NancyH

Has anyone out there worked with Brown Jasmine Rice? I didn't even know that it existed until yesterday, when I went rice shopping at the Asian Grocery for a catering project. Does it cook like brown rice (ie - no need to rinse or soak and similar proportion of rice to cooking water) or like regular Jasmine (rinse or soak recommended and a smaller amount of cooking water)? Or something in between? Thanks in advance for the help!

East Side - Taylor Road near Cedar in a strip mall.

Our Pho Hoa recently changed its name (to what, I don't remember), I suspect because the chain you mentioned didn't want them using the name. The place here is pretty small, cafeteria-like, and does not have a huge menu. The Pho, however, is quite nice. ← The name was changed to Superior Pho - a cool name because it is located on Superior Avenue.

I've only eaten at Sun Luck Garden once (while Bob was recovering from knee surgery) and I've been wanting to go back, this time with my healed hubby. I had a wonderful "girls night out" dinner with some friends, and Bob enjoyed the leftovers. There was no stuggle getting authentic and "East meets West" type foods. Shall we PM/Email to see who wants to go and when? You really need a tableful of people so multiple dishes can be shared. And Edsel - those Ty Phun pix are awesome - I WANT that whole snapper with curry - was is as good as it looked?

I freeze rice noodles all of the time. The texture does change a little, but they are still good. I prefer to defrost them overnight in the fridge; in a pinch, tepid running water method works.

← I use an Ice Paddle, which I got at a restaurant supply store, to cool off large pots of sauce, stew, and soup safely. I also don't start even trying to cool the pot down until it gets down to about 150 degrees (140 is the start of the danger zone). The paddle was about $25 and it really takes the chore out of cooling things.

I sometimes make fried rice using Onion Flavored Nyafat, a vegetarian and kosher product which is as close to pork fat as a nice Jewish girl is supposed to get. Sometimes, I will render bacon or other meat and use that fat to stir fry, supplemented with "1/2" canola/soybean oil (I said I was a nice Jewish girl - not that I keep kosher).

Another shot of Cory's special dessert - Banana Panacotta with Berry Sorbet: And finally, the Piña Colada Coupe Coconut panna cotta, vanilla-rum Pineapple, Malibu granitée served in the coolest hunk of glass: What a wonderful evening!

Oops - here's the photo from the previous post (I'll get the hang of this sooner or later!) Next is a shot of hubby Bob's Arugula Salad with dried cherries, walnuts, and goat cheese - yum!

Sorry this took so long, but I have four photos from our Lola dinner with Edsel et al.: http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11598832...3689_790144.jpg This was the Beef Cheek Pierogi with wild mushrooms, horseradish, and crème fraiche. I ordered it even though I can't deal with mushrooms (much to my husband's delight, because he gets to eat them) - it was supurb!

Does anyone know if this is the same dish Michael served at the Slow Food Terra Madre benefit last spring at Carrie Cerino's?

Parker's New American Bistro, in Cleveland Ohio, is closing at the end of the year - Parker Bosley wants to devote all his time to the markets he has been working with. However, perhaps with the opening of Michael Symon's Lola next week, Cleveland still has a shot at this list. I agree with Fat Guy - these lists are pretty silly anyway.

Tino - What about lard? I know I've seen it around Cleveland somewhere - butcher shops perhaps.

What are Donner Kebabs?

NancyH, I was going through this thread this morning. In case you haven't found carp in Cleveland in the the past two years, try Shimon's Poultry and Fish on Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights. ← Thank you for thinking of me! Actually, it was Shimon's who absolutely refused to get me carp. However, Mr. Brisket is now getting fish for gefilte twice a year, and he is accomodating my New York predilection for Pike, Whitefish and Carp.

Laurie and I are plotting and planning! Kris - would you please PM or email me with the dates for next year's trip when you know them? Thanks!

Did anyone ever find it? My favorite knife is my Henckels Santuko... I am just so upset at your missing treasure! ← I did find it. And left it on the counter so I'd see it in the morning and take into work, where I can easily ship things. And then my husband "helpfully" put it away in the knife block. Where it still sits. Thanks for the reminder - I'm going to go take it out of the knife block now, so I have some chance of remembering it tomorrow. ← Speaking of the lost and found - I am pretty sure that one of my spring loaded tongs (black handled) did not come home with me. Any chance that it showed up?

The meat course turned out to be my favorite type of cooking - a pure patchker, or improvisation. As best as I can recall it, we started with 3 quarts of cherries, 2 containers of hot chilies (one of hungarians, one of serranos), several onions, and a nine pound beef shoulder roast that practically called to us from the meat case. My husband Bob had the inspiration to pair cherrries and chilies. Since we had more chilies than we needed for the dish, and since one of the stands had exquisite, but ugly tomatoes, we decided to make a salsa. Finally, we decided to accompany the dish with plain sweet corn, because no one else was going to use it, and it looked so good at the market! The first order of business was prep - and the cherries took quite a while to pit (Bob started the job, and Kris took over once the wine tasting started). Once the cherries were ready, Edsel and I began to reduce them in a heavy pot, and we chopped the onions. Kris and someone else chopped peppers once the cherries were pitted. Bob then browned the meat in some oil and added some of the onion and chili during that process. When we were satisfied that the meat was sufficiently browned, we took the pan off of the heat, added the cherries, and then added the rest of the onion, more chili, and some of Edsel's wonderful veal stock. We seasoned with kosher salt and some black pepper, and added a couple of fresh bay leaves (also courtesy of Edsel) and some fresh parsley from the garden. We put it into a 350* oven, and let it braise. We turned it several times as it cooked over a 3-4 hour period, and thank you Ronnie for convincing the other guys to give it more time. And thank you Edsel for helping me to convince Bob to keep the lid on it! While the meat cooked, we chopped tomato and sweet onions, then added the remaining chilies and some chopped cilantro and kosher salt to make the salsa. Once the meat was done, we added some of the fantastic demiglasse that Edsel had made, and buzzed the sauce up with my immersion blender. The demi really cut the spice level, so perhaps we didn't need to serve the sauce on the side, but we decided that we didn't want to blow anyone's taste buds off! So we put platters of meat and pitchers of sauce on each table, with a bowl of salsa. Last came the sweet corn, which was good, but not as good as some of the Ohio corn we've been getting. I do believe that most folks were too stuffed to care by that point!

I have trouble remembering my husband's name - I am a BIG fan of name tags!

Tammy - what type of attire is appropriate for Bella Ciao for Friday dinner and for Zingerman's Roadhouse for Sunday brunch? Thank you!

I find that the fresh noodles freeze very well - they lose a little texture, but they remain superior to dry. Just defrost them slowly, in the frige overnight, and they are good as new!

Edsel - thank you for the pix! Also - the wonderful server/wine selector at Leopard is Derrick. He is terrifc!

Thank you Ah Leung - this is one of my favorite dishes!

Edsel - we missed you! We started with a 3 Guacamole Sampler: jicama, pineapple, habanero & mint (my favorite!), roasted garlic, bleu cheese & green chiles, and smoked trout, bacon & chile poblano - served with freshly fried chips. Bob had the adobo lamb chops with jalapeno mustard crema, goat cheese mashed avocado and spinach, which was delicious. I sampled the trout pepita, with sofrito green beans and the jalapeno mustard crema. The trout was a perfect piece of fish, crusted with nuts - it took me back to New Orleans's Mandina's for a few moments! Two others sampled the Tilapia Taquitos and pronounced them delicious. We finished our evening with cocktails at the Velvet Tango Room. We sampled a variety of fine cocktails while enjoying first the piano standards, then the jazzy piano and bass duo, while lounging on a comfy couch. Old Cuban, Apple Brandy Sour, Amaretto Sour for me, Ramos Gin Fizz for Shannon and Kris (yes, you read that correctly), Rob Roy and Manhattan for Bob. As always, Paulius made us feel spoiled and special - he had us sample a new drink concoction that was wonderful: THE PISCO SOUR: “Pisco” is a clear grape brandy that is Peru’s national drink, and the Pisco Sour is the traditional method of consumption. The complexity of the fresh lemon with our boutique bitters made this cocktail a hit with all of us. Paulius also let us sample a bunch of their house-made marshiano cherries, which are good enough to eat on their own (no red dye or soupy corn syrup here). And the chocolate truffles were heavenly!

The best pierogi in the world are made by the grandmas of St Josephat's, located at State Road North of Snow-Rockside, Parma 440-888-8761. You can only buy them two days a week: th 8-1, Fr 8-3.