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No idea. But you might want to try tracking down the Polish Home Association for references. Dom Polski Zaprasza. (<- that's an article in the stranger) Edit: Seems there are a bunch of interrelated orgs. i can't read this. try here instead What specifically are you looking for? People here may have seen specific ingredients.

Actually the "&" (ampersand) is more likely to cause problems than the space; you're best off getting rid of both ("Adrian-and-Julie.jpg" or similar). I can't get the picture to load even after messing with the URL a bit.

I don't know anything about worldwidehousewares other than the guy responded to my email (unhelpfully, but at least there's a real person there), and they are a paypal merchant with some real but small number of transactions. And they're absurdly inexpensive. Wanna be a guinea pig?

Used a costco special thermoelectric cooler on a long roadtrip. (Seattle->Alaska and back). Cooler is the right word, it probably kept things 10-20 degrees below ambient. It's supposed to keep things 30 degrees below ambient. Still useful, since we never had to buy ice; we mostly kept refrigeratied things cool, bought things cool, and used them up pretty quickly. I've never been too afraid of letting things get a little warm for a few hours, which was the limit for fresh meat, etc.

Question: should the bird be stuffed? I keep hearing things about how you shouldn't eat the stuffing out of the bird because it'll be full of unhealthy bacteria or something. Then again, I've seen cooking to 180° suggested.

I went to Wild Ginger last week. Their 25 for 25 menu appeared to be a reduced version of the regular menu, which I didn't have time to read and certainly don't remember from rare visits. Three choices of appetizers (suger cane shrimp, spring rolls, ?); we had them all. Maybe ten entree choices. We ordered the fragrant duck, shanghai beef, and a seafood noodle dish. What we actually got was a chicken dish, shanghai beef, and a seafood noodle dish. Oops, somehow the order got confused and our server re-ordered the full sized fragrant duck, we ended up with the chicken for free. The service was actually quite good, which is unusual in Seattle. All of the dishes were excellent. Frankly, I've never been too impressed with Wild Ginger. Not that the food is bad, but it has a stellar reputation and the food doesn't always match. My favorite was the shanghai beef, which had the effect of being coated and deep fried, and I'm not a fan of deep fried. The third course was desert: a ice cream in your choice of 5 or so flavors; neither here nor there. One last comment is that the place is enormous. I can't think of a larger place of near this caliber in Seattle.

If you haven't already bought the le creuset, i'll put a mention in again of worldwidehouseware, they have them for $36 for the big 2.2 qt size. But I haven't dared buying anything from them yet, maybe this is a small enough purchase to let us know if they actually ship the goods! http://www.worldwidehouseware.com/Whistlin...%202.2%20qt.htm

One sure way to avoid metallic particles is to use glass... Though I can't guarantee you won't burn your hand since the stopper and spout don't always match quite right.

I'd be up for most anything not requiring advanced professional kitchen skills. Knife skills might be cool, though at this point I have one old Sabatier which can be made very sharp but is a pain to take care of, and some garbage from the supermarket. Oh, I can probably bring along a friend or two if we need more people.

No surpises here--both the BBB and AmEx probably looked at the Herbfarm's published polcies, determined they had followed them, and kept the charge. I'd think (and am not a lawyer) that the only recourse if you really wanted your money back would be a (small claims?) lawsuit stating that they didn't explain their policy to you. However, you have already cost them--the AmEx investigation probably cost them both cash money (typically around $50), time in responding to requests, time to contact you, and so forth. And you have cost them goodwill, on this board and elsewhere. Perhaps they will reconsider based on that, but since they're full most of the time, they probably won't. BTW, I heard a friend-of-a-friend story that (Carrie?) did part of the dinner presentation talking to a puppet when the friend-of-a-friend was there. Apparently this person and other guests found this quite disconcerting.

The reason I was confused by the 'west coast' was because there was in fact a 'pacific northwest' section of this guide booklet, and the restaurant themself says ... "helped define Pacific Northwest cuisine". Maybe they should both go under the 'cascadia' term? Or maybe they're just confused if they want to attract Americans or Canadians. Geographical terms in the US are somewhat weird, since the South is really the southeast, and the Northwest is sometimes still Chicago and environs, leading to Southwest and Pacific Northwest.

I guess I'll have to make some ginger cake now... and leave the rest around. Should probably get a crock pot for garlic and ginger, I tend to leave it in a dark corner right now. I also had a weird 'is this galangal' experience in a Chinese market. I think it was labeled as 'young ginger'. And may or may not have been galangal, it sure wasn't quite the same as galangal I've had elsewhere. I think they sell both 'young' and normal (dried???) ginger in some stores here, in addition to galangal under its various names. The package I have claims to be fresh ginger from Hawaii, Brazil, or China, depending on season.

What was your family food culture when you were growing up? Hmm... this is hard to answer, since I'll say "normal" when that's not the case. Good food usually cooked at home by my mother from a variety of cultures from around the world, made from cookboks rather than experience. Was meal time important? Yes. It's a time to gather and discuss what's going on. The comments about 'no arguments' are quite odd, since arguing around the table is normal. Philosophical arguments of course. Well other arguments also happened too. Was cooking important? Yes, good food is important. Also table settings were always nice. I don't mean formal, but metal utensils and cloth napkins and nice serving dishes are always used. When eating by myself I'll use a paper towel and sometimes eat out of the pot, but to this day I find it strange to use paper napkins when eating with more than one person. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? Hmm... Don't know. Who cooked in the family? My mother, almost always. Sometimes me. My father can boil water but not much more than that. Were restaurant meals common, or for special occassions? Yes, fairly common. A few times a month or even a week. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? No. Well maybe once or twice, I was just discussing that with my mother this weekend since we'll have too many people to fit in the dining room this Thanksgiving. Growing up the dining room opened onto another room so we could squeeze in probably 20 people. I don't know where this fits, but guests came over somewhat frequently, and we went to other people's houses fairly frequently. My friends also were welcome. Also my parents often hold parties on July 4th and January 1st. Food and people are a focus at these parties. When did you get that first sip of wine? Probably a passover seder. To this day I rarely drink. Was there a pre-meal prayer? No. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? No, but certain dishes were fairly common. In particular, sauteed chicken breast with something. The something varied qute a lot and the accompanyments varied a lot, but the basic preparation was the same. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? I don't have a present day family life. There are many things I'd rather do than cook for myself, so I don't cook as often as I really should. These are personal questions (which is why I hid this thread in the Bios section) I think this fits perfectly here.

This evening I went shopping at Trader Joe's and picked up the rest of what I needed for dinner, including ginger. Those of you who have been there will know that their produce selection is weird in that everything is pre-packed. Ginger comes in an 8oz package. This is way too much for me; I cook mostly for myself on a somewhat random schedule. What to do with the rest? Some things I've thought of : Freeze it. Is this a good storage method or not? Pickle it. Cook a lot of gingery things over the next week before I go on vacation for a bit.

Pho Hoa (old looking website) is supposedly the country's largest chain of noodle shops. Locations in the int't district (weller between 5th and 6th), east side (NE 24th in Overlake), and througout the world.

I seem to remember wine in france being available in plastic PET containers, much like most bottled water is sold today. This was about 5 years ago. They also had wine in 1l aseptic packages, or something similar. I never tried either of them, though I did have wine bought in bulk for parties. (Bring your own 'keg' to the wine store and get it filled up.) But how do you sell the things? Pretty pictures? A lot of effort is spent on unusual bottles, colors, labels, shapes, etc. Edit: obligitory scary link and more

The Venturi-Schulz website is up, and way cheaper than Senses for vinegar. Odd the world map they use has the USA highlighted. I don't remember what other places we tried, probably just one or two. If I had planned I would have brought a list from here or even called before leaving, that may have been enough notice. The hotel had some tourist promo book with a good list of good restaurants, we would have gone off of it next. Oddly the tourist booklet listed Raincity as 'west coast', not the 'northwest' (or whatever closer term) I would have expected, but then again maybe they meant west coast Canada as opposed to the Yukon. Go talk about bagels here: round and around

I mentioned in the Raincity Grill thread that I visted both Solly's and Siegal's bagelrys on a recent trip to Vancouver, and prefered Siegals. Junior responded, perhaps others have comments too... What makes a Montreal style bagel truly Montreal style? The shape? The wood fired oven? Something else? And where can you get them outside of Montreal? Both Solly's and Siegal's in Vancouver claim to be Montreal style. I chose Siegal's for two reasons: the bagels are a bit smaller and feel lighter. And if you order a topping, they use a lighter touch--Solly's bagels are very good, but the cream cheese they use isn't so great and is applied in excessive quantity. But Solly's also has excellent rugulah and very good cinnimon buns Some details if you want to go: Siegal's is open 24 hours on the Kits side of the Burrard Bridge, 1883 Cornwall Ave. Plus a few other locations. Solly's is on Broadway just west of MacDonald in Kitsilano, plus another location. I've never been to Benny's, what do they claim to be?

A few weeks ago a friend and I went up to Vancouver on the spur of the moment. We ended up dining at the Rain City Grill Raincity Grill near English Bay in the West End. While nowhere near as depressing as Cabrales' experience at C, it wasn't surprising to me that the two restaurants are related. The menu combinations sound fascinating, and so instead of picking a meal we went for the tasting menu with accompaning wine. The gimmick of the restaurant is that everything is from BC, and the theme for the season was game. In fact, the menu is up on the web site right now, I'll try to go through my memories here: Amuse Gueule: An oyster with something strange, something like a pickled radish relish. The accompanyment was total flavor overkill for the oyster. Bread: A flatbread of some form. Neither crisp nor puffy, I wished it was either one or the other. Foie Gras & Goose Prosciutto Terrine raisins, parsley puree suggested wine- La Frenz Semillon Interesting layered thing. Rich. How are you supposed to eat this? Is there a best order to eat this, from the goose proscuitto (huh) to the liver, or vice versa? Rabbit Ravioli chanterelle soup suggested wine- Venturi-Schulze "Le Cigale", Madeline Sylvaner I also would have prefered a bit of instruction with some of the courses--not the overkill of the herbfarm, but like the terrine, it wasn't clear if the sauce (which may have been something other than chanterelle soup, I remember it as an orangeish rich puree) was to be eaten on its own or not, given its consistency. I think this course also came with sharp knives, which were totally unnecessary and perhaps a mistake. The ravioli, and I mean one ravioli, was good. But what sort of animal it was I couldn't say. I wish there was more. Wine note: The wines were actually presented with more history than the food. This one is made on Vancouver Island by someone from Modena, and you can see why they make vinegar. It wasn't bad (sorry, I can't describe wines well), but rather quite strong. Roasted Nicola Valley Venison smoked salsify, pine mushroom broth suggested wine- Sandhill "Small Lots", Barbera This was an excellent piece of meat, in some sort of salty crust. Again, what sort of meat I couldn't tell you. I'm not sure if I've had venison before, but it had a sort of light red meat flavor, and the salty crust was my favorite part. I'm not sure of the brouhaha over pine mushrooms is. A japanese restaurant here in Seattle served a pine mushroom broth in a miniature teapot, with the instructions to drink the tea then eat the food from the pot. I wish I'd tried it (my friend was sick at that meal and not sharing) to compare with this broth, the mushrooms didn't do anything for me. Braised Bison Shortrib hazelnut en croute suggested wine-Mission Hill "Estate", Syrah This was the strangest part of the meal. Reading it here you'll notice the 'en croute' part, which somehow came as a shock. A mini square pot pie. Poplar Grove Tiger Blue Cheese fig compote suggested wine-Quails' Gate "Tawny" I'm not a big fan of blue cheese, and thankfully this cheese wasn't very blue, but was rich. Again a weird combination, the compote + cheese + crackers didn't quite fit. My favorite was the toasted slice of bread, should have been two so the cheese and compote could have been separated. Lavender Brulee frozen grapes Again, why the frozen grapes? Overall, the food was good but overly 'dressed' up. I couldn't tell it was game. Perhaps the animals were farm raised, or the presentation was just too overwhelming. We also left slightly hungry, and I'm not a big eater. Service was good. I would have prerred a little less time between courses (the whole meal took over 2 hours), and due to being seated in a weird location we would sometimes have people serving from multiple directions at once. Random notes: The restaurant was full. In fact, we tried calling a few places and they were full for dinnertime seating when we called around 5. Ouest was very friendly, I didn't mention egullet or anything to try to get a seat, but probably should have asked about eating at the bar. A table near us insulted the restaurant when seated. They arrived as two separate couples. I don't remember what unusual thing the first couple did, but the second couple asked the waiter if the food was better than the last time he was there, which was a number of years ago. I don't know the purpose of this comment, but they had a short discussion on the changes in chefs over the past few years. This isn't usually something I'd notice, but both my friend and I thought the crowd was older and whiter than typical for Seattle; I can't compare to typical Vancouver fine dining crowds. Thread drift: Also sampled both Solly's and Siegel's bagels on the same trip, and I give the nod to Siegel's.

I'll add a dish from my 'simply paradise' review: their chicken kee mao. Based on a sample of one, it had the balance of flavors which makes 'normal' thai food so good. Given that the quality of other dishes was uneven, anyone else have comments on this? It was much more of the 'with basil' style than the 'super spicy because it was made by (or for) a drunk person' style.

I finally made it to Simply Paradise the other night. Dishes: fresh rolls, larp gai, tom yum gai, 'kee mao' gai, (yes too many chickens), grilled fish (since they were out steamed fish), steamed rice. The place was unusual because none of the servers were thai. I didn't get the chance to see who was working in the kitchen. The decor is kind of mixed but nice, anyone know the deal with the piano? The meal progressed from boring to good. The fresh rolls were uneventful. The larp was completely flavorless. Not bad, but amazingly bland. Not spicy at all even though we everything was ordered 3 start. The tom yum didn't have much flavor, though it was spicy. And at least there was visible galangal and lemongrass in it, unlike some other restaurants. They didn't bring out the rice til last, which always irritates me. The grilled fish was pretty good, but didn't interest me, we ordered it plain intentionally. The 'kee mao' chicken on the other hand was excellent. A variety of vegetables, and the flavor was just balanced correctly. Didn't see the 'pho' dish, I'll have to look again at what the paradise noodles. I rate this a maybe go back.

Ah yes, why I will never buy a Michelin guide. In some large town in Spain, after having been mistreated by RIck Steve's guide, we bought a Michelen. No starred or otherwise indicated restarants, so we picked one with a nice looking menu and a bunch of red forks-and-spoons or whatever they put in their listings. The waiter had a nice tuxedo. The room had nice paint. The place settings were fine. The place was mostly empty, and the food was horrible. We stayed (it was the main course which was the worst), but when another party of Americans came in we suggested they leave, which they did. After that we got desert (it was a fixed menu), which was fine. Hopefully it wasn't poisined after we tried to complain about the food (I speak minimal spanish, the waiter minimal english) and clearly sent some other cusomers packing. Later on that trip we did ask for the check the moment the food arrived, it was some train station restaurant which had completely inedible steak frites. Even later we bought a Zagat for Paris, which elimiated all the bad luck we'd been having. Knock it all you want, it was far better than any other guidebook and our random luck on that trip.

Cool, new places to try specific things. Everyplace seems to have a little speciality, though menus are often similar from one to another. On the 'order in thai' experience, my Thai is too limited and I'm too embarassed to try. But some of the best chinese food I've had was when I was with people who spoke the dialect of the restaurant owners.

Hmmm... only been to Bai Tong once and it was mediocre. I wouldn't be surprised if the quality of food drops if you order something like swimming rama, which to my understanding is about as authentic as egg foo young. Does the quality of food go up if you speak the tones right when ordering dishes, or complement the food in Thai, especially in a place with an open kitchen?

Yes, Lao or Issan food is popular in Bangkok. Som tom, certain types of grilled chicken, larp, all qualify. And lots of people especially in the city don't cook anything at home. Apartments apparently don't even typically have kitchens, though there are stores where you can buy the latest and fanciest western kitchen equipment if you have the money. Typhoon serves har mok talay (talay = seafood, pla = fish). But instead of being almost souflee like, it was more like a sauce on a platter. My friends and I like 'my' version much better. Edit: To find it in your town, try Amazon Menus. Scary, but it found two more restaurants in seattle with it on the menu! (I searched for "mok")