Suzanne F

If you want two unused Salton yogurt makers (5 one-cup jars each), let me know. I stopped making yogurt years ago: HWOE is happy with Axelrod, and it's not that big a deal to me. Just let me know so I can wash all the jars first.

I was also thinking clarified butter. The extra water and the milk solids in merely melted butter make it a different emulsion, one I'm not used to working with. When you use salted butter for anything, you lose control over how much salt goes into it. Unsalted lets you "salt to taste" -- a phrase I hate to read in recipes, but practice all the time. In other words, unsalted is better for us control freaks.

Salted??????? in a word: unsalted

Is anybody keeping count? Don't look at me!

bread

27 Division Street. Although, for all I know, it could be gone now. We tried it because somebody on Chowhound whose taste I trusted raved about the dim sum there, and while we didn't have dim sum, we had a really great meal, all live out of the tanks. Warning: it was on the expensive side, but oh man was it good! Really, that steamed fish was one of the best I've ever had.

Thanks, MRX. Someone has mentioned something about him having a new book. We now return you to Chuck E. Cheese, if we must.

City Hall and Le Zinc (both on Reade Street) do great grilled whole fish. CH always has one on the menu; LeZ very often. It's been a while since I've had one at either place, but both were cooked perfectly, plain. Thalassa also does fish whole, on a price-per-pound basis. Have not had it, but would trust them. Chinese: a couple of years ago, on our only visit to date, we had an exquisite steamed bass at 27 Sunrise. The usual soy sauce/scallion/ginger version.

The January 12 issue of Nation's Restaurant News has this item in its "Side Dishes" section:

On the organic front: carrots, even supermarket brands of organics, are much better than the non-organic ones.

Jeez, I should hope so! That's all I'm buying these days.

Oh, MRX is just this great big puppy. Loud but adorable.

The second most amazing thing about the giant burger (the first being simply its existence) was that there was still a hint of pink to the meat, even after being cooked, assembled, wrapped, transported (in a cast-iron skillet, no less!), unwrapped, and finally reheated. And nobody needed to use the ketchup I brought out. (Maybe because it was obviously very ancient ketchup??)

me too. and i don't want to hijack the cumin thread, but i feel it's worth mentioning here that cardamom is a pretty awesome smell/taste too. MMMMMMMMMMMM, caraway, cardamom, chiles, cinnamon (or cassia), coriander, cumin, curry (okay, so this is cheating a little ) and just a hint of clove.

Whenever I make kofta (spiced ground lamb patties, to grill), if it doesn't have cumin, it's just not right.

For yesterday's Pie Potluck, I made a "pizza" on a base of plain paratha. The toppings were (in order of application): - Indian "tomato pickle" (somewhat spicy) for the sauce; - homemade piperade (sauteed red and green bell peppers, onion, and garlic) - crumbled manouri cheese (Greek, sort of a cross between feta and ricotta salata). (I forgot the curry leaves that I had meant to add. ) Pretty damn good, if I say so myself!

1. The only time I remember really being annoyed at the sommelier for completely ignoring me, in spite of my attempts to discuss the list with him, was at Daniel (before it moved). Especially since the reservation was in my name, and it's kind of hard to mistake HWOE for someone named "Suzanne." 2. Usually, if no wine list is automatically provided, I am the one who asks for it, because I'm pushier than HWOE. But then we both look at it, decide together, and both ask to taste. Never had a problem that way. 3. If the list is extremely large and/or carries many unfamiliar bottles, we both look it over and discuss possibilities about which neither of us knows anything, before I finally convince HWOE that we should ask for advice from the sommelier, based on what we will be eating. Sometime he asks, sometimes I ask, but then we both discuss with the sommelier and both taste. Again, this works fine (except as in #1 above )

Well, for gosh sakes, they should have known! I mean, what kind of friend gives a friend a DEAD lobster?

Clockwise, starting in the upper left corner: Vinegar Pie, alacarte Potato Pie, Sherribabee Pecan Pie, elyse (who else? ) Green Tea Cream Pie, forkAndPen (that's meringue on top; the filling was gloriously green!) Cold Lemon Souffle Pie, MHesse Leek Quiche, SuzanneF and HWOE (bought at La Casse-Croute) Chocolate/Peanut Butter Mousse Pie, Moopheus and Terra Squash, Apple, and Onion Tart, picaman Indian "Pizza," SuzanneF Blueberry Pie, SuzanneF and HWOE (bought at The Little Bigger Place) Coconut Cream Pie, David K. And top to bottom, in the middle: Giant Burger-and-Fries "Pie," KirkL. Mushroom Pie, baw Not pictured "before," but you can see traces in the "after" shot: Apple Crumb Pie, Bondgirl Trio of sorbets: Banana, Strawberry/Balsamic, Mango/something , bloviatrix Haagen Dazs Praline and Cream Ice Cream (hand-packed), jeunefilleparis

Oh, what a beauty! Well, I hope you can share it with others who will appreciate it. I will try to put a caption on a copy of Sherribabee's photo of, um, PIE. If I can't do that, I'll just do a list The Libations consumed at the Pie Potluck were (list prepared by our house sommelier, HWOE): RED WINES: - Cabernet Sauvignon: Bedell Cellars 1998, North Fork of Long Island (Thanks, MRX) - Côtes du Rhône: Domaine de L’Oratoire St. Martin, Cuvee Prestige 2001 Cairanne (Thanks, Pan) - Pinot Noir: Salmon Run (a label of Dr. Konstantin Frank & Sons) NV, Finger Lakes, NY (HWOE) WHITE WINES: - Chenin Blanc: Paumonok 2001, North Fork of Long Island (SuzanneF) - Dry Reisling: Dr. Konstantin Frank, 2002, Finger Lakes, NY (HWOE) DESSERT WINE (just a little of it): - Orange Muscat: “Essensia” 2001, Quady Winery, Madera, California (HWOE) BEERS: - Ommegang Belgian Style Abbey Ale (Dark), Brewery Omegang, Cooperstown, NY (Thanks, MRX) - Red Hook IPA “Ballard Bitter” India Pale Ale, Red Hook Brewery, Portsmouth, NH (unless BAW brought these bottles with her from Red Hook’s home base in Seattle—Thanks, BAW) OTHER: - Vintage “Original” Seltzer, NV - Coffee (high test): Cuvée of Café Bustelo (Mexico) & Café Santa Clara (Brazil) - Tea: Twining's Irish Breakfast (Assam), which I don't think anyone drank - Half & Half and Whole Milk from Tuscan Dairies, Skim Milk from Enron, er, Parmalat—same as Enron. - Water: NYC DEP 2004 And thanks to those who left a couple of unopened bottles of wine: - Riesling Kabinett, Freinsheimer Musikantenbuckel, Erich Bender 2000, Pfalz (put in the fridge to chill and then accidentally forgotten. Honest, it was an accident!) - Jumilla, Altos de Luzón 2001, Spain We’ll let you know how we like them when we try them.

Not of the Potluck, babe! The dishes have all been washed, the forks and spoons and knives and servers have all been washed, and lots (but not all) of the glasses have been washed. The floor was vacuumed. Very little cleanup remains. (HWOE did a big part of it, of course. ) I will post the complete list of the bounty tomorrow (including wines, some of which never made it out of the fridge, oops ). It was, needless to say, all terrific. And a delight to meet some of the new folks -- an astrophysicist, a copyeditor, among others -- and to see some others again. And now,I've got to go to bed. Thanks to all who came, and those who couldn't, there will be other potlucks, I expect! PS: Someone left a plaid umbrella in a cute little plaid carrying case. Who?

We'll take you up on that offer!

The updated list as of now (Sunday morning, about 11:37am): SuzanneF + HWOE: (hosts) X-Cultural flatbread pizza; Leek Quiche (bought locally); Fruit Pie (ditto); non-alcoholic beverages (teas, coffees, seltzer) elyse: Pecan Pie alacarte: Vinegar pie; Nana's smashed potato pie, plus Tagamet?? MHesse: Lemon Souffle pie plus extra lemon fluff if not already eaten up bloviatrix: Sorbet (even eGulleers cannot live by pie alone) sherribabee: Potato Pie Picaman and KirkL: Apple and onion Tart; TBA jeunefilleparis: Grilled Cheese Pie? forkandpen: Something else, I forget what David K.: coconut cream pie JosephB and Donna (around 4:30-5): Meyer Lemon Tart baw: beverage; mushroom pie/tart Moopheus and spousal unit: ? Pan: I forget what; plus French red wine Bond Girl (around 5:30): Apple Tart ?wawairis ?megc ?Fat Guy and Ellen Shapiro ?R Washburn and his wife

Re canned soup + real sauce: oh, I didn't mean you should do it all the time No, I was building on your "once a week" idea. Standard food-service can size is either #10 (weight varies) or 46-ounce (usually only juices, though). Occasionally odd sizes for things like roasted peppers, clams -- and maybe your soup. You can calculate the volume of the can in cubic inches, then convert that to quarts if you know the conversion factor (I don't offhand, but maybe I can find it). That way you'll know for sure how many cans you might use. Then again, mudpuppie has a great idea!

A couple of weeks ago I set out to make some cowpeas with smoked neck bones, to eat over rice with greens. Added a few quarts too much water, though, and ended up with some pretty good bean soup. Try it either way.