nibor

I’m right with you phaelon56. I am always in search of that special place, the restaurant I would lovingly refer to as “my favorite Chinese restaurant”. Can’t seem to find that place, for some reason. Every time I try a new one I order three simple things: egg rolls, hot and sour soup, and cashew chicken. That tells me all I need to know, which is whether they are better at preparing their groceries than my current not-really-favorite-but-what-the-hell-place. I usually know the answer well before I get done scraping the sugar goo off my chicken.

Did you find what you wanted? If so, what was it? My wedding dishes are finally pooping out after 18 years of daily use, and I would love to replace them with something white, thin and luminous.

Allergies... yes gfweb, that is what my husband has been suggesting too. Such bad news for an avid restaurant goer. You would be surprised what chili is in. Sauce on duck, for instance, often has cayenne to offset sweetness. I love duck! It used to take more to cause a reaction but now, Marky Marc, unfortunately, even those little doses you suggest upset me. I don't even have to be able to taste it. Today I was surprised by chili in a piece of chocolate. I have not tried a prophylactic antihistamine Milagi. I did take a Benadryl for the first time last week during a particularly bad reaction. I am not sure the resulting drowsiness was worth it, as my symptoms are not systemic - no hives, etc,. It does not require an EpiPen. The reaction is pretty local to the gut. Which is good I guess. Better than having my throat swell shut!

I have trouble eating chile/cayenne. This started in a mild form about 10 years ago and has gotten worse with time. I can avoid visible chiles but powdered cayenne is a common ingredient, and it isn’t always easy to detect when hidden in sauces. Before the meal is over the skin on my lips starts to burn; it later cracks and peels off. And after dinner... well, the incident typically resolves with me waking up in the middle of the night to expel the offending chili and everything else as if someone had poured quart of water down me. I won’t go on. I think you get the picture. Does anyone else have this problem, and if so, do you know a solution? My next experiment was going to involve a Pepto Bismol aperitif, as awful as that sounds, but I am not living in the US right now and can’t get the stuff. (I posted this to the Restaurant Life forum because this is only a problem when I eat out - please feel free to move it)

It cracks me up that you guys are still arguing about heirloom tomatoes, and whether the Fat Guy knows how to shop for his groceries. I was suffering from a mild case of existential despair, and this really put things in perspective. We have things here in Zurich that look like heirloom tomatoes but they taste like rocks. I would love to eat your worst tomato.

Not a French forum guru, but I have lived in Germany for two years and traveled a lot in Europe including France. I have never seen anyone here take a photo of their food. My feelings about it are in line with those of Dave Hatfield.

OK, so tell me this. Do any of you contribute to Zagat’s? I did once - when I lived in awful little Princeton! I went out to a restaurant with a good Zagat rating. I came home incredulous and I admit, a little drunk, and dashed off an email review to Zagat. They emailed back to say they loved it, wanted more, and gave me a free one-year online subscription. Said restaurant was not listed in the subsequent Zagat. That was about four years ago. I just checked and although it still in business, it is still not listed in Zagat. Which makes me wonder - can restaurants opt out?

The before-dinner bread served at our favorite Persian restaurant is flat. It is cut into wedges, and eaten loaded up with ice cold butter and slices of raw onions. Yum.

Let's not forget to honor Mr. Peet for the Peet's caffeine buzz. One of my first cups of coffee was a Peet's, and I thought I was going to have a seizure.

What was better?

All I could think while reading this is that you must live in Princeton NJ.

S. Irene Virbila of the Los Angeles Times wrote a scathing review of Aubergine, a retooled version of what had previously been one of Orange County’s best restaurants: http://www.calendarlive.com/dining/cl-fo-r...-headlines-food If there was ever a case where the owners should have reacted to a critical review, this would have been it. Does anyone know if they made any changes? I have not been around but think they ended up going out of business about six months later.

I freeze ginger whole. It is easy to peel when frozen. I just peel as much as I want to use, whack that part off, and refreeze the rest.

Maybe it is because I have been living abroad for a year, traveling about in various places where I don't speak the language well if at all, but personally, I have grown weary of translating menus. And especially so if I am home! I go out to eat to eat, not to take a language lesson. This week we ate at L'Auberge de I'ill in Illhaeusern, France. Wonderful food in a beautifully renovated farmhouse. The menu for our dinner was printed as a card for us to use during the meal, and to take along with us. The cover of the card was printed with a watercolor that was painted by a member of the family who owns the inn. Very nice. I did take it home, and later tried to translate the names of the dishes. I think the French was flowery to start with, then in my inept hands it turned silly - like "sparkling wine of carrots".

We went to Osteria Enoteca last fall based its having a Michelin star. It is the only time have gone out to eat and felt totally ripped off. I don't mind paying money to eat. But nothing was special at all, and some of it was quite awful. I swear one course was cat food straight out of the can.

My elderly father, a real meat and potatoes guy, inexplicably likes something called “shrimp with lobster sauce” from a local Chinese restaurant. It consists of stir-fried shrimp and onions in a bland clear gooey sauce. No spices that I can detect.

Most kids love McD-type stuff. But how many carry that love throughout their life? I wonder how and why kids eventually stop eating it. If asked, would they even know?

Lack of interest in pursuits you normally enjoy is one of the #1 symptoms of depression. So this is normal, having just lost your mom, if you want to look at it that way. We four kids lost interest in very different (and often unexpected) things after our mom died. Some of those pleasures came back in time, but others still have not, six years down the line. My only hope is that as life continues to chip away at me, such losses don’t accumulate faster than new interests arise. My elderly father says "good luck with that...."

OK, I'll admit it: I got interested in cooking from watching Emeril and Mario on TV. It didn't take long to get sick of the Food Network - can't say I have tuned in in years. But I am still cooking.

Hard to beat breakfast on the top of the Reichstag. The view is fabulous, and the food is quite good too. You have to call ahead for a reservation. Eating there also lets you bypass the line to the dome, which is worth the price itself. You keep saying "healthy" as if that means something in particular. Our opinion of what is healthy may not be the same as yours, and, really, how useful a term is it when you are talking about international travel? A brat and a beer works just fine for many Berliners.

I would want some assurance that somebody was paying strict attention to where the milk came from. I have a vivid memory of what gastrointestinal tuberculosis can do (to an otherwise healthy adult) from when I worked in a hospital...

I have not been to Brussels Bistro, but will check it out when I get home. We are living in Europe this year; this Bistro may be the place to get our croquette fix when we come back. We were getting in a rut before we left Irvine, always going to the same places on those nights we didn’t feel like cooking, but also didn’t feel like “going out”. One default due to my passion for their hamburgers (the only thing I ever order) and the 2-minute proximity was the Steelhead on Campus Dr. Also a Japanese place in a strip mall in Costa Mesa - I think off Redhill or Baker. I have no idea of the name although I have been there dozens of times. Or Royal Khyber, which was starting to feel like my living room. Where do the rest of you go when you are hungry but not really up to going out? Where are your hang-outs?

It sounds like some of you need to lock your doors!

At Gustav Anders, one of my favorite restaurants in Orange County CA (now unfortunately out of business) the water pitchers contained cucumber/lemon water. You could not see the cucumbers. I don’t know how they made it, but it was delicious. If you could derive the essence of fresh cucumber (puree & strain?) and freeze it, you could drink this all year.

I like them to eat them raw, sliced, in a bowl of cold white vinegar with lots of black pepper.