aliénor

if you want no smoking or just a light haze of smoke, forget about allard's. we went there the week before xmas. it was crowded, tables close together and most everyone except the americans were smoking. also we felt the food was okay, not great and the service was hurried, harried and a bit brusque. definitely not our favorite place. on the other hand we went to l'atelier maitre albert and found everything to be wonderful. good food, good service and very little cigarette smoke. so you can now work on this additional information aliénor

if anyone is interested i have the addresses of two more french cooking sites. these are for two french cooking magazines. they are only in french but it is not too hard to understand if you know a little bit of french . try them and see http://www.isaveurs.com/ and http://www.cuisineaz.com/ bonne chance

yikes! i never counted them before, just ordered what i wanted. and now after counting 175 in the downstairs bookcase i am not going up to the bedrooms to see how many more are stuffed in those areas. some are much more used than others and some are just old friends. when we lived in barcelona i had to have coleman andrews, in england i had to have the entire eliz david and in france, don't ask. but nowadays when we travel i don't ship my favorite books, but instead go via the net to local cooking sites. during my time in france, i got recipes from "the family" and checked all the foodie magazine on the newstands. reading cookbooks, and recipes in foregn languages is really not too hard. after all most of us know what to do after you melt the butter in the saute pan... we should have reached the moon by now

my husband and i spent a week in paris during december and we found a wonderful bistro-La coude fou. cheap, good food, and very friendly. the menu was varied and the food was fresh. the only downside was the heavy pall of smoke that hung over the place. we ate pate de canard aux figues, salmon, ostrich with potatos and egglplant and rabbit in a port wine sauce(several plats for several diners). one of the starters was a delicious lentil soup served in a "boule". the desserts were okay, but what can you expect for a meal with a pichet of cheap wine for 113 euros for two. also recommend au bascou- a basque restaurant. friendly service and good food. the meal here with wine came to 156 euros, but we did have sone kirs beforehand. another place we liked was the atelier maitre albert. much more pricey and now that it was reviewed in the int'l herald trib it might be flooded with americans. after a week in pairs we could say that we never had a bad meal and we didn't break the bank. have fun!

i am coming down from the northern boondocks and will be visiting the met museum one morning. after that i would like to go to a decent japanese noodle restaurant and have a good and filling lunch. i will be wearing my walking shoes and am looking for a place in the walking vicinity. looking forward to some delicious suggestions.

what is DVO cooking software?

i haven't cooked brusssel sprouts since 1967 when i found a worm, ugh! in a sprout. but i tried them the other nite, as i thought i had stayed away long enough. i used a recipe of sara moulton's. she advises shredding the little suckers with the slicing blade of a food processor (would kill all those little squigglies, if they existed). saute some pancetta in a little oil. add the shredded sprouts and cook till tender, about 5 minutes. pour in some balsamic vinegar and reduce till evaporated. season with salt and pepper. turn into a bowl and top with shaved parmigiano-reggiano. um,um good. i think i will add these little things back into my veggie list.

went to the single pebble in barre with three couples and it was a hit with all of us. would especially like to have some feedback on how to make the mock eel. i figured it is braised shitakes, but how and with what extras. mmmmm, would love to make at home. home is one hour away. it's a long way to go for a great restaurant, but we did it. only trouble is interstate 89 closed just after we got home, so you can imagine what a treacherous drive that was. we will try again after the winter