Catriona

Hm, there had better be a reservation for me when I finally get there (week of 15 january)!

Looks like you got a good deal - I love when manufacturers are accommodating and nice. You know, the biggest question I have about this is why the girl in the picture has the box of chocolates on her head.. Is the suggestion that you should surprise her by hypnotising her to hit herself on the head with any edible gift she receives?

And a tiny drop of Armagnac

My thoughts exactly, Mott. (and my wedding exactly!)

Can I recommend the trifle recipe from Friends? Think it goes something like: Ladyfingers, custard, jam, minced beef sauteed with onions and carrots, another layer of custard, whipped cream...

h-hah, well flour is a key ingredient of bread, and since I've been reading the Sourdough Bread pictorial, I'll say: Yeast!

Beautiful photo...

My sister swears by the Mercer hotel for somewhere to stay. No idea what the price is though. Edit: think she's living in some kind of fantasy world. Although if money were no option, I think I'd stay there...

Hm, maybe somewhere to go for our Sibling Christmas Lunch!

Moroccan carrot salad makes my husband happy - carrots and CUMIN. Cumin!

I've always wondered how good it was, so will add it to the list! Thanks for the review, si!

Yes, to me this sounds very odd. At my recent (a month ago yesterday) wedding, mum and dad footed most of the bill, we bought the drinks, his parents brought the foie gras and the sugared almonds. Fairly traditional, I suppose, in that it was mostly paid for by the bride's parents, but it was lunch for 25, no white gown, none of that. So modest enough. We always told ourselves that we wouldn't have something we couldn't pay for ourselves. Modest levels of expenditure aside, I will forever be grateful to my parents and family (including those family members who, because of the size of the thing, weren't invited), who allowed us to have/celebrated with us the perfect weddding for us, just exactly what we wanted to have. There were bits and pieces of tension along the way, mostly to do with lack of communication (families in 2 countries, cultural differences, 2 languages)... so the only thing I can suggest is talk about it! If I were to make a recommendation, I would agree with your husband, though. Pay for your guests but no rehearsal dinner. Good luck..

What a wonderful blog, thank you!

Si: they're right. Get a nice sandwich for the plane. HAd a Zabar's one myself (grew up hearing tales of Zabar's from my NY cousins, so had to try it... ). Hell of a lot better than air lingus mush!

If you look at the "Gallery" section on the website, you may notice that the famous plates are still in use...

It sounds wonderful, Si. I'd agree that most of those are pretty much the ones that I would target if I were to do the same. I know that my sister and her boy went to Babbo for his 30th. Think they did Babbo and Balthazar, so not quite as "fine-dining" as you, but still fairly new yorky. I'dd do an amazing sushi experience if I could (and was travelling with someone other than my husband, who doesn't like it - how did I manage to marry someone who doesn't like sushi?) - yasuda, I think. I'd nix the chinese, I think, but that's probably just sheer stupidity on my part. I want pictures. I know it's not for months and months. But I've been obsessing about a new york trip for a while now. One of my favourite new york moments was a pretzel in central park surrounded by snow (mid-feb 05), the afternoon we arrived. Had I been wearing a neon flashing sign saying "overexcited tourist" it couldn't have been more obvious.

Blunkett the pub owner! the tongue thing just made me shudder... Apart from that, I felt desperately sorry for them/him, clinging on to the last bits of what he saw as the only identity he had, with his crazy menu...

Only one thing to add to that - salted butter

Figs!

the different diners/same course issue was what I was thinking about. Ok, I'm convinced. You may be on to a winner with your turnip tasting menu though...

Well done, jimk!

the Guardian today does HB in the Digested Read. Funny.

Well, if we can't repeat, then I'm going to take that as "truffle". And, though I think the combo is a bit over the top myself, then I'll follow that up with Foie Gras

silly question luv ← Thing is, tasting/surprise menus tend to be often tailored for more than one person at the table, doing different variations of the same ingredients... I often wonder would it be worthwhile doing this on your own, and to be honest, I've never had the chance to come out with it and ask the question of a reliable source. I do like being the food thief, you see..

Interesting turn of phrase, Si! It is sometimes a good magazine, I'm not saying I hate everything about it,. I just found that this particular issue (it even referred to itself as a comedy special) was particularly lightweight. But since I'm obviously not its target audience then there's no point in carrying on flogging a dead horse - after all, I don't complain about the content of Hello...