phaelon56

Exactly. Or bottled juice, Snapple etc. - the list is endless. And perhaps Mr. Standage does not live in or frequent communities like mine where people are conscientious about recycling? I recycle every single plastic container that my municipality will accept and if I drink from plastic bottles outside my home I make every possible effort to find a recycling bin for the empty or bring it home to recycle it. Bot now I once again live in a town where the tap water tastes pretty damn good if it's cold and very, very good if it's filtered through a Britta and chilled. I occasionally buy a new large and a new small bottle of water at the store when the bottle I'm currently reusing gets groaty but the majority of my "bottled" water is filled by me at home from a Britta. I'm sure they do. Aquafina tastes so totally flat to me that it's almost unpleasant to drink. Dasani is not great but will always do in a pinch. And I suspect that the cost to Coke or Pepsi for producing a bottle of water vs. producing a bottle of soft drink is almost identical. How much does it really cost for the amount of coloring, flavoring and HFCS that goes into a bottle of soft drink? Not much I'll bet.

I just wish until see it. I have not yet tried turning off Windows XP firewall but the "security pop-up window" never appears for me even when I disable my pop-up blocker. And then I can't even close the Carlton ad browser window until I hit "end task" a half dozen times in Task Manager. I like the Green Stripe beer ad I saw painted on the side of a liquor store in Belize so succint: "Drinking is Fun!"

That is most likely Ninth Street Espresso (formerly known as Higher Grounds). Yes they are the real deal. I have not yet tried Joe the Art of Coffee on Waverly but have heard positive reports from people whose opinions I trust. I can personally attest to the fact that Gimme Coffee does a great job with espresso - at their original/main Ithaca store just a month or two back I had the best machiatto... possibly the overall best espresso drink of any kind... that I've ever had anywhere. It's a schlep for you Manhattanites but they do have a store in W'burg.

A good latte for $2? It depends on definition but for all practical purposes the answer is a resounding NO! For those who insist that a latte is just a coffee flavored milk drink I agree only if it's referring to the "1 ounce of espresso to 20 ounces of milk" mass market crap foisted on us by people like Starbucks but in the growing independent specialty coffeehouse scene that's often not the case. My definition of a "latte" (as I drink them at home and at work) is a double shot of espresso (1.5 to 2.0 fluid ounces or so) combined with about 3 ounces of microfoamed milk that has been "stretched" to yield about 4 ounces of velvety goodness. It's really a traditional cappuccino served in a proper six ounce cup but without the foam "cap" that some folks seem to think is a prerequisite for being a cappuccino. If I'm in a cafe and want the closest equivalent I order a "tall" latte (12 oz cup) with a quad shot (4 ounces of espresso to about 7 ounces of foamed milk). If I was opening a new coffeehouse, reopening one I'd acquired that had been mismanaged or had quality/reputation issues or doing a promotion such as an "X number of years in business" celebration... I'd offer $2 latte's for one week and make darn sure people understood that this was a promoted price only for a very limited time duration. Then advertise the hell out of it. The cost of labor and overhead added to the cost of equipment, quality beans and milk (of which there is a fair amount of waste when it's properly steamed by the drink rather than in giant pitchers a la Starbucks) yields a unit cost per latte that's far higher than the public might think. if you think that $4 latte costs 50 cents to make you're way off in your calculations. As others have pointed out, if you're a shop doing business with roasters or brokers who are making conscious buying decisions targeted at helping coffee farmers and their families earn a living wage - educate your customers about that fact. Although it seems to be common knowledge to many of us in the coffee business, the general public is NOT aware of the "coffee crisis" and doesn't understand why it matters (or how it will affect them eventually in terms of drastically higher coffee prices once market conditions and the big conglomerates drive enough commodity coffee growers to other crops. But lowering prices to compete against Starbucks or anyone else? Hell no! There's a steadily growing group of independent coffeehouses in North America that are focused on the pursuit of the absolute highest quality in their espresso drink and coffee offerings. To lump all independents in together and suggest that they're willing to compromise quality in order to compete with Starbucks on price alone is absurd and unfair. The people who would do that are not true coffee people and in a few short years they'll probably have some other business selling something else that they think is "the next big thing". As a case in point I look at a pizza shop in my neighborhood. When the owner "Junior" opened in 1971 he offered two slices or two pizzas for the price of one for the first week and advertised heavily (two slices for 25 cents - those were the days!). He moaned and groaned about the profit he was losing but his father, who'd been around the business for far longer, insisted that the promotion was crucial to driving traffic in the door early on and proved to be right. Fast forward to 2005. Junior is still in business and despite all the competition that has arisen in that time with constant "buy one get one" offers or "large cheese pizza only $6 to go on weeknights".... he has not fallen prey to discounting. At one point back in the late 1970's when the local pizza discounting started he made a conscious decision to never deviate from the quality standards he'd established for ingredients and to base his selling price on the material costs plus necessary profit margins that his business model called for. His hunch, which has proven to be correct, was that he'd have a sizable customer base who were more interested in quality than quantity. At this point his two item large pizza is about $13 - most of his competitors range from $7 to $11 for the same pie. But guess what? Business is thriving because people know the difference. I look forward to the day that this analogy will carry over on a wider basis to the espresso and coffee market - we're already seeing it happen and it's developing slowly but surely. The average Starbucks store has gross annual sales of almost one million $ US. That's a huge number and a large portion of those sales are from non-coffee items - pastries, premade sandwiches, non-coffee based frozen blended drinks etc. . It's tough to make a go of it on espresso and coffee alone unless you're in a fairly sophisticated urban market with high population density and lots of pedestrian traffic. I suspect that some of my peers in the coffee business will disagree with me on this point but IMHO the way to compete with Starbucks in most markets is to do much of what they do - provide a product offering that encompasses far more than just coffee but outsource the non-coffee items. Bring in quality pastries, premade wraps/gourmet sandwiches etc. from other independent vendors. Get people in the door by offering what they're presently going elsewhere to buy but then up the ante by having far superior coffee and espresso quality relaive to what any chain can ever offer. It's not rocket science - if Starbucks can sell a million $ per year of goods in coffee shop there's no good reason why a savvy independent can't equal that level and still blow away any chain when it comes to quality. Gee... sounds almost as if I want to open my own shop

As recently as a few short years ago I would have made a comment like this myself. . . . ← Phaelon, I just meant that they seem to auction off a whole lot of Thomas Kinkead on cruises. No snobbery against cruises or cruise food intended. ← Ahhhhhh.... so that's what they were selling at those dreaded "art auctions" that were heavily touted every day. My daily travels on board by chance regularly took me past the lounge where the "auctions" were taking place. The stuff they had looked execrable at a distance - but up close I imagine it looked like really good motel room art (disclaimer: yes one of my forms of snobbery is being revealed but some of the women I've loved have also had horrendous taste in art in addition to loving OG - but I loved them anyway). And I'll start or revive a thread on cruise ship food.

I thought Casa Vasca was decent on my one visit but I'm less enthused than others about it. IMHO quite likely one of the very best places in Ironabound is Seabra's Marisqueria. It's on a side street off Ferry, has a clientele that is 90% Portuguese folks from the neighborhood and sometimes even the waiters speak little English. But the service is good and the food terrific. Lots of fresh seafood and the day's fresh fish (still whole) is on ice in the kitchen window to view as you walk in.

Damn you. You're a curmudgeon and a heretic - possibly worse but this is a family show. Too much work? How about Maryland Blue Crab? Two hours of breaking the darn things with wooden mallets to pick out the good parts and finally get full. I think the wings served in most places are just too scrawny and the work/food ratio is a bit high but when you find good plump wings that are cooked extra crispy and have a good sauce.... I have to think they're less work than crawfish. Of coruse there's always Buffalo Style Chicken Fingers

I'm perfectly content to judge a person's food taste based on their restaurant preferences but I'd never stray so far from what really matters to me to judge the person based on those preferences. This of course is coming directly from a almost-age-50-never-been-married-lotso-women type of guy. I can't tell you exactly how many women I've dated who absolutely love the Red Lobster and Olive Garden and even find Applebee's and its ilk acceptable. With few exceptions they've been fine women, genuinely good people and had so omany admirable traits and such good values that I could compromise. Under duress I have been to OG on many occasions and learned what dishes I can tolerate (the endless salad bowl and garlic bread sticks are actually pretty decent ). I do draw the line at Red Lobster - just can't stand the joint but and won't eat there even to please a lady friend but we all have our limits. Some of the most important people in my life have incredibly pedestrian and in some cases severaly limited taste in food but I happily tolerate it because all the other stuff about them (well... most of it) is so good. I have found that many of my lady friends who like places like OG actually do appreciate higher end and more subtle culinary experiences but they're far less critical than I am about food quality. So be it - if the other stuff works just sign me up As for people who are not adventuropus with food being unadventurous in bed I'll only say that there are exceptions to the rule As recently as a few short years ago I would have made a comment like this myself. Then I agreed to go on a seven day cruise in order to be agreeable with a lady friend who had been on several and just loved that mode of travel. And guess what? In November I'm going on another one (with a different woman but I digress). IMO it's a terrible way to see any given destination (confirms what I suspected before trying one) and there are many cheesy aspects to the experience. But on the right ship and cruise line there's also a level of service that makes it one of the absolutely most relaxing travel experiences one could possibly have. And the food? Apart from the buffet area, whcih was as bad or worse than I thought it would be (and was busy all the time), the food was far better than I expected; generally acceptable, quite often more inventive than I would have expected and on a few occasions surprisingly good (e.g. a rack of lamb that was just amazing). Oh sure... the average eGulleteer would find plenty to grumble about in crusie ship food but if you want a relaxing and very romantic vacation on the cheap - it can be an eye opener. But I still won't eat at Red Lobster.

The Jamaican brand I'm familiar with is D&G, who also makes Champagne Kola (good but very sweet) and a good pineapple soda. The D&G I've consumed int he past at Jamaican restaurants doesn't show up in on-line searches but the D&G "Old jamaica" style does. No bird onthe label but Goya does nto have a bird either. I think the Goya is not necessarily too spicy but I don't like the style of the bite. I tried a california based brand I really liked that had bite but was very smooth and had citrus oveotnes as well. But can't find it anymore - my neighborhood bistro went to all Jarillos mexican soda instead - their tamarind soda might make a very good mixer.

"Spanish Roast" is a roasting level that takes coffee far beyond French Roast or even "Southern Italian" roast to the point where it's almost charred. IMHO it's an insult to good coffee beans as what you reaally taste os the smokiness of hte burnt beans but some folks like it. Then there is Burnt Toast as a Hangover Cure. I once had a boss in the restaurant biz who had it every morning for breakfast (an old habit I think - he did not appear to be a heavy drinker). But don't burn fried pork rinds or microwave them - the smell emitted is remeniscent of and even less pleasant than burning hair.

There's also a searchable list at Plucodes.com Here's the entire list for peaches. It does not distinguish between freestone and cling varieties. Most white fleshed peaches are freestone but apparently there are a few exceptions to that rule.

Easiest way to reach Solar do Minho is to get on Rte 3 then take Rte 21 South (McCarter Highway) toward Newark. Take the Mill Street exit, go straight at the end of the ramp and turn right onto Rte 7 (Washignton Ave)) at the second light. The address says Cleveland Street but I think it's visible from and appears as though it's on the main Street. You can also reach it easily from downtown Newarlk by heading up Broadway through North Newark. Broadway turns into Washington at the coner of Mill Street which is where the Belleville town line begins. I've eaten at Seabra's Rodizio and enjoyed it well enough although it's one of the salter rodizio's in the area. Rodizio is generally on the salty side but I found Seabra's to be saltier than most. I've eaten at Brasilia but didn't have the rodizio as I wasn't very hungry that evening. But it looked terrific and the price was $18 or $19. I don't recall whether that included the salad bar but the salad bar looked good too.

I agree with Rachel on this and as regular shopper at Wegman's I've gotten to know some of the codes pretty well. They adopted a system that has scales and label printers dispersed throughout the produce department. Although it's not require, most people weigh and tag their own bags of produce as it lessens wait time at the register (and also helps you keep a running tally of what you're spending. The little tags with the four digit code are indeed already on the fruit as someone else has pointed out. I've seen freshly opened boxes of fruit that prove this. I'll disagree with the notion that stores just juggle four digit codes around form one produce type to another depending in the season. Watch a savvy and seasoned cashier in a busy grocery store - they have nearly all of the produce codes memorized by virtue of having used them on a daily basis for years. But there's still no substitute for smelling, feeling, touchign and examing the fruit/produce. I routinely have to go through a number of pieces in any given box before I find one that is at or close to the desired ripeness level.

I'm told by folks whose opinions I respect that this place is about as good as it gets on the east coast for real down-home Mexican.

Hattie's is open for lunch and dinner. I think they also used to serve Southern style breakfasts in the summer when hattie owned it but doubt that they do breakfast anymore. Downtown Saratoga is very small. The business district is mostly centered on a stretch of Broadway that's about four blocks in length. Find the Rip van Dam Hotel(on a corner with a Starbucks just to the left under part of their structure) and the Adelphi - Phila starts there and runs down a hill. Hattie's is on the left in the second or third block. It's conveniently located just a hundred feet or so from a Ben & Jerry's store - nice place to get a cone for the road. Also - if you need caffeine - Uncommon Grounds is on Broadway about a block north of Phila Street on the right. They make a damn good latte and cappuccino or certainly did on the few occasions that I tried it.

Where in Syracuse do you get this cheese? I haven't spotted it but would love to get some. Also curious to know: have you tried eating at the little Mexican place a bit to the west of you near Sodus. I've heard that it's much better/more authentic than the Mexican offerings in Syracuse.

The Texas A & M University (Aggie's) web site says and proceeds with a lovely table detailing What is the Difference Between a Yam and a Sweet Potato? I'd never seen anything but yams in my local grocery until last weekend. I picked up some "sweet potatoes" of the white fleshed type and used them for my take on sweet potato salad. Having made it before with orange fleshed sweet potatoes (aka yams) I think I prefer this dish made with the orange ones just for the sake of color. But it's tasty either way. There are scads of Sweet Potato Salad recipes on the net, many for a Caribbean style, most including mayo and a number of them with pineapple and/or peanuts included. My variation was based on a recipe I found in local school PTA cookbook but I've changed it to get a lighter feel to the dressing. All measurements are a guess - use your own judgment * 3 - 4 cups sweet potato in small chunks cooked until still firm then drained and cooled * Finely chopped sweet red, orange and/or yellow pepper - about a 1/2 to 2/3 cup * Thinly sliced scallion - mostly from the green end (the tops) but also use the bases and mince that portion * Finely chopped celery - 1/4 to 1/3 cup * 1/2 can of niblet corn - use the extra sweet crunchy type (Green Giant makes one labeled this way) or if at all possible use fresh sweet corn cooked and sliced off the ear Mix the above ingredients and in a separate bowl whisk together * juice from one or two limes * a couple tbsp or just a bit more of sweet rice wine vinegar * a tbsp or so of very finely minced or grated ginger root * a small bit of 10X sugar or your choice of other sweetener - I use a tsp or so * fresh ground white pepper if you like * a tbsp or two of olive oil Add the dressing just before serving and use sparingly - reserve extra dressing for later. Sprinkle some chopped pecans on top before serving. Peanuts would be okay but pecans are better. IMHO this dish is distinctly better with the orange sweet potatoes but I suspect that I think that because it's flashier, snazzier and more visually appealing due to greater color contrast. I do not and will not attempt to make sweet potato pie - my GF has been making it since she was a little girl and bakes at least 100 of them between Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. I just wait for her to give me one

When I moved to North Jersey from Syracuse NY (center of the state) I discovered what bad tap water was all about. IN Syracuse all I'd ever drunk was straight tap water. The stuff in jersey was truly undrinkable but I got tired of lugging 2.5 gallon jugs of Poland Spring up four flights of stairs and invested ina pitcher with a Britta filter. Now that I'm living back in Syracuse I find the Britta to improve even the Syracuse water which already tastes pretty darn good by itself. Mineral water is a whole different ball of wax. I love the high mineral content of Gerolsteiner but can only drink limited amounts.

Three hours south puts you right around Saratog Springs. There are already some threads here on Saratoga dining options which include strong recommendations from John Sconzo (docsconz) for Chez Sophie - but that's only open for dinner. For lunch I'll suggest two options: 1) Hattie's Chicken Shack on Phila Street in downtown Saratoga. Old school Southern cooking but the owner who took it over from Hatie McDaniel about 5 - 6 years ago has updated the menu with a few newer items. The fried chicken is outstanding and I'm also very fond of their greens. 2) Very tasty wood fired pizza at Bruno's, out on the edge of town across from the racetrack entrance. Bruno's is old school pizza with a nice thin crust that gets a bit of smokiness from the wood fire - it's not chi-chi foo-foo new school wood fired pizza. We're talking red and white checkered vinyl tablecloths here - nice place for a moderately priced lunch. Allow about ten minutes or so to get from the highway over to these places.

This may or may not be helpful but when the grouphead gasket of a commercial espresso machine (where the portafilter/brew basket assembly locks on) is replaced, one generally applies a thin film of food graded silicone lubricant to the top of the gasket where it stays (gel form in a tube for about $4 per tube) in constant contact with the hot internal metal part of the machine. This simplifies removal but I suspect that it also facilitates a better seal and lengthens the life span of the gasket. Might be worth trying with a moka pot. This is true but in every Italian-Americn family I know people call it "espresso" when it's made at home in a moka pot and still call it espresso when it's acquired in a cafe where it's made in a real espresso machine. I'm curious to know if this is also the case in Italy.

Do you prefer it to a Melitta manual cone pour-over system? I've used and enjoyed both but can't detect a difference in the results. I stayed with Melitta because the drip cone fits on a thermal carafe I acquired. That lets' me brew directly into a pre-heated vessel that keeps the coffee warm. But I also had a traumatic Chemex incident years ago - somehow my bathrobe slipped open and the side of it caught the Chemex pot and tipped it over - boiling hot water, grounds and all. I came very close to caffeinating my family jewels and have been very nervouis around Chemex pots ever since But YMMV (you mileage may vary).

In general I notice a difference between bottled waters that are simply purified and filtered water from a municipal source and those that are actually bottled spring water. For me the exception among plain old filtered water is Aquafina - it tastes so flat that I can tolerate it only if I'm truly parched. Dasani and the others taste about the same to me. I've tried many bottled spring waters - some taste flat enough due to low mineral content that they really don't seem to vary in taste at all from filter and purified municupal water but a few brands I've tried like Ozark, Deer Park and Poland Spring seem to be a bit tastier. The municipal water I've been drinking for most of my life comes fro one of the Finger Lakes - Skaneatles. It is very very clean even before filtering and has a good balance of minerals. My GF lives a bit further out of the city and gets water from the Lake Ontario pipeline - there's a noticeable difference in taste (it's not as good). If you asked me to distinguish one brand from another in a taste test I'd find it difficult if not impossible. But in many cases I think I could guess which ones were good bottled spring water and which were just filter municipal water or plain old tap water. And if you get the water cold enough with a bunch of ice cubes it's really difficult to tell the difference. Ask anyone who brews beer or does professional coffee brewing or espresso production - water quality makes a huge difference. But with right reverse and a system that adds certain mineral levels back into the water you can make great tasting filtered water from darn near any source.

Vacuum pot coffee is somewhere in between drip coffee and press pot coffee. It has more of the crucial flavor components that are contained in the coffee oils which paper filters leach out but it has less sludge and is a bit less full bodied than press pot style. Some coffees are better than others for vac pot coffee and you'll definitely have to use more ground coffee per ounce of water than you do for drip. But the results can be incredibly smooth and very satisfying. It was truly a revelation for me as I've consumed drip coffee for many years but have never been enamored of press pot coffee. I own and use a Bodum - not as elegant as a Yama but I think they're both made of tempered glass. I actually dropped my Bodum pot on the office floor accidentally when i first opened the box and it didn't break. We have concrete slab floors with thin pad and short nap industrial carpet - that's a pretty good testament to the durability of these pots.

I've never even seen it at the NY State Fair in Syracuse where any new fried dish is typically available within the first year or two that it becomes popular in other locales.

Just curious - how do you rank Seattle's Saigon Bistro on Jackson in the International District. Do you find it to be among the better of the Vietnamese restaurants in Seattle? I ate there last sumemr and was underwhelmed. My goi ga (chicken salad) was excellent, the fresh rols were just okay and the cafe sua da was dreadful (not surprising considering that they used an espresso machine to make it). But I did think it was as good as most of the Vietnamese places I've tried in NYC.