bushey

?Am I even thinking of the same species.......the sea urchins I've seen up close and personal in crystal blue waters have not looked "fuzzy" or little. The sight of a small colony of them on the sea floor, with their black spikes poised malevolently, reduced my daughter to tears. I wonder what their natural predators are and how they handle them. The point about the French is well taken. Now I've simply got to try 'em.

Jinmyo, and stay in ryokans and visit the hot springs.......Perhaps one day I will.

With all this talk of uni, I feel like the universe is converging. The only context I had for uni before reading about it on eguller was trying not to get too close while snorkelling. Then I started seeing several threads here about uni and an article in the New Yorker food issue about Chang Rae Lee's first experiences with uni. Last night we went out to dinner with friends and friends-of-friends and it turns out that one of them travels to Japan several time a years. We started talking about Japanese food and what the experience of eating out in Japan with his business associates is like, etc. and the first story he tells us is about being handed a live sea urchin, that the chef slits in half, and a spoon. I think this means I should live out my dream of visiting Japan to see the snow monkeys and eat uni.

I admit that I've recently switched allegiance from Grey Poupon to Maille when it comes to dijon style mustard (though I've been known to switch back and forth depending on coupons). We usually have several different styles of mustard on hand, though, from French's yellow mustard to Nance's sharp and creamy to deli-style brown mustard and one of my personal favorites, Honeycup. There's also a great sweet/hot mustard in a honeycomb shaped squeeze bottle that they serve with fried camembert cheese at our local German restaurant, and it's really good. Sometimes I whip up a small batch of my own using a trusty tin of Coleman's. It's pretty easy, really. Got the recipe out of one of those "Great Gifts from your Kitchen" books that I periodically borrow from the library when I'm feeling particularly Martha-esque (read:once in a blue moon).

Malawry, would that be coffee ice cream with chocolate chips? I'm there.

Mmmmmmm........for lunch I had leftover heirloom tomato salad from last night (same basic recipe as above, with a splash of balsamico), coarsely chopped, on toasted cracked wheat baguette with fresh mozzarella. Ran it under the broiler quickly to melt the cheese a bit. No Dolcetto, though. Cubicle police wouldn't go for that at all...............................

Fresh mozzarella. It gets all nice and melty/stringy. Outdoor........very impressive, and even more of a niche classic.

Although I've never tried heating oil in the microwave, it would probably work out well using the same philosophy as heating/melting better: medium or low heat, covered, and do it in small increments of time. Let us know how it works (and avert your face when uncovering!). Just think, Rachel, you could be gathering material for your new cookbook "Great Meals: Fast and Easy in a One-Burner Kitchen" .

I use the same method, but keep the garlic clove whole so the flavor is milder. Thyme and oregano are also great add-ins if you want a somewhat stronger herb flavor.

Jinmyo, when can I come for dinner? Wilfrid, please describe the baccala con huevos a little further. One of my best friends is Portuguese and she introduced me to (I'm going to mangle the spelling) Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa. The codfish is in big flakes, with rings of onion, slices of potato and hard-cooked eggs. Very delicious. The only time I've used salt cod at home was to make Brandade de Morue and it was wonderful, but I must've done too good a job soaking because we had to add a lot of salt at the table! Last night: pan fried hanger steak, oven fried potato chips (white and sweet), heirloom tomato salad and cracked-wheat baguette. For lunch today I had the leftover tomato salad on toasted baguette, with fresh mozzarella, lightly broiled to melt the cheese. Yum, yum. People here in cubicleville eyed my plate with envy.

Spaghetti or linguine tossed with hot butter and olive oil, topped with toasted bread crumbs and a sprinkling of parmigiano. Always have the ingredients on hand, always hits the spot.

BklynEats -- Think of it as a way for people who are working their asses off in a super-stressed environment to make their long shifts survivable. In just about every work environment people develop their own lingo and stupid in-jokes that say a lot more about themselves than anyone else.

I find the discussion on lactose intolerance interesting, because over the past several months I've come to realize that I can't tolerate drinking milk or eating yogurt anymore. It took a while to figure out what was making me feel so awful, and the funny thing is I had started increasing my intake of skim milk and nonfat yogurt because of the whole calcium/osteoporosis thing. (I'm already short enough, thank you.) I would go a few days without having milk, then I'd have cereal and milk for breakfast and end up miserable the rest of the day. Cheese and ice cream never bother me, since I never eat them in quantity. I checked out a website on lactose intolerance, and sure enough, skim milk and nonfat yogurt are absolutely the highest in lactose. Is it true lactose intolerance -- who knows? My mother's identical twin has severe intolerance, so maybe there's a genetic tendency for me. Anyway, I've adapted my diet to adjust, switching to Lactaid milk and giving up yogurt except as a garnish. As for people saying they have allergies when they don't, a funny thing happened to me the other day. I was having lunch with a friend at Uno's and when I ordered, I asked for my salad without onions and the chili without the chopped onion garnish. I just don't care for raw onions. The server was very concerned and came back in a minute to ask if I was allergic to onions. I assured her it was just a question of like/dislike but clearly they take the whole question of food allergies seriously. Can we say "liability"?

Tony, do you ever hop over to Anguilla and check out the dining scene (and beaches) there?

Steve P - When you do make it to the New York Medical Library are you going to be looking for culinary volumes that fill in the gap of those 110 year, hoping it will shed some light on how people were thinking about and approaching food? (And why do you suppose the best culinary library is at a medical school?) Sounds like a fascinating outing. Wish I had the time to join you on a research field trip, though I think you should extend your search to books on the history and culture of that period. I would suspect that trade routes, feudal alliances and the Crusades are all involved somehow.

Burgers (beef) on the grill. Mine was topped with feta cheese mixed with fresh mint and oregano and eaten on a toasted English muffin with a thick slice of native tomato. Grilled corn that was substandard (I ran to the store 5 minutes before closing and took the 4 least awful ears from the 6 remaining in the bin). Dessert was a scoop of Ginger Pear sorbet. Jinmyo -- how are blueberries from the '60s different from today? I don't remember what blueberries back then tasted like, only that I loved 'em then and I love 'em now.

Ditto what Simon says. If I have a poor or mediocre experience at a local restaurant I'll usually only give it another try if a few people whose opinions and tastes are close to mine rave about it. If I love a place, it has to pass the "three time" rule -- if it wows me after the third visit, it goes on the list of favorites.

I was told that female lobsters have larger tails in proportion to their bodies than males. Great......pear shaped lobsters! The general rule I use for steaming lobsters (1 - 1.5 lbs) is to check after about 10 minutes to see if they're bright red, and then turn off the heat and let them sit a little longer. If the claws are really big, though, I'll leave the heat on and steam another 5-6 minutes or so. Another option, of course, is to purchase them shortly before eating at a fish store or supermarket that steams them in that big autoclave thing for you and then there's no hassle, no sticky pot to wash.

tommy, come back, please. I was laughing out loud about the plethora of drawers in Varmint's kitchen and still the need for a junk drawer. I'm not into outhouse humor. mr. tommy, you're still my favorite poster .

Varmint, LOL! We have a lot of drawers in our kitchen also, and three of the drawers would probably look like junk drawers to anyone not familiar with the method of my madness. For example, under one of the drawers we have a pull out shelf that I use for baking, mixing, mashing potatoes, etc. (I'm short and the counters are a tad bit too high). Therefore, potato masher goes in this drawer and NOT the drawer under the cooktop where all the other cooking utensils go. How hard is that to remember???? The other day I was looking in the junk drawer for something or other -- matches? white cotton thread? -- and found my long lost Swiss army knife.

shugga -- My mom, too, used Contadina products. For her sauce it was always a few cans of puree, a few cans of sauce and a can or two (small size) of the tomato paste. No Italian heritage whatsoever, but she made the best spaghetti sauce ever. I lived in Worcester, MA for many years and that's where I first heard the word "gravy" used for sauce. There was one street that comprised the Italian commercial section of the city and there were a couple of great diners. When you ordered cutlets, the waitress would say "Red or brown gravy on that, hon?"

I like San Marzano tomatoes also, but they're getting harder and harder to find on supermarket shelves. Cento used to be available most of the time, but now I stop by the Italian market and pick up whichever brand they have. Also, sometimes the job lot stores get a load of San Marzano tomatoes so I'll stock up. re:Pomi, this is the brand that our Italian friends recommended to me as the "closest to Italian tomatoes". Their family lives in the Abruzzi region. FWIW, they also recommend the Del Verde brand of dried pasta as being closest to "the real thing". I prefer whole tomatoes because they're the most versatile to have on hand -- you can always dice or crush them, but if you have only crushed tomatoes you can't get them into bigger chunks.

Rachel, sounds like you can move up to the advanced Lobster course . We only cook lobster at home once or twice a year, and our favorite way of preparing it is to pre-cook by steaming and then finish on the grill. I split the lobsters in half and brush with butter melted with tarragon, basting with extra butter a few times while it's on the grill. The butter keeps the lobster moist while it gets that great charred smoky flavor. Ironic, because I never use butter with steamed lobster, it's so sweet on its own. Note: if the claws are really large, snip them and cook a few mintues longer than the tail. Sometimes I precook the lobster, then take all the meat of the shell and make Lobster Scampi. Not my preferred Lobster ish, but my husband practically swoons over it. Leftover lobster means lobster rolls. Instead of the traditional mayo/celery/lobster salad, I make a spicy Russian type dressing with Hellman's, cayenne pepper, paprika and Tabasco. Chopped celery is optional. We had this last summer on some buttered, toasted brioche rolls we picked up at Zabar's and it was unbelievably delicious.

Rich -- did you use salmon steaks or fillets? I'd imagine that the fillets would fall apart much more easily.

Thanks for the link, Marty. Great pilpul.