cakewalk

There's Mitchell London on 9th and 35th or 36th. It's just two blocks east of Javits. There's the famous Starwich place, on 42nd between 10th and 11th. There's a nice restaurant on the corner of 10th and 44th. It doesn't seem to have a name, but don't let that stop you. Wasteland? That's my neighborhod! And no, we do NOT need a stadium, thank you very much.

Now why didn't you just say this in the first place, instead of making all those nasty remarks about New Yorkers that made me want to kick you in the teeth? So Fat Guy, is this the new hip relationship with food we should all aspire to: "If I want it, anything is legitimate"? Jinmyo, please stand clear of that thing when the thaw begins!! (Go out and buy some cherries!)

I was looking up a recipe in the April 2004 Bon Apetit, and noticed they had a section on Lemon Desserts. It looks wonderful, and there was a recipe for lemon bars that looked both wonderful AND easy. Speaking of which, there's an entire thread on lemon bars somewhere on eGullet. I don't know how to find these things, every time I do a search for something it continues to elude me, but perhaps you'll have better luck.

Are they open on Sunday? I have class near there and a sweet bread would be tasty. ← They're on 47th between 10th and 11th, and yes, they're open on Sunday. They also serve Illy coffee for $1, and it's divine. ← Yes, between 10th & 11th. I was there this afternoon and had the mushroom pizza and the celery root pizza. Both were delicious.

There's a branch of the Sullivan Street bakery in Hell's Kitchen, I believe it's on 47th Street between 11th and 12th. I discovered it recently, and have never been the same since.

And who can forget Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, when she goes out to dinner for the first time with Omar Shariff, singing: Isn't this the height of nonchalance Furnishing a bed -- in restaurants. Well a bit of dinner never hurt But guess who is gonna be dessert?

I've made Martha's mac and cheese, and it really is a great recipe. Question: do you think this can be put together the night before, refrigerated, and then baked the following morning? Any reason it shouldn't work? I'm having a bunch of people over for brunch in a couple of weeks. I'd love to serve this as one of the items, but I know I won't have the time for the preparation that morning. Has anyone ever done this? Thanks for any input.

Aw c'mon. How about just plain old 'slap.' Better yet, can't we all just be friends?

Bitch-slap. Oh how I hate that term. It is truly vile. Okay, it's not food related, but it is used here all the time. So, while we're at it, just thought I'd mention it. Carry on.

Four year old Grafton cheddar. Now, I know goonisht mit goonisht about cheese. I grew up on pre-sliced, processed American, Muenster and Swiss cheeses, and that was the extent of it. A few years ago I decided to say goodbye to the "kosher cheese only" decision of yore, and I began to try other things. Not having the least idea where to begin, I just went for blocks of cheese that were packaged without being sliced, figuring it had to be better. It wasn't. I tried this, I tried that. It all seemed pretty much the same to me. Then by chance I picked up an extra-sharp cheddar (I can't remember the name of the company, it's a commercial cheese but it's real cheese) and with the first taste I realized what people were talking about when they swooned over cheese. And this was aged only about six months, maybe nine. A while later, also by chance, I picked up the Grafton four-year cheddar (at Fairway). I was unprepared for how much better it was than even the previous cheese I had tried. So I don't know why aged cheeses are better, but they sure are. Now my only problem is trying to coordinate cheese and lipitor.

I thought that was going to lead to a recipe. But it's a lovely photo. But anyway, coffee and cake, mmmmmmm. Has there ever been a more perfect, not to mention a more useful, combination? Coffee and cake -- it's great for breakfast, perfect at 10:00 am, wonderful after (or even for) lunch, a brilliant pick-me-up at 3:00 pm, a nice sweet touch after dinner (or for dinner, especially if you're running to class straight from work), and pretty darn good before bedtime, too. Mmmmmmm. And I have no complaints whatsoever for a "real" dessert followed by coffee and cake.

I see. And, um, making orgasmic noises when the food is excellent is beyond your ridicule?

I do hate the use of the word "decadent" as a description for anything sweet and delicious. The implication that enjoyment is bad disturbs me a lot. Desserts are not "sinful," and one is not "bad" if one eats a luscious and sweet dessert. They are meant to be enjoyed, not something to feel guilty about.

Many thanks to you both for the steel cut oats information. And now I am curious. I'm assuming I can probably get them at Whole Foods. This sounds like Saturday morning's breakfast.

We never had hot cereal growing up (sniff), except when we were home sick, when my mother would make farina with milk (which we all hated.) But as a big girl on my own, I started eating cream of wheat, and still love it. Especially now that it can be made in the microwave (and it's not the instant kind.) Same with Quaker oats, which has displaced COW since I started bike riding (oatmeal is some really good energy before a ride.) I make with just with water and salt, and when it's finished I add some cold milk. What's the deal with steel cut oats? I'll have to try some of this, but what's the difference between that and, say, regular Quaker oats? In college I had a roommate who used to eat instant oatmeal all the time. I always thought the smell was vile, so I never tasted it.

The cost of eating organic can be prohibitive. Also, organic fruits and veggies don't necessarily taste better. But my main question about the whole organic thing is this: is there any health benefit to eating "partial" organic? IOW -- if I'm not eating totally organic, and I mean everything, does it make any difference to overall health if I buy, say, organic fruits and vegetables, but I buy conventional grains, meat, fish, poultry, bread that is not made from organic wheat, eggs, etc? Maintaining an entirely organic diet is major work (and one that I would probably never attempt.) But I've never seen anything that discusses whether or not eating some organic items in one's diet will make a difference at all. Anyone know anything about this? Is it an all or nothing proposition?

Detox? Nah, just no junk. Or at least not so much of it. And, most important -- I have to get my butt back to the gym on a regular basis. January shows the highest number of gym registrations for the year. Gee, what a surprise!

Very nicely said. I'd just like to add that true hospitality is elegance of its own.

This might need another thread, but what is panela? I tried looking it up on google, but everything is in Spanish! From what I could gather, it seems to be some sort of sugar. That can't be right, can it? Many thanks for some learning on this.

Not sugar. That would be bad enough. Corn syrup. In everything. Yuk. There's a big difference between adding your own sugar, at your own discretion, to your recipes, and having corn syrup already added to everything you purchase. Yuk, did I say that already?

But 145 degrees? I mean, isn't that like, lukewarm coffee?

Here is a recipe: Sweet Potato - Parsnip Latkes ← I didn't get around to making any latkes this year, but the sweet potato/parsnip combination really caught my eye. I did intend to make the latkes, but it just didn't happen. What to do with all the sweet potatoes/parsnips? I decided to turn the recipe into a kugle. It turned out very well, if I may say so myself. The parsnips really give the dish some pizzazz. Andiesenji -- would you be willing to share the recipe for your onion/garlic marmalade? Talk about pizzazz, that sounds wonderful!

Oh that darn river! I don't think "authentic" means "never changed." That's not even a possibility, what with that river and all. Even if the same cook is making it with the intention of not changing anything, there will be subtle changes each time a dish is prepared. There is a huge gap between "authentic" and "never changed," if there is any relation between the two at all. But maybe that's why I think the term "authentic" can only be applied accurately to things like paintings, etc. Like the authentic Renoir I mentioned somewhere upthread. Which can be authenticated. The word authentic denotes something very specific, and, I think, it should be verifiable in some way. Perhaps it just isn't applicable to cuisine or recipes at all, unless we want to play Humpty Dumpty with the definition of the word authentic. Which is what we do, I suppose. Can there, by definition, be more than one authentic version of the same thing?

That process is precisely what would lead me to say the dish is no longer authentic. And here's where connotations loom large. By saying it is no longer authentic, I do not mean in any way to disparage the new dish that has been (lovingly but deliberately) created. But if it has undergone such a process of refinement, it is a different dish; it is not the authentic dish it started out as. Or you could say it is an "Authentic X dish" rather than an "Authentic Y dish," but it is something "other."

Then you'd have two for the price of one -- and it would be worth it!