Sandra Levine

Back to peaches. The best peach I ever had was in Italy, cut over a dish of vanilla ice cream that made me feel as if I had never eaten either a peach or vanilla ice cream before. Neither the fruit nor the ice cream has ever been surpassed., although the white peaches that started appearing at the Greenmarket a couple of years ago, at their best, approach Italian peaches in taste, if not texture.

Alan and I are on our way. Steve, have you considered trying to get that Turkish-Jewish cookbook published in an edition that would be more widely available? I am intrigued, so I know others would be, too. I wonder if Simon M. would be interested.

My fondest childhood food memories are closely bound with visits to New York City. I loved going to Katz's even then, although as a child I would have corned beef rather pastrami and always on a "club roll," a kind of chewy, crusty roll that I haven't seen in years. Usually, on the way home, we would stop somewhere for ice cream. My favorite flavor was raspberry sherbet (this was years before "sorbet"). I can still taste the sweet, grainy ices mingled with the, um, rich aroma of my Uncle Herman's cigar. The lower New York skyline in those days was much spikier and, to my mind, more beautiful than it is now. It was the land of Oz, the place where all wishes came true, if you could only get there. Also,on the LES, I remember the sweet potatoes in the winter and hot corn in the summer sold on the street. My grandmother made all the usual Eastern European grandmotherly things, and made them well, but her soups were the best. Hardly any dinner began without soup. I've never had fresh tomato soup like hers. My mother made two dishes: rice krispies treats and Banana Cake from the Settlement Cookbook, with a chocolate cream cheese frosting, always in a tube pan. She never got it quite right. There was always a dense, soggy half-inch at the botoom -- and that, of course, was the best part. The Trenton Farmer's Market sold strawberry milk this time of year. Much better than chocolate milk, I thought, and prettier too.

May I be so impolite as to ask what the damages were?

Similarly, I hate the term "dumbed-down."

Jaymes, I'm overwhelmed. I have tried the "interesting little gift" approach from time to time, and it has been met with puzzlement. I guess I just don't know the right people...or, maybe I choose the wrong gift! Normally, on the receiving end, I agree with Mrs. Schonfeld. Flowers are nice, though.

I had to run to work today, and by the time I got back, CathyL had posted some of the additional "musts" from my cookbook shelf. Paula Peck's The Art of Fine Baking, especially, is a forgotten gem. I'm also glad to see that Jane Grigson has been mentioned.

I agree with all the above, and can add: Madhur Jaffrey - An Invitation to Indian Cooking I learned to bake bread from Edward Dspe Brown's The Tassajara Bread Book. Many of the breads in it seem too hippy-dippy to me now, but the sections on making the sponge and shaping hold up well. Paula Wolfert Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco An old Joy of Cooking still offers good basic information

Salade Nicoise, plus ou moins -- romaine, olive-oil packed tuna, hard-boiled eggs, black olives, asparagus, small boiled potatoes, anchovies, grape tomatoes, scallion. An Australian sauvignon blanc, Heathfield Ridge, 2000 was perfect with it and with the blue cheese remaining from the NY potluck on walnut bread. That is, the cheese was on the walnut bread, not the potluck.

Scrod filets dusted with a mix of flour and curry powder, sauteed in butter, pan deglazed with lime juice, sprinkled with chopped fresh coriander. A dollop of tromato chutney. Steamed, buttered sugar snap beans, this and that salad greens, included amaranth and pea shoots, from the Greenmarket. Cheese course: camembert with a crusty whole wheat raisin bread. Dessert: the last of Rachel's fabulous mango sorbet. Is my fish dish fusion, travesty, or just delicious? It is based on an old Craig Claiborne recipe. His name has come up quite a bit lately here.

Steve, I see that my link, above, is not working, but maybe the one below does. I think it's what Gastrotex found as well. mastic: pistacia lentiscus gum arabic: acacia senegal or acacia seyal http://fl.essortment.com/whatismastic_rbol.htm

I sauteed my mushroom to accompany veal cutlets. I added some paprika and a dollop of sour cream and called it Hungarian. Rachel's mango sorbet is holding perfectly in my freezer, with no loss of taste or texture, remaining the best mango sorbet I've ever eaten. I still smile when I think about the evening.

We are so lucky to have you on eGullet.

Thanks. The crepes: Mix in a blender: 3 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 3/4 cup all-purpose flour and a pinch or two of salt. Let batter rest in fridge for an hour. Yield: 12-14 crepes. Filling: Mix together two 7 1/2 oz. packages of Friendship farmer cheese, (1 salted, 1 unsalted), one 3 oz. package of cream cheese, 2 eggs, juice of 1/2 lemon, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and the seeds from 4 caramom pods, ground or pounded in a mortar. Making the crepes: I use my 8-inch non-stick All-Clad saute pan. I melt about a half teaspoon of butter for the first crepe. Each crepe is made with about 2 scant tablespoons of batter. I use a ladle that happens to hold the perfect amount. I start making the crepes on fairly high heat, and lower it as the process continues. After the butter melts, pour 2 tablespoons of batter into the pan and tilting the pan in all directions, encourage the batter to spread evenly into a thin pancake. In my All-Clad pan, the pancake extends a little bit up the sloping sides. Cook until the batter dries out. Do not cook on the other side. To remove the crepe, turn the pan over and give it a little shake. You may need to lift an edge of the crepe with a spatula or your fingers to start the ejection. You can stack the pancakes on top of each other without any problem. Re-butter the pan every two or three pancakes. The first pancake may not turn out too well. Don't worry, the others will be fine. Ideally, the crepes should not brown. If they do brown, they will be fine anyway, but turn down the heat. Put the filling on the browned side. Assembly: Put a generous spoonful of filling on the crepe. Superimpose an imaginary analog clockface over the crepe. Pick up the 9 o'clock spot and fold over the filling. Fold in 12 and 6 and continue flipping toward 3. You'll end up with a little bundle similar to the one you ate Sunday night. This is far more complicated to describe than it is to do. Finishing: On Sunday, I baked the blintzes in a buttered pan, with a little more softened butter smeared on top. You need a pre-heated 425 degree to get them properly brown in 15-20 minutes. (I didn't set the oven high enough at the potluck, which is why the blintzes were so pale.) Or, faster and more traditional -- simply saute them in butter. The raspberry sauce: This is good with many desserts. It's simply unsweetened raspberries, thawed, combined with half their volume of sugar and simmered until the sugar dissolves and the berries are mostly collapsed (about 3 minutes.) Then puree in blender. Sometimes, if there seem to be too many seeds, I strain the sauce a little to remove some. I didn't strain the sauce for Sunday's dinner. Oh, yes, sour cream is traditional with blintzes, but I forget to bring it and we obviously did not miss it. Let me know how you fare.

Tommy, the thighs are very easy to bone and skin yourself. That doesn't sound right, but yo know what I mean. Use a small sharp knife, and cut down to the bone from the messier side of the thigh, (the inside, without the skin) exposing it lengthwise. Cut the full length of the thigh. Then, just scraping and cutting, release the bone and discard. Turn the meat over and just pull off the skin, using a towel to get a grip if you have to. You'll have a squarish piece of chicken that you can pound here and there to even it out. Once you get the hang of it, it goes very fast.

The best chicken soup is made using some meaty beef bones in addition to the chicken. Somewhere on eGullet there is a whole thread on chicken soup. Probably on the Cooking board. I wish the search function worked.

Or, you can clap a lid on the pan for a few seconds to firm up the yolks. I usually start mushrooms in butter, then add some flavorful liquid to allow them to cook until the desired stage of softness before finishing with some more butter. (I try to keep my butter intake down as much as possible, while still getting the benefit of the flavor.) You have learned tonight why it is important to use a wine to cook with that you would not object to drinking -- a lesson every cook learns sooner or later. I urge to plunge right in. Buy some ordinary button mushrooms and try sauteing them as an experiment. You will learn only by trying and there will be many mistakes and mishaps along the way. We've all been there.

I've had a really busy day and too much to drink tonight to be able to post as I would wish, but last night was terrific -- both the food and the company. Maria, that mushroom was amazing. I've never tasted anything quite like it. Mark, your comments on the mushroom's being closer to the animal kingdom than to the vegetable truly illuminated the taste and texture -- savory, in a fleshly way, absolutely delicious, with a meaty texture I feel I understand much better now. All the dishes were delicious, and what's more surprising, worked well together for both comparison and contrast.

Jinmyo is right, a fork is fine, but without a whisk, I would probably use a wooden spoon. Yes, I am making my mushroom tonight, with a little sour cream and paprika to accompany sauteed veal cutlets. Also, asparagus, salad. To finish the wine, we'll have a bit of yesterday's blue cheese on a lovely hard-crusted fig bread.

Cabrales, saute the mushroom in some of the butter until it is done to your liking. Remove and set aside. Pour in the wine, turn up the heat and reduce until somewhat thickened. If any liquid has exuded from the mushrooms, return it to the pan. Using a whisk, stir in another lump of cold butter. When the butter has been incorporated, you can either pour it over the mushroom or return the mushroom to the pan, stir it around a few times and turn it out into a serving dish. Good luck

Maybe there are different kinds of acacia trees? I love acacia honey.

"There isn’t one recipe, with the exception of a Julia Child recipe, that we haven’t modified in some way for our readers, no matter how slight." Could you elaborate on the specific ways you may modify a recipe for your readers? I am particularly interested in adaptations of dishes made and served in restaurants.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Stefany. I have nothing to add except to recommend that it's a good idea to have some homemade chicken soup in the freezer for this kind of emergency.

Resins serve all sorts of purposes!

The name of the knish place on Houston is Yonah Schimmel's, not Moishe's. I prefer Mrs. Stahl's in Brighton Beach, but if you really prefer 2nd Ave. Deli's pastrami to Katz's, you may not agree.