lalala

ma maison at 1 rue de bucherie. Great Polonia tree, interesting looking menu, fabulous location, sucky food and bad waiters. I just reread our journal entries for this trip to remember the name of the restaurant. I think we ended up spending nearly 110 euros for a unmemorable, rushed meal at 10:30 pm. lala

GEEZ is everyone going to Paris in September?! You are the fourth I know of, lalala.... Every year, every September and December and sometimes March..... :) Taller half must replenish Debauve and Gallais, Foucher, Gerard Mulot and La Maison du Chocolat stocks..... Trust me, a weekend in Paris is cheaper than a weekend in Vegas, Orlando, New York City ... lala

My taller half commutes weekly by train, plane and automobile to Corvallis and the best part of flying is the black tiger shake at PDX and beer on Horizon. I love the fact that coffee people has a full service concession at PDX. FWIW, tullyophiles, the new A terminal at Sea-Tac has a Tullys with shakes and dean and deluca goodies and dilettante chocolates to go. Taller half had a shake week before last and puported it was pretty good. Its really nice to have an alternative to Starbucks and SBC at the airport! Looking forward to my americano before my flight to Paris next Saturday! lalala

Tried to get in on Thursday night, called ahead as I live two blocks away, told it was a 30 minute wait and was promptly hung up on. Will probably try it as I am wanting it to succeed, but a bit put off by the proprietess. Went to La Piazza, not bad, not great. lalala

FYI, based on a recent flyertalk.com thread on chocolate, this unfortunate bit of state department info was revealed: Mailing food stuffs to the US from abroad I have never mailed cheese to myself, I often bring home kilos of it from France or London. We always mail home chocolate. Thank goodness for La Postes new fit anything in the box for 35 Euros box! lalala

My mom's are the best! Rice, yellow split peas, fresh mint, savory, green onions and ground beef. However, I'll call her for the exact recipe. I know she picks her own leaves at various and sundry wineries around where my parents have lived. Good mom grape leaf story-- My mom and her friend (both little old adorable ladies) go to large winery in Woodinville and ask permission to pick leaves for dolmehs. Get the okay and go every few weeks and pick to their hearts content. They share amongst their friends and mommy-network of LOIL (little old Iranian ladies). This network is amazing for food sharing -- verjus, grape leaves, saffron, herbs. Mom and dad retire and move to San Diego, mom goes to a winery in Rancho Bernardo and makes friends with manager. He allows her to pick grape leaves and she returns the following week with freshly made dolmehs for the crew lunches. She has picking privleges for life there. lalala

Can you ladies saunter over to nishino's when done with your services? Very useful if you have been drinking during your pedicures. :) lalala

I quite liked cinzia et valerio in Vicenza. lalala

I think we have the driving down to 4 hours a day. I thought adding Quimper was too much. I thought about Giverny, but its really a nice day trip from Paris. Easy to do in the spring. Anyone have any suggestions for Honfleur or Quimper? lalala

My tallest half and I are doing her pre-school vacation in France this year, we are sort of doing this trip as a celebration of her father's love of food and to see another part of France that we really haven't explored. So far -- fly into Paris, pick up CDG-Lille train, arrive Lille, drive to Dunkerque to see gardens at art museum, drive to Lumbres and eat and stay at moulins de mombreux. We ate and stayed there in 1994 when it had one michelin star. We quite liked it. Next day, drive to Honfleur, via Jumieges. We want to see the gardens at Les Bois de Moutiers and maybe eat somewhere interesting. Any suggestions? The next day we drive to St. Malo. We are hoping to see the garden at Thery-Harcourt and maybe see Mont. St. Michel in the late afternoon. We have a dinner res. at Le Coquillage at Maisons de Bricourt. We couldn't get into the restaurant, so maybe in December. :) The next day we are driving towards Quimper, hopefully to hit the market day in Treguier and maybe get into the gardens at Kerdalo. We drop the car off in Quimper and take the TGV to Paris the next day. We're looking for restaurant suggestions for Quimper if anyone has any suggestions. Hopefully, we'll be able to see some of the pottery shops in Quimper and find some sort of food for our train ride. We were thinking of driving back, but it just seems like getting on the train and reading for while would be better use of our time. We then have three nights in Paris. I appreciate all the info I have gotten from the Paris threads... I'll check out some of the new restaurants and add a few of my favorites. If anyone thinks this itinerary is too crazy, please comment. My taller half enjoys driving and I enjoy napping. lalala

We're considering staying at the Roellinger property, but timing is such that the bistro is where we'll be eating. We were first going to stay in St. Malo, but I may have convinced the taller half to stay in Cancale. Has anyone eaten at the "Le Coquillage" Bistrot Marin? lalala

My aunt lives in N12. You don't know food hell until you've lived/shopped or had the munchies there... However, there are a few good restos and a huge waitrose that has good roasted chickens. We were so excited when the new m&s food opened up in the new barnet/finchley arts complex, but it doesn't stock the taw valley cheese that we like to take home to the united states, so we're still schlepping that from kensington/marble arch or whereever our last shopping trip takes us. Having said that, she lived in Chiswick when it was a cultural and food wasteland, I wouldn't call it that now. Maybe there is hope for N.Finchley. lalala soon to be known by another name

I really liked the casual cafe on my one visit there in Dec. 2002. We were on our way to Thomieux and they wouldn't seat us, however, we had a pretty decent of timbales, curry and a most excellent chocolate molten cake. I have the notes somewhere. I will say, I was a bit taken by the use of curry at a french restaurant, but notice its quite usual these days. lalala

Salute did not close, it was purchased by the employees and renamed as "La Piazza", sorry for the scare. lalala

These are now available at our local grocery store (metropolitan market) in Seattle. I bought one and was quite impressed. I have been buying one a day on my way to work. I was worried that the travel distance would affect the flavor, but they seem to be fine. Very few are bruised and they are quite lovely. I live in Seattle and believe it or not, my babcock and red (sorry about the name) peaches did quite well this year. Even our other old tree that usually makes tasteless peaches is loaded with amazing fruit. lalala

15 people.

Pair review by Nancy Leeson (YOMV) Its at 30th NE and NE 55th St - in the Bryant 'hood. The NE 55th ST contains such fine gems as la piazza (over rated when it was salute), bella rossa (okay, not great), nana's (better now that they have espresso), queen mary (haven't been in years), duchess (no thanks), and sterling cafe (never been, but now has full organic certification -- never seems crowded) and kidd valley (not the same since it was taken over from Ivars). Anyways, haven't been to Pair, but like I said its been a few restaurants in the past 10 years and none have done well. I am wishing them luck! lalala

is the frye still run by Raymond from cafe society? I loved his food. lalala

There are two Pierre Marcolini's in Brussels. The one at the Conrad (avenue Louise) seems less picked over than the one at place du grand sablon. One of my favorite restos in Brussels is right next door to the Pierre Marcolini at Grand Sablon -- le vieux mairie. Good food and full of locals. I'm a big fan of Dandoy too. I like to buy bulk, though they have nice packaging for gifts. Though its a chain, le pain quotidien has a pretty nice selection of small chocolate tablettes and tasty treats for the train rides to Paris, London and Brugges. There is a caffe tasse store on rue du beurre (I think), which sells pastries and chocolates. They have nice gifts also and a small eating area. lalala

Old SF Chronicle article about Rattos Its probably my partner's favorite place in the world to buy Christmas presents. The building is great too. I used it as my project in my architectural photography class. Their sandwiches and catering are some of the best in the East Bay. lalala

I'm a big fan of cafe 817 next to Rattos in Oakland (washington st?). We plan our trips around the Oakland Friday market and poached eggs and hobbs bacon at cafe 817. I also like Cafe Fanny. I have no idea why other than they make some killer soups and beignets. It can be a bear to get a table and the location leaves something to be desired on the ambience meter, but it suits us just fine. lalala

SeAAttle, Si. Si. I thought that was you. :) I guess we'll just saddle up to mediocrity for the week I'm down there. I am hoping that we can find something decent to eat in La Jolla on Saturday night. lalala

Cheese board has been referred to by locals as the v.i. lenin cheese cooperative. I love their pizza, but can do without the politics. The Pasta Shop is great. We used to get pounds their stuffed raviolis and bring them back to Seattle. I'm not that fond of the the 4th street location, but others seem to be. If you have a car, the El Cerritto farmer's market is pretty good. Its doable by BART also. Did you check out Rattos? I love that store. lalala

I am attending a huge annual meeting in San Diego next week and we're flummoxed as where to eat with a large group. I have two separate large dinners engagements with "Buca di Beppo" picked as the "restaurant of choice" because it can accomodate large groups and its walking distance to the Convention Center. Can anyone recommend something that will save my palate? As for fine dining in San Diego, I like George's and my parents like the Marine Room. I recently had an excellent Italian dinner at a place in the Renaissance shopping center where the Afghani restaurant once was housed. Its the shopping center off of Executive drive near UTC. The decor was nothing big, but the food was outstanding. lalala