kayb

Lovely account of great meals in one of my favorite cities. The one thing I'd recommend that you didn't visit is Ashkenaz Deli. It has the mother of all Reubens, and the quintessential rice pudding.

I cooked for the first time in a week. Duck confit over polenta, with tomatos and mozzarella.

The jello was lovely, but I'd push it out of the way to get to those ribs! Just read about two weeks' worth of dinners (I've been gone, and catching up from being gone). There were too many "Oh, wow!" moments to go back and comment, but everyone, they were lovely. Spent a week in Hilton Head. A couple of pics -- South Carolina smoked chicken and barbecued pork sliders, with the signature SC mustard-based barbecue sauce. Good, once I got over the idea of putting mustard on my barbecue. And a Caesar salad with grilled shrimp, accompanied by the steamed shrimp I barely remembered to photograph before the last of them vanished. Duck confit in the oven; will have a leg quarter over fresh corn polenta tonight!

Agreed that when they're gifted, they're gifted. I'd hope they're used in a fashion that highlights their fresh taste, but if not, well, they're not my tomatos any more. In order, here are my "highest and best" uses of the quintessential ripe tomato: 1. Plucked and eaten out of hand, like an apple, as you stand in the garden. You are permitted to wipe the dust off on your shirt, but no more. 2. Sliced, with kosher salt. 3. Caprese salad. 4. BLT. With avocado, if you're of that mind. I frequently am. 5. Fresh tomato sauce a la Mark Bittman, for pasta; mince some garlic, pour some olive oil over it, add some chopped sweet onion. Ignore for several hours. Chop up a few tomatos. Toss in the oil. Allow to sit for an hour, and toss it with hot pasta, adding basil and parmigiano. 6. Gazpacho. I have a recipe for tomato-strawberry gazpacho I'm trying this weekend. 7. Bruschetta. 8. A lightly simmered marinara. Not cooked too long. 9. Roasted tomato quarters, 400 degrees for maybe 15 minutes. 10. Panzanella. ETA: I will not be offended at your use of what were formerly my tomatos, regardless. However, I will be highly offended if you put them in the refrigerator.

I used to just refuse to dine alone, and would cobble together something from the fridge or pick up a to-go order somewhere rather than do it. But when I started traveling a good bit for work, some 15 years ago, I quickly learned to dine alone, after trying room service a couple of times and finding it lacking. Like many others, I take along reading material, much easier since the Kindle joined my purse essentials. I drink wine by the glass unless the restaurant is walking distance from the hotel, or if, as in some locales, you can leave a restaurant with a corked half-bottle of wine. I like to eat a nice restaurants alone, but I also enjoy diners, delis and dives, to borrow what's-his-name's schtick. I usually don't object to nearby diners who wish to strike up a conversation, unless it's just really been a busy day or I'm mentally preparing myself for a busy one the next day, in which case I enjoy my solitude and will simply smile, answer as briefly as possible, and then look back to my reading material. Only one time have I ever had to put someone in his place who kept insisting on conversing; when he asked me "why is it that you're dining by youself?" I replied, "Because it's so much simpler than having to stab someone in the hand with my fork, and much less messy." He took the hint.

Loving your blog! All these at-home craft cocktails make me somewhat ashamed of my standard vodka & tonic (Scotch rocks in the winter). I've never been a huge Dallas fan -- am some 4 hours to the east of you, and go frequently for business -- but Central Market could change my mind. Do you ever go to Cafe Brazil? There are several in town, particularly one near SMU that I try to visit when I go. Great breakfasts, and their house coffee is astounding. I always buy several pounds to take home. Re: cappuchino art. Next to the last one, that someone called a sumo wrestler, immediately struck me as an apple, with a moth perched on one side.

Huevos rancheros, because I was in the mood for that again. I personally thought that was some pretty serious egg porn.

From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the purple pea shoot flowers knock me back! Rest of it looks pretty wonderful, too. How cool it is when your food is beautiful....

Oh, that veggie pasta with coconut milk! I am SO trying that! Can't wait. Sounds like it'd be wonderful... Re: kids and cooking. My older three are pretty much in the eat-whats-in-front-of-you camp. Partially, this is because of their grandmother, whose sig line I have adopted: "Don't ask. Eat it." My youngest, however, whom I acquired when he was 15, with tastes fully formed, is a challenge; he eats very little that's green, very little fruit. I sneak in V-8 Fusion, and tomatos in sauce, which he loves (just don't ask him to eat a ripe one), and spinach and artichoke dip. My middle one developed a gluten allergy along the way, and is married to a guy who is into the raw-vegan thing, so she's fun to cook with and for. The younger one looks at me suspiciously, but generally likes what she tastes, long as it is not too spicy. Good for you for exposing yours to everything early on, and Congrats on the newest Meshugana-to-be!

I think I can be there in, oh, maybe 12 or 16 hours? I love challah. Haven't ginned up the courage to try it, plus there's a great bakery in town that does it, which means I have it when I want it for French toast. Best French toast in the world, bar none: Challah, eggs, heavy cream. Fried in butter. Arteries be-damned.

Shelby, I'd just about kill for that Reuben. The pork roast looks primo, too!

YUMMMMM! Glad to have inspired it, sure wish I could have sampled!

I cheated; the previous night's dessert was so good I had another helping for breakfast. Best cake I ever made (recipe here), topped with fresh peach compote and barely sweetened creme fraiche. Yum!

robirdstx, at what temp and for how long did you fry them to get them crispy? Mine never seem to crisp up! And that very sauce is marvelous over cheese ravioli. I also like doing it with browned butter alone (limp sage leaves and all....)

No. 1: A BLAT -- Petit Jean Meats peppered bacon, dead ripe tomato, large enough that one slice covers the bread, Hellman's Mayo (or homemade), leaf lettuce, and ripe avocado smushed up with a little lime, enough to be thickly spreadable. Avocado on one slice of toasted sourdough, mayo on the other; lettuce, tomato in the little "cup" formed by the lettuce, bacon, and the other slice. With a tall glass of iced tea, on the back deck, looking at the lake. No. 2: A Reuben. Homemade rye. The best corned beef you can source in your town. Sauerkraut. I prefer spicy mustard 'sted of Thousand Island; so sue me. No. 3 (with a bullet to No. 2 when it's cold): Grated fontina, Gruyere and Emmenthaler, with a couple of slices of bacon, grilled on sourdough, with a big mug of homemade French onion soup or tomato soup. No. 4: Veggie. Ricotta or goat cheese spread on wheat bread, with sliced avocado, tomato, lettuce, sliced radishes.

Just read back over the final two pages of this thread, and wondered -- Katie, did you ever try duck confit in the crock pot? I have just learned to confit duck and I'm thrilled with this new trick....but being that it was 97 today, I'd much prefer to do my next batch in the crock pot as opposed to the oven! And being that my local gourmet store had HVFG duck leg quarters on sale for half price, and being that I bought a dozen of them.....well, you know.

I have one like Andie's pictued one, except that the insert where the spoon actually rests is porcelain instead of metal. I like it because it can move elsewhere on the counter if I am using a deep fryer or my crockpot. I also have a lacquerware tray I acquired in Japan, about 3 inches wide and about 6 inches long, which works well for holding a couple of spoons or spatulas at once. Other stuff usually lands on the cutting board. I don't use them so much to keep the stovetop clean, since, if I'm cooking, the stovetop is GOING to get dirty, because I'm just sloppy like that. Can't stir without splashing something over the side, forget to turn the heat down and let something boil over....I'm hopeless. I've fallen in the habit of giving the stove a wipedown when I clean up after cooking, and then two or three times a week, a good scrubbing with boiling water from the teakettle after I've poured the hot water in my French press in the morning -- it's nice to feel virtuous that early!

dcarch, I'm fascinated by the watermelon rind, and will have to try that with the one I have sitting on my kitchen island right now. But you outdid yourself with the plating on the creamy corn and crab cakes -- so creative! (Bet it was yummy, too!) How long do you microwaveit before stirfrying, and what kind of sauce do you use?

Been a while since I was up there, and when I was, I was actually in Bentonville, some 20 miles north. James at the Mill is still there, still excellent, from what I hear. AQ Chicken House, just up the road in Springdale, does all sorts of things with chicken, and it's pretty doggoned good; it's an institution. Herman's Rib House is still there, decent but doesn't make me say "Wow!". I can't remember which highway it's on, but Venetian Inn is another institution in the realm of Italian food up there, as was Mary Maestri's until it got shut down for non-payment of taxes, and I haven't heard that it's reopened. There used to be a place in Bentonville, Fred's Hickory Inn, that, if it's still there, is worth the 30-minute drive for the smoked prime rib, which was perhaps one of the most sublime pieces of meat I've ever consumed. Coming any further into the state? If you get as far as Russellville, Little Rock or Hot Springs, I have some good recommendations for you.

What a wonderfully varied background....but oh, to be so close and not have Hatch chiles! I still swoon for the huevos rancheros I had in Santa Fe last month -- and that's not that close to Hatch, either. Anxious for the ribs update; I tend to smoke pork butt on my gas grill, but hadn't thought of the country stylel (boneless) ribs; they should work nicely, and more quickly!

French toast and Petit Jean Meats peppered bacon. You can order their cured meats online; I highly recommend it (shameless commercial plug for an Arkansas company, here....)

Simple, quick and tasty: Grilled tilapia, mac and cheese, fresh tomatos, fresh sugar snap peas, lightly blanched and tossed with butter and tarragon.

Disclaimer: My only experience in the food/restaurant industry was slinging burgers and coffee in the local small-town diner when I was a teen. Some stuff I wrote down; other stuff I didn't; some stuff, I just brought to the table because I knew what they were going to ordeer. That said, I remember well a big group of us going to the late lamented Berghof in Chicago -- must have been 15 or more of us -- and having a waiter who wrote nothing down. We made book on how many errors there'd be. There were none. Be assured that young man got a significant premium over the large-group gratuity already added to the check. It doesn't bother me at all when a waiter writes something down. Nor does it bother me when they don't. I just remember that occasion because it was such a large group, and because of the conversation about it.

And a lovely photo to do it justice.

Watermelon. I could live on watermelon in August. Sliced tomatos. With a slab of fresh mozzarella or a scoop of ricotta or cottage cheese, if you feel the need. Green beans marinated in sesame oil and rice vinegar, sprinkled with sesame seeds.