SobaAddict70

No, since none of my offerings will need to be baked or broiled. And besides, I can try to use the micro to roast-nuke. Just kidding. Soba

It will be pasta of some sort. No, not a pasta salad, but cooked pasta. A veggie version for the non-meat eaters, and a non-veggie version for anyone who wants to try. Still narrowing the list of choices down though.... maybe people can help me choose (LOL): Veggie: Rigatoni with fennel, mint and bread crumbs Tagliatelle with broccoli and saffron Non-veggie: Pasta with sausages and wild mushrooms Spaghetti with anchovies, caramelized onions and thyme. (The anchovies might be fresh if I can get some.) I chopped off a couple of options just based on what people have posted already. Soba

Because people like what's familiar and for the most part, the ordinary masses aren't very adventurous. I could be wrong of course, but this is a time-tested theory. Next time, you can treat ME out to dinner and I'll compensate, capice? Soba

Saturday: Risotto with wild mushrooms and vin santo Sauteed spinach and chard with EVOO and garlic Pellegrino Aged goat cheese with candied walnuts and amaretto syrup Soba

pineapple chunks Soba

Diner's Journal: Larry Forgione's Signature Cafe (William Grimes) Lox at the Source (Anne Roiphe) Sunday Magazine: Lee Remick (Jonathan Reynolds) Recipes: 1. Lee Remick's Barbecued Chinese Duck 2. Sichuan Hacked Chicken Cheers, Soba

It sounds like you need to get Wylie for a Q&A. Nice posts Rachel and BG. As for me, I didn't leave the office until 11:30 pm. Soba

Ah, the life of a career paralegal. I can *never* leave work when I want to.... On the other hand, the pay is good. So maybe I shouldn't complain. Right now, a banana and seltzer water. I'm still in the office, btw. Soba

a) Cheese b) "Cheesy" c) Ranch d) Salt and vinegar e) Salt and pepper f) Sour cream and onion g) Garlic h) BBQ i) Jalapeno j) Crab-boil flavored (hey, Utz once made crab-boil flavored potato chips) k) Pizza flavored l) Plain m) Plain, kettle-cooked I have a marked preference for d, h and i, although sometimes I'll take m anyday. Soba

A portion of my original post from page 7 (emphasis added for clarification): Lesley's reply to my post (also on the same page): Hope that clears things up for you. Soba

No? Then let me say it this way and see if you agree: Cooking (or other type of professional) schools teach you the basics and grounding with which you need to be able to perform at the very least, functionally well, in your chosen field. You have a basic knowledge of your craft. You can perform adequately when push comes to shove. Your real test, and much of your knowledge base comes, however, in the field, when you're doing exactly what you were taught in school, under conditions and in situations that didn't pop up in school and are for the most part difficult to duplicate to a T. Law school, to borrow from a frequently posted parallel example here, teaches potential lawyers how to reason their way through cases, how to write or draft a brief, how to communicate effectively, and gives them a basic grounding in the law. Law school, from my vantage point, doesn't teach lawyers how to be an effective negotiator, how to multi-task and coordinate efficiently, how to argue their cases in court (especially before a jury...oh sure, mock trials are good practice, but try doing it in front of a real jury with real stakes on the line, day in and day out -- totally different experience I'm sure). If it did, then we wouldn't have, as beans posts, associates who expect fifteen bankers boxes worth of document review in an inordinate amount of time. We wouldn't have, in my experience, associates who expect people to be as efficient as they are inefficient. Of course, one's experiences varies from the next person's. All I'm saying is that the knowledge that one gains from being in a training program is expanded upon in vast and incomparable ways once that person happens to be doing it in real time. Soba

*shrug* My point is that the real training comes after your school training. I can point to many posts from many chefs on this site that supports that statement, but I'm too lazy to do a search. Experts have PMed me that this is so. Ask Jinmyo or Malawry, why don't you? Soba

I understand your points Paul, but I want to point out that it paints a rather inaccurate picture from a certain point of view. I've had my share of 20 hour days, especially in the past two or three months; I too can tell horror stories from my point of view, but the point that I want to make is that the nature of our job is pretty cylical. Most of the time, things aren't so stressed out, but when it comes time to step up to the plate, then you've got to do what you've got to do. There's a reason why the associates work the number of hours they put in. I mean, if a first year is making 100k+ as they do at my firm (counting bonuses), the firm needs one way to recoup the cost of hiring them. Most associates who enter my firm aren't really there to get on partner track anyway. They're there to pay off their law school and undergraduate debt in two, three or four years, and then move on to whatever else awaits them. The few that do stay on eventually leave if they don't make it to either special counsel or partner level. Likewise, most of the legal assistants who enter my firm are there to work for a couple of years until they decide to go to law school or whatever is their muse. The few that stay on, like me, eventually become career paralegals or shove off after a few years. It's true that both associates and paralegals put in long hours, but I'd say that what you get out of your job if you were in my position is whatever you put in. On the one hand, I can see where Lesley is coming from in her posts and argument. I'm staffed on a transaction where one of my colleagues, who shall remain nameless for her sake more than for mine, proved to me that the ranks of the law school bound legal assistants are often filled with inefficient and clueless morons who graduate to become inefficient and clueless lawyers; it's just a job to while away this person's time until she decides to go to Yale or whatever school decides to cash her check. On the other hand, I don't understand why people have to be shoved into boxes as per Lesley's argument....especially when your real training is out in the field, anyway. All the training in law school or cooking school or paralegal orientation doesn't prepare you or anyone to become an effective lawyer, a skilled chef, or an efficient legal assistant, blah blah blah. Soba

Just had to comment re the above: I'm a career paralegal at one of the top seven law firms in the United States (and/or the world, depending on your point of view or personal ranking system) and while this sort of treatment may have been prevalent in the past, it hasn't been true in a while and at least in my (extensive) experience, it's not true now. Now I don't know which law firms you've worked in, but with all due respect, I can say with certainty that the firm that I work at doesn't cultivate the sort of atmosphere that you make reference to in your post. Soba

All About American Pie (Amanda Hesser) Someone Varmint Should Invite To His Pig-Pickin' (Sam Sifton) Wine Talk (Frank J. Prial) A Quintet of BBQ Refresher Courses (Mark Bittman) The Food Dahling of the Moment: Lemons Bathed in Heat (Melissa Clark) William Grimes reviews Morrells in the Flatiron district Vietnamese Simplicity at Anh (Eric Asimov) Bits and Pieces: Fancy Finds, Marshmallow Birthday Suits, Guastavino's "Beer Hall", and Cucumber Martinis (Florence Fabricant) Food Chain (Denise Landis) Foraging For Dinner (Elizabeth Olson) Off The Menu: Chef Departures, Son of Jewel Bako and Other Openings... (Florence Fabricant) Recipes: 1. Pulled Pork 2. Barbecue Sauce 3. Radish Salad 4. Tomato and Tapenade Salad 5. Bitter Greens with Sour Cream Dressing 6. Cold Eggplant Salad with Sesame Dressing 7. Blueberry Pie with Lattice Top 8. Blueberry Tart With Crème Fraîche and Honey Creme 9. Blueberry Chiffon Pie 10. Leek Salad Cheerio, Soba

Tuesday (the pasta's cooking while I'm typing this): penne rigate, tossed with mashed avocado, minced Vidalia onion, diced tomato, EVOO, sea salt and lots of cracked black pepper.....just a fresh uncooked sauce. simple green salad, w/a white wine viniagrette Evian Soba

Monday: Hiyayakko, topped with crab roe, slivered scallions and grated daikon. Chilled soba noodles, topped with oshinko, minced shiso leaves and furikake. Sliced poached chicken breasts, with a dab of spicy bean paste on the side. Steamed broccoli. Pu-erh tea. Soba

about a cup of cottage cheese (this and unflavored plain Dannon yogurt is how I usually get my calcium. If I have yogurt for breakfast, about 1 to 2 containers. I thoroughly despise sweetened yogurt.) a hardboiled egg water a couple of bananas. I tried drinking milk a couple of days ago and paid for it with the usual gastric distress. EJRothman is damn lucky. I'm jealous. Soba

Yay for Bux. Now there's a voice of reason. Lesley, I'm not sure what to make of your argument. So are you basically saying that all those people who decide to attend graduate school in order to get an advanced degree or because god forbid, they want to learn more about something they didn't get enough of while they were undergraduates should vacate their spots in favor of someone who decides to pursue a master's degree or doctorate degree with the intention of entering academia or putting that degree to "good" use like a profession? Because that's what it sounds like to me. I'm a writer in my spare time and I applied to the New School for an MFA degree, both to better perfect my craft and also to learn/broaden my horizons/expand my knowledge base. I don't have any intention (at this time) of teaching creative writing, nor do I feel that my work has enough depth, much less have the desire to be a published poet. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered, eh? Let a real prose writer or poet with ambitions fill my shoes, eh? (I didn't get in, but that's neither here nor there.) Soba

White or dark? Or does it not matter? You can add a thimble full to my serving portion. Soba

El Gordo, your questions in order: 1. At least once a week. Less if I'm busy at work. 2. As much as my wallet can absorb sticker shock. Range is from cheap eats to the occasional high end splurge. I'm afraid that ADNY shall forever be relegated to the realm of Christmas dinner, however. 3. Zagats? What Zagats? I don't see no stinkin' Zagats around here. Seriously, I don't use Zagats, and like tommy, my definition of 2 and 3 star restos differs from the Times. Haven't yet done any of the 4 star places so I can't comment. 4. A mix. I'd say I'm a regular at about seven or eight, and the rest of the time I'm open to a lot of places. On the other hand, there are places that I'll NEVER return to...not even kicking and screaming, while being dragged by wild horses. 5. I prefer restos downtown than near my neighborhood (midtown east). I prefer locations south of 34th Street, and definitely in Manhattan. (Sorry, but after living in the outer boros for over a third of my life, I couldn't be dragged to the Bronx, SI, Queens or Brooklyn unless I was bribed, or in the company of good friends.) Alain Ducasse -- 0; see above Aquavit -- 1 Artisanal -- 0 Asia de Cuba -- 0 (not because I can't afford it but because I'm NOT a fan of fusion and Asia de Cuba is fusion in the worst possible way IMHO) Atelier -- 0 AZ -- 1 (it was ok, but I won't be returning any time soon for the same reason as not going to Asia de Cuba) Aureloe -- 0 Babbo -- 2 Balthazar -- 0 Blue Ribbon Sushi -- 2 Blue Water Grill -- 0 Bolo -- 0 (basically anything that's fusion-y and Flay is definitely fusion-y is an automatic out) Bouley -- 0 Cafe Boulud -- 0 Cafe des Artistes -- 0 Chanterelle -- 0 Craft -- 1 (and hopefully a return will be soon...!!!) Daniel -- 0 Danube -- 0 Diwan (the midtown one) -- 2 Eleven Madison Park -- 1 Esca -- 1 Fiamma Osteria -- 0 Fifty-Seven Fifty-Seven -- 0 Four Seasons -- 0 Gotham Bar & Grill -- 0 Gramercy Tavern -- 1 Honmura An -- 5 Il Mulino -- 0 Jean Georges -- 0 Jewel Bako -- 4 Jo Jo -- 0 JUdson Grill -- 0 Kuruma Zushi Restaurant -- 0 La Cote Basque -- 0 La Grenouille -- 0 Le Bernardin -- 0 Le Cirque 2000 -- 0 L'Impero -- 0 Lupa -- 3 March -- 0 (this is one of those exceptions for fusion. March is next on my "to do" places to go, since I've heard so much about it and tommy is clearly a fan of Wayne Nish's concept) Montrachet -- 0 Next Door Nobu -- 0 Nobu -- 1 Oceana -- 0 Olica -- 0 Otto -- not yet, but hopefully soon Park Bistro -- 0 Patria -- NEVER!!! Peter Luger -- 0 Picholine -- 0 Pico -- 0 RM -- 0 San Domenico -- 0 Sugiyama -- 1 (will go back again soon I hope) Sushi Yasuda -- 0 Tabla -- 2 Town -- 0 Union Pacific -- 0 Union Square Cafe -- 3 Veritas -- 0 WD-50 -- 0 Do I get a passing grade? Soba

deep fried Mars or Snickers bars marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwiches bug juice (aka Kool Aid) Jason beat me to it though, by a long shot any Jello salad Pop Tarts napoleons with Cool Whip topping in place of creme fraiche Soba

At the moment, a banana's sitting by the phone. ALWAYS Poland Spring (or other bottled water), Snapple iced tea, Schweppes seltzer water and Fresca; a couple of packages of Cup O'Noodles -- here we have Spicy Chicken and Shrimp. For some reason, my officemate loves Diet Coke with Lemon. (*shudder*) Soba

Sort of like being in the armed forces. (For the record, I was in the U.S. Navy at one time, so I can certainly speak from experience. The only difference between cooking school and boot camp is that the yelling starts the minute you enter the RTC and is pretty much 24/7.) *waves* Soba

Memories of A Mother's Kitchen (Lou Ureneck) Diner's Journal: Post-Modernist Southern Cuisine (William Grimes) Cold Comforts (Julia Reed) Recipes: 1. Justine's Lotus Ice Cream 2. Peach Ice Cream 3, Caramel Ice Cream Cheers, Soba