tigerwoman

although people may not be kosher in respect to the holiday, you should avoid mixing meat and milk or in this case, butter and meat. It just wouldn't be kosher!!!

well we are having both brisket and turkey (a 22 pound turkey) and there are only 7 adults and one tiny baby attending. Can we say leftovers. In my family there are two flavors of brisket. Traditional old fashioned with just lots and lots of onions, salt and pepper cooked slowly on top of the stove in a large pot gently simmering and filling the house with its fabulous wafing smells and the new traditional kind that my grandmother started making about 25 years ago after she got the recipe from a temple sisterhood buddy. This is the sweet and savoury one. You take the brisket (or heaven forbid you can use a roast beef too) plop it on a huge huge oversized piece of heavy duty aluminimum foil (double is better and heavy is a must) open a can of cranberries (whole in jelly), a package of liptons onion soup mix (I use the cheap store brand), a small can of tomato puree concentrate, and 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, don't even bother to mix or stir, seal the package tightly, throw into a low oven 250-300 for about 5 hours. Try to make this ahead of time - a few days is best. Then slice the meat properly, stick back into the "gravy" and reheat in a corningware casserole dish and serve - watch them lick the plates clean... (we make this for every family holiday including the non Jewish ones). But I would agree with FG, more is more and is a nessecity. I consider the Jewish holidays to be the last supper syndrome - you see all this great food and think when will I get to indulge in a delicious home cooked meal like this again, so you stuff yourself silly - the great thing about Passover, is that you have 2 nights in a row. I bet the alka seltzer and tums sales rise this time of the year!!!!

Ommegang is fairly prevalent on the NY scene. There are kazillion places to drink or buy it in Park Slope for example at Bierkraft (buy to take home) on 5th Avenue off of Union, or if you want to sample it - 200 Fifth Avenue Restaurant/Bar services it - along with a selection of 40 other beers on tap and numerous others in bottles. Cann't remember if they serve Ommegang on tap (I think they do) Try Speckled Red Hen - that's pretty tasty too. If you ever get a chance that the Ommegang Tour while up in the Cooperstown area - nice people - great beer - pretty grounds. They run a belguim festival yearly too.

I too am rolling on the floor Caesar (without anchovies) will never be the same again...

chocolate covered (plain chocolate or dark choc to us yanks) digestives my husbands aunties fresh scones clotted cream and freshly picked raspberries a good cup of tea roast dinner - especially lamb and roasted potatoes why do the potatoes in the UK just taste so much better? Wholemeal shortbreads (Walkers used to make them 20 years ago but I havent seen them recently) Desserts and Dishes with great names liked Spotted Dick, Sussex Pond Pudding - they just roll off your tongue English Trifle with lots of custard, and good whipped cream again the dairy seems much better - given that dairy is so rich and prevalent in UK - it has amazed me that the UK took so long to bring good dairy icecreams to the market (commercially prepared that is - I used to laugh about Walls on a continuous basis)

I have frozen portions of the Costco smoked salmon to have with bagels or whatever so we don't have "salmon" week. It seems to work successfully with little noticable difference in taste/texture. I was once told that that the smoked salmon companies sometimes freeze the smoked salmon (hint if you have an unsliced side of salmon and a slicer, it makes it easier to slice thinly if frozen)

a day or two before Carolyn's potluck in Napa (week of Feb 18th) we had lunch at Wappo too. Having only eaten dinner there a few years before we found lunch a bit underwhelming. We did like the Brazilian seafood chowder but frankly it had more of a Thai/Asian tone to it - still very tasty !! Also had the chili rellenos - which is so pretty. We shared the meze platter which had many items on it but only 2 were outstanding - the eggplant stuffed with goats cheese breaded and deep fried and some sort of pomegranete walnut tapenade - probably a Georgian thing. We also had the duck chicaronne dish - of which we liked the duck but the salad was bland. The lunch was a stark contrast to the truly memorable and fabulous dinner we had 3 years ago - somewhat dissappointing. Fortunately we had a few good meals in Healdsburg with friends that sort of made up for Wappo. \I have pictures of everything but not sure how to post them here and too tired to figure it out now.

Now I for one love catering - it beats having a retail business where you really cannt predict what people will order from day to day. But off prem (off premises) catering takes tons of organization and skill - you have to know how to plan, execute, improvise and keep smiling. And while we hate the kids, pets and grandmas in the kitchen while we are flying at full speed trying to get ready, sometimes its just the nature of the beast. Worse than the clients without a clue is when the space you are catering in that the client picked out and paid for has a problem and you have to take the heat for it. We were catering a valentine wedding for about 100 last year at a loft on the west side in the 20's (NYC) the skylights were leaking as unfortunately it was raining. The owners solution was to put vases all over the room which my staff and I kept tripping over. I took a nasty fall, yet the site wasnt taking responsibility to keep it dry. And when it got dark there were no lights to light up the food areas - oh well, fortunately there was a kitchen space of sorts, but then one of the people came early and was hogging the area the bartender needed to set up and was pissed off when we asked them to hurry it up - guess looking beautiful was more important for her than her hosts party being ready on time.

cann't remember any specific brands, but when we visited our niece who lives in a small village in southern france she turned us on to French supermarket potoato chips - nice and thin, crisp and salty. I remember the fancy artisan bags or slightly more expensive ones were marked something like antique - not that spelling tho - I think it was supposed to indicate old fashioned and hand cooked - like kettle chips - anyway, as with many other products - like the delicious blood orange juice we would get in the monoprix supermarkets - really quenched our thirst and economically at that - in the midsts of last augusts record heats throughout France. The country side was dry and hot - the sunflower crop was burnt out - but Paris its self was unbearable in the heat, yet we had a faboulous time. And ate some great street food - as was our goal - supermarkets, markets, food stands, stalls, we trekked our way round Paris = nibbling most of the way.

the downside is that washing fruits such as strawberries or veg such as mushrooms makes them absorb water (and I would think that whatever is on the surface has already seeped in anyhow) which is detrimental to the texture and taste of the item. Most chefs I have ever worked with are very much against washing mushrooms or strawberries for example - usually we take a damp cloth or paper towel and brush away any dirt that is visible.

make a strudel with filo dough stuffed with sauteed spinach, onions, raisins and cheese (goats cheese or feta and mozzarella are a good combo), seasoned with hot pepper flakes and garlic. sautee the onions, garlic, hot pepper flakes and raisins, add the squeezed frozen spinach cook to coat with seasonings add s and p to taste. Cool Mix with cheeses, butter layers of filo and stack, can make either a log or individual large turnovers, or even large beggars purses for a great stylized look.(or small ones even for appetizers) stuff with filling, brush with more butter and at this point you can freeze to bake on day or just bake and serve. Everything is cooked so you are just crisping and browning the filo.

was the boat moored in St. Katherines Docks called the Lady G or the Lady Gwynfred by any chance?

unless they are an exhibitionist...

pictures please...

Funny enough I had a pomegranate sitting on the counter for the last few days - so after reading this post, seeing Suzanne's quoted instructions and going to the website and actually getting a visual I decided to try the new found technique very cool - this is the first time I've ever gotten into a pomegranate without a huge red mess. Unfortunately it was a fair to mediocre pomegranate - but now I know to look for a thin skinned beauty next time... This fruit has a lot of inuendo going for it...

Here's a corrected link (the above one has too many //) No Mess Thank you. When I searched, I came up with this page: Opening and eating (not as detailed) from the company that's selling POM juice. that's a nice site - fun and interesting recipes and pomegranate facts everything you always wanted to know about pomegranates but were afraid to ask... they even talk about the spit vs. swallow issue - no get your minds out of the gutter...

you can get total greek yogurt at Trader Joes I think I also sawit at Titan Foods in Astoria Then theres that Greek Yogurt Place near Laguardia airport (they used to have a branch in Soho but I think that closed) they make their own greek style ultra thick yogurt. I think its called the yogurt place - I remember reading about it on chowhound a long time ago and we went there a few times but it is very out of the way and weird to get to even by car.

How do rental agencies expect the tablecloths to be returned? Cleaned or dirty? Stain treated? Also, I find Shout Gel works better than regular Shout or Spray & Wash. Most rental companies do their own cleaning. Even when you rent dishes they are supposed to be scrapped not cleaned (plus even if you clean them they have to redo it to sanitize the equipment - which makes sense)

thank you all for the advice - we were in barcelona without a/c and hated it (lack of air) but the savings was enormous - this is an expensive trip for us and we'd rather spend the money on FOOD. If there is no fan in the rooms (which I suspect) we may purchase one and give it to our niece who lives in France for her "hacienda" ( a huge old farm between Toulousse and Auch). At least I have started to get a vague sense of Paris with the intensive research the last week or so. Will probably just concentrate on one area as time is so short. Either that or have a serious attack plan to jump from food hall to bakery to cookware shop to chocolatier to ice cream bar - well you get the picture.

thank you all for the suggestions. Actually the apartment rental is not going to work out so I have been searching for a budget hotel - but not knowing Paris at all my head is swimming. I think we will follow along the lines that Busboy's family did and play most of it by ear. Just was hoping to be situated in a neighborhood that was relatively convienent to transport and yet had stuff going on too. Back to the drawing board. What area would the Paris experts suggest staying in and still be able to get a double (dont laugh at me please) for 50- 65 Euros a night - breakfast not neccessary. On another board I found an interesting suggestion of both the art and lunch at Musee Jacquemart-Andre 158 Boulevard Haussman 01 45 62 1159 Any thoughts on this? Love the idea of stepping back in time to a 19th century upclass Parisan home and the restaurant is set in the original dining room (according to the poster) Musee Jaquemart-Andre

Will be staying in an apartment in Montparnasse for three nights in mid August - (Sunday night thru Tuesday night leaving late Wednesday Afternoon for Toulousse) In Montparnasse: What markets might be open during those days? What boulangeries and cheese stores should not be missed? Any recommendations for lunches and dinners in the 15-40 Euro range that present both good food/good value French experience? Hidden treasures: eg parks, speciality boutiques, bookstore, housewares or cookingwares? any help appreciated - we are both in the food biz - but not on a high budget this time. Really want to concentrate on markets and take out food for alot of the meals with one to two lunches or dinners for the plated food experience. What is the vibe of this neighborhood? Merci

Name of a Kosher Chinese Restaurant Cho-zen

it sounds strange, but add some mayo that is infused with sage (which will give the the breakfast sausage taste) The mayo trick works well. I always use it with turkey meatloaf or turkey burgers. I use dill mayo - fresh chopped dill and hellmans. About 2-3 tablespoons per pound of ground turkey.

I was at the Kirin Japanese Trading Corp (57 Warren Street) a few weeks ago and they were making hand forged Japanese knives that looked no pun intended killer. They had lots of other neat stuff from gorgeous ceramic sushi dishes to funky Japanese Utensils - even a semi automated sushi roller. They are open to the public but sometimes offer a discount to the trade (shades of Bridge)

Don't know about the London Market, but I just bought some Foie Gras last week for a gig I was catering here in NYC and there were two different grades, hence probably the price differences people were freaking about earlier in the post. I was told that grade B was good enough for terrines and even crostinis, seared. Don't know what grade A tasted like but the Canadian Grade B that I eventually bought wholesale from D'Artagan was about $20 a pound or about 35 quid for a kilo. We seared it in a very hot pan, placed it on a brioche crostini with fresh pears sauteed in 40 year old cognac and topped with frizzled leeks. What was not to like. Melt in your mouth delicious bites of FAT