Bond Girl

I took over the cooking for the house at 14. Although the goal at that time was just to get food on the table.

Anyone's been to this place? I'm no expert in the whole art of 'cues. But, the place deliver and the BBQ shrimp with sauce that arrived at my door late last night was the only one around that hit my standard of spiciness. The baked beans were pretty good as well. It's expensive, but a good choice for the neighborhood.

Lychee ice cream, a flourless chocolate cake with lychee cream, cocnut and lychee flan, lime scented lychee custard cake, lychee bubble tea...the list goes on.

Isn't much easier to make Gazapacho? I've never really try to order something like that in a restaurant, but then again I'm in NYC.

The opening party tonight was quite impressive. I got to catch up with Christian Delouvrier on life after Ducasse, discuss the drama of suicide with Tony Bourdain (he seemed to think hanging himself in the shower was quite sufficient), find out the latest of "Cooking Under Fire" from Todd English, expound on the methods of kulfi making with Pichet Ong, and marveled at how lovely Stephanie March (Mrs. Bobby Flay) always seemed to look at these parties. As for the food, there was meat in all formations (Hey it's called BLT Prime right?) from lamb to beef to pork, and classic side dishes to match. I couldn't eat most of the stuff, but my friend, Denise, seemed to really enjoy the little lamb appetizers, the roast beef looking thing that they slice and the steak. My plate of caramelized onions, creamed spinach, and scalloped potatos was simple but well executed. The dessert seemed appropriate to the menu with hearty carrot cakes and simple huckleberry pies. Decor leans towards the clean modern style with all dark wood, black and whiite photos and sky lights, although the see through meat locker is mildly disturbing, and the steps leading down to the main dining room seemed to warrant a caution sign as several people fell over it. There is an upstairs area for those wh likes to look down on others and a downstairs room with a giant television screen froo sports fanatics. As Denise summed it up quite neatly, "it's a place I would take my father to." BLT Prime 111 East 22nd Street Tel:212- 995-8500

Key limes aare smaller with a more mellow tartness. You can approximate key lime with regular lime and sugar but it doesn't quite amount to the same thing. I like a maringue top on my key lime pie, although mostly I am too lazy to get there. I did achieve it once by getting the pie really really cold in the frige and then spread a 1/2 inch layer of eggwhites and torch it with a blow torch

At a recent dinner party, the host served a pasta dish with a sauce made from a mixture of Malaysian Chile sauce, sundried tomatoes and red wine.....YUCK! And, he really believes that he's a great cook!

Marlena, that story was too funny. Absolutely priceless! Reminds me of the time when I was an assistant on a film set. We were shooting in a park and a somewhat aging actress was yelping for her diet tea. There was no hot water to to be found and I ended up making her tea with pipe stained hot water from the toilet tap.

I second Elias Corner but I think you need to speak Greek though...

I never bought creme fraiche in a store, so can't make the comparison, but I've made it at home by dropping a huge dollop of yogurt in heavy cream and leaving it out on the counter for 24 hours. The trick is to shake it thoroughly once in a while. When the cream thickens, I pop it in the fridge...I even use it to make ice cream in the summer. So far, there has been no complaints. Then again, I live alone and the neighbors are grateful enough for any food I feed them.

That's a shame, Bond Girl. Wild Edibles is right near me too. I only had a couple of pieces of fish there though. They seemed good. What type of sushi ingredients do you buy at Sunrise for sushi prep at home? ← Without going into gory details, Sunrise Mart once posted a failed health inspection report. JAS mart seems to be better run. ← I usually buy the salmon block, the tuna, and the octopus to slice up at home, But, now that I've been informed, I am going over to JAS mart to check it out. Good info Todd.

If yoou fill it with good salt, you will never regret it!

What kind of container? ← The paper container of Fleur de Sel de Guerande. I do transfer them to a smaller vial for my evening purse.

I used to go to Wild Edibles for all fish that I want to cook with, until I saw how questionable their fish handling hygienes were. Now I buy my fish from sunrise mart for sushi or the fish mongers at the greenmarket for everything else.

I keep a container of fleur de sel on my desk at the office. Another small container inside my purse when I dine out....as for my kitchen cabinet...well, we won't go there. It's not that I can't get salt where I dine. In fact, most restaurants are happy to give you the salt and pepper shakers upon request. It's the table salt that they offer you that I cannot stand. Why could people just give you good sea salt? The mind boggles.

Third recommendation for Manresa. You don't need to go anywhere else.

Persiancook, please share the recipe. That would be fascinating to see.

As tommy once said to me a little bit of brown butter with skate wings will do just fine. I tend to agree with him, but I've steamed skate wings as well and served with grapefruits and meyers lemon marmalade which worked beautifully. And, this weekend I'll probably try skate lightly seared with a sauce of pureed ramp greens. Neal Gallagher at Oceana served skate stuffed with katz pastrami, but that one you are best off going to Oceana for it.

Ramps sauteed in butter with some wild mushroom and morells, toss with pasta, talk about spring!

Kevin, would you mind telling me more about it? Do they use it in soups and stews or other kind of dishes....How do they use it?

Thanks everyone for the clarification. I just got a package of hand ground Sassafras leaves, and was wondering what to do with it besides Gumbo.

I was once told by a Louisiana chef that you either use roux or you use file to thicken your gumbo. But, several Cajun cooks that I've met in New Orleans at the recent Jazz Fest say they use both. Who's right? And, are there any other uses for ground Sassafras leaves other than gumbo?

Restaurant August sits on a corner and occupies two floors. The interior is one of the loveliest dining decors that I've seen in years. The upstairs room that we were seated at has lovely wooden floors, simple table sitiing with old fashion spindle chairs. The long wndows finishes the sitting. We were seated very promptly despite being half hour late. The server proceeded to tell us about the menu, which was set up in tasting style'. You could either choose three courses ($40), or four courses($60) or seven courses ($100). George and Evette, reeling from the late lunch at Uglisches, content thenselves with the three took the four course tasting while Mark and I happily head for the four course tasting. We shared a bottle of very dry Ancien 2002 chardonnay between us, which provided a clean notes to our palates. We began the dinner with the chef sending out a dish of amuse-crawfish braised in truffle butter sauce. The sweet crawfish meat was drawn out by the earthy note of the truffle butter sauce. I notice that several of us ended up mopping the sauce with pieces of bread. John Besh, the chef, stopped by and spoke to us for a few minutes, which was a very nice touch. Then the first course arrived. The chilled seafood, which two of us ordered was a trio of good and bad. There was a salmon wrapped terraine of some aort of which the smoked salmon over powered everything. There was a gelee of another shellfish that tasted of jelly. But, the shrimp was sweet and succulent and perfectly cooked. By contrast, Evette's soft shell crab with lettuce and tomato was a delightful twist on the classic BLT and here the glorious Louisiana seafood was allowed to shine. I didn't get to try George's angnoltti, but he seemed very happy with it. Next up, I had an almost souffle like gnocchi with crawfish sitting in a wonderful butter sauce which slight hint of spiciness to it. This is by far the best dish I had. The gnoocch rival the one at Hearth in New York (of whoch is the gold standard that I measure all gnocchi by), and provided a wonderful contrast in texture to the crawfish and warm cajun spices. The creation was at once sensuous and sublime. The sheephead on everyone else's plate seemed lovely as well, with the delicate flesh of the sheephead bought out by the sturdy contrast of the pecan crust. Unfortunately, the grouper cheed was well done but a little boring in taste and combination. The potatoes were undercooked and the grouper cheek lacked flavor. Dessert was excellent with an orgasmic chocolat tart that permeate all your senses. The sugar tart with lemon verbena sorbet was elegant in execution with the high notes of the lemon verbena balancing the dainty melody of the sugar tart. The bread pudding was deep and rich and ahd a homespun comfort that was rare in dessert these day. The service could be better with attentive servers that kept our water glasses filled and wine glasses topped. I wouldn't call August an "overrated" restaurant, for the price they charge, the place is a great dining option. It has a chef that pushes the envelope and although the dishes may not always work, it shows an adventurous spirit that is to be admired. I would go back anyday.

Hey, more cooking tips from Monica on the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...5042801814.html Guys,, check it out.

Brook, that photo is priceless! It's the very same table that I had my boiled crawfish at yesterday before heading off to the Better than Ezra performance.