phaelon56

I'm Irish.... don't be too impressed.... you know how famous my people are for exaggeration.... When I worked as a buyer at Cornell we used to order in knives a couple times each year to assemble tool kits for the folks taking culinary classes at the Hotel school. Our vendor of choice at that time was the F. Dick Company. Needless to say.... it caused general hilarity in our small office (I shared a tiny space with three two other buyers) when the line item description of "F DICK 8 INCH BONER" had to be entered in the system for some unsuspecting redneck shipping guys to check in when it arrived.

There are sources that will sell to individuals but the catch is that it's typically sold in wholesale quantities, i.e. by the case Java Estate has cases of six 64 oz bottles. That's a LOT of chocolate syrup... Your best bet is to find an independent local cafe that uses it and ask the owner to sell you a bottle. It's about $70 per case wholesale - I should think you'd be able to find someone to sell you a 64 oz jug for $20 or less. The pther option is to just buy the powder and make your own chocolate syrup with it. It's a cinch to make and stores well when refrigerated.

I doubt that I can find these knives (for example, the Shuns) to hold in my hand in Syracuse. I'll pop down to NYC for a weekend late January or early February - suggestions for where to see a good selection?

I'm a self-confessed fan - not an addict but it's one of the few things I'll watch on TV with any regularity. I've only seen the American version once and it totally fell short of the mark. Something was lost in the... uhhhh... lack of translation.

I've eaten at six Thai restaurants in NYC and two in nearby north Jersey. Royal Siam on 9th Ave was the best of the bunch overall. Some folks swear by thje supposed authenticity of Pam's Real Thai at 9 and 49th but we had four entrees among us and two were below mediocre in quality. Here in Syracuse it's actually a bit better - four restaurnats and two are pretty good, one being way above average. Bangkok Thai in nearby Liverpool (a suburb) actually offers 'Thai hot levels 1 through 5' as an option that is over and above (i.e. hotter) the "American mild, medium or hot" of the regular menu. Also, their pad is not over sweet, unlike the pad I've had in many other places.

It's not that I'm really opposed in principle to using it but I already have a decent size piece of butcher block (about 15x22 inches) that I've been using for years for my basic cutting. It's nicely seasoned, incredibly well oiled and convenient. I'd like to use the peninsula butcher block top as a table area. The great majority of the time I'll be dining alone or with one guest. I expect more often than not to be sitting at the peninsula for meals - would just as soon not do cutting on it. That said.... I can see the benefits of working dough on the surface on occasion. I'll look into the John Boos products. Thanks to all for the suggestions. Yeah - I like the kitchen too. The kitchen/dining area more or less sold me on the house (not to mention that after moving from NJ back to Syracuse I was stunned by how cheaply one can purchase a nice house).

This was already damn near a daily event for me in my pre Egullet days. Now it happens a number of times every day - this is good.

Just to clarify.... I will NOT be doing actual food prep on the surface itself. I may put a separate butcher block on top of it on occasion or a hunk of granite to knead dough but it will not be used as a surface for contact with food. I was unaware of the issue with tung oil and odor I suppose sealer and a wax finish would be okay. My goal is to have something that will develop a patina of sorts - something to offset the shinier surfaces in the room. Party? How about when the snow finally melts? Remember - this is Syracuse we're talking about - we get more snow than Buffalo (hard to believe but true). I'l wait until the doors to the deck can be left open and I've finished the nit-pciky details that need attention throughout the house (the unfinished peninsula top is only one of many detail items that needs attention).

The Epicurean Edge site says it's "rebuilding" and takes me to a different site that lists no Shun knives. I did check www.knifemaster.com and found them. The 3.5" paring and the 10" Damascus clad chef's knife look like a good deal and I can easily cost justify buying them both (cheaper than eating out and there aren't too mnay god restaurants around here anyway). I could agonize over this (unlikely) or just take the plunge. Any good reason why I should choose other knife brands or look elsewhere? Also.... any distinct advantage to getting one of the 4" paring knives with a slightly different blade shape? I've been very comfortable with the overall size of a 10" chef's knife and am not inclined to move down to the 8" size unless there is a good reason (apart from cost) to do so.

My friend did not ofen cook for himself but now has a girlfriend who's visiting regularly and they're cooking together - at the very least I know that she appreciates better knives. The knives I'm planning to leave for him tend to maintain a fairly decent edge with sharpening at only minimal intervals. Worth noting is the fact that I've been paying rent and also half of the utility bills - this has not been a gratis stay - if it had been I'd choose something far more appropriate and of greater value than my old knife set. So.... all things considered I think I'm leaning towards a really good 10" and a really good paring knife. I'll wait until later to get the others if they prove to be necessary. I can bump the budget up a bit based on what people are suggesting here.... $140 - $150 should get me these two knives, correct?

First: if this topic has been covered in specific length in previous posts (which I suspect it has).... feel free to point me towards it and we can let this new post die an immediate death. I do recognize that there are some advantages to buying separate and very specific knives for certain purposes but my needs may well be less demanding than those of some forum members. Here's the deal: I cook a few times each week at most, appreciate and insist on sharp knives and use a wetstone once a month or so to sharpen them (based on my limited usage this seems to be often enough). I've been using a motley set assembled over the years - mostly Dexter Russell stainless of the type you see as "house knives" in many restaurant prep kitchens (lower end restaurants at least). They have plastic handles, are not especially well balanced but hold a reasonable enough edge for my purposes. I have: wooden block paring knife about 4" boning knife about 8" chef's knife about 10" (slight curve - not the French style) serrated knife the size of the boner - use this just for occasional bread slicing and things like cutting through turkey or chicken rib bones Have been staying with a friend during the transition between my NJ apartment and the house I'm relocating into in Syracuse. He had no sharp knives and not even a cutting board in the house before I showed up. Would like to leave him my current set and start over. By the way - can somone suggest a half decent and cheap sharpengin wheel type device I might leave for him in the hopes that he'll kep thee sharp (he will nto use a stone - I'm sure of that). Sooooo.... I need to replace the functionality of my current set and wish to keep the expenditure at about $100 or so. I prefer to have some sort of a block to keep them in and hope to find something with a better balance and better feel in the hand. I'm not hung up on "brand names" per se and if buying separate knives from different makers will really benefit me I am open to it. I'm thinking that high carbon steel is a good choice for me but apart fromt hat I have no specifics. Suggestions anyone?

I'll be there from the evening of Jan 15 throght the afternoon of the 18th. Saturday the 17th is the big day..... Any thoughts appreciated - open to all suggestions. The friend I'm visiting has lived there for awhile and is open minded re/food but has probably not explored the little hole-in-the-wall and out of the way places.

Now that you mention it... I did notice that they're now selling bulk coffee to go in a cardboard box with a plastic liner...

The "chaff" that NYNV refes to is actually the parchment. It's a sort of inner liner that surrounds the coffee bean and separates the bean from the coffee cherry (the cherry being the fruit so to speak and the bean being the seed inside). There are both dry processed and wet processed coffees. Both of these methods remove the parchment but IIRC the wet process removes more of it. Regardless.... beans processed by both methods have chaff. It's the dry husk of the bean itself and is an integral part of the surface until roasting occurs. Decaf bean don't have chaff beacuse this husk comes off during the process of removing the caffiene. That said.... chaff has almost no taste whatsoever and a bit of it your coffe or espresso won't be noticeable. I know there's a guy on the Sweet maria's list who has been doing "dog bowl roasting". He uses a big stainless steel dog food/water bowl and a heat gun - there are cheap consumer grade heat guns available for $25 or $30 at Home Depot and the like. You just point the gun at the beans from a moderate distance and adjust distance and temp to get desired color and roast level. It appears to have the simplicity of skillet roasting but a greater degree of consistency and control. I have an Alpenroast and love it for the convenience - half pound at a time and I just let run until the 13 - 15 minute mark before I start monitoring the sound and smell to determine when to end roast. I was in NYC a few weeks ago and went to Ghenet restaurant to share the Ethiopian coffee ceremony with a couple other folks - they roast the beans in what appears to be a beatup old saucepan. As is always the case with coffee prepared in the coffe ceremony manner - it was one of the smoothest cups I've ever had.

Will you PLEASE post a picture of this event? Enquiring minds are dying to see this. Video is not essential but would be nice.

I don't believe I've tried Ess-a-Bagel but should do so. I've never been that impressed by H&H but I've only tried the ones from the factory by WSH. It's probably romanticizing a memory of other thigns but on one of my early visits to NYC with a friend who grew up there, we stayed at her dad's place at 79th and Amsterdam (her mom still lived on CPW). There as a place at the corner of 79th that just said "Hot Bagels" on the sign and they were incredible. Then again.... back then you could get a slice of walk-up pizza in any number of places and it was far superior to what is now typically available at most places. I never get up that way - is the place at 79th and Amsterdam still there?

Methinks all the eggnog bashers have not tried a really god high quality home-made eggnog that was made the right way. I had a coworker years ago whose family had a specific recipe. Super clean and chilled bowls etc, high quality fresh local eggs, heavy cream and some half n half, Jim beam bourbnon and some high qaulity rum and a few spices. They made this stuff on Thanksgiving weekend alnd let it sit on the back porch until just before Christmas (its cold around here throughout all of late November and December). Sounds scary and like a sure way to get contaminated goods but this stuff was incredible. Think of somtehing that was like a silky creme brulee custard but liquid and with an incredible kick. You could tell there was some liquor in it but would not tell how potent it really was (and it was waaaaay potent). These days I imagine that it's tough to get ingredients in most places that you can trust enough although you still can around here (if you shop around in this area there are good sources for very frssh local milk, cream and eggs).

I will most likely be in Little Rock Arkansas for my birthday weekend. Hoping to have a really good ethnic meal one night and a more upscale birthday dinner the other. Will be in Hot Springs on one of the two nights (can be either). The ethnic could just be good BQ or good soul food - doesn't have to be Thai, Viet or the like. Noticed there's no forum section that lists Arkansas and I have been given the impression that chain restaurants rule in that area. Even a search on citysearch (which seems to be offering fewer and fewer worthwhile results on the rare times that I still use it) shows..... apparently not much to choose from. Suggestions anyone?

I'll have to take exception to this but only for a specific application done i a very particular way. I eat a minimal amount of bread at home (not an Atkins thing - I just never have made many sandwiches at home or consumed much bread). I buy a good earthy multigrain sliced bread and freeze the entire loaf. I'll pull a slice at a time for the occasional piece of morning toast or two for a grilled cheese sandwich. I nuke 'em in the microwave on defrost for about 30 seconds or so just to get the frozen stiffness out. Then they go into the toaster to completion or get pulled out when halfway toasted to hit the skillet for the grilled cheese. Have never had any issues with texture or taste but can't imagine that any other methods of microwaving bread products would have merit. Pizza is the absilute worst when heated in a microwave - what an insult.

I'm 47 (for at least a few more weeks) and until I was close to adulthoood I was unaware that people ever ate with the TV on in the same room (or even an adjacent room for that matter). In my family and those of my friends I don't recall ever seeing a TV on at meal time. I was a non-parent for the majority of my daughter's upbringing but she ate lunch dinner every Sunday with me alone or also in the company of my parents. Routines did not change and to this day (she is now 22) when the two of us eat together at my house or apartment, it's a sit-down meal with conversation.

I was a bit skeptical of certain item combinations on pizza until I tried the "house signature pizza" at Fez under Time Cafe. The crust could have been a trifle better but the topping consisted of small chunks of maple smoked bacon, walnuts, sliced green apples (Granny Smith is my guess) and blue cheese. It was one of the tastiest little appetizer pizzas I've tried and for music club pub grub it was way above average.

I'll have to search that out and buy a copy. It may be less extensive than some might hope for but the capsule description just offered indicates that it covers more ground than the any articles I've seen elsewhere. The sad situation with sagging wholesale coffee prices worldwide in spite of higher retail sprices is indeed a tragedy of enormous proportions - it affects far more than just Ethiopia.

Hmmmmm.... the beans you describe are most likely chocolate covered espresso beans. They're actually fairly dark roasted rather than "raw" but in theory the caffeine content shoudl be the same. That's the theory. In practice I think that when eat about handful of them in an hour or so I definitely feel the caffeine but no more so than I do from a double espresso and definitely less than I feel from a 10 -12 oz cup of coffee. Perhaps the brewing process releases other alkaloids or compounds that affect hown the body absorbs the caffeine? Wouldn't surprise me. Buzz or no buzz.... now you have me wanting some choco-covered-espresso-beans

Kamado or Big Green Egg - six of one and half dozen of other?

I will be buying a grill regardless of pizza application or not, sometime this spring. The kamado looks interesting but in the larger grill size a bit pricey for me. Still.... if it really works wll as both a smpker and a grill it might be worthwhile. It's entirely possible that the issue I've had for the past four years has been one of oven temp. I had an ancient and small gas range (it was harvest gold in color - a good hint as to the vintage). It's possible that the ove never even gor much over 450 or 475 degrees. Tommy - A three minute cooking time sounds about right - my crust never cooked in less than 8 minutes even when stretched quite thin. Do you get that slightly charred effect that is sommon at Lombardi's, Grimaldi's Johns etc? That's one of the things I'm striving for.