Megan Blocker

Yes, I know many of us have...I read it a while back, more than a year ago. My friend worked at Penguin at the time and managed to grab an advance copy for me. I really enjoyed it, though I'm still partial to Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me With Apples, as far as Reichl's writings go. This latest book suffers a bit (just a bit) from her divided attentions - on the one hand, providing the back story for some of her more famous (or more personally significant) reviews, and on the other, weaving those into the more personal journey she took during her time as the NYT critic. That said, the book is written in her indubitably readable style and is a great treat for anyone who is interested in restaurants or food writing. I loved seeing the process she went through when reviewing the restaurants, both gathering the information and writing the story - this was also one of my favorite things about Comfort. Don't know about that one...I'm not nearly familiar enough with the UK food writing scene to make a judgment call here, but I can tell you that the US version is still rife with celebrity worship and trend-mongering. Though there is a lot of talk about moving toward more serious food journalism (Reichl's work seems to me to be more "food memoir" in nature), and while we do see the occasional high-profile piece (David Foster Wallace's "Consider the Lobster," from Gourmet, might be considered among these), they are few and far between.

What about the suburbs?? If you could pick any suburb (one with an easy commute to Manhattan), which would you pick, based on the food alone? ← Are we counting outerborough locations as suburbs? Because some of them have some pretty good food in their own right...

My friend Miles is hosting his annual Oscars gathering tonight - each year he has a bunch of college friends (from his graduation year - I am a spring chicken at two years younger and am not invited ) over for dinner and makes a hilariously named menu...tonight the offerings include Brokeback Mutton (a braised lamb stew), the Constant Garden (a salad), and Heath Ledger cake (a toffee-studded tea cake). I'm having nibbles and Champagne chez moi.

Thanks, Ling! Yours sounds good, too! It reminds me so much of a meal that they used to serve at my prep school...they always served chicken cutlets with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn together. It was one of the few things they did really well. I'm sure yours is ten times better than theirs ever was, though.

Today I needed to use up some odds and ends from the fridge, and ended up making a sort of modified carbonara...I crisped a few lardons, removed them from the pan, and then sauteed some onion and garlic in the bacon fat left behind. I deglazed the pan with a little cider vinegar, and added some defrosted frozen corn and the bacon, then grabbed a little pasta cooking water and let it all cook up together - also threw a good deal of black pepper in the mix. Then I tossed it all with penne and some parmesan cheese...very good, better than I expected! And a great way to use up some really disjointed stuff from the fridge and freezer.

It's like poutine for the south of the border crowd! Those burgers look SO GOOD. Drool.

I am planing on starting to cut the pages where recepies are and putting them in binders. When you take out the publicity and the food writting , those magazines dont have many pages ! ← I do something similar, which is to cut out what interests me and toss what doesn't. With something like the Montreal issue of Gourmet, I save the whole thing in a magazine file. Otherwise, I toss most of it and keep what I want. Like Rebecca, I have thousands of books, and when you live in a studio apartment, magazines are low on the totem pole.

Virginia Tech is self-op. I don't think they are a large university, in comparison with some others. . .(?) ← 25,000 students--"the largest [university] in the Commonwealth"? No, that's not small at all. That's about 2.5 times the total student enrollment (including part-time students in our University College) at Widener University's four campuses (the link gives you info about the main campus in Chester, home to the undergraduate college, which has an enrollment of about 3,000). Smaller still is Swarthmore College, about 10 minutes up Providence Avenue/Chester Road. I should ask how they handle their campus food service. ← I went to Bryn Mawr and used to eat at Swat from time to time...their food was pretty good, and I remember a number of bars...salad bars, waffle bars, organic foods, etc. I would say they have an excellent food program. Bryn Mawr and Haverford worked off of the same meal plan, but the food at Bryn Mawr was significantly better prepared. Common belief around this was that since BMC had four dining halls while HC had one (Quaker thing about communal living and dining), the food was being prepared more carefully and in smaller quantities at BMC. Both colleges made efforts to source their food responsibly. I'll see if I can find more info on this... ETA: I do think this is getting a bit OT...I will see if we can get split into another thread!

Rachel, looks like "Animal Style" means that the meat is cooked and fried with mustard, topped with pickles, extra sauce and grilled onions. Here's a link to the "secret" In-N-Out menu... Oh, YUM! I wish they would pull a Krispy Kreme and open all over Manhattan. Buh-bye, Better Burger with your pathetic air-baked fries!!!

Anna, that is a disappointment. However, I can enthusiastically recommend the soup. I made it during my blog, when I had a terrible head cold, and it was very delicious. I actually couldn't taste it the day I made it (or smell it), but I saved some for later, and it was wonderful.

So, earlier this week, I had a very disappointing Starwich experience, as related on my blog. The sandwich (I had the pulled duck confit signature sandwich) was great. The delivery service was awful. However, I do love those sandwiches, and when my friend Danielle asked me to walk down to Lex with her for lunch today, I decided to pick up something to go from Starwich. Predictably, it was delicious. I did the create-your-own option, and got roast beef, arugula, heirloom tomatoes and garlic-horseradish aioli on sourdough. I also got some dill pickle potato chips, which I really enjoyed. All in all, another positive in-store experience, which confirms my theory that they just need to work out some kinks in the delivery service.

Gawker weighs in on Buddakan's dining room here. Nothing about the food, though.

In-N-Out Burger!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!! So glad to see you blogging, Kathy...I can't wait to see how you miraculously balance planning for the move and doing the blog. I think you're amazing. Are you originally from the West Coast? Just wondering how you decided on Oregon, and how you ended up in Southern California...

Oooooh, yay - can't wait to brave the mall-like confines of the TWC to check this out.

As we come up on the time when the thread will be locked (), I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of you who've read along with me this week. As I mentioned last night, the experience of writing this blog has been far more meaningful for me than I would have expected when I set out on Wednesday for breakfast with my mom. The response from all of you, first with your sympathy for my cold and then with your enthusiasm for my adventures, has been absolutely overwhelming. What's most flattering is that a group of people who care so passionately about food - writing about it, reading about it, preparing it and eating it - have been so excited to hear what I have to say about it. It makes me feel that I've truly made a contribution, and that has been incredibly rewarding for me. You have all been so generous with your time and your words and your thoughts during this past week. I hope those of you who've never visited New York will consider a trip, and that the blog has been a decent virtual substitute for those of you who've been and are hankering for another fix. This city - my city, I feel qualified to say, now that I've been here almost five years - is an amazing place. It's draining - even deadening at times - but is so full of vitality and variety that I can't walk out my door in the morning without feeling energized, no matter what the events of the previous evening. Having you with me for the past week has been a great motivator, and I've gotten to see far more of the island than I might in a normal seven-day timespan. For that and for your very, very kind words of encouragement and praise, I thank you.

Woohoo! I love that we all have the same shoes...of course, I love your taste in food, so I'm not surprised by your fantastic taste in footwear.

Actually, their tasting menu is a pretty good deal. It was $64, plus $50 for the wine pairings. I thought it was a good value, particularly when it's easy to spend that kind of money on a lackluster dinner here in Manhattan.

← What, no toe cleavage? I was also hoping for a picture or two from Lobel's. ← Fresser, I'm here to tell ya, Manhatten is COLD this time of year! ← Sorry, Fresser...I'm not really a Lobel's girl... You'll be happy to know there was toe cleavage on Friday night...

Water with really nifty ice cubes. Rebecca, I did a little poking around and found these bowls at Crate and Barrel that are somewhat similar to my pasta bowls...

I haven't been in Paris for an awfully long time, so I have nothing to add but this: I am SO jealous.

That's why I drink the beer. Thanks for the hilarious tale, Birder!

Yes, you caught me! I'm trying to make sure I've answered all the questions before the thread closes! Thank you, Rebecca. And I do loooove those bowls. They're from Pottery Barn, and I picked them up for less then $2 each, since the pattern was being discontinued. But you can find ones that look like them all over the place, and probably in far more interesting colors.

Who said she was hungover? She may have taken this. ← No way, Doc - I'm telling you, Diet Coke - it's a girl's best friend. Sometimes I like it even more than diamonds. Very rarely, but sometimes. ← Megan, Have you tried Diet Dr. Pepper.. I dislike soda and I like this stuff..If you are a big soda person, this is worth a try.. ← Thanks for the recommendation, Daniel! I don't love Diet Dr. Pepper's slightly stronger, tangier flavor, but it hits the spot every once in a while. I had a friend in college, Kim, who was as addicted to Diet Dr. Pepper as I am to Diet Coke. Kim was the best person to have a class with...she was two years ahead of me and was a math major, so we only took one class together - an English class focused on the novels of Jane Austen. Surprisingly, yes, there were men in the class, too. I would bring the sodas, and Kim would bring the candy - she never went anywhere without candy - and we would surreptitiously sip and nibble throughout. Oh, goodness, that was such fun.

All righty, folks. I'm off to bed, but I'll be back tomorrow for the traditional wrap-up and goodbye. Thanks so much for spending this past week with me - blogging has been more rewarding for me than I would ever have expected.

Don't know about kitchen tours, but I'll do my best! As for a little Italian market - there certainly are places like this in the city! My neighborhood is historically German/Austrian/Hungarian, so we don't have a whole lot of Italian spots. But an ethnic market is definitely on the schedule. ← Hey, Sandy. As I mentioned in that earlier post, yes, the neighborhood is historically German, Hungarian, and Austrian. A lot of that flavor has left (apparently 86th Street used to be stuffed to bursting with German restaurants), but there are still glimpses here and there. We have Heidelberg, an authentic German restaurant (great beer, great schnitzel), which is two doors down from S&W, and a Hungarian restaurant called Andre's Cafe just opened on 2nd between 84th and 85th - it was mentioned in an Op-Ed about cabbage streudel by Nora Ephron.