sandra

All cold food, it's waaay too hot here to eat hot... Pork loin roasted with oriental spices and flavours, then shredded and rolled up in Vietnames pancakes with cucumber and spring onion - dipped in soy/rice vinegar/chili oil mixture Cold sesame noodles Cucumber ribbon salad with rice vinegar/soy/sesame oil/chili dressing Edamame, cold and salted

I have never had good food in a UK football ground, ever... and actually I think the worst offender may be our own Highbury - meat (read surprise!) pies, really bad hot dogs, Bovril, tea and coffee, that's about it - oh and beer which you have to drink inside, it may not be brought to your seats... We usually have pizza before

This is great, the versions I've had also include cubed beets. I've also had it with tuna mixed in. Beats your ordinary potato salad any day of the week. Yes, there are so many versions, some also add green beans, lima beans, corn, anything that is small or can be cut small - every family has their own version - I make a few different ones, but the basic is always my favourite...

So you are making an asado - that is an Argentine BBQ basically... At home we used to have baked potatoes in foil or mash to go with the steaks - apart form that a big green salad, some sliced onions with tomatoes and corn on the cob. If you wanted a mayonnaisy type thing, you can make some ensalada Rusa, which is potato and carrots cubes with peas and pimentos dressed in mayo. To make it even more authentic you can also grill up some chorizos (sausages) to start and serve those with a provoleta, or grilled provolone cheese sprinkled with some oregano. For dessert, crepas con dulce de leche, make up some crepes in advance and at the time of dessert fill them with dulce de leche, you don't have to make it, from a jar is good...

Here's odd for you, I saw a beautiful "good sized" lava rock molcajete in the window of a shop in COWES!!! What's up with that? I haven't seen one in London but there it was... no price and the shop was closed - I forgot the name, but can probably dig it up, if you like... Odd... To me Lloyd Grossman sounds like Julia Child only lower...

And there speaks one who knows, and who proves it over and over in the kitchen. Nobody is disagreeing with this statement - I was the first one to say it... Adam, I think it would be possible, in theory, but once again, I bring up the issue of the ingredients, though - I mean - 4 tomatillos for £1?? Fine if you want to make something at home, but not if you are running a restaurant... I have considered opening a Mexican restaurant (see other threads) but it becomes way too expensive to do good classical food - a taqueria, maybe...

pasta with bolognese sauce pasta with butter and grana padano lasagna tacos chilaquiles or, if it's just me - a tin of tomatoes, a tin of green beans cooked together with some tiny pasta and salt. very simple stuff....

Forget finding a restaurant in Southampton, we'll be over your house for dinner on Friday nght...please make tortilla....

That would be the one that put a helmet on your head and blew a whistle while you necked those god awful tequillas. hmmmmm, i thought it was really bad mexican, then again I have never tasted good mexican at all so not too sure what a good one would be! Si Señor once did a lunch for the AGM of the Guild of Food Writers, in which they knocked themselves out doing the very best they could -- no comprises with popular taste. It was generally agreed among those several members who knew Mexican rather well that it still wasn't very good. Well, considering the Mexican Embassy staff, including ambassador use to eat there regularly, and hold functions there, as well as me (Mexican) and we all quite liked it, I will have to say I am puzzled by your statement - maybe the fact that I knew what to order and to order it from my friend who was the owner had something to do with it, but I still think it was quite good - the helmet tequila thing was a gimmick to bring in the customers, and don't think you are not going to find that in Mexico also... Fact is, it would be way too expensive to open a Mexican resto in London, I have looked into it, just getting ingredients flown over every week, 2 days, would mean the dishes would have to be quite expensive, even for a high end mexican - also, as was mentioned before, the Mexican community is very small, would be difficult to find staff/customers...

guacamole mashed potato with bechamel and cheese-gratin tomato mousse salmon mousse aspics, consommes pates mole with chicken-blitzed veggie purees

Great Thanks! I'll start looking at maps.. We've been to Winchester, as a matter of fact when we go to the Boat Show we stay at winchester and drive in, but this weekend is just about Cowes - I couldn't get us a hotel on IoW (obviously!) so this will have to do - and we figured trains are easier than renting a car... We really like Winchester and may go again for the Boat Show anyway, so will call upon your expertise then... Thanks!

Gus, there used to be a really good one, Si Señor in Soho, but it went out of business - I don't think UK is ready for real Mexican yet, unfortunately, "WE" may be, but I think people just want to wrap some fajitas in flour tortillas, sip a frozen margarita and consider themselves ethnic... besides, no matter how good the chef, no matter how nice and original the restaurant and cuisine, ingredients are still an issue...

Thanks for your ideas Carlovski - we really prefer not to travel this time, we have to be up early on Saturday to catch the ferry to IoW anyway... Oxford Street sounds good, can we walk it from the HolInn or cab? I guess the Quays don't have a lovely little cluster of restaurants facing the water, eh?

Tarka, Unfortunately it's very difficult to get good Mexican stuff here - I have looked for years, and only now is it getting a bit better - keep in mind that when a recipe call for fresh chile you can usually take a dried one and reconstitute it by soaking in hot water - they go into sauces anyway, so the "fresh" doesn't always make a difference... Harvey Nichols carries a decent range of the Cool Chile company stuff, like tamale wrappers... I can offer you a few websites: www.coolchile.co.uk www.elaztecafood.co.uk they seem to have upgraded their site very recently and they have alittle store, but unless you know what you want exactly it's better to order by internet, they don't have anything on display, it's just a little garage with a desk and a warehouse in the back... Let me know if you need any translations

Almost... it's across the courtyard and it's the upper floors of Holmes Place, the pool is adjacent - the place is called Westferry Circus, and if you're walking from Canary Wharf tube station, about 10 minutes. The menu is quite similar but I think there is a bit more flair and certainly better service, better view and better atmosphere... As an aside, when you go to the loos in Ubon, you have to go down the stairs in a glass stairwell - if it's at night, and the lights in the rooms at Four Seasons are on, sometimes you will get a show... twice I have seen couples in flagrante... If you don't know what it is, you would never think the builidng across from you is a restaurant!!

Will be there next Friday evening... we'll be at the Holiday Inn by the water, I know, I know - BUT it is across from the ferry to Isle of Wight for the next day...) We won't have a car, so is there anything decent in "downtown" S'oton, maybe a short cab ride away, where we can have a dinner? Thanks!

I know you did not ask for Japanese, but Ubon is great, even better, in my opinion than it's sister Nobu - there also is a Royal China for good Chinese...

Just remembered - La Spagnola is the Australian movie - there is a good scene with a zucchini! Which also reminded me of Divine's fillet of beef which has been marinating all day in her "special sauce"....

You are soooo lucky and I am so jealous you can do that...! I too was soo hungry at the end of Frida I had to come home and make chilaquiles, the quickest thing I could think of... Have you seen the book? Nice recipes. I don't think anyone has mentioned "What's Cooking", the 4 families at Thanksgiving - interesting to see all the different styles of food. There was also an Australian movie about a woman and her daughter and the aunt comes to visit and cooks up all kinds of storms after her husband leaves her - can't remember the name, takes place in the 50's. And I saw a bit of a movie, probably American telemovie, where Scott Baio plays a baker (?) keep missing it... Anyone?

Try a sofrito - dice some onions and tomatoes (peeled/seeded/chopped) and soften in olive oil as follows: cover the bottom of a large skillet with 1/2" olive oil and caramelize 3 onions - when light golden, add 6 tomatoes and cook until their liquid has evaporated and they have started to melt into the onions. It's all done over quite low heat and will take about an hour or so to finish - at the end you can add herbs or garlic, and season. I use it plain over pasta or as a pizza topper. I'll be happy to replace anyone at your kitchen sink - as a matter of fact, in honor of this post I am eating a tomato right now, in the middle of the night...

I second the Dark n' Stormy, although I use fresh lime juice instead... I also like Rum Swizzles: 2 ounces dark rum 1 ounce lime juice 1 ounce pinapple Juice 1 ounce orange juice 1/4 ounce grenadine shake of bitters Shake with ice. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. If you use common rum, it's fine - but if you use good rum, I like Goslings (again!) it really comes out nicely...

Pan con bistec - mostly in cuban restaurants, toasted stick bread spread with garlicky lemon butter, then a thin thin steak, lettuce, tomato, onions, and pressed til hot and flat - then open up and add loads of tabasco and abit of lemon... Best one I have had is at Centro Latino on Bergenline Ave, for those in NJ, go try it... Other than that, pb and red currant jelly on white toast tuna with mayo and dijon, cukes NOT celery ham and swiss on a plain toasted bagel and the most embarassing one bologna and cheese slices on white, mayo on one side, mustard on the other, I know, it's horrible, but it does have to be tried to be appreciated, that bit when you get to the last two bites and it's sliding, you don't know which side to bite! And I agree with the whole weird wrap thing, what's up with that? Food wrapped inside a COLD flour tortilla, why??

We had the Chaplain of the UN come to us!

chilaquiles with a fried egg.

We ate & drank so much at our reception! We did not have a sit down dinner, as that is all I was attending at the time, I was working PR - just a big cocktail party with one long buffet serving everything we loved from Mexican food to pastas to roast meats... and an open bar - once the bartender left for the evening, we cracked open the cases of Veuve Cliquot we had snuck in wrapped as wedding pressies and were keeping iced in the bathtubs upstairs....This was one of the penthouses at the NY Hilton and we did not feel like paying their corkage...shhhhhhh We stayed up all night and and around 4 am, just before the car came to take us to the airport, we had chilaquiles with fried eggs... We even had pieces of the wedding cake...I think we may have enjoyed our wedding more than the guests!