SobaAddict70

In New York? Possibly. Jewel Bako for starters, located in the East Village, is a perennial favorite of mine. It's worth checking out. I feel that it's nearly or possibly the equal of SY, but other views may vary. Soba

not a stretch hey, if an omelette is basically quiche filling without the crust... you get the idea. Soba

I've been sick for the past week and haven't done much cooking apart from making a HUGE pot of minestrone this weekend to tide me over until things get better. It's been lots of liquids, water, orange juice, grapefruit juice and more water along with the requisite Theraflu and Dimeatapp and lots and lots of sleep for the past nine days. This weekend, for instance, I slept all of Saturday and went to bed around 8 pm Sunday. Thankfully the light is at the end of the tunnel. Being medicated (as I type this from work) has its benefits, not the least of which is NOT noticing how blah the food is from our cafeteria of horrors. Today was broiled lemon sole (which for some ungodly reason was bathed with creamed spinach on top), orzo and steamed zucchini/yellow squash. Washed down with OJ and water. Took a cup of non-drowsy Theraflu about half an hour ago. I am so ready to jet, it's not funny. Soba

Just think of it as nouveau sardines, without the tomato sauce. Soba

Not illegal of course. But....pie needn't be thought of as something that requires baking skills (i.e., pastry): you could do for instance: shepherd's pie bread pudding tamales artisanal pizza or if you really wanted to think outside the crust (heheh): any cold weather winter food such as a stew or soup roasted vegetables baked ham or loin of pork ("it's just the filling without the crust, yeah that's it") See? it's not so bad after all. Soba

NYTimes Weekend Report Friday, 7 November 2003 -- Sunday, 9 November 2003 The Power Of The Pen Is Mightier Than.... (Warren St. John) Diner's Journal: Matsuri (William Grimes) Home on the Culinary Range (Jason Epstein) Recipes in today's section: 1. Tim Boyd's Barbecued Brisket 2. Tim Boyd's Barbecued Spareribs Artisanal Chocolates (Patricia Brooks) Restaurants: Turkish Delights Destination: Berkeley, CA (Louise Rafkin) Maybe There Should Be A Slate Diary On This Phenommenon (Julia Chaplin) Consequences and Complications (Ian Urbina) Soba

Yup, proof that my age is showing. Soba

Whatever you do while at Craft, please please please please please please please do have the mushrooms. ALL of them. When we were there (we being myself, Suzanne F, HWOE and the Perlows), the morels were amazing. Soba

I admit to being one of the annoying dining companions mentioned in this thread. My experience at the seafood place in Brooklyn comes to mind. Can't remember the place, but Suzanne F and the Perlows know exactly where. It was the place where "Charleston she-crab soup" tasted more like cream of cream soup and where I made a total ass of myself. A bit embarrassing this self-flagellation, really. At least dessert was memorable. It was actually GOOD. I've matured since then, I hope. Soba

um, I'm full of silly questions now: 1. How do they get TONS of these out? I mean, do they just hack open chickens destined for other destinations? There must be a guy in the Chinese equivalent of a Perdue factory saying, "ok, here's the pile for fetal chicks, one for me and one for you, two for me and one for you...." 2. What do they serve these with? Ortolans la chinoise? Do tell. Soba

I think the sequel to Part 8 is her trip to Nepal. Somehow Nepal and Mongolia got smooshed together so now I can't distinguish one from the other. Soba

they don't look anything like baby chicks. or baby ducklings. I think. Soba

I'm sorry, but I can't figure out what that last one is (really). I stared and stared and still no luck. So could you enlighten me, a member of the peanut gallery? Please? Soba edit: ok, I enlisted the help of my officemate and even she couldn't figure out what that is. It's not a human head is it? That's just about flat out gross. If it isn't I think I could take it without hurling. I mean I was eating a breakfast burrito while reading her travelog. Even the pix of grasshopper on a stick didn't faze me. I kept repeating to myself "imagine its covered in chocolate. yeah, really."

Otto. Soba

Childhood Chic (Julia Moskin) (from today's DIGEST. You may have to scroll down for the appropriate link.) If you go to the NYTimes web site, you can hear a slide show of New York's best cupcakes and what various places are doing all over town. What are your favorite cupcakes, and where do you get them? Soba

NYTimes Dining In/Dining Out Section Wednesday, 5 November 2003 Lamb Is The New Beef (Amanda Hesser) Spag Bol For The Masses (Amanda Hesser) Wine Talk (Frank J. Prial) Childhood Chic (Julia Moskin) Sidebar: One Critic's Cupcake Is Another's Cement Block (Eric Asimov and William Grimes) What Would Freud Say About This? (Alex Wichtel) West Village Diamond: Sumile (William Grimes) Sam's (Eric Asimov) The Prize of Queens And The Pride of Queens (David Karp) The Minimalist (Mark Bittman) Bits And Pieces (Florence Fabricant) Recipes in today's section: 1. Pappardelle With Beef Ragù 2. Chicken With Pumpkin Seeds 3. Pan-Roasted Lamb Chops Enjoy folks, Soba

make pasta with broccoli, red pepper flakes, anchovies, caramelized onions and EVOO. roast a head of broccoli and use it in place of roasted cauliflower. (believe me, it works.) make fried breadcrumbs from leftover or stale Italian bread. use in place of cheese to top pasta off. (red pepper flakes, a garlic clove and/or anchovies make great flavor additions.) potato galette. slice them thinly, layer and fry them with onions and garlic in butter, finish in the oven. Andre Soltner's French potato cake. sliced potatoes, onions, bacon (I guess you can use some of that sausage if it's what I think it is), sliced hardboiled eggs, creme-fraiche in a pie tart, and then baked. I may have the ingredients wrong so maybe someone can correct me. onion confit. just onions, butter, salt and pepper, sugar, herbs, red wine, apple cider and/or sherry vinegar. use as bruschetta, on top of pasta, with cabbage, as a side for that tilapia or veal breast, etc. pissaladiere. hopefully you'll have access to anchovies and olives. garlic and potato croquettes, in brown butter. or use the puree as a filling for ravioli. Good luck maggie. I've been there, and fully sympathize. Soba

bacon. Soba

What's Australian television like? Do the commercials make any sense? (A recent trend that's spiked in the US consists of commercials that are only tangentially related to the product that's being sold. Some of these are so far a leap of imagination and logic that I don't even bother trying to think about them anymore.) How many of those commercials are food-related? Cheers, Soba

NYTimes Weekend Report Friday, 31 October 2003 -- Sunday, 2 November 2003 Rooftop Style (William Norwich) A Companion Set Piece To The Annoying Dinner Companions Thread (Charles McGrath) Seventh On 6th Meets Tempura Chic (Michael Boodro) Memories of Sinatra's Chef (Alex Wichtel) Reading Clubs: Back In Vogue (Barbara Fisher) Designer Flower Power (Joyce Chang) Jason's Next Sangweech: The Bar-Code Sandwich Kitchen Seduction (Pilar Viladas) When The Guests Are The Stars Of The Show, Not The Food (Meredith Etherington-Smith) Reality Check (Leslie Kaufman and Richard Lezin Jones) Note from Soba: I would like to dedicate this edition of the NYTimes Digest, in my own small way, to the Collingswood four. What they endured throughout all the years that they lived with their foster parents is horrific beyond imagining. I sincerely hope that their individual futures prove to be much brighter than their unimaginable past. Reality Check, Part The Second (reported by the Associated Press) Technology and Intellectual Property Versus Farm Economics (Adam Liptak) Restaurants: Sake Tastings Diner's Journal: Hemsin (William Grimes) Encyclopedia Gastronomica (Jonathan Reynolds) Recipes in today's section: 1. Alan Davidson's Favorite Trifle 2. Sponge Cupcakes 3. Bar Code Sandwich 4. Veal Chop Milanese 5. Baked Alaska Have a good week, folks. Keep safe and warm, Soba

Roast the sprouts with EVOO and kosher salt. (Do a search for brussel sprouts on this board and you'll come up with several threads, believe me. ) Squash: roast. Scoop out pulp, saute with onion and garlic in unsalted butter. Add a dash of curry powder. Add chopped apple or pear. Saute a bit more. Add vegetable stock. Simmer. Adjust seasoning. Puree in blender or food processor, return to pot. Simmer a bit more, add splash of light cream. Adjust seasoning. Plate. Garnish with chopped squash and a bit of cilantro. Soba

more than 100 years? wow. Interesting to see that no one's mentioned pizza and ice cream sundaes yet. People in the U.S. think of "sushi" as Japanese and I'm pretty sure if you asked a random sample of people on the street to name three national Japanese foods, that "sushi and sashimi" would come up at least 80% of the time. Now, go to Japan and I'd be willing to bet that most people over there would answer with something completely different. Soba

I meant "fusion food" as currently executed. Asia de Cuba and Patria are two restaurants that come immediately to mind that serve "fusion" concepted food. Soba

Just finishing a slice of lemon pound cake that my roommate brought back from a dinner a couple of weeks ago at Bouley. They gave two of these incredibly delicious, buttery, lemony cakes as migardanises (sp?) to him afterwards. There are bits of lemon or citron peel embedded in the cake. I can smell the butter halfway across the room. Each slice is dense, ultra-moist and oh-so-heavenly good. Wish I could share... Soba

All right. Would it be fair to describe "fusion food" as inherently American in concept? Issues of perception (especially philosophy-related issues) are particularly interesting to me, which is really what the basis of this thread is all about. How people from various countries, various cultures and parts of society perceive what we or anyone else from anywhere else takes for granted. Reading Shiewie's foodblog the other day made me think of a) how the diversity and variety of food is a shared quality between what's available in KL and here in the U.S., but it also highlighted interesting differences between what a person in the American Midwest might think qualified as "diverse and normal" versus for example, what a Malaysian person might think. I don't know about hamburgers qualifying as "American", probably because of the association I have of hamburger with something like steak tartare. Soba