rjwong

In my apartment kitchen, I use a Western Holly Townhouse range/oven with four gas burners. Most of the time, I find myself using the Front Left (FL) burner, with the Front Right (FR) burner for my tea kettle and/or simmering. I rarely used the back burners. Which burners do you use for cooking? Is it best to rely on one burner most/all of the time? Should I occasionally use the other burners, just to be fair? BTW, I'm left-handed. Would you have figured it out by which burner I use?

Mayhaw Man, your wish is my command, ... this time ... There is an earlier discussion thread on How do you eat corn on the cob. Mind you, let's keep the discussion on those corn holders. Do you use them or not? Just for the record, I use my hands and fingers and I don't throw them in the "various implements" drawer like everyone else.

Brava, brava!! You not only did fine, you did EXCELLENT!! Now if your kids would rise up and call you blessed ... You might want to hold off on the wedding cake for now. You don't want to make your kids too anxious. On the party favors, you labeled each cookie with the Hebrew letter S (or Sh). What does that stand for? Did you use a stencil? Or did you do those by hand?

Pan, NO! It should not be a red flag for you. Click on this discussion thread link to Cafe Beacon. I ate there on Sat. & I enjoyed it. My post is on the Beacon thread. To summarize page 32 for you, Beechwood is two-thirds bar and one-third restaurant. The LA Times critic did a review on this place this year. She was surprised that chef Brooke Williamson is doing FOH instead of BOH. But it works. Straight-ahead California menu. Beechwood is the perfect place to eat something good, late. You might like this place, Pan. You seem like a late-night person.

On Sat. night, I went to Beacon, an Asian cafe. I didn't have a reservation, but they serve their full menu at the bar. It's definitely the size of a cafe with maximum 100 capacity & 7 seats at the bar. Wooden tables & chairs, bare walls, clean & simple decor. So, I sat in one of the bar's high stools which I have a not-so-easy time getting use to. I ordered a bottle of Ducale, sparkling. I decided on a small plate, then a large plate. I started with the chicken wings in a soy-ginger glaze. That night, I wasn't adventurous enough to have the shishito peppers. The wings taste wonderful. The glaze was present, not prominent or overwhelming. For the large plate, I took JFL's recommendation of the black cod. The cod was served with chilled green beans in three stacked layers topped with sesame seeds. The miso sauce was off to one side of the plate. The black cod melted in my mouth! Afterwards, I asked the server how it was prepared: marinated in miso sauce for 48 hours and then grilled. Great recommendation, JFL! For dessert, I had the green tea cheesecake with white chocolate shavings. The cheesecake had a subtle taste, not intense or sweet. The sweetness came from the white chocolate shavings, 1-inch wide shavings, as well as the raspberry sauce. I really enjoyed eating at Beacon. It has the feel of a neighborhood cafe. It's located on the NW corner of Helms Ave. & Washington Blvd. in Culver City. Across the street is a French cafe and about 100 yards away is the Jazz Bakery. Good luck on parking.

That breakfast looks too healthy. Where's the gravy for the biscuits? Did you run out of milk/cream? I'm lookin' forward to you cookin' a Southern dinner (or is it supper?). [Hee-Haw family]Grandpa, what's for supper?[/Hee-Haw family]

Dean, God is perfect. He made you a Yankee just to show His sense of humor. Cheese grits? Whoa, you passed by that too fast! What kind of cheese do you add in dem grits? Since you took a picture of those collard greens, are you going to cook some? How about some fried okra, not stewed please? What I miss most are the hush puppies ... I don't remember seeing A Southern Season. Mind you, I haven't been in Chapel Hill/Carrboro area in a while (late 1980's). Nice start on your foodblog, Dean. Can you throw in a little Carolina blue, my fellow Tarheel?

Here's the link to 60 Minutes II (Wed): Visiting the Theater of the Mouth. Here's also some contact info to get transcripts and/or videotapes: 60 Minutes Wednesday; 524 West 57th St.; New York, NY 10019; (212) 975-6200 EMAIL: 60w@cbsnews.com TRANSCRIPTS: 1-800-777-TEXT VIDEOTAPES: 1-800-848-3256

I was thinking the same thing, suzi. Mind you, I didn't want to act like some bibliographic bouncer. I'd go with roasting the garlic heads in the oven, make the mashed potatoes, then add the garlic. There's a basic recipe in the All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking, p. 378 (roasted garlic) & 408 (mashed potatoes). BTW, the call nos. for the Library of Congress Subject Heading Cookery (Potatoes) are: TX803.P8 (LC call no.) and 641.6/521 (Dewey call no.). rjwong (MSLS, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1989)

After work today, I decided to have dinner in Chinatown before I take the bus home. Normally, I eat at Sam Woo's on Broadway, your basic Chinese diner (well, I call it that). The roast duck hanging in all of its glory. Crabs, lobsters, fishes & shrimps all swimming away in the tanks waiting for an appointment with destiny... Wait a minute!! This is how I started my previous post!! Well, this time, I did go to Sam Woo's on Broadway. I ordered a live crab (about 2 lb.) from the tank. The crab was cooked with onions, green bell peppers, and black bean sauce (dow see). I also ordered some beef & broccoli (that's Chinese broccoli, gai lan) with some steamed rice. The crab tasted wonderful. Mind you, it's a lot of work eating crab because of the shells. So, I took my time, enjoying the crab & alternately eating the beef & gai lan as well. Fortunately, I didn't have to use the crab-cracker. So my fingers weren't too messy from the crab and the sauce. Regularly, I order one dish, like chow mein or chow fun or one of the clay pots. I've been eating there on a semi-regular basis for a few years. The bill comes to under $7-10 (including tax & tip). And it's a 15-minute drive from my apartment, quite convenient. There may be better places over in Monterey Park, Alhambra, et al. Mind you, for the price, the convenience and authenticity, it's Sam Woo's for me!

After work today, I decided to have dinner in Chinatown before I take the bus home. Normally, I eat at Sam Woo's on Broadway, your basic Chinese diner (well, I call it that). The roast duck hanging in all of its glory. Crabs, lobsters, fishes & shrimps all swimming away in the tanks waiting for an appointment with destiny. But not tonight. I walked a few doors up the street to Yang Chow. The front windows of Yang Chow are tinted, so you can't see inside. It does create a certain mystery. I finally enter through the doors into the restaurant and was seated. This is strange. The place setting has two plates, a 6-inch on top of an 8-inch, with a folded pinkish cloth napkin above the plates, a tea cup, chopsticks, ... and a fork! I look across the dining room at the other diners and ... and I'm the only customer who's Chinese! I'm not joking. I'm not hyping this up. I ordered two dishes: the slippery shrimp (Yang Chow's signature dish) & ma po tofu (Bean curd with ground pork in a spicy sauce). The shrimp tasted pretty good with its crunchiness & spicy/sweet sauce (go to their website for more details on this dish). The ma po tofu included soft tofu, some ground pork & way too much sauce for my taste. And hardly any chopped green onions to at least spruce the dish up a little bit. The steamed rice came in one rice bowl, not a container of rice. The service was fine. My water glass kept getting refilled. Now I understand why one co-worker really likes this place: Yang Chow definitely caters to a more ... uhh ... non-Chinese, non-Asian clientele. Mind you, that is not bad, just different. It is a little pricier, though. So, I'll be heading back to my Chinese diner of Sam Woo's.

LA Times Food Section -- June 22, 2005 Viewing the LA Times website, www.latimes.com, requires registration. If that is unacceptable, try clicking this link here, enter the URL address of the LA Times and proceed accordingly. Some content is in the premium section called www.calendarlive.com, which require an additional fee. The true believers / by Corie Brown A new generation of Napa vintners pursues the holy grail of cult Cabernets. And with a recent Supreme Court decision, these highly sought-after Napa Valley boutique wines will be even harder to find. A 2001 Screaming Eagle fetches $2,900 .... Only the extremely wealthy can afford these wines, and many collectors never pop the cork, preferring the bragging rights of owning to drinking. Includes the side article, So you want to make a cult wine ... A rare wine tasting / by S. Irene Virbila Our panel uncorked Napa Valley's most sought-after cult Cabs. Tough job, but someone had to do it .... This was an exercise not in ranking the wines, like Parker or Tanzer, but in trying to understand — for readers who may never have the chance to pop the cork on one of these fabled bottles — what these wines are. Includes a side article, California's legendary Cabernets, uncorked Too little? Too much? Enough! / by Leslie Brenner Brenner tries to figure out the whole “small-plates” craze. Is this “small plate” for sharing? Is this “small plate” a big plate? The small-plates trend, it seems, has gone haywire. The mixer, all revved up / by Judy Yao In the home baker's kitchen, the stand mixer is the undisputed workhorse, whipping egg whites to perfect peaks, kneading bread effortlessly and turning out cookie dough in a pinch. The latest group of stand mixers has plenty of horsepower that will make home bakers very happy. Includes a recipe for Savory hearth bread, plus evaluations of six stand mixers. And the winner? The 7-quart DeLonghi DSM7. Hey, are you the wine guy? / by Leslee Komaiko These days, the restaurant sommelier is distinguished in a method purely discreet. Instead of the tastevin, most are wearing uniquely-designed jacket lapels. Casual but composed / by Barbara Hansen At the Hungry Cat in Hollywood, beets, fennel and an herb salad are tossed separately in a citrus vinaigrette, then layered on plates with ricotta salata, a dense, salty Sicilian cheese. Now here's a real fish / by Russ Parsons Rich and wild, mackerel is the unsung star of the sea -- flavorful and great on the grill. Russ Parsons extols the virtues of mackerel, this fatty fish with very moist flesh. Shopping for them can be confusing, because mackerel is not just a single fish but an entire family. It's best to learn their Japanese names -- aji, saba, sanma, and sawara. Includes three recipes: Mackerel pickled in white wine; Baked mackerel in charmoula; Mackerel baked with bay and lemon Toned down and looking up / by S. Irene Virbila Parkway Grill in Pasadena is given a 1* rating. Recently, though, a new chef, David Tarrin, who has worked with Roy Yamaguchi at Roy's, has been given a mandate: Update the food. And while Tarrin hasn't exactly caused a revolution, he's refocused the menu and is cooking in a less rococo California style. WINE OF THE WEEK / by S. Irene Virbila 2001 Sori' Paitin Barbaresco: Piedmont; $36; classic; goes with beef braised in Barbaresco, roasted pork loin, leg of lamb or duck; grilled lamb chops or duck breast. Delicious now, it can only get better if you give it time to grow into itself. For the record Cryingwhileeating.com's inception — An article in last Wednesday's Food section incorrectly stated that the creators of the website cryingwhileeating.com attended a "mass hoax" seminar at the New York-based Eyebeam Art and Technology Center. The site's co-creator Dan Engber had attended the center's Contagious Media event, which included the mass hoax workshop, but Engber did not attend that particular session. The article also suggested that the site's creators came up with the cryingwhileeating.com concept after seeing a website called oldmencrying.com as well as online references to an early 20th century vaudeville act. However, the creators said they had already come up with the concept before seeing these on the Internet. *********************************************************** *********************************************************** Calendarlive Stories on Thursday Like truffles on your fries? / by S. Irene Virbila Critic's notebook on Dakota at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Tim & Liza Goodell's newest restaurant is classic American chophouse, with Jeff Armstrong, who has worked with them at several of their restaurants, as executive chef. Cool craving / by Leslee Komaiko With summer (and bikini season) officially here, it's time to lighten up. A chilled seafood cocktail is just what the doctor ordered. Includes five restaurants: The Lobster in Santa Monica; The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills; La Serenata Gourmet in W. L.A.; Jar on Beverly Blvd.; Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood.

Click on this link to the LA Times Special Restaurant Issue digest (2005). The restaurant issue just came out on Sun. (10 June 2005). In the digest, click on the 2005 Dining Guide. A little bit more trustworthy than Citysearch, I suppose. BTW, there are other areas next to Venice, like Marina Del Rey/Playa Del Rey, Culver City, & Santa Monica, if you want to consider those possibilities.

Robert, Ask, and you shall receive. In-N-Out Burger 820 Imola Ave.; Napa, CA 94559 There is a list of In-N-Out phrases that one can use when ordering. I'll have to get back with you on that. Perhaps someone else has that list.

Los Angeles Times Magazine -- June 19, 2005 SPECIAL RESTAURANT ISSUE: LOTUS LAND Viewing the LA Times website, www.latimes.com, requires registration. If that is unacceptable, try clicking this link here, enter the URL address of the LA Times and proceed accordingly. Some content is in the premium section called www.calendarlive.com, which require an additional fee. Itadakimasu! / by S. Irene Virbila Sushi is sooo last century. The new wave of Japanese cuisine raises tofu, tempura and ramen to the celestial heavens. Itadakimasu. That's Japanese for Bon appétit. Just when you think the Japanese restaurant scene is on its last leg, Japanese chefs have created new and exciting ideas. The Franco Japanese restaurants that dominated the scene a decade ago have given way to casual, hip cafés that turn out worldly Japanese food. Eat here now The latest and greatest L.A. restaurants don't fit into one category — unless you count eagerly anticipated. Ten restaurants that have opened (or about to open) are highlighted. So many obstacles have delayed these openings, be it permits or partner problems or design issues or plain old money. This year is definitely not the year of the copycat. These are true originals, inspired and inspiring. Let's eat. Twists on tradition Formerly obscure ingredients, amped-up traditional dishes and design-conscious cooking tools inspire L.A.'s new Asian style. Includes six items: India's best dough (Annapurna Cuisine in Culver City, & Annapurna Express in Artesia); The matcha mystique (Rafu Bussan on E. 2nd St.); Berry healthful (Kinara on N. Robertson Blvd.); The jaded chopstick (An Family Collection chopsticks, $142 per pair, at anfamily.com or at Crustacean in Beverly Hills); Unrestrained art (Tortoise in Venice); Little Saigon's other noodle dish (An Cuu Hue in Garden Grove) [800 Words]: Cooks on Fire / by Dan Neil Neil worked for one summer in a pretty awful job as a coal monkey in a mine in Wyoming. That was paradise compared to being a short-order cook. There's no place like om / by Andrew John Ignatius Vontz Hey, you! The shaved head chanting guy in the saffron robes! How about a couple beers over here? The LA nightclub scene is looking to the Far East for its inspiration. Shiva statues, carvings of Buddhist monks, rice paper wall panels, sushi, and sake sommeliers are just some of the features that can be found at these night spots. A revolutionary chef / by Russ Parsons With quiet grace and a wide range of fresh, inventive dishes, chef Chen Chen Liang of New Concept is changing the face of Chinese cuisine in Los Angeles. Russ Parsons notices a revolution going on in the Chinese restaurant world. While Chinese chefs are traditionally viewed as nameless, faceless workers, chef Chen Chen Liang's name appears on the New Concept restaurant menu. By placing Chen front-and-center, New Concept is positioning him to become the first Chinese star chef in the United States. The 2005 Dining Guide From The Times' critics, a survey of more than 250 Southern California restaurants. For those restaurants that were reviewed and received a star rating in The Times, we have included that rating and the review date here. The rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality .... Keep in mind, though, that many restaurants have no star rating--not because they were rated "no star" but because they were not reviewed under the star system. The restaurants are categorized geographically and then listed alphabetically: Beverly Hills; Brentwood/Bel-Air; Century City; Culver City; Downtown; East and South Los Angeles; Glendale/Eagle Rock/Highland Park; Hollywood; Huntington Park/Bell/Downey; Koreatown; La Cienega/Fairfax/La Brea; Los Feliz/Silverlake/Echo Park; Malibu; Marina Del Rey/Playa Del Rey; Pasadena; San Fernando Valley; San Gabriel Valley; Santa Monica; South Bay; Venice; West Hollywood; West Los Angeles; Westwood; Orange County; Santa Clarita/Ventura.

Today, I went over to New Concept in Monterey Park. I read about it in the LA Times and finally, I got there by around 10:30 a.m. The traffic wasn't too bad for a Sat. morning. It wasn't crowded. It's a small place (about 200 seats), compared to the other dim sum places (600-1000). There were no carts being pushed, unlike the traditional dim sum restaurants. I ordered from a menu (in Chinese) that I marked off. Fortunately, they had a separate menu in English translation so I knew what I was ordering. There were a few small tables for 1-2 people. That made me feel comfortable, being the solo diner this time. Parking was easy. New Concept has its own location, away from the mini-malls & plazas where parking is at a premium. I ordered seven items: har gow, shiu mai, shark's fin dumplings, crab meat dumplings, hollow vegetable (water spinach) with fermented bean curd sauce (foo yue), jelly fish & vegetable wrap, and egg custard (dahn tat). I really liked the water spinach with the foo yue. The shark's fin dumplings was quite colorful in its green wrapper. The har gow, shiu mai & crab meat dumplings were sized very nicely & tasted fine. The jelly fish wasn't firm enough for my taste. The vegetable wrap was okay, nothing more than a tag-along for the jelly fish. The dahn tat was just perfect. Overall, the meal was pretty good. I had a wonderful dining experience. Mind you, their restaurant rating is a "C". If the rating does concern you, you may not want to go. Based on my observations, I didn't notice anything wrong with my food or with the front of the house. Without the carts rolling around, it made the place less hectic, more relaxing. And I didn't mind that.

Really good, Bryan!! How ... uhh ... violent was the process? First, where did you find Larry? How big was the pot? Did Larry go in peacefully or ... uhh ... the hard way? Sounds like you boiled rather than steamed Larry? In your experience, do you find that eating a small lobster (1-2 lbs.) is tastier than a huge lobster?

Paul, welcome to government bureaucracy! It seems to me that Philly is a little bit more business-friendly than LA. It's not unusual to wait about six months to get a building permit before your general contractor can start building/renovating your location site. And that doesn't include the building inspection that comes much later. Have you considered hiring a consultant, or a project manager? Namely, someone who is very familiar with the ins & outs of each & every city/county/state govt. dept. needed to get the permits for your restaurant. Someone who knows which office to go to, which person to talk to, and the exact forms that need to be signed at the right time? Perhaps it may be worth your while to hire such a person so you can focus on ... your restaurant. Half the fun of government bureaucracy is figuring out what the rules are, ehh??

Martha, Congratulations to you & your fiance/husband! You might want to click on this link to a discussion thread by Susan in FL. How about at least one good Chinese meal in Los Angeles? Downtown LA has more of the traditional Cantonese Chinese restaurants. Monterey Park, Alhambra, Rosemead, the whole San Gabriel Valley has a greater variety of Chinese places. Definitely more competitive, more cutting-edge ... As for Mexican, you should have no problems in San Diego. In L.A., there's so many Latin American places to eat, not just Mexican. You can try Cuban, Peruvian, Salvadorean, Brazilian, Argentinian, among others. Were you all planning to pass by LA or stay over for a day or two? In Santa Barbara, go to: La Super-Rica ; 622 N. Milpas St. (Alphonse St.) ; (805) 963-4940. Drive along the 101 northbound to Santa Barbara, take the Milpas exit & drive straight up to La Super-Rica (on the right side of Milpas). It's a cash-only place with a few tables. As for lower-priced places, you & your fiance/husband can stop at any In-N-Out Burgers. Planning a quick picnic? Trader Joe's are all over California. There are some in the East Coast, even one in Silver Springs, Maryland, near DC. If the Madonna Inn is not to your taste (I don't know why), you might want to consider Sycamore Springs near Avila Beach. Outdoor mineral water hot tubs. You'll smell like sulphur afterwards. Do try to get to the farmers' market in San Luis Obispo on Thursday night. The other discussion thread talks about it. Gotta go. I'll be back. Edited to add: I'm back ... Had to take care of an errand. As for San Francisco, take a walk through Chinatown, if you're really into Chinese things. Sometimes, half the fun is discovering places for yourselves. Several years ago, my mother & I drove up to SF to meet my cousin & one of her friends who teaches Chinese cooking classes. For one afternoon, we would walk to various Chinese delis, buy one char siu bow (BBQ pork bun), divide it into four pieces, taste it, and evaluate. Whatever store had the best based on our taste test, we would buy a whole bunch from that store to take back home. That's what I call research ... I hope this helps. If you want to see and do LA, please specify a time frame. The LA area is really spread out. I only mentioned Downtown LA & the San Gabriel Valley. There are other major sections of LA. Enjoy!

If it will make you feel better, Genny, I'll be crying while eating some of JFL's wonderful creations because I was such a bragger.

For what it's worth, Click on this link to this week's LA Times Food section digest (15 June 2005). There is an article on cooking with beer, with four recipes, if you're so inclined. A different article has a recipe for duck breasts with pan-roasted cherries. peppyre, for some reason, I'm getting the impression that most everyone will be drinking their meals at your mother's 50th, ehh?? Perhaps you might want to PM Marlene and/or Sam.

Thanks, malachi. I'll give Lee Vining a try the next time I'm heading up to Carson Valley. Thanks also for mentioning the Great Basin Bakery. Yeah, Schott's is rather touristy. BTW, you got me curious. What's the other place worth eating at in the Eastern Sierra? Anything south of Bishop, Independence, Lone Pine, etc.?

I used to live in the heart of the SFV many years ago. I know a Chinese family (the wife was a former co-worker) who lives in the SFV now but grew up in Hawaii. Go ahead & PM me if you wish.

Pix and report?? Heck, I'm going for the whole schmear!! One of JFLinLA's tasters going through withdrawal ...

There is a Yang Chow restaurant over in the San Fernando Valley. I've never been there nor the one in LA Chinatown. What type of reception is your friend thinking of? Chinese sit-down banquet? Buffet? Is your friend perhaps from Hawaii? I ask this since you're from Oahu and maybe a Hawaiian-style reception is a possibility? If so, try the Torrance & Gardena area nearby LAX. Just a thought ...