Lonnie

Braised red cabbage with plumped dried sour cherries that my son (CIA student) made a week ago for Thanksgiving dinner. I don't quite understand why, but this stuff just gets better and better. Tomorrow's is the last serving (sob!). Lonnie

Hubby and I will be in Boston and/or Watertown from about December 26 to Jan 3. Mostly we want to eat well, drink great coffee, sit in cafes for hours, and probably do a few historical jaunts. Suggestions as to where we should eat? Fascinated by cuisines we can't find in Syracuse, NY (we have Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and a bazillion Italian and Chinese). And where is THE best coffee? Thanks! Lonnie

Morning coffee has become a ritual in our house, mostly because I have an old Silex narrow-neck vac pot that requires a certain level of ritual just to get it to produce coffee. Excellent coffee. I fill and sit it over the gas flame before my eyes are fully open. Then I grind the beans and pour them into the upper chamber, having made sure the glass filter is locked into place. Something deep inside me knows exactly how long it will take to get just warm enough to gently move up the tube into the upper chamber without spurting all over the place. I turn the heat down when I snuggle the upper part onto the lower and then I find something to do in the kitchen, maybe get breakfast parts out, with one eye on the pot. Once the coffee starts to rise, I give the grounds one good stir and watch the crema form. At the moment that it starts to bubble, I set the timer for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. When that goes off, I remove the coffee pot from the heat and tinker around some more while it "goes south" into the lower pot. I pour my first cup of coffee, I fill my husband's Nissan leak-proof commuter mug and screw down its top, and I put a tea cozy over the pot. It will still be warm 20 minutes later. Every morning I test the leak-proof-ness of the commuter mug by "pouring" it into something different each day, i.e. hubby's cereal, the turtle tank, my slipper. It never leaks (except the one time my husband thought he could screw in the cap with one hand, didn't test it, and got coffee all over his books in his bag), but I test it anyway because it's become a silly source of laughter, imagining coffee on or in various objects. It's the only part of the day, until the very end, when I regularly take my time to do something I love. The whole thing is THE start to the day, it lets me know I'm awake. And it's that first sip of coffee that lets me know I'm alive and all is well. Lonnie (aka much-ado-about-nothing)

In a moment of pure silliness or perhaps greed, I bought a tiny glass coffee maker that I've seen variously described as a 1-cup or 2-cup Fire-King or Anchor Hocking glass Silex coffee maker. Now that it's arrived and turned out to be as adorable as it looked online, I'm puzzled as to how to make coffee in it. It's not a vacuum pot, as it doesn't have a tube extending from the upper part into the lower, and there is no gasket, nor could there be as the lower pot's lip is not round, but rather molded into a spout shape on one side. The little insert thingie appears to be something that might hold a cloth filter, but it's so small that my regular vac pot filters would be too big. It sits loosely over the little holes in the bottom of the to part, so loosely that a fair amount of coffee grounds would fall through. Does anyone have any experience with these kinds of pots? I'm assuming it must be a drip pot of some sort. But if that's the case, in what does one heat the water? (I'm used to seeing the water heat up in the bottom portion in my vac pots.) And how does one keep the water sitting on the grounds long enough to pick up any coffee essence? Thanks! Lonnie

I'm looking for a travel mug for hubby. I'd like it to include the following: - Doesn't impart a metalic taste (do I need glass-lined?) - Has an absolutely leak-proof lid - Keeps coffee at least relatively hot It doesn't have to fit in a car's travel mug holder, but ideally it holds at least 16 ounces. And it's built to last. Thanks for your ideas! Lonnie

We love El Mariachi, serving the best Mexican food in upstate New York. There are two of them; we usually go to the one on the corner of Central Ave. and Dove, as it's so nice to walk around the neighborhood of brownstones between there and Washington Park. The chefs at El Mariachi are from Puebla (see Anthony Bourdan's chapter in A Cook's Tour entitled "Where Cooks Come From" - it's Puebla). This means you'll get great mole poblano there. Enjoy! Lonnie

I have a funny, fond memory of the Carnegie Deli. I live in Syracuse, NY, and don't get to New York often. I was there in the late 90's for a conference, and while there had met up with Bert Sugar, whom I'd gotten to know in the previous year through a number of letters and phone calls concerning a possible joint writing project. For those of you who don't know, he's considered the foremost boxing historian and has written a gazillion books on various sports. Not that I'm into boxing... I met him while dancing at a party in Canastota during their Boxing Hall Of Fame Weekend... my honey was playing lead guitar. The world of boxing is in a galaxy quite distant from my own. Anyway, he took me to a fight, then to some gathering at which I got to meet the unimpresive Don King and a few boxers. Then he took me to the Carnegie Deli for a snack of one of the tallest sandwiches I, an upstater, had ever seen. I think mostly he wanted me to see his picture on the wall. We sat right under it. When it came time to pay the bill, it turned out he didn't have enough cash so he tried to pay with a credit card. No dice. They didn't take credit cards, even from people whose pictures were hanging on the wall. So I coughed up $20 for the part of the bill he didn't have cash for, and we called it a loan. Bert Sugar still owes me twenty bucks. And we never did write that book. Maybe because I married my honey. Lonnie

I tried sliding the gasket about a quarter inch down the tube which therefore brought the lower part of the gasket over the slightly narrower part of the tube, and that did the trick. So now I have to gently set the thing into the lower pot, but it works fine that way. If I push it in hard, it forces the gasket back up over the wider part of the tube and then it's too big for the lower pot neck. I think the problem is that the upper part is missing its handle, which probably used to keep the gasket lower on the tube. More fun. It's like learning the quirks of a new pet, except that, so far, it hasn't peed on the living room floor. I found four white Cory 1/2 oz. coffee measures in an antiques store on US Route 20. It was fun knowing what they were! You can see their cousin in this photo. Lonnie

From their website (CLICK HERE to see it ): roji - tea lounge 108 East Washington St., Suite 2 Syracuse, NY 13202-1610 Tel: (315) 428-0844 E-mail: realteas@roji-tealounge.com Door will be locked 15 minutes before closing so that you will have the time to order and sit down to enjoy the tea experience with no rush. Thank you for your understanding in advance. Sun, Mon, Tue 3:00pm - 11:00pm Wed Closed Thu, Fri, Sat 3:00pm - Midnight - - - - - They're in the heart of downtown Syracuse. Go to the above link to learn more about it. Cheers, Lonnie

Today's lesson: a vac pot will not improve the flavor of bad beans. Today's vac pot question: I have two identical narrow-neck Silex pots, one with its original gasket which works great and one with a new gasket from Casco Bay Molding because its original gasket melted upon use. (The picture of a vac pot on the Casco Bay site is not a narrow-neck pot, I believe, despite the fact that the gaskets are for narrow necks). I have successfully used the pot with the new gasket a few times. Today I let the water in the pot heat quite a bit before I put the top part onto it. It didn't seem to want to fit as well, wouldn't really go in, and although I thought I'd gotten it set in okay, it ended up tipping and breaking the seal. Nothing I could do while it was brewing would get that sucker to stay put. I held it in place and it did in fact go north and south, but every time I tried to let go it would tip again. Any ideas as to how I can avoid this happening in the future? Lonnie

What a fun day it's been reading all these responses! I just want to thank every one of you for opening my eyes to the possibilities. I imagine it goes well on a loved one's fingertips, too, n'est-ce pas? Lonnie

Just got back from Boston where we bought, for the first time ever, an expensive (for us) bottle of balsamic vinegar. We tasted it in the shop first and it was heavenly. Somewhat thick, a bit on the sweet side, and complex. Question #1: What are some great ways to enjoy this amazing food? We asked the gentleman who sold it to us (Little Italy - North End - supposedly the best Italian grocery store in Boston). He suggested on salad or on chops. He said the old men in Italy just eat a spoonful of it plain in the morning, or mixed into water. Question #2: Why is it called balsamic? He claimed it was from one of the woods used in the casks in which it is aged. I have a vague notion it's because it's medicinal, as in a balm. Lonnie

Just got back from a few days in Boston just eating all over town, plus drinking coffee and eating pastries on the North End... for hours and hours. Our idea of a good time. Plus a lot of walking. Question #1: For the next time we go to Boston, where's the best coffee + pastry combination in the city? Question #2: When you make vac pot coffee and you want warm coffee to sip on for, say, half an hour to an hour, how to you keep it warm? So far I've tried wrapping it in a towel, which works for about 15 minutes. I imagine I have to put it into some kind of thermos. And now I think Owen's already told me the answer, but I can't remember it. Lonnie

Been there yet, Owen? We have not, although we've walked past it several times. Lonnie

Would it make sense to try for a coffee meetup in Syracuse? We could be sure to reach out to people in Rochester, Utica, Ithaca. Lonnie

Hubby and I ran into a can of smoked pimentón (paprika) when in Ottawa once. It was called "La Chinata" and we adored it. Unfortunately it got bugs over the summer, so out it went. Then he went to tienda.com and found it in three styles: sweet, bittersweet, and hot. A little seems to go a long way, as it adds a pretty strong smoky flavor. I was used to using pimentón in the usual way in Spain, not as a little dash of color, but as a tablespoon of flavor that goes into the sofrito (dang! what do you call the sautéed stuff in English?). Don't do this with La Chinata! It will overwhelm even the biggest pot of beans, speaking from experience. From that day on we lovingly called it "la chingada" (use this term with utmost care only with people who have a very good sense of humor). Hmm! I just went to tienda.com and lo and behold, they're featuring paella ingredients on their front page. Look at one of their paella kits and you'll see that they do include a smoked pimentón which, by the looks of the bright red can in the basket, is none other than La Chin...ata. :-) When I was in the Canaries in the mid-70's (okay, this is not Valencia), I regularly ate a very nice paella in a restaurant. I asked the cook to show me how he made it and one day stood in the kitchen and took notes as he did it. No smoked pimentón. I wonder if I could find that recipe. I've looked all over the web, in Spanish, and everyone and his mother has THE authentic recipe for paella. I'm talking Spaniards all over Spain. The question about what makes it authentic is similar to "What makes an apple pie authentic?" or "What's authentic fried chicken or BBQ? ..or chili? ... or...?" You get my drift. Opinions vary on every single ingredient you can imagine putting in one. Ever heard of the fideuá? It's a Valencian paella made with fideos... noodles instead of rice! Where would I go to find an authentic paella? A rice farm outside of Valencia, where an old person of either gender is in charge of a nice, leisurely picnic out in the country, where all the fixin's will be dragged out into a field and there will be paella and wine and music for many, many hours. As I recall, James Michener does a nice job of describing this in "Iberia." Cheers, Lonnie

Okay, you've really got me curious now, Owen. When I saw the ads I thought, "Yeah, sure. Like all the supposed "tapas" that are just overpriced tiny plates of anyone's idea of something Americans might be able to stomach." But... if this chef actually grew up in Spain... well, then, perhaps we can get into a little conversation! I'd love to know know which part of Spain he's from. So... we do the paella sometime and compare notes? Lonnie

I'm a Spanish teacher at Syracuse University, I've lived in Spain several times and didn't meet a single English speaker for six months at one point. I would suggest the following pronunciation: pah - AY - yah A pronunciation that you might hear from very old people would be: pah - AY - leeyah Nowadays the double "L" is pronounced like a "Y" in English. Lonnie

I finally nailed it!!! What a joy! Here are the ingredients that worked for this newbie: - $4 narrow-neck Silex vac pot with a good gasket (found at a nearby flea market) - glass filter rod (eBay, from another Silex whose gasket melted on use) - a house blend roasted by Owen, ground at the café because my grinder is terrible - filtered water - a pretty low flame, as suggested by instructions I found in google images, keyword Vaculator (could read only upon printing) - stirring it once it had a lot of water in the top - successful removal of upper bowl, that is, without breaking protruding tube by following above-mentioned instructions (push against upper bowl with thumb while holding handle on lower bowl, thus breaking seal) It was a beautiful moment, that first slurp, truly a revelation. Since the grind was right, the filter didn't clog this time. Gone was the nose-smashing smokiness, replaced by what reminded me of the first instant when you taste a really fabulous chocolate - similar complexity and subtlety of flavors. It was a wee bit muddy, as can be expected I guess from the glass filter, but that didn't bother me, given my propensity for drinking mud anyway. There was some left over. Believe it or not, I tried gently rewarming it hours later with a little cream in it and it was still really good. So good that I actually enjoyed drinking a cup of coffee without sugar for the first time ever. The light has gone on. Thank you, teachers. Heh heh... just as I was finishing this, the doorbell rang. A pound of coffee from Sweet Maria's has arrived with a set of cloths for my ceramic filter, instructions in Japanese. I'll get it figured out... Cheers, Lonnie

My husband and I escape the USA as often as possible, especially during good driving weather, and head for any number of Canadian towns. We really like Ottawa but would like to get to know more of its secrets, particularly the food. We're especially fond of Asian, Latin or Mediterranean food, as well as the entire diner experience for breakfast. (Is it possible anywhere to get stupendous coffee with a stupendous breakfast?) If it's really good, we love Spanish (as in Spain) food. What are your suggestions for a 3-day weekend in Ottawa/Hull? Lonnie

All the ideas and information here will keep me busy for months! It's going to take some time to just wade gleefully through it. Interestingly enough, the Syracuse New Times made an attempt at answering my question (okay, they had no idea I'd asked it) - see this article in this week's issue: Bean Curd Owen, any idea who wrote this? Are the ideas solid? Lonnie

Brooks, I'm jealous of your job already! I went to Gourmet Foodmall.com and there on the front page was a picture of something my son used to make when he worked at the now-defunct (for good reasons) Tsunami restaurant in Hanover Square, Syracuse: a chocolate volcano, aka lava cake. He kindly swiped the recipe for me before he left and the restaurant became yet another Italian restaurant. But this all brings up another subject: coffee pairings. My questions: 1) Is there such a thing? 2) Why does my friend like to have peanut butter with coffee? This is diner peanut butter on diner toast with diner coffee, mind you. 3) Is one coffee going to be better than another when eating a chocolate volcano? More: Yes, Owen inspired me to buy a vac pot. Good thing I bought two because I just broke the top part of the newer one - never saw it coming (wrestling with a very tight gasket). One day I'll go down to Federal Espresso early enough to meet Owen in person. I'm very interested in the online class on coffee basics. That would probably be exactly what I'm looking for - a step-by-step guide. Also, I love having an actual reason for going to Ithaca and will do so eagerly soon! Thanks to all of you for your ideas. Lonnie

Experimenting lately with a couple old vacuum pots, I've learned something about myself. And that is that I'm pretty limited in my appreciation of coffee. My first truly great experience with coffee was 30 years ago in the Canary Islands, where I was first exposed to the variety and intensity of espresso drinks to be had in Spain. The taste of this coffee became my "mother" and I've been seeking her out ever since (to no avail, by the way). I suspect, however, that over time I have been looking more for the nose-punching thrill and have missed the subtleties to be enjoyed in the world's wonderful varieties of coffees. As it turns out, vac pots are great for those lighter roasts and flavors, while I have been seeking out smoky, French-roast experiences. Now that I have these two old pots, I want to not only enjoy the great show watching the coffee go "north" and "south," I want to enjoy the results. So my question is two-fold: 1) What gentle steps might I take away from the nose-punching in order to teach my palate the finer things in coffee? 2) What beans and roasts, specifically, should I try, in what order, to wean myself from my current addiction? Thank you! Lonnie

What is it in the coffee that has this wondrous effect? The caffeine? Or something else? (Sitting here munching my daily and de rigueur ounce of dark chocolate.) Lonnie