-sheila mooney

Interesting, you prefer Bon Appetit to Gourmet. What does Bon Appetit provide for you that Gourmet does not? What about Gourmet, and Food & Wine for that matter, turns you off? ← i had my first subscription to gourmet when i was 19 -- that would have been in 1971. never had i seen a thing so sophisticated! anyway: today's gourmet: love the photography (not so much the covers but the inside articles - pigs, vegetables, italy -- everything is gorgeous and yet true); use the recipes regularly. hate the insidious advertorials (pull 'em out and chuck 'em when i can); truly dislike the themes (o the music issue -- give me a break).

we had beautiful food two nights ago -- really lovely. but we left disappointed for reasons that had nothing to do with cuisine. i have to tell you -- i'm a girl who's happy to be happy: i don't go looking for "la petite bete". and we were so happy to be having dinner there (my daughter and i -- we don't see each other so much now that she's at mcgill...). we come in early, around 7pm, sit at a nice table near the bar where there are a few folks talking and drinking and having a good time. champanski for two, the waiter talks about oysters with us, we're looking forward to a good time. a guy leaving the bar stops by and seconds the waiter's opinion about the oysters -- we're grooving, it's good. as i'm looking thru the wine list i notice a lot of people coming into the room, standing around, one guy is celling; i think to myself, "huh" and keep looking at the wine list. long story short: we were the two "other" diners in a room where a private party was being held. a fact which became shatteringly clear when the group shrieked "surprise!" and i spilled Paillard bubbles down my top. we asked for a different table (the bar scene had become very crowded indeed -- elbows were practically sticking in our ears). we were moved: to the table by the door. i spent 25 years in france refusing to believe in "courants d'air" but...here they were, right down my back. we could not have a table in the other room (the "real" restaurant), for they were all full. geez, louise. i had reserved a week in advance. half the fun of going out to a lovely restaurant is the conviviality, no? bottom line: wonderful food, exceptional wine, perfectly treated cheese -- and once the gang (of 20) settled down at their tables it was okay. but we lost 45 minutes of a 2.5 hour experience to annoyance -- not cool to feel like intruders on someone else's party. The staff realised the situation was uncomfortable; we were treated to a glass of muscat (Corsican, Leccia) and the owner (?) ran out personally to find us a taxi. Merci, vraiment gentil!! Lesson: when you book, ask for a table in the "restaurant."

tastet's review made me decide i will just have to get past the name of the place... and go!

Air Canada's webzine (!) sent out today features Philly cheese steaks --- with pictures. http://www.aircanada.com/en/onair/november...rink-2.html?pic

in paris a "5 a 7" means only one thing -- still, i guess you could call it a happy hour (champagne, cheri?). ← Never having lived in the city of light, I bow to your greater knowledge of Parisian argot. But here's an interesting data point: while cinq-à-sept isn't listed in Le Petit Robert, the Robert-Collins or the Grand Larousse Bilingue, it does appear in the 1980 edition of the two-volume Harap's Standard, which defines it as a reception or party. So, 25 years ago, the then-leading French-English dictionary, which was notorious for mostly ignoring Canadian French, listed only the "non-Parisian" sense. Will have to ask more French French word nerds for input. And now you've got me wondering about another word whose "Parisian" meaning I only recently learned: croque-monsieur. ← and then there are the "croque-diamants" -- many of whom specialise in the "5 a 7" -- ok, i'll stop now

It's not a place but a thing: Québécois for happy hour or a cocktail party, and it can take place any day of the week. On orgainse un petit 5 à 7 pour souligner son arrivée. Ce bar a des maudits bons 5 à 7 ! I've never heard the expression used in its "Parisian" sense in Quebec (or in France, for that matter), and two Québécois word nerds I just asked say they haven't either. ← in paris a "5 a 7" means only one thing -- still, i guess you could call it a happy hour (champagne, cheri?).

Mark was not attacked. Mark was only told that his joke wasn't funny. Which is the eternal risk of a joke and no need to feel so hurt about it. Yes, that's what I mean: to the American eye. If the stereotype was formed in the '60's I do know how it could happen. And there are many restaurants in France, even now, that are struggling to keep it alive. But it is simply not reality. It wasn't even reality in the 50's and 60's for the average middle-class French family whose daily diet was rather simple and wholesome, undoubtedly buttery but surely no more than the Italian or Greek diet was oliveoily or the British or German diets generally fatty. Rich foods have always been considered somewhat exceptional, a way to express status, and even in regions where duck or goose fat was used, it was always in reasonable quantities. I am not counting the restaurants that were — and still are — pouring cream and butter freely to make sure the client will think he gets his money's worth (I've seen this attitude expressed at the Bocuse brasseries, where a chef was urging me to double the quantities of butter and cream in the recipes I was given to edit. I told him not that this was unhealthy, but that it was just "not real"). Of course many chefs do that, and they particularly think of their non-French clients when they do so. Which doesn't help giving visitors a more accurate idea of the French diet. I hardly ever do, except as a snack sometimes. I know quite many people who never do. Hardly anybody, except in starred restaurants, ever asks for the plateau de fromages anymore. But I've noticed that visiting Americans eat lots of French cheeses, yes — much more than we do. So thanks for keeping our ancestral cheese production alive, guys. I'm not saying that the French diet is lean, for crying out loud! It is not, for instance, the Japanese diet. But it cannot be honestly studied in his whole extent and described as fatty. ← 25 years in Paris -- never went to or gave a dinner party ( a real dinner party, not just "come over for the fortune du pot" -- et encore!) without salad and some lovely cheeses before dessert. even in the days when we all didn't have much money... only in the last 6 months of my 2 years in montreal have i managed to expunge the cheese reflex from my menu planning --- cheese here is not good enough for the money: no bleu de gex, no beaufort, no perfect brie...

At a place in Paris that serves big seafood platters (Wepler's on Place Clichy) we used to get fingerbowls. Now -- they offer those dreadful lemon-pledge-smelling towellettes in foil packs. Which is worse? Fingers that smell of crab and shrimp, or fingers that ruin the rest of your meal with the scent of bogus lemon oil? One can always simply use the washroom basin -- probably the best course of action...

Last month the friend who is renting my apt took me to Le Square on the rue Marcadet, next to the Square Carpeaux, just across the street from the erstwhile chez moi. The food was good in a neighborhood-y kind of way (better than the fairly sympathique place across the square on the place j. fromentin -- petit caboulot?) but there was a hip n happenin crowd and i was surprised by the wine list -- lots of nicely priced burgundies (we had a chorey-les-beaune) -- this is pretty amazing because the place was a *dive* just a couple of seasons ago (local alkie hangout).

True, true. Still, at most Starr joints, that's a pretty low bar to clear... grumblegrumblewaiters in T-shirtsgrumbleunprofessionalgrumblegrumble ← but probably not wearing baseball caps as they serve you, right? or muscle T's? or shorts 'n' sandals....?

Well, Best Foods is Hellman's. Kewpie is available only in Japanese markets so unavailable to most people locally. Personally, I don't really like the flavor but my daughter is crazy about it so whenever I mail order Japanese goods I get her some. There is a Banquet Brand that's is sometimes sold here that is even better to my taste than all of the above. Tastes like home made. ← wish i had access to the prepared mayo i used to buy in paris: maille, in little jars, in the refrigerated section. damn that stuff is good. no reason to ever make your own! here in n america -- well, it's gotta be hellmann's.

oh, good memory--i think lacroix does suggest a jacket. ← rule of thumb: be at least as well dressed as your waiter....

Tant pis! Are you in Paris? The internet can be tricky there sometimes. The link is working just fine here in the Berkshires. I guess you and your family will just have to step outside, take a stroll down the Champs-Elysees, and sample the Berthillon glaces et sorbets for yourselves. Bon appetit! ← Not in Paris yet, but soon. It's funny, but the link still doesn't work for me. I don't think it is what you posted since I did a separate search on Google and got the same URL which still didn't work. Odd As you say, I'll just have to find out the easy way! ← my trifecta: the ice cream shop on rue du bac just before conran shop; the conran shop; then the bon marche (fashion then food in the grande epicerie).

i never saw chicken feet wrapped up just like, say, chicken thighs or drumsticks til i came to montreal, where my supermarket is close to china town. in paris, where i lived until a couple of years ago, chicken had feet...but just plain feet were not easy to come by. i keep looking at the claws and will surely someday cook up a batch of stock with them -- but in the meantime the chinese ladies from the neighbourhood keep snatching the packs away from me!

A wine bar in my Paris neighbourhood (18th) makes extra cash by selling memberships, which entitle holders to invitations to limited-seating tastings. Most are free, but some cost a few euros, if the wines are particularly expensive or if an expert is brought in to lead the session. Maybe factor that in to your biz plan?

just ate at bon ble riz (third time) -- food's good but the cutlery is, well, not clean. and the vodka martinis are the smallest on record.

Alati on Jean Talon in St-Leonard, and San Marco pastry near pie IX are the only italian pastry shops in the city. Alati Caserta is an insult to italian pastries, it is because of bad bakeries like that that italian desserts are not respected in North America. Just my opinion, don t mean to sound harsh. ←