Suzanne F

Oh, shit, I guess I tagged myself. I warn you all: don't expect any gourmet tap-dance. Okay, yesterday, Monday, August 25: vitamin pills, with instant iced coffee (Bustello dissolved in boiling water, ice cubes, water, and skim milk. No Sweet 'n' Low this time) 1 Le Petit Ecolier 70% Extra-Dark Chocolate-covered cookie Lots of tap water (mmmmmmmm, NYC water) "Lunch" (around 3pm): salad with balsamic vinaigrette, left over from Saturday's dinner, kind of limp but not yet slimy, with some kasseri cheese microplaned on top, and freshly ground black pepper. Dinner: Only one glass (!) of La Gitana fino sherry Lamb and artichoke stew out of the freezer, plus chickpeas (canned ) and artichoke paste. Potato-plantain spatzl (how's THAT for fusion? ), also from Saturday. Stir-fried green Swiss Chard The ever-present salad, with doctored Marie's Feta Dressing (extra feta, oregano, dill, and yogurt) 1/2 of the bottle of Wagner (Finger Lakes) 1998 Cabernet Franc That's it. HWOE finished off the Lychee and Lime sorbet that Rachel and Jason brought to the potluck, but I was too full.

He Who Only Eats and I ate there Sunday after the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. Except for the fact that EVERYTHING was underseasoned (salt-free is NOT a good thing ), it was quite good. Big fat sesame breadsticks and "everything" flatbreads: good vehicles for butter. Oysters: 3 from Prince Edward Island, 3 (Pacific Orchard?) from British Columbia. Fresh, tasty, and the mignonette, which included cilantro, was not overpowering. Tartare of Char: lots of fun to say, great to eat once we added some salt and pepper. Just enough truffle oil to be mysterious; lots of chives (a recurring theme). Very crisp, large, deep-fried celery root chips, a crunchy contrast to the velvety fish. Spaghetti with Salad on top: between the spaghetti and the pile of well-dressed arugula, a pile of calamari rings, shrimp, scallops, and baby octopus in a rather spicy tomato sauce. The spiciness covered the lack of salt. The spaghetti was perfectly cooked, as was all the seafood. The scallops were especially sweet. Lobster Sandwich with Old Bay Fries: variation on a lobster roll, served on a brioche bun. Lotsa chunks of lightly cooked, very sweet lobster, a tiny bit of finely chopped celery, lotsa chives, in a mild housemade mayo. Not cheap, but really, really good. The fries were excellent: uniformly crisp, not at all greasy, but sadly short on Old Bay. HWOE had Geary's Porter, I had a Japanese (forgot the brand name) White Ale (good, but $9?!?!?!?!?). He also had a glass of wine, but again, I don't remember what it was. The wine list is very reasonable. Yes, the chocolate pudding was a nice touch, and the fortune-telling fish were a hoot (although it looked as though everyone came out "Passionate"). Tables next to us got the clam fritters, the crab-spinach dip, and the fried oysters, all of which looked good and eminently shareable (esp. the dip: a huge portion). On the whole, as long as there's salt on the table, it's quite good. Definitely a place to return to when in the neighborhood.

Also: Asia Market supplies restaurants, but also sells retail 71-1/2 Mulberry Street (around the corner and up a bit from the place on Mosco) (212) 962-2020

Kris -- just proves that great minds think alike!

Here's the remainder HWOE's report on the remainder of his time. I should warn you, he knew I was going to post it here.

Nah, not elyse, she forgets to eat some days! Uh. . . don't look at me like that.

Awww, she'll grow out of it. Anyway, I did (but I STILL prefer my hot dogs well-done). So will the boy, if you don't make a big deal out of it.

the answer in that situation, of course, is "oh yes of course." I disagree. The answer is: "You asked for MY lasagna, right?"

YES YES YES! Now you've inspired me. I have a few jars of artichoke paste -- mmm, use that instead of tomato, add artichoke hearts, herbs, cheese, maybe a few mushrooms for a white pizza. But I may have to wait a couple of days, since tonight is already stewed lamb with artichokes. Can't have too many artichokes, though, can you?

Which all brings us back to JAZ's article on Being a Gracious Guest and the subsequent discussion.

It's been a couple of years now, I think, since Eberhard Muller left. I'm not sure how much of that time David Féau has been the chef (and poster boy in the NY Times ads). If you want Muller's cooking, he's at Bayard's. And getting some of his produce from the farm he and his wife own, out on Long Island. edited to add a link to my post about a meal at Bayard's.

I have both this Salter, the one with the square glass platform, and a mechanical Salter that's maybe 30 years old. And I've used the Salter Aquatronic. I'm not entirely thrilled with the electronic one. But for some facets, I love it. If I had to get another, this is what I'd look for: the longest possible time it can sit idle before it shuts itself off (mine is too quick to go) the largest capacity; you never know when you need to weigh 10 pounds of tomatoes for sauce the smallest possible increment (this is just for work use, though, where I need to go as small as 1 gram) the most accuracy, natch largest readout, that won't be obscured by any container on the platform tare feature, natch metric and US measures, and an easy-to-get-to way to switch between the two a platform I can easily wipe clean. I don't care if I can remove it, because I almost always have what I'm weighing in some sort of container, the better to prevent inadvertent cross-contamination.

kel, good luck. But if the people you're cooking for have never made them either, there's no need -- you can always tell them that's the way it's SUPPOSED to be. And then the next time, when you correct your mistakes, tell them you found a variation.

Laurie Colwin has a recipe in Home Cooking for Creamed Spinach with Jalapeno Peppers, which she says is "so good it made me want to sit up and beg like a dog." It calls for Monterey Jack plus jalapenos. I've done it with Pepper Jack (and still added extra jalapenos, of course). She's right. I made some adaptations and posted it in the Recipe Archives as: Laurie Colwin's Creamed Spinach with Jalapeno Peppers.

Another website where I'm involved had a question about lobster consomme -- from the way the situation was described, the whole process was rushed, the ingredients for the raft -- in themselves insufficient, just egg whites and mirepoix -- were added to the stock AS IT INITIALLY cooked, all kinds of bad behavior. Granted, making consomme is not really labor-intensive, but it can be time-consuming. Have you any hints for speeding up the process?

Laurie Colwin's Creamed Spinach with Jalapeno Peppers Serves 8 as Side. This is an adaptation of a recipe from Home Cooking. Laurie Colwin had it at a dinner in Dallas, and says it was "so good it made me want to sit up and beg like a dog." I can't believe that you can feed 8 people with this recipe, though, since 2 of us have easily finished a half-recipe. 2 pkg (10 ounces each) frozen spinach 4 T butter, plus extra for topping 2 T flour 2 T minced onion 1/2 tsp (one clove) minced garlic 1/2 c evaporated milk black pepper to taste 3/4 tsp celery salt 6 oz Pepper Jack cheese, cubed 1 or more chopped jalapenos, fresh or pickled bread crumbs Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Cook the spinach. Drain well and reserve 1 cup of liquid. Chop the spinach fine. Melt the butter, blend in the flour, and cook very briefly. Add the onion and garlic. Cook more, without letting anything brown. Slowly whisk in the spinach water and the evaporated milk. Add the pepper, celery salt, cheese, jalapenos, and spinach. Cook on low heat until the cheese is melted and the mixture is blended. Pour into a buttered baking dish or casserole and top with buttered bread crumbs. Bake for about 45 minutes, until bubbly and golden. Keywords: Hot and Spicy, Vegetables, Tex-Mex, Side, Cheese ( RG592 )

Yup, that's the same. I met him at a benefit many years ago -- very nice guy, with a few of gorgeous kids. Thanks.

(= blush X 3, for those who don't use extra smilies).

On a similar note: isn't Assembly owned and run by the chef from the original Assembly in midtown that closed a few years ago? A Greek name, IIRC. They made a dynamite venison chili!

David, as you can imagine, I'm also interested in your thoughts on the relationship between writer and editor No, I really mean that. As a copyeditor, I sometimes find it hard to figure out the writer's voice, so that I can make corrections without turning the piece into mine. And while I'm more than willing to correct factual errors, I'm wary doing it in a way that pisses off the writer. Can your ego speak for the wider world out there? For the record, David and I re-met in a copyediting class, and I looked over his Amanda interview for him. Believe me, this man knows what he's talking about; he's a very, very, VERY good writer.

I sometimes add Pepper Jack to my macaroni and cheese, along with a large dose of hot sauce. Smooth, creamy, crunchy top, and SPICY: the ultimate comfort food. I feel so sorry for people who don't eat peppers.

It turned green a couple of hours ago. Maybe it's sympathetic to how Tommy feels by this time of night? Edited to add: Tommy, you ARE a pussy. Sheesh, not even any talk, let alone action. I said it way back at 10:47pm.

I go to the downtown one a lot, because it's close to my apartment and open late, which few other places are. The roast chicken is always reliable. Frites are pretty decent, sometimes excellent. Charcuterie plate also a safe bet, and the skirt steak. The only weird thing is that they put the good green salad on the hot plate with the meat and frites, so it cooks a bit . Duck confit salad is usually okay, too. He Who Only Eats had the choucroute a couple of weeks ago, and it was okay, nothing special. Definitely stay away from the specials. BTW, Chef Bourdain has mentioned that he is neverever at the downtown LH. At the uptown one I like the steak tartare. But my ears need a day or two to recover (I agree with Tommy about the noise).

nuoc cham, i think, is actually a condiment mad from nam pla and vinegar and/or lime juice, among other things. and i think those acidic notes complete the picture. Yeah, you're right. But don't mess with my girl Elyse, or you'll be in big trouble, buster.

Priscilla: here's the link to the oil-poached pluots: smack lips. He Who Only Eats brought Wednesday's Chronicle back with him, so I saw that and thought, wow. Seeing Helena's pictures only confirm that it's definitely worth trying. Between vacation and HWOE being away, tonight was the first time in almost 2 weeks I actually cooked: Chicken with cashews and celery (very loosely based on the recipe in Every Grain of Rice, plus ginger and garlic) Rice cake (not the puffy, crunchy rice cakes at all, but a flat, almond-shaped noodle made with rice flour) Mixed salad (romaine, endive, radicchio, watercress, Boston, plus kirby and tomato from the Greenmarket) with sherry vinegar/olive oil Dr. Konstantin Frank Dry Riesling