IrishCream

Just encountered this and want to say...PF is also not sold in the SF Bay Area. At least I can't find it. And I miss it. I seem to have a choice between artisanal breads which go stale within one day...if they aren't already stale when I buy them...and bubble breads. PF used to be a bridge between the two.

Thank you for bringing up one of my pet peeves. I can't bear to drink tap water but the price of bottled water is outrageous. It costs as much as soda, even more in a convenience store. I gave in and bought a fridge that dispenses supposedly filtered water...and it is paying for itself. But back to topic...I would love to buy a truffle, but is it worth it? Can I get my money's worth out of it? Five years ago I planned to cook a recipe that required vanilla beans. I paid 6 bucks for two beans at Williams and Sonoma (only place I could find them in Houston). Never cooked the recipe. The beans still sit in their container.

Oh...my fave peach cobbler recipe comes from a Texas Hill Country (Pedernales) community cookbook. And it isn't pie dough or biscuit dough. It's a milky (no egg) batter that is poured into a pyrex dish in which you have melted butter hot (kinda like Yorkshire Pudding). It is topped with peach slices. The batter puffs up and the peaches end up on the bottom. So, it is gooey inside and crisp on top. Best of both worlds, IMO...but is it a cobbler?

I just received an email from Opentable.com listing the 2003 Zagat ratings for Bay Area restaurants...but only the ones that participate in Opentable. I don't have the complete list because I refuse to pay for Zagat's website. Still, the list provides some clues. Zagat ratings Makes it pretty clear that eGullet members just don't agree with Zagat ratings. If I thought the Slanted Door was the 6th best restauant in SF, I'd be pretty depressed about moving here.

Melkor...since I currently (but not for long) live in the East Bay Area boonies...we drive out to one of the sources, Brentwood. Last weekend we picked gorgeous, glistening, sweet strawberries and boysenberries, last of the season Bing cherries and white peaches, and bought freshly harvested purple garlic, white corn, onions, dill, haricots vert, golden cherry tomatoes, and tiny cornichon sized cucumbers for pickling. Ok...guess these are really vegie stands and not farmer's markets but the prices are about half and the freshness is impeccable.

Funeral potatoes are basically the same thing as Cracker Barrel hash brown casserole...lots of copy cat recipes on the web. Hash brown casserole I actually like them! Edit to add: they are a common thing to take to an after funeral "wake" in the south. Along with many of the other casseroles and salads described in this thread!

And vice versa! Though we were also taught no elbows on the table.

No, not if you are cutting right-handed. And your neighbor is eating right-handed. If you are cutting properly, your left elbow will never lift up to disturb the neighbor on your left.

Typically, you use the knife far less than you use the fork.

Just one more comment. I am a switcher. My mother was a stickler for "good table manners" and I have not recovered. But there is a logical reason for a nation or community of people to share the same method of eating: when eating at a crowded table. If the person next to you is eating with a different hand...you bump elbows, arms, etc. Have none of you ever encountered that at a banquet or elsewhere? My dad is left-handed but eats with his right hand. And in Europe, right-handers eat with their left hands. It makes sense to me that there should be conformity from a comfort standpoint. So I guess I am against the move to European table manners.

Yes, Tommy. Five pages of debate about it! I just finished reading Ruhlman's "Making of a Chef". While he was an aspiring food writer, the other students he described, even the career changers, were serious about becoming chefs. I wonder how his take on the experience would have differed if the classes had been peppered with "hobbyests"?

Personally, I am going to do my best to eat there before the hiatus. Who knows what the menu/pricing/quality will be like afterwards? Any other Californians want to go with me?

Kim....you get paid to entertain registered democrats? I want YOUR job!

I really liked this month's issue of Gourmet. I thought the article title "Whip It Good" was quite funny. What's the big deal? "Baja, Humbug" was a rather juvenile play on words...but again what's the big deal? The magazine was old-fashioned and predictable. I am thrilled that under Reichl's leadership the magazine is developing a cutting edge.

I was reading this thread and enjoying it until I came across the link to the May 4 article about Dempsey. A cat burglar? What? Fell through an open window after a confrontation? What? A professional chef on the rise suddenly resorts to cat burglary? Something does not make sense...it does not even make drug sense. If he had been caught stealing from the restaurant or even his neighbors, that would make drug sense. But cat burglary? Apparently, without the toxicology results, based on "eye witness" testimony (from whomevers apartment he "fell" out of, perhaps?), Ramsey has determined he was abusing drugs. What? This is odd. I hope all the assumptions are based on more information than that article supplies.

Aye aye aye! It's on the table to be squirted? And I thought it was odd that in Belgium they dip French Fries in it. Why do you think with all the wonderful and some quite simple ways of saucing in Japan, mayo would be on the table? Convenience? Fascination with wierd Western foods? Neither of those make sense, do they?

Anna...I also think your idea is inspired. We don't all eat fois gras every night. Since I moved to California I am in shock about how much meat costs. At least double the price of Texas. So suddenly cheaper cuts are much more interesting. Picnic shoulder was on sale for 88 cents a pound last weekend (a very rare event). I'd never bought or cooked one in my life. I bought two. Froze one and smoked the other over the weekend. Delicious. Sunday and Monday night were sliced pork. Tonight was tacos.

What's with thermometers, anyway? How can they be so inaccurate? Whatever, sounds like you'll be serving up a feast tomorrow.

Matthew, thank you for being here with us. I wonder if you have any plans or thoughts about returning to the "food world" in your future career? Any projects in the works? If not, why not? Obviously, you have great intuition and skill in terms of the "food as entertainment" field which could be applied to many areas including cookbooks and PR. OTC: I am also curious about the school of Practical Philosophy and what it teaches. My degree is in Philosophy and I rarely encounter anyone who is interested.

So there are some bars in NYC where smoking is still allowed?

Maybe you will join us for our next eGullet walking tour of Chinatown???? Last time we had dim sum at Tin's.

Welcome to eGullet, Willbear! I posed your question to a friend who lives in Oakland. His response follows. "King Wah on 9th St is good, cheap, basic Cantonese fare. Sun Hong Kong on 8th is a bit more contemporary, as you would guess from the name. If they're going to Piedmont Ave, then King Yen is a good Schezwan place, but not overly spicey. I had Little Shin Shin a few weeks ago and it was pretty good. A little more expensive by cheap Chinese standards is the Silver Dragon on Webster, an institition, at least in my family. Next door at the Golden Peacock wasn't bad either, the one time I tried it. Then there's always Shan Dong on 10th, the dumpling place we tried. I haven't had much of their other food though." Hope this helps.

Welcome, Wren. Thanks for your report.

Thanks for posting a very helpful guide. It's nice to know what to expect.