weinoo

15 Minutes?! Doesn't that extract all sorts of bitter stuff. Or is it not really tea, just some fruit things?

Interesting. So what food item have you paid an insane amount more for lately?

Well, I take issue with that. According to restaurant design guru Adam Tihany, who was interviewd by Zagat, which I found out by scanning Eater, Tihany believes the more noise the better. To whit: Maybe it's just that I'm cranky (hey, it's hot here), but I like sedate places just as much as really noisy ones, if the food is good. As a matter of fact, I like them even more these days. And if the food sucks, I don't give a darn how loud or soft the place is...I'm not going back. You?

I realize that there are a lot of different ways to make iced tea (aren't there?). And there are certainly hundreds of different teas to use to make your iced tea...that's the beauty of it, after all. So the other day I brewed some hot tea, using loose leaf English Earl Grey tea. I simply heated the water to almost a boil, poured it over the tea leaves in a large pyrex measuring cup (using a good tsp. of tea per cup of water + 1 for the pot), set a timer for 3 minutes, stirred it a number of times, and then decanted it into a pitcher through a cheesecloth lined strainer. I waited for it to cool all the way down before putting it in the fridge. And you know what? It is some of the best iced tea I've ever made. Crystal clear (at least on day 2), tasty and delicious. I've made sun tea, cold brewed my tea, brewed double-strength tea and added it to cold water, yada, yada, yada. None were/are as good as this is, in my opinion. How do you all make your iced tea? And what are your favorite teas when doing so?

Just today I stopped in at my local grocery store for a few items. I didn't need any, so I didn't buy any - butter, that is. But I noticed that the price for a pound of Land o Lakes butters is now $6.99. The last time I bought it (probably around the holidays, because I like it for baking), I paid $4.99. That's insane, in my book. Have you got any?

I would do the same. Brown the duck well, add your aromatics, deglaze and then braise the duck in some duck or chicken stock. Tomatoes added as you prefer.

Of course there's this topic about San Francisco, which is far less than a few weeks old. My wife and I just returned from a week in San Francisco, and I'll be posting more about our experiences there as I get my pix and notes sorted out. One of the best drinking and eating evenings we had started with Bar Agricole and then moved on to Beretta, where both the food and cocktail scene were just great. We much enjoyed Sons & Daughters, and the Ferry Building was great as always. The oysters at Hog Island's outpost in the building, both cooked and raw, were some of the best we've ever had.

In David Thompson's seminal "Thai Food," he states that the traditional Thai frying medium is rendered pork fat or coconut oil.

Yes, I found out when I got home. Well, when I got on the subway and looked at the receipt, actually. Normally, I'm busy helping with the bagging and putting dairy into my cooler that I don't look at items as they're being rung up. As I've posted before, checkout people usually mischarge for an item or two of produce; they just don't know their stuff. But 90% of the time, it's in their favor, and by the time I get home, it's just not worth the trouble any more. So, on this rare occasion, I let the mistake in the buyer's favor slide. By the way, I'm an inveterate non-nibbler. Probably because I'm also an inveterate germaphobe, I just can't see eating something like a cherry without first washing it. And I feel I can tell if most produce is good by the look, smell and feel of it.

Chris Amirault!

What?! It has to do with what you do in a grocery store...that has plenty to do with food or cooking. It's just the philosophical side of it all. Now, I never do any of the above listed practices. I don't stem shitake mushrooms; actually, some places here sell them both ways, and if you were to take to the register shitake mushrooms without stems, they would charge you accordingly. I don't take plastic bags. See my hoarding disorder topic. Of course, I'm dog free. And those bags are useless. But, and this is the first time I have let this happen...last week I was at that store that a lot of people think charges a lot of money. I had some cherries in my cart. I was charged for grapes. I said nothing. The week before, I was charged twice for brussels sprouts that I bought. I figured in this case, it all works out in the end. Was I unethical with that? Do I have to write the ethicist, or can we discuss that here?

So basically, we've got the farmer's market, Madison Square Park (i.e. Shake Shack, or 11 Mad Park) and Eataly. Hmmmm....

If it's me, I haven't done any homework!

Actually, I think she's in there as we speak.

Yes, I'm sure I need lessons in rice cooking. It's on my list.

So rice, whether it has been white, brown, black, whatever, has never stuck at all to the bottom of your stainless steel pans? I find that fairly hard to believe.

Wow, that is interesting, considering I have had some acute hay fever symptoms this spring.

Well, don't really throw away your rice cooker, but for lunch today, along with my leftover roast pig and roast duck from NY Noodletown, I made some brown rice. I recently bought a non-stick 3 quart saucepan (T-Fal, so nice and cheap) and decided to make the rice in it. Wow. No sticking, no muss, no fuss. Is it time to throw the rice cooker away?

Yeah, it might be. Have you never heard of spitting them out?

Hide the children. The next chef to be cooking at LTO is none other than Eddie Huang, self-professed bad boy of the bun. As Eater reports:

The 2011 cherry season (my favorite fruit, i think) is upon us. Has been upon us for a few weeks, I guess. I imagine the first cherries of the season come in to the east coast from the central valley of California. Rainiers and another early-ripening red cherry (nowhere near as good as a Bing) seem to be the first to market. Red cherries can be had for as little as $2/lb. in Chinatown, but they're the worst of what's available. Last week I pail over $7 a pound for some mediocre, but without any spoilage like you'd get in Chinatown, red cherries. Waiting for Bing season, I guess. All well and good. But the big question is: Do cherries give anybody else an allergic reaction in or around the mouth and lips? Oh, and what's your favorite cherry?

I think it's a cute way of saying ballotine/galantine. To my memory, it was rolled, poached rabbit with carrot pieces (mostly loin) that was served in a thick slice, cold.

Heading to a concert last night at the Beacon, my friends and I were allegedly going to meet at Lincoln for some pre-concert Negronis and maybe a bite or two. Alas, Lincoln was closed for a private event, so we hoofed it east across Broadway to see if we could get into Bar Boulud. "Pas ce soir, monsieur," or something along those lines was whispered, and it was "suggested" that we walk around the corner, to recently opened Boulud Sud's discreet entrance on 64th Street. Made even more discreet by the scaffolding hiding the door. Ah, New York City, that's what we love about you. So we bellied up to the bar and grabbed some seats. What a nice room! Nicer I think, than it's more crowded cousin Bar Boulud, Boulud Sud is restaurateur and chef Daniel Boulud's latest entry into his expanding Manhattan empire. Since we were in a bit of a hurry we only ordered what are called appetizers and small plates on the menu - and since when does one need a degree in menu-ology to decipher what's what on a menu? With a little help from our bartender, he of the shaken Negroni, we plowed through six or seven dishes without a problem. Sicilian sardine escabeche was delicious, just the right amount of sweet and sour to compete with the sardines. The stuffed squid was simply some of the most tender squid I've tasted in quite some time. The standout for me though, amongst the seafood small plate/apps was the sea urchin and crab tartine, simply because it's sea urchin and crab, poised on a "seaweed toast" if my memory serves me correctly. From the earthy and meaty parts of the menu, fried artichokes were served with an aioli that had us scraping the bowl. Rabbit "porchetta" was, as one of my friends suggested, simply the best way to use rabbit, and served alongside were strips of white and green asparagus. And the vitello tonnato wasn't a bad way to use vitello either. Since socca was not available (why not?!) on its own, even though it appears to come alongside one or two of the offerings, I had to order a side of panisse, that lovely fried chickpea flour cake also from the south of France. Four or five hulking panisse were stacked on the plate, ready to be dipped into their accompanying sauce. Think of a french fry - these were better. The bread basket also deserves a bit of a mention, filled with 2 kinds of focaccia (a plain and an olive, iirc) and another flatbread which I think might be based on the Moroccan matlouh. Whatever, they were good, and refilled upon request, forming a nice base for the concert. Without delving into the main dishes or desserts offered at Boulud Sud, it's hard to suggest that you rush over. But it is Daniel, after all...he kinda knows what he's doing. And the stuff we ate was all pretty damn good. I'll be returning as soon as possible though...we're already booked for dinner on Friday night.

I do. I buy the 3-packs of 1 cup each for emergencies.

No doubt. But we're not going to be doing the schlep to Los Gatos. In that case, in the city, I'd go for: Sons & Daughters: Guys without the "pedigree" that makes for great PR, but none the less are pushing themselves to create their own cuisine. Frances: Melissa's food is delicious, and the restaurant might be considered the "favored daughter" of San Francisco right now...the "favored son" analog would be Flour + Water, but since you're coming from NYC, I'd likely avoid the popular (though often quite good) Cal-Ital options (e.g. Cotogna, Perbacco) Sons & Daughters is reserved. The Frances menu doesn't move me that much. Thanks for the reco on Hawker Fare; that sounds pretty interesting. Have you been to Mission Chinese? That menu also looks pretty cool, if somewhat Momo inspired.