ckruse

After using a pizza stone for awhile I started using hearth bricks, which I bought at a masonry supply store. They are essentially bricks but smooth without a regular bricks indentations. I place about 8 of them on the middle rack. They take a bit longer to heat up than the thinner pizza stones but they retain they heat better. Do you share the recipe for your version of Poilane bread?

pokey sticks

there is a nice tempura place in the Sony building if you want small fancy, or try the food area and Shinjuku for quick on the go stuff. Grocery stores are a must for the pokey sticks (cookie sticks) that come in many flavors.

I went to the ferry dock and took on out to Lan Tan (I think) island. After a short hike over the top and down the other side we came to a town where we were to catch the return fast ferry before the dock was a number of seafood places (the kind with the aquariums that hold the food. from the tables you could see the bay filled with what I think were aquaculture structures. We had a fantastic garlic lobster and salt and pepper shrimp.

there is a brazilian place I went to after a Daily show once, cant remember the name, I think it was on 6th or 7th.

Beef guacamole burrito leverpostej with bacon, mushrooms and crispy fried onions tourtiere with green catsup frikadeller with remoulade and crispy fried onions pan amb tomaquet kebab frites pot de creme aux chocolat with vintage port NC bbq with cole slaw and hush puppies fries with belgian mayo pastrami and mustard rare steak and gorgonzola bread and butter

check out the alto section, avoid the center even though its really nice. There is also a restaurant in the old castle that overlooks the city, pretty fancy but the view is worth it. If you like to picnic there is great sausage and cheese to be had along with a bottle of vinho verde, which is a great wine to drink on a picnic because it doesnt ask very much of you. THe aged serra cheeses are great if you like the strong stuff.

I bought some calendars in france where each month was a food group so say december was bread it had 30 different kinds of bread on it. I had them laminated along with a repro of the last supper and a dining scene from the bayeux tapestry. The great thing is you dont have to put all twelve months up you can rotate them in and out.

It works fine and it allows you to have some on hand all the time, besides the box aversion is slightly overdone, the french dont get all bent out of shape when they drink "en vrac". The key point to remember is bad wine into the box = bad wine out of the box.

I agree with those who maintain that there is nothing like the real thing BUT sometimes you have to make do Mrs A. Helou has some recipe books that cover this and if you cant get the real thing remember the accoutrements (bread, sauce .....) if done well can make a big difference so making the bread on brick tiles in the oven rather than out of a bag and so on will be worth it. I too remember the kebab joints of France : Kebab Frites avec sauce blanches= bliss

Tokay Pinot Gris ? (alsatian) of course its really about what you like in a white: the fruitier, riper Californians or the more austere French ones. If you dont like the one you get cross it off your list

Burgundy can be daunting, disappointing, among other things but the biggest obstacle is time. Most of the great Burgundies are great after they have been down awhile. So you can go buy a top end bottle open it up right away and be very disappointed where a wait of as little a 5years and more like 10 can make all the difference. So if you really want to do it right meet somebody who has some dusty crusty bottles they would like to share. Of course I could be wrong.

It all looks good, but for a slight left turn go to Katz's for lunch (pastrami) sit at the served tables and if youre lucky you will get the waitress that will read your horoscope. OR Grand central downstairs at the Oyster bar for oysters and drinks.