Kim WB

mehmeh, welcome to e-gullet. I'm a great Wegman's fan, and live five minutes from the Princeton store. I appreciate your "insiders view" and will look forward to your posts. However, it is a bit hard to swallow that WEgmans' chose to install a Tandoori oven in their Woodbridge store because they like to try new things. It's simply a mater of doing a simple census search to determine the ethnic identity of the Woodbridge/Edison market...Indian. What's wrong with saying Wegman's took a look at their market, and adapted their store to it? I see that as an action that deserves accolades. I find it interesting from your posts that there seems to be some serious competition between the stores... its an interesting employee motivation tool. Will the Woodbridge store be doing "Hermes inspired" desserts, or something different? Whatever you do. ..keep the Nicolettes! Once again, welcome.

There was a time when I just did not understand "steak" as a cuisine..the whole "steakhouse" mentality. While I always enjoyed beef, and liked steak, I just couldn't understand why people would choose a steakhouse and make the steak the star and the rest of the meal the supporting cast. And, it can't be said that I didn't have a GOOD steak...The Palm to Peter Luger's to home grilled prime aged were all tasted. I just didn't "get it". I also don't get Raw Food cuisine...it seems like faulty logic to me.

Puerto Rico: there is a Coach and Doorney and Bourke outlet..pocketbooks, of course! Wallets and briefcases, too! Oh, we're talking rum....sorry, no opinion!

When I first read about this place here, I thought it sounded road-trip-worthy. This thread has confirmed it. Is the wine selection anything special? Or just good prices on standards? This will determine if its a solo trip during the week, or a weekend trip with HWOD. ( Sorry, Suzanne, I've decided to adapt your line, I won't use it a lot...He Who Only Drinks! )

Whew, this thread is just crying out for Rachel to come in and make a decision!

Golden Lion in Milltown, crnr of Milltown Rd and Washington Ave. It's not a pick up place, more of a beer and a shot place, lesbian crowd, very friendly, butchy, lots of after softball/volleyball crowds, pitches of beer, etc. I would classify Milltown as central NJ, howerver, near exit 9.

whew, when you finally resolve this, and SOMEONE decides on something, please post the details, it sounds fun and I can try to schedule necessary NYC visits along with Burger visits..I, for one, would love a bufallo chicken wing club as well.

Ellen and I spoke briefly at the NJ pigfest about the pictures of the children specifically. We agreed that if there were to be a "wallpaper" of these faces, along with the faces of the children of every nation...not perfectly posed, but like her photos... natural, in their natural environment, which capture the joy and depth of their innocence..if this wallpaper was in every War room, every UN office, every office of every president, ruler. or leader of every nation..well, without getting into politics, that would be a very good thing.

Well, it seems like the last of the tomatos and peaches are hitting the farmer's markets here on the East coast. ARe you lamenting the passage of summer produce? Personally, I prefer the signs of Fall: the first real McIntosh beats the first ripe Peach, root vegetables beat a tomato, and soups and roasted dinners beats salads and grilled food anytime. Give me brussel sprouts, squashes, and red meat. Yeah, grilled fish and vegetables are tasty, but dark beer and Red wine beats rum drinks and Prosecco any time. IMHO. of course.

Tonight, I was the short order cook. Made chicken stock today, so had lots of thighs! Son # 1 had french bread hoagie with lotsa mayo and the chix meat, cooled. Son # 2 had warmed meat, canned corn, and some of the french bread, toasted. My husband was working late, so I had a chicken thight to hold me over. He came home 8ish, and I boiled some egg noodle alphabets, shredded the chix, and he had a big hearty bowl of soup, with some toasted olive bread from Wegman's , with a chunk of asiago cheese. I had part 2 of dinner, the heel of the french bread, lightly buttered, with bobolink cheddar and a thin stream of Sierra Nevada Porter mustard, plus a gren salad with some balsamic glazed onions i/0 dressing. I'm drinkking Chateau St. Jean Chard, ( sorry, Tommy) and Bob is enjoying 99 Sito Moresco (Langhe) Gaja Barbersesco. The kids had milk, and are now onto strwberry syrup, milk and double stuffed oreos. I taped Friends, and when homework was over we watched it. IMHO, Joey is the best character on TV. So pure, so simple, so HOT.

There are a number of sushi places taht I frequent th meet my immediate needs: fast lunch, nice atmosphere, near the office, etc. Banzai, on quakerbridge road in Lawrence Township Mercer County, , always had very fresh, welll prepared sushi and sashimi...never very inspiring, but always a good meal. My husband has been "off" sushi for a while ( I think we overloaded, we were going sometimes 2x a week) but last night suggested we go to Banzai, which meets the near the office criteria. It's been about 4 months..they expanded their selections of Rolls...I ordered a new one, basically a spicy tuna and advocado roll. Well, it came with tempura batter and lightly fried. The fish was not cooked, it was just the thinnest layer..but still! Is this a trend? I looked at the menu again, and it was not mentioned that this was a "cooked" roll...and while I will admit it was good, it was a lot less healthy and not any better than when the same roll was made and not fried. Weird.

shhhhhhh..my older son is 16 and a very picky eater..I mean terrible. Always has been, always will be. Won't eat real pasta sauces, will eat ragu jarred sauce in tiny quantites. I buy baby food carrots or squash, and add it into the sauce. He mostly eats all white or beige food, so I can't do it often, if I'm lucky twice a week. Sometimes it backfires, casue I'll heat upt he sauce, and he'll decide he just wants butter on his pasta. With a house of teens, once my daughter asked why we had baby food in the back back back shelf of the pantry. I told her it was on sale, and I bought it for my sister, who has little ones. They believed me, but now I hide it better

I'm not sure if you mean the Balsamic Glazed onions? Mario Batali recipe, but I tweak it a bit, he serves the onions whole, but I like to slice them and use less of the balsamic "syrup" that's in the roasting pan. But I also recall some real pickled foods, not sure if it was onions, so I'm not sure what you might mean,,,

I don't think the cider was prominent enough, and that's why some folks missed it. It was hard at first to find a place forall the food, what with much of the food arriving before the tables..and the cider was relegated to the beverage table, where it really deserved more prominence. From an organizational standpoint, for anyone planning similiar events, I think that renting tables would have been the way to go. It would have been much easier if I could have come an hour earlier, got the tables organized and set up, and then had a place ready for all the food. I figure this would have aded about $1-2 bucks to the per person cost. Also, for the breakdown, you've got the table owner leaving and wanting to take their table home, and no where to put the food.

Mark, can you post that portobello recipe? Or just tell me what you add to the marinade. I just had the leftovers for lunch, and the heat intensified a bit...wonderful.

I suspect the children who never ate jarred babyfoods are the same ones that slept through the night at 3 months, never misbehaved at a restaurant, disdain McD's happy meals, and never played a video game! Anyway, the extent in which Rendevous needs to explain the inticacies of vegetarianism, and his restaurants interpretation of such, explains part of the problem. Even to a group of "know more than most" food people, it's unclear to many. I agree with some of the other posters who think that the demonification of the mother is a bit harsh...half the time, you grab a jar of food off the shelf and don't know what you grabbed..stick it in the baby bag in case you need it. I have requested cups of hot water or to have baby food microwaved. ( hello! the jars are microwaveable, and you stir it up and taste it before you give it to the kid) You stick the jar into the cup, stir it while heats, and feed the baby...with the teeny rubber coated spoon you brought along. While I respect a restaurant owner's right to control "his four walls", I think that it would have been simple to accomodate this request, and I suspect that if it was a jar of turnips, he would have. If anyone could convince me that her feeding the baby would compromise the integrity of the other consumers, I guess I could see it. I might be a little put off, too, if I couldn't get a cup of hot water to warm the food. I would not have gotten rude, and I would have left if requested to do so, but I wolld have been sure to never return to this non-service oriented restaurant. I Interpret a Vegetarian restaurant as one that does not serve meat products, period. I don't think of it as a place where meat is NOT allowed, or meat eaters are not serviced at the same level of vegetarians..because I reiterate, I suspect that if it was carrots she would have gotten her cup of hot water.

Ok, everyone, I'm heading out, so no more PM's to make changes, regrets, etc. Please post to the board, and hopefully someone will glance at it before they leave for the pig potluck, and can fill us in on any changes. Drive Safely, see you there.

We're now at 72 people, and DBRociner is bringing ziplocs in addition to potatoe casserole.

Hi Mott, We don't have you on the list, nor your potluck contribution...but please keep us updated, the more the merrier! For everyone following along at home, the count is now 74 people.

Rich Pawlack is bringing a guest, ( and adding a sun dried polenta pizza!) so that brings us to 75! We're going to need a bunch of tables, so even if you have a card table, I think it would help.

I bought some cheapie plastic table clothes for the tables at the dollar store..6 of them, I'lll go back and get 6 more. I prefer my pig without the roll, but if most will prefer sandwiches, there is no one signed up to bring rolls. I think the paper goods list looks pretty complete, Tommy.

72 confirmed attendees. Have not rec'd confirmation from Fat Guy and Ellen, hillbill, Jonathan Sibley, Lisa 1349. Lisa had signed up for PA Beer for the potluck, and the others didn't claim a dish..so their absence will not leave a hole in our buffet table...but I certainly hope they can make it anyway!

Heather, thanks for the blog. It does bring back memories of when my crew was little..especially the difiiculty in shopping,a nd the constant time crunch...few people realize that running into the store for milk becomes a major production..three car seats to unbuckle, ( well I never had more than two in a car seat, one in a booster by then, the laws were different) , three bodies to lift out of the car, one toddler to carry, one hand to hold,, and I made the oldest ( at 8 yrs) hold onto my shirt or just stay nearby. Juggle for the wallet, hand the milk off to the eldest to carry, lift em back into the car, buckle the seats, find a not-toatally-crumb covered toy to stick int he littlest's ones face for the ride home..and listening to how mean you are for not buying them $5 bucks worth of power rranger lollipops while you were int he convenience store. oh, and if your stove is gas with ELECTRIC starters,( the click-click starters), don't forget matches cause the stove won't be able to light itself. what part of the country are you in?

The entire travel log is wonderful..and the photos of the land are great..but the story comes alive, for me, with extraordinary photos of their faces and smiles and hands...there is an openess to their faces, a warmth and grace, thatis rarely captured in any photos. Really wonderful, thank you.

yet to be heard from, will PM on Thurs, but if this wil spur them on: dumpling, hillbill, howard88, Hscott, Sibley, Lisa 1349, South Jersey Epicurian, thanks.. Kim