CathyL

I love drinking rosé this time of year. Some favorites: Château Grande Cassagne, Château Morgues du Gres, Guigal Tavel, Château Routas, Cline Cellars' Côte D'Oakley Vin Gris, Il Mimo Nebbiolo Rosato (very dry and weightier than most rosés), Navarra Rosado Vega Sindoa. I'm glad good wine shops are giving these lovely wines more shelf space. [Nina, to do the accents I cheat - type in MS Word, copy and paste.]

Thin-sliced winter squash is also delicious roasted in a hot (425-450) oven, seasoned with coarse salt, pepper and fresh herbs, until well-browned. A Maillard reaction makes almost anything taste good.

Bux, I thought I recalled a previous food issue as well. Although lately I have entire days composed of senior moments, so I may not be reliable... I quite enjoyed the stage part, and thought it conveyed a different aspect of Mario's personality than the on-screen Molto. Still not sure what to make of the 'don't bump me, I own the place' business though.

Yes, I had the same response to Kramer's piece. I very much like John McPhee's article about shad, written with his usual quiet precision, and Calvin Trillin's article about the UC Davis wine test, which may or may not exist. Anyone know?

Pope's nose. My favorite part of the bird, as long as it's crispy. I like wing tips too. And, in the words of an old Steve Goodman song, fat is where it's at. I much prefer it crunchy to soft, though. Cracklings, gribbenes, chicharrones...

Ha. I can make an entire meal out of what my husband leaves on the bone. (Of course, this is after I've already eaten an entire meal.) My favorite is the inter-rib meat on a double rib lamb chop. Unfrenched, please.

Just so you go. We don't need no stinkin' earthquake.

Let's form a support group, do an intervention and drag her to Blue Hill. We care, Nina.

Gotta keep your priorities straight.

Scary. So go already. Why the delay?

I don't think Mario would object to that characterization.

I'm still reading through it, and while it's a bit hit-and-miss, there are some gems. John McPhee on shad; profiles of Diana Kennedy and Mario; taste memories from Madhur Jaffrey and Chang-Rae Lee; Calvin Trillin on wine tasting, which I'm saving for last. There's a wonderful piece by Adam Gopnik about a jeu de cuisine in which five chefs (including the Blue Hill boys) devise a week's worth of menus from what Gopnik selects at the Union Square market. A sample: "Cooks, I learned, indulge the gaping outsider - I want to run away with the circus! - without even trying to explain to him what they know too well, that the tricks are easy; the hard part is preventing the clowns from committing suicide and the lion trainer from getting in bed with the ringmaster's wife. They're glad that people like the circus, but they understand that the circus is not the show; the circus is the ring around the show." Other opinions?

If you read it in Pointed, it must be so.

FoodMan, I'm a gomasio neophyte but here goes: in a heavy skillet, toast sesame seeds until golden brown and fragrant. Hand-grind them with kosher or sea salt. Leave some texture - it shouldn't be ground to powder. Sprinkle on hot green vegetables. Or anything else, for that matter. Jinmyo's amazing 'Dinner!' posts inspired me to try this, so consider my reply a temporary stand-in for the real deal.

Yes, I used a marble mortar (motor & pistol, a friend used to say) but thought a suribachi would have been even better. I grind enough spices to make owning one worthwhile. I appreciate the advice, Jinmyo.

Thanks, Jinmyo. I used 2 tsp of kosher salt to 1/3 cup sesame seeds, and pan-roasted them together. I'll probably use more salt next time, which will be SOON.

Beyond splendid - so did I. Making it was a very pleasant experience as well. The aroma, the color, the sound and feel of the little seeds crunching under the pestle... Jinmyo, may I ask what proportion of sesame to salt you favor? And what kind of salt do you use?

Lavash with assorted dippy things (baba ghanouj, fava bean/goat cheese, harissa cream) Grilled butterflied leg of lamb Heirloom tomatoes of various sizes and colors Roasted Yukon Gold and Red Norland chunks Sugar snaps with gomasio (where has this marvel been all my life??) Chocolate cake Mixed berries tossed with raspberry coulis

A hot towel is part of the silly ritual of first/business class airline meals. It might be welcome if the towels weren't infused with nasty chemical lemon scent. Flight attendants always seem so surprised when someone says no, thanks.

Lovely, Rochelle. Is cooking at home different now that you're in culinary school? Brownies, the perfect food.

SA, what a nice celebration for your friends. I hope you're doing the wedding food too, because that's a tough act to follow. The pear/cashew salad and the cod especially, for me. Thanks for sharing your detailed, evocative notes.

My favorite paragraph so far (from the 'review' of Brasserie Les Halles in DC): "While we were impressed with the Pork, the catch of the day really show cased how impressive Brasserie really was. When our server brought the fish to the table he asked if he would like whole fish cleaned in front of our eyes. Not only did he filet the fish but he proceeded to put on a clinic of fish cleaning. This once again affirms the high level of service to be expected here." And not one bit of fish gut landed on the tablecloth!

That's the guy. Nice people, too. The microgreens are so beautiful I invariably buy more than I need. All I've ever done with them (other than nibble on the way home) is toss them with a little oil and champagne vinegar, so I'm interested in more creative ideas.

Is that the microgreens stand on the University Place side? He has the most wonderful produce - I love the arugula flowers, the pea shoots and the baby tatsoi.

If the tomatoes aren't too soft, no need for the boiling water. Draw the back of a small knife firmly down the skin, from stem end to blossom end. The skin should slip off easily. Once when I had VIPs coming for dinner, I decided to make a tomato tartare recipe I found in the Times - finely chopped raw tomatoes seasoned with hazelnut oil, chives, tarragon, shallots and I forget what else, chilled and served with toasted baguette slices. The local Greenmarket had gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, so I bought several pounds, took them home, peeled, seeded, chopped and turned the pulp into a strainer to drain. The yield was oh, about 1/4 cup. Back to the market I went for several more pounds, and selected what looked like a meatier variety. Yield: another 1/4 cup. After going through this exercise a few more times, I'd chopped about 12 pounds of tomatoes to get not much over a cup of pulp. The tartare was delicious, and the juice from the strained tomatoes was even better. But now I make the tartare with beefsteaks not heirlooms.