Katie Meadow

Thanks. And those pix are great. I really never thought about this. I don't remember going to any of these places when I grew up. So then are there Neapolitan style wood-fired pizza places that have been around forever? It isn't against city regs to build a new wood-fired oven, is it?

The best cake sale recipe is pie.

After many years making our own pizza at home using a pizza stone in a fairly good oven, it seems to me that underbaking isn't really the issue. If you want a crispy crust you have to minimize the amount of sauce and toppings, otherwise the stuff is too wet and creates a barrier so the heat can't properly bake the crust. Pre-cooking the crust works pretty well, but clearly that would create a labor-intensive pizza that might not work well for most pizzerias. If you continue to cook it just to get a crisper crust your cheese and toppings will be burnt and tough and the crust might still be damp and flabby. How hot the oven is certainly matters, but in a home oven that doesn't go over 500 degrees, creating a flatbread or crispy type crust isn't a problem as long as you don't overload the toppings. Just curious: could someone tell me what a coal oven is and how common they are? When I grew up in NY the only pizza I ever knew was that standard foldable slice where the oil runs down the crease and drips on the paper as you eat it. A far cry from what I want from a pizza now, but something that seems unique to New York or the east coast. When I first moved to CA (a million years ago) I missed that "New York style" pizza. Were they using coal ovens?

Ah, Zachary's. Possibly the worst pizza ever. Thick rubbery layer of cheese that pulls off your slice in a single triangular slab. Of course I haven't had it for about 20 years, but I'm guessing it's pretty much the same. And it's often still crowded. Then there's Blondie's on Telegraph Ave, and I don't think it's changed much either. It's its own creature--more like bread with topping, but it has a certain nostalgia factor and a bizarre integrity. A very nice pizza can be had in the East Bay at Pizzaiolo; thin and crispy, modest quantity of ingredients, very tasty. Not a quiet place to eat, though. Then there's the ever-popular Cheese Board and Arizmendi pizza. My husband and daughter and I seem to be a minority of three: we can't stand it. The whole thing just oozes oil and the toppings are often really strange. Sue me.

6ppc, I too was knocked out by the Sarde en Saor I had in Venice. I ordered it everywhere it was on the menu. There was great variety in the preparation--no two places did it exactly the same way. I love grilled sardines--I love the flavor, the price, how good for you they are, and how environmentally friendly they are. One place I shop in the East Bay carries them occasionally and will order them with a couple days notice. They are small, like maybe 6 to 7 inches, very fresh, and best of all, they are cleaned, which is a job I really can't stand. The bones are left in, which is fine with me, I don't try to take them out before grilling and I don't butterfly them. I just salt them, brush with olive oil, and grill them for a couple of minutes per side on high heat so the skin gets crispy. Deeply satisfying served with a lemon wedge or nothing. I do like the idea of a tomato salsa a la Portuguese beach shack, though. That sounds yummy.

Thanks, I will check it out next Sept. The Big Jims were the ones I thought were kinda watery, but they were from a different source. I like them best used in a cream of green chile soup. And yeah, it's a splurge to order chile from NM. I've found a good source for poblanos that are very flavorful and have some heat at my local farmers' market, so I buy a lot of those when they are in season and freeze them, but sometimes I long for that NM flavor. It's different than anything else!

From whom do you order your chiles? I ordered some last fall and found them a little watery. I used to eat Hatch hot, but now, since I've been out of the state for many years, I can't handle the heat. What's a good source of medium heat chiles? Actually, I'm guessing my idea of medium would be mild for someone who doesn't sweat into a bowl of Hatch green.

I think others have noted mistakes in some of Batali's books. I found one in Molto Mario. Dunno anything about your octopus, just sayin'.

Once in a while I have used pre-washed salad greens. I'd rather not, but rinsing, drying and tearing up lettuce can be a chore. I like the work of mincing and chopping onions and garlic and celery etc, but prepping lettuce is one task I don't enjoy. I haven't used it in a while, since the farmers' market lettuces are simply too appealing and it's worth the hassle. I totally get that there are some people for whom pre-cut or pre-chopped stuff is a life-saver if they have any type of disability or it causes outright pain. My mother was a pretty lousy cook, but she always made a simple salad dressing of vinegar, olive oil and dijon. I do pretty much the same. It wasn't until I left home and went off to college that I realized how many people rely on bottled dressings. Here's what I consider the absolute silliest lazy product: those little plastic squeezy lemons. They haven't changed since forever. Until a couple of years ago my husband's parents lived in a progressive community where there were shared plantings, including grapes and fruit trees. My father in-law even grew his own little garden and picked olives and cured them. But even a few years ago they still kept one of those lemon things in the fridge. I've considered the possibility that it's the same plastic lemon for the past 25 years, and they don't have the heart to toss it. My husband and his family are all very frugal; they'd rather eat rotten food than throw it away. But I've never asked. Does anyone remember how weird they taste? What were they called?

I use this recipe, and I am sorry to say that I don't know where it came from. It may have been from a magazine. I tweak it by changing the sweet ingredients and also by adding a small amount of bbq sauce toward the end. It's great on hamburgers, and I use it to "frost" my meatloaf. No nutmeg in it, and I can't say I miss it, but you never know. And it is not trying to be Heinz. After making my own for several years theI think the commercial stuff tastes anemic. 1 28 oz. can whole Italian plum tomatoes 1 yellow onion, minced 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1/3 cup corn syrup or equiv: brown sugar, agave or a little maple syrup 1/4 tsp dry mustard like Colemans Pinch each (like 1/8 tsp) of the following: allspice, ginger, ground celery seed, cinnamon, ground cloves salt and pepper Opt: 1/4 c favorite bbq sauce Blend tomatoes and onion in an electric blender til smooth, about 30 secs. Combine all ingredients except salt, pepper and bbq sauce in a pan. Simmer, stirring occasionally, til reduced to about a cup and a half or to desired thickness, about 45 minutes. Add bbq sauce if desired and cook down another 10 minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper, remove from heat and cool. I've never used it for fries as I have never made fries. I don't know if I would like the bbq sauce in it for fries. I like my fries with aioli instead of ketchup.

Actually that sounds fantastic! She teaches 3rd grade. Maybe I will see if I can locate a used copy on Bookfinder.com. So do the Marcia Adams books sound great. If there was an easy way to look at some of these suggestions I would do so. Browsing isn't as easy as it used to be. There don't seem to be any great bookstores with large cookbook sections in the East Bay any more. It's really sad. In the interests of time I finally opted out and sent her a package with a jar of our marmalade, for which we made a great label, and a gift certificate. Thanks to all for your help!

Do you know where Albia is? I have no clue if it's anywhere near Des Moines. I spent the afternoon at a mediocre bookstore getting frustrated. Since the death of Cody's in Berkeley I don't know where to find a great selection of cookbooks. I looked at the Braising book and it looks great but it's ONLY slow food, and I don't know if she has that kind of time or dedication. Ina Garten's books have some nice simple recipes, but I have to say that they are skimpy for $35 a pop. The food that seemed most appealing actually and with the freshest farm-like ingredients and unfussy recipes was actually Jamie Oliver's Family cookbook, but half the pages are taken up with pictures of HIMSELF whom he must adore and that seems absurd. Then I got side-tracked and started to swoon over the Babbo dessert book and had to stop myself before I spent the money on ME. Now all I can think about is ricotta cheesecake. So, I'm rethinking and may do a gift cert which seems so...uninspired! I think in addition to that I will send her a jar of the marmalade we made last month. It's very good, and at least it's something a little personal. Even if she's a crackerjack canner she probably doesn't get seville oranges in Albia, Iowa.

Thanks for all your great suggestions. I'm going to paw through the bookstore and look at some of the above titles and think about it some more. I don't know why, but somehow the idea of a book is perhaps more appealing than a gift certificate. I could order one on Amazon, and then if she wants to return it she can--best of both worlds. I know now that she doesn't bake much.

Edwardsboi, $500 for a Bosch seems like a very good price. If it's a model that sells for more other places, it would certainly be worth considering. The lifespan of new dishwashers seems to be 6-8 years. If you pay $800 and get 8 years out of your dishwasher you are paying $100 a year for not having to do dishes by hand. If you pay $500 and only get six years out of it, you're ahead. Often the motor is the same for several models, and the features bump up the price. Frankly I think it's a crapshoot. If I hadn't had a space/construction issue I would have gone for a $500 Bosch (if I had found one) instead of the more expensive Asko. I'm going to update my remarks about the Asko and then I will shut up. My husband is over the moon about it, since we've discovered that it does a great job using A HALF TABLESPOON OF detergent and the lower energy-using cycle (as long as the dishes aren't caked with dried food.) And the racks hold an amazing amount of dishes. In fact, we still have room for more bowls and plates after all our flatware is used, which never happened with the old KA. Now, only time will tell.

Venice. Yum. Alle Testiere was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. You need a reservation. Even with one we had to wait over half an hour (in lovely weather) outside for a 9:30 seating. Full of people like us who were not Italians, but I didn't care. Diners filed out past us in a stupor and recommended one dish in particular. They were right. The recommended prawn dish was unspeakably good. I also loved Da Alberto, for more down-home earthy food and relaxed atmosphere. Check the Venice thread, yah?

I'm doing some research for my mother. She's going to be in Florence in mid-May with two and possibly all three or her grandkids, all of whom have good appetites and appreciate good food, especially when they are being treated to it. My mother is 90, so she doesn't want to stand on line, nor does she want to go way out the way at night just to eat. So...centrally located perhaps, and not budget-busting, since she will be paying most of the time. She asked me to look up Camillo and Cibreo. Camillo sounds delicious, but a bit pricey. Cibreo sounds fun, but will she be standing on line just to get in? I've been reading upthread, and it sounds like the following are recommend, but I don't have a great sense of cost on most of them. Osteria De Cinghiale (not always great?) Sostanza (get the steak Fl.?) Trat. Antellesi Alla Vecchio Bettola Za Za (lunch spot near the mercato?) Osteria Vini e Vecchi Saproi Trat Sabatini (rustic, no tourists?) Da Caffagio (sounds terrific...good value?) If anyone has some details about the above or other easy to navigate restaurants in easy to find locations, reasonable prices, whether or not reservations are taken, etc., that would be very helpful. One of my nephews is in the restaurant biz in NY and hates places with tourists; he'd rather have mediocre food than hear English spoken. The other nephew is like a vacuum cleaner and loves everything. My daughter generally likes less meat and more veggies, but knows a good thing when it's on her plate.

Bear with me, and you'll see this is a toughie. My daughter is studying in Athens. Her computer broke the first day. The mother of a friend she met there is now visiting her own daughter and hand-carried a computer for us all the way from her home in Albia, Iowa, to Athens--and I don't mean Athens, Georgia! Okay, so this is a really nice woman who teaches 3rd grade in a small town in Iowa who did us a huge favor. I want to send this lovely woman a gift. I begged my daughter to quiz her friend about her mother's interests/hobbies etc and all she came up with is that this woman likes "kitchen stuff." I guess that's a start. I tried to get whether she was a great baker or whatever, but I don't think more info is forthcoming. After all, these are 20-yr olds who are off in a million directions during every conversation. My daughter's only suggestion was that Iowans eat corn and potatoes, which shows you the perspective of a Bay Area native who grew up eating an ethnic stew around Telegraph Ave. If I hadn't blown all my money on my kid's new macbook I could afford to buy her a nice cashmere scarf for those Iowa winters, but I really can't afford that. What about a cookbook? Could be something heartland specific, or maybe Italian? Something perhaps without a lot of hard-to-get exotic ingredients but sophisticated, for someone who must do some cooking?

Your LA grandfather simply likes what he grew up with. No crime in that, but it's a big world out there with some heavenly oysters. There are only a handful of species harvested in the US. What makes for so much variety is location, location, location. And size isn't an indicator of species or place of origin. The Hog Island Sweet, grown in Tomales Bay in CA is sold in five sizes, xsmall through xlarge. One of the smallest oysters is the Olympia from WA state. It's tiny and delicious! There are a couple of websites that are very good for info on oysters. One is more scientific and the other has detailed maps showing the many US locations where oysters are grown and harvested. One is The Nibble.com (look under oysters) and the other is oysterguide.com.

It is yummy, and really convenient, once you've make the stock. I first got the idea from a NYT article about cooking collard greens. I don't really care for meat in my greens, but I like that smoky ham flavor, so I started to freeze the ham stock in small containers for when I made greens. Now I've graduated to quart containers for cooking beans. I could never have participated in that no-shopping challenge. I would have been drinking ham stock all week.

I eat a lot of beans. Sometimes I use cannelini or a cranberry beans and make a hearty Italian-style soup with kale and other veggies. Mario Batali has some good recipes for soups like this--there are lots of variations. These days I am into beans 'n' rice. I have been experimenting with different beans, like rattlesnake (hybrid of the pinto and better, I think, but hard to find!), rio zappe, flor de mayo and pinquito. The rio zappe is a good stand-in for red kidney beans--they are a dark reddish bean, hold their shape well, and are meaty. I have a basic method, and vary it according to my mood--sometimes more like red beans 'n' rice, sometimes more southwestern style, very simple, charro style or without the tomatoes. Any beans over rice can be dressed up or topped with different fun things. My husband likes his southwestern-style beans extra hot, so he adds roasted green chiles or cheese if there is some. I like it simple, and usually just add a sprinkle of minced white onion, salt and a squirt of lime juice. Because I don't like fatty soups, instead of adding a ham hock and cooking it with the soup beans, I like to make a ham stock. I use smoked ham shanks instead of hocks, because they are meatier. So I make a large pot of ham stock with the shanks, onion, celery etc, then take the meat off the bones when it's very tender--at least two hours--and skim the fat. I freeze the stock and use it for cooking the beans that I serve over rice. The ham can be added back to the beans or used for hash or salad or whatever you like.

When I first saw this thread I thought someone snarky like me would respond to the question, "How much water does pasta need?" by saying: A lot. End of thread. Hah. It's amazing how easy it is to just keep on doing things the way you were taught. I make pasta the way my mom did, with lots of water in a big pot. No measuring. Rolling boil. I had a roommate who learned to cook pasta at a simmer in a small pot, stirring frequently. That made the pasta gummy, which made it stick together; hence the need to keep stirring. Even if you cook your pasta at a rolling boil, if you have too little water in the pot it takes too long for it to come back up to a rolling boil after adding the pasta, and you still get pasta that's being soaked instead of cooked. Does the low 'n' slow method mean that the pasta releases a lot more starch into the water? Perhaps losing too much starch results in degradation of taste and texture? If I wanted thick pasta water I'd probably toss out the pasta too. No one has mentioned the direx on the back of the Japanese udon package: bring water to a boil, add udon, bring it back up to a boil, add a glass of cold water. Bring back to a boil, do it again. And again. Then remove from heat and let sit. I follow the first steps, but find that letting it sit has no advantage over continuing to boil another couple of minutes. And I only do the glass of water thing because it makes me feel so very Japanese. Does anyone have any insight into this technique? I find I like my udon a little toothsome; not quite so al dente as I like my s'ghetti, but not too soft, either.

Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you are gettin' a bit picky. Give your great guy a break! The truth is that your lovely SO eats most things from most of the food groups! He appreciates really fresh fish (I'm with him!) eats some shellfish and crustacea, eats most meat except game and exotics, and likes a variety of ethnic foods AND is willing to try stuff. I was in France last year and didn't eat octopus or any of other things on his no-no list (okay, except mussels) the whole time I was there, and I ate really really well. There's plenty of great food in France on his good list; it isn't like the French are eating roast crickets or antelope. More likely roast chicken. If he doesn't love foie gras then he's a cheap date and as you say, more for you. Given a choice I would probably go with steak frites rather than haggis myself, not that haggis will be on the menu in most Parisian restaurants. You will have a great time!

Hi Terrasanct, how are you? Yeah, the prices are shocking on an appliance you haven't costed out for about 10 years or 17 years! Pretty hard to find one with a stainless steel interior tub for under $600, if that's what you want. My inlaws got a decent GE for their beach house that holds a lot of dishes and cleans well, includes a good wineglass clip and a deep top rack and that was less than $500 I believe. I have a friend who is happy with an Amana that was in that same range. $900 sounds more like a mid-range Bosch to me. I looked at a Bosch for under $700 that I would consider low-end. The lowest-end KA was priced at $679, and a little higher than the lowest-end Bosch we could find. Both of these come with the $50 energy saver rebate, and so did the Asko. These all have stainless tubs, and are quieter than the cheaper American ones. Sears Kenmore Elite, the competition for the European dishwashers, is supposed to be highly rated, and Sears has the best deal on installation, but the low-end models were priced higher than the lowest Bosch or KA when I checked. I have a friend who is looking now as well, and he's a super-careful researcher. He was told that installation on all these new dishwashers is more complicated than it used to be, so that swayed me not to have my husband install it, since he's only moderately good with plumbing.

The mention of Pho Ga upthread got me in the mood. I never order it when I go out for Pho, since the beef pho is so great at my favorite hole-in-the-wall Viet lunch place. I made a rich Asian-style stock over the weekend with lemongrass, ginger, and star anise and lots of chicken pieces, feet and backs etc. Then tonight I made a very simply soup with tender chicken, rice noodles, scallions and a shredding of thai basil and coriander and a little garlic-hot sauce on the side, since I didn't have any jalapenos. My husband always want heat, but I like my pho ga unadulterated and simple as can be.

I don't know if it's the electronics involved or what, but given everything I have read and heard, we should consider ourselves lucky to get seven or eight years out of a new dishwasher today. The dishwasher in the house when we moved in was about 30 yrs old, a KA on its last legs. Our replacement was a KA that lasted 17 yrs. Maybe this new Asko will last 8 years? Will the next generation last 4 yrs? Sad.