pastameshugana

Thanks so much for all the great tips - we've already bookmarked several of them and are putting an itinerary together. Our last anniversary was in NYC, and still get wistful talking about it.

My wife and I will be headed to New Orleans for a few days to celebrate our anniversary in a couple of weeks. I've loved all the 'creole' and 'cajun' food I've ever had, but it's always been somewhere that it's non-native. We are street food and casual food lovers, we like to eat lots of different, small things. What are some specific dishes we must try in NO, and maybe some 'can't miss' hot spots we should aim for?

What a peach. Sounds like a wonderfully happy, encouraging person to be around. Processed sugar leads to death. And it tastes great. Yummy, yummy death. I've got 5 mini-meshugana's, so by the time they're done trick or treating, I've got enough loot to start a confectionery. If I don't eat it all first and go into a delightfully yummy sugar coma.

Mine is used primarily to heat some milk in a mug while my Saeco super automatic pounds out a couple shots of RedBird espresso. They take almost identical amounts of time, so I've got a double latte in 60 seconds. Which reminds me...I could use a cup right about now.

Dang - after catching up on this thread after a few years absence, I just ctrl-t'd over to amazon.com to order some new bread pans. And I'll definitely be resurrecting my challah for next week's family get together!

I can't answer all of your questions, but having lived in Bangalore for a couple of years, I'll add a little: One of the things that boggled my mind about all of the south indian cookery I saw first hand (restaurants, street vendors, and our house maid) was the number of ingredients in most dishes. I've noticed back in the US that most sub-par Indian food tastes 'simplified' or 'generic'. To do it right it seems (to me, at least) to require all of those individual textures and nuances. The curd is common in cooking any kind of meat in India (or much of the east, actually). I've been told that it tenderizes the meat, helps the flavors to penetrate - I don't know what the truth is but I still do it because it certainly tastes nice. Hope this gets you a step or two closer to your answers...

Thank you so much for the tips - that gives me something to look into. My budget # of 100-150 was before tip & tax - not a hard limit just something to set the range. Also, neither of us drink alcohol, so that saves (quite) a few pennies at dinner time. Thanks again. Gramercy and Contra both intrigue me, for different reasons.... decisions, decisions...

Mrs Meshugana and I will be spending a week in mid-July to celebrate 15 years. We've got lots of little cafe's and sight-seeing booked (my father was from Queens, but this will be my first time to the city, excepting JFK layovers). We'd love to experience a fine chef's tasting menu, we enjoy them occasionally in our region (the west). Our budget will probably be around $100-$150 per person. I'd love to hit Per Se, but of course that's far outside our budget at the moment. Can anyone make a recommendation? Thanks in advance,

That's a beautiful picture!

I can't believe all these rubes who've never bothered to cut their sandwich according to the rule of the 'Golden Mean'. It's a rule, people. "The smaller is to the greater what the greater is to the whole." Anything else is foolhardy sandwich tomfoolery and guaranteed to send you to sandwich making purgatory.

Great picture! Keep it up, you're on the right track.

+1 Usually when I'm taking pictures of anything (just yesterday my 3yo outside who insisted I 'go take pictures' of her!), I'll take many, many pictures. It allows me lots of experimentation, more chances of getting a good shot, and it's a piece of cake to delete the excess later.

Intolerance is always ok if you're being intolerant of someone whose views are either in the minority of public opinion or on the wrong side of the politically correct spectrum. The Barilla exec made the simple boo boo of expressing a political, moral or religious opinion with which the media disagrees. Hence the outrage.

It's very low end, but I use a refurb saeco Vienna plus that I've had for three years now. My last one (refurb as well) lasted me 7, and only died then because I couldn't get it serviced in India. I think I paid 299 for it from wholelattelove.com if I remember correctly. On a related tangent, the espresso beans from redbirdcoffee.com are a passionate love affair of mine.

Any piece of meat that size needs a remote.

Teo, Tony Northrup has a book on kindle/iPad/print that is good. Not food related but gives a good general understanding of principles and equipment. I think it's called stunning digital photography but you can search by his name.

What's the use of a good argument if you can't have it more than once? If we let it go too long we'll forget the fun of getting our knickers in a knot! And to keep the post on topic: My global chef's knife, sharpened on my Edge Pro Apex is the perfect tool for getting aforementioned knickers out of a knot.

Chili cheese coney with onion and mustard from Sonic. Unadulterated ramen packs. The cheap ones. Mint chocolate chip ice cream for brekkie. Little Debbie Swiss cake rolls. Eat all the chocolate coating off, unroll, lick the cream, eat the cake.

I was secretly anticipating your entry into this conversation. I've had my eye out for some time for a branding iron for my steaks, just for the halibut.

We just tried the mayo on the outside yesterday (after reading this thread) and it truly makes a superior crust. How could I have lived this long and not known that trick?

I've been all across Turkey (and various other places on Earth) and I love it. Mr's Meshugana and I love Istanbul so much that on one trip to the Middle East we booked an extra day just to stay there. We were able to get a nice, affordable room within walking distance of the Bazaar and Haggia Sophia (Hagya Sofya). You could easily spend weeks just in Istanbul, truly one of the great cultural experiences. The Grand Bazaar alone could suck up a week. Something peculiarly spectacular about waking up to the sunrise Muezzin's call in Istanbul, looking across the city and seeing hundreds of minarets silhouetted in the sun. And the food! If my life were my own I would spend weeks there, but, alas...

That's fascinating, dcarch. I love the process of creating and modifying tools. I'm currently in the process of building an arduino controlled dolly slider for my video rig.

That sounds wonderful. We usually spice it up with green chile and El Pato hot sauce. If we've got it and it's been in the fridge too long - gruyere is great. I love the idea of butter mixed with mayo for the outside, I need to try that.

I also heartily recommend the book by Chad. I learned as a young boy to sharpen by hand, but when living in India (when I purchased Chad's book) I ordered an edge pro apex that I absolutely love. My two main knives are globals - not the best but far beyond WalMart fare. My wife has a collection of various other things, plus my utility carry-around knife is a lovely anodized blue Kershaw open-assist. I sharpen all of these on the EP. I like the EP for repeatable angles. I do a compound edge on my globals and being able to set a specific angle I can recall is great. I think I actually sharpen the knives about once every 6 months or maybe longer, but a quick hit with the ceramic stick usually gets them back into 'tomato performance'.

One of my favorite deli's anywhere is Schlomo & Vito's delicatessen by the Tierra Catalina Condominiums in the Catalina Foothills. A great blend of Italian & Jewish, great personalities and the food was above par (whatever that might mean). I kept the takeaway menu and it's in my kitchen to cause me to have hunger pains whenever I see it.