Oceangroveguy

I walked past one in Long Island City a few weeks ago. It was on or within a block or 2 of 33rd street. I was in Hong Kong and Beijing last year, and saw several, but don't know that I'd get as close to them again as I did.....

Paul Jaboulet Parallel 45 Cote du Rhone Goats Do Roam red (but not the white) Vina Mayor Tinto I've bought them all as low as 6 bucks a bottle at NJ discounters.

Have any of our Hobokenites been to Helmer's lately? Last time I was there it was pretty good (but that was in 1985.....)

Under NO circumstances should you buy a GE, I said, and someone posted: Reasons? Here's why: Ours broke 3 times in 5 years, twice causing leaks and a damaged ceiling below. The second time the $150 part died was 2 weeks after the warranty on that repair expired. It's been behaving since the 3rd repair, but I'll never buy another one. I might not ever buy another GE branded appliance...

Under NO circumstances should you buy a GE.

I've always donated canned soups, tuna, peanut butter, jelly, Cheerios, canned juice.

The Spanish insert to the Shop Rite circular for Nov 20-26 has suckling pig at $1.99 a pound. It says "Tenemos Cerditos Frescos Ponga su orden hoy el Departmento de Carnes" This is the from the circular that came to my house in Elizabeth. Half the insert is in Spanish, the other half features their Kosher department. Cheek by jowl, as it were.

What Gruyere said. In spades. On all points.

I am almost certain that the restaurant in NY that was referred to at the beginning of this topic was Mortimer's. It was owned by Glenn Bernbaum. Here's a link to an article about the place, the owner and the leisure-class clientele. http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/food/industry/features/3157/

I was born in 1951 and grew up in Brooklyn. What we now think of as the deli section of the supermarket was called - at least by some chains - the "Appetizing" department. Waldbaums, a large local NY chain, used that name, and I am pretty sure the local branches of the A&P did, too. Although not kosher, the departments sold Jewish soul food - lox and cream cheese, farmer cheese and pot cheese, salami and other smoked meats and smoked fish like whitefish, sable, herring, fish salads, etc. I think they also sold roast beef and swiss and other conventional deli items, too. I don't know if the term survives - the next time I take my mother to Waldbaums in Belle Harbor, Queens, I'll try to remember to look and report back.

I once took a course in erotic literature (those were the days) and despite the passage of years I remember that the primary difference between erotic literature and porn was that the sex in porn was utopian - every person was a remarkable physical specimen, every orgasm (and there were always orgasms) was volcanic, no one got pregnant (unless it advanced the "story"), no one got STD's. The porn version of sex was as shiny and unreal and unattainable as the rooms in Architectural Digest (which along with its shelter mag ilk we call "House Porn" in my house). We've also been known to call Gourmet and its ilk "Food Porn" (tho I don't remember if the O'Neill article was the source of that). Stereophile is "Stereo Porn" for the same reason - in each case the highly stylized, lavishly depicted and described and extremely expensive stuff is, for most folks, unattainable, as are the situations depicted in sexual porn. Where I - sort of - take issue with O'Neill is the characterization of what she does as 'Food Porn' - while some of her fan base may indeed have untouched Garlands and empty Sub-Z's, I submit that a fair number of readers (the E-Gullet legions included) read those things and put them to use. I loved her stuff in the Times - her prose was graceful and her recipes often useful. The Sunday NY Times article about the ex-Microsoft guy and his kitchen - now that was some might hot food porn, if you ask me.....

I grew up in Brooklyn in the 50's and 60's - My mother, who was a hospital dietician and later a NYC public school Home Ec teacher always served a tossed salad with dinner. Iceberg, tomato, cuke and radish tossed with Good Seasons Italian was the norm. As soon as I began preparing my own dinners, salad was a necessary component and still is, although after years of Romaine and Radiccio these days I am likely to use the Wegman's bulk spring mix or the bagged versions of that, along with cucumbers and, at my wife's insistence, tomato regardless of the season. When my wife is out, I'll make salads with frisee or Boston lettuce or redleaf, none of which she likes. Dressings are usually EVO and seasoned rice vinegar for my wife, a lesser OO and red wine vinegar for me. But I have to have a salad with dinner at home - or else it doesn't feel like it's dinner at home.

I had Fugu at Nippon on East 52nd Street about 2 years ago. I was underwhelmed by the flavor, but the experience was a thrill....

I think that place on Route 1 is "Big Fish" not "Bonefish"

I buy bagged spinach, too, and baby carrots, and collards, and salad stuff, especially the mixtures they call "Spring Mix". I also buy the bulk Spring Mix they sell at Wegman's. I guess I assumed they mixed it at the stores, but one morning I saw the produce guy fill the bin by opening a box, opening the large plastic bag within it, and pouring....

The scrod joke: A man, about to take a trip to Boston, is told by a friend that there are many fine seafood restaurants in the city and that scrod is a local speciality. The man hails a cab outside his hotel and asks the driver "Hey driver, where can a fellow go to get scrod around here?" The driver replies "I've been driving a cab for 20 years, and have been asked that question a thousand times or more, but never in the past pluperfect subjunctive". bad-dum, bad-dum, crash.

I'm hoping to go to the Trenton farmers market today - haven't been there in a year. Has anyone been there lately?

Hot dogs or pizza as between meal or late night snacks....Although both are part of every sane person's primary food groups, they take on an illicit aura (for me, anyway) at 3 or 11 pm.

All sorts of beans and tomato products. Swanson chicken broth. Chipotles in adobo, Starkist chunk light tuna in water and Progresso tuna in olive oil, anchovies, soup from Trader Joe's in the kettle-shaped cans, pineapple juice, straw mushrooms, smoked oysters, salmon, Season smoked kippers

Contes is in Princeton - 339 Witherspoon Street, 609 921 8041. I think it's better than good pizza, but not the celestial experience some fans claim.

You can order a free sample on their website: www.truelemon.com.

Call Peter's Farm Market in Neptune - 732 775 4428 - they had local asparagus last year (I haven't been there lately). You can try Delicious Orchards 732 462 1989 or Sickle's Mkt 732 741 9563 to see if they have any

Grub, did you make that rack, or buy it somewhere? thanks for the excellent pix and tutorial. I've made BCC for years, and seen any number of articles about it, but none has been as clear as yours.

Sutters Charlotte Russe were a regular treat in my Brooklyn youth (or is it 'Yute') If you build them, they will come...

I asked about them at Whole Foods in Millburn yesterday and was told they'd have them in a few weeks. The guy at the fish counter said they were available, but were too expensive for them to sell. Had to laugh at the idea that something was too expensive for those guys to sell...