LaurieA-B

Just bought Rainiers at Pike Place Market for $2.50 a pound, which is cheaper than both the farmers market and grocery store here. I've never pitted, prepared, or cooked fresh cherries--just eat them. We also bought blueberries and red currants at the farmers market on Saturday. I am longing, longing for the tomatoes and peaches that will be ripe during August...

Those are definitely not the pregnant Americans. I wake up because I'm hungry. I eat breakfast. An hour or two later, I eat breakfast again (after waking up from my mid-morning nap). I haven't been working for the last couple of weeks; next week I'll be in school, and I know I'll be packing a lot of snacks. Now that's a pregnant lady breakfast! If I hadn't met you, klink, I'd be wondering about you right now. On Sunday we had yeasted waffles with syrup/sauce I made from fresh red currants we bought at the farmers market. Delicious. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the currants, but they're certainly pretty. This morning I had Cinnamon Life cereal with fresh blueberries and milk, a felicitous combination.

Today Matthew and I decided to treat ourselves to lunch after a morning appointment with the obstetrician.* We walked by Osteria La Spiga, our first choice, on the way to the doctor, and it is only open for lunch Wednesday to Friday. My bright idea, for lunch on a weekday: Salumi! Haven't been there in a while. So we left the doc, took two buses to Pioneer Square, and found Salumi closed for a week. As this is the second time this has happened, serious note to self: ALWAYS call first before going to Salumi. As I had already planned to pick up some groceries at Pike Place Market (Rainier cherries from Sosio's; thanks for the tip, Fish), we decided to try our luck at Matt's. After waiting only about ten minutes, we were given the best table, overlooking the market. This was our first time at Matt's, and it was lovely. Matthew and I both had the fried catfish sandwich, because neither of us would give in and order something else. He had soup, I had the house salad, which was very delicious: crisp greens in vinaigrette with blue cheese and spicy pumpkin seeds. Sandwiches were crunchy and spicy and drippy, very good all around. I'm not sure why it took us so long to visit Matt's, but now we'll definitely go back. *Why were we seeing an obstetrician? You probably guessed right: Matthew (mamster to you) and I are expecting a small gourmand in January. You'll hear from me next over on that pregnancy cravings thread. All is going well and I am constantly hungry.

Actually we usually call this baked broccoli, as does Mark Strausman (Oven-Baked Broccoli, p. 94). I'm not sure how it became roasted broccoli in this article. It does become soft and lose color, and it's delicious. Strausman says, "Broccoli should be either very crisp, as in Chinese stir-fries, or very soft and sweet, as in this dish. Slowly baking broccoli in liquid, so that it cooks in its own juices, makes it tender and flavorful. The florets become almost crispy on top, and a golden glaze of Parmesan cheese pulls the whole thing together." It tastes really, really good. We eat this a lot. The main thing the broccoli has in common with Jim's roasted cauliflower is that you are taking two vegetables that many people (including me) grew up eating boiled and thinking it was disgusting. Out of the oven is something completely different. The Campagna Table has a generous number of delicious vegetable recipes. I'm especially fond of Peas and Prosciutto.

Laurie Colwin has a piece in Home Cooking titled "How to Avoid Grilling." She recommends, for warm summer evenings, serving Lebanon bologna sandwiches. Her sandwiches involve cream cheese and herbs. "Make an enormous pile of these sandwiches cut in half and serve with potato salad, cole slaw or a big green salad." Whether this would succeed depends on your crowd. What are you doing this year, tommy? Here's a link to last year's excellent Fourth of July cooking thread.

The former Diversity Hair Design space at Broadway and Roy now has a sign up for Da Lat Cafe (add several accent marks on various letters). I think it's Vietnamese. The space is completely gutted, and doesn't look like it will be ready for a while. Da Lat is joining a block that already has Siam on Broadway, Broadway Wok & Grill, and Jade Pagoda. The only non-Asian-restaurant businesses on that block are the minimart and Orpheum Records (which, to my great dismay, just announced it's closing, and has already sold most of its stock). Across the street, Galerias is doing a booming business with its new bar, and Thai Kitchen, recently re-opened under new management, has added sidewalk tables. (I haven't been there yet because we always go to Siam. Also, the new management made it very dark inside, and I don't really like sidewalk tables.) Pagliacci on Broadway is closed for at least two weeks for a complete remodel.

This was the second time we'd gone to Le Fournil on the weekend and found them almost out of breakfast pastries. The first time we arrived after 11:00 am, so this time we planned to get there by ten. No plain croissants, no almond, no brioche, no lots of other things. This is annoying; why don't they make more? When we went to Cafe Besalu they were starting to run out of a few special items, but had lots and lots of croissants and brioche. I had a cheese croissant at Le Fournil, which was tasty but not great. I've had their fruit croissants before (they have orange, raspberry, lemon, apple), and they were okay pastry-wise, but very sticky.

Avoid it? What a terrible thought. A pinch of salt is better than a spoonful of sugar.

While happily drinking at the latest Seattle cocktail party, I realized that the Pacific Rim had somehow slipped by egullet eyes (until Saturday night, that is. It was very popular). Matthew (mamster) wrote an article for the Seattle Times about tamarind, and asked nightscotsman to devise a tamarind-laced cocktail to accompany it. The result is fragrant and delicious. Tamarind and the Pacific Rim

If anyone does want Lebanon bologna, they have it in the deli at Larry's Market in Seattle (Queen Anne, possibly others). I haven't tried it, but noticed it because Laurie Colwin recommends it in Home Cooking. She liked a sandwich of, I think, Lebanon bologna, cream cheese, and fresh herbs on whole-grain bread, good summer/picnic food.

Seattle chef Greg Atkinson shares his favorite home tools/gadgets in the Seattle Times: a new tool or two. A decent list, though he passed up an opportunity to be a scale shill. (I scale shills.)

Cafe Besalu's brioche looked great, and everything I've tasted there has been good. I think Essential Baking makes brioche too.

Oh, yes, they are. You can get aebleskivers all around Solvang. You buy them at a window and eat them on the sidewalk, three to a serving, I think, served with raspberry jam and powdered sugar. My dad grew up in Lompoc, near Solvang, and he used to make aebleskivers for weekend breakfast when I was growing up in Portland. Turning them to get a sphere is a bit tricky. Dad uses a wooden skewer. We always ate them with butter and pancake syrup. I don't imagine that very many of the Globe's readers have aebleskiver pans. I've never noticed them at an Asian market; I'll have to look next time at Uwajimaya. A friend took me to the pancake lady--on Mott Street, maybe?--in NY Chinatown a couple of years ago, and her cakes reminded me a bit of aebleskivers (though aebleskivers are separate from each other, not attached).

I don't remember using knives while eating in Bangkok; it was always fork on the left, spoon on the right. As I learned from pre-trip reading, you should not put the fork in your mouth, only the spoon (use the fork to help food onto the spoon). This sounded awkward but quickly became comfortable in practice, and now we eat Thai food at home this way too. I've almost never been given a spoon at an American Thai restaurant, which is unfortunate. Lots of chopsticks though. The same books said that in Thailand chopsticks are only offered with noodle dishes (Chinese culinary roots); I don't remember if this was true but Matthew might. During our last visit the size of the spoons was a running joke; they seemed to get larger at each restaurant. Several times I was given a spoon to eat with that was almost as large as a serving spoon here at home. Another Thai utensil is sticky rice--actually, as jhlurie said, fingers wrapped around sticky rice. Love those edible utensils.

Not ma'amster? If you get married will she be madamster? I think not. (Also, I think I am the only person who never calls Matthew "mamster"--lots of his friends do--because I refuse to call my husband by his username.) He baked a batch of Sparkle Cookies and they were delicious. (He also brought home a little bag of four Sparkle Cookies from Senses. I ate three. It's great being married to mamster.)

I watched Matthew's omakase meal at Mashiko's (not keen on sushi myself), which was at the $30 price point. He was served an extensive array of items, and the presentation was spectacular. If you're willing to spend $25, why not $30? The price seemed cheap for what he received. You can read Matthew's review of his meal here, along with Klink's lyrical descriptions of Mashiko meals.

If I were really cruel I would take advantage of Matthew's absence (egullet road trip to Vancouver) and post a picture of what our cupboards actually look like--halfway done, and thus a much bigger mess than they were originally. But it's fun figuring it out, and we're awaiting a Tupperware delivery. Linen closet next. Fortunately we have far, far fewer linens than food items. (Matthew realized yesterday that we actually have nine kinds of sugar: add vanilla, already in a big glass jar, to the list.) One thing I'm thinking about adding is a plain white label on each container to write down the date last filled. We already do this on the labels of our Penzey's spice jars, and it has worked nicely. My sister Kathleen, mentioned in the article, has a website to sell Tupperware. Please contact me if you would like the URL. In addition to the storage containers I ordered the Tupperware pastry rolling sheet, which my mom has always used. When I was a kid I always wanted a Tupperware lunchbox set. Now I have one of those Asian stacking metal lunchboxes, so my desire for neat little containers is finally satisfied.

Short visit in Sacramento next week; any suggestions? We're going to visit my sister, who has two little girls, so inexpensive family-friendly places would be great. Does Sacramento have any great authentic Mexican restaurants, or taco stands? I know my sister likes Indian food, too, and so do we. (I don't think she gets out much, which is why I'm asking here.) I did have lunch at Biba a couple of years ago, on another visit, and enjoyed it very much. We may try to squeeze it in, though not with our nieces.

When I was in Portland a few weeks back I dined solo at both Pambiche and Canita. Both were great, and definitely FUN. (Of course, Cuban food is no novelty for someone from New York.) I prefer Pambiche, though the menus are very similar. Here's Jim Dixon's review. (And thanks, Jim, for introducing me to Pambiche. The banana shake is one of the best drinks I've ever drunk.)

Bangkok Center Grocery 102 Mosco St. (212) 349-1979

The Weekly says Hiroki is open; Nancy Leson says it will open next week. I think nightscotsman is right about Hiroki supplying Blue Willow; the green tea tiramisu is a tip-off. We noticed the last time we visited Blue Willow (which was recently re-named ChaZen) that the desserts were better and more interesting. Haven't tasted Mighty-O, and judging from Matthew's experience, I'm not missing much.

Interesting that you should single out Le Gourmand in this regard. Matthew and I had dinner at Le Gourmand on Friday--a wedding anniversary gift from the Amster parents--and found the service lacking. One large error: I ordered a Kir Royale, which was on the aperitifs menu, my order was verbally acknowledged by the waiter, and it was never served. Following that, a few minor errors, and a general lack of attention due to the fact that two women were the entire front-of-house staff for a full restaurant. Our courses were served in a timely manner, and we were never actually neglected (we did refill wine and water glasses ourselves), but it was simply not possible for them to give the level of service that I expect from a restaurant of this caliber. I was also somewhat annoyed by the waiters' constant gushing about the chef, the restaurant, and the food. Actually, she did not gush about the mains that Matthew and I ordered, and they were not worth gushing about. One of us will probably write about the food; I just wanted to comment here about the service. I have never dined in a Seattle restaurant that had remarkable service (I haven't been to Rover's, Herbfarm, or Canlis), but I recall having good service at Dahlia Lounge, Palace Kitchen, Cascadia, Cafe Campagne, and the bar at Brasa.

Klink , I would love some of your divine corned beef for St. Patrick's Day. And I will pick mine up. Thanks! (Probably I should say "ours," since I will let Matthew have some.)

True? Read what Cecil says. Straight Dope

I ordered the mesquite [grilled/roasted?] chicken. The barbecued chicken enchiladas were tempting, and heyjude chose them; I was more interested in the sides that went with my chicken, but the whole plate turned out to be delicious. Sides were spicy slaw and chilaquiles (green chiles, cheese, other stuff). The chicken was swathed in barbecue sauce. Normally I take little interest in bbq sauce, but this had a nice flavor balance, not too sweet, quite spicy, and the chicken was moist and flavorful. Everything on my plate was hot and spicy. I really enjoyed this meal. I didn't really think the crock was good pie; the crust can't help being soggy. But the lime custard was great and it was fun to eat. Matthew ordered a drink--mint julep, I think--that was not very minty, but was a delicious cocktail. All the drinks on the menu sounded good. I'm looking forward to more Barbacoa.