Jake

$$$$ ← I find that answer rather offensive. While I am not a host or moderator (Marlene et al. please jump in and correct me if I'm wrong) if you read upthread you would realize Doug was answering questions here of his own free will, NOT for money. I do not believe most of the people who are kind enough to participate in q & a's are paid for their time any more than the eG members who host the forums. ← Sorry to imply that Q&A participants are paid directly. You can't deny that people participate to promote their books, shows or restaurants which ultimately leads to $$$$. Do you think the publisher allowed excerpts of the book to be printed because they are charitable fellows or did they think it might be an effective and inexpensive way to promote their book? Edited to add that I don't think there is anything wrong with using a Q&A to promote a restaurant, book or show. ← Having worked in both fields I am indeed well aware why a chef would promote a book and why a publishing house would do so. I appreciate your apology and if I spoke quickly I, too, am sorry. Your reply seemed crass/rude when I read it. Such is the hazzard of one character posts I guess.

Steven, I agree with everything you've said, the caveat I would employ is that this availability is not universal as of yet. Small town USA (and Canada for that matter) still don't have these options. As demand increases, along with globalization I imagine this will change. It is also within the realm of possibility that the emergence of higher quality chains serving higher quality ingredients in small towns with help increase both the demand and the awareness.

$$$$ ← I find that answer rather offensive. While I am not a host or moderator (Marlene et al. please jump in and correct me if I'm wrong) if you read upthread you would realize Doug was answering questions here of his own free will, NOT for money. I do not believe most of the people who are kind enough to participate in q & a's are paid for their time any more than the eG members who host the forums.

So they can decide after knowing the facts instead of speculating as to whether he quit or was fired. ← Does it matter? Really? Perhaps M. Psaltis would rather talk about what is actually in his book rather than why he quit or was fired? If it's not in the book, and he hasn't brought it up, perhaps it is not meant to be for public consumption. FWIW, I appreciate the moderators interest in the topic and to keeping things on topic. Why would ANY author/chef do a q & a if it is not a pleasant experience...

Sorry to hear about the lack of duck....so what did you have?

I just read somewhere (NOW, Toronto Life???) that they were serving some decent cheeses now. Glad to hear it's okay as am required to meet friends there later this week. Wine and cheese shouldn't kill me....

Michael and Andy, thank you both for a wonderful read....look forward to the round table.

The wine festival looked wonderful, Susan. How nice that the food was excellent too. I have been to a couple wine tastings where, nfortunately, the food didn't measure up and it really takes away from the pairings and enjoyment thereof. When (note the when, not if) we get to Daytona next we'll have to get your rec's for places to eat, and hopefully the company of you and Russ as well. Great blog....again!

Daniel, loved your account of this trip too - thanks so much for taking the time to post. The photos make me drool, especially the shrimp sandwich!!! I think a road trip will have to be in my future, it's been awhile.

Yes, Susan, what's on the table for NASCAR? We'll be dividing our time between NASCAR and the F1 race I'm currently taping for whenever HRH returns from the boys fishing weekend....methinks I'll be the only one having a beer tonight! Guess I'd better head off to the store to find something for dinner. I think maybe hotpot in front of the TV.....

Susan, great blog. The dinner party turned out well, started with a variety of cheeses and pates and shrimp on cucumber rounds with wasabi creme fraiche and caviar. 1st course was pan seared scallops (huge fresh ones) with a brown butter and frizzled leek sauce atop a carrot and daikon salad. Main course was the aforementioned duck with sour cherry sauce, potato gratin and french green beens with a compound butter (dijon, chive and thyme). Alas, we did not make it down to the Daytona 500 this year as we'd planned and were pretty disappointed. However, it is definitely on the agenda for 2006. My family has a place in St. Petersburg, so if we go in November we will base ourselves there. As far as I recall stone crab season starts around the beginning of November. Hope you enjoy the wine festival and the night away. I look forward to the report.

Wednesday night, veal piccata with orecchiette pugliese pasta tossed with pesto. Wasn't impressed by the pasta itself, won't buy that one again. Last night pizza with a lovely garlic tomato sauce, spinach, carmelized onions, smoked duck breast and cheese. Yummy, best one in awhile.

Susan, just saw your blog and am really looking forward to the week. I am missing Florida and we're hoping to get down to visit family in November...maybe...if I can get a dogsitter....etc.....oh, I hope so, just in time for stone crab! The duck looked wonderful, I'm doing duck with a sour cherry sauce for a dinner party on Friday. Belated birthday and moving anniversary wishes.

Thanks for the info Shelora, your meal looks fabulous -- were you the chef responsible for the dishes?

Are there traditional dishes that one usually makes? And if you don't mind me asking, what is a "grito"?

Tom, is there anything you do like? You trashed Montreal on that board, and you now say any "real foodies" will be disappointed in Toronto. Not only do I not agree with you, I don't believe your comments follow the spirit of eGullet. Your post would have been much better had you left out the first paragraph. I hope you'll get to know Toronto better in the future and be able to revise your opinion.

Last night was hot and muggy and we wanted something easy that I didn't have to go to the market for.....so, crab cakes with a spicy remoulade and a garden salad with some wonderful tomatoes from the garden. A lovely bottle of sancerre to go with followed later with some port, cheese and pear.

OMG, I completely forgot about kitchen fights whilst entertaining!! New Year's Eve dinner, four or five courses, I'm cooking for 8. Mr. J is not a bad cook, but is still learning and to be fair has no formal training. The main course is something he has never prepared, or seen prepared. He comes into the kitchen to "help" and proceeds to tell me he doesn't think I'm doing it right and giving instructions and increasing the flame on a couple burners "so people don't have to wait so long"! Have you ever tried to have a fight whispering?? Needless to say the sound of pots banging, the smell of burning sauce and my sweetly yelled "Get the f*&k out of my kitchen" left no doubt as to what was going on. All was patched up fine, but it did take me the better part of a bottle of wine to get that course on the table.

On my own tonight, so no cooking. Trinidadian Double (take-away, not home cooked) with a green salad followed by a couple sugar pears. Easy and delish.

Thanks again for the great blog, Joie. And a special thank you for the intro to Filipino food, I know we'll be experimenting more in the near future - and next time I'll remember to ask for the names of the dishes!

I second that! Want to take friends there soon.....

Joie, thanks for putting the names to the foods we ate (see upthread), it was exactly spot on. We're really looking forward to trying more dishes. They had some fried (?) mackeral that looked yummy. Thank you, yet again, for a most enjoyable blog.

We've recently cleared space off on the bottom shelf of our kitchen thingamajiggie, which we use to store pots, bowls, steamers, a breadbox, mortars and pestles, and a few other things. This space is designated specifically for Andrea's stuff. Any takers on whether it'll get used or not? ← Bonne chance! I have cleared/designated a number of spots for the SO, put out containers for change etc. all to little or no avail. Before prepping dinner most nights I remove keys, change, cash (ok, well that goes to the chef/ ) cell phone, sunglasses from the kitchen counters. Plural intended on counters, it's not like they're all put together in one place!

Moosh, really enjoying your blog. Today at lunchtime my SO and I were out doing errands when we ran across a Philipine restaurant. Neither of us is at all familiar, and the owner and his wife were great. It was set up as a steam table and they insisted we try little bits of everything before we decided. We had regular spring rolls and tiny thin ones that were filled with pork. We had pancit. We had diced pork with lots of red chillies in a spicy sort of sour sauce and another dish with bits of pork, green leaves (taro I think he said???) and garlic and a sort of sweetish taste I cannot identify, and steamed rice. It was absolutely delicious and we will definitely be returning. I should have paid more attention to what he called the dishes.

Sounds interesting, estufarian. Would you mind telling us the approximate bill for the evening? We haven't been yet, but are looking for something interesting for out of town friends early next week.