Megan Blocker

OUCH! This Stamford smack-down forces me to retaliate and prove my Stamford knowledge by saying that there used to be a Chinese place on Summer Street (somewhere between the Long Ridge/High Ridge intersection and the Ridgeway Shopping Center) that made excellent sesame noodles. Don't know if it's still there, though. Another good Italian place I've been to several times in the last couple of years is Dolcetti's in Darien, on the Post Road just south of the Darien MetroNorth station. Good, solid food, and a decent wine list.

Certainly if the buyer is doing the drinking!

Hee hee! They're cucumbers...just a silly slang term. And thank you - that salad of yours looks mighty tasty, too - especially the mayonnaise. Yum.

This is a not-so-fancy contribution to the cook-off...my mom used to make this all the time for dinner in the summer, and I got a craving for it this morning. Sliced tomatoes, cukes, red onion, new potatoes, blanched haricots verts, sweet corn, and some grilled chicken breast, all on top of a bed of romaine lettuce. Served with a simple vinaigrette.

Ferran Adria has a dessert "recipe" where he melts dark chocolate and olive oil over bread, and I think he adds a sprinkle of fleur de sel or something on top too. I've tried the combo, and it's good. ← One of the very best picnics a friend ever brought me on was a bread, cheese and chocolate picnic.

Well, Buddakan is actually a transplant/offshoot of a place in Philly! However, I know what you mean - big, flashy, and so on... In case you haven't had a look, here's the Buddakan in NY thread. Complete with reports from people who've been!

Carlo, I haven't been to Buddakan here in NY, and I haven't been to the one in Philadelphia in years. However, my gut (and the stuff I've heard and read here) tells me that there are a ton of better places to spend your time and money. But, it all depends on what you're after...would you be going just to see what the place is like? If that's the case, you might be able to get away with just grabbing a cocktail at the bar and then heading somewhere else for dinner... ETA: Oops, forgot an "are."

Looks like wheat toast to me.

As discussed above, here's a link to Gabrielle Hamilton's Op-Ed piece in today's Times.

How bad is it that I really can't remember most of my firsts? Here are a few that I can date... Conch fritter - February 1989 (Age 9), Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas Collard greens - January 1994 (Age 14), Exeter, NH English tea - March 1995 (Age 15), The Stafford, London (Truly) French baguette - June 1995 (Age 15), Nice, France Cafe au lait - Same! Passionfruit - February 1997 (Age 17), Exeter, NH Starfruit - Same! Self-made apple pie - July 2000 (Age 20), Darien, CT In-N-Out Burger - Summer 2000 (Age 20), Fresno, CA Sweetbread - September 2001 (Age 21), Pampa, New York, NY Raw oyster - Christmas Eve 2002 (Age 23), Balthazar, New York, NY Periwinkle - Same! Vietnamese food - May 2003 (Age 23), New York, NY Far Niente Dolce - Fall 2004 (Age 25), New York, NY Ham biscuit - July 2005 (Age 25), Lynchburg, VA Sriracha - January 2006 (Age 26), New York, NY ETA: Just re-arranged things in chronological order and took out the "1st's", since they're ALL firsts!!!

Or you could just invite Daniel over. I'm told he works for liquor.

Dan, I grew up in Old Greenwich, but it's been a while since I lived there! Off the top of my head, one recommendation would be to have dinner at Applausi, which is on Sound Beach Avenue in Old Greenwich (on the right as you come into town under the railroad tracks). It's always been consistently solid, and has a nice, casual but elegant atmosphere that I really love. Also great in O.G. (for a grease fix) is Garden Catering - the high school special (with seasoning and barbecue sauce) is an old guilty pleasure of mine. Le Figaro on Greenwich Avenue (toward the bottom of the Avenue) is great for bistro-type fare. On nice days, you can eat on the tiny balcony out back. In that same block is an old family favorite, Pizza Factory...yum. Market-wise, I'm probably not on the cutting edge. Always fun (and good for the dairy, produce and baked goods, though not for true grocery staples) is Stew Leonard's, on the Post Road in Norwalk. They have a wine shop now, too, right across the street. I've heard it's pretty decent. Hay Day (the one on the Post Road in Riverside, across from St. Catherine's) used to be our go-to gourmet market; the Hay Day stores were bought by Balducci's recently, but on my last visit (about eight months ago), the one in Riverside hadn't changed too much - even the same manager! ETA: For buying seafood, my favorite spot was always Fjord Fisheries on River Road in Cos Cob (only a hop, skip and a jump from Hay Day, as luck would have it!). For decent pan-Asian, there's Penang Grill on Lewis Street (just off the Avenue) in Greenwich.

this is how they do it: they spread the base with tomatosauce and sprinkle with the ham. Then they put a big scoop of mascarpone, mixed with trufflepaste, in the middle. They leave the scoop as it is while baking the pizza, and when it comes out of the oven, they smear the mascarpone over the entire pizza with the back of a spoon. Then top the whole thing with aragula and grated parmesan. I've watched them make it pretty closely, cause I am so afraid they will stop making it one day, and then I'll have to recreate it at home because life without Pizza YamYam would be unbearable! ← Wowza. I am not normally a pizza person, but this alone may make me buy a pizza stone and get cracking.

Yup, this is what we do at my office, too. Condiments are a trickier matter...maybe everyone has to label their own? If one of the condiments seems to messy (sticky, leaking, whatever) you let the person know that it will be removed from the fridge unless they clean it up that day...if it doesn't have a name, it gets tossed in the Friday purge.

That sounds really good...yum!

That pizza sounds heavenly...and that dog is adorable! He (she?) made me think of Heloise from I Capture the Castle. And the beers look pretty darn good, too. Even if you are paying for it now. It looks like they throw the arugula on at the last minute, rather than baking it into the pizza? Does it wilt as it warms up? Just trying to get a texture reading...

Berries, berries, berries! Fruit tarts and pies. Seafood. Simple, but not boring. I come from a long line of New Englanders (mostly Massachusetts and Connecticut with a little New Hampshire thrown in for good measure), and the food I ate growing up was never dull.

Are they going to ban factory chickens? Non-kosher beef? Come on. You can't claim to ban foie gras because it's inhumane and not go after other inhumane foods (no WAY am I getting into a debate over what's more or less inhumane than another, though) that are perceived to be less exclusive. Reverse snobbery has been put into law. Or ordinance. Whatever.

I KNEW I'd seen her make lemon curd...thanks, Live it Up.

Oooooh, look at those pastries! I can hear Ling salivating from here! What's that on the lunch plate, Klary? Looks like an effective hangover cure... And that is HILARIOUS that you were on that billboard...how funny to be walking along and suddenly see a version of yourself up in the air.

I think it's considered rude because it takes up other people's space at the table. That's what I've heard, in any case.

This is a problem here in NYC, too - we have markets on every corner (I exaggerate, but you get the point ), but many of them are just plain awful. I, too, am glad that I have the time and inclination to stray a little further from home and visit a few more places to get the good stuff. Klary, an excellent day - can't wait to see what you get up to tomorrow! Will you be visiting any of those lovely spots you've highlighted on your Food Lover's Guide to Amsterdam? We've already seen the tea house...how about a tavern? I wouldn't mind a beer.

YAY!!!!! I am so excited for this blog. I haven't even read the first 33 posts - I just had to chime in and wish you luck, Klary, and thank you in advance for sharing your birthday week with us.