HungryChris

corned beef, seeded rye bread and grey poupon mustard medium rare roasted lamb and garlic a cheeseburger on crusty bread with kim chee A good pint of stout with any of the above Cheers, HC

I greatly prefer to sit face to face. I think it makes conversation easier. We can see each others meals as well as our reactions to them. There is also a lot to be said about having more of the place under surveillance as far as people watching goes. I always like to sit where I can watch the door. I think it has more to do with the history of our species than my humble past. I feel a little like a nervous antelope at the water hole if I can't kind of keep an eye on things. That's just the way I am. Cheers, HC

Pepe's Pathology Hut

I like to make a leafy lettuce salad sprinkled with finely chopped caramelized shallots, crumbled gorganzola cheese and dressed with a vinegrette dressing that includes minced raw shallots. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Cheers, HC

My faves include: Freshly baked sourdough The area immediatly surrounding the press at the cider mill Coffee beans just dumped from the roaster My least faves include: Clove Sardines (fresh ones, not canned) The first time I bought fresh sardines, I was preparing them for the grill and just couldn't go through with it. I wrapped the bunch up took it outside to the trash and scrubbed my hands at the sink for some time. I just don't get how they can smell so awful, but taste so wonderful after just a minute or two on the grill! I have learned to see the job through since. Cheers, HC

I usually have a package or two on hand and will get the urge to prepare some just 3 or 4 times a year. I was recently surprised to learn that because the ones I buy are fried before packaging that they are pretty high in calories. Whenever I see someone with a case or more in their gorcery cart I have to wonder what they do with all that. I have known quite a few people who bought too much of the stuff for economic reasons only to get totally turned off by it within a few weeks. I think I could eat in a good ramen shop every day, though and never get tired of it.

This reminds me of a summer I spent working at a fish market near the home of my youth in CT. The market owner was a crafty bird. There was a little wooden slated box near the lobster tank. Over a period of weeks I noticed that he sometimes put the lobster in that box before bagging it and sometimes he didn't. Over time I began to realize that there was more to the story as well. If the customer was a year round resident he would take the lobster out of the tank, put it in the wooden box to allow the water to drain from it then bring the lobster to the scale then put it in the bag. If, however, the customer was a summer resident/tourist, he would whip the lobster out of the tank into the bag and bring the bag to the scale. In effect the tourist was paying by the pound for the lobster, the water not allowed to drain from it and the bag whereas the local customer was just paying by the pound for the drained lobster. It's just something to watch out for. Cheers, HC

I was in the new Manhattan spot a few weeks ago and have to agree with what's been said about the confusion issue. I sat at one of those neat little tree branch tables and watched Deb (and a number of other customers) get in one line after another only to be told that they were in the wrong line for what they were looking for. I did see bags of cacao beans through the window, but no sign that they had actually started to process them there yet. It's a nice space and I'm sure they will get it together eventually, but they have a ways to go yet. I am the wrong person to talk to about the relative merits of chocolate because I would be perfectly happy in a world without it, but Deb did like the hot chocolate and she loves their champagne truffels. Cheers, HC

Are these Rock or Spiny Lobsters or Maine Lobsters?

I spent quite a few years living day to day, hand to mouth and one of my old faithfuls was smoked shoulder when it went on sale for 69 cents a lb. A New England Boiled Dinner with potatoes carrots and cabbage would start out the week. It made good leftovers, great sandwiches on homemade bread during the week and then the ham bone would go into split pea soup. You could live on the thing for at least a week with good variety and all for less than ten bucks. Ahhh....... the good old days. Welcome to EG by the way, astrayacorazon. Cheers, HC

I tried Spicy Ranch Dressing with a little lemon juice and zest mixed in. I thought it was pretty good.

If you are in the neighborhood, I reccomend a cocktail or two at sunset in the Voodoo Lounge at the Rio. Watching the lights on the strip come on from that great spot is an eye opener. Cheers, HC

# 971 There are some places where anything still sealed from the manufacturer is the best bet. #972 It would be wise to know when to apply # 971.

Yessssssssssssssssssssss! A huge plate of steaming crow to those of you who deserve it and you know who you are. I have a bottle of champagne way in the back of my fridge that might be dragged out soon. How about those Red Sox? Cheers, HC

Deb and myself have made it a point to have ramen on each of our sortees into the city in the last year or two. So far, we have been to Sapporo East, Ajisen, and our favorite, so far, Menchanko Tei (the Hakata Ramen blows us both away) I think we have been there about 4 or 5 times. We will be back again in the first week of December and I thought I'd ask for reccomendations for good ramen in NYC on good old EG. When I try to replicate the experience at home, I am at a loss as to what to use for the noodles. The best I have found so far is an Itialian product that I get at a local Asian store. It's Called Pasta Zara Angel Hair Nests. Just as it sounds, it's little nests of pasta that would fit into an average sized hand. It comes the closest to what we have had at the ramen shops in NYC. I take the the little tip ends of pork tenderloin when I find them in Walmart and simmer them in salted water with a few pepper corns and a bay leaf or two and whatever chicken bones I have in the freezer. I slice baby bok choy into eights, removing the green tops and sautee the bok choy slices in a fry pan with salt, pepper, a little dark soy sauce, fresh julienned ginger and some hot chili oil. I put the noodles into a bowl, add the pork broth, sliced pork, some sliced black fungus that have been soaked in hot water, the sliced bok choy stems and top with some sliced green onions and the bok choy tops and add about a table spoon of heavy cream. This is about as close as I have been able to come to Hakata Ramen at home. Cheers, HC

My liquor cabinet is in the two doored cabinet above the worthless hood fan. I'm sure that many of you are familiar with the worthless hood fan, the one that sucks in the smoke and blows it back into your eyes, but that's another thread. Except for an occaisional bloody mary or margarita, I mostly drink wine. For some strange reason, however, I collect hard liquors and have recently run out of room for it. This thread has come along at a time when I am wondering where to go to next and I think Jason's spare room approach is going to come out on top. Cheers, HC

I'd like to add that a recent edition of Consumers Guide rated Goya Extra Vergin Olive Oil as one of the best all around buys to be had. Cheers, HC

Blue cheese dressing seems to benefit greatly with an overnight in the fridge, though. The flavors seem to really come together. I vote for a good brand of premade as far as tonight goes. Cheers, HC

I think the shank end braises well and can be surprisingly good that way. As you move up towards the shoulder though, I think that roasting is the way to go. I am also a rare to medium rare enthusiast for the meat in this portion of the leg. It might be difficult to get the stuffing cooked to satisfaction and still be on the rare side, but I 'm sure it will be quite good nonetheless. Cheers, HC

I am unabashedly the most enthusiastic consumer of oysters that I know and here is my take: Once that oyster has been opened, the clock starts ticking and that's a fact! If an oyster that is truly fresh is opened and then languishes on a bed of ice for even ten minutes, find another place! The last 2 times I was at the Grand Central Oyster Bar, I placed my order for a dozen Blue Points and they were put in front of me within a minute and a half. That is a genuinely bad sign! It means that they have been sitting somewhere, open, waiting for you to order them and that is how they tasted. Probably the vast majority of the oysters I have had in my life have been eaten over the kitchen sink doused with sauce I made earlier and opened by yours truly. Once you get that up close and personal with the creature, you are both cursed and blessed. Cursed because you can't stand most of the oysters on the half shell sold to you and blessed because you have an alternative. Open them yourself! As I have said many times before on this board, the one place I have had the absolute best oysters has been at the Union Oyster House in Boston, with this caveat: Get there at 11:30 AM when they open the doors. Make a bee-line to the dozen or so seats at the oyster bar itself and stand by for an oyster ephany. Those oysters are without peer. Don't even think about having them later in the dining room. I made that mistake once and my oysters had dried to crisp paper-like edges where they protruded from the shell, yuck!!!!! The problem becomes evident if you sit at the bar when it opens. The guys opening them, stockpile them for later in the day against the wall. No thanks! Cheers, HC

My first ever saltine was in 3rd grade. We had been reading about an early American pioneer family (written in the first person of a young boy). He talked about his chores which were all pretty straight forward to us kids. He also talked about his younger sister putting in her time at the butter churn. None of us knew what that was so the teacher sagely developed a scheme where we would make butter in class. We poured a pint and a half of heavy cream into a quart jar and passed it around the room, each kid giving it a few shakes. When it was done a bit of salt was added, the fresh butter was spread on saltines and they were passed around. I was hooked instantly! Today, (sigh...many years later) I will have a saltine with a lightly smoked sardine packed in olive oil and a bit of chopped onion or perhaps a smoked oyster. The world would be a much smaller, sadder place were it not for the saltine carcker. Cheers, HC

I found them in a little Itialian store in Westerly, RI, called Ritaco's. They are Scalfani brand "Genuine San Marzano Tomatoes". They were $2.69 for a 28 OZ can. I tried Stop $ Shop in my area, but the best I could do was Imported from Italy without mention of the San Marzano region. I'm sure I paid too much, but I do want to try the real thing to see if I can appreciate the difference. I'll report on the effort. Cheers, HC

I am sure this topic has come up in the past, but I can't find it. Is there somewhere in New England (CT) where you can buy good San Marzano tomatoes without having to have them shipped?

This is the last straw! We need pictures here! I got to get a digital camera. Anyone who knows what a good grinder looks like will recognize the tell tale oil stains on the paper. Without that, you are just talking about food. Grinders are so much more than that!