g.johnson

Unless they've found a way of making round paper, they'll be cut from a square sheet so total paper usage will be the same*. They might recycle the waste but I doubt it. *Unless, as I mentioned above, they offset alternate rows by one radius when the circles will be 'close packed'. However, that increases wastage at the end of each row.

Does immigration still operate on a quota system? If so, I suspect the South Asian quota is filled by computer programmers rather than cooks.

My bet is none. You could only save paper with a close-packing arrangement on huge sheets of paper. It was a serious question, wasn't it?

Ignoble Prizes

Actually no I didn't. What I said was that it used some sophisticated techniques compared to Zuppa di Pesce and a Catalan Style fish soup. And those techniques are why it is a better fish soup. Why are people prepared to pay $100 for bouillabaisse if it's not haute? Wasn't price your yardstick a moment ago?

Good bad, but not evil.

There's nothing very remarkable about glass that's able to withstand a naked flame. Think chemistry class. Edit: That said, the thickness required for a saucepan will cause problems since a temperature gradient across a thick piece of glass will lead to uneven expansion and stress that could shatter the pot. My guess is that pyrex is designed to expand very little with heating to reduce that stress. It'll still shatter if you place a hot dish in cold water, though.

This requires an experiment. Do you think NSF funds this sort of thing?

Yeh. This guy makes the unarguable point that mushrooms thrive in damp climates. They're built to withstand water.

I think it was Alton Brown. I always rinsemushrooms and can't see it making any difference. Maybe you have to saute for another minute to evaporate the water. So what? Edit: Spelling.

Banyuls is a red wine.

Bouley last night with a few of the usual suspects. Amuse: Tuna tartare with cucumber and something creamy, tuna tartare and something else in a miniature taco. FMJD. 1a: Phyllo crusted shrimp, baby squid, scallop, crab in a broth. Vivid green broth, exquisitely fresh seafood grilled, fried, steamed. Second FMJD. 1b: Rouget with potato crust and saffron and bean sprout risotto. The risotto was minimal and an integral part of the dish rather than a stodge accompaniment. My J was already on the floor otherwise it might have D'd further. 2a: Halibut with cauliflower couscous and oscetra. Again 'couscous' sounds as if this is going to be heavy. Instead it provided a pleasantly lush coating for the fish. 2b: Roast sea bass in scallop crust with asparagus, salsify, jasmine rice with sauce bouillabaisse and vanilla. Sounds like a disaster but not. I don't think it would be possible to detect the vanilla if you didn't know it was there. The scallop was supernumerary. The starch again provided a nice textural counterpoint. 3a: Lobster, bok choy, mango, papaya with vanilla. Another disaster waiting to happen but tremendous. The fruit too sparse to overwhelm with sweetness. 3b: Squab in cabbage with foie. Herbed potato puree. Banyuls sauce. Maybe a little blahish, or maybe I was becoming jaded. Still very good. At this point my memory gets hazy and we started getting things not on the menu, but I'll soldier on. 4a: Blood orange soup, yoghurt sorbet, pineapple chip. Fine. Y loved it. 4b: A bunch of sorbets. See 4a. 5: A sort of sundae with pureed banana and coffee. I liked it. Y didn't. 6: Chocolate soufflé with a bunch of icy things. Too much for me, though I ate it. Best dessert for Y. Nice bottle of Sancerre. Not so nice bottle of something red. Others can provide details. Reading the menu I was not looking forward to this. Too many components. But every combination worked. Every course was at least very good*, both mine and Y's. Overall the most satisfying meal I?ve had in a long time. Efficient but weird service. All but the barman seem to have had lobotomies. He was just Very Angry. Is it policy that they all dress badly? Restaurant half empty by 10pm. $150 a head all in. A bargain. *Desserts were a mixed bag but they're only desserts so they don't count.

I think that for matters of this discussion, Pakistan and Bangladesh count as part of India. Or if not then we need to discuss Goan, Kashmiri, Kerala, Gujarati, etc., etc. separately. Which is not to say that your larger point - that we're not experiencing Indian food at its best is not valid.

I didn’t know but I did a google. This site* and this site give slightly different answers but the basic idea is the same**. The wavelength of microwave radiation is around 12cm. So your split grape at around 3cm is a perfect quarter wave antenna. This effectively concentrates the microwave’s electric field until it reaches several thousand volts, enough to ionize the air which causes the arcing. *This site has a movie that is well worth watching. **I think there are problems with the details of both explanations.

One quibble but it was too pedantic even for me.

Do you know about exploding water? You can heat water to above its boiling point in a microwave because the even heating doesn't create the eddies that allow gas bubbles to form. When you take it out though, the water is likely to boil suddenly and violently and shoot out of the cup.

Portale's Gotham Cookbook has a nice recipe for a red wine and shallot flavoured butter.

Oscar Wilde said it first and best. The Canterville GhostBernard Shaw is credited with the more commonly know phrase but its source is not known.

Sarah Moulton was sous chef at La Tulipe for a while.

It'll also be affected by the inconsistency I've noticed at both places.

How about reviving the Relevance of Italian Food thread?

You have greater faith in eGullet radicalism than I do.

So tommy takes three hour lunches?

Union Pacific. I'm not a big fan but others are and it's significantly different from the others. Edit: Or Craft. I am a fan and ditto. Edit2: Or Babbo. Edited in so it looks as if tommy's copying.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness.