Liza

If you two agree, then that settles it for me. Of course, this is almost a month away so I may reserve the right to be completely contrary on the spur of the moment.

"Swing low...sweet chariot..."

Emeril has extra bowls of breadcrumbs and extra bowls of eggs!

FINALLY! I can help! The trick is: use one hand for dry, one hand for wet. Requires ambidexterity, and sometimes tying of colored string to each hand, but maybe that's just me. At least this is the way I start out, and then get gloopy anyway, as I believe gloopy hands are part of the fun. Again, that could be just me.

That is perplexing. No idea, but there are lots of mistakes in printing so maybe...

Aha! Thank you, Tommy!

I've been told omakase can be two to three times more expensive and trying to imply that I'm not sure I'm up for spending more than $200 per person.

So I've secured a dinner reservation for my birthday in June and am filled with menu disorientation: some tell me 'you have to have the sushi!', others, 'don't have the sushi'. Some insist on Omakase but they haven't seen my credit statements. Any direction is most appreciated.

Hats AND candy? Sounds like a wonderful dream...(Great Miracle Legion song "Snacks and Candy", btw).

We've cured a few salmons with a variety of flavourings. Tequila and cilantro. Gin and juniper berries. Cognac and whatever the heck other herbs we had about. Very much worth the time, as that is the only taxing bit about it.

What about instances where the people at the next table are boring? Would it be impolite to suggest they discuss something interesting?

Any mention of The Agora? Notable for its candy selection only.

http://www.thepodny.com/

If we don't eavesdrop, then the terrorists will have won.

Oh if only..."You got abalone shite in my chocolate!" "YOU got chocolate in my abalone!" Hello, my name is Liza, and I am an habitual finger-tip-slicer. Making chicken stock before my brother's wedding on Saturday, sure enough...slice, there goes my ring finger. (Paging Dr. Freud!)

Excellent point, Cabrales! I've used Bibliofind, Powells, and Abebooks. Let me see if I can't get some of those clickety things that are all the rage these days... http://www.amazon.com/exec....0774226 http://www.abebooks.com/ http://www.powells.com/

Wilfrid, may I suggest roasting the sprouts? (0Why 'soitenly I may!) Course, I suggest roasting for nearly everything, but roasted brussel sprouts, with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, is like candy for me. I roast 'em whole, by the way. Dinner last night: brined organic chicken for a few hours; then rubbed it all over with foie gras butter and roasted it with root vegetables. Served with parsnip puree drizzled with parsley juice.

Food Network used to air GG paired with vintage Julia around 11:30 AM. I always wanted them to do a GG/Julia block around 1AM - perfect 'happy' tv for those 'happy' viewers.

Wolfgang Puck deserves more credit than he gets for his defining role in the revolution of American cuisine. I've had the pleasure of working with him and can happily report that he's a gem - we were in Spago for a very quick shoot with a crew of five. After the shoot, Wolf tells us to stay for lunch, and feeds all of us a four course meal. If I remember correctly, we started with a signature pizza; slow-roasted salmon in herb inflected beurre blanc; white corn agnolotti in a goat cheese sauce (might have been another cheese) topped with shavings of white truffles which exploded with flavor as tooth bit pasta; sorbet and cookies. A really lovely man, with a serious passion for food, and it shows at Spago.

Thank you so much for this post - this is truly what makes Egullet invaluable to members, and the greater community at large!

Jinmyo, it was dried. Like big ears of corn, it was. Priscilla, thank you. I'm thinking of tossing the rest of it to alleviate any remaining guilt feelings.

Excellent post, Mao! Very informative, and I will second you on Aki, which a Japanese friend tipped to us. Don't you just want to order from the appetizer list for the entire meal? I remember "Sea Urchin Mousse with Yuzu Viniagrette" and the spicy chirashi. The Caribbean influence is Jamaican, for those keeping score. Tiny, tiny, tiny, and closed on Mondays.

There's a lovely specialty shop called "Cookbooks" on Greenwich Street, just north of Canal. It has exactly what you describe - old, antique and kitschy cookbooks. I'll try to dig up the number somewhere, as it's just around the corner. EDIT: A good store for perusing, is the downtown Strand on Fulton Street. It's the same size or larger than the 12th Street location, but a fraction as full. Especially good for fiction and arts. Skyline Books on 18th b/w 5th and 6th is another favorite haunt, with extensive fiction, poetry, esoterica and records. Chartwell on 52nd Street has a large Churchill collection, plus very good first edition jazz books.

We've tried blue and white and traditionally it is cooked in water with pork and peppers, etc. It's supposed to plump or open up and become soft. We had it going for a good five hours and it was still like eating gravel, and extra crunchy gravel at that. Does it need to be soaked? Did we get an unlucky batch of posole? Should we develop a taste for gravel?

ummm....what about Mrs. Tommy? Who will she be ogling?