Al_Dente

Please note: The above illustration is not actual size. Al's peninsula is larger than depicted.

Baby got backsplash.

Braise braise braise. Chili with big chunks of beef, short ribs, lamb shanks, osso buco.

Does this put you too much back into maze-land? I took out Dave's #5, and drew in a sort of half an oval shaped space between the stovetop and sink. Don't you need more prep area near the stovetop? Plus, two people could work on this space-- one on each side. Hopefully, your contractor can build something with straighter lines than I could with MS Paint.

franks hunting lodge pizzeria 117 partition street aka rt 9 we used to stop here on our way back from school - and dropping joyce amato off in saugerties on our way to kingston. course this was in the mid 1970s No freakin way! It was the early to mid 70s for me too.

Over on the left there, that's where the margaritas are made...

Good beer. Dontcha just love the dumbwaiter at the bar! I also like to monitor the temp of the brick oven from the bar-- sometimes approaching 900 degrees!

Oh yes, they are! I can't think of a particular standout, but folks always ask me to make the "hoover doovers." My pate's damn good, as are my sausage rolls. I second the hush puppy nomination. I hovered and watched their creation. Mine, lately, would be pork butt. Slow cooked pork shoulder/butt with NC style bbq sauce. I've knocked out folks on a regular basis with this despite almost burning my brother's deck down a few weeks ago.

I can't make it either Work has intruded upon my weekend plans, and my DC friends who have a pad in Jersey City (where I was going to stay) will not be there this weekend. I may be able to do the following weekend instead (with Monday thrown in for a 3 day weekend). Will there be a burger club event? Sunday afternoon drinking club? Chopped liver at the deli club? H&H Sunday Morning Bagel club?

Is anyone a fan of the old Pink Panther movies? You know how when anyone mentions Clouseau's name around Chief Inspector Dreyfus? His eye begins to twitch, the side of his face convulses with a tic. Such was my reaction when considering my answer to this question.

Of course, if any of us win, we have to agree to host a major culinary blow out. Agreed? Solemn eGullet pact?

Mark, are you from France? Otherwise you know nothing about wine -- according to your logic... No, according to Mark's logic, he would know nothing about wine if he spent 10 days in France, came home, and started making "French" wine.

Sexy!

I agree. I can't stand those double sinks when clean up time comes. Can't rinse a roasting pan or often even a large pot without bangin into the spout and getting water all over the place. And make sure it's recessed!

Okay, so no fresh ones-- tomatoes suck this time of the year anyway. Usually the pasta can wait (while draining if you keep a cup of the water that you boiled it in) for a few minutes while you reduce further. Live and learn-- this is how it works. You'll have to do the equivalent of kissing a few frogs first before dishes turn out how you want. Try it again-- soon, so you remember what you did last time. EGulllet will make a gourmand out of you yet.

sounds like you didn't reduce enough? did you use any fresh tomatoes? if so, I usually de-seed them to keep the water content down. rat bastard freezer doors...

Crystal. Date? Errr.... sounds potentially sketchy-- unless you can find my ex from Millbrook High in Raleigh. Her name was Beth, I think she's a pharmacist or something now. Otherwise, I'll supply my own. Besides, foie is nearly a substitute.

I'm still not positive I can make it-- mostly work stuff getting in the way of any plans. Plus Miss NC won't return my calls for some reason, so I'll feel kinda like a 3rd, or 13th wheel, or 23rd wheel. I'm gonna do my best though. I could probably snag a couple of fresh lobes of Hudson Valley foie gras if I come down. Interested?

No Fish

No snide comment here. Though I hope your SO sees the printout. Hehehehe. Great blog, Uptown. I totally agree with your food-memory connection. I think some scientists somewhere established a strong primal link between smells and memory, so it certainly stands to reason that food could trigger some powerful recollections. First food memory-- I was a kid in Saugerties NY. Not sure which comes first-- ice cream from Stewart's (I still remember the design of the metal wire chair backs), or pizza from so-and-so's Hunting Lodge. Might have been Frank's. We rarely had take out food, so pizza from there was a real special treat. I think we usually just had cheese, and I can still remember the smell. I wonder if it's still there. I'd be curious to see what I think of their pie now, but my recollection is that I'd probably still consider it top notch. I also remember these big chocolate chip cookies my dad would bring back from a vending machine at IBM. They didn't seem mass produced and were wrapped in Saran Wrap. Food I hated-- lima beans, lima beans, lima beans. I would gag when eating these mushy monstrosities. I can still feel that reflex start to kick in when I think of it. I still don't like that canned crap, but fresh they're pretty decent, and raw and straight out of the garden they're quite tasty. A food I associate with a particular age-- when I was 7 or 8, my grandparents on my dad's side would take us to this Italian place in Kingston NY. Not that we were dirt poor or anything, but this was maybe a twice yearly event on par with me now going to one of the top restaurants in my area. "Real" Italian too-- checked table cloths, chianti bottles with candles stuck in the top, and waiters with distinctly Italian accents. Practically on a dare from my dad, I had linguini in white clam sauce. Sometimes I think this may have been the start of my interest in food. Once I tasted that buttery garlicky goodness, I was hooked. I think I ordered it everytime I went. It seemed like a sophisticated "grown up" dish unlike pizza or lasagna. A food I associate with a favorite person growing up-- I spent a lot of time at my grandmother's on my mother's side because her back yard was practically the Catholic School I went to. Her kitchen usually had some great kinda generic baking smells, unlike my other grandmother's place that always had a kinda antiseptic pine smell. I used to hate the stuff, but she grew rhubarb all around her back porch. She'd cook with it pretty regularly, but I couldn't stomach it. There you go, for what it's worth...

Some appropriate hardware: Pork Pulls Or perhaps a moose? Horny toad?

Hydrogen, hydrogen, oxygen.

May I suggest a Tang encrusted halibut?

Medium. I'm in recovery in that regard. I grew up in a family where roast beef was served grey. My mother won't touch meat that's not well done and my father (or should I say "long-suffering father") just goes along with it because she's the boss of the house. When in a restaurant, he goes medium as well. Sounds like you're getting there...

I received a nice set of kitchen knives for Christmas. Nothing flashy or anything...