Jason Perlow

We tend to make things by technique and not by recipe. When we go shopping we buy what looks good in terms of produce, meat and and other ingredients (or looks good and is on sale, depending if its a good month or not!) and then we formulate what kinds of things we can prepare from that. We eat a lot of Asian type things and that can be pretty flexible when it comes to produce providing you have the staples and spices/condiments on hand. Occassionally, if we have a real craving for a very specific dish, or if its a holiday gathering or other special occasion we will use a recipe. Recipes can be very good starting points but I don't think its necessary to stick to them 100 percent -- unless its something like baking in which case it has to be an exact science. Pretty much in every recipe things can be substituted unless the recipe itself has very few ingredients and its a key ingredient to the flavor or textural profile of the dish.

Marlena, I can certainly understand the position you are coming from, you spend a great deal of time over there and I can understand getting bored with a particular type of cuisine (Marlena should be crowned Ms. Eurostar), but for most of us culinary touristas and not semi-permanent residents like yourself, we tend to seek French food we don't get in the US and not stuff like Vietnamese. Are you living full time in Paris yet? How is the move from England coming along?

Continental? That's a blast from the past. Don't think so. Well, from the menus on the website I wouldn't completely characterize it as Italian either.

Yeah, the Kaniche Rum products seem to have dropped off the face of the earth or they have consolidated them into their Plantation brand.

This is their web site: http://www.media17.com/primeaccess/index.htm Apparently, they also had the BestSteak.com domain as well at one point but now it appears to be owned by some Hong Kong-based Internet company.

So steven, would you characterize Hearth as more of an Italian restaurant or a Continental one? or a Craftified Italian restaurant?

Well, when I went to Ottawa 2 years ago I brought back 2 cases of wine and liquor from LCBO, and they didn't make me pay a dime. They didn't even bother to look and see what was in there, and this was post 9/11!

I saw it recently used on Iron Chef when Chen Kenichi used it as the basis for a chili shrimp dish.

Ok, so I take it people make these at home, but is there anything specific to the brown gravy used (please, don't tell me the correct stuff to use is canned Swanson gravy or something equally vile) or the type of rice? Are we talking regular domestic white rice or a japanese type like short grain sushi rice? Starchy preparation or not?

but apparently Kirin is made to the exact same standards in LA by Anheuser-Busch as it is in Japan by Kirin, to an anal retentive exactitude, right down to the classical music that is played in the factory to calm the yeast. FWIW I like Kirin Ichiban a lot, its a solid japanese-style lager.

BTW we returned about a week or so ago for lunch and had John make us a THIN CRUST pizza -- a plain one with cheese and fresh basil, and it came out great. We also had one of their foccacia sandwiches -- chicken parmigiana -- and it was of the best examples of that I've ever had.

Nat, when I was in Ottawa two years ago, I had a few really good Canadian Rieslings. I think Canadian wines are totally underrated -- but we have problems finding them here, with the exception of stuff like Inniskillin that are heavily marketed.

Natalie -- great to have you on the site at last. Natalie won the James Beard Journalism Award for Internet Writing in 2003, besting our own Steven Shaw in that category last year.

I was perusing thru last year's Saveur 100 issue (not the current one) and noticed that the Loco Moco, a distinctively Hawaiian dish, made their list. For those not in the know, a Loco Moco is a hamburger patty with a fried egg on top covered with beef gravy and served over a mound of rice. It apparently originates in Hilo on the Big Island. There are apparently other variations of it that are served all over the islands. http://www.tropi-ties.com/ezine/oct01/Loco...isten/text.html If that isnt the ultimate hangover cure breakfast I don't know what the hell is. So where on the islands are the best examples of this dish served?

The Wagyu strips are $96.98 per pound. And they are worth every penny.

I've never seen these at any NY/NJ area dim sum place besides Sweet and Tart. I agree, the toasted slivers of almond over the shrimp paste covered shrimp and deep fried are an amazing combo.

Really? I've never had these. And I've never been to the restaurant, actually.

All of the Germans will be drinkable, and will have matured nicely. Riesling has an amazing capacity for cellaring. Especially the Spatslese, Auslesen and above.

Make em Thai Style. Use this recipe: http://recipes.egullet.com/recipes/r563.html You could do it with 100 percent turkey but I like to do it half ground turkey and half ground pork. If you do it with 100 percent turkey do it half ground turkey breast and half ground turkey (with dark meat, etc) Serve with coriander chutney or hoisin sauce on French bread.

Maybe a cake decorated to look like a Rubiks Cube.

Or better yet, get one of those professionally made cakes where they can actually airbrush sugar pictures on them with a computer. I'm thinking the Synchronicity album by the Police, or Darryl Hall and Jon Oates. Or a Madonna cover. oh wait. WHAM! or The Breakfast Club.

We purchased a 6 cup Bialetti over the weekend. I havent tried it yet, but will post on the results when I do.

Kung Pao "no long time refrigerated" Chicken at Grand Sichuan international Midtown. No question is the best rendition of this dish ANYWHERE in NY.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...n_re_us/mad_cow WASHINGTON - Genetic testing confirms that the cow diagnosed with the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was born in Canada, agriculture officials said Tuesday. The test results will allow investigators to intensify their search for the source of infection, most likely from contaminated feed, in Alberta, where the Holstein was born in 1997.

It seems fairly harmless and apolitical. I remember the "Billy Beer" named for the President's brother back in the 1970's. This is hardly a new concept. http://www.the-forum.com/advert/billy.htm http://www.rustycans.com/billy.html