Sandra Levine

You beat me to it, F-G.

Maybe it wasn't aired in the hinterlands, but in NYC it was on so much that anyone interested could see it often enough to memorize each episode.

It wasn't good for direct cooking, but it made a great double boiler, because you could actually see the water in the lower pot and adjust the flame accordingly.

I thought of your kids, Snowangel, when I read what a new poster, R.G. Diamond, said about his 7 year-old: We are a couple with a kid who can be brought, or left with the other family accompanying us, depending on the hauteur of the place. However, know that our 7 year old is a major food fan, contemptuous of MacDonald's, wants to be a chef when he grows up, etc. When I smuggled a white truffle home from Piemonte in my suitcase, whipped it out and started to shave it over his pasta, little Tom said, "This is the happiest day of my LIFE."

I saved the cooking liquid for last week's corned beef: water, beer, onions, carrots, celery, herbs and used it tonight as the broth for an asparagus risotto. I think it was the best risotto I've even made. Mixed greens with avocado and olives.

I can't put my hands on it this second, but I believe M.F.K. Fisher wrote about a sandwich made by a friend of the family that got its savor from being carried around for hours (or was it sat on) before being eaten while hiking. Something like that.

No celery. No way. Uh-huh.

To stop the cooking

Call again and make it clear to him that you are disappointed that Le Bec Fin seems to have only Laurent Perrier on its wine list. Ask him what the corkage would be if you brought your own bottle. Have a couple of possibilities in mind in case the corkage varies with the cost of the bottle. Maybe h'll get the idea and let you know what else they have.

Not to disparage Alice Waters in any way, but....can anyone really be so saintly?

Clarify, please.

How does the book Trattorias of Rome, Florence and Venice by Maureen Fant stack up?

Craig -- Steve was advising 6 weeks of Berlitz for me if I decided to use the Osterie Guide, but I don't need them. I'm eager to see the Osterie guide because from what you have described, it focuses on the kind of food and restaurant I would look for in Italy.

Thank you, Craig, for this very good tip. I hope to be going to Italy (Veneto and Venezia Giulia) some time this year and was wondering which guidebook might be reliable.

I see that the cocktail of the week is Fish House Punch. Absinthe is supposed to be dangerous, but it was Fish House Punch that was responsible for a marriage proposal that prompted my leaving a job at a New York newspaper of record and moving to California for a number of months in the late 60s, thus changing my life forever. (The wedding, BTW, never came off.)

Steve will say no, it's all gravy. Other will say it's a new dish and we'll be off for another 6 pages. Why bother?

eGullet: home of tedious argument

My son used to like egg salad sandwiches but stopped taking them to school because the other kids used to make fun of him for liking egg salad. I offered to make two sandwiches, one for him to eat and one for him to push into the other kid's face, but he declined.

A very traditional, even old-fashioned, restaurant in the 11th is A Sousceyrac, 35, rue Faidherbe. This is the place where, on his first trip to France, my husband was wondering aloud about the difference between foie gras and pate de fois gras and the man at the next table, overhearing, gave him a slice of foie from his own plate to taste! (Keep this story in mind when people start telling you how nasty the French are.) Be warned: there's nothing "light" about the food here.

Aw, Jaymes, take pity. Maybe Chef/Writer Spencer just has no frame of reference for what appeals to women.

For St. Patrick's Day and Purim: Corned Beef and Cabbage Boiled Potatoes Irish Soda Bread (with caraway and raisins) For Ranitidine: Old Peculier and Anchor Porter For me: Woodpecker Cider Dessert: Hamantaschen -- the cream cheese pastry with apricot filling type. Thanks, Jaymes, for the suggestion of using beer as well as water to simmer the corned beef. I'll never do it any other way. BTW: Years ago, (before he ever went to France) this was what ranitidine used to say he wanted for his last meal.

I hardly noticed the recipes.

I had a feeling of deja vu: Boosting dessert sales

I'm trying to pull myself together after catching the last five minutes of the apple pie episode of Tyler Florence's "Tyler's Ultimate" -- my nomination for the sexiest show on tv.

...forget to sprinkle the baking stone with some flour or cornmeal to facilitate removing a loaf of, say, Irish Soda Bread. (Who look at the bottom, anyway, I'm telling myself.)