Jason Perlow

I can attest that Neptune's Oyster Bar's chowder is quite excellent, and each bowl is cooked to order.

Too bad, I really liked the place.

Caprese for a late lunch. A single bright moment in an otherwise very depressing afternoon, having just gotten back from Matthew's funeral service: Tomatoes were from Ploch's Farm in Clifton. Basil is from our garden, and Mozzarella was purchased at the Teaneck Farmers Market.

Ick. Using diet soda as a mixer?

Here's one that's not quite appopriate for the summer weather, but still: And then of course, there's this one:

The above photo pictures him having a good time with his foodie friends, at the eGullet Society China 46 Fundraising dinner back in late January of this year. This is just how I remember him, when I drove him home to his parent’s house in Teaneck after a night of Chinese New Year festivities that cold winter evening. I remember how we talked about how he dreamed of someday cooking at a restaurant as a head chef or owning his own place. He carried himself well and was a fun guy to be around. Matthew’s post record on eGullet is indicative of a young person with an intense passion for fine food and dining, and although I didn’t know him very well, I feel like he lived a lot in his short life. He ate at all the finest restaurants in New York City and could hold very intelligent discussions and opinions on them for such a young kid. Frankly, I didn’t know he was only 22 years old until hearing of his passing today, for in so many ways he was far beyond his years. At 22 I didn’t have the sophistication in understanding restaurants, wine, spirits and cuisine like he did, and I’m still catching up with him with many of the places in NYC I have yet to eat at. Goodbye Matthew. At my next fine meal, I’ll be toasting to you.

I found this link today to a web site that allows you to create your own "Motivational" posters, like the ones many companies put on their walls to motivate salespeople. Create Your Own Motivational Posters (click) Foodies of course, require a bit more than sunset-filled landscapes and nature photos to get them motivated. So I've created a few that I think work a little bit better. Anyone got any others to share?

You guys must be going nuts with half the Central Artery shut down.

Clearly, this is not the correct tool for the application, right? That's something you make furniture with?

Ronnie, after how many god damned years, haven't you read the Member Agreement? What the hell does it say about posting pornographic material on eG Forums? Shame on you!

Here's the former thread about TC's Taste of Saigon, I found it: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=34226&hl=

Yeah, I think we went to TC's Little Taste of Saigon several years back and we thought that the Pho was lackluster so we never went back.

I'm well aware of the ban. However what Coke UK does and Coke US does are totally different. The confines of the British Legal System also likely kept Coke from re-introducing the product in that country. Also, what the UK health authorities call "High Levels Of Bromate" may not be what we have either. Personally, I think I'd rather drink Dasani in the US than have to breathe the air in most British cities.

Yeah, I tend to beleive everything coming out of environmentalist political action committees myself.

Dasani is made locally at two Coca Cola plants in the US. The Coca Cola Bottling Company of New York is one of those that produces it and the other is in Jacksonville, FL. The water is in fact, tap water, but it is then purified thru commercial reverse osmosis filters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasani Aquafina is made from different regional sources. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquafina

Dasani and Aquafina are the brands that are usually onsale at the supermarket so they are typically less expensive than the premium spring water brands. Costco and Wal Mart also have huge volume orders with both Coca Cola and Pepsi as well, so they get preferred pricing on it. Its true you can get real spring water just as cheap, but it typically requires going to a beverage store or getting a delivery commitment from a distributor, like we do with our monthly Poland Spring deliveries. As to the break room issue -- the vending machines are typically maintained by a distributor company for either Coca Cola or Pepsi and are required to vend products in them from the parent company, so its not likely that you'll see Poland Spring or Fiuggi or Gerolsteiner or Perrier in a machine like that. I happen to think that both Dasani and Aquafina taste pretty decent. And you'll never hear me say a bad word about them because during the Katrina disaster, Coca Cola (and I think Pepsi as well) sent megatons of it down to the area thru FEMA for people to drink.

Its perfectly good water. Its the same purified water that they use to make Coca-Cola and Pepsi. That stuff has to pass very strict regulatory guidelines before it can be put into soft drinks. They use a patented triple filtration process to filter out impurities in tap water before it ends up in a soft drink or in their bottled water brands. Depending on what metro area you live in, Tap water is clean and good tasting, or it can be extremely hazardous to your health. Generally speaking I would say that NYC, Westchester and Northern NJ has good tap water. However, I wouldn't drink the tap water coming out of Tom's River NJ or various parts of Long Island, or certain parts of Florida for example. Not unless you like Cobalt or any other number of carcinogens or bacteria, that is. There is also the issue that some people don't like the "Hardness" of particular tap waters or mineral residue or even the metallic or mineraly tastes of some mineral waters, so purified water tastes better for them.

Well, in my experience I've seen those things used exclusively for smoking, I've never grilled on one myself. At the recent Q competition I went to, they had those out just for doing smoking and small charcoal grills like the Weber kettle out for doing grilling.

With that unit? No you can't do both. Its a BBQ Smoker. You'd need a charcoal grill as well.

I beleive Home Depot carries the Char Broil brand which has a very similar configuration to the smoker he linked above. The one I link to below is smaller but they have bigger ones. I'd go to the store in person to see which ones they have, each Home Depot has different stock. http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US...84+5426&pos=n19

Thats a pretty standard smoker for BBQ, yep. The WSM is about the same price and easier to use though -- although you will fit more meat into the thing you are looking at. The WSM is particularly good for newbies because its a "set it and forget it" type of smoker and it maintains its temperature more easily.

Dear Ed, I do take offense your comment above and I ask that you kindly retract what you have written. I have always thought of egullet as a place for open and constructive discussion, rather than broad and incorrect generalizations. While it is true that there are many caipirinhas made with too much sugar; for caipirinhas made with Mae De Ouro I have always advocated a balance of lime and sugar and never to cover up the flavor of the alcohol. -Cachaca Dave ← Dave I think its fair to say that Fazenda Mae De Ouro is the exception in terms of Cachaca quality rather than the rule. I'd have to agree with Ed that the commercial Cachacas I've tried, like Pitu, Ypioca or Velho Barreiro are very harsh and need a lot of sugar for a Caipirinha to taste good. Yours is an artisinal product and the balance of the stuff consumed in Brazil is very industrial.

I'd favor Lee's for your birthday plans. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=90208