm going to be there soon enough.
(due to our new country situation, I'm currently not working)
I cook dinner most of the time. He has guilt about this, and tries to contribute when he can (his contributions mainly come in the shape of... waffles.
), or clean up afterwards. I do happen to be a much better cook than he is. It's okay. He happens to be much better at re-wiring electronics than I am. *edited* because I just read one of the previous posts, and thought that I should add that we are both children of the 70's here... It's an interesting point, though. He does laundry and all that. Honestly, I think cooking is the only 'edge' I have in this household!
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wow. Go hungry, in anticipation of an Air France flight?
Perhaps the agent meant that one should be prepared for the great food at the destination...Air France food (economy class) is just as tasty as any other economy class food. Meaning, I sure wouldn't salivate with anticipation or anything. If anything, I seem to recall that they really like having a large portion of the meal consist of a cold 'salad' type food, which has been refrigerated with a million other things, and tastes accordingly.
The notable exceptions: Air France usually has extra rolls for people if they wish, which they heat up and bring around about halfway through the meal. Also, they have a lot of wine options, and I've never had a bad one on one of their flights. They will come around to offer some sort of sparking wine, as well, if they are feeling nice.
PS: nothing to do with food, but if you know any French, use it. The flight attendants have a reputation of being a bit snarky, but I've found that they are just as helpful as any other major carriers economy attendants, just not as effusive as (possibly) most Americans expect. They become a smidge happier when they hear a 'merci', even if you aren't good at it.
Fig Newtons: do you only eat the original ones?
in Ready to Eat
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it's not a cookie, it's fruit and CAKE.
(and hell no, I'm not correcting anyone. I was just chanelling the old Fig newton commercial, circa 1987 or so. Don't mind me.)
(and I prefer the Fig, too. I also sometimes gnaw off the edges of the cake bit first, in homage to the way I used to eat them as a kid.
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(done now.)