hjshorter

Personally, I'm waiting for Heather to get back from the market before deciding. I have to wait until Ian wakes up from his nap before going to the store, so it may be a couple of hours. Shall we try a hollandaise with the chokes, or is that too much?

That's where I am too. I'll be cooking this tonight. Off to the grocery store!

Ooooh, good point Dean. Maybe as an appetizer?

True, true. I will check out the artichoke situation today. They aren't in season, unfortunately.

Will your wife be able to eat the oysters? Oysters were verboten while I was pregnant. I loved my steak frites. Not an adventurous choice, but that beef was so tasty and perfectly cooked and the frites were excellent. The gnocchi were very good too.

Thanks Fifi! Scott and my brother want to fry a turkey this year. I'm going to print this and make it required reading for both of them.

Yeah, they're moving down here because there aren't enough NC eGulleteers and too many DC ones. Plus, we have good barbecue. Oh, and our clubs are as good as the ones in DC. You wish. We are considering moving to Northern Virginia, although it's crawling with Republicans. Actually, Raleigh's clubs are better than DC's. And the barbecue...I won't even go there. I love artichokes too and have neve bought them because I'm so intimidated by the prep. I had to learn in culinary school but have repressed the memory.

I made navy bean with smoked chorizo the other night. Good stuff.

Asparagus sounds good. There's a recipe in J&J but we'll probably just steam it. And I don't think it matters what pilaf recipe we all use. It was just in the back of my head as something we don't do a lot. Larousse is in a box because we are considering putting our house on the market. We're paring life down to the essentials. One essential bit about the brown butter sauce - make sure the butter is softened before you put it in the pan. I have learned the hard way that it's possible to burn the sauce even before all of the butter is melted. And we make sure that the lemon, capers, and parsley are in pinch bowls before the fish goes in.

There are supertasters. As a matter of fact there's been a thread on it but I don't have time to find it right now. Being a supertaster means you are more sensitive to bitter and funky flavors - and not in a good way. It in no way implies a "superior" palate, in fact it means that I am less likely to enjoy things like liver, aged cheese, wine, greens, and coffee.

Sorry Dean, my Larousse is in a box, and I don't have another bookbook with this recipe in it. But I'm happy that you're joining us. Baking is a good treatment for less than stellar tomatoes. Marie-Louise, where are you that green beans are not in season?

You go to BdC entirely too much, young man. I am fascinated by the Polo Club next door, though. Let's check it out. Don't.

Just saw Sietsema's blurb in the Food Section yesterday. We walked by on Saturday but didn't stop to take a look at the menu. I'm curious.

Thanks for the spinach tip. If you want to feel classier about the fried onions, pick up some crispy fried shallots at an Asian market. I picked up some on Tuesday.

That may be true is most parts of the US, but doesn't hold up in the the Philly Main Line area. My college roommate was was from an old family and was virtually unintelligible due to the lockjaw that afflicts most of those families. The upper crust Boston accent is smoother than the Southie, but is still readily apparent to anyone else in the rest of the country.

An excellent point, one missed in all the chortling about how hipper-than-thou we are (myself included). I assume that most of us have had some high school/college French or have dined with those more knowledgeable than we are, filing away those pronunciations for later use. I took Latin in high school and college, which is of no help whatsoever in a restaurant setting. If I don't have someone with me who knows a little I usually ask for a pronunciation.

Matthew, you can use Dover sole if you like. I will probably buy grey sole or lemon sole, which aren't really sole, but are pleasant flat white fish nonetheless. What sides? Rice pilaf and ? I want to try the baked tomatoes.

Nope. I will find some other nice mild fish with a less inflated price tag.

Just don't ask for French pronunciations from a New Orleans native. You wouldn't believe how Chartres Street is pronounced down there. The local way with the word mayonnaise had me asking for a translation too.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I pronounce all of these correctly. It's "noo-queue-ler," right? As in the "noo-queue-las" of the atom? You are kidding, right? My father is from LA and my mother is from the Boston suburbs. Each parent pronounces every one of those differently.

Executive decison: Sole Muniere. My father in law is in town this weekend. I will be using up most of my energy gritting my teeth, so a relative easier meal will be in order. With the sole...rice pilaf? And a veg. Father-in-law is an Atkins adherent, so perhaps carrots?

I was thinking it would be a lot less time consuming than it was. And I'm with you about the mashed potatoes. Congratulations on Nate's arrival!

I went to the asian market near us and got a big bunch of holy basil and a pound of great shrimp, so dinner tonight: Kasma Loha-unchit's Kao Pad Gai Kaprow, with shrimp instead of gai Steamed asparagus with a soy-sesame sauce Jasmine rice

Yes, I liked it too - great premise.

The microplane might have made a difference. I am going to do the creme brulee this week, so I will try peeling and julienning the peel and see how that tastes. Dave, how did your meal turn out? Seth, is your wife in labor? And what's next? Some thing less time consuming, that's for sure! I want to do the Seafood soup (their riff on a Bouillabaisse), sole muniere, a souffle, and some of the vegetable preparations. And Eggs Benedict. I love eggs benedict and have never made it at home. I can't even remember the last time I made Hollandaise sauce.