LaurieA-B

While visiting Bangkok I noticed that they don't offer "choice of meat" there like the American Thai restaurants; pad thai always had shrimp. Speaking of egg foo yung, once we had pad thai served inside an omelet. Here's a link to pim and mamster's eGCI class, which includes a recipe for pad thai.

And she says that the lasagna "rivals the luscious lasagna immortalized at Café Lago."

Here's a link to the Q&A with chef Michel Nischan from two years ago. The whole Q&A is interesting, and the thread linked explains his approach to "healthful upscale" dining at his New York restaurant, Heartbeat. (Is the restaurant still operating?) The chef also has a website http://www.michelnischan.com/

That sounds really good in a trashy way. I assume you use Nacho Cheese Doritos, or do you vary the flavor for different taste experiences?

Capitol Hill Farmers Market today, 5:00-7:30. We went for the first day last week, bought some green salsa, short ribs, and parsnips. Today we're after apples and pears. Just north of Broadway and Pine, we'll be there with baby.

According to this thread, the 2002 issue was the first New Yorker food issue. I don't think there was one in 2003? So this is only the second. I wonder if they'll publish a food anthology some time. I haven't been reading the New Yorker for that long and there must be some great stuff from past decades. (Trillin's article on Shopsin's, from April 2002, is a favorite of mine.) I don't miss recipes, by the way.

See Sound Lounge, right? I spotted a blurb in the Seattle Weekly last week that said SSL does not have a kitchen and the food is cooked at Mistral; I think it mentioned a quail dish available in the bar. Not sure who's right here, just thought I'd pass it on.

I am shocked by this. I hope you will call and/or write to the chef about this incident (and the whole meal being disrupted by the waiter's behavior). If he's going to continue to work at Mistral he needs some serious retraining.

Okay, I'll try them both ways.

Could we start over with "Welcome, Mr. Lucky. Thanks for sharing your experience"? Nancy Leson gave a rave review in the Times; I was a little surprised, since opinions here were so mixed. So Mr. Lucky's not the only one who loves Lola. Matthew's been raving about those doughnuts, so I want to get there for breakfast some time. The dessert menu offers doughnuts with honey syrup, which I can't imagine is as good as with fruit and mascarpone.

Do you want recommendations specifically for places in the U District, or will you be going around town? (There's good bus service to downtown from there.) Any particular type of food? Places in the U District tend to be low-budget ethnic restaurants popular with students, some good, some not. Let us know what you're looking for.

Article about Cooks and Books by Greg Atkinson in the Seattle Times yesterday.

Yes, Chukar Cherries; they have other dried fruits too, nicely packaged. Isn't the classic Seattle souvenir smoked salmon in the wooden box? You could also buy some Starbucks coffee from the original Starbucks (no different from Starbucks in Hong Kong, but it's a souvenir). I haven't been to Chefshop in its present location. There's a shop in Pike Place that specializes in olive oil. What about some cheese from Beecher's (their own or another Washington State cheese)?

I breastfed my daughter exclusively for seven months, then we started giving her a little solid food every day (but she wasn't very interested, so breastmilk continued to be her main food). Yesterday she turned eight months old, and today she had formula for the first time. I went back to work yesterday (I'm a school librarian), Matthew gave her the last of the pumped frozen milk, and I decided not to pump any more. So last night we read the formula can carefully, Matthew mixed it up, and filled the bottles. He tasted it and said, "She's not going to like this." It's enriched with iron, and you can really taste it. I was a little anxious at school today wondering how she would feel about the cruel deception: looks like milk, in the same bottle as milk, tastes like... what? So I was surprised but relieved when Matthew reported that she guzzled down the formula without seeming to notice anything different. My plan is to continue breastfeeding after school, in the morning, and on weekends. I hope this will work for us. While I have sworn to myself that I won't go around giving unsolicited advice on childrearing and breastfeeding, I do want to strongly advocate for breastfeeding, which started off as the most difficult, painful experience of my life, but became both very pleasant and probably the most satisfying experience of my life. I would be glad to share books, tips, resources on breastfeeding if anyone wants to PM me. The satisfying part is that I could look at this six-month-old baby girl and know that I created every single bit of her! Wouldn't you be proud?

Milo was all over Bangkok when I visited a couple of years ago. The McDonald's restaurants offer Milo (on ice) as one of their soft drinks. There were little Milo bars (like candy bars, only good for you!) in the groceries, and Milo ice cream bars (chocolate-coated, I think). I tried all of the above and the only one that I found delicious was the ice cream bars. Here in Seattle, the Asian grocery stores sell jars of both Milo and Ovaltine.

The previous praise and Matthew's Seattle Times review were based on south end locations, so perhaps the Bellevue location is less than stellar? (Or perhaps not, considering tighe's comments.) I've never considered it "oh my god amazing," just a place that I would be delighted to have in my neighborhood. The two Guaymas locations on Broadway are, I think, not as good and more expensive than Rinconsito. Regarding price, I vaguely remember that on my last visits Rinconsito offered a 79-cent chicken taco special; perhaps that was the source of confusion (not to excuse the poor service Anita received). At least if you have to have a free drink, they offer tamarindo and horchata.

Ben, you must not have read the recent Q&A with Robb Walsh...

Thanks for that report. And it sounds like you recommend the tuna sold at the farmers market; I'll have to try it.

Haven't tried it yet, but I thought this Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe sounded good: Triple Citrus Cheesecake Peach cheesecake sounds luscious. I am fond of pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust (in the recipe I've used, you add pumpkin and spice to part of the cheesecake batter, then swirl it with the plain cheesecake batter).

lmf, could you tell us more about what they cooked? I was really interested and regretted we couldn't stay. We won't this Saturday, but Matthew, Iris, and I are usually there between 9-9:30.

If you mean New York Popover at Ninth and 53rd, I went there when I was in NY a couple of years ago and enjoyed it very much. Hope it's still open. And I do think the Risotteria on Bleecker is open, I have friends who like it. (Not to be confused with Rice to Riches, which I hope will be there on my next visit; it sounds fun.)

That would be nightscotsman's apartment, before he abandoned us to pursue his dreams (which, sadly, didn't include fulfilling our cocktail needs. Personally I feel entitled to another cocktail party at Neil's, since I was pregnant at the last one ).

I am glad that as an adult I have become very fond of beets, Brussels sprouts, mussels, fish, duck, and other foods that I either disliked or never tried as a child. I am embarrassed, though, that I don't like sushi. This is a problem in Seattle where it seems that everyone, even three-year-olds, loves sushi. The last time I was at a Japanese restaurant with friends I ordered a noodle dish with chicken (it wasn't very good), and I felt like an annoying child who refuses to eat anything but macaroni and cheese. As said upthread, I appreciate the artistry of sushi. I enjoy watching Matthew eat it, but I don't want to eat it myself (actually, I kind of think I don't like Japanese food).

Mmm... love that seafood! (Lest you think I am being sarcastic, Goldfish are my favorite snack.)

I went to the doctor and was a candy striper at an Adventist hospital. (I was brought up Catholic, but this was our neighborhood hospital and patients came from all religions.) Meat was not excluded at the hospital, but I knew some Adventists there who were vegetarian. The most notable exclusions in the hospital cafeteria were caffeine (only decaf coffee, tea, and soft drinks were offered) and black pepper. I think they may have avoided chiles and other spices as well, but I only remember the black pepper clearly because when you looked around the dining room, you saw a lone salt shaker on every table. I don't have any reliable information about the Adventist diet to explain this, however. While Vatican II removed the "fish on Fridays" rule, except during Lent, lots of Catholics continue the tradition. During Lent I usually ate a tuna sandwich for lunch and fish sticks for dinner (we rarely ate fresh fish growing up, perhaps because my siblings and I were annoyingly picky. Pity my mother cooking for six picky children.)