kiliki

A very inspiring report-thanks! I don't get up there nearly enough.

On Leary just north of 43rd, on the east side of the street, is a new restaurant in that gray house that used to be, I think, a place for private parties. It's called Bourbon and Barbeque or something similar.

Here's Food Network's Seattle Super Bowl eats (I cringed when I first saw the headline, wondering what the FN would include, but I'd be pretty happy at a Super Bowl party eating the following): Seattle Style "Bouillabaisse" Grilled Dungeness Crabs with Kicked Up Seasoned Butter Spaghetti with Crab Sauce: Spaghettini al Sugo Gronchio Raw Oysters on the Half Shell Cedar-Planked Salmon with Washington State Merlot Reduction and Garlic Spinach Hazelnut, Coffee and Chocolate Ice Cream Bombe

Both Il Bacio and Calabria were (are?) in strip malls facing the street in those towns-don't know about the chef's resume.

The only thing that everyone has left out is mussels. We have the best mussels here. And while someone did mention mushrooms I'll add that that means a wonderful variety of wild mushrooms-chantrelles, morels, etc. Running a picture of a geoduck next to the article will definitely catch readers' attention.

I've always thought TJ's locations, at least here in WA, were rather strange-they aren't ever NEAR anything. Totem Lake, Burien, Federal Way? And the others in Seattle aren't near, say, the PCC chain of coops, or really any other grocery. So I find it pretty hard to believe that they sited this one particular store on Capitol Hill, not because of potential customers/space availability/good lease terms/etc, but specifically to put this one coop out of business. If they were really trying to kill other stores, they would have sited their Seattle stores near the PCC's.

What is Julie's Garden? I thought I knew all the lunch spots. And Little Ms. Foodie, what do you like at Med Mix? If you aren't working too far south or east in Pioneer Square and have the time, consider walking up to the Market. I work a block north of PS and the choices (people here have given you the only good ones) in PS got old pretty quick for me, but the lunch options at the Market are endless. On a nice day, there's no more relaxing place to eat your take-out in PS than the Waterfall Garden Park. Or, it's a good place for a coffee break (Zeitgeist is nearby).

Ummm...you might want to read the comment again, or perhaps I should have punctuated better. "Not culinary hotbeds"="various other western states." States OTHER than California and Oregon. Like Idaho and Montana. I suppose now someone will tell me that Boise has a scorching restaurance scene. But, I doubt it. Ahh, I see now that leaving the word "other" altogether would have made things clearer.

I'm not sure if its still true, but a couple years ago I saw stats about where the newcomers were coming from, and it was Oregon (#1), California and various other western states that are not culinary hotbeds. So maybe we need a publicity campaign in NYC, Chicago and Philly if we want that stuff here. Though in my mind, that would take half the fun out of traveling. I am NOT a cheesesteak expert at all, but have you tried Tat's? I think they do a good job with all their sandwiches, they are from Philly and they seem like really nice guys.

Treating waitstaff badly (including making unreasonable substitution requests, and being quite rude when denied) has been a friendship deal-breaker for me. Of course, this is more than a food related issue, since the same person was usually arrogant toward all service-type employees.

I agree. I'm sure the company (especially the marketing department that thought it up) doesn't care what, exactly, the consumer thinks "whole" means, as long as there is a positive connotation.

For a number of years I worked for a local chain of natural food co-ops, and through this job I got to know dozens (hundreds?) of organic farmers, many that have been in business LONG before it was fashionable. Most of these folks believed in land stewardship that went above and beyond the letter of the law. Many considered legal organic standards far too lax and fought hard against federal standards that were far lesser than existing state laws. So while I understand your point that indeed, people should understand there organic doesn't have to mean pesticide free (I think the piont Russ makes about "gray area" is a good one), you also can't assume that all organic farmers simply use the label as a marketing strategy and do take advantage of laws that allow them to use pesticides. I don't know the answer to this either, but it seems prudent to understand this before coming to the conclusion that "organic" is virtually meaningless.

The article assumes the only possible reason anyone would buy organic is for "added health value." Most people I know (including myself) don't like to support companies that use pesticides since they pollute groundwater and streams, harm wildlife, and have significant impacts on the health of agricultural workers. I hate to think that people will read CR, think "Great! It's fine to buy non-organic bananas since there aren't many pesticide residues left on them!" while ignoring the larger harm caused by pesticides.

I'm with Tighe. I'd try to steer them away from trying the things that their hometown does so well and we don't, and toward the things that Seattle restaurants do well that might not be widely available in NYC.

To add to Beezee's point, I should probably point out that we have 10' ceilings as well as a 6' bay window and a door with a large window on the wall (southern exposure) opposite the pass through. So, it all does feel pretty open and bright.

We have a pass through that's 6'5" long and 26" high. Our designer suggested a pass through rather than no wall at all because we have a very small house and we didn't want to feel like we lived in one room. If I had to do it over (and had a larger budget), I would have eliminated the whole wall and just had nice cabinetry facing both sides, but I'd do that for aesthetic reasons, not because there's anything wrong with the pass through. Anyway, it is very functional-on the bar we put food and drinks during parties or large dinners, and it's very easy to cook and interact with the people in the living/dining room. People could pull up barstools to that bar, too, if we had them (one of these days we'll get a couple). It's a world different than the old kitchen with its narrow doorway-there was no way to interact with people in the other room, so the cook (me) really got left out of the fun.

Was it one of those light, cheap non-stick pans? I use good, heavy ones-All Clad or Le Creuset-and mine come out great. I can see how the lightweight pans, which can't brown anything, would be bad.

Same here (though I can't remember what brand I have). My 5'11" boyfriend hasn't complained about back problems when washing dishes but there really aren't that many we wash by hand-it's mostly just the big pots and pans and cookie sheets. If you don't have a dishwasher, however, I can see how a deep sink would be an issue for tall folks. I also love the all in one faucet/sprayer. One thing I like about SS over cast iron is that it's a more forgiving surface. If you drop a glass or plate in it, it's less likely to chip/break in the SS.

SusanNS: I housesat for a friend while he was in Turkey and he brought me back a huge bag of what he was told was saffron, but was actually safflower. While they look similar you can tell the difference-the safflower won't look like the pictures people here have posted (saffron has more distinct, shiny threads). Have you figured out if you indeed have saffron or if it might be safflower, or if you you just used too much in your potatoes?

Check out the March 2005 Consumer Reports, if you can-there's a lot of info there. You have a lot to choose from in terms of quiet-this is becoming more the norm. We bought an inexpensive Kenmore and I can't believe how quiet it is. In their repair ratings, Whirlpool, Kenmore and Hotpoint were the top 3. Asko, Bosch and Fridigare were the bottom 3.

It's a generational thing (and possibly regional), too. As their children have grown up and started hosting holdays in their own homes, my midwestern-born and raised parents seem often confused by the menu. "But aren't you making green bean casserole?" "Do you need me to bring a jello salad?" Nonononononono. My Iowan mother in law is visiting, and she likes to cook us dinner, but her repertoire is based largely on dishes made with ground meat and cream of mushroom soup.

That was a fantastic tutorial for one of my favorite Chinese restaurant dishes. My #1 favorite, something I cannot go a week without at one particular restaurant, is called Szechuan crab. It comes plated with a ton of dried red chilis and peanuts (oh, are the peanuts GOOD!), and I can tell there is szechuan peppercorn in the dish. Beyond that, I have always wondered what is in it, and if it is a dish commonly found in other restaurants either in the US or China. Does anyone know anything more about it?

Jaymes' salsa. After reading the story behind it I KNEW it would be good. And the macarons made by Marcia and PatrickS...that is my next project.

The GE ranges have some of the best repair records, according to Consumer Reports. After our contractor installed ours I thought I smelled gas, so I called GE and had no trouble arranging a service appointment. I remember reading somewhere else on this board that the garden web forum posters were famously anti-GE. I would use more than this source when evaluating appliances.

ratgirl-I absolutely agree about the cheese and produce. Even though they have great prices on, for example, the Parmesano-reggiano, it seems to suffer from having lived in shrink wrap so long. I'd rather pay more at a place that cuts it fresh (or has high turnover). And to me the veggies look sad, but here in Seattle we have farmers markets, co-ops and even some grocery stores that all have terrific produce. Maybe if you live someplace without these the produce is better than what you'd get at your local megamart. What TJ's is great for is basic goods like canned beans, cereal, crackers, tuna, frozen shrimp, frozen berries, sodas (like orangina and limonata), and non-food items like vitamins, toilet paper, sunscreen. and moisturizer. These items are not only priced lower than other stores, but they don't have the crap (like artificial ingredients or preservatives) in them you would find in "regular" grocery store brands. And even many of their their frozen prepared meals, the kind of thing I normally wouldn't touch, are decent. They got me through a kitchen remodel this summer and get taken to work for lunches sometimes.