Poffertjes

My brother does this too. He also likes to mush all his food together and only eats ice cream after he stirs it to a near soup like consistency. We are talking about an adult here. Drives me nuts ← I had a roommate who would nuke her ice cream, in the carton, because she didn't like it if it was too hard to scoop... Needless to say, we never shared ice cream cartons.

I'm a fan of the Silver Spoon cookbook. Its been around in Italy for ages (I think more than 50 years), I guess its the one gift every newlywed couple gets. But it had never been translated to English until a year or so ago. Its very comprehensive, almost a MTAOFC for italian food, alass, there is no Julia Child to host shows on PBS.

I wasn't allowed fruit roll ups or any of the other sugar & fruit concoctions in that aisle of the grocery store as a child. No, I was the "weird" kid at the lunch table. My mom bought me fruit leathers at the food co-op. Thats what I got. And you know what? I still love them.

close to stir frying... Fajitas? Depending on how big they are you could just grill the pieces up and enjoy. Either way sounds like you had quite a feast for the couples, and now get to enjoy some mighty find left overs!

There's the way Jeffrey Steingarten did it when he became the food critique of Vogue Magazine. I believe his dislikes were greek food of any kind, indian desserts, and several others. He found information that said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that after 10 tastings one can enjoy almost anything. I.e. if you don't like something the first time, try it again. Something to do with our hunter/gather former ways to prevent us from being poisoned. Babies/small children will not like something at first, but if you keep giving them tastes of it, eventually they will eat it without complaints. I guess adults are the same way. So if you have a list of foods or flavors you would like to extend your palate to enjoy, try them ten times, after that you will enjoy them!

If that is the case, why don't you keep your culinary experiences in the United States limited to food service locations where a tip is not expected or required. McDonald's and the like would surely accept your business.

From today's trib.... http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi...1,2276412.story

"Trail of Crumbs" by Kim Sunee Oh the dinners she prepares. The recipes at the end of each chapter. Its a sad/search for one's identity story surrounded by food.

I think we should give Jackal10 the benefit of the doubt that he doesn't understand how restaurant workers are paid in the US, which is very unlike the European system. There is a sub-minimum wage by law in the US for restaurant workers because it is assumed that they make tips. I do not know the laws in all states, but in Pennsylvania, where I last worked in the States, the legal wage was 2.01$ per hour and waiters had to claim either a fixed percentage of their sales or the total of their credit card tips, which ever is higher, as taxable wage. Restaurants can get in a lot of trouble if servers do not declare their tips and where I last worked, servers paid their taxes on a weekly basis, which meant that we owed the restaurant money since our pay did not cover our taxes owed. And so, fear not, the American server is indeed paying taxes on the amount of every bill, regardless of whether they are tipped or not. This is the system, like it or not ,and so it seems that if someone knowingly doesn't tip at all for good service, it's a little like saying to anyone you might hire to perform a service, after he's finished the job, 'I just don't feel like paying for this service', which doesn't appear all that fair. It has nothing to do with making a relationship; it is about paying for a service you have asked for by sitting down. Now, if someone doesn't know that servers only work for tips in the US, that is a different story. ← It seems to me, and I may be wrong, that Jackal10 understands the system, to an extent, but doesn't agree with it, and therefore, is unwilling to participate in it. If that is the case I encourage like minded non-tippers-because-the-system-is-bad not to participate in the entire system. Why eat in restaurants in the United States if you do no agree with the system, with some exceptions, encompasses almost all restaurants in the United States?

My husband and I went for dinner this past friday 2/8/08 has each had the tasting menu and my husband did the wine pairing with his. 5 courses. 2 amuse bouche. 1 plate of petite fours. It was delightful and innovative. My only critique? A bit more salt on the elk loin. But the combination of the elk, the gingerbread coated risotto (arancini) and the pear poached in red wine was amazing. We sat in the front room, right by the fire place. Didn't have an issue with drafts/heat. And the walk to the valet station wasn't bad despite the "wintery mix" coming down when we walked out. It was fantastic.

So much for 'When in Rome'....

Domestic Goddess is mostly baking recipes. There are some savory recipes, but in the baking category. I love How to Eat, my next purchase is Feast. Good luck!!!

I work around the corner from Thai Spoon. Its not that great. I go there for lunch occasionally when a colleague suggests it, but I always walk out disappointed. I would consider one of the other options nearby.

Stick a halved fig or two in there, maybe run it under the broiler and you have heaven.

Tuscan white beans with rosemary Rub a tomato on the toasted bread, top with an anchovie dried apricots and prosciutto Prosciutto by itself Olive tapanade Oh the possibilities are endless...

I believe there was a Gilmore Girls episode once where the matriarch of the family (Richard's mother) demanded exactly 12 minutes between the service of each course..... I always thought that specificity was quite odd....

Last night, Dinner with my cousin and two of her co-workers who were in Chicago on business. Took them to Lula Cafe, one of my favorite low key restaurants in the city. Thought my cousin would love it, great food and wine list... These two women drank 4, very strong, margaritas each with their dinner (one had a caesar salad, one had the house salad), made fun of the duck pate on the menu (why would anyone eat duck liver), asked how I could eat my (hanger) steak so rare, started talking about God before we ordered (not polite dinner conversation), and generally made loud, ignorant asses out of themselves. Patrons were staring, the waitress was giving me pity eyes. I tipped well and got the hell out of there, not before they accosted two patrons sitting at the bar on the way out because they thought they were gay, and that they were the women to set them straight. Drove them back downtown to their hotel, in a snowstorm, with them screaming and whooping and hollering in the back seat, in a snow storm. I love my cousin dearly. She enjoys food and wine, polite dinner conversation, etc. How she works with these two pieces of work day in and day out, amazes me...

So jealous of your new kitchen!!! When I was a kid we had a basset hound named Stargell's Homerun. Homerun for short. Yes my dad is still a maniac Pittsburgh Pirate's fan. He got excited when he found out I was living near Roberto Clemente High here in Chicago.

Enoteca Roma is run by a mom and son from Rome, they also own Leticia's Bakery next door. You can often see his Cinque Cento, he imported from Italy, parked outside. I believe his son named it Luigi. Its very Roman, they don't delve into other parts of Italian food. They also have a great wine list. Its on Division in Wicker Park.

Concur with everyone's favorites Want to add one of my own. I finally saw Waitress. Now she makes some good pies!!!

Growing up in Iowa we'd have a hog roast.... Some farmer would drive his pickup trailing with a 2 barrel long hog roaster onto our yard, it would roast all day and at night, everyone would come over, each with their "covered dish" and a 12 pack of cheap beer. The smell of it would drive you crazy all day long.

Oh dear lord.... Where do they find these people?

Are you saying that DC's version includes the fancy splurge type restaurants corresponding to our Alinea, Avenues, Everest, Tru, Trotter's, NoMI, Moto, and Spiaggia? With the exception of NoMI, one possible reason for the exclusion of this group is that none of them is open for lunch. ← Yes, the "fancy splurge type restaurants" participate in Restaurant Week in DC, if they are only open for dinner, than they only participate for dinner. Here is the list from DC's Restaurant Week, going on right now. http://www.washington.org/restaurantwk/ Admittedly, there are some chains, but I'd like to think a $30.08 dinner at 1789 would make up for that. Also, my dc friends inform me that several of the higher end places have wines available for Restaurant week at $30.08 as well. edited to add the DC website

I completely agree. From my experience in DC, I was able to eat at 1789, Ten Phen, Ceiba, Oceanaire, iRicchi, and other top tier restaurants. I don't believe the top tier are represented here. While I congratulate Chicago for starting a Restaurant Week, which it needs to stay on par with other foodie destinations, what a poor list to select from. Also, from past experience in DC, some restaurants have a Prix Fixe menu especially for restaurant week, with 2-4 choices for app, entree and dessert, others open their entire menu.

The first ever Chicago Restaurant week http://www.choosechicago.com/eatitup Coming from DC, and being an active participate in the city's semi-annual restaurant week, I'm a little disappointed in the list of participating restaurants. But still, $21.95 for lunch, $31.95 for dinner at some of these places (not Buco de Beppo) is a good deal.