LindaK

Forgive me if this is being argumentative, but to my mind, I'm not sure I see what there'd be to explain. Wouldn't it just mean that you didn't feel like cooking that night? Yes, if I'm someplace close to home or my office. Not a big deal, but speaking only for myself, somehow I'm more comfortable dining solo at a high-end or destination place if I'm away from home. No obligations to turn it into a social occasion.

This subject came up in the France forum here. In my own experience, I'm usually quite comfortable dining solo when I'm traveling or on business. I'm less comfortable doing so in my home town, though sometimes it's exactly what I want. I don't much care what strangers think about my dining alone, but I don't want to have to explain if I run into friends or colleagues.

Except in really high end restaurants, most of the time I see "roquefort" cheese in a menu item description, it's usually a misrepresentation. On a few occasions, it's been slightly shocking. Do they think their clients don't know the difference between roquefort and much cheaper danish blue?? maybe I don't want an answer. Like the "wild mushroom" complaint upthread, maybe it's that these words are now seen as generic, much like Kleenex or Xerox. All I know is that now I ask before ordering.

I worry about this but in my case think it solves more problems than it causes. Because of the 3 doorways in my kitchen (none can go, sadly) and the unfortunate placement of structural constraints, like the building's chimney and plumbing that runs from the condo units upstairs, I don't have a lot of wall space I can use for counterspace and cabinetry, or a rolling island. An island gives me both, even if the width if my kitchen only allows for a relatively narrow one. Alternative ideas are most welcome.

Until I had one, in my previous rental apartment, I didn't get it either, in fact I thought they looked stupid. But I found it to be extremely functional and convenient. Most of us don't otherwise get such a long expanse of countertop, which makes a lot of tasks easier. My favorite perk of having an island was for rolling out pasta--because of the 90 angles, you can attach the the pasta maker so that it faces you directly (a peninsula would do the same thing), which might not sound like much but it made it that much more of a pleasure. Finally, it made it possible for me to work at the stove with helpers/guests around but not under my feet. So I'm finding it hard think about spending a lot of money for a complete reno and NOT having one.

Could you elaborate? I love. love. love the look of concrete countertops and am seriously considering them for my kitchen renovation.

There's nothing simple about making pie since two things can go wrong...the crust and the filling. no question. And for those reasons, I would say it's harder to make a good pie than a good cake. Lilja said it better than I did. That is what I meant about cake having to work too hard. As for the Boston Creme Pie, I've witnessed the gender gap response to this dessert and marveled. I used to really love it when I was a kid. Then I grew up. Maybe that explains it...

This is an argument against cake. Cake has to work too hard (and I don't mean the cook has to work too hard). In its simplicity, pie achieves all this. It is the Coco Chanel of desserts. This may be the heart of the debate. The majority of pies are all about the fruit. Speaking only for myself, I'll take a sour cherry pie (maybe w/ vanilla ice cream, pie does the temp differential thing too) over chocolate ANYTHING any day.

Cake is boring. Even the best of them. Crumb, maybe frosting. I don't care whether it's chocolate cake, pound cake, genoise, coffee cake, etc. Not that they can't be delicious. Pure ingredients, moist crumb. Food porn decoration at its most seductive. But it's still just crumb and frosting. Boring even when tasty. But pies! The variety! The controversy (cheesecake? cobbler? key lime?)! The contrast between flaky, tender crust and sweet-tart fruit fillings! And for looks, well, even when they're ugly, they can be perfect.

Our houses have a lot in common. I also have three doorways. One can be moved, but would require ripping out the built-in china cabinet in the dining room. If I keep the little pantry in the bigger "old" kitchen space, that makes 4 doors, 3 along the same wall. Love these old houses. I'm starting to wonder if that's not my problem. I've spent the past year playing with floorplans, trying to make the island work.

I'm going to have to borrow a digitial camera so I can win this throwdown. Imagine 100-yr old victorian layout with a (roughly) 14'x11' kitchen with an adjacent 6'x6' pantry next to a 6'x6' butlers pantry that leads to the dining room. Imagine ripping out the pantry walls and squeezing the kitchen along the 6'x11' wall that was once the pantries (the door to the DR hogs most of the other 5' wall). Imagine a stove so close to the dining room door that no one can enter the kitchen when the cook is at the stove. Add cheap, peeling melamine cabinetry, little lighting, and poor natural light...ugly and disfunctional, what a combination. The only upside is that the large, empty room that was once the kitchen has made a good staging area for various home removations projects. Now my goal is to take over this 20'x11' space and make a real kitchen out of it. I agree. luckily, with my kitchen's structural contraints (doorways, chimney, etc.), that's not a real option.

The most coveted kitchen feature? In island, with over 40% of respondents listing that as a "must add." Does your kitchen make you happy? Would a new island bring you to a state of higher nervana? A. The daunting thing to me is not whether to renovate, but how to renovate. Various sets of architectural drawings have covered my dining room table for almost a year now, and I still can't decide what to do. But yes, I would dearly love an island. It's one of the issues that is keeping me stalled. Structural constraints as well as the width of my kitchen make it tricky to fit in an island. A peninsula would work easily--but to me that kind of arrangement feels confining. Any thoughts, anyone, on peninsula vs. island?

The photos are lovely and it combines some of my favorite ingredients, but I have a question: If it needs to be refrigerated in order to brulee and slice, how does that affect the taste? Do you bring it to room temp first? I can't quite imagine serving cold crepes as a dessert (eating as leftovers, that's another story!). I picture a cold stack of crepes, with a warm top layer after the brulee. Somehow it doesn't sound appetizing. All of you can't be wrong--what am I missing?

Sounds disgusting. So speaks a lifelong Sox fan.

I'm glad I bumped this thread up, there's so much good advice here. I'm not a novice with with wines generally, but burgundies are another story. Until now, I've dallied only in the bargain varietals, such as the Mercureys which MaxH mentioned in his fine-print postscript. I know better than to judge anything based on one bottle, but this was my first venture into the mid-priced ($40) category, and I think my expectations were out of line. That's precisely where this came from, a premier cru, Domaine Maratray-Dubreuil. Recommended, as I mentioned, by someone I trust. Hence my questions about cellaring and decanting--was it me or the wine?? Well, I have another bottle, I'll just have to try again. And keep reading and tasting.

My first post on the wine forum--thanks to a puzzling experience with a pricey burgundy. I'm glad my search turned up this thread, it was a relief to read your comments and learn that this is probably a typical experience. Short story: a highly recommended bottle of premier cru burgundy from a trusted merchant turned out to be less than impressive, esp. considering the price. Maybe asking "why?" is pointless with burgundies, but there were a couple of questions and points of contention that came up during the tasting: - how long does burgundy generally need to age? This bottle was a 2001, it seemed very closed. - decant or not? One friend was adament that one shouldn't aerate burgundies. Not clear why, but we didn't and afterwards wondered if we should have. I'm a burgundy virgin, and given the prices may well never learn the mysteries.

I grew up eating codfish cakes, more or less a brandade to which mom would add an egg or two, then shape into patties and fry up. I'm sure she served these out of economy, but I loved them because they were delicious.

I haven't tried the Zuni recipe for citrus risotto--I've pretty much given up on the book--but have had similar variations based on lemon. Very good. I'd be careful with grapefruit and lime, both can be overly bitter or tart. Perhaps underlining earlier comments about the success of these recipes relying on a need for local ingredients? But I agree with your instinct that a citrus-based risotto would pair well with seafood.

A belated thank you for your blog. I have many talented architect friends, and they're all wonderful chefs as well. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, two of them are temporarily relocating to Seattle (from Boston), and I'm going to recommend your blog as a good intro to the culinary highlights of your fair city. And that salumi platter is killing me. Lamb prosciutto? be still my heart...

Melissa, if my earlier posted sounded dismissive of the cost concern, it wasn't meant to. To the contrary. If you think you need to pay for additional expert advise, find someone you think will deliver something worth the price. For what it's worth, my enviable experience of having a bevy of architects giving me free advice is that--9 months after my kitchen design "throw-down"--I finally understand that there is no perfect solution. I have a half dozen interesting and unique kitchen designs, each with their own point of view, great ideas, and limitations. In the end, I need to decide which trade-offs I'm willing to make.

Sorry, but $500 for expertise doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Whether these are the people you want to give your $500 to is another question. I'm lucky. I have a group of friends who are professional architects. Last spring, I organized my kitchen wish list into an "RFP" (request for proposals) and passed it out amongst them. A month later, everyone was invited to my house for an evening of dinner and drink so everyone could present their proposal. It was fun because I love these people and enjoy spending time with them under any circumstance. But the ideas I got for my kitchen were just incredible. The $500 I spent for food, drink, and party favors were cheap, as far as I'm concerned. So my point is that you shouldn't hesitate to spend the money if you think you are getting the individual attention and expertise that you need. Not generic design ideas that you think they're given to everyone else. MelissaH sounds like she's found someone. PS--still making decisions about my kitchen. It's not easy, even with an abundance of architects easily bought by good food and wine.

Beautiful photo! You and sharky are killing me with range envy. I want one of these, and I haven't even laid hands on one yet. Your point about custom burner configuration is one that I've already considered. Why the 22K burners are in the back is a mystery to me.. The Garden Web threads discuss this at length. Many folks there point out that it's a 10 minute job to DIY but that doing so raises warranty issues. Otherwise, there is an extra charge ($200 ? can't remember) for having them do this at the factory. Seems worth it to me.

Melissa, thanks for reporting the comparison between Ikea cabinets and other alternatives. I've been (s-l-o-w-l-y) planning my own kitchen renovations and am just assuming that a good contractor and a little custom carpentry can tweak the Ikea sufficiently to suit my needs--and help me afford the few high end items I want (good range, not optional. concrete countertops of my dreams, we'll see...). Please let us know what you learn from your Ikea visit.

I don't have one...yet On paper, their specs are better than Viking or Wolf. But I haven't done a test drive yet. The most obsessive discussion of Blue Star ranges I've found is on the Garden Web Appliance Forum. At the moment, they are up to thread #19 devoted solely to Blue Star. Posts vary in usefulness, everything from hands-on experience with the range to installation issues. Most of what I read makes me want one.

Which one was Lee? which was his "signature dish"? The whole thing was so forgettable that only two days later I remember none of them.