jeffsf

Rarely -- Mainly because we generally can't get food home and under 40F within an hour of leaving the restaurant. I figure it's been below 140 for an hour by the time I leave, and will be out of the fridge for another hour when I reheat and eat, so that makes three. Our dogs go with the same rules we do, even if they can't tell time. At least in San Francisco the take-away containers need to be biodegradable. They are somewhat better than the foam containers for heat transfer, but when I do take away and refrigerate, it is not in the packaging supplied by the restaurant. Maybe one day the high-end restaurants will offer a flash-chill option before stuffing things into little packages...

Others have mentioned it, but seems to be getting lost. Past the coffee and the water quality, the grinder is the most critical. With a moderate budget, skip the whirly-bird style and most anything you can buy in a department/cooking store that claims to be a "burr" grinder. The Baratza grinders are about the least expensive that give a decent grind profile with a motor. The Porlex/Hario/Kyocera are good options on a tight budget, swapping arm power for a motor. The uniformity of the grind is very important -- "fines" will over-extract and clog filters, big chunks will under-extract. I'd also pass on anything that claims to be an "espresso" maker that is much less than the Crossland CC1 and a Baratza Vario (or a used Super Jolly with new burrs); you'll just frustrate yourself to no end with inconsistency and with hot, bitter water after a lot of work. Read posts and recommendations about the Rancilio Silvia and Rocky with a grain of salt. In their day, they were great options (to some extent, the only options), but prices have gone up a lot over the last ten years and there are better contenders for entry-level machines on the market. Seriously, buy a quick-read digital thermometer (like the CDN for under $20) and a digital scale that reads to at least 0.1 g (as little as ~$15 on Amazon). I'm assuming you already have a kitchen scale you can measure the amount of water you add (put the whole coffee maker on it and tare before pouring). Beans vary in density by a surprising amount so measuring coffee beans by volume isn't reliable and will mask the results of changes you are trying to make. You should have the thermometer for your cooking anyways, and trying to make consistently great coffee without one and a scale is like trying to bake a cake without measuring cups and a temperature dial on your oven. Brewing methods at a moderate cost depends on the style of coffee you like. Various filter drip, filtered immersion (Aeropress, some vacuum machines, and the "Clever Dripper"), and unfiltered immersion (other vacuum machines, French press) each have their own flavor profiles and followers. None is "best" for everyone, or even for one person at all times. If you don't have fresh (under a week from roast), high quality beans available locally, and the cost of mail order seems too high, home roasting in an appropriate popcorn popper (~$10 at a thrift store) and buying green beans from a reputable source is amazingly easy (at least for drip). It takes about 20 minutes, start to finish, to roast up ~100 g of beans. Sweet Maria's and Home Barista, already mentioned, are great sources, as is Orphan Espresso, for some of the best hand grinders made. Enjoy the experience -- discovering great coffee is like gaining an appreciation for great wines.

That is patently untrue. The service dog has no rights or privileges itself. It is the disabled person that has the rights; it is hardly a "privilege" to need the assistance of a service animal, as some have suggested. The "dog transporter" in your case did not have any rights under ADA or CA law, that I know of, to bring that dog any place that animals are not generally allowed, as they are simply a member of the general public (that was not, at least in California, engaged in the training of the service animal). I agree with you, they were out of line if it was true that they were simply using the fact that the animal that they were transporting happened to be a service animal and bore those tags to bring the animal where it would not ordinarily be allowed.

While common, this attitude is considered very discriminatory. You are asking for the disabled customer to do more than you would from any non-disabled customer. Do you ask your customers with small children to explain their misbehavior at the table? Why they leave soiled diapers at their tables or change their children on the chair they dragged into the bathroom? What about that guy that reeks like cigarette smoke? Or the one with too much cologne or perfume? There is a reason why a service animal does not need to be distinctly marked -- imagine if everywhere you walked you had a sign attached to you that says WARNING, STAY AWAY, SERIOUSLY DISABLED when you are already dealing with your own internal feelings associated with that knowledge. For many, the most incredible moments of living with a disability are those moments when you can forget that there are things that most everyone else can do, that you can't, and just live a "normal" life.

Kudos to those that have pointed out that disabilities are not always evident and that the trained skills of a service animal can be equally subtle, until the service animal has to act. I was "amused" by an ill-informed rent-a-cop that complained that a service animal at my feet, "just lies there when I step over it." Yes, that is what she is trained to do -- there was nothing occurring that she had been trained to alert to and she was doing her job -- staying vigilant and non-reactive to an environment that was, at the time, non-threatening. While many service dogs are larger breeds like Labradors or German Shepherds, especially for tasks that do not require a physically strong animal, there is not a breed restriction. People joke about "service ponies" but imagine the value of a sturdier service animal to a physically handicapped individual in bracing them or assisting them up and down stairs. In short, except for recent changes related to air travel, don't expect that a service animal is a specific kind of dog. Service animals can be trained to provide assistance for any kind of disability, not just those physically handicapped or visually impaired. Many of the disabilities that dogs are trained to assist with do not manifest any symptoms, even for a trained observer; seizures and other episodic disorders are one class of them. In some cases, the service animal may be trained to detect the imminent onset of an episode in ways that conventional medical devices cannot. One moment it is just a happy lap dog; the next it is alerting its handler to a potential danger that could kill them in moments. For those interested, at the US Federal level, there are two primary laws that cover access; ADA (42 USC §12111 et. seq.) which, interestingly, doesn't cover air travel, as that was covered prior to the ADA's enactment in 14 CFR 382, Non-Discrimination On The Basis Of Disability In Air Travel. In California, CA Civil Code §54 and CA Penal Code §365 are very applicable to service animals. Local health codes can not be any more strict than to meet the requirements of the ADA. Typically, there are penalties for misrepresenting an animal as a service animal (or being trained for use as a service animal) if it is not.

Even with one kind of bean, if you are picky about flavor profile and use a grinder that is more revealing than the Rocky, you may find that you change grind as the bean ages from roast, or even as the weather changes during the day.

As I understand it, "masala" roughly translates to "spice mix." Curry powder and garam masala may share some components, but are very different in flavor. I found Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking a great place to start to understand Indian cuisine, including its ingredients and techniques.

"Coffee" does not always imply "espresso," nor does a good espresso imply good beans, but if espresso is your goal, one resource for your search would be http://www.home-barista.com/cafes/ -- there are often threads about various locales, including recent ones on NYC.

I stopped by my local Korean grocery store yesterday and found that Lock-N-Lock makes a series of glass jars with what looks like a one-way valve. The one that I bought for about $15 is clearly intended for home fermentation. Lock&Lock Glass Canister, Dodecagon, 7.6-Cup, 1.8-Liter They are available in various sizes in both the "round" and a square. My only "complaint" is the typical problem of a mouth that is smaller than the surface that you want to be able to keep under the brine. Quality of Lock&Lock, especially their made-in-Korea products, have been excellent for me and this one seems to be of good construction. (We use their made-in-China containers as well, with no significant complaints.)

Many times the Cryovac-style bags are heat-shrink and not intended for any temperatures above refrigerator levels. Even if they are not heat-shrink, they may not be designed for higher temperatures, which can cause compounds to leach from the bags.

I ended up going with the Henkleman 42 as it has a significantly larger chamber than the Minipack MVS31X. Not only does it have a 16.5" bar (lets us seal two 7.5"-wide bags at a time), but also it is 14.5" from the seal bar to the back of the chamber, in contrast to the Minipack at about 9.5" -- The Minipack felt like the size of an office laser printer as far as its chamber size If we were only using the unit for sous vide, the Minipack would have been a great option. It certainly is significantly less expensive than the Henkleman and, in my opinion, significantly better quality than the ARY units. As we are likely to be sealing for the freezer as well, and sometimes in larger sizes (one of our good friends is a renaissance butcher) and in large quantities (we're considering individual portions of home-cooked food for our senior Poodles -- around 30 bags a week), the Henkleman got the nod. I purchased the gas-fill option up front as I figure it was less to buy now (~$200) than it would be to ship my machine across the country later on. The online presence for the Henkleman US rep, Vacuum-Packer.com, is not terribly strong, but it turns out to be a new face of AbsoluteSource.net, which others here have used, from what I understand. Trey Rios there was very helpful and responsive.

Just a note for those waiting -- Amazon alerted me that release has been delayed until November

You'll have a slightly different flavor profile since the contact time in the vacuum pot is generally shorter than a French press. I don't know what temperature you use when you brew your French press, but that will make a difference. Depending on the filtering method (cheesecloth, fabric, paper, Kona rod) the amounts of oil and sediment in the coffee relative to French press will be different as well. Vacuum pots are fun to watch (and very trendy again), so give it a try either at a local cafe or at home (used vacuum pots are often available through eBay or Craigslist).

I'd be remiss in not mentioning Ryan Farr's 4505 Meats lunch at the Ferry Building CUESA Farmers' Market on Thursdays and Saturdays. La Ciccia is a neighborhood gem run by a Sardinian couple and I know a few Italians that won't go anywhere else for dinner. Quite an incredible wine list there too. If you enjoy espresso, do not even think of missing Ma'velous. Phillip Ma has a custom Strada-based machine, a full set of Roburs, and it isn't for show. He pulls "guest coffee" from a variety of roasters with a level of expertise that is unbelievable. Ad Hoc also serves arguably the best fried chicken in the world and now they have it available at a take-away lunch (with picnic tables available) as well. The orange "Popsicle" was a great finish to the meal. Burma Superstar isn't "true" Burmese food, but man, it is good grub. Call ahead (as you're driving there) and you can get your name on the waiting list for dinner.

The Sanyo mentioned above is decent for things like Korean beef (in a sugar-rich marinade/glaze), but I have never considered it an alternative for something like a nice steak. The problem with most electric grills is that they try to produce heat over too large an area for the limited power they can consume. If steak is what you're after and if I couldn't grill, I'd look at a technique like that published in Cooks' Illustrated and blogged here with photos which raises temperature in an oven, then pan sears to finish as an alternative. I have used the technique several times (using a toaster oven) and find it reliable and tasty. (I tend more toward the 85-90 deg. F internal temperature on exiting the oven for the steaks I have used.) If you're willing to watch the thermometer in the pot for an hour or two (depending on how thick the steak is), sous vide style (Ziploc Freezer bag in a pot of water on the range for a low-cost approach to short-term cooking) with a torch finish may result in even better results. Make sure you understand the food-safety concerns related to low temperature cooking as well.