anil

Were you not involved in the development of their website ? or am I mistaken ?

And also Alaska, and Falkland Islands. There is blurb at the bottom - "THIS LIST IS RECOGNIZED BY THE WORLD AS THE STANDARD OF COUNTRIES AND DESTINATIONS THAT ARE POLITICALLY, ETHNOLOGICALLY OR GEOGRAPHICALLY DIFFERENT."

Have you looked at Times Sq. lately ? There is even a Disney store by 67th & Columbus ? Not exactly tourist heavy place - Only an ABC News Hq. ? Seriously, I can easily blank out any distractions like tourists - I worked for over a decade on 42nd St. a block from Times Sq. I ignored,tuned them out every day of the year

I do not live long enough in a year really focus on a wine merchant. We do indeed ask our friends to keep a few bottles aside for consumption. If I can't carry on-board I will not bring along - hence, a max of four amongst the two of us on the flight back home.

Based on The Countries in the Century Club how many have you'll dined in ? even though this list is skewed, the diversity of the places in fascinating It might take me a few days just to compile one ?

One dish meal ? Two dish meal ? South ? North ? East ? West ? Lets take Bengal: When they have a regular meal without a feast style affair -Its normally with rice - so the mutton is mostly curry - same is true of fish - The key being that rice is the staple. Orissa: A daily meal in many parts of that state, is rice is prepared porridge style and fish or meat is optionally dry (sookha) along with lots of green chili-pepper. North: With roti {tandoori, or otherwise plain} being the staple, the meats tend to be semi dry - sometimes it's with "tarri" In a two dish senario {which is quite common in households that I knew of} one dish veg-or-non veg was saucy - like maa-di-daal, and the meat became optionally dry like in kebab,tandoori tangri,or dry kalai-masala.... Goa: The basic staple is the pau - The meats invariably are with gravy. Many an accompaniment of a soup with the main dish. Mumbai:/Maharastra: Both dry and gravy variations of the meats are served because there is always a potato-onions-gravy dish that accompanies the small pooris they use in their meals. There is also the parsi and Irani style cooking with emphasis to gravy with ulta-tava rootis. South: Kerela where the meat eating tradition is more common - The meat is invariably dry as a side to rice and a spicy daal basic. On rare occasions I have seen meats prepared as they call Punjabi-style - meaning really gravy the style of rogan joshs etc. Hyderabadi: This is south,north,west fusion of meat,roti,rice - The one dish meal - The biryanis are legendary - Then their meats with roomali rotis are also faboulous. Of course there are lots of sub regional variations which I will not go into because of my inherent laziness to type on the keyboard.

No it isn't. Just observe a native - It is easy after that. Just like chopsticks, I learnt to observe and then imitate

Someone whose judgement on these matter I trust, always has something to accompany the dan dan noodles, which is treated as a appetiser.

Dan Dan noodle are indeed overcooked - They are also supposed to be cold and unsalted. Its like twice-fried fries

Nope ! can't help - Sarjah ? Isn't that one of the places that will turn you away if there is a isreali entry/exit stamp on your passport ?

All you say is quite true, however if you see slobs and self absorbed local looking folks -- they are the academics Sorbonne has changed, that many visiting types are allowed. In Sorbonne all are outsiders and tourists except a handful.. Oh that's another academia in drift kind-of-a-story

My reference to Balzar was based on your comment about Coupole in '64 Not much changes there

Miss you'll by a day. I cannot comment about Coupole from yonder years.. '64 ? Wow !! I thought Balzar and Collins were that never changed

Agree about La Dome, Also try http://www.coupoleparis.com/ When are yougoing next ?

Feijoada, is the brazilian national dish. Rice, beans meat mixture. Bacalhau is a cod based appetiser very popular bfst,lunch and every thing in between. When you are ready to go to Rio, give me a holler. I'll dig some more specific info. thongs ? What about thongs ?

I gather Pongal,Dimple and one other restaurant in Lexington Ave. area are kosher places that serve dosas. Take your pick. anil

Last year in Jamin's - A combination of the weather,general lethargy of post-semester funk,and major french holiday - made our experience underwhelming in comparision to the buildup. I think quails universally are not easy eat other than in the open-air grilled shacks around the med. coast, courtsey the influence from the immigrants from the N.African french colonies... IMHO

Suvir, as the caped chef mentioned the folks in Safi preserve it differently - i.e adding dal-chinee,jeera,dhaniya-ke-beej etc. But basically you are right - Only salt is used in preserving the lemons. Re: Kettle One ? Is this a variation to a dirty martini ?

I'm sorry that you had a not-so-stellar evening - I have never had a dinner at the places you mention -- I have had good lunches during weekend at Pongal in the past - Maybe much of what I had was fresh batch of the day.

Huh ? Are you from NYC ? I've seen more grand tamasheas done in here (NYC); like sending a personal do-hicky to get a certain cache of unhatched eggs from central asia to make in time for the next-day pre-prom party ..... enough said.....

I think I talked about Gulab Jamun in EZE (Buenos Aires)

"Bhains" ..... The water buffalo. Duh! Yes, quite true, given the handicap I have of not being a cook on any kind, I only observe - Your's is a more acute insight .....

Sarah, Pray could you tell us what time you started with that 10 quid pint ? Maybe, Simon or other UKites could match your enthu. on starting that early(or late} depending on the body clock

Are we talking about food here ? You know what they think of us gaijins' when we try to even communicate half - decently ?? BON might illuminate. The nuances of linguistics can be debated at the CUNY Linguistics and Speech brownbags

I do not know - You ask a valid question - I am unfortunately unqualified to evaluate. I only made the statement based on my memories of past -- where I heard the wise folks in the family make this distinction -- IMHO - If the rasmalai taste's good -- then's its passsed the Turing Test (even if the hypothesis is flawed)