CathyL

Vevey is one of my favorite places. There's a market in the town square on Saturdays, worth cruising for cheese, bread and charcuterie. The hills above the lake are dotted with lots of excellent little restaurants; my last visit was 4-5 years ago, so my recommendations may be worthless, but I especially liked Le Petit in (I think) St. Legier. I had several excellent meals at Le Raisin in Cully (halfway between Vevey and Lausanne) - the property is also an inn, which means the restaurant is open on Sundays and takes credit cards. Non-food recreation: A footpath along the lake runs all the way to Montreux - a beautiful walk. The Chateau de Chillon (12th century fortress that inspired Lord Byron's poem) is touristy but cool. Ditto the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. And paddle-boating on the lake is fun.

Marcella Hazan has a very simple flour-and-water batter that makes divine onion rings. Is it a cup of each? The batter is quite thin, maybe the consistency of heavy cream.

At the farmers' market this morning, a young man was offering tastes of four beautiful vegetable dishes: cauliflower, kidney beans, okra and chickpeas, each seasoned with a different spice blend. He sells the spices pre-packaged, each package enough for four servings, with a recipe included on the label. I bought a package of the cauliflower blend - whole cumin, turmeric, red pepper, salt, and (I think) cracked coriander and a little fenugreek. The recipe calls for canola oil, fresh ginger, green chilis, plum tomato and fresh cilantro in addition to the spices. The blends are rather pricey - $3 for one, $10 for all four - but the packaging is attractive, the spices are high quality, and I admire this young entrepreneur's mission "to make Indian culture a little easier to experience" as he says on the label. After all, not everyone is lucky enough to have Suvir as a coach. The Brooklyn-based company's website is Arora Creations.

Also add a grinding of black pepper, possibly a sprinkle of vinegar (champagne is nice). That's all you need!

A pork tenderloin, marinated briefly in an oil-warmed paste of minced garlic, oregano, cumin and pimenton (mix of hot and sweet). Grilled whole, sliced and set atop a salad of romaine, arugula and radicchio with sherry vinaigrette.

Well, at least it wasn't a poll. I especially like your description of the rabbit pate - yum.

Fie upon thee, spawn of Satan! Okay, give us another hint.

Le Perigord? La Grenouille?

I'm a big fan of doing mostly stuff you needn't prepare (Soba's cheese/charcuterie suggestion, and/or Suzanne's canned goods) with one home-made something served hot. How about a pissaladiere? There's a very nice and infinitely variable recipe in 'Julia Child & More Company,' one of my favorite sources for party food. It's made with pie crust dough. You can assemble it in advance, freeze and then bake when the group arrives.

Make more brownies!

What John said. Edit: Priscilla's words too, which I hadn't read yet.

Thanks, Elizabeth Ann. I've come to prefer sugarless rubs for pork butts, and I'll check out the slaw recipe. Smoked trout spread with pumpernickel toast and cucumber slices. Grilled butterflied leg of lamb (mustard, garlic, rosemary, soy, olive oil) served with Suvir's yellow tomato chutney; a platter of heirloom tomatoes with basil, EVOO and fleur de sel; baby green beans with lemon and EVOO; and a luscious rich oozy potato gratin contributed by our guest. Strawberries and brownies for dessert.

I love the scent of freshly ground toasted cumin! My mortar is white marble. I would really like to have a suribachi or molcajete also, for the extra grinding power of the rough bowl. Vitrified ceramic, like this one from the PCD catalog, is supposedly dishwasher safe.

Suvir, I tasted your yellow and red tomato chutneys side by side. The yellow is more refined in texture, and the tomato flavor/aroma seems both a bit sweeter and more dominant than in the red. I adore them both, so can't say I prefer one to the other. A chef friend was over for dinner last night, and I gave her some to taste. She loved it and suggested I serve it with the lamb I was grilling. There was nothing Indian about the lamb - I'd brushed it with a paste of garlic, rosemary, mustard and soy - but the chutney was a perfect accompaniment. I've given away four of the eight jars I made (including one to Liza, whom I had the great pleasure of meeting yesterday), and will probably make another batch next weekend.

Yes, Liza, you need one. I wash mine by hand, by the way. For pureed garlic, I prefer the mortar to a knife. And it's the best way to crush seeds (cumin, mustard, coriander...). You could do without it, but I really don't think you should have to. If I were buying one today, I might get the vitrified ceramic kind rather than the marble.

Elizabeth Ann, pulled pork fixed how? What else in your sauce besides vinegar (what kind) and mustard (ditto)? How do you make your buttermilk slaw? Does it go on the sammiches or on the side? Talk to me, girl.

PJ, if you use smashed peppercorns a lot, it's worth investing in a Unicorn pepper mill (about $40, I think - available through PCS and other catalogs). Variable grinds, and lots of power behind each twist, so you can get a big pile of cracked pepper in no time. One of my favorite kitchen toys. The chicken is lovely on the grill, but takes care to avoid flare-ups and burning. On the typical charcoal grill (e.g., a Weber) it helps to bank the coals on one side so you have the other side available for indirect cooking.

Chicken marinated in lemon juice, olive oil and cracked black pepper, then grilled (Marcella's 'alla diavola'). Salad of Greenmarket mesclun, baby arugula, romaine, baby spinach, sweet onion and raw mushrooms with a garlicky balsamic vinaigrette. (Husband's on a no-starch diet...I've lost several pounds. )

You beat me to it - I clicked back in to edit my post accordingly. Thanks, Dave. For me, no newspaper for the same reason as no foil. I really like grilling fish directly over the fire - the skin gets deliciously browned and crispy.

Jinmyo, I think some of Nekkid Jamie's recipes are appealingly direct, but dead fish in newspaper is so Mario Puzo.

Oops, you're right...I need reading glasses. Or I would have also caught 'among the chef's leading the way.' For shame, Restaurant. [Note how cleverly I deflect attention from my own booboo. Sorry, Andy!]

Newspaper?? Eck. I don't know why guys have to make everything so complicated. For a smoky flavor I'd rather use a chunk of wood, or a bunch of herb branches.

Two spelling gaffes idly spotted in this article - 'mis en place' and 'unami.' Steve, that was the only mention of Philippe (I clipped, but have yet to try, the brownie recipe from his NY Times series) and Shaun Hill isn't mentioned at all.

Ollie, welcome to eGullet! Please nix the foil, and leave the heads on. You want a medium-hot fire but a very hot grill rack, so let the grill heat up while the coals burn down. Oil the skin of the fish and the grill just before cooking, to help avoid sticking. Give the fish 4-5 minutes a side, lid up, and don't attempt to turn it until it moves easily - if it's cooked enough on the first side, it won't stick. Be gentle. I learned how to grill whole fish from Chris Schlesinger/John Willoughby, authors of 'The Thrill of the Grill.' It's one of the great grill cookbooks. EDIT ALERT: This thread is about grilling.

Slapdash is a good word to describe the mag in general, Andy.