jhlurie

I just love the IDEA of "The Great Scandinavian Baking Book", even if I have no idea what's in it. The award for Galatoire's seems an awful lot like a stunt. I mean it's hard to deny the place's quality, but are they even trying to deny that the fact that this is the 100th anniversary has something to do with it winning? No, in fact, they are announcing it.

Okay, I'll give on that one, but I can't be as forgiving of Burger King for making THEIR mascot into a serial-killer type. Not clever. On the other hand, the cowboy themed, Hootie-singing, over-sexualized "Bacon Cheddar Ranch" commercials ARE damn clever. As for actual ingenious fast food names, slogans, or items, it's been a few years since I've been blown away. Perhaps I've become jaded. I suppose the closest I get is the raw admiration I had that McDonald's had the balls to sell those "chicken strip" things for like... $1 a piece (a box of ten was $9.99 in most locations when they rolled it out, a box of three was like... $4).

Is it true that Derby Pie can only "officially" be made by one place? I also seem to recall a story that the name was supposedly picked out of a hat. Oh, wait. I must have visited the Derby Pie website at some point in the past. It's all there. I love Derby Pie, by the way. A local restaurant (in Westchester, N.Y.) used to serve it when I was a kid and I always indulged. I've no idea if it was the authorized "official" product or not (probably not), but knock-off or no, I still loved it.

I would like to point out that RecipeGullet only seems to be getting about 1 submission per day. We know the interest level is there purely through the number of "hits" from people reading it, but I think we need to see it manifest a bit more solidly in terms of more submissions. We see a lot of recipes pop up inside people's posts, and I'm just urging that more of you also give inputting them into rG a shot. Actually Marlene might put things more strongly than that, but she's on vacation.

~Cough Cough~ Yeah. Right.

Ah yes, Kris wrote about that a while back. I had it myself a few months ago and agree with your observation that the chocolate cookie/"berry" icing combo (Kris reported it was a combo of both strawberry and raspberry) is kind of cool. Like Kris though I don't think it works quite as well as the now classic "regular" Pocky G, or for that matter the kick-ass "Reverse" product.

I ate here tonight with a few friends. I think Fink is understating things with the "fairly tasty" description. In fact, several items were among the best I've had in years. The Dosas were just incredible--the shells executed with a light and fluffy touch that it's been eons since I've seen done as well. Particularly impressive was the Spring Vegetable mix Dosa, which was a special not on the normal menu. There are a variety of Samosas. I tried the Chicken Samosa. I wasn't dissapointed, by any means, but almost anything would have been a let down after those Dosas. If you must pick one... have a Dosa. Every time. We also had the Vedai, which are fried donuts made with some kind of unusual Indian legume-based flour. They are listed on the menu as "savory donuts" and that's a pretty good description. The Tandoori items were even better. The Lamb Seekh Kabob was no better than average, but the chicken items were nothing short of miraculous. Tandoori Chicken, in the wrong hands, has a nasty habit of getting dry--especially when white meat is used. Well white meat is used by these folks, but it's juicy as all hell. An interesting item on the "Tandoori" portion of the menu was the Kasturi Tikka. It's a very herbal kabob, a bit more mysterious than the traditional Chicken Tikka. I didn't ask at the time what herbs were being used, but a simple web search says that fenugreek leaves are common in this dish, although there was certainly more to it than just that. All I can say is that it's unsual, and very very tasty--especially with the juicy preparation common to all of the chicken dishes at this place. The various chutneys are very good, by the way. The two primary ones served with most items were Tamarind and a Mint-Cilantro, I believe, and the later had a nice but not overpowing kick. The Vedai came with tomato and coconut chutneys, which were excellent examples. Various items also came with a small cup of vegetable curry as a side, which we thought was pretty good. We didn't really have time, or the appetite, to delve into the other curries on the menu. We had small sample cups which promised great things, but I don't think I want to comment on them based on such a small taste. That will be for next time, and there WILL definitely be a next time, because this place rocks. A note of warning to those who tend to measure all Indian food by how spicy it is--on that front you may be dissapointed. I wouldn't characterize anything I ate as mild, but by and large the emphasis seems to be on the herbal and not on blowing the top of your head off. Mind you, I occasionally like that to be done to me, but I've learned to appreciate the subtle as well as I've gotten older. It DOES look to me as if Fink and I made almost completely reverse menu selections on our visits, so perhaps between the two of us we've covered most of it. This might also explain our different reactions to the place, because I at least tasted small amounts of what he had and I didn't really see them as the highlights of the place.

Just spotted today, something we knew inevitably would come (because Coke has one), Pepsi Lime. I only found it in 2 liter size, and only in non-Diet, but I'm assuming this is really early in the roll-out. The verdict? I'm going to have to wait to taste the Diet version to say for sure. The non-Diet seems okay, but I don't have the experience of the non-Diet Coke with Lime yet to compare it to. The lime taste does seem subtly different from the Coke implementation, but then again it may be kind of an "Apples to Oranges" comparison between Diet Coke with Lime to non-Diet Pepsi Lime. It WOULD be a first if between the two Diet versions the Coke turns out to be better, because frankly in my book Diet Pepsi variants always win (although as a caveat so do non-Diet Coke versions)

Right. The distinction is that if someone just sends it to you from outside the U.S. you are probably okay. Actually, I wonder if they have to give it to you in person to avoid some obscure interstate shipping regulations or something like that.

The grilled fruit was the real surprise for me. I can't even describe how well it works as a topping. The pineapple and peaches break down into something pretty pleasant, and they work like a wonder on top of those hamburgers (the meat of which is nicely spiced). Note that the fruit toppings rarely seem to coexist with the potato stix/corn/mayo melange. The meat is really high quality stuff--in the case of my local guy carted in from Newark, NJ--which is a huge cluster of Brazilian and Portuguese existence in the U.S. The bread is just indescribable.

Go go Monica! Never mind Soba and his "trailer". He is obviously insane. Indian? I don't see any Indian! Okay, maybe I'd like to see a bit of Indian, but I'm more interested in whatever the heck you'd normally eat, Indian or not. I try to not play favorites, but I agree that Lucy's blog could have inspired a rock. The fact that it inspired a writer of your talent is fine with me.

Are we being vague somehow about the meaning of "food, eating and dining discussion"? We've exausted the relevance of matters like debit cards, credit card fraud, etc. Please, let's move on.

I've only had freshly killed chicken in the south, but I found it very gamey, and have never liked them. ← Some might argue that the "gamey" taste is just the actual taste of "chicken", and that we just aren't used to it. Paula may be right about the next day thing though (aw hell, she's smarter than me, so probably). I can't say I know for sure which times I've had "same day" fresh kill versus "next day". I suppose the big thing is that in neither case though, has the chicken had to be frozen for transport. That's a big deal in the taste-killing of most chicken.

I know they are for newspaper work (RAW format, no compression), but I'd be a bit more skeptical about cookbooks.

I wonder if you could somehow "boil" it inside a baking pan spread across two burners? Probably not, but it might be worth a shot. Two feet is STILL too long though.

It's not really all that extreme--it's just a slight floaty feeling and some weird spots you see in front of your eyes, at least for me. I suppose if I pushed it I might say there was kind of a palpable sense of wellbeing too, but I was pretty relaxed at the time anyway and it MIGHT have just been the alcohol content on top of that. Heck, it's entirely possible (likely) that was what caused the floatyness and visual effects too, since those are hardly strange reactions to strong booze. And real absinthe? The stuff I've seen is very pale green, not these freaky shades the artificial crap seems to have. Then again, I've only really had the "real" stuff twice, from a single bottle.

Much of the food of this part of my heritage I don't get overly excited about. Gefilte fish leaves me cold, so to speak. But Brisket? Oh lord I love Brisket. Especially when it looks like those photos. I wish I had something deep to say. I know I'm supposed to. But no. BRISKET RULES. There you go. Deep. Deep down into my belly, that is.

The 151 rum is a good idea, because as we know the drink is supposed to make your eyes water. Oh wait. I didn't recall that the so-called "original" also had "Everclear" in it as well as 151. That'll wake you up. Before it puts you to sleep again, I mean. True-blue Absinthe may indeed be a better mind blower as an ingredient though.

I'm getting a headache just READING this list, and you had to DO it. You know "bake more kugels" is one of those random phrases people throw out that would make a good band name. I'm strange in that I've had excellent examples of both and never really dismissed one or the other because of that.

Even though this started out as a "Canadian" topic, and has some notes on the cultural differences, I think this will best be addressed in the General forum instead of "Vancouver, British Columbia, and Western Canada". Birthday cake is international, y'all. So... I'm moving this.

Someday every Jewish holiday will get it's own foodblog! This will be a very educational foodblog, I think. Some of us will know these foods, some will not. But even those who do may see a slightly different perspective with this kind of full scale catering operation going on. It's also oddly fascinating to me the way that people in the midst of something like this sometimes have to basically force themselves to eat during it. So yes, we won't be suprised if half a buttered bagel is sometimes a meal. Let people's questions drive this determination and you can't go wrong.

Time to close the door on another glorious foodblog. We thank you all for your participation, and well... I hope it doesn't imply any lack here to say that you ain't seen nothin' yet. As Wendy says, discussion can indeed continue in the appropriate topics in our Pastry & Baking Forum. We don't want anything as specific as a "Wendy's blog" type topic (that's just redundant), but rather we'd like to see you all contribute to the forum as a whole, and Wendy, I know, will keep her eyes peeled for references to things she's said here. And if you don't see an existing topic on something, make a new one. Thanks all, and goodnight.

Hmm. Frankly, it's an interesting idea. Heh. I think the problem is that only Costello was cool. Hey... how about Hope and Crosby?

It was just a few months ago that I was proclaiming that Fennel would be big someday. Things are just ahead of schedule. Joking aside, people made some real speculations in that wacky thread--later on after that linked post. Although I think more people turned out to be fans of cumin.

Not to mention that we have a number of food authors who have written things other than cookbooks. Mr. Shaw comes to mind. But getting back to cookbook authors for a moment, isn't it great that we have the team of Bourdain and Ruhlman to act as our own version of Abbott & Costello (they can argue it out over who has to be Abbott)? I am quite fascinated by the process of cookbook writing though. It seems key these days that you have to have a "hook" of some kind. You can't just be some body off the street binding your favorites together into a volume. There has to be a theme of some kind. It might be a region, a type of cuisine, a technique, or even a person, but there's got to be something.