BekkiM

Nathan: Had the pasta tasting menu Friday night at Insieme--thanks for the tip! It was all lovely and, as I had the bar to myself, I got great wine advice throughout from the bartender. The mushroom risotto was fantastic, as was the chicken liver agnolotti (sp?) and the pasta with swordfish, potatoes, and capers. I wanted to pick the dishes and lick them! The other high point of the week was the tasting menu at Spice Market--with the exception of the chicken breast and the fried rice, the meal was excellent. 10 courses of various east-Asian-inspired dishes--the chocolate tart at the end was particularly good, not too sweet, but still rich and creamy. I especially liked the Shaved Tuna with Chili Tapioca Asian Pear and Lime, it had a that lovely layered balance of flavors that I associate with Thai or Vietnamese food. I was sorry to see my week end.

I am going to be in New York Sept 22-26 for a conference. Unfortunately, this will probably rule out the lunch options for great restaurant experiences, but as a solo diner, I'm hoping I can take great advantage of bar dining for dinner. Does anyone have recommendations or suggestions for a solo diner? Babbo was heavily in contention until I read here that they won't do the tasting menu for solo diners. It doesn't knock Babbo out altogether, but it might make the choice a little more difficult. I'm very partial to tasting menus as it saves me from having to make agonizing choices about what I won't get to try... Plus, even if it's a marketing gimmick or a way to use up inventory (please don't tell me if it is ), I like the feeling that I'm getting things the chef actually enjoys cooking... I'll eat anything, but am not all that interested in steak houses or seafood places (well, except sushi, which is not the same thing at all.) Also, I went to the French Laundry in February, so Per Se is not all that high on my list. Price range-wise, the $400 meal at Masa is probably out of my budget, but I could swing up to $150ish without breaking the bank or living on ramen for the rest of my week.

Fine Cooking is also one of my favorite food magazines--it's one of only two that I don't rip apart (I mean physically rip the few recipes I like out of for filing, then recycle the vast majority of the ad-filled remainder). The other is Saveur, but that's a different subject. I definitely use a lot of their recipes in my day-to-day cooking (and also for entertaining, come to think of it). I find that (for the most part) the recipes are well tested and reliable. Off the top of my head, my go-to recipes are the method for polenta in the oven (no, it's probably not authentic, but with the oven method, I am able to include it in a weekday meal where I don't have time to linger over the stove, stirring like mad), the French rolls (which were in the issue for the cassoulet, which I've also made several times), the parmesan chicken, the grilled flank steak with various sauces, and the cardomom palmiers. Alas, no pictures right now (or issue numbers), but I will make sure to grab some the next time I cook from there.

I just got this notice forwarded to me by a friend of mine: At a minimum, I know I'm planning on going to Strings, but some of the other menus look good too.

At last night at Cafe Star on Colfax... *bleah* I'll start with the good news--the service was good, not very formal, but pleasant and friendly. Also, the tuna appetizer with oranges, capers, and olives was interesting and not too bad. I really liked the dressing with with oranges--it had an unusual combination of flavors that I couldn't quite place, which made it fun. And we liked the decor--the different sizes of inexpensive, round white lights was playful and I like the stained glass piece that separates the dining room from the bar (except they were playing "Zoolander" at a very loud volume in the bar for "Thursday night movie night"--a clear ploy to attempt to attract more customers that was just as clearly failing as the place was pretty close to dead empty at 8:00 on a Thursday). The bad news was that the rest of the food could only charitably be described as "mediocre" I had "pan-seared gnochi with mushrooms, arugula, olive oil and balsamic dressing." First of all, gnochi were hard, dense, flavorless lumps of overworked dough with an unpleasantly oily film--nary a drop of balsamic to be found. Secondly, my dish, like the rest of the dishes at the table, suffered from a distinct lack of salt. My son had the crawfish pot pie which also needed a ton more seasoning and was waaaay too soupy--it was basically a thin, cream-based broth soup of crawfish, peas, and potatoes covered with a big hunk-o-puff-pastry. Not particularly nasty, but not particularly good either. The best dish of the three entrees was my husband's bone-in pork loin, which needed salt, but was at least tender, and was accompanied by a delicious sweet potato-vegetable medley. We skipped dessert in favor of Ben & Jerry's we had in the freezer--after that uninspired meal, we weren't willing to risk it. But to top it all off, we paid $75 for a distinctly poor meal at a place that has had a good reputation. Has anyone else been to Cafe Star? Did you have a similar (or better) experience? I hate to see restaraunts fail, but this one, if it can't perform better, seems bound for the dustbin.

No, the marble is brown, so it doesn't stain, but it chips easily and shows every water mark, some firmly etched into the surface: The limestone is grey and it's actually holding up pretty well. The only thing I don't like is that the surface isn't completely smooth, so I have little "pits" that catch flour if I'm kneading bread or rolling out crusts. But it's cool (in more than one sense of the word) and quite stunning. And I didn't really take the comments as a "slam" (I was typing quickly and didn't overthink my choice of words)--just seemed like you didn't like them much. I think that if I had a bigger family or a less helpful husband (who does the laundry more often than I do), I'd probably like the upstairs laundry less myself. As there are only three of us and almost all of the laundry is done on Sunday afternoon by someone other than myself, I'm very happy with the arrangement.

One of the few things I wish I'd had room for, but didn't, was an ice-maker. When I'm throwing a party, I want lots and lots of ice. Buying bags at the grocery store isn't the greatest of solutions because then I have to store the bags of ice until it's party time--pain the butt if you ask me. And I don't get why the slam on upstairs laundry rooms wormed its way into this thread; I adore mine. Almost all of the stuff that needs laundering is upstairs anyway, so why haul it all downstairs, clean it, then haul it back upstairs for folding and storing? I added a drawer to my new kitchen specifically for dirty dish towels (thanks to the dish towel thread, I am now fully stocked with flour sack towels for everything from drying dishes to pulling hot pans out of the oven to draining fresh ricotta and consequently go through them at an alarmingly quick pace) which is lined with a wire basket that I just pull out and bring upstairs with me on laundry day. Works for me. Lighting is obviously crucial, as is plenty of counter space. I'm loving the limestone we put in the island, but the marble on the perimeter counters is entirely impractical and I curse the day we were talked into it. It chips, it spots, it scratches--while it's beautiful in its pristine state, it irks me that I can't keep it that way.

I know your post is old, but did you happen to buy that vegetable steamer at a Good Will store in Ann Arbor, MI? Because that's where I sent mine--it didn't so much "steam" the vegetables as "parboil them into mush" God, it was a terrible kitchen tool. ETA: And tonight I'll see if I can get a photo of the Cuisinart that I inherited from a friend that has lost the little plastic doohicky that pushes the pin down (the safety mechanism) so the blades will spin--I force it down with a butter knife (with the lid securely in place) instead of taking the time to buy a replacement bowl... Laziness--where would I be without thee?

10/10... But I have to confess that some answers were just lucky guesses.

Not in Hawaii yet... Was it featured on an endcap, or was it in the regular spice aisle? I keep checking! ← It was in the regular spice aisle, on the very bottom of the shelf--not really being showcased or promoted at all. I paid $25 for a 5g jar. Is that good or bad? Anyway, I haven't broken the seal yet, but it looks lovely and red-gold. ← I was just at a Costco here in Southern California this afternoon, and didn't find the saffron on the spice aisle. The guy at the front looked it up and said they had a large quantity up to the other day, but then it was pulled and returned to the vendor, system-wide. There wasn't any information where he was looking as to why. Might want to find out the reason before using it, in case it's something about the saffron itself. Although if it was potentially hazardous there would probably be some kind of recall news, I suppose. ← Thanks for the update--I'll check before using it. If I learn something, I'll post it here.

I made a modified version of Basque Chicken Wings from Thrill of the Grill the other night that might fit the bill: Juice from 1 lemon 3 tbsp minced herbs (basil, chives, cilantro, thyme) 1 minced chipotle pepper (the canned in adobo kind) 2-3 cloves garlic, minced kosher salt and pepper Make a paste of everything except the lemon juice, then mix it into the juice. Grill your wings to desired doneness ('tho next time I'll fry mine, I think) and toss with the sauce. Yummy, sour, spicy goodness--no sugar to speak of.

That is genuinely disgusting. ETA: I don't watch Paula Deen (apparently with good reason, if this is the kind of "recipe" she promotes), but why is this the "Ladies" brunch burger? As a woman (though I've rarely been accused of being a lady), I think I'm offended.

It can be like that at the one closest to my house, but I've learned not to shop on Saturday mornings and it seems to help. I was there yesterday around 3:00 and it was dead empty (or as dead empty as Costco gets). I think you just have to figure out the pattern of the one in your area and hope that your schedule accomodates their down times.

Not in Hawaii yet... Was it featured on an endcap, or was it in the regular spice aisle? I keep checking! ← It was in the regular spice aisle, on the very bottom of the shelf--not really being showcased or promoted at all. I paid $25 for a 5g jar. Is that good or bad? Anyway, I haven't broken the seal yet, but it looks lovely and red-gold.

The saffron is in--I just bought a jar yesterday.

What a great topic! As I read through the other responses they brought back such lovely food memories: ...growing up in Vermont in the 1970s and going to the town's first Mexican restaurant. It seemed so exotic and sophisticated to have "discovered" a new cuisine. I still remember how spicy my first pickled jalapeno was. ...going to a real restaurant (white tablecloths, crystal, multiple flatware, etc.) with three of my friends without our parents for my 16th birthday, a treat from my parents. We felt so grown up being able to order appetizers AND entree AND dessert all on our own. ...taking my parents to dim sum in San Francisco when I was living there in the late 80s/early 90s. They had come out to visit me and, in an attempt to show them how worldly I was, I took them down to Chinatown to a restaurant I'd never been to, to order food I'd never heard of. Totally back-fired. None of us liked the various dumplings and the chicken feet repulsed me so much I couldn't eat. I may have learned more "food tolerance" since then, but it was memorable for its failure at the time. ...walking through San Francisco early one evening with my then-boyfriend (now husband) and stepping into a tiny, empty Italian restaurant in what's now Hayes Valley (I don't think the area even had a name at the time). In what has become an of-told joke, when we asked the host (who turned out to be the owner) for a table, he looked around the room (which held, at most, 10 tables) for several minutes, then back at us, then the room, then us... He asked if we had a reservation and when we, quite puzzled, said "no," he looked very thoughtful, then said, in a rushed voice, “Well, I’ll see if I can squeeze you in.” Mind you, the place was dead empty at the time, so we were laughing as we were seated about how incredibly pompous this little Italian man was, but within 15 minutes, the place was packed to the gills with a line down the block. Little did we know that we had stumbled into a local neighborhood gem called Café Della Stella (it became a much larger place later and may still be there for all I know.) I don’t remember much about the food except that it was excellent and that we were very taken with the pitchers of sparkling water with orange slices floating in them and used that concept for years in own home. It was one of those completely unexpected moments in your life that shine brightly in your memory because it was so unique and special and warm and wonderful and such a great moment in the beginning of my life with my husband. …saying goodbye to San Francisco and Café Della Stella as we were moving to Michigan. When the owner came by our table to take our wine order and we selected something cheap (we didn’t make much money in those days), he shook his head and said “No! I will not sell you that bottle of wine. I will sell you this bottle of wine” and he pointed at a bottle in the list close to our price range, saying “this wine should be down here” and he pointed at the bottle of the list, where expensive bottles live. When he returned with our wine, he sat down at our table, opened the wine, and poured three glasses, two for us and one for him. It was a great moment. …eating fois gras for the first time in a restaurant in Prague and having a food epiphany that I needed to get out more, try more things, discover what the food world had to offer. Hence, eGullet.

Kim, I have been reading your blog the past few days and very much enjoying it, but I snorted coffee out of my nose when I read your description of tapioca. I have been searching, lo these 40 years, for a way to convey my absolute revulsion for the stuff and you have nailed it perfectly. "Skeevy" and "bouncy balls of nothing" are brilliant, just brilliant! LOL Keep up the blog; it's fascinating (and hugely entertaining).

If it's the same Tacos y Salsas that I've been to (on Colfax, east of Quebec, can't remember the exact cross-street), their carnitas are great for lunch/dinner--definitely dive Mexican, but really yummy. As for Italian, there's always Frasca in Boulder, my absolute favorite. I've had good luck at Luca D'Italia, but I've heard bad stories too. I always sit at the bar and order the tasting menu with the wine pairings and I've never been disappointed. Potager is also usually a great choice. It's not any of your specific cuisines, but it's a great Denver restaurant.

Did anyone read the original study? My problem with studies reported in newspapers (which seems like the place that many people of my acquantance get their "statistics") don't report anything like what variables were controlled for or what that "greater risk" actually amounted to or what number of men actually ate 7 or more eggs per week (sample size, p-value, whatever). Nevermind how inaccurate reporting on exactly what you eat every day for 20 years by a group of physicians (who might not, for a whole host of reasons, even be representative of the general population) is likely to be... Perhaps eating more than 7 eggs a week is correlated with overeating in general (since it means that those are people who a likely to be having an actual breakfast). Perhaps eating more than 7 eggs a week is correlated with getting less sleep (since you have to get up earlier to eat a full breakfast and still get to work on time). Perhaps eating more than 7 eggs a week is correlated with socioeconomic status or ethnicity (don't know why this would be so, but it could be) or living in a rural area or some other factor that contributes to "premature" death but isn't identified in the study... And while I'm on my soapbox about studies published in newspapers and then quoted in other newspapers... The article is quoted as reporting that "egg consumption was not associated with (heart attack) or stroke" and yet the newspaper article details the "link" between eggs and heart attack and stroke, giving the impression that the reason more people died was heart attack and stroke, the poster-children of the "anti-egg" movement (which may not exist anywhere but in my mind, but is important for my argument). If egg consumption was not associated with heart attack and stroke, but was associated with risk of death, doesn't it stand to reason that the cause of death was something other than heart attack and stroke? Like getting hit by a bus? That's is, people who eat a lot of eggs become risk-takers and step off curbs without looking in both directions, getting hit by buses with increased frequency than their egg-abstaining brethren who maintain their high degree of self-preservation. Finally, of course men who ate more eggs ate less breakfast cereal... While you can certainly eat eggs at other times than breakfast, in this country that's when you're most likely to eat them and if you're having eggs, bacon, and toast, you're probably not having a bowl of cereal along with it. Stupid statistics.

Unfortunately, I _am_ the contractor on this one, so it's my own laziness that's standing in the way of the backsplash--and suicide seems a bit extreme in this case. Precisely why we did not pull a permit. Shhhhh... Don't tell anyone...

OK I am talking to you I have bought salted butter that is so salty it is almost unedible so I don't think all butters contain the same amount of salt. I'll wait for others to join the talk. ← What she said... You never know how much salt a particular manufacturer adds to the butter (although, I suppose that if you always buy butter from a particular manufacturer, you would probably get used to that level of salt and season your dishes accordingly). I like to control how much salt I'm using, both in baking items and in savory dishes. Also, when I serve butter at the table, I like the crunch of serving it with "fancy" salt sprinkled on it and don't want to overpower the taste with already salted butter.

Warning: Somewhat off-topic side track... Have you bought Cheng's book (Concrete Countertops)? It looks like there are a couple more out there now than when we poured ours for the basement (I'll try to take some pics tonight), but this is the one we used and it was fabulous. Really great information, detailed steps for the process, pictures, etc. Highly, highly recommend it if you're going to pour your own counters. Also, investing in the rental of a small cement mixer is critical (or, if you want to drive to Denver, I'll lend you mine, plus the wet-polisher)--you'll never manage to mix that much concrete on your own. I love ours and you can't beat the price (although don't forget to factor in the not insignificant cost of building the mold). And now back to your regularly scheduled topic... I read something on your blog, Vinotas, that made me see red: "After 10 grueling workdays..." Are you kidding me? Six months, baby, six months and we still haven't installed the backsplash. Your kitchen is beatiful and who would have thunk to look for glass tiles at Costco? I can't wait to see them installed with the counters. I know what you mean about giggling a little every time you walk in the kitchen. I still do in mine--especially when I pull open a drawer and everything has a home, instead of being piled willy-nilly, whereever we managed to stuff them in.

We stayed at the Shinta Mani (web site) and I highly, highly recommend it. It's off the main drag, so it's quiet. It's small, so it's charming. The rooms were lovely (and the beds were very comfortable--not a small feat given that Asian beds are typically much harder and firmer than Western ones), with a separate sitting area and a nice bathroom. It has a lovely pool and a "spa" of sorts (our friend and her daughters got massages and pedicures and enjoyed the experience). The food, especially at breakfast, was quite good. And I think it was reasonably priced (though I'm sure there are better deals in Siem Riep if you want to go cheaper). Also, we really liked the concept of the hotel's social mission--it has an attached hospitality school so many of the staff are students learning a trade in quickly-growing Siem Riep. And, as part of your stay, guests are encouraged to contribute to a local program. We opted to raise funds to build a house for a local Khmer family; the kids raised half and the parents threw in the other half. For $1200, they build a concrete house no bigger than your typical American office cubicle for a widow and her young daughter--and while we were there we got to meet her and see the house. It was a humbling--and incredibly enriching--experience. The yellow building is the house that was built (that's her daughter in the doorway); the small structure behind it is her original home. At the time this was taken, she had not moved in to the new house because she couldn't afford to pay the monk to bless it--of course, once we learned that, we donated that amount immediately. We did not make it to Phnom Pehn on this trip--we only had four days for Cambodia, then proceeded on to Bangkok and then to Phuket--but I'd love to go sometime.

I don't have pictures, but I'd like to add the following reviews: Khmer Kitchen (also in the Pub Street area): Eh, don't bother. It was okay, but it really wasn't memorable. There have got to be better places in Siem Riep to eat. Honestly, I can't even remember what we had, other than it was boring. Dead Fish Tower (on the main street, just down the way from Hotel De La Paix--more on that in a minute): Cheesy, incredibly cheesy, with multi-level dining platforms and alligators. But the food wasn't bad--in fact, some of it was down-right tasty--and the atmosphere was fun for lunch. I bet it's annoying in the evening when it must do some sort of business as a bar, but for a late lunch, when it was nearly empty, the kids totally enjoyed exploring and figuring out how to get up to the highest of the (un-railed) platforms. Day Inn (I think this is what it was called--it's across the street from the Shinta Mani hotel): Eh, don't bother. We had dinner there and it was expensive and not all that good. I had the "Beef Nine Ways" which reportedly was based on a traditional preparation for tiger; maybe it's better with tiger. It was bland and not all that attractively presented. In fact, that's a good description of all of the food. Shinta Mani: This is where we stayed (and I can't recommend it highly enough for accomodations) and while the breakfasts were fabulous (the pastries were especially good), dinner was just okay. We only at one meal there for dinner--the traditional Khmer buffet which was offered along with an exhibit of traditional dances by local children--and it was unremarkable. Not bad, but a little pricey for what you got. The desserts were truly disgusting--but I'm not a fan of Asian desserts anyway, so my review here may not be that meaningful. We did have lunch by the pool one day and it was yummy, but very Western--no Cambodian dishes to be seen. Hotel De La Paix: For my husband's birthday, we made reservations for the "swinging tables" at this upscale hotel. We both ordered the tasting menu on the logic that (a) it seemed the most truly Cambodian of the offerings and (b) it has always served us well at US restaraunts. It was spotty at best. They completely forgot one course and then served it lumped on the same plate as the next one, sometimes we went 45 minutes between courses, and we had to actually ask for the dessert course (although honestly I would have skipped it altogether if I could). It was very expensive for what we got and I don't recommend it.

I just returned from 4 days in Siem Riep and wanted to post a recommendation for an inexpensive lunch spot there... The Warehouse. I can't find its exact location on the map, but it's in the Pub Street area, not far from the Blue Pumpkin (where we went every day, at least once, for ice cream). I think the meal we had there was probably the best we had in Siem Riep and it really wasn't that expensive. Maybe it's not authentically Cambodian (I have no way to judge one way or the other), but it was definitely tasty. I had the Papaya Salad, which was tangy and refreshing (Siem Riep in March is HOT)--perfect for a hot-weather lunch. This was accompanied by the Curried Potato Wontons, which I did not get a picture of, but which we also quite good. In fact, I wish I had been able to return and have them again during our stay. Another member of our party got the Beef wrapped in Scallions, which he reported was quite good. Not spicy, just good. The duck with noodles was quite tasty--although I didn't get a picture of the duck itself. I'm pretty sure it came sliced on the side. The Roast Pork was probably the most disappointing item we ordered--it was a little too tough for most of our tastes and not nearly as pretty as the other items. Not pictured was the Khmer Fish Curry (also known, I believe, as Fish Amok) which my husband really liked--enough so that now I have to figure out how to find the ingredients here in Denver. And all of this was washed down with Angor Beer--perfect for a hot day.