FoodMuse

Hello Friends, I have 1lb of chicken wings to cook in the next day or so, BUT I'm not eating sugar and all the recipes that are looking good are sticky sweet and off limits. Likes: crispy, crunchy, salty, spicy. Would prefer to keep to top of the stove cooking. Likes, but not allowed right now: sticky honey, brown sugar and soy coated wing goodness. Oh damn. Please help. Buffalo wings are the obvious choice, but thought I'd see what you genius' come up with. Best, Grace

Wonderful, I really enjoyed reading your menu and descriptions! I can't figure out the eGullet photo upload either. How can you top this next year? Slow food only, local food only, processed food only? How can you surprise her? I'm feeling so inspired. This would be a fun dinner party idea. Grace

My Blue fish fillets turned out great. Little flour, salt and pepper and sauteed with plenty of butter. Took fish out of pan, more butter and lemon juice to deglaze. Yum. It does have a strong flavor though. I might prefer it next time cooked with tomatoes, wine and garlic with a little paprika. Grace edited to add: jmcgrath Next time I will definitely try that recipe. I think the Dijon would be a nice counterpoint to the oiliness of the fish.

Great thread! I just picked up some blue fish at my local spot today. I love oily fish, but usually just grill it. Sadly, too cold in NY for that. Any good recipes out there? I would like to pan fry for the crispy skin. These are very thin fillets. I'll be cooking them up tomorrow nite. I meant to cook them tonight, but ran out of time. I'm a little considered with what I read here: http://nymag.com/nymetro/food/features/12263/ I bought it today(Sunday). I wonder where they came from? Thanks Grace

Sorry I'm only getting back to this thread. I'd bought my rabbits frozen for $3 each. Once defrosted I found why they were so inexpensive. There was an odd smell coming from them. Oh well. jfrater- Your photos are fantastic! I really enjoyed them. Can anyone tell me if Art of Eating is available online? I'd like to have a look at it. Thanks, Grace

When baking cookies I like to use half butter and half margarine, particularly for chocolate chip cookies. I like a chewy/crispy cookie, and I find this mix of fats give me a great result. All butter is too crumbly for me.

Hi I have a bottle of truffle oil that I've had for at least a year and never refrigerated. It's as good now as it was last month. The manufacturer might have just been trying to cover there asses with the refrigeration rule on the label. I like to broil/grill a well salted/peppered steak and drizzle the oil over it. Amazing!!! Grace

JimH Thanks for the great links. The search engine here on eGullet is not so great. I hadn't seen those. rmillman Hah! I shoot video for the internet. I can show anything I want! That is the beauty of not being on TV. Anything goes. That said, I bought two for 3 bucks a pop in Boston over Christmas. They were so cheap i thought I'd just stick them in my suitcase and hope for the best. They were still frozen when I got back to NYC and have been frozen until I defrosted them yesterday. They are skinned, but I'll have to cut them up (on camera). Grace

Hi there, I host an online cooking show called Fearless Cooking. I'm cooking rabbit in a few hours for the first time. That's actually one of the ideas of the show. I sometimes cook things for the first time on camera, sometimes it's delicious and sometimes not. I'd love any hints on keeping my rabbit from being too dry. Based on the past eGulllet threads seems like that's a real problem. Thanks -Grace

Makes me realize I should make a stock soon. Thanks for reminding me. -Grace

Wonderful dinner! I lightly dusted with flour panfried with lots of butter. Delicious. Threw some capers and lemon juice to deglaze pan. Yum. I think using a great butter was key. What a flavorful fish; lots of bones, though. You were all a great help. Thnx again. Grace

Hullo! Did someone say gelatinous cartilage. Can I eat that? Grace

I don't mind being labeled a foodie. It happens almost every day. What I do mind is the way some people say it, "Oh, you're a Fooooo- die". Like, aren't you adooooooor-able. I might like a word with "gastro-" in it, but it tends to sound pretentious. I like to cook and I like to eat. Period. I could get into the phrase "food geek", but then I know I'll use it and people will still say, "Oh, right you're a Foodie". Oh well. Grace

Hi Jackal10, Fry gently? Thanks for that comment; I thought I should get the pan screaming hot with olive oil and cook it fast. Beurre noisette. Yes, I have Lurpak butter. Yum. -Grace

Local fish guy says this was looking really good today, so I bought it. I've never cooked it before. Google turned up some good recipes, but thought I'd check in here. Any tips? Do they have many bones? Can I just pan fry in some great butter. I have both flour and cornstarch- Which should I dredge with? In the house I have : capers, lemon, onion(no shallot sadly), some leftover roasted garlic. 1box frozen spinach Thanks!

Hi, I really like Mark Bittman's videos at the New York Times. http://tinyurl.com/3b3cdy and for a more independent take on internet video I like a girl named DeDe who does a show out of her kitchen cooking traditional middle eastern classics. http://youtube.com/user/dedemed and finally, I have a video podcast called Fearless Cooking that you can download through iTunes or watch at http://www.FearlessCooking.tv Sorry for the shameless plug. I produce the shows myself out of my kitchen. Grace Grace Piper, Producer/Host Watch my cooking show at FearlessCooking.tv or subscribe through iTunes Hailed by CNN as the Internet personality to “cook cable’s goose.” iTunes calls Piper "an awesome mixture of personality and audacity."

Months ago I promised John Talbot I would add my list websites that were indispensable to me as a first time visitor to Paris. Some are food related, some not. Anyone else have urls? Grace Here they are, I hope they help you as much as they did me. Paris Online Resources www.Mappy.com for planning your walking or driving route through Paris and France http://www.ratp.info/informer/anglais/index.php Door to Door directions for Paris. Type in your starting and ending address and get detailed metro and bus directions. This was invaluable on my trip. http://www.ratp.fr/corpo/evenements/jfk/ buy Paris metro cards at JFK airport before your trip. http://www.pagesjaunes.fr/pj.cgi?lang=en Yellow and White pages for France, type in your address and see photos of the street. Click A proximité under the listing to find nearby restaurants, boulangeries, patisseries www.viamichelin.co.uk. Michelin guide online http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/cv_en/cartenoctilien.php Night time bus info http://www.xe.com/ucc/ money converter http://babel.altavista.com/tr for translating entire websites from French to English, translations are always spot on, but you can at least get the gist of it. http://www.learner.org/resources/series83....398156&pid=758# Free videos to help you learn to speak French http://www.dininginfrance.com/online_restaurant_guides.htm list of dining resources http://parismarkets.net/ description of a few Paris markets http://www.bonjourparis.com for everything else!!

OK, so I wrote this quickly after seeing the topic heading and later read through to see you’ve already been and returned from your trip. Figured I’d post it anyway for your next visit. You are going to have such a great trip. The Gloucester area is beautiful, especially this time of year. I am so jealous. I grew up in the area and it is still my favorite part of the country. I have stayed at the Yankee Clipper Inn and really enjoyed my stay there, but I do prefer the Emerson Inn (also in the Rockport area). The beds and bedding at Yankee Clipper are find, but Emerson’s are a little more posh. I recommend the Emerson’s King Picture Window Suite $359/night. Worth every penny! There’s a hot tub in the room and you wake up to an insane ocean view. Sitting up in bed there is a large window right across from you and all you see is ocean and sky. I am saving my pennies to go back. They also have a very, very good restaurant located in the inn. Bearskin Neck in Rockport is a must see. Walk all the way out to the end for great ocean views and a restaurant on the left side of that little road. I’ve never tried it, but keep meaning to. The bar made famous by The Perfect Storm is NOT at all worth looking at all. It’s just a regular working class bar for the locals who are annoyed by having tourists walk in, say “Huh, this is the place?” and walk back out. The movie is awful, but the book is a great and gripping quick read. For a great afternoon in the nearby Ipswitch and Essex area have lunch at Woodman’s (get fried clams and fried scallops) and then visit Wolf Hollow. This is a private residence run by a family that has an actual wolf pack in their backyard. You have to see it to believe it. These are not tame wolves. They are very well fenced in, but very large and slightly terrifying, especially if, as on my last visit, a visitor brings a small 2-3 year old who toddled back and forth in front of the chain link fence. The wolves started behaving in a very carnivorous manner. Then they started jumping up at the 12-15 ft? fence and trying to get out. They were leaping at least 7 feet in the air. Check their website for hours and tour times. I used to bring dates here when I was in High School. The Great House at Castle Hill is one of my favorite places to go in the area. It’s the mansion where many parts of the film “The Witches of Eastwick” was shot and has some beautiful grounds to walk. Make sure you get a tour of the mansion itself, it’s worth it. The drive to the grounds are really picturesque. I would also drive down to Salem since it’s almost time for Halloween to see the House of Seven Gables and just walk around that beautiful town and see all the silly witch business that they play up for tourists. The coast line and architecture is amazing there.

Very exciting. So looking forward to dinner. Thanks for the replies.

I did a search and didn't turn up anything. I'll be there next week for dinner midweek and was wondering if anyone has been there. Thoughts on what to order? Le Violon d'Ingres website

OK, good to know. Rillette d'oie sound like heaven on a baguette and Coffee is bad. Luckily the apartment I'm staying in is rented by a girl who is obsessed with the best Italian coffee and has some very complicated gravity defying coffee maker. I use the Boden press with my own freshly ground beans at home. Can't I just have wine with breakfast? Will have to add Camus to my reading list. Busboy: What's the IHT? There will be lots of time sitting in cafes, but I live in NY city and have been craving greenery. I have the constant din of car alarms, siren (at this moment I hear 2 different sirens, and trafic honking(just counted 5 honks in 3 seconds). Is it too late for me to get a dinner (yes, it has to be dinner) reservation at a Michelin rated place? I could care less about the rating. No matter how much I say we can eat well without it I'm commited to one dinner for my companion. It's probably too late for a reservation for next Thursday Sept. 21st, but what do you guys think? I'm in paris Sept 16- Sept 27th. Maybe: Jamin La Tour d'Argent Le jules Verne Les Ambassadeurs L'Espadon Oh, and I'm not paying.

Mzimbeck Loved the blog and that photo of your picnic. A picnic along the Seine is on the itinerary. Dave, your list is exactly what I was looking for! Ptipois, the transations are much appreciated. What is rillet d'oi? Google didn't turn any up. I was amused and thrilled to read that like wines coming and going with the seasons so to does the cheese! What a country. Here's something I'd like to know. Can you get coffee for takeaway in the morning with a croissant? I guess Starbucks is everwhere, but what about the local spots? Thanks everyone.

While I'm in Paris next month (for the 1st time!) I'll try to picnic for many of my lunches. I'd love to hear what you like to pack in your basket and where you like to buy it, if you have a favorite shop. Also, it seems that some parks let you sit on the grass and others don't. Have you seen any good websites that list this or other picnic spots? Do supermarkets sell wine or only liquor stores? Thanks.

I did a quick search for the Zurban Guide and it looks like it’s in French. My French is super rudimentary so maybe its not a great choice for me. Brasserie L’Lutétia sounds so great, I've been on the lookout for restaurants with views or terraces. Regarding wine: I know NOTHING. All I know is that I don't like sweet wines, and I know when it tastes good, but that is about it. Any tips for ordering wine when you don't have a clue? For example how do I specify the most I want to spend on wine? Is this done? Can I say "Can you recomend a bottle under $15". I guess I can always order the table wine, but it would be nice to have waiters recommend wines. Can I ask how much their recommendation will cost? This is just the type of tip I really appreciate finding on eGullet!! Here's a challange: Describe your favorite Sunday in Paris! Eats, walks, drinks...let's have it. I arrive on a Sunday around 11am and will have one entire sunday to fill the next week.

John, I think this is a wonderful idea and look forward to posting after I've visited Paris this fall. also, I am really grateful for all that you contribute for eGullet. This has been a wonderful resource for planning my trip.