SobaAddict70

Sure, no worries. Soba

Oh yes. And a pic of women drying a sea of chile peppers. Soba

paan. Soba

Peter Luger (Frank Bruni) Soba

You really can't beat Mrs. Dash, especially in pesto. Soba

Still drooling over those photos. Any chance of a visit with the pastry chefs soon? Soba

Time to bump this one up for our newer members. If you ever thought of building your fantasy sandwich, what would it be? For some reason, lately I've been having a craving of shredded pork with plum sauce....in a pita. Yes, not quite a fantasy sandwich but it's where Chinese takeout dare not go. Soba

For your reference: Tabla (main thread) New Indian Cuisine at Tabla The Bread Bar At Tabla Soba

I was going to say lentils de puy but now I'm not so sure... Soba

Latin for "by itself". Other definitions give it as "intrinsically" or "with respect to its inherent nature". Soba

You really can't forget that description of Spanish food at the beginning of the Spain/Portugal volume, of sharing a tortilla, some wine and bread with a complete stranger whilst on a train ride. Or how true Spanish gazpacho is made (in a clay bowl, with bread, tomatoes, peppers, onion, wine and EVOO, set out to cook in a sunlit window). Or the glories of English (yes, you read that right, English cuisine, especially in spring and summer), in the volume on the UK. Guess that's one of my next projects, to add the books to my collection. Soba

This is pretty cool. I'd say the green bottle thing is EVOO. Or salad dressing of some sort. Could be wrong though. Soba

Without okra, there would be no Filipino food. So there. Soba

I'm thinking that it may actually have been the Southern and Creole/Acadian versions that my mother returned. Or maybe I just didn't find them as compelling. Did any of you read any of the Foxfire series? Life in Appalachia, with lots of food-related stuff. As for the specifics that Soba recalls, so do I. Seems like the recipe that used shrimp paste to make "chestnuts" had something in the middle (maybe it was a chestnut, actually), and then the outside was coated with something sort of spiny to look like the spiny sort of outside shell. Like little tiny shiny dark sticks of pasta. Oh dear, now I need to go visit my mother. ← I remember it as clear as day... Make shrimp paste, coat around turnip ball. Roll ball around crushed noodles. Deep fry noodles till shrimp paste is cooked and noodles are golden brown. Split apart noodle ball with a knife tip, remove turnip ball and reserve for another use, and insert a sweet glazed peeled chestnut. Ok, back to the blog. Soba

This thread wouldn't be complete without mention of the eGullet Foodblog series which you can find pinned to the top of the General Foods Topics forum. Click here to view the current eG Foodblogger's installment, which is as of this writing, therese. Soba

Please be honest: do you use or at least read them often? I am kicking myself for getting rid of my Dad's collection the last time I moved. If so, maybe I need to start picking them up at tag sales? ← My mom still has them, and I think she's got pretty much the entire set (seems like there were a couple she might have decided against keeping---they came month by month as a preview basis). I usually look at one or two when we visit. I still remember particular pictures that struck my fancy: the lumberjack's enormous breakfast in the Pacific Northwest, platters of cold meats dressed in aspic jewels in French Haute Cuisine, candies made of squash in Latin America, curries dressed with silver foil in Inda, the little blond boy eating bread and butter with radishes in France. I need to make sure I get these in the will. ← I grew up reading these volumes. James Beard consulted on the series. The volumes on Southern cooking and Creole/Acadian cuisine alone are worth the price of admission. Other memories: --how to make puff pastry in the style of Scandanavia (including a recipe for butter tarts) --a recipe for wild "chestnuts" with shrimp paste (Japanese volume) --old fashioned baked beans in Boston --the glories of Austrian-Hungarian and German cuisine Get them if you can. Soba

You know, I've never had cornbread that had no sugar in it....so now I'm wondering what real cornbread tastes like. Soba

almost impossible to select 2 of any cuisine thx for the four. do want to try Devi as a hi-end representative, as well as Amma p.s. on chowhound: some recent negative comments re: Tabla. ← Amma is all right as an Indian restaurant. I used to live literally across the street from the restaurant and have gone to it more than a few times, especially in recent months.* Things have waned markedly since Chef Mathur's tenure there, but that's probably my own sensibility. Soba *Well, not quite true. As of next weekend, my new neighborhood will be one block from Zabar's.

Devi (for upscale) Tabla (for fusion) Angon Chola (for pan-Indian) yes, that's four. I can't choose two. It's kind of like fitting a square peg into a round hole. Soba

I'd like to add my voice to the thank-yous as well. I forgot to mention earlier that there is another Europe-centered blog in the works. Look for it during Easter Week....only eight weeks away. No, I'm not hinting which country. That'd be too easy. Soba

It might be helpful to note that New York has a similar event called "Restaurant Week". Originally conceived as a two week event held in the middle of the summer, Restaurant Week is now a bi-annual event held once in the summer and once in the winter. During each two week period, participating restaurants charge $20 prix fixe lunches and $30 prix fixe dinners. It's a win-win situation, in that restaurants have the opportunity to showcase their offerings to thousands of diners who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience fine dining, and gain potential future patrons in the process. With respect to no-shows, it is customary at certain restaurants in New York (e.g., Masa) to charge $100 to a patron's credit card if he or she is a no-show. This is becoming standard practice, especially for higher-end restaurants. Soba

And I hope that the staff and Chef Heather do read that thread, precisely because the comments in that thread are from the point of view of a customer (albeit a chef-in-training at CIA). Not all of the reflections are praiseworthy and in point of fact, one of them gives a well renowned New York restaurant a 3 out of 10. Now, whether the ratings are assigned rightly or wrongly is irrelevant; my point is that oftentimes worthwhile commentary gets lost in the dust because points raised by people are miscommunicated due to the manner in which the messages are received by their intended audience. Soba

Has anyone been here recently? Soba

One of the threads in the New York board relates to a series of dining out experiences by tetsujustin, who is currently a student at the Culinary Institute of America. Within the thread, tetsu posts his experiences and rates them according to his own scale of sensibility. I urge anyone, in particular those who have been negatively affected by this thread to read tetsu's posts. You may find his outlook illuminating. Regards, Soba edit: corrected to fix link.

Ono (Frank Bruni) Soba