Carolyn Tillie

Harrowing indeed. This sort of adventure definitely moves you up a couple of rungs towards sainthood! In thinking about all the broken glass, I'm curious of any of the shards ended up in the food that was stolen. Maybe one of the thieves choked on a glass sliver in karmic perpetuity!

I bought one in a Middle Eastern shop because of the "cool" factor and rarely find myself using it (it doesn't fit on my knife magnet so I tend to forget about...) Now that you've reminded me and I'm moving into a new home, maybe I'll get another knife magnet so it is more accessible!

Meritage Restaurant & Bar 897 S. Coast Highway 101 Encinitas 760-634-3350 From San Diego Magazine

So what did you end up doing? How did you resolve the problem -- inquiring minds want to know!

Reading the topic header, I'm shocked to have not read any comments like... "Yeah, but do you use a bong or paper, dude?"

Ohmygod, I forgot about Boll Weevil! A San Diego institution! It sounds like KathyP wanted something nicer than a burger joint, but thanks for the jaunt down memory lane for me!

Off-topic, but that practice was outlawed here in California two years ago -- does it still happen elsewhere? Actually, the law (as I understand it which is why my Patina job changed so much at the Music Center) is that they are allowed to 'dine' the doctors with a meal that is not worth more than $100 and there can be no tickets provided. Part of my job at Patina was to sell the pharmaceutical companies the catering service (with appropriate audio visual equipment) for pre-theatre presentations of their products. They would sit through a 60- or 90-minute slide show on a drug that would combat a disease, and then go off to an opera or symphony or play. Patina (as did the performance companies!) ended up losing a lot of income when that busienss was curtailed. I should amend that - Patina in association with performing arts groups lost income. They were still able to host some of those dinner at other restaurants but we, at the Music Center, couldn't get people to come and host the presentation dinners there because it made no sense to spend time getting into the Music Center just for a meal and no show. Sorry for the long-winded aside. I'm just curious if doctors are able to see Broadway shows or shows elsewhere or if that a California law only.

Bad news. I grew up in Oceanside and it is a culinary wasteland. Seriously, the BEST food in town is Angelo's hamburgers (oddly, there is one on each end of town - somehow they get people coming in and going out). Grease was invented at this place. The last time I visited my parents, we bought a bag of onion rings on the drive out of town. Shawn placed the bag between his legs for us to gnaw on during the drive. When we got home, we realized the car seat had the humongous grease stain than never went away (thank god I got a new car). For twenty years, my parents have attested to Anita's Mexican Restaurant at 309 S. Pacific Coast Highway. I never cared for Mexican so it did nothing for me, but I could occasionally choke down an enchilada or two (my dad likes their Rellenos). I have seen several restaurants opening and closing up on the harbor, but I believe they are all chain restaurants (Monterey Fish Company was there the last time I looked, but it has been a while). At this time, would you consider a little drive south? There is a restaurant that opened in Encinitas that is getting all the North County buzz. It was in the spot that the now famous Piret's was in and seems to be the destination restaurant for folks in Carlsbad, Vista, and Oceanside. The name escapes me at the moment, but if you are interested in heading out of Fallbrook or Oceanside, I will research it for you. BTW, some Fallbrook-ians go to Escondido to eat. I lived there for three years when I first got married and don't remember a single redeeming restaurant (although that was some years ago). When I lived in North County, I always drove south for a good meal... Good luck!

Funny... I submitted a proposal to them to teach a course or two. They never responded. I still like them! And WELCOME, Pamela!

Wow - you get them early!!! I always mark Springtime with the arrival of Girl Scouts and don't even start looking for them hanging around the grocery stores until Eastertime!

Get their Croissants! Last July, I went on a Croissant binge and tried croissants from all over the valley. Here's my report: Carolyn's Quest for the Quintessential Croissant and Nugget's came out darn near the top for me! Nugget is reminiscent of Whole Foods for me - large, accessible, with a great deal of variety.

Although this could have been posted in media, I put it here with the story having appeared in the Sacramento Bee. The gist?

Totally agree with Melkor. Alternately, if you have no gin, don't worry about leaving them out... It is a nominal flavor that you may not notice if it is missing.

Oddly, in the South Bay area of Los Angeles (Torrance, to be exact) there is a German Village which purports to sell German food and ingredients. What is odd is that while their beer selection is pretty heavily German, their wine selection is predominantly on the Georgian side (they also have an amazing Austrian sparkling that I miss buying). I tried a few of the Georgian wines (names no longer remembered), but I found them quite bad, truthfully. Not even "just okay" but downright un-drinkably bad. Maybe it was storage and maybe we can get someone in L.A. to re-visit it.

Yes, I know. I was trying to illustrate that as SIMILAR products, there are a number of uses. And all I can tell you about the Soba noodles that I buy are what is listed on the package: Japanese Style Buckwheat Noodle Ajisenryu Zaru Soba With Yam Ingredients: Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin & Folic Acid), Buckwheat Flour, Yam Flour, Salt and Water.

California is not one of those states that limits when a person can purchase alchol (except between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.). There are no Day restrictions. You didn't mention if there was any particular kind of wine you wanted to purchase. Not knowing exactly where Union Square is relation to my favorite places to purchase, I frequent the following: The Jug Shop · 1567 Pacific Avenue · San Francisco · CA · 94109 (great selection of Italian and French) Dee Vine Wines · Pier 19 · The Embarcadero · San Francisco · CA · 94111 (for German). For California wine, I buy in Napa and Sonoma.

The soba noodles I buy are made with Yam flour so I don't think you have to limit yourself to sweet if you don't want to. When I first read your post, my inclination was that it would make amazing ravioli dough.

It was on the Mystery Channel last night and I had forgotten it had good food scenes. It also reminded of another period piece with AMAZING food scenes, Age of Innocence.

This is entirely unrelated but Katie's comment about juice brought it to mind... This year, for the first time in my life, I got to taste the fresh juice from most of the Napa and Sonoma varietals as they were being crushed during harvest: Cabernet, Merlot, Gewurtz, Kleinberger, Zinfanderl, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, Cabernet Frank, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. Without a doubt, the fresh Pinot Noir juice was my favorite. Thinking of my Fantasy Food, if I had a chance to take over the Welch's Grape Juice corporation, I would tell them to give up on Concord grape juice and only sell Pinot juice! It is that good...

Carl's Jr. is doing it as well - the "low-carb $6 burger" adverts are all California.

It is Japanese and is Tampopo.

I've been passionate about food movies for a long time -- and food SCENES within otherwise non-food movies. Here are a few of my favorites: Diva Serge Gorodish (played by Richard Bohringer) explains to Jules (the postman, played by Frédéric Andréi) the proper way to butter a baguette. "This is my sartori," he says... Women in Love There is a picnic scene where Rupert Birkin (played by Alan Bates) watches Hermione (Eleanor Bron) delicately eat a fig with utensils. He then akins the fig to a woman's part and sensually rips the fig apart with his two thumbs, eating it thus. Lives of the Bengal Lancers Another movie with a Veuve Cliquot reference (see my signature). But there is a banquet scene where Lieutenant Forsythe (my greatest love, Franchot Tone) discusses how horrible the mutton is. Brilliant. Titus Well, the entire dinner sequence with Titus (Anthony Hopkins) in chef's garb is superb. I could go on, but those are my all-time, watch over-and-over fav's...

That's too much information.

Gosh... I started to list links of all the Pinots that I like (Robert Sinsky, Patz & Hall, Brian Loring, Gundlach Bundschu), but none of them are under $25! In fact, most of them are over $35! Sorry...

Quail Egg Tartlets with Caviar