Carolyn Tillie

I'm not sure there is ever a good way to handle this in mixed company -- some folks think 12% is just fine and starting a row in the restaurant could cost you a friendship. I suppose if you believe you will be in a similar situation in the future, you can grab the check when it arrives, add the 20% and THEN tell everyone what their portion is. In having everyone figure out their own portion, you leave it to the laws of fate of what your friends are going to do. If you feel strongly enough about the event now, you could always write to the management, explain what happened, and send over a little something more -- or small, individual gift certificates to the principals in question in perpetuity.

It was not hard to miss folks -- I was chatting with folks on a wine board where there were literally a dozen of us in the room at the same time. Here on my blog under the Siduri post, one guy piped up that he is the one with the reflectors on his shoes! I was there right at 10:30 and the room was "relatively" empty. By the time I left, you could barely walk around! This was my high spot of the day -- I completely fell in love with Siduri wines and hope to buy some of their grenache which completely knocked my socks off!

Charles - you did better than we did. We started at Siduri, tasting almost 20 wines. Then it was Battaglini, DeLoach, and Sunce. I also went to Martin Ray but was less than impressed (I think the freshly-painted tasting room severely impaired my ability to appreciate the wines as all I got was paint fumes). We were on our way to Iron Horse but got way-laid by that Mom's Apple Pie shop at that three-way stop. After that sugar, I had no desire for any more alcohol (even though I was spitting). All but Sunce has been thus been added to my blog so I won't reiterate it all here -- suffice to say I was most pleased at Siduri, and I'm quickly becoming a Rhone convert (after all, drinking cab all day long CAN get boring....) You going to Rhone Rangers next weekend in the city? 150 wineries and I can get my fill of Syrahs, petite Sirahs, Pinots, etc...

Not sure if anyone mentioned it... Swan is not open for dinner. Lunch only.

Not far from Healdsburg is a little town called Windsor -- one of the highlights of the area is a small restaurant called Mirepoix which supports the local wine industry and has a constantly changing food and wine menu. Also, in nearby Santa Rosa is Willi's Seafood & Wine Bar where LOTS of locals hang out. Fabulously interesting menu and (of course) a great revolving wine list.

I hope your expense account is big -- a cab in LA is going to cost you a pretty penny. When my car broke down and I had to take a cab a total of about four miles back home, it cost me $15 (I seriously should have walked). That being said, having a cab haul you are this incredibly large city several hundreds of dollars. I'm not kidding. Regarding BBQ, the hands-down best BBQ in the city are in areas where you can't go alone and carrying a gun might be more in line. I'm not kidding. I once had four VERY large, imposing looking guys escort me to try the BBQ and I still worried for my life. It was good, though.

The big question is -- will you have a vehicle? While San Francisco is relatively friendly to providing public transportation, Los Angeles is quite nasty. From San Francisco, it is possible to get into the Napa Valley, but it takes about four hours on public transportation (I've had several friends do it when I was unable to pick them up at airports). Los Angeles isn't REALLY a city that you want to use public transportation if you can help it -- it is possible, but not remotely pleasant. So we need to know where you are planning on staying (neighborhood, if you can) then it'll be a cinch to direct you towards the best eateries. Honestly, in LA, you can't throw a dead animal without hitting a relatively decent taco joint although (as Touaregsand indicated), they are better in East LA. I guess I'm one of the few who isn't wowed with Bouchon. I cook a lot of country French food so there isn't much there that I don't make myself and I tend to prefer restaurants that have food I don't cook. Although it is a great stop for oysters and a glass of white wine -- and there are always the pastries... Welcome to the California board! Let's hope you come back often...

Makes perfect sense -- I just wanted to assure a newbie that if he/she were to go out and look to buy an antique teapot, they wouldn't be looking for one marked 99% and subsequently be disappointed by never finding one. (Or, IF finding such a mark, to be concerned for its authenticity.)

Actually, if a teapot is Georgian or Victorian and made in England, it will NEVER be marked "99% Silver." Two Points 1. Nothing is ever made with 99% silver. That is considered "fine" and is too soft for any silversmithing. "Sterling" silver is 92.5% "fine" silver and 7.5% copper. The copper is needed to harden the silver and keep it from being too malleable. It is also why you don't see jewelry in 24k gold (although jewelry from India can be as high as 22k gold) -- there needs to be a little bit of copper alloyed in for strength. This is why some people with copper allergies can't wear sterling or most yellow golds, but must wear platinum or white gold. 2. If a piece is authentic European silver, the Europeans have a VERY strict method of hallmarking their silver for identification purposes (mostly established by the Brits). The British hallmarks include a mark for the city where it was produced, a lion passant for sterling silver, and a letter for the year in which the piece was made. Then there is usually also a maker's mark. Some American producers emulate the European system, but our laws are not in place to demand it -- all we are required to do is mark the silver content. Here is a good explanation of European hallmark symbols

If you are staying at Manka's, a few local eateries to add to your adventure would be the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes Station (I adore the Oyster Stew with Leeks & Mushrooms) as well as Vladimir's Czech in Inverness. Vladimir's has been there since 1960, all the food is cooked by 75-year-old Vladimir himself and the food is definitely old world in style and presentation (not haute cuisine, but the atmosphere and experience is unbeatable!)

Guinness-soaked beef, soda bread, Irish stew, bread, foul and feathered game, bread, blood sausage, eggs, bread, oatmeal, bread. Oh yeah, and did I mention there is a lot of bread?

Well, I ended up giving mine an egg dip and flour dip and deep frying them. I was actually a bit disappointed - maybe the morels were too big and tough (they were about the size of my fist!). Fortunately, it is raining here again and I think I will be getting more in the next few days...

You Go Girl! ← All this talk of cleaning -- the ones I have been picking are pristinely clean and already incredibly moist. I talked to Lissa Doumani of Terra and she told me to pick them, lay them on a cookie sheet, and drape them with a damp papercloth in the fridge until I bring them to her tomorrow evening. I am SO jazzed, you have no idea!

Synchronicity! I just finished a tour and, walking around the backside of the winery, I found almost ONE HUNDRED morels! I've called a couple of restaurants and apparently trading is big business around here and I might be able to negotiate a few gift certificates around town...

My gut reaction is that leaving at 1:00 p.m. on a Friday is not early enough, if you want enough downtime to eat. Consider coming up earlier, guarantee you will miss the traffic, and then have some serious fun time in LA beforehand. Leaving at 1:00 p.m., if there is one really bad accident, you could be pulling up to the theatre as the performance is starting. Just a thought...

And while there, have caviar for dessert at the Tsar Nicholai! How many places can you dine at a Caviar Bar?

Well, there is Sterling Silver, Silver Plate, and German Silver. I have constructed teapots in sterling silver and own several -- as well some that are silver plate and German silver. The ones constructed out of German silver and silver plate CAN add a slight taste to the tea, because of the metals involved (zinc, copper, nickel, etc). However, I do not personally believe that tea in Sterling Silver tastes at all metallic. I personally adore having my tea in metal teapots as acting as a heat conduit, the tea tends to stay hotter longer.

Don't forget desserts! I made a simple pate sucre for a peach gallette, but add Chinese five spice to the peaches when sauteeing them. Instead of simple whipped cream, I make a smple vanilla sauce as it plays off the Chinese five spice a bit more and all together, makes for an amazing layer and dimension to an otherwise "classic" American dish.

The last time I went, I deeply regretted not stopping at some little roadside stand with a sign that read "Homemade Pies" and I never made it all the out to Inverness, stopping short at Inverness Park. I did, however, stop at the Station House Cafe in Point Reyes and had what had to have been the most impressive Oyster Stew ever. Made with Cream, Leeks, Spinach, Mushrooms and Tarragon, at $10.75 it could not be improved upon. However, this coming weekend, there WILL be another excursion to Inverness after a day on the WineRoad for open barrels in Russian River and Alexander Valleys. A bunch of us are bound and determined to finally dine at Vladimir's for Czech food! I'll report back!

Never ate there but heard stories about it from my folks from years gone by... I gotta say, though, that as far as canned soup goes, Bookbinder's was always pretty damned good -- besides, who else makes a decent canned Snapper Soup? Hope the cans continue at least (probably already owned by another corporation, huh?).

My first thought was how to recreate Cioppino in a sandwich... For starters, it would have to go on sourdough bread but after that, it just got messy in my head.

Oh, Andy! I wish I knew that was why you were here in town! I was there as well, pouring Ladera wines! Wasn't it an amazing event? And the food! Astonishing, really. Probably the best event I have ever worked, ever (and that includes my years working the Oscars and Emmys!)

Actually, many of us agree with you! Taylor's makes great onion rings and I adore their Ahi Sandwich, but not often -- they are honestly just too expensive for what you get. And I agree with you on Yank Sing. I prefer Koi Palace for Dim Sum. ← Several friends and coworkers refuse to go to Taylor's because it is too expensive... so I often have to go it alone (damn that burger!)... ← When my father was visiting over the holidays, he really wanted to go and insisted and taking my sister and I. None of us ordered wine and lunch for three (burgers, shakes, fries...) was over $50.00!

On one of the wine lists I frequent, someone posted a link to a series of 109 photographs taken at a recent meal at Urasawa I can't credit the guy, because I don't know his name but hope this link gets to remain Prepare to be astonished!

Beg to differ... I made two tagines over the weekend (I'm working on an article on pairing Moroccan food with wine and needed LOTS of product to test with). But I only owned one tagine so I had to resort to my Le Creuset which browned the meat which is not desirable.