Megan Blocker

Oh. My. God. Daniel, that looks like an amazing meal - your family is lucky to have you! I've got to get my brother cooking...

This little sister (petite soeur?) is impressed with your Googling skills, Carrot Top!

I've noticed that people who work in professions that are by their nature nocturnal (waiters, chefs, cooks, actors, unemployed writers, rock stars ) tend to smoke more than their daylight-dwelling counterparts. I wonder if the nicotine, a strong stimulant, helps to balance effects of the unnatural working hours? If this is the case, it would naturally follow that people who keep odd hours would therefore smoke more than those who don't, and that smoking would, over time, become a part of the cultures surrounding those professions... This is based on purely anecdotal evidence, but it makes some sense to me. As far as taste buds go...I've heard it both ways (smoking dulls them/smoking piques them). I know that my father needed his spicy food to be even spicier when he was smoking than when he had quit for a while (he went back and forth before quitting for good a few years ago). Similarly, my mother's fiance is a heavy smoker, and he drowns everything in too much pepper (though this may be a preference rather than a result of smoking; he hasn't quit, so I've never observed if it changes when he's not smoking). Does anyone know more about the science of taste? I'm going to go see what I can find!

Thanks, guys, for all these ideas! If anything strikes you over the next week, let me know...she's coming over for her lesson on Sunday the 13th!

Lunch today was chicken milanese. I coated the chicken in flour, then egg, then a mixture of bread crumbs, garlic, chopped flat-leaf parsley, salt and pepper. The salad on top (tomatoes, romaine hearts and red onion) was dressed with a simple red wine vinaigrette (red wine vinegar, mustard, olive oil, parsley, garlic, S&P). It was really yummy and quite pretty, too. Especially when set against the background of the city as viewed from my window...

Daniel, that dish looks amazing...I think I know what I'm cooking for the fam on Thanksgiving morning. Yum. Breakfast this morning for me was a big ol' cup of coffee and two slices of the lemon loaf handed to me as I left Danube last night after a lovely dinner. It tasted kind of like lemon pound cake, but much lighter, and the lemony flavor was very intense.

That's a good point people have made about the tines - mine are almost always down...unless I'm wearing a corset, like Carrot Top, in which case I can barely hold a fork at all.

Two of my best friends took me to dinner here tonight as a belated birthday present. The food was excellent, and so was the service...until they took our dessert order and promptly forgot about us. Our port and moscat finally arrived when dessert and the post-dessert treats were gone. I started with the week's market appetizer of seared foie gras and a foie gras creme brulee. The seared foie was good; the creme brulee was exquisite. It managed to be light as air and incredibly rich at the same time. My companions started with the "schlutzkrapfen," which are cheese ravioli. They were excellent - they tasted like essence of bacon chased by cheese. For my main, I had braised beef cheeks off of the Austrian menu; they were good, but I am becoming more and more of the opinion that a braise is a braise - yummy, but not that different from any other well-executed braise. The garlic and chive spaetzle along side was, however, excellent. Next time, I'll follow my friend Hall's lead and order the weiner schnitzel. It was amazing. The veal itself had a light, airy breading. The potato salad it came with was tangy, but still had depth, and the lingonberry sauce was to die for. Dessert was ok - we split a caramel tart, liwanzen (blinis) and chocolate-hazelnut cake between the three of us. All three were good, but not anything to write home about. The post-dessert treats. however, were quite yummy, especially a light cocoa-hazelnut cake. When the Taylor Fladgate finally came, it was yummy. All in all, a lovely evening. The room is gorgeous - easily the prettiest dining room I've experienced in NYC in years. Definitely a good, romantic spot.

This is correct! I went on a student trip to France with one of the Zagats' sons (many moons ago)..."Zuh-GAT" is the correct pronunciation, from the horse's (or the cat's?) mouth.

Oh, man. That is not a working title - that is pure Sex-and-the-City-pink-drink spin-off heaven. Bravo. I know tons of girls who would drink that and love ordering it just for the name. I'm more of a Manhattan drinker myself, but I am dying here.

And I third it! That looks amazing...please post the recipe!

The Regional thread is here. It's on Broadway between 98th and 99th - I've been there with people and just by myself, either way it's a great place to go, although a little noisy. :wub: make sure you try the bigoli with duck ragu. ← I can't believe it! I move, and a good restaurant opens a block from my old place (Amsterdam between 98th and 99th). Shucks!

Nice, all of the above sounds good.. I had a mini butterfingers and two diet pepsi.. ← Lunch of champions, Daniel!

You can pick-up the day of; they also have overnight delivery!

I'm going! I've never been before, but I'm fully anticipating a major chocolate hangover on Sunday...

Mussels with tomatoes and pesto are to die for - can't wait to see what you create, Kathleen! Pegu looks like it was a fabulous time - when is it not? And those dumplings...yummmmmy.

Hey Megan! I made carbonara yesterday too! Only when the water was boiling and I reached for the spaghetti jar, it turned out to be empty.. So it turned into Penne Carbonara instead.. I did a new thing, I mixed the eggs with a little of the pasta cooking water before adding them to the drained pasta. . I don't know if it was that, the delicious organic bacon, the pungent pecorino, or the novelty of the penne pasta, but it was the best carbonara I ever made ← We must be on the same wavelength, Klary! I had reserved some of the pasta water to add, but ended up having enough clinging to the pasta itself to make things nice and creamy. When I went back into the kitchen to clean up after eating, the water and starch had separated...ew... Or Alinka's gorgeous, glowing photography and colorful dishes?

Thanks, guys! I am very psyched to have finally made this one - it's always been one of my favorites, and now it's part of the repertoire. That gratin looks excellent, Daniel - anything with bacon is fine by me (as is probably crystal clear at this point)!

Chocolate chip cookies...soon. They're cooling!

Tonight was spaghetti carbonara and a tossed salad...the carbonara was the first one I've ever made, and it went well! Obviously a simple dish, but I had concerns over mixing the egg in with the hot pasta and ending up with srambled eggs and spaghetti! But, I mixed the egg with the cheese first, then added it, and all went well.

I may seem greedy, given what I know I'm getting, but I would also like a food mill, a kitchen scale, an Emile Henry pie plate, a Le Creuset Dutch oven...ooooh, and a popover pan! All relatively small-ticket (save the Le Creuset), but space is as valuable as $$ in my little Manhattan apartment... ETA: And a cake stand!

I love the parsnips and carrots...I definitely would have cast a vote for winter/fall veggies, and roasted is even better... I'm wondering what "wild rice pancakes" are like - are they crepes made with wild rice flour? Am I completely lacking in cosmopolitan knowledge of wild rice pancakes? Can someone describe them? Thanks! As far as fancy...I think we're well past the point where fancy or special is defined only by ornament or bold new flavor combinations. Given Prince Charles' well-known interest in organic farming and the long trend of fine dining in America toward cuisine featuring the ingredients, I think the menu is appropriate. Is it the most exciting thing in the world? No. Does it still sound good, and feasible for a large crowd? Yes, definitely.

Keep in mind that, at a state dinner, the food is the least important thing. Being invited is the most important thing, and sitting close to somebody powerful is the second most important thing. It's not so much dinner as ceremony. Also, when serving 130 VIPs more or less simultaneously, I imagine that creating dishes that can be served quickly and efficiently (like those buffalo loins) is the priority, rather than the excellence of the food. ← Can anyone say "wedding?"

I don't mind a restaurant with a bit of buzz (in fact, I prefer it), but I, too, have noticed that some restaurants are just plain conversation destroyingly loud these days. I agree with what's been said above about design trends - no tablecloths, tile or hardwood floors...these are things that lead to less sound absorption. One thing I noticed about Hearth in NYC the first time I ate there was that one wall of the dining room (the one that isn't a street-facing, windowed wall) is covered in a sleek-looking, sound-absorbing feltish material. It seems to work - I've never eaten there when every table wasn't full, and it's never been too loud to be enjoyable.

Caroling is definitely the best thing about the Christmas season...music in general, in my opinion, is the best thing about the whole ridiculous holiday. I go to church around Christmas (Lessons and Carols, anyone?) not because I feel guilty if I don't, but because it's the best free concert in town! Where do you send these carolers? Do they do private parties? Sing at department stores? I'm curious! Good luck getting your stuff out of the way today!