nerissa

Welcome to the club. We didn't have a working frig 4 days, had to take it upon ourselves to buy one.... By law, you are supposed to have a frig. I hate shitty landlords. I also thought it was a law to have a working fridge. Ours is most definitely on its last . . . legs? So is our roof, gutters, doors, driveway, etc. Are you expecting/asking your landlord to reimburse you for your expense? Nero, I have the pdf at home, but online you can find a Tenant's right thing.. with the landlord and tenant's obligations/rights. I can email it to you later, if you are interested. Um, we are hoping our landlord is too lazy to care that we deducted the $200 from our rent. This is the same landlord who let us go 1 week without a working toilet, when I had a job interview one day. Thank god we live a stone's throw away from the Univ. And to think that all our grad student friends drool everytime they come into our apt. I suppose it is all relative.

Charlie Trotters citrus cured smoked salmon on creme fraiche, capers, dill, black pepper, and yogurt dollop served on pumpernickel toasts rubbed with garlic. last of excellent German riesling. Gazpacho It is so hot. Hate the thought of having to actually cook tonight.

Welcome to the club. We didn't have a working frig 4 days, had to take it upon ourselves to buy one.... By law, you are supposed to have a frig. I hate shitty landlords.

Is it a matter of organization or menu planning? Have very similar problem --I made strict designations what goes where--eggs, herbs, cheese, chili peppers, etc go on 2nd shelf. I suppose it revolves around how your frig is designed. We had the oldest one possible until it broke. Our landlord could not have cared less. We took it upon ourselves to purchase a used frig... ahh, heaven. Anyway, if it is a matter of locating that roquefort you know you purchased the other day, how about using a small fruit box (like the ones clementines come in ) and designating that at the cheese box. I guess it helps that we do our main shopping on Sundays and then supplement the rest of the week if we are not going out all weekend. I guess it might just be a natural consequence. I always wondered why my friends' frigs seemed so damned manageable.

If health is a concern, what about buying lower fat bacon? I seen it in my local Whole Foods...you could always use pancetta, of course. Are you talking about the paper towels that some brands market specifically as designed for microwaving? I trashed my microwave on my last move--didn't have the space for it.

Curry leaves are one of my all time favorite flavorings--- especially combined with popped mustard seeds. I use them in South Indian dishes mostly.

Hey, I would love to come but I am tepid maybe (not in desire, but in complications). I will be carless as Gautham will be driving to Toronto (and henceforth I will be white knuckled) on Friday. Have afternoon plans downtown with friends. Might possibly come if I could score a ride. Fried okra, drool.... gumbo? Maggie, you know the way to my heart!

Whups. sorry for starting a duplicate thread. Back in my indie/punk rock radio dj days in college, I drank a lot of PRB and Old Style. This was Chicago after all.... cheap, and not as bad as Olympia or the Beast. As I was reading the article this morning, I was imagining my friends who who are the unaffected hipsters,meaning they don't have trust funds and wear trucker hats...they are poor, they recognize good beer. They will still continue to drink PRB and Old Style, but I can imagine some of the Dumbo/Williamsburg crowd already moving on. Old Style doesn't do much marketing either, although it is sold at Cubs games and is the de facto beer at most Chicago neighborhood bars.

I was drinking PBR when you were still drinking Hi-C See above for an article about the appeal of PBR to hipsters in The NY Times magazine.

Did anyone see the special Women's Health section in the Sunday NY Times? Great articles about weight loss.

The title of this thread should be "The Vindication of Rachael Ray."

My mother has one made by Cartier that she inherited from her mother; it must be 30 years old. It is excellent.

I usually buy salad mix in bulk and bunches of argulua. I occasionally buy a bag of mache as a treat or a bag of the ubiquitous Earth Valley organic mesclun mix.... but there are a lot of terrible bagged salads out there. Ice berg with a few carrot shavings. I hadn't thought about all the waste this must generate, nor had I realized how big of an industry this was.

Last minute guests are also a pet peeve of mine. If it is an ultra casual party, fine. But when I am throwing an intimate birthday party for a group of close friends plus SO's, it is a little unnerving. Inevitably, I am come across as an inflexible grouch. What's the etiquette for last minute guests? I say bring a nice bottle of something; offer to bring food. Should you eat less knowing that food was already purchased/planned before the host knew you were coming?

Sounds like my kind of afternoon. I have been looking for CT's Citrus cured Salmon ever since I had some of Awbrig's at Maggie's party... SO good. I think I am going to have get me some of that next time at WF. Our frig broke on Sat...our landlord could have cared less. Just bought a frig... bliss. Will be cooking tonight, but last night we went to Bite. For app, had goat cheese wrapped in grilled eggplant plated with tomatoes macerated in balsamic. We both got the veggie burrito with chicken. We got a plum and walnut tart for dessert. Bite is BYOB so I brought a bottle of cheapo Hogue Syrah in case we didn't finish it. But we did. For dinner tonight, making chapattis and Dal hyderdaad style with organic spinach. Will eat with pickle and yogurt. Can't wait.

Really beautiful. I am also inspired. I have one of those plates in the bento box amuse. What wine did you drink? Pretty jealous here of your meal.

I use a knife sharpening thing. (I'm on a brainfart for the proper word.) Diamond steel?

I am one of those people who gets easily depressed if I don't eat welll, and if there is not anything of good quality around to eat, I will eat very little.(See college years. Subsisted on coffee, bagels, and steak). I think my eating history exerts an inordinate influence at times; as I simply cannot eat bad food just to fill my stomach. I am always thinking that this can be done better. I wonder if we eat according to our ancestral/genetic history. I find that I am happiest eating a great variety of foods. Some members of my family will eat nothing but salad greens and some will eat nothing but fish and steak if given the choice. I don't know if that is a result of genetics or not--I would not want to have to choose between fish, steak, and salad greens. However I do think that genetics must have some role, as there are certain ethnic groups that fare well on certain diets. It is unclear to me if benchmarking food is a result of gentic interplay. It might simply be memory. My benchmark foods are: Leg of Lamb. Lamb is usually done so poorly/overcooked that I don't eat that often. French Onion Soup. Tuna Steak Roast chicken I wonder how much of this has to do with a discerning palate rather than a security blanket when judging a restaurant's performance? I am not entirely clear on what you mean. Do you mean security blanket as in a perspective from which someone views their meal, or as in comfort food. That which we reach for when we are nostalgic, ill, etc? Edit: added "not" before anything in 1st paragraph.

I think Parsley is an underappreciated herb. I prefer the curly version. But if you wash and dry the herbs (i.e. ciliantro or flat leaf), they will last longer. Or, you could put them in a jar of water in the frig. What is philistine about parsley?

For a quick dinner, sage and proscuitto (or bacon) pasta. Flavor the oil with the sage... take the leaves out (they will get nice and crisp)... I have done Torakris' suggestion...looks beautiful. I find sage overpowering at times... but it is wonderful in stuffing. You could always dry it. How about something with beans? Maybe a twist on traditional Mexican cuisine?

Had a really fantastic meal at Le Relais...thanks Ron for recommending it.l I loved eating in an old clubby room and then walking to the bathroom to be back in the airport. Had excellent service... the duck in ice grape reduction was one of the more memorable meals I had in May. My BF was very impressed with their pate, which they made on-site.

The Diner, on 18th in Adams Morgan. It is not that fancy but they have a menu that should please everyone. I haven't been there since I moved from DC to Chicago. But, I loved that place. Go early.

I would be happy to submit recipes for the egullet diet. Nutrition is sort of a hobby of mine.

Well, as it looks like the Heartlanders will be representin', I don't feel too bad about not being able to make it... I will be in my 1st semester in law school--may squash all necessary brain cells. Oh wait, if I am going to be a lawyer, I sure better learn how to drink like one! Fresser, Nero, Aurora, if ya'll drive down, be sure to keep a travelogue diary. I am sure the trip will be a riot.

I followed a pretty basic recipe of Madhur Jaffreys. She said to use a stick free pan. Spooned maybe 1 1/2 evvo onto pan. Med high. I poured the batter (after letting it sit for an hour) into my cast iron pan, and let it set for about 4 minutes on med high. I then spooned out the sauteed tomato/onion mixture... She said broil about 4 minutes until brown patches or golden. I kept rotating it every 4 minutes, and did 2-4-5 increments (my oven is terrible and ancient) until the edges were crisp. It was pretty thin to begin with and because I used cast iron, the bottom of the crust browned nicely. Oh, I meant "chevre" not cheve. Great with the wonderful nuttiness of the crust.