Carolyn Tillie

What happens when you bite into the strawberry? Does it squirt out coffee liqueur, or does the liqueur get absorbed into the strawberry? Just curious, it sounds like a great idea, but I have visions of all sorts of things running down my chin! ← It truly depends on the size of the cavity -- yes, sometimes there is chin-drip and if one plans this well, then there is a loved-one nearby to help lick up the drippings! Often, if the strawberry is small enough, then the entire fruit can be put into the mouth the "squirt" is all contained within that first bite.

The really huge strawberries that are sold for chocolate-dipping have a sizable cavity! My favorite is to inject coffee liqueur before enrobbing it in chocolate, but Grand Marnier or other nifty flavors will work. A big college trick was to inject watermelons with vodka a few hours before cutting them open... For savory, I also inject leg-of-lamb with cognac.

They probably use one of these nifty egg cutter....

And I think all five of the ones I listed are pretty explicit in their culinary reference. But I'll consider giving clues in a day or so... <yeah, I'm a meanie!>

I read somewhere recently that Theibaud had illustrated a somewhat recent edition of Brillat Savarin's book. That would be interesting to see. ← Not very recent, actually. I've had the book for almost 10 years and yes, Thiebaud illustrated the book. I guess it is out of print now as I am only finding used copies here on Amazon. (Bummer, since I paid full price of $55!)

Is it this? (Minus the circles and arrows ) ← Now THAT is funny!

Okay, boys and girls... its about time my silly Masters in Art degree becomes worthwhile! 18. Chickens in a basket - a pie or two in the foreground with eggs behind. 19. A bounty of vegetables and the lady is busy shelling favas. 20. Lots of hanging meat and game, some being roasted on a spit in front of a fire, a few children enticing a cat, and an effusiveness of jocularity. 21. Oysters for the masses - with bottles of Champagne, of course. 22. Lots and lots of scary-looking fish but the additional hint is the cat trying to steal a freshly-filet'd cross-section of very red fish. And I am only just beginning....

That would be Breugel's 'peasant wedding' ← Very good! Bravo.

Dim Sum before lunch, Russell? My god, man, you have fortitude!!!!

Count me as a fan...

When I am making a dough for anything savory, I use duck fat. 50/50 lard/butter for sweet dough, but 50/50 duck fat/butter for savory. Amazing.

I'll add a new one - 16. pies served on a door, ale from clay jars, and bagpipes. edited to give it a number

A-okay! It *can* be a cold but it can also be delightful. The biggest head-ache is if you travel around Valentine weekend but it is not nearly as bad as harvest.

I think it depends on what you are looking for. Before I moved to Napa, my favorite time to visit was during Thanksgiving; harvest was over so the crowds were significantly diminished, the vines turn a stunning spectrum of fiery colors (California's version of Fall Colors), and the temperature is moderate. During the summer and up until harvest (mid- to late-September), it can be exceedingly hot and the crowds unmanageable. By the mid-October to the beginning of November, it is lovely although there are no longer grapes on the vines which is something that some people want to see. Most people consider Harvest to be the prime season but I always found that to be the most crowded and most unseasonably hot. Also, starting in mid- to late-February, Napa is filled with mustard blossoms and there is the Mustard Festival. Spring is beautiful and, once again, the crowds are not nearly as large as they are in the summer. I'm sorry I don't have much information on B&Bs or Inns as I never stayed in one - I just lived there. But if you search around the site, I'm sure you'll find a few suggestions from others.

There must be something in the air -- I have recently posted on both MF and CH about this very topic and I am definitely in the clay camp. I paid full price for a Le Creuset tagine and after getting both a Rifi and an Emil Henry, just gave the LC away. The Emil Henry holds significantly more than the LC and (I think) performs better. I just adore my Rifi for classic Moroccan tagines.

We dropped you off a little after midnight.... a full SIX HOURS after we started eating!

Okay, let's start with your Japanese request as I live across the street from Japantown. And here is my one and only major complaint with San Francisco: NO YAKITORI RESTAURANTS! You have no idea how much it pisses me off as they simply do not exist and I can't figure out why. There are more Japanese restaurants in this city than can be conceived of and yet no Yakitori. So, with that in mind, you had best suffice with sushi. Japantown is off the Muni (versus Bart) on the 38 line. It is also adjacent to Fillmore Street and now, having eaten at every sushi restaurant in the neighborhood, I would recommend Toraya on Fillmore or Kiss on Laguna. Kiss serves more Kaiseki style and is more "traditional" but Toraya has amazing fish and great sake served in Martini glasses. If you are set on tasting Taylor's Refresher, it will be easier for you to do it at the Ferry Plaza location in San Francisco as the St. Helena location is not really on the way to Santa Rosa. There are great places to eat in Sonoma, especially The General's Daughter and The Girl and The Fig. Unfortunately, for my four years living in wine country, I never really found anything in Santa Rosa very notable. In Napa, it is hard to point to a bad restaurant. My favorites include Pilar, Zuzu, the saffron mussels at Bouchon, and Terra. I wouldn't bother with Tra Vigne. Hope this helps...

This easily wins the "Best First Posting" award that we should have started long ago. Congratulations and welcome! And also, welcome to the world of realizing that there are actually people in the world that eat like this all the time - the person who prepared the dish was probably trying their best which makes it that much more scary to think they eat that way all the time!

It isn't the *best* Riedel in their line-up but pretty decent for the price (i.e., I break a lot of stemware and would rather keep replacing it with this stuff than their Vinum line!).

I especially love the photo of the names on the floor - great photo. I had the foie in cotton candy at a Napa event served by Jose Andres and it was regular cotton candy (although not overly sweet) around small torchon of foie. They were fabulous...

For almost 20 years I kept a bottle of Dr. Pepper - the kind that had the round logo with the 10 - 2 - 4 numbers on it. Lost it in the Northridge Earthquake...

I sacrifice meat to get the silver skin off -- better to bite into great meat than to have to eat around the grizzle that silver skin becomes.

That was going to be my suggestion -- alternately, chopped prunes or some other "moist" dried fruit or fruit compote that would act as a binder. Somehow I don't think orange juice will bind as well, but I could be wrong.

I've been able to buy the Wensleydale Blue at both the Cheesemaker's Daughter in Sonoma, at Dean & Deluca in Napa, and at the Cheeseboard in Berkeley. Fabulous cheese...

Well, I have a freezer full of the new Haagen-Dazs reserve and while I am enjoying the exotic flavors, the fact that they are all a little too sweet for me is my main impetus to start making my own is to develop great flavors that don't hurt my teeth.