Chris Amirault

I agree on the black, Anna. Here in RI, the land of Dunkin' Donuts, it's seen as an aberration. Last week I heard, "large coffee, 10 sugars, 10 creams." No one blinked an eye. Speaking of RI coffee, "regular" here means "with sugar and half-n-half." What's a regular where you are?

Yesterday, I went to our local breakfast place (Phenix Square Restaurant) to get a sack of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches and a coffee to go. When I got there, I realized something astonishing: for the first time in my life, the server had put the lid on the coffee cup correctly, so that the lid opening was at six o'clock, directly across from the cup's seam at twelve o'clock. I asked her why she did it. "It's obvious! The place where the lid and cup seam meet is usually leaky, so you want it on the other side!" "Yes!!" I replied. "And this alignment allows you to feel where the lid opening is with your hand -- without looking!" "Of course!" she said, as if all right-minded people simply know this. I had thought this all of my coffee-drinking life, despite never having met anyone else who felt the same way. Clearly, so had she. But we smiled at each other like two long-lost siblings, knowing that we were part of a secret club in which our goofy fetishes are embraced as superiority. I've talked to a lot of people about this lid business, and they usually look at me like I'm nuts -- and then launch into their own goofy fetish that they are convinced is superior to my goofy fetish, convincing me that they're nuts. Given the primacy of coffee in the meals, routines, and lives of billions of people worldwide, perhaps we can all learn something about humanity and its foibles if we share them here. I promise to chuckle at yours quietly.

Yes, that's right and what I was trying to say up there. Goodnight, Irene -> Goodnight, Chris -> This Thing.

You're handing out the goods on Friday night? We've got standard issue big bag stuff at our house. Having been one of those kids who egged homes for poor treat selection, I take no chances.

I think it's safe to say that a few of those guys have decent reputations in the field.

I bet savory versions could be terrific.

He believes it to be bitter -- which I've heard from others as well. My McGee is at home, and the online search at his blog isn't turning up anything.

Here's another: Robuchon always tells you to remove the little bud in the middle of every clove.

Now that's a fascinating idea....

Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli has an equal-parts variation on Audrey Saunders's Goodnight, Irene that works well subbing Strega for yellow Chartreuse: 1 oz rye (Rittenhouse) 1 oz Strega 1 oz Fernet Branca Stir; fresh rocks; orange twist. The Strega brings out the chocolate notes of the Fernet more than the Chartreuse does. Nursed this for an hour of Lady Gaga costume building last night.

I was on lunch duty today. Bebe and I concocted this strangely healthy meal together: Apple, Cheez-Its, Vlasic gherkins, roasted chicken, and some Japanese jellies she saw at a store yesterday. The little rolled up items with the chicken are sliced rings of chicken skin: when she saw me feeding some skin to the dog, she said, "Where's mine?!?"

Our team of volunteer forum hosts is the backbone of eG Forums operations. But as a non-profit organization, there's no doubt that we need help in many areas: technology, editorial, fundraising, indexing. Indeed, Society members who don't want to be forum hosts often offer a hand, and that got us thinking about non-hosting roles for volunteers who want to pitch in and help our community. At first it seemed simple to us: people can just volunteer and, you know, help. But questions arise. Why should a member be recognized as a volunteer providing content, while other active, posting members are not? Who gets what title -- and who gets no title at all? How do we define the roles those titles name, and how do we support and supervise the volunteers in them? Then it hit us: for your first assignment, you can volunteer to help us figure this out! We'd love to get your feedback on the idea of a non-host volunteers program, perhaps one modeled on a docent system akin to the ones found in museums, zoos, and so on. Email your insights and offers of help to me at feedback@egullet.org. Let's see what we can figure out together.

sadistick, can you give us a few examples that prove your point?

Which is what, exactly? Some people value a cookbook that promises to be groundbreaking by most accounts and are prepared to pay what they think it's worth -- and you don't/aren't?

Not sure what you mean by "single book."

What'd you pay for the 2010 Stagg, if I may ask? Saving me pennies..

And here's the SVS "Demi." Because it's smaller, not married to Ashton Kutcher. $300, not $450, and for most home cooks more or less the same capacity; they're saying it's 60-80% the SVS. Anyone tempted?

Oh, those old things. I prepared a seasoned blend with some smoked Tellicherry peppers, salt, Aleppo pepper, and used that on some; then I made another one with S&P, onion powder, and some dried porcini mushrooms I'd blitzed in the spice grinder. One whole breast (two halves, actually) per bag with the rubs and some schmaltz; now they're in the freezer for a quick sous vide dip later this fall.

Indeed, the entire situation is annoying. But that's the fix Teddy's in, and he's right to point out that it's a real fix.

No, that's not what Teddy's saying at all. He wrote, Teddy is stating an historical fact from his experience -- and, I'll add, from mine as well -- not saying what "ought to" happen. Your comparison is just wrong: does happen doesn't mean should happen.

For reasons that I don't understand -- and Denis Joyal wasn't there to ask -- for the first time I've ever been there, a bottle of McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Pot Distilled Whiskey showed up on the shelf of Joyal's Liquors, the best place to get whisk(e)y in my little state. I am a fan of the Clear Creek stuff, but I'd never heard of this. It's an Oregon whiskey distilled in a distinctly Scottish style, which Islay peat, Highland cream, and some wacky funk that's hard to pin down. One bottle, mind you, one. If you see one, go grab it; if you see more than one, send the others to me.

Drops makes more sense than a dash...

I learned a great deal about cocktails and restaurant bar service here on eG Forums, from members who are among the most important figures in the industry. Now, a few years later, the restaurant whose cocktail program I've helped to design and at which I now work once a week has been getting rave reviews, hosts regular cocktail workshops that I teach, and was just named one of the best new restaurants in the US by Esquire magazine. Couldn't have done it without everyone here.

This one? Those were whole chickens. I put some sliced pancetta stresa under the skin of the breast, thigh and leg meat, along with a few rosemary needles. I then stuffed the cavity with the herbs and some pancetta end pieces. Let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days and then roasted it on a stainless sauté pan in a 350F oven for 90 min or so, rested for 40. It was terrific. This weekend I spent a ton of time preparing food for the work week. I prepared several more chicken breasts using the method above, made a massive batch of posole, prepared several servings of butternut squash, cooked a few artichokes, prepped a batch of pancetta that was done curing, made two pollock meals in the Sous Vide Supreme -- one for later -- and prepped some short ribs for dinner Wednesday. Apple picking, too. Trying to settle into a groove....

Teddy, I'm sorry to say this, but I can't imagine how you could work in a kitchen unless the kitchen was designed around your allergies. Perhaps there are other areas of food service that you could pursue, but working in a kitchen while avoiding fish, nuts, and seeds, plus all of their by-products.... I just can't see it.