EMichels

I purchase almost everything on-line and am a satisfied customer of Webstaurant Store (despite the shipping charges). I think what you are seeing with Webstaurant Store is merely a difference in customer segmentation. They are quite clearly focused on a restaurant/institutional base who is likely to be ordering in bulk and for whom unit cost really makes a difference. Therefore, they charge something much more closely approximating actual shipping and handling fees on their orders. A consumer focused site, on the other hand, has found that consumers react negatively to that additional cost and will instead price the item to include much or all of the shipping cost so as to offer "free shipping". That would explain why Webstaurant Store typically has better unit prices on similar items than someone like Amazon. Where that model doesn't work, as you've noted, is if you want to order only one item. However, if you were in the market for 10 saucier pans (as a restaurant might be), it really works well that each unit is priced $5 lower and they charge you a consolidated shipping fee of $18. I still order from Webstaurant Store but I stock up when I do.

I have a bit of a different view on both how common unfiltered wine is and on the ability of Beaujolais to improve with age. While I agree that only a rather small proportion of French wines are unfiltered, I wouldn't consider it a rarity. I have had a number of them - many of which were quite good. I find this more common from younger producers and growing areas outside the most typical, highest value vineyards - the Loire Valley comes to mind as having a number of producers applying a number of styles. While I don't think that the unfiltered nature of the wine had any bearing on your bad bottle, it could be indicative of a winemaker working with other less traditional methods - such as low or no sulfer - that could have caused what you describe. Perhaps more importantly, I would urge people not to be afraid to cellar well made Cru Beaujolais. I have been a part of tasting dinners including semi-aged bottles and verticals up to 8-10 years old and, in the case of the vertical, the oldest two examples were best. Beaujolais is a wonderful fresh wine to drink young but it can really add interest and character with age. For what it's worth, the producer of the vertical that we assembled was Marcel Lapierre. Lapierre produces a few different cuvee - all of which are good. Other producers to look for are Foillard, Thevenet, and Breton. Fortunately, even the best Beaujolais are still reasonably inexpensive so you can try many. I would, however, recommend staying away from virtually all of the Beaujolais Nouveau, which is more of a marketing exercise than an effort to make good wine. Here's to hoping that your next bottle is better.

My best addition to my kit has been a Viski Professional Lewis Ice Bag and Mallet (available on Amazon though I don't know how to add the EGullet Amazon link). I've found using cracked ice makes a big difference in shaken cocktails and the ice bag and mallet are a night and day improvement in my prior method, which was to wrap the ice in a side towel and crack it with a meat tenderizer. I find it well worth the small investment.

I saw that you tried Manolin. I hope that you enjoyed it. In fact, it looked like you ordered a number of the same things that we had our on our last visit. Regardless of what you thought of Manolin, keep How to Cook a Wolf in mind. Ethan Stowell is a local favorite for Seattleites and I think this is his best restaurant. In fact, we liked it so much that I proposed to my wife there. Another thought that occurred to me for a more 'of the place' feel is Matt's in the Market just above Pike's Place Market. The food is good and it is a nice space with large windows that look right out at the neon market sign.

Our favorites in Seattle are How to Cook a Wolf (which is just blocks from where you are staying on Lynn St) and Manolin, which is less than 10 min away by Uber. The photos on Yelp will give you a better sense of the food than my description would.

Weedy, I share your frustration but, unfortunately, I don't think that shelling out for Polyscience is your answer. I am on my third circulator in four years (normal home use). The first was a Polyscience Creative Series that I bought as a refurbished unit. That one I kept only a month because there was something wrong with the rotor that caused the unit to be so loud as to be unbearable. I took it apart in an attempt to look for a balancing adjustment or a replaceable part but neither existed. I ended up selling that one with a disclosure for condition and bought a brand new Polyscience Creative Series. That one lasted a little more than two years before it developed the exact same problem. I replaced it with an Anova, which is my current unit. I make every effort to only purchase things that I am confident will last indefinitely, even if it will cost a bit more initially. My thought process being that, in the long run, I'll spend just as much on replacements and be frustrated about sub-par quality and waste while doing it. Unfortunately, the only circulator that gives me any confidence is the Polyscience Professional Classic series. I could justify that if it were two or three times the cost of an Anova but not when it is ten times the cost. For now, I am resigned to having to purchase a replacement every few years. Eric

Thanks blue_dolphin. Many of America's Test Kitchen product reviews are available on YouTube. I wasn't able to find that March 2015 review (perhaps it was not filmed but merely included in the magazine) but I did find a 2015 Top 10 Holiday Gift Ideas clip from the Test Kitchen that included the GIR jar spatula (linked below). It appears that the reasons that they recommended it were the same reasons that I like my Core Kitchen spatulas better than some others. I can see how specific sizes and shapes could be preferable for certain tasks and the fact that GIR offers four sizes could help in finding the preferred size, though it would still have to be able to twist in some pretty incredible ways before I could get from $4 to $22! That said, ATK does note that they paid $12.95, which is not so far off of typical retail prices for such things in a full retail markup environment and, at that price, this does appear superior to many other offerings available in a similar environment.

While I agree with the original poster's conclusions about the overall design (unibody construction, silicone based), I would be interested to know what makes these different from the many similar offerings on the market. These look remarkable similar to some Core Kitchen branded spatulas that are regularly available at TJ Maxx/Homegoods/Marshalls and Tuesday Morning for under $4. I have been very happy with both the spatula and spoon/spatula styles that I've purchased and can't imagine what the above spatulas could do to justify the price premium. That said, I grant that not all silicone based spatulas are equal. I have a handful from different manufacturers and find some stiffer than others. While good for some things, in general I prefer the more flexible style with a rigid internal structure.

I've purchased some serving pieces from http://www.vitrifiedstudioshop.com/ in Portland and would highland recommend them. I believe that she is able to do in some quantity, if that's important, as she had a limited line in West Elm for awhile, if I recall correctly. The shop was an Etsy find for me several years ago.

Beet greens are one of my favorites. My typical preparation is a simple stir fry with a bit of salt. Delicious. If you have a juicer, the root makes an excellent addition to raw juices of almost any kind. I almost don't want to make a juice without it.

I also wanted to thank you for posting this (I think). I just spent the last 90 minutes scouring the site and ended up buying more than I should have. Some great deals to be had, though. I found a Volrath Redco dicer plus some accessory blades, some stainless steel cooling racks, and some nice ice buckets all at great prices. The stock appears to be getting thin so I'd recommend that anyone interested check it out soon.

As PastryGirl noted above, there is another H-Mart in the Tacoma/Lakewood area. That's too far for me to have visited but about as close to Spanaway as one can get.

I think that I've visited almost every Asian market within 30 miles of Seattle since I moved here last year (though I don't ever get as far south as Spanaway). Unfortunately, none measure up to what I was accustomed to shopping in Chinatown in New York but one can make do. I've briefly summarized my impressions below: H-Mart (Federal Way and Lynnwood) I find the H-Marts to be the best overall. They are Korean markets but carry most of the Chinese necessities. I find their meat and fish selection to be the best, and the produce section to be among the best. The only drawback for me is the distance to Seattle, which is quite a hike to repeat on a regular basis. However, the Federal Way location might be good for your friend. There is a brand new location that just opened in Bellevue but I find it too small to be really useful. Uwijimaya (Seattle, Renton, and Bellevue) The Uwijimaya markets are much more conveniently located to much of the population and are quite nice stores. They do have a distinct Japanese focus. I find the produce quality to be the best of the Asian markets, meat to be average, and fish to be above average. However, I find the prices relatively high as Asian markets go. Asian Food Center (Bellevue - North Seattle Coming Soon) There is small market in Bellevue called Asian Food Center that I really like for certain items. Their fish counter is quite good (they almost always have one or two really fresh nice looking options) and the produce section is also pretty strong (it is the only place I can ever find snow pea leaves). However, the small size limits the selection somewhat. There is a brand new, much larger location opening soon on Aurora in north Seattle, which I am really looking forward to. Ranch 99 (Renton and North Seattle) Solid if unexciting Chinese markets. Probably a fair place to shop to check everything off the list but I don't find the quality of the meat, fish, or produce to be very compelling. International District (Seattle) There are several smaller Chinese and Vietnamese markets located in the international district (the Seattle Uwijimaya also located here). Unfortunately, I can't recommend any of them. In fact, it might make your friend cry to think that these were her only options (it almost had me in tears). It is very unfortunate, as they are conveniently located and one would have hoped that the Asian district of the city would support some better markets. Others There are two other reasonably sized markets in the closer-in areas that I've not yet managed to try. One is Jing Jing in Bellevue and the other is Oaktree Market in North Seattle. Both are Chinese markets and may be ok, though I haven't heard especially strong reviews of either. I would be happy to pass along any other tips from my time here. Feel free to send me a PM. Eric

I have one of the stainless chainmail cleaners and have stopped using it. I had been looking for a longer lasting solution than the green scrubber pads that I use but found that when scrubbing anything that was really attached to the pot I was scratching the seasoning on my skillets. It seemed like a great idea to get off the heavier debris that clogs the pads but just didn't work out for me.

I had an excellent dinner at Herbsaint a couple of months ago. The chef, Donald Link, seems to be very of the moment and has several restaurants in town. It was only the second time that I have left a restaurant and immediately searched to find out whether he had a cookbook available with recipes for any of the dishes I had tried. I visited another of his spots, Cochon Butcher, the next day for lunch. While good, I wouldn't recommend it based on the length of the line to get in. I also had dinner at GW Fins, which receives relatively strong reviews as one of the old guard in the city. While the biscuits served in place of bread were tasty, the rest of the dinner was a real miss. It felt and tasted more like a hotel dining room. Nothing really objectionable but equally nothing interesting or taking any chances.

The purpose of the volume plates is just to fill some of the space in the chamber so that the unit does not need to pump all that extra air unnecessarily. Relatively dry just means that there is not enough liquid to spill out of the bag opening if laid atop the plates. Basically, remove plates until the liquid remains below the seal bar. If you are unable to find the plates, it will still vacuum just fine - it will just take a little longer to evacuate the chamber. I've never seen the liquid tray but I would assume that it serves a similar purpose in positioning the bag so that liquid does not flow toward the opening when placed in the chamber. The "clamp" is simply the seal bar and the strip attached to the cover that presses against is when the cover is closed and a vacuum pulled.

I don't know about the Victorinox but I have a 270mm Glestain gyoto with a scalloped blade and highly recommend it, especially for chopping vegetables. When chopping things like potatoes or zucchini with my other primary knife I get a lot of sticking to the blade, which I find to be a real pain. With the Glestain, I get virtually no sticking. I don't find any impact to sharpening as the indentations are well above the blade edge.

Definitely purchase a model with dials for time and temperature settings. I have a Krups model, which I otherwise like very much but it suffers from digital settings with up/down buttons to set the time and temperature. The temperature adjusts in 25 degree intervals and the time in 1 minute intervals. This wouldn't be so bad if the default time were not set at 30 minutes. I cook a lot of things in my toaster oven but I cannot recall ever cooking something for 30 minutes. The result is that every time that I use the machine it requires at least 27 button presses to set the combined time and temp. It is easily the dumbest design among anything that I own.

I decided to jump in here as my view is bit different from any that have yet been expressed. After much consideration between a VP112 and VP210, I purchased a 112 earier this year. While I certainly agree with others that it is a well made machine and that it operates very well, if I had the opportunity to do it again, I would purchase the 210. The obvious difference between the two is the form factor. If you are planning to use the device on an under-cabinet countertop, the 112 is really your only option. The 210 won't fit (or at least won't open once you get it there). The 112 appears to have been designed specifically for this purpose. However, the trade-off is that the footprint of the machine is materially larger than 210. Given that I live in New York City apartment and lack counter space, I have the unit on a seperate shelving unit and found the footprint of the VP112 to be somewhat unwieldly. I also would have also preferred the higher chamber of the VP210 to be able to vacuum seal small jars inside the chamber, rather than with the accessory port. Finally, while the build quality is of the VP112 is very good, I would have preferred the all metal construction of the 210. For those who own or decide to purchase a VP112, I found a right-angle power cord available on Amazon that allowed me to get the unit at least an inch further back against the wall and with no concern about stressing the cord. The machine really should have shipped with this given that the design is clearly intended for household countertops. As it is, I found it to be $7 very well spent.

All Lodge cast iron sold in the US is now pre-seasoned so no need to worry about that part. Note that not all the labels make clear that it is pre-seasoned but, unless it's dead stock that's been sitting in your hardware store for many years, it is.

Olicollett, Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare is incredible and I consider it the best meal I've ever had (both times I've been there) but the combination of another price hike and removal of the BYO does make it a very expensive proposition. That said, if you are considering something in that price range, you can't go wrong (assuming you can manage a reservation). I have also had great experiences at Eleven Madison Park but that was prior to last year's change of menu. Everyone that I've spoken to who had been before and after was somehow disappointed in the new structure. I would recommend against Del Posto. While my recent dinner there was much better than an earlier experience, you can do much better elsewhere for the money. For Italian, I would recommend having some pasta at the bar at Marea. I found the dining room and service to be a bit stuffy and the crudo to be disappointing (especially if you like good sushi) so I think a simple meal of pasta at the bar is the way to go. (The pasta is excellent.) Someone mentioned SHO earlier in the thread. While I've never had an exciting meal there, I've also never had one that wasn't quite good and it is a bargain relative to other restaurants in its class. Even better is their bar, which is spacious, never crowded, and which has great cocktails. Finally, you will not be disappointed with Sushi Yasuda. It is classic and reliably excellent. While their very strict appointment windows are a bit off-putting (90 minute reservation periods of which you are reminded about 12 times), it is plenty of time for a comfortable meal. I also really like Ushiwakamaru, which is much less well known but, I think, equally good. Very good traditional sushi, a nice room, and not as much attitude as Sushi Yasuda. Eric