SobaAddict70

The problem is, I can't think of any names at the moment, besides Christine Keff (Flying Fish and Fandango, both in Seattle), Rodney Robinson (Inn at the Park, San Diego) and Susan Feniger (of FTV fame). Or it could be that I'm haven't raised my awareness level enough. Soba

With Mr. Bruni's review of Mas, we begin to see the inadequacies of the NYT four tier rating system: This is a restaurant that rates one star? Mas is probably a two star restaurant but a review like that made it seem more like half a star to me. Soba

Mas (Frank Bruni) Hm. One and a half stars, maybe? Soba

Monday your time. I'll PM you with a list of potential taggees. (Dr. Evil laugh.) Soba

One version I've had (once) involved your standard shabu shabu recipe (and the meal evolved along the lines of a typical shabu shabu experience)....except at the end, the host dumped in a bunch of edible chrysanthemum petals. Lent a spicy, floral note to the broth. Was quite an interesting experience to say the least. Soba

That chopstick rest looks cute. Soba

Whatever happened to Michael Jordan's Steakhouse? If memory serves, the marrow bones were amazing. Soba

Pure Food and Wine (Frank Bruni) Sounds like one star to me. Soba

The tripe parm at Babbo is actually one of the more successful renditions of tripe that I've had in New York. Pity you didn't order it. Guaranteed to make converts out of tripe haters. Then again, more for me. Soba

I think its way too early to be this critical of Mr. Bruni. Let him cut his teeth first, and then see how he does three or four months down the road. Soba

You're far too polite, Holly. Soba

So many awesome ideas, I could probably eat until two Fridays from now. I forgot to mention I also have bacon and eggs! But I already know how to fry an egg, I was hoping to continue learning to cook the other stuff. So I'm drooling over all your suggestions. Honestly, I want to learn to make all of it so far. Chili sounds good, I have several recipes for that. I do have chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes. That's a great suggestion! I wouldn't even have to ask for directions. Indian--VERY interesting idea. I made curried potatoes/peas in my vegetarian days, but it was orange and green and mushy and I just couldn't eat more than a few bites. I'd love to know how to make good curry. I have curry powder, turmeric, cumin, and some saffron still sealed in a pouch that I bought several years ago. I'd also LOVE to hear your take on how I could make risotto. I have the arborio rice but have been afraid to attempt it. Seems so many things I try to make just don't turn out like I'd hoped, and I get discouraged! It sounds like you and Malawry know the same pork butt recipe. I would be very interested in it because I bought those oranges just to eat, but their membranes are really hard to chew through and they aren't very sweet! I would need a little more direction--Malawry said "braise," I didn't know you could braise something that huge. Do I use a roasting pan in the oven? Or my big Crock-Pot? Malawry, I love how you put meals together. That is something I struggle with a lot. I spent years searching out casserole and one-dish meal recipes and that's all I have eaten, with few exceptions, for the past 10 years. Unless I make, say, a flank steak, then that's it. Meat. Dig in! If you're lucky, I'll thaw out some green beans! hillvalley, the pasta sauce sounds good, kind of like one I tried from "How to Cook Everything," and I liked it very much. I am going to try the pea soup, what seasonings would be good? Anna N, thanks for reading along! You all have no idea how excited I am about cooking something without getting out my 1/2 teaspoons and following a recipe word-for-word. Thank you so much! Some recommendations: Not sure if those spices are still good. You might want to check for freshness or if the flavor quality has declined. How are the spices stored? In a cool dark place, or with lots of light? For Indian-style dishes such as "curry", you might want to consider making your own garam masala (if you happen to have any whole spices lying around). Far superior to "curry powder", in my opinion. With bacon and eggs, we could probably add pasta carbonara to the mix. Risotto is really easy. Click here for the eGCI course on risotto, taught by Craig Camp. Once you learn how, it'll become an indispensible part of your repertoire. Click here for an eGCI course on menu planning, taught by JAZ. I might toss in a few more suggestions later on. Best, Soba

Thought I'd start a separate thread off the Dinner topic, that seems appropriate regarding RSincere's dilemma which you can read about here, and which I quote below: I hope you really meant that, because I'm screwed for the rest of the week. I stubbornly kept cooking my preplanned recipes from that cookbook, but after a beef stroganoff that tasted like onion dip, and turkey hash that tasted like prison food, I gave up! The two recipes I had left were "Mock Chicken Marbella," so I have a pound of chicken breast strips, and "Cuban Picadillo" which called for a pound of ground beef round but I have chuck. For my pantry, I have most spices and staples, along with fresh basil, parsley, tarragon, and thyme. I have canned vegetable stock and tomato sauce/diced tomatoes/tomato paste. I have a ton of garlic and a knob of ginger and 3 shallots and 3 onions and two scallions and four tomatoes and two turnips and a bag of Yukon Gold and some baby red potatoes and some oranges and a lemon. I have an open bottle of red wine and also dry sherry. I don't have milk or cream but I have powdered dry milk and butter and a cup of sour cream. I have vinegars and seasonings like soy sauce and worcestershire. I have tortillas and frozen green beans and frozen peas. I have frozen shredded mozzarella, cheddar, Parmesan. I have arborio rice, jasmine rice, converted rice, and many different kinds of pasta. For plain meat in the freezer besides what I mentioned above, I have 12 oz. tilapia filets, a slab of mystery meat, a round steak, some chicken thighs/legs, some kind of pork butt roast thing, 2 lbs stew meat, 2 lbs chicken breast strips, and I have about every kind of dried bean they have at Walmart. I also have $7 to last until Friday, but this should be plenty to eat. Anyone care to help me with my pantry challenge? If this is hijacking the thread, feel free to PM me! I guess we should start out with what you DON'T like and work from there. As for the rest of us, got any suggestions to help Rachel out? Ok, discuss. Soba

Kathleen/Sam: the next time you go to Landmarc, I WANT TO GO WITH YOU. Wanna see how their roasted marrow compares to Prune's roasted marrow, among other things. Soba

honey mustard chicken breast sandwich with lettuce, tomato and onion half a tub of cottage cheese for dessert. chocolate whey/dextrose shake w/soy milk as a bedtime snack. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Soba

Stone: Fusha 1065 First Avenue New York, NY 10021 Tel.: (212) 752-8883 Their toro scallion roll is mediocre. I usually get their chirashi (which has declined in quality) when I'm feeling lazy. YMMV however. Soba

It's the prosletyzing that I specifically object to. I mean, who wants to hear that? At the dining table, no less. This is not only applicable to "vegetarian/vegan/macrobiotic/raw foodist prosletyzing towards non-vegetarian/non-vegan/non-macrobiotic/non-raw foodists" (and their reverse), but also towards the "gourmet-foodie-I curl my lip at you heathen Mrs. Dash users/people who like all you can eat buffets/god forbid I get caught with a jar of Miracle Whip in my refrigerator" (and their reverse) type of prosletyzing. Unless you're Sandra Lee in which case, the above doesn't apply. (j/k) People like what they like and it's really none of anyone's fucking business to pass judgment on their food choices. Soba

i think you can replace the word "vegetarian" with the word "person" and it still applies, doesn't it? Precisely. And to the recommended vegetarian cookbooks, I'd like to add "Chez Panisse Vegetables" (because if you're going to cook vegetarian, it's probably best to begin with something that teaches you how to prepare your vegetables as simply as possible (along with their origin and diversity). Soba

This is what I was referring to. Rude people exist everywhere across the entire spectrum, but it seems to me, at least in my experience, that a high proportion of rudeness exists among some vegetarians I have met (outside of eGullet) who make it their personal mission in life to (subtly) put down others based on their choice of food consumption. You either have blatant put downs ("Eating meat on a daily basis is ultimately detrimental to long-term health") to subtle judgmental putdowns ("Animals slain for food waste more natural resources than those used purely for their byproducts" or "Animals used for food are generally treated more inhumanely than a prisoner at a federal maximum security institution"). On the other hand, you could say that there seem to be a greater percentage of rude people among non-vegetarians, or the people who claim to be vegetarians but for some inexplicable reason think that venison is a vegetable, so there you go. Personally, I prefer the type of vegetarian who, as in your example, just goes about life without proclaiming the worthiness of their diet/lifestyle to one and all. Soba

No, I'm not. Vegetarianism is good in moderation. Ill manners are never good, regardless of the justification. If more people followed that prohibition, vegetarians wouldn't have as bad a name as they seem to. Soba

The next blogger will be someone who lives in Europe, so there's a bit of a time difference here. Be patient. Soba

The chocolate flavored ones are some of the tastier versions in my experience. Soba

Depends on if I'm making a meal for myself or if for a group of people. Lately, I've been working out so haven't been cooking as much as I used to. These days, dinner's usually done in half an hour and tends to be simple and boring (at least to eGulleteers' standards) but gets the job done in 1/3 the time it used to take. Once in a while I'll go all out. Once in a very great while. Soba

NYTimes Weekly Update Wednesday, 16 June 2004 Dining In/Dining Out Section When The Right Wine Is Beer (Mark Bittman) Sidebar: If you point your browser to the article's web page, you can hear Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery, gives readers a virtual tour of the brewery. Click on the box entitled "A Tour of the Brooklyn Brewery" to begin the presentation. The Chef: Peter Hoffman (Dana Bowen) The Minimalist (Mark Bittman) The Pour (Eric Asimov) Megu (Frank Bruni) Franny's (Dana Bowen) DiPalo's Fine Foods -- A Tradition In And Of Itself (Alex Wichtel) Classic Le Cirque (Florence Fabricant) Long Island Vines (Howard G. Goldberg) NYC's Own FTV (Jennifer Steinhauer) Bits And Pieces (Florence Fabricant) Letters Corrections Recipes in today's section: 1. Summer Salad With Romesco Vinaigrette 2. Romesco Sauce 3. Goat Cheese and Apple Omelet 4. Pasta With Lobster, Chorizo and Peas 5. Spicy Crab Cakes 6. Guava Crème Brûlée 7. Grilled or Roast Salmon With Salsa Fresca Soba

V Steakhouse (Frank Bruni) Something tells me that Peter Luger, or even Ruth's Chris aren't going to go out of business anytime soon... Soba