Opty

I'll echo the instant oatmeal comment, which for me was also a huge letdown since I subsided on instant oatmeal every morning for maybe 10 years straight. Pound cake (Sara Lee) also is nothing like I remember, but my wife now makes an outstanding one from scratch. I didn't have it often, but I somehow had fond memories of Hamburger Helper, which upon trying again was profoundly disappointed and threw out perfectly good ground beef that had been mixed in. On another topic, I'm amazed at the foods that I crave now, but hated as a kid, surely due to untrained palette (capers for instance)

I've developed an allergy (sensitivity maybe, but I have classic alergy symptoms) to poultry, be it chicken, turkey, duck, goose, pheasant, etc. Although i can eat eggs. I dont miss Thanksgiving turkey, but I do really, really crave for some KFC. On another note my better half has banned me from almost all street food, and in some cities, thats part of the best experience. I do occassionally sneak, its too tempting here in NYC.

Raclette Grill Less exotic but I would say is still not mainstream for North America Rice cooker, clay pot for baking, crocks used for fermenting (German Rumtopf or Korean Kimchi) Can't think of too many single utensils that are truly unique, but variations, such as paella pan or crepe pan. Edit: nickrey had just beat me to some of my suggestions, the ipad is too slow to type, but agree with the suggestions

Veal stock,although it should be simple and a basic. My wife and I tried it in a tiny New York kitchen without ventilation, every single dish,glass and everything else in the kitchen wound up being covered in a film from the evaporation. I would also add trying to make fine chocalate covered candy, if you dont have the right tools and the right technique, your begging for several hours of mess and dissapointment.

I had stopped by this morning at 9:30 AM before most of the food sections had opened, very impressive. My wife stayed and had some pasta later which she said was great. I would say if you are not patient, better wait a few weeks. They still had a number of opening issues, as indicated above. In our case, in the coffee section, they deliberately held off on orders as the baristas couldn't keep up -- Completely understandable and that will all obviously improve. Wish them the best of luck, the space is gorgeous. A friendly staffer offered us a personal tour. Coffee and croissants were great, but need to return another time as I was there before many of the stations were stocked and manned. I

Was dropped off at the thrift shop four years ago, so likely no longer there. Have to check with a friend exactly which one, but will send you a PM when I find out.

Moved from a 2500 sq ft house to a 700 sq ft apartment. Its not that the EdgePro was the largest item, but the case is a bit awkwardly long. Mainly was a decision based on how much I used it (not much) and not how much I valued it - I liked it. First time I moved to New York, I gave away the dog (He was a hunting breed dog, needs lots of room to run around...)

I had the EdgePro Professional model and gave to a thrift shop when I moved to Manhattan (no room)...I still wonder if anyone going through that shop would have any clue what the contraption was (but I did give the video, etc, with the whole kit). <sigh> Yes, wish I still had it (and a all the other things that went to donation, given to neighbors, and then the last scramble of giving the moving company guys 'any of that stuff left over there...'

I am not sure, but there is a nice YouTube video on the following site (at about a minute in) that shows the sharpener in action. Looks like slightly different model, but maybe helpful. The video from 'ModernMarvels' is a nice homage to Berkel slicers http://www.emiliomiti.com/restaurant/slicers/ At a minimum, this website might help you by contacting that restorer directly I have one of these on my wish lists...When I have space....

Recently I was motivated to find a 'fish scaler' that would do better than a simple knife. My wife was preparing some fish that had been inadequately cleaned (bought at a warehouse store, not a fish monger or even a gourmet grocery) and I heard the frustration level slowly rising to 'non linear' proportions. As a caveat, my wife prefers to keep fish skin on, so scaling is more important than just cutting a filet. That's probably not a taste for everyone (and assume some are concerned for accumulations of things in the skin or fat by the skin) I guess as expected there are not many choices from 'cooking' stores, but there are several from fishing shops. I read an amusing blurb from someone about attaching bottle caps to a stick as a 'field scaling' device, surprisingly there is actually a commercial version of such. In any case, we ended up with "Big Norm's Magic Fish Scaler" which is not a bottlecap type, it has 19 floating heads for removing scales. We have generally used only on a few types of fish but my wife is a fan. Looks like relatively available for under $10. (Can see two of them from S. Tokunaga Store in Hawaii ). There are some electric ones, but seems to me like they would beat the heck out of the fish. I haven't tried too many other types, I am slowly finding my appetite for fish after too many family vacations in Florida (Had fish for breakfast/lunch/dinner and inbetween -- the benefit when your father loves fishing)

I enjoy Seasonal very much as well, although full disclosure I am German and am somewhat predisposed to the menu (technically Seasonal is Austrian ). I have been 6 times, once for lunch and otherwise dinner (Also full disclosure, I work around the corner and am lazy to walk too far when a business colleague wants to go somewhere). I'd like to see at least one more entree choice on the menu and sometimes services is a a little slow, but the quality of the food and prep I find to be very good. They had rough timing, opening right after the financial meltdown so I wish them luck.

You might be able to find a local farmer/farmer's market selling currants through one of the directory web sites, like Local Harvest. Local Harvest I tried a different search engine (bing) and found a few references for wholesale suppliers of frozen currants who might be able to refer you to a local grocery chain or several vendors selling online (retail) red currant puree. Red currants are one of my favorite foods but sadly not very popular in the US. Its also worth a shot to try calling a local bakery if one of their suppliers can get for you.