LaNiña

oh god, now i'm spending money. what years to look for on those, steve? same rules as above described, i'm assuming. edit: duh

How about mass market "literature?"

I'll check the Tanzer site, too. With my new subscription

Wilfrid, check out the Union Square Wines site: http://www.wineaccess.com/store/unionsquarewines You can search by price, type, year, everything.

This is fantastic. Thank you all so much.

I forgot - the pastries at Cafe Sabarsky on 86th/5th

how bizarre, i'll be in newport for 3 days next weekend.

a sheynem dank.

Thank you, thank you everybody. This is exactly what I meant.

i was being Sar-cas-tic.

The Guigal cotes-du-rhone is my house wine, of late. Or the cote rotie. Around the corner from my office is Union Square Wines - they sell half bottles of the cotes-du-rhone, I get those a lot. I had a wonderful Gigondas at Le Gigot a month or so ago. Didn't write it down, but it was delicious. I need to expand my Rhone horizons.

What's your point?

Somewhat off-topic, but....I worked at a Burger King one summer when I was 16 (I lasted about a month, actually) and I suggested they make a pizza burger, using the big beef patty from the whopper, and the cheese and the tomato sauce from the veal parmigiana sandwich. I even sent it in to HQ. I was told it was "too ethnic." ha.

I've been eating pork liver congee. It's cut up into rectangular slabs. Fabulous.

Oh yeah. An ex of mine, Indian Jew, told me about the practice of massaging a mixture of oil and chick pea flour into the skin of newborns. And then there's the turmeric skin rub, too.

Hey, he volunteered to give more information - oh c'mon, he loves talking about wine, no? Steve? I didn't mean to impose.

The eggwhite thread lead me to think about what we might use food for instead of well, for food. I use egg whites on my face as a masque, egg yolks in my hair for conditioner, white vinegar when I boil linens, salt when I spill wine... What else?

Maybe FG was afraid the yolks would spoil before he used them? For future reference...I use the yolks as hair conditioner treatment.

first time i ever ate sushi/sashimi was in a korean place. it was intense. i had a korean friend in college, who's fairly well known in rock n roll/publishing circles these days, from a really wealthy family. so one night he took several of us out. we went into a place with an unmarked door in the 30's, and we were seated in a fairly dark room around a table with a mountain of ice on it. bottles of vodka were in the ice, and it flowed very freely. the staff was incredibly deferential, and i didn't realize at the time what a hooha family this guy was from. then the fish started coming out - tons and tons of it, sashimi of all kinds, a few pieces on a large leaf, and the leaf set on the mountain of ice. it was so exotic at the time - i suppose i was 19. it was one of the most memorable meals i've ever had. and i remember that no paper or money or anything exchanged hands. turns out that the family had a house account there - it was a private club of some kind. we must have been there for 5 hours. i remember thinking that it was the most sensual eating experience i had ever had, and i knew that it was an eating life-defining moment. i've never had sashimi like it since.

In another thread, Steve P. said he would share more info on Rhone wines. I'd love to hear it. I'd like to know about things ready for drinking now, moderately priced, that people are particularly enjoying.

The raw shrimp salad at Sripraphai. And lately, congee. Liver congee. Squid congee. Must.....have.....congee....

Use some of it to give yourself a facial masque. No, I'm not kidding.

What do you charge for various levels/volumes of tasting menus? Do you also do wine pairings?

I ate two styles of shortribs at Congee Village during the last week, and now that you mention it, I'm fairly sure the meat was "carbonized." Delicious.

Oxtail Stew oxtail about 2-2.5 lbs 4 tblsp. flour 2 tblsp. cooking oil Salt and Black pepper 2 medium onions sliced 1 clove garlic crushed 4 carrots pared and sliced 1 cup peeled chopped tomatoes (they used canned) 16 oz. hot water 2 stalks green onions finely sliced 1 spring thyme 1 tblsp allspice tabasco sauce, to taste 1 can lima beans (yes they used canned) Trim away excess fat and place oxtail in boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes to blanch. Drain well on absorbent paper and coat with flour. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy skillet and brown oxtail on both sides until brown. Add carrots, onion, garlic, tomatoes and hot water. Cover and simmer gently for 2.5 to 3 hours or until oxtail is almost tender. At this stage add more liquid if necessary and add the green onions, allspice, thyme, and tabasco. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add the lima beans and allow to simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. Serve with rice.