kiliki

Well, the Viking does attract it's share of hipsters, though there's still lots of regular neighborhood folks, too.

I think that's been obvious from day one, but someone he never is the worst when it comes time to judge (except in the quickfire challenges, but they don't eliminate based on that).

I cannot believe Mikey squeaked by again. Every episode I think, this HAS to be the one where he goes. But no.

I cannot wait to see it! I did make a reservation for NYE already, even though they haven't quite set the menu yet (they will know by next week). I only know that it will be multi course, include some wine, and be around $100/pp.

According to their website, they are only open for dinner.

Our edges are pretty banged up, especially near the sink, which is pretty vulnerable to us clanking around heavy pots. I didn't realized that the dings would be white and chalky-if they were grey-black they wouldn't be very noticable. Also we generally put down a towel when we're opening cans or wine bottles-this will scratch the stone otherwise. But we don't actually care that much about the wear. The kitchen is for cooking, not for show, and we didn't like any other countertop options. (Though I am curious about slate-a coffeehouse I go to has it. It's dull black like soapstone, and the dings are dull black too).

Can you recommend some specfic dishes?

I'm not as in love with May as a lot of other people. Maybe if you go with a group and have lots of dishes, family-style (though this would add up, since they're significantly more expensive than other thai places), it would be better. I just went with one friend, and while our two dishes were tasty enough, they were really monotonous. One was Pad See Kow (sp? usually wide rice noodles with lots of vegetables), which was all noodles except for a few mushrooms. The other was an eggplant dish that just had a few triangles of fried tofu among a sea of eggplant slices. I realize it's probably not fair to judge a place based on two dishes but nothing about the place made me feel like I had to come back. Also, a small pot of tea cost $5, which annoyed me.

Kabab House: My husband loves it-we live just a bit south so we've gotten lots of take out. He has Indian co-workers that drive from all over the Seattle area to go there. I've never been blown away, but you should probably also know that while I do like Indian food, it's not my favorite cuisine or the one I'm most knowledgable about. I find the kababs dry and fairly plain (they do give you sauces, which I like but don't love), and the naan is kind of blah. I agree the tikka masala mention by Crouching Tyler is good. I like India Bistro better in general-they have a much bigger menu and I like the flavors better there. Neither of us like their new restaurant space at all, though we still get take out sometimes (or he does-if I want grilled meat and rice I'd rather have Mr. Gyros, across the street). There's no music, nothing on the walls, and no beer or wine to keep you occupied while you wait a very long time for your food (tip: if you order take out give them at least 1/2 hour). Service is not friendly, either (never has been).

I'm glad to hear an endorsement for those brown butter cookies that were in Gourmet-I was thinking about making them this year. For our local community center bake sale and for work, I'll make: *Citrus Sugar Cookies (with citrus icing)-these were in Bon Appetit some years ago and remain the tasties rolled/cut-out type cookie I've ever had *Gingerbread shapes *Chocolate-Hazelnut crinkles *Russian Tea Cakes (Mexican Wedding Cakes, whatever you want to call them) *Bittersweet chocolate cookies (from the Babbo Cookbook-mostly because I made some last week and have more ready to bake in the freezer) *And maybe jam thumprints or the brown butter cookies. I went it to a store called Cookies in Seattle recently and bought some neat new snowflake cutters in all sizes and some fine colored sugars for decorating the sugar cookies and gingerbread (I do like them better with just citrus icing, but it's fun to decorate a few). This woman has everything cookie related if anyone needs anything.

The quote from your husband made me laugh aloud at my desk at work. I think you made a good decision.

I'd be embarrased to admit how infrequently we mop our marmoleum floor. Even wet dog paw prints blend right in and it never looks dirty. Dirt does mop up very easily when I do break down and mop.

This has nothing to do with this topic, but it reminded me that last month in Paris I saw tortilla chips labeled "tacos" at Lenotre. I thought it was cute and wondered who buys them. You will have to start sharing some of your favorites on the CA board. I travel to SF fairly often for work and have the WORST time, looking at opinions on egullet (and Chowhound), finding Italian and Chinese restaurants that people recommend. For every place that someone likes, someone else says it's awful, filthy, etc. *sigh* I agree La Spiga has appropriately portioned pasta...too appropriately, I think-I could eat twice as much (and I did eat about 10 times as much as normal on their last, all-you-can-eat, day).

I think some (maybe all-not sure about the tofu) of your rants are actually a problem everywhere in the US, not just Seattle. I don't know any city in the country where you can walk into a random Italian restaurant and get a good plate of pasta-I always have to do a LOT of homework if I'm want to eat Italian in another city since most places are mediocre Italian-American. And supermarket produce is uniformly bad everywhere, in all seasons, I think. I never expect to see anything local unless it is in a specialty store, coop or farmer's market. And pastries...god, its not just the size, but you have to look really hard to find good pastry in the US. I'm definitely not arguing we have a perfect dining scene here, so rant on everyone But, those things above I think are a problem everywhere.

Oliver's Twist is open and I like it a lot. It's a nice, big space and service was very friendly-they are going for a comfortable, neighborhood-y type place, and it works. Thumbs up on both the cocktails and food. The chocolate gelato on salted peanut butter caramel was fantastic and it was a good sized portion (I expected something dainty). The people next to us had the grilled chocolate marshmallow brioche, which looked oozy and wonderful and was also an ample size. The garlic truffle popcorn was a nice munchie to have with drinks (I especially liked my elderberry/rose/gin cocktail). The food menu is all snacks/appetizers (along the lines of blue cheese stuffed dates) and a few desserts-it's a fairly small menu. Nothing is over $10. We got out of there for less than we usually spend at Sambar, which was nice (though it might not be a fair comparison, since I usually get more substantial food at Sambar. Speaking of which, they have a cardoon soup right now which is wonderful).

It's been my experience that the pastries look WAY better than they taste. My experience has only been the Roosevelt store and it's been a while since I tried any, so if things are better at So. Lk Union, let me know.

Yes, flabby skin, and there's nothing else to recommend the method, either, in my experience. My parents have always been convinced you can't roast a turkey in a reasonable amount of time without one (despite the fact they've seen a turkey roast in less than 2 hours at my house w/o one). Reynolds must have had a fabulous marketing campaign at some point.

Last month in Paris I had the most perfect vinaigrette over a salad of haricot verts and mushrooms at Cafe Constant. The vinaigrette did not taste too much of vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, mustard, or herbs. It was perfectly balanced with no one flavor standing out. It was like crack-I could not get enough of this salad. I ordered Christian Constant's english language cookbook (Everyday French Cooking) but there is no vinaigrette recipe there. I've made a number of french vinaigrettes, from recipes, and none came close to this one. I know there are many more I could try but rather than make 20 vinaigrettes over the next few days, I thought I'd ask here. So, I am either looking for recipes or formulas, or just tips on what you think might be essential to a great one (what kind of vinegar? raw egg yolk? etc). I'd love to make this salad for thanksgiving.

If Cactus will deliver, go with them. They call themselves southwestern, as opposed to straight-up Mexican, and they are a step above many of the places we listed above. Those goat cheese stuffed jalapenos are REALLY good. Mama's is kind of tasty in a junk food sort of way but it's gloppy (ie whole plates covered in melted cheese) tex-mex.

There's not too much downtown...There is a place in the Pacific Place mall downtown called Mexico Cantina y Veracruz that caters, BUT I've never eaten there so I can't tell you what it's like. I do remember reading a good review of them once, but I think it's a chain. Guaymas Cantina is another downtown Mexican place, and it's pretty good, but I don't know if they cater. El Puerco is an order-at-the-counter, sit-at rickety-metal-card-tables kind of place. They only have a dozen menu items, no appetizers (well, they have guacamole and chips). The grocery will heat up tamales or make burritos for you but they don't really have a menu. I would probaby just try calling some of the nicer Mexican places in the city-La Carta de Oaxaca or Galerias, for example, and ask if they'll cater/deliver to downtown.

I'd suggest setting a budget before starting. When we were in the planning stages of our kitchen, the first question every remodeler wanted to know was what our budget was. They really can't help you until you tell them. We did, in inital conversations, ask things like, well, what can we do for $40K? 60K? Etc. And they gave us some very vague ideas, but it's very difficult to know how much things like plumbing and electrical will cost until you have an actual design (and they need a budget that they can design around). So, they still needed to know a number before we could proceed. I think we spent $1500-$2000, and that was a project where we gutted the kitchen, expanded it onto the back porch, moved doorways, etc. They told us that was actually cheap (we liked the first batch of drawings they did and only tinkered with them a bit).

That second picture is gorgeous!

Has anyone been by the new La Spiga space on 12th? I have called to ask about an opening date but their voice mail box is always full, and I wonder if maybe they have a sign up in their window with a date.

Wow, quite an endorsement-I will definitely have to try one! Maybe it will be my treat after shop-vac'ing out MY basement.

I believe Delaurenti's (in the Market) has them. I used to buy freshly cut pasta from them before I started patronizing the pasta guy at the U District Market, and I'm pretty sure they had lasagna sheets. I was always happy with the pasta, but how the quality stacks up against the sheets used at someplace like La Spiga or Cafe Lago, I'm not sure.