herbacidal

Got it. Since I'm an ABC, I grasp this perfectly well. But Teo Chew? C'mon. Granted I don't speak any dialects, but I'm really curious which dialect has Teo Chew as the name for Chaozhou. The hard consonant 'T' seems a pretty far reach if I'm reading the transliteration correctly. i'm abc too. i got a feeling that's the prounciation from the area. you ever heard old chinese folk, who still have the heavy country accent? it's pretty much a heavy country accent from wherever they are, on top of regional differences. you know, something like a sub-dialect. that's probably romanized based on how they pronounce it there. in cantonese, something like "heurng ha hua".

this is very important. A key way of thinking about Chinese is this: Written Chinese is the same everywhere. There is no written Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghaiese, etc. Regional variants only refer to oral language. The only extent that you can say region affects the written language is that within certain regions you are maybe more likely to use certain terms to say particular things. A Cantonese person may use different terms to say something than a Shanghaiese person. Regional preferences, if you will. But if that person wrote out what he/she said, it would be understood by anyone who reads Chinese, regardless of their region.

okay drew, only part i don't get is the freemasons and cabin parts. why can't the soy and protein be sitting alone on a boat? in a dark sub-basement of an office building? on top of the empire state building?

yea, now i'm all hot and bothered.

now i think i'm gonna do a horseradish vodka.

Most chinese restaurants are holding out on you, sorta. Chinese staff meal can consist of any kind of thing: that fish that flopped in the tank that they had to take out because it didn't look good homestyle kinda stuff that wouldn't be on the menu because no one would order it big huge fish that fish purveyor brought by that they could only get one of random dish that is so labor intensive, there's no way you're gonna put it on the menu because to have to do it in the middle of a rush is nuts random dish that won't meet the perceived flavor requirements of the client base random dish that kitchen was just screwing around with and decided to cook it anyway to see how it turns out random mistakes that happened over the course of the day that you can't sell Sounds like you got a combo of the last 2-3. That being said, staff meal at chinese restaurants is never as bad as the gruel i've had at the 1 western restaurant i used to work at.

ribs, wit special sauce.

And we'll both drink a lot. So Al will definitely have to fill us in on the last half of the evening or so. al, get the pull-out ready. no doubt i'll have to crash at your place. you got cheerios? i like cheerios in the morning. and i'll probably want some frozen pizza when we get back to your place tonite. thanks dude. You won't be staying at my place-- the 3 of us are going to get lucky with michelin-rated-chef nympho supermodels who are in town from Paris. We'll be sleeping in their private jet on our way to Nice for the weekend. aw, and i was gonna join tommy and matty b. but models never come in quartets, only trios.

nah, always gotta have 1 girl to keep it respectful.

quite good. unfortunately, we didn't get to dance. everything was tasty, from the bistec to the pernil to the seafood soup. the house and hot sauces were both very tasty on top of the rice, pernil, garlic knots, and mofongo.

truthfully, i'm not so sure how uniform outback's procedures are. here in the philly area, the cherry hill one is the one i've always gone to, and it's consistently solid. been to the jenkintown one once though, and it wasn't as good.

just checked out the website for palomino. whoa, they do bring newfound respect for a chain restaurant from me. a menu i would say is significantly better than any chain italian i've seen. site is well presented visually. if menu and decor is similarly situated, i do think they would be my winner.

Balloons. Or some such. why not a trail of bread crumbs?

no, that's not what katie was saying, i don't believe. what she was saying, i think, was something along the lines of it's not that any place should take a pass on saturday nights. it's more that a saturday night is a better chance to get a bad experience, b/c of the increased crowds. now combined with the fact that everything was horrible, think about that as along the bell curve. that is one extreme that brings down their particular average user experience. i'm sure others have had experiences on the other side with relation to alma. no different than any other place.

have you seen bad ones in philly, holly? i just haven't seen any. only one i've had was brought back from boston, i have no clue where from. was mediocre, i thought. could just be the place, though. does any place in boston make a good one? i imagine one of them should.

seems that he is. anyone know who has replaced him at jewel bako?

is there anything to cook things in? i assume the smoker will be as full as we can make it. if not, it should be.

gotta admit, i've done it to a lesser extent. not quite so well-versed as you. only nitpicky comment is that the sushi place katie recommends isn't in cherry hill. unless she's talking about mikado or something else. she would normally recommend fuji in cinamminson. which i would too, it is a great place.

yea, i guess i haven't heard about them bringing in anybody to replace ben at new wave. have been to dark horse though, but just for a drink. i like how it's all broken out into rooms. never made it there when it was dickens inn.

you know, i didn't think striped bass exec chef would make six figures. hmm.

i suppose decent is good. just the fact that they're gonna be elsewhere is a plus.

i think shola's culinary chops are self-evident to anyone who has been to studiokitchen. but i also think that while he is an up and comer, the final strand of success and credibility won't be given to him until he does a restaurant. that's just the way it works. he has done enough in the meantime to establish a solid foundation within the local press and local diners to enable the restaurant a modicum of credibility when it does open, assuming it does open within the next few years, which may not happen, given the real estate market being overpriced.

i think sikora's stock is definitely rising. don't know how much larger than django he wants to get though. mcnamara's probably also. i think he was the first in the area to really do really good bar food, preceding standard tap.

maybe you don't, but you're special that way. all the more lovable. i know bourdain agrees with me.

Where's Jeb? don't forget katherine harris.