ratgirlny

What I don't get is why the kids have to have all these in-school food parties anyway. I don't recall any parents EVER bringing food in for a party back when I was in school, in the 60's. It just wasn't done. Now, it seems like my kids are eating those disgusting packaged cupcakes every week because of someone or another's party. And the teacher sponsors these "lunch bunches" where she invites about 5 kids at a time, and the parents have to send goodies in. I send in fruit cups (because that is all I have on hand and I only get one day's notice), and the other parents send in bags of Fritos, and more of those god-awful cupcakes!

I just saw that the branch of Grand Sichuan on Lexington in the 30's has Chongqing hotpot on its menu. We were recently in Chongqing, and my kids had a blast eating hotpot. Has anyone tried this specialty at this restaurant? Is it any good? I've been to the other branches of Grand Sichuan (west 50's, St Marks) but never this one. The blurb says it specializes in Chongqing cuisine. Is it actually authentic? Any other sources for Chongqing hotpot in NYC? This is a super-spicy kind of hotpot. http://www.grandsichuan.com/ProductDetails...x?ProductID=770

Well, I figure Wolf will just say "buy Wolf", which may be valid - or it could be a way of marketing overpriced hoods that have the Wolf nameplate on them. How do I know? That was what I was hoping to get here - a sense of whether the Wolf range hood is really worth the price differential.

ha-ha!, I meant to say that we are used to pretty state of the art zoos - what I wrote didn't make that clear.

We are getting a 36 inch 6 burner all gas Wolf range. We went to look at hoods last night and were presented with two options : the Wolf hood with either a 600 or 900 cfm blower. Or a hood made by Best, with a 600 cfm blower. Evidently the only options for that hood are the 600 or a 1200cfm blower, and the salesguy thought the latter would be overkill. He said he thinks 600cfm would be fine for us. I think both hoods are fine lookswise, but the Wolf is significantly more expensive. So my question is : Would the Best hood with the 600cfm blower truly be enough for a 6 burner range? And is the quality of this brand OK?

OK, I'll have to check the 18 Steps Teahouse out. It sounds very pretty. And I know the kids will want to try the fried ice cream. Uh-oh on the zoo - my kids heard they have pandas and badly want to go. We from NYC too, so they are used to that level of zoo.

Can I piggyback too? We're going to be in Beijing, Chongqing, and Guangzhou for a few weeks, in late Feb/early March. I'm particularly interested in where to go in Chongqing. I know that spicy hotpot is the specialty, and I want to make sure I partake. Bring on the chiles! So, does anyone know the best places for hotpot in Chongqing? I'm going to have a couple of small kids with me, but they are very good about trying interesting food too. But I don't want to go anywhere too formal or business-traveler oriented because of them. Thanks!

I don't find the bottled dressings to be vinegary at all. Mainly they are just really really salty. I don't use them at all. Mostly, I just drizzle on some olive oil and a little lemon juice. Pinch of salt, a pinch of dried herbs, and toss.

I know that one of the posters above said that frozen collards and kale aren't as good as fresh, but I always keep a bag of frozen collards (or turnip greens) in my freezer for use as a quick addition to soups, or certain kinds of dishes (Indian style curry comes to mind immediately).

I'm in the middle of a kitchen redo. It is a 1920 Sears house, so we are trying to keep the kitchen in context, but also want it to be very practical. When I cook, I tend to fling stuff around quite a bit, so cleanup is important. I also cook with tumeric :-) I am trying to decide between black tile, which is what I had in my old kitchen, and soapstone. Granite would not look appropriate in this kitchen, plus I don't like it anyway - always reminds me of gravestones. My old black tile was awesome - easy cleanup, nothing stained it, and it wore well. Plus, tile is perfectly appropiate to a 20's style kitchen. However, we have a relative who cooks seriously who has soapstone in his 20's style kitchen, and it also looks awesome. He says that if treated correctly with mineral oil, staining is not a problem at all. I asked him about the tumeric issue, and he actually ran tests on his countertop! He tried straight tumeric in a little water, and tumeric cooked in butter - no stain either time. So he just about has me sold on soapstone. But since there are lots of serious cooks here, I thought I would ask opinions of you guys as well. Is soapstone really a good choice for a messy cook who uses tumeric? One other question - the relative I am mentioning has soapstone counters that are this really dull flat black, no veins or mottling of any kind. It is exactly the look I want. He got it years ago from Vermont Soapstone. The only other soapstone I have seen recently has been in Home Expo, and theirs is a sort of dark grey with lots of veins. I don't like it (btw, this is their sample after being treated with mineral oil). How does one go about seeing the soapstone before buying it? Is it hard to find the kind that doesn't have a lot of veins in it?

Which RMH? Some RMHs will have lots of kids undergoing cancer treatment. The one in Manhattan is ONLY kids with cancer. These kids are likely to be neutropenic, so you have to pay attention to that. Also, these are going to be very stressed families with small kids so make sure everything you serve is kid-friendly. At our Manhattan RMH, families are often there for months at a time. The parents are lonely, and the kids are either sick, or very stressed out siblings. So make it fun and friendly. Themed nights are very popular with the RMH crowd, by the way. Mexican night, Italian night, etc. Or something with a movie or cartoon tie-in. I know all of this because my son was treated for cancer in NYC, and I am close to several families who spent months at the RMH. I stayed there myself, but not for such a long period.

This is hard... 1. a nice rare piece of leg of lamb, roasted with those little garlic studs 2. the spicy pork (fatty cut) at Grand Sichuan in NYC 3. a nice hard Italian sausage

What amazes me is how much things never change.... Back in the late 80's, in my own hipste club-going days, we -- went to many Knitting Factory shows -- went to parties in vast Williamsburg lofts where you could literally park a truck INSIDE the loft, and disparate groups of "artists, musicians, and filmmakers" all lived there No faux-ironic hats though...And no trust funds.

Are you kidding??? I lived in New England for years, where Greek pizza is ubiquitous, and I truly miss it. The top NYC pizza places may be better, but run of the mill NYC pizza doesn't hold a candle to the pizza from the Greek joints in Boston.

Can I be the lone crank here? I really don't like sharing, except in the very limited situation of being at a good (authentic) Chinese restaurant with a group of like minded friends. But in most situations, I hate sharing. Why? Well, for one, I like choosing what I want to eat. I don't want to eat other people's choices. When I approach a menu, I usually give a lot of thought to what I want to eat, and in what order. Also, I am a slow eater. I hate, absolutely hate it when I have ordered something really yummy, and only get a small bit of it because all the other people at the table have devoured it.

Olives. Any kind of olive. I can eat them in quantities that I am sure most people cannot fathom. Even the icky canned black ones - I can down an entire can in one sitting. Or a jar of Kalamatas. I haven't met an olive yet that I can't snarf down in quantity.

Bad balsamic vinegar has been a staple of deli salad bars in Manhattan since at least the mid-80's. That is when I first saw it.

I use the crockpot. And a bottle of beer. And lots of Pennzys "corned beef spice". I cook it on low for 10 hours. It is never dry.

I've heard the waits are pretty bad though. Waits are not kid-friendly. We're not the types to do the 4:30 dining hour either. Is it possible to go there on a Saturday around 6 or 7, and get in without a long wait? Do they take reservations?

Hmm, I'll try to convince the vegetarian member of the party, but in the past she hasn't been open to Korean. She stereotypes it as "beef-eater" food. Bonnie

That is another interesting idea. I've never been big on tapas myself - just not into the mindset - but it could work for this specific outing. In general, we are not early diners. We rarely make it to a restaurant before 8. My kids are used to eating late. When we try eating out early to beat the crowds, they don't eat well, and end up whining for another dinner later on. It just happened to us this weekend, when we went to a party where we were served a sumptuous buffet at 4pm. My younger kid didn't understand that he needed to fill up then, and when we got home, he was very upset that another dinner wasn't about to make its appearance. My kids have never been picky. But I fed them spicy and exotic food even when they were babies, so they never had a choice. Mean mommy! Bonnie

That definitely does not work for my kids. Being able to pick their own food is a big part of the experience for them. Bonnie

Thanks! I had forgotten about Italian places. I'm looking for this information in general, as we often find ourselves in manhattan looking for decent food in the evening. But in particular, we have to take some friends from Chicago in over Memorial Day weekend. They have one 5 year old, and one vegetarian adult. And they all prefer "good food" rather than nugget places. So I have got to come up with something. My 6 year old asked for Korean, but that is rough with a vegetarian. Bonnie

We live in the 'burbs of NYC and have 2 kids, ages 4 and 6. We eat out pretty frequently up here, and often want to get dinner out in Manhattan as well. One of the problems we face is that of the kids menu hell. OK, a lot of restaurants don't have a kids menu at all. Which is kind of a pain, because first of all we aren't sure if the restaurant even wants our business, and secondly, a 4 year old simply can't eat an adult sized entree, so it seems like a waste to spend $20 on one. Our kids love restaurants and choosing their own food - they are both kind of foodies-in-the-making, so they would never agree to share. So it is hard to go to restaurants with no kids menu, unless it is a Chinese place where sharing is normal, or an Indian or Korean place where you know they love kids and will help put something together. The alternative are the restaurants that have a kids menu, but what horrors those are! My poor sushi and bibimbap-loving kids, consigned to the hell of nuggets and French fries. I can almost guarantee what will be on any kids menu : hamburger, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, macaroni with a choice of butter or plain tomato sauce. And we wonder why kids have such poor taste in food these days??? While visiting Williamsburg VA, we went to a place that had a great kids menu. It was just adventurous enough to make the kids feel special. I saw a number of kids in the place, and they all seemed particularly well-behaved, as if treating them like real people made them act like real people. So my question is : are there any restaurants in Manhattan that have nicer than usual kids menus? I have heard that Landmarc does, but we never seem to be in that area, and I have also heard that it has terrible waits (not good with kids). What places truly welcome kids by having something nice for them to eat too? I don't want to get off on the "kids don't belong in restaurants" tangent. Obviously, there are some places that are truly adult-only. But kids aren't going to learn good restaurant manners by being relegated to Chuck E Cheese. Bonnie