Chufi

I love how vibrant and green and fresh all your food looks!

and here's another asparagus dish I did tonight: tagliatelle with asparagus, wild smoked salmon, a chive cream sauce, topped with scallops

here´s a white asparagus and ham quiche I made last week. and here´s a frittata made from leftover zucchini-basil risotto, which turned out so nice that I want to post it here even if the picture isn´t very special (and you can´t really tell there´s risotto in there

Dear Soba, you´ve been one of my favorite eGulleters ever since you coached me through my first eG foodblog (for those of you who don´t know this, Soba was once a most wonderful and gracious foodblog Czar). I´m looking forward to spending this week with you. So far, I love it.. NYC, beans, greens, eggs !

I live here, and I have several friends working as journalists/editors for what we, here, in The Netherlands, consider serious journalistic publications. It's up to you if you find my comments about this convincing or not. This thread is going some where I really did not want it to go. Discussing whether or not Dutch journalism can be considered serious, was not what I had in mind. This whole digression came about because I stated that if I were writing an article for a magazine about the chef I started the topic about, I would show him my article and some of the content could be negotiated, as is common practice in the country where I live. In my mind, and this has been my experience with the blogging community, blogs do not follow quite the same rules as (paid) journalistic assignments for newspapers/articles. Even when one says that a writer should follow the same ethical guidelines for everything she writes, there is still the big difference that a blog is personal and completely my own responsibility (for instance, I now have the choice not to write about this guy and no one will know or care, whereas if this was an assignment for a magazine, I'd have to write the piece - if I wanted to make some money at least). Blogging is what I was talking about in my OP (it's even in the thread title - in a forum about food on the internet). I'm sorry that there have not been more replies from bloggers, which is what I was looking for. But then, I know that in whatever world, online or real, one hardly gets what one is looking for, and the things you do get might in the end be of more value or interest.

In the Netherlands, it´s pretty much custom to show any piece or interview to the people it´s covering. And yes, this often turns into a negotiation process about what to delete and what to include. Not all press/media systems in all countries are equal ← Isn't this common practice when U.S. glossies cover celebrities? It's a widespread and unfortunate practice, yes (it's called a "press-coverage contract"). And it's a good example of the distinction between serious and non-serious journalism. ← Like I said, showing articles in advance to the people it's covering, is common practice in the Netherlands, for serious magazines/newspapers etc. And to clarify my point just once more: I never EVER contemplated lying on my blog. The fact that I had to write a (somewhat) negative review, and the way I discovered I felt about that, made me start this thread, in search of other bloggers' experiences with similar situations. Some of the replies have helped me sort out my feelings about this and, most importantly, helped to put the situation in perspective for me (something I really need help with from time to time )

David, I've been following this thread with interest. Thank you for sharing your dining experiences with us. I have a question though. I have not attended a lot of multi course tasting menus in my life, but there have been a few, and even in the course of one evening I can be a victim of ´tasting tiredness´. You know, when you´ve tasted so many different things (not to mention, a lot of rich and heavy things) that it becomes very hard to actually taste. I call this museum syndrome because as much as I love art, it always happens to me in museums too: after intently focusing on about 10 works of art, my mind grows tired and it´s impossible for me to really appreciate anything, see things with fresh eyes. How do you handle this when dealing with what´s obviously a bit of an eating marathon like this? I´m not talking about dealing with the mere quantity, although that might be an issue too, but how do you keep you palate fresh and interested for all those great and exciting flavors?

well, I don´t know what that´s like, but... if it´s anything like all the possible itiniraries and stops and trips and hikes and drives that are going through MY mind, I don´t envy you The GC North Rim does sound good, except it will take longer to get there, right? It´s less accessible (hence less tourists)? I´ll try out different routes in mapquest and see what comes up. I appreciate the brewery info. We enjoyed tastings at breweries at previous trips to the US - different from our European beers, but very good!

yes, that´s interesting.. I think for me, the goal has shifted over the 2 years I´ve been blogging. And it´s this shift that is now making me pause and think.

thanks Rochelle. Does this also mean that you would let someone know that you wrote about them, for instance by sending them an email with the link, or would you just let them find out for themselves?

In the Netherlands, it´s pretty much custom to show any piece or interview to the people it´s covering. And yes, this often turns into a negotiation process about what to delete and what to include. Not all press/media systems in all countries are equal

I am dealing with it. In fact, my question in my original post starting this thread was: I´m still hoping to hear from other bloggers about this subject.

To me this would be inappropriate with both print and online writing (which should be treated the same). ← To me they are different things. Blogs are so very personal, which is part of the fun! If a magazine asked me to write a profile of this particular chef, they would give me the angle to write from, and they would pay me to write for their audience, about the subject they give me. That makes it much less approriate to be completely honest and personal - I think. That does not mean that in a piece like that I would lie, but they whole perspective is different. I know they should not be relevant considerations, but I feel to me they are considerations, and I'm wondering how other bloggers are handling situations like this. I completely agree with you that focus on the truth should be the main thing.. it's just that it´s interesting to me, how focusing on the truth makes you feel... and if I´m the only one feeling bad about things like this ..

what he´s developing is not actually the product itself, but the way he´s presenting it in his store. He´s very proud of the product and does not feel it needs to change! My criticism of it is very much in the "to each his own" category. Btw that is how I always write when I say I don´t like something: I say it´s not to my taste, and why, instead of saying the thing is bad in itself. I feel that contacting him in advace, before blogging about it, somewhat defeats the purpose of blogging. Now if I were writing an article for a magazine, yes ofcourse I would let him read the piece and try to work it out with him (although even then, I feel that honesty should be important). But this is just a blog! Or isn´t it?

The Netherlands are a small country, and the number of Dutch-language foodbloggers is relatively small. Even though I don´t work very hard at becoming a member of the Dutch blogging community (ie I don´t comment on other people´s blogs much), my blog is becoming better known. It has come to the point where I am contacted by people in the business (shops, restaurants) who know I´ve been writing about a specific subject, and who ask me to come to come by to try their stuff. Which is fun, and interesting, and flattering, all at once. So far no problems but recently something happened which has been worrying me. I´m doing a series on one particular subject and I went to a store that sells this stuff (in this case, uninvited). I got talking to the guy and told him I had a blog and was writing about this subject. He then spent the next hour talking to me, showing me things, (although he did not let me taste things). At one point he even said: this thing, we´re still developing, so maybe you could hold off writing about it for a couple of months? I said, well, it´s in your store, I bought it, I´m going home to taste it, and then write about it. So indeed I did go home and taste it and then.. I did not like it. And now I´m thinking: what do I write? There´s no way I´m NOT going to be honest. And not write about it, would be a real shame since this piece really belongs in my series. But, I know this guy won´t like it even if I tone my criticism down. So I feel bad for him, and also I don´t want to ruin my relationship with him, because he could be helpful to me in the future.. is that selfish? Should I NOT have mentioned having a blog and wanting to write about him? But then I would have missed all the info he gave me, names of other shops etc. And in the case of people contacting ME, there´s not even the option of not telling them I´ll probably write about them. How do other bloggers, who write reviews etc deal with this?

well, you know, I KNOW I'm a tourist and I really don't mind doing the touristy things. It's just that husband and I both don't like places with lots and lots of people. No matter how beautiful the scenery.. seems I just can't enjoy it that much when surrounded by too many other admirers. We had the same discussion when we went to California a couple of years ago. I thought of skipping Yosemite!! In the end we did go. But the whole Yosemite experience is gone from my mind, I don't remember much about it except the giftshop and the line of people on the trail. Now there was this hike on Mount Whitney, where we were the only hikers, that we still think of as one of the most beautiful places we ever saw. ... I guess we're just funny tourists! Aaaanyway.. to bring this back to food and drink: how's the Southwest for microbreweries?

So that was, basically, the menu. sorry for the huge pics, don't know what happened there! here are the toasts with goatscheese, smoked eggplant and a blackolive/rosemary tapenade: now you see a lot recipes for 'smoked'eggplant where the eggplant is just baked or roasted, which makes it 'smokey' at the most, but this was real smoked eggplant from my tiny stovetop smoker. This eggplant was fantastic. And it combined really well with the creamy goatscheese and salty tapenade. Next up, the buckwheat tabbouleh with pickled rhubarb. While I loved the idea of this dish, and it sure looked pretty, it did not taste quite right. It tasted much too virtuous for a dinner party, although in retrospect I think there should have been more duck and less buckwheat. I made the potatocroquettes from mash, hardboiled eggs and chorizo, and they were fantastic. I used panko for the breading which I'd never used before, I love it! The grilled asparagus and oystermushrooms were very good with the croquettes, and I did make a beetroot salad as suggested on this thread. Great combo. Pecan lemon tarts with raspberry cream all in all, it was a fun dinner, thanks all for helping me!

Thanks all for all the advice! It really helps with the planning. it looks like there will be plenty of great dining options in Phoenix and Santa Fe, but that finding great food north and north east of Flafstaff will be a little bit more of a challenge.. am I right? Boulder is definitely on the itiniterary. Now if only I can stop Emmylou Harris singing 'from Boulder to Birmingham' in my head every single time I see the word Boulder On a another non-food related note: I'm actually thinking of, dare I say it, skipping the Grand Canyon in favor of another day in Santa Fe, or another quiet day of hiking in a less crowded park. Is this crazy? Can I go home and live with myself if I missed the Grand Canyon? Or is there a great icecream stand that makes the trip obligatory

johnjohn, sorry I did not see this before, hope it's not too late. you can take the train from the airport which will bring you to Amsterdam Central Station in 15-20 minutes (depending on the train). The area immediately around Central Station is not very appealing (mostly fastfood and souvenirshops) but a 10 minute walk to the southeast will take you the Zeedijk, which is our "Chinatown" and has lots of Asian places which are nice for a snack, if you keep walking you'll end op on Nieuwmarkt which is a beautiful square with lots of bars with outdoor seating - on a sunny day, a great place to have coffee and do some people watching. West of Nieuwmarkt is the redlight district, which can be a bit depressing in the gray morninglight OR from Central Station head northwest to Haarlemmerstraat (which turns into Haarlemmerdijk), one of the nicest 'foodie'streets in the city. There's a good bakery (bread and pastries) (Vlaamsch Broodhuys, Haarlemmerstraat 108), excellent chocolate (Umlimited Delicious, Haarlemmerstraat 122), a terrific Spanish deli with great sandwiches (Hollandaluz, Haarlemmerstraat 71) another great deli (Caulils, Haarlemmerstraat 115) and lots lots more. have fun!

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions. I'm making lists, arranged by neighborhood, with these recommendations and all the info I'm finding throughout the NY forum. I won't have any power over how good they will be about following these suggestions but I promise to report back about any place they actually visit!

This intrigued me so much that I called the Bols company here in Amsterdam:Bols They´ve never heard of it! Are you sure it´s Bols the brand? Any more info on the bottle, color of the stuff? I´d say, buy the bottle, taste it, an don´t forget to take a picture for us.. you might have something very special there

Matthew Grant, what a gorgeous menu. Such a wonderful celebration of spring!

Seems like it could be the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park? ← Yes that's the one! Thank you!

Thanks all. (and thanks CommisionerLin for teaching me a new English word, ensconced here's the plan toasts with goats cheese, smoked eggplant, olives and rosemary buckwheat tabbouleh with herbs and pickled rhubarb, served in radicchio or little gem lettuce leaves Grilled asparagus and oyster mushrooms with garlic pancetta puree (a recipe from Paula Wolferts Slow Meditteranean Cooking that I've been wanting to try) Potato croquettes (still need to get some sort of interesting flavoring in there) Pecan lemon tart OR because my friend loves crumble and I love raspberries, and someone mentioned crumble upthread, a raspberry crumble with pecan topping The dinner is next week so report with pics after Tuesday!

Not for myself unfortunately. My husband is spending a couple of days in New York with his 19 year old daughter, and I'm not going to be able to join them To live vicariously I promised them I would help them (ask you for help anyway) to eat well. They're looking for informal, casual places where my not that hip husband and my quite hip stepdaughter will feel equally at home.. is it possible?? Oh and I suppose cocktaibars etc are out of the question because of her age? Or could she go there but just not drink alcohol? They're staying in a hotel near Union Square, so places near there would be good. Although they'll ofcourse be wandering all over the city! They both love food - my husband is an adventurous eater with a passion for offal and spicy food, my stepdaughter has slightly more conservative tastes, she loves Italian and French food and 'good' fast food like great burgers and pizzas. They both love sushi. She would love to get some real 'New York' food experiences although I'm not even sure what that means. Katz's deli? Ideas for bakeries, breakfast/brunch places near Union Square etc. would also be appreciated. They're on a bit of a budget, although I suppose they will splurge one time. I seem to remember posts about a place in a park (?) that has great burgers and milkshakes, but for the life of me I can't remember the name. It seemed like something they both would enjoy very much. When I was in NY with my husband 5 years ago we very much enjoyed our dinner at Babbo (where we just walked in one night and were seated almost immediately) and pizza at Grimaldi's - I think Dennis will definitely want to go bakc to Grimaldi's! I will be browsing the forum for tips, hey it's my favorite thing to do even if it's not for myself, but hope to get some ideas on this thread, too. Thanks.