aliwaks

May 10, 2004

Ok once I sent something back just because i didn't like it.

It was a roasted chicken salad, the description was roasted chicken and grilled vegatables on a bed of greens...what arrived looked as though it had already been digested, honestly I just couldn't look at it it was sooo gross.

i was very apologetic, I asked to change my order i ordered a turkey paillard salad with cranberries..it tasted fine but on my second bite there was a metal coil from a scrub brush..I had to send that back too

the waiter was quite snotty from the get-go (pre-send back, once we sat down as a matter of fact) so I didn;t feel too bad about it but I will never go back to that reastaurant again

I do send things back though that are undercooked, over cooked, smell weird or are just so badly prepared that I can't fathom paying for it, esp. salads that are over dressed, at which point I do get the dressing on the side because I don't trust the kitchen anymore

May 10, 2004

Give him full marks for being open-minded about cooking, though.

Oh he's made HUGE strides when it comes to eating, he no longer smothers eveything with ketchup now uses kimchi, he just has very very weird ideas of what foods go togther (the menu he put together for our ski trip had one nights dinner garlic potato soup and chili...I made both and they were great but it was an odd combination of food)

what I can say is given his lack of culinary prowess I do not imagine that his blood sausage rissotto was the best it could ever be, he probably added hot bean paste or something

May 10, 2004

Bella is aptly named....ooh you are making me miss NYC so much...Phila just isn't the same.. try finding a Tavel Rose anywhere.

and all the shopping Chelsea Market sigh...can't wait to see what you get at the green market this week.!

May 10, 2004

My brother, my brother is not only an horrible cook but a horrible eater he has the strangest palate ( I think he is a non-taster)

The first thing I ever had that he cooked he brought some sort of quesadilla type nightmare to and Amero-Cuban thanks giving. there was something close to pesto mostly garlic with raw yellow peppers & something else it could have been good in theory but there was something off about everything.

His former girl freind was in cooking school and I hope she's doing well the guacamole they served at a party achieved a shade of gray I was unaware was possible

His lastest culinary masterpeice which he is bragging about is a Blood Sausage Rissotto ( I've mentioned it before) which he served with Lamb Chops

Blood Sausage Rissotto...my god in heavens

May 10, 2004

Those packs that you crack and they get cool are a fantastic addition to any picnic (you can get them at any drug store)

foodwise:(I'm thinking vegetarian is best)

how about?

Hummus /pita chips

Salad of tomato, cucumber & feta with oregano & mint

Grilled zucchini, red peppers & summer squash

Cous Cous salad with sultanas & almonds

sweet iced mint tea

baklava

Gorp with toasted walnuts, dates, candied ginger & chocolate chips

or

roasted tomato tart with goat cheese

radishes, raw fennel, aged provolone & fat green olives marinated in EVOO, an anchovy, orange zest & oregano

Marinated artichokes

Semolina bread

iced espresso (in thermos)

biscotti

Gorp with: almonds, candied orange peels, chocolate covered espresso beans

(here you could add a dried whole sopressetta and be okay food-saftey wise)

or

Cold buckwheat noodles with Shredded napa cabbage, snow peas , carrots, cucumbers in peanut sauce

Summer rolls (rice paper) with avocado, tofu, cilantro, mint thai basil w. sweet vinegar dip sauce (lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, rice wine vinegar)

sliced melon

ice green tea

delicate cookies

gorp with: toasted salted cashews, candied ginger, butterscotch chips, dried cherries

or

lentil salad with walnuts

nicose olives

manchego cheese chunks marinated in lavender, garlic & evoo

baguette

Eggplant "caviar"

Mint scented lemonade

strawberries

ginger cookies

gorp with: white chocolate chips, toasted salted pecans & dried apricots

ok I need to go on a picnic soon.

May 10, 2004

theres a little place in Mill Valley that has great fish tacos, just fabulous not sure about anything else they have becaseu I always get the fish tacos in fact make it a point to do so every time I am there, don't know the name but it is in Mill Valley proper a few blocks from Whole Foods (Fresh Fields ?)

Don't miss the Marin County farmers market, not only is the food incredible but it is in the parking lot of the Marin County Civic Center which is a Frank Lloyd Wright Building, there is an almond vendor that has the best flavored almonds & dried fruits ever and a citrus grower who sells budahs hand, sweet limes and meyer lemons, also this man who has incredible chutneys & sauces...its just wonderful there

May 10, 2004

I remember my dad cooking fish in the dishwasher, wrapped tight in foil & our dishwasher had a steam only or plate warming option, I think or maybe he just didn't put the soap in...I was a kid I can't really remember anything more than that oh and I didn't eat it becasue was in a non fish eating phase

May 7, 2004

a freind of mine is on a Lillet kick and is in search of places that serve it...annoyingly though she insists on saying it with a French accent (she is so not French) which makes me want to kick her very hard in the shins, just the other day she bemoaned that the one of the few places she could find Lee laaaay is L"ex he gone (L'hexagon)..ugh
Um, I'm not French either but how else would you say it but that way? It's how I've always heard it pronounced even in the US.
regards,
trillium

Dude when she says it she sound like that girl skunk that followed around PePe Le Pew...there's a way to speak a foreign word where you are paying respect to the way that word is pronounced with its mother tongue and then there is the exagerated accent which hints that perhaps English is not your first language, when in fact it is...the latter I find an annoying phenomenon amoungst the pretentious

" -Oh la la they do not serve Leeeee lay here, we should go somewhere else Non?"

vs

They don't have (phonetically) Li'lay, lets go somewhere where they do

- Its pet peeve of mine, she's not the only one

May 7, 2004

I plan on spending five days in San Francisco next week and am looking forward to trying some of Hangar One's flavored vodkas (not available here in Washington state). Does anyone have any preferences or recommendations?

Oh my they are all so good

Mandarin Blossom is my very very favorite, but I like things that smell & taste like flowers, I also like edible flowers I'm like feminine that way

(interesting tip also makes for a fine perfume and at $40 something a 750 much much much much less than Jo Malone orange blossom perfume....ok maybe that's weird)

Second is

Kaffir Lime Leaf

Third

Buddah's Hand Citron

the unflavored is pretty great too a fantastic vodka!!!!!

We served the Mandarin Blossom straight up in a martini glass garnished with a edible orchid and called it The Orchid Thief, incidentally my HO Kaffir Lime leaf w. lemongrass/ginger simple syrup was called the Emmanuelle, or One Night in Bankok

May 7, 2004

Here in Paris, I make a “Strawberry Blonde“
it's strawberry fresh purée, Lillet blanc and a splash of strawberry flavored vodka. Served in a martini glass and garnished with a strawberry and a mint leave.
It's a very feminine drink.

oh my that sounds soo good...., my favorite Lillet cocktail is a Lillet Kir with a nice dry provencal rose and lillet blond in place of cassis, had it in Paris, they were serving it at Novelty here in Phila a couple of years ago called an Alexandra after me me me also nice with sparkling

a freind of mine is on a Lillet kick and is in search of places that serve it...annoyingly though she insists on saying it with a French accent (she is so not French) which makes me want to kick her very hard in the shins, just the other day she bemoaned that the one of the few places she could find Lee laaaay is L"ex he gone (L'hexagon)..ugh

May 7, 2004

I am a messy messy girl and thank god kenahura I have never had food poisoning which I believe has to do with the fact the fact that growing up the women who fed me (Aunt Sandy excluded) were also messy girls. I have an iron clad consitution.

Can be rather laissez-faire about most things, though do take care not to leave raw meat out or anything..also heavily marinate & spice anything that will need to last longer than it takes to get from the pan to my mouth so just in case natures little anti-whatevers are working on my side.

HOWEVER in the restaurant I was a lunatic. Probably threw more stuff out than was necessary but was so afraid someone would get food poisoning, I was constantly running around with my nose down smelling everything, cutting boards, knives, towels, low boys etc. (doesn't sound so hygenic now that I write it)

One area I believe is overlooked is the kitchen phone, wipe it with clorox wipes & lysol it constantly.....also the refrigerator handle & taps on faucets, you can wash up as best you can but you still turned on the faucet with icky chicken hands. (same rules of course as public bathrooms ...the old paper towel on the hand on the way out trick)

Clorox wipes are gods gift to messy girls.

May 7, 2004

Rai, I would like to note that Aliwaks is in synch with the universe (just take a look at the amazing posts and ponder on the mind that could create such poetry) and know that as such, she is the expert on all things fanciful. Following her advice is a good idea.

well shiver me timbers!! oh gosh , blush blush, and of course to Marlena!!!! btw have eaten with the Spieler clan and can attest to the pirate noise...there was this cheese this one time in London

May 6, 2004

A salt crust is also a great way to cook a whole fish. We had one when were in Spain, and it was just amazing. The salt crust gets all golden brown, and they brought it to the table and chipped the salt off in front of us. It was really moist and flavorful.

That's one of my favorite ways, insanely fool proof & fun

1 box kosher salt

whole red snapper

sliced lemons

fresh herb

(mint or marjoram or rosemary or basil or cilantro depends on where your going with the rest of the meal, I usually go with mint then serve with couscous w. perserved lemons & something like snap peas cooked with tomato & ginger)

anyhoo..add water to the salt in small increments till it is pliable damp but not wet

I sometimes toss some lemon zest in to the salt don't know if it makes a difference of not to tell the truth.

stuff the fish with lemon slices & herbs

plunk about half the salt on a cookie sheet lay the fish down and cover with remaining salt, you can fashion the salt around the fish so it is fish shaped which is cool for presentation

roast at like 375 till the salt crust turns brown. the great thing is that it holds alot of moisture so its hard to over cook, also good for dinner party since you can take it out of the oven do what you have to do and it retains heat.

Bring to the table crack the crust with a good hard whack and pull off the top the skin will come right off with the salt crust.

also once BBQ a whole salmon wrapped it in grape leaves & stuffed with rosemary branches. it was amazing

May 6, 2004

Contemporary pirates, hmm in movies the pirate Captain always haws these fabulous feasts with grapes and roasted fowl and hunks of meat and bread, and in pirates of the Caribean (sigh Johnny & Orlando) it seemed the had food animals on board the ship but you are talking about a pirate society on land rather than on boats I would imagine that they would have all sorts of fabulous things that they had stolen from other imaginary lands, and almost not agriculture of their own.

I would imagine something very festive and ornate filled with saffron and other exotic spices.

Roasted capons stuffed with dates and cous cous garnished with pomengrates

Legs of lamb with saffron, mint & sumac

Rum glazed whole pig with sugar cane

Huge platter of shellfish

Whole fish roasted in seaweed

Bowls of grapes, pineapple, fresh dates and mangoes

Hunks of bread

a whole wheel of cheese

I don't see lots of vegetables in pirate cuisine though I suppose they must have some, maybe wild greens , dandelion greens with salt pork or watercress

Jugs of wine

Jugs of rum

sticky pastries & candies

I see a meal with no forks, everyone just has a knife and a plate.

May 5, 2004

Once I made an artichoke in our hot pot, and used the iron for a grilled cheese while in the dorms had a meal plan but as a NYC food snob in Syracuse I found it wanting.

My First night of school I wanted to order chinese, I thought everyone in the country did this I was so confused on the pay phone begging the chinese restaurant to bring me dumplings, when they said they couldn't deliver I told them to just take a cab. I didn't know I grew up in NYC ordering chinese is a way of life. It didn't work.

I would make up my own things, I would nuke broccoli & cauliflower etc from the salad bar & mix it with theplain pasta of rice I could ususally get the food servers to give me, sometimes I would bring my own olive oil (as a drama major I could get away with this) eventually I succumbed to the lure of mac & cheese & other dining hall foods & gained my freshman 15

When I lived off campus I had a partial meal plan, I could get in to the food halls a number of times a semester or something like that. I found that plastic baggies were very useful, again did most of my food shopping there, bringing home bags of veggies, fruit, cookies, sometime dried cereal & cheese (we had like Cheese appreciation week every so often) NOTE TO COLLEGE STUDENTS THIS IS A GOOD IDEA though some what larcenous depends on you view of where college money should go, really what are you doing stealing from the football players steak budget?

One of my main "I spent all my money & drugs and alcohol" meals was pasta with tuna, parsley & garlic , I could gag even thinking about and god knows what all our breath must have smelled like. Also pasta with shredded cabbage, onions, carrots with soy sauce & garlic.

I don't think we ever cooked meat it was too expensive except for one dinner party where we made chicken parm & pasta with parsley pesto (basil non-existent in syracuse at that time) and a big jug of wine. That was when my roomates were being grown-ups the girls and thier boyfriends at nice adult dinner...then my friends came and it was less sophistcated but much more fun.

One of my roomates was on some diet program and she got boxes of disgusting freeze dried food, I have to say that I would walk a mile in the snow to get ramen noodles before even thinkiing about that.

May 5, 2004

First of all IT IS A TV SHOW, they set it up so there is tension and a good guy and a bad guy and having strong feelings about Rocco is what makes it entertaining

( I personally think Rocco comes off as a major tool, but it may all be editing he very well might not be as toolish as I percieve him to be, he is incredibly cute, I thought that before the show, used to see him around the neighboorhood and drool)

Uzay, you can't take it so personally, everyone is watching the show which is the point. You want people to get involved with the show talk about it watch it have it go into syndication.

I started watching because Rocco's is on the block I grew up on and was looking to see if I could see my Dad walking the dog during an extertior. Then I got so caught up with the "Drama", I could relate because I had a new restaurant of my own at the time.

Most of us have worked in restaurants no one should be surprised by anything. I've never worked in a place where the waitstaff didn't gossip..please who has ever worked anywhere where there was no gossip and the boss wasn't demonized at some point .

Anyway who would want to watch a perfectly behaved staff work in a restaurant that had no issues and everything was perfect every day there would be no Drama.

Now I am so into it because I had major chef issues at my place and it is one of the reasons I closed besides I have a morbid fascination with Mama I want to see and MTV Death Match btw Mama & Jeffery.

Would I go to dinner at Rocco's? No probably not unless someone asked me to go with them , its just not my kind of place, I would definately pop in for a cocktail just to see the layout (I used to go to Commune, it is so not as big as it looks on TV the kitchen isn't that far away...though the kitchen is damn big) But there are enough people eating at Roccos that they don't need my patronage. For Italian food I'd rather go to Babbo, Mario is my favorite TV chef.

May 5, 2004

Wow! Thanks, new career path for me.

It's %100 natural sugar not corn syrup (yuck corn syrup), the ones from japan are so cute (but then again all japanese packaging is, i love it so much)

ours look more like ketchup packets, nicer places make thier own simple syrup (some even with vanilla beasn whichi is so nice) but I though maybe these would work at place that don't have the time or inclination to do so.

Also works really well in a cappuchino & espresso (though personally I like the granulated sugar in the bottom of an espresso, its like dessert)

please do ask for them at you local and tell them where to get it.

May 4, 2004

Did notice that the lesbians who dined at my restaurant always ordered their meat (and fish) well done. My chef same thing happened at the restaurant she used to work at. A few chef's have confirmed this is a "thing"..at least it is in Philadelphia.
Um, with all due respect, have you considered the possibility that there were some Secret Lesbians -- you know, lesbians you didn't recognize as lesbians -- who opted for medium-rare? Unless you made a habit of explicitly surveying your guests' sexual preferences, I'm not sure you have any real statistical significance here.

You are right Mags, no disrespect to lesbians or secret lesbians it just so happened that there were a few lesbian couples who were regulars and they always ordered their food well done, and my chef had worked in a restaurant with a large gay clientel and she mentioned that she noticed that.

May 4, 2004

I never knew there was such a thing as jewish apple cake, my grandmother made an apple cake but it was just that.

I had her recipe written on the edge of a cookbook called Love & Knishes but it had no instructions just a list of ingredients, I wanted to make some for my brother since it was his favorite cake.

I tried all these recipes and they came out great but were nothing like Bella's then I started to think like her, I didn't separate the eggs, vaguely measured the flour, I used less sugar than they asked for, squeezed in some extra lemon juice and added plums (sometimes she used blueberries) to the apples and it came out exactly like hers

dense & fruity not very sweet great with vanilla ice cream.

May 4, 2004

baby quesdillas are nice too ( cut with bisquit cutters ala martha) & fill with mushrooms with smoked paprika, garlic, sherry & thyme, some soft goat cheese and red onion pickled w/ lime juice & cayenne

or smoked chicken /queso fresca & tomatillo salsa

May 4, 2004

Bought this in Paris a few years ago

L'abandon Domaine Sarda-Malet (1997)

I figure it's a muscat, it was about 37 francs (4 years ago) gorgeous bottle,

am wondering if anyone has ever tried it and can tell me about it...keep saving it for a fabulous dinner party I haven't had a chance to have yet.

May 4, 2004

. And frozen fish sticks....does anyone actually like these besides lesbians?
!

Are fish sticks a lesbian thing? Never heard that.

Did notice that the lesbians who dined at my restaurant always ordered their meat (and fish) well done. My chef same thing happened at the restaurant she used to work at. A few chef's have confirmed this is a "thing"..at least it is in Philadelphia.

May 4, 2004

From aliwaks' post above:
...she does not eat things that still have thier face or lamb, after a traumatic incident involving a family pet and a BBQ growing up in Venezuela
Now I'm DYING to know more about that one!

pet pig + pig roast don't ask why she won't eat lamb but will still eat pork, somehow the gaminess of lamb translates to BBQ pet pig, poor thing almost had an asthma attack watching me eat twin lobsters, I had to make napkin masks for thier faces.

May 4, 2004

Sure thing will you take me away from all this and buy me shoes and always let me have the first bite of a dip cone?
Aliwaks my dear, as I near 50 I finally get the woman/shoe thing. Yes, you may have all the shoes you wish AND the first bite of the dip cone.
BUT, you must share all of the other 'best bites'

damn you had me at shoes but that whole sharing thing I don't get it...maybe why still single will have to marry someone who likes to share but doesn't mind if I dont.

May 2, 2004

hangar one kaffir lime leaf vodka mixed with ginger/lemon grass simple syrup and garnished with a kaffir lime leaf

vanilla vodka w. pineapple juice & champange

vanilla infused roasted peach puree w. vanilla vodka

I like absolut Vanila batter than stoli though in general i'm a stoli drinker

Stoli Stasberi + fresh strawberry puree + mint leaves + squeeze of lime juice

Stoli Kafee + espresso + hazel nut liquer

grey goose citron + lemonade + chambord + splash soda

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