Chris Amirault

Best line in this thread so far: This is what happens when a great chef cooks for some great diners.

As we say in the preschool world, you want to choose what they can choose to eat.

[host hat on] Folks, let's stick to the food-related evils of the world, ok? Thanks. [host hat off] Charles, while I agree that the store-bought bake sale is beyond parody, I think that the lesson that and the policy in general teaches is that shared store-bought food is safer than shared homemade food. The policy doesn't cover all homemade food, remember. If I had to guess, my center's lawyer would settle a food poisoning claim out of court and quietly. No judge would ever see it. And while I could argue a long time about why we "chucklebutts" are charged with the responsibilities of thinking about kids' eating while in our care (federal and state laws about food safety, for starters), jsolomon has a good point: No one in the eGullet Society needs to be told that not being able to share food indicates a lousy state of cultural affairs.

A few thoughts. If I'm reading correctly, the school isn't banning all homemade items: I think a few posters here have been arguing against a ban on homemade foods -- which is not what this school is doing. While I would not do this at my preschool, there are lots of reasons why it makes sense to me. The food health issues have been covered above; I'll point out that, as I did in another thread today, serious food allergies require only tiny amounts of something to set off a health crisis. In addition, there are non-health issues that are very significant culturally, particularly for families that keep kosher or halal. It is too bad that we have to deal with these things, but we do. Insurance issues and the threat of litigation looms over naptime, playgrounds, and it certainly covers food. Having said that, getting a release from parents doesn't really help much. If the food came from Stop n Shop, then they'd be sued for selling it; if it came from a family in my program, we'd be sued for allowing it in the room. The thing that strikes me about this entire affair is how poorly it seems to have been communicated. There are ways to introduce new policies that involve community information, more "do's" than "don'ts," that sort of thing. edited to add: What about cooking in the classrooms? Is that verboten? What a loss if so....

As someone who runs a school, I read this and thought, "Huh: that'd be a lot easier for many people, particularly parents and schools that have children with serious food allergies." I had to lock up a peanut butter sandwich today, for example. Sometimes you don't want kids making choices....

Welcome, Wndy -- great first post! Do you have a camera handy for the final product? What did you serve them with?

Over in the "Foods that would be sought after" thread, there's been a discussion about ramps, and I found the following Wikipedia entry: Now, I've never had ramps to my knowledge, but when I read that sentence, I started salivating when I hit the phrase in bold. I had the same reaction when I first read about matsutake mushrooms. And, of course, I absolutely adore blue/bleu cheeses. So these foods don't have a lot in common except, well, their associative relation to stinky feet. (OK, go ahead and unload all of your foot fetish jokes. Ahem.) What other foods are there that are redolent of the gym sock? And what's your opinion? Am I right in assuming that this is one of those classic love 'em/hate 'em categories?

No, no, no: the wooden spoons go in the drawer, with the spatulas. Silly rabbit.

Well, I think that's a perfectly rational approach to grating cheese: all in one spot, easy to transfer to pot or bowl, no muss, no fuss. Of course, it also happens to be my preferred method....

They look like this. If your big sauce pan is nice and thick (retains heat) and has a tight-fitting lid, then it can work just fine.

I have the exact same habit. At least, through today. Just last month, we removed the door to the pantry when we realized it served exclusively as (a) an impediment to gaining access to the pantry or (b) an impediment to gaining access to the cupboards next to the pantry.

Does anyone have any experience with this Williams-Sonoma remote thermometer?

Wikipedia to the rescue:

Good call, Chris! While it didn't really taste anything like Bibimbap, that was definitely an inspiration for this dish. The official menu reads:Pulled Skate Wings Mushroom Ragout Hot Spring Egg Scallop-Morel Emulsion Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Vinaigrette "pulled skate" ?!? yep. Next big thing, you heard it here first! ← Well that sounds remarkable. BTW, I once made "pulled skate" when I left a nice piece of the fish in shreds after my attempt to fillet it.

I'll be reading along, too, Megan! If you manage to make it over to the west side any time, there are some amazing Saudi dates at Fairway these days. And I'd second the motion for a trip to Pegu Club for a Pegu Club.

Evan, what was in that bibimbap-y looking egg dish?

Hi Spiro! Thanks for participating in this great conversation with all of us. I run a school and know that, when I walk into another school, I can see things that most people don't see. As a successful restauranteur, can you tell us a bit about what you see when you walk into another restaurant that we might not notice? What stands out to you? What peeves do you have? Is there anything easy to fix that nearly everyone out there does wrong?

Indeed it is! We all should use the phrase "Sour Patch death-sugar" more often, don't you think?

← Define "foam."

Just got this off of eBay, and it's filled with swell recipes that I'm dying to try: And, yes, he is actually cutting a grape with knife and fork. He's so much cooler than we'll ever be....

Russell Wong's Naw Mai Fon recipe (Chinese sticky rice) has not only become part of our regular family rotation; I've started curing my own lop yuk to feed my addiction.

Lucky Garden is on Rt 44/Smith Street in North Providence, in a small strip mall at the base of a hill. If you hit Salvation Army on your way north, you've gone too far! It's worth the trip, trust me; click here for a meal there during my foodblog.

Just got a new slab of bacon started in the fridge, this time with brown sugar. Reports soon. Longer spin in the mixer -- and keep the ingredients coooooooold.

Using Moby's great recipe, I made fresh spaghetti tonight, and served it with my first San Marzano tomato sauce (sauteed garlic in evoo, the can o' tomatoes, salt, pepper, little wine, and chiffonaded basil just before serving) -- excellent. The occasion of this meal was discovering, at the IKEA in Stoughton MA, the Frost clothes drying rack. Little does IKEA know, but this is an outstanding pasta drying rack. I installed it just above my head, and used it throughout the rolling and cutting process.

Just got the SLT large roaster and will report back when I use it. It seems great: it has a nice heft.