KatieLoeb

I have a jar of truffle honey that was gifted to me by another foodie friend. Any bright ideas on what to do with it? I was thinking maybe brushing a bit on grilled lamb chops and then finishing the grilling. Or perhaps with foie gras? I don't dare open it until I know what to do with it!

Helena: One of my favorite garnishes for pork chops is also one of the simplest. Fresh horseradish grated (I use microplaner) into unsweetened natural applesauce, which is what is served on the side of both pork and Tafelspitz (Austrian Yankee pot roast, basically) in Austria and Bavaria. This is delicious with all kinds of hot or cold meats. Careful with the horseradish though!

De nada, mi amigo! Un placer a conocerle.

1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped 8 cloves garlic, minced 3/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup sherry wine vinegar 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper Directions 1 In a blender or food processor, combine the parsley, garlic, oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, ground black pepper and cayenne pepper. Mix well, but do not puree.

Jaymes: This should keep you busy for a little while at least. With the proper names of the dumplings it should be easier to weed through recipes. The Bread dumplings (Brotknoedel) were the common ones I mentioned before. The greis is SEMOLINA. Aha! There's a container of it in my kitchen cabinet and I swear I'd never have known that! My ex-hubby's Oma (Grandma) is an awesome cook. She made these fabulous Liver dumplings in a clear broth (Leberknoedelsuppe) that were just amazing. Here's a link to a recipe for that. I've already e-mailed the link to myself! Liver Dumpling Soup Recipe I really miss Oma. She's probably the only thing I miss about Austria... I'll report back with other recipes as I find them.

Gosh! My good deed for the day! I just noticed the post today, or I'd have answered sooner. I'll definitely give a look-see when I get home tonight. Won't be able to get back to you before tomorrow though. My home 'puter is FUBAR right now.

Jaymes: My ex-hubby is Austrian. I have a few good native cookbooks at home. I'll check them out for you and see if I can find anything that sounds like what you're looking for. The most common Knoedels I always had there were basically how they'd use up stale bread. They were large (often leaden) things about the size of a baseball and were always on the side of any dish you ordered in a biesel, or a heuringen. Like giant unsweetened bread pudding balls. There is also this special type of "flour" called "gries" which I think is used both for knoedels and for spaetzel dough. Might want to check into that. If you have any familiarity with Yiddish, Knaidlach or matzoh balls are a variant of knoedel. I think most of Yiddish is Viennese Jewish dialect. I'll let you know what I find.

It aint Texas, but the Gruet sparkling wine from New Mexico is absolutely delicious. It was the house pour bubbly at one of my favorite New York restaurants, the Tasting Room. I've had it a couple of times since. Great quality for the bucks. Similarly incongruous place to expect vineyards and wine production I think.

Jaymes: I agree completely about the Lancer's and Mateus. It did have a good "after effect" on me though. It got me interested in exploring Portugese wines in general. There's plenty there that are delicious and a major league bargain compared to similar Spanish whites, for instance. A glass of Vinho Verde is as tasty as a glass of Rueda, often at a fraction of the price. And as refreshing as a squeeze of lemon with your oysters!

I borrowed the suggestion from someone else to make Asian Pear margaritas with the Asian Pear Cider I buy at my local farmer's market from the orchard owner. I cheat and use frozen limeade and a splash of Cointreau or Grand Marnier. YUMMY! One I invented for a work event was the Castaway. 2 ounces Absolut Mandrin ½ ounce Canton Ginger Liqueur ½ ounce Captain Morgan’s Parrot Bay Rum ½ ounce Pineapple juice Chill Martini Glass Fill metal shaker with ice Add all ingredients Cover shaker with bar mixing glass Shake vigorously Strain into chilled martini glass Garnish with a Lime wheel We HAD to use an Absolut product in the drink, and since it was summer it seemed like a good semi-tropical sort of idea. These were popular with our bar crowd for a little while.

My delinquent friends and I were known to use a hypodermic full of vodka on an orange to make "Portable" Screwdrivers. Ahh - the lost days of my youth...

'Round these parts, this was known as "Hairy Buffalo Punch". Quite popular on the frat party circuit. Once I started working in restaurants, draining the bar mats at the end of the night and getting some unsuspecting fool to drink that was mildly amusing as well... I still can't drink tequila in excess. I can have a mild margarita or two, but every single person I know has a tequila horror story. I wonder why that is. Apparently Juniper berries contain some form of neurotoxin. That explains why gin hangovers are the worst. I'm also of the "if-I-smell-gin-I-retch" school.

The only Morimoto-like place in this general area IS Morimoto in Philadelphia. Quite pricey for what you get, IMHO. Definitely! Matt is a genius and his omikase feasts are well worth the cost of admission. And the admission is about HALF what it would be at Morimoto. My pleasure . You shouldn't have much trouble finding dining companions for this experience, but if you do, let us all know. I, for one, would be happy to meet you there!

Kim: Fuji is in Cinnaminson, NJ, 404 Route 130 North, slightly north of the Betsy Ross Bridge. (856-829-5211) In the middle of a strip of "no-tell-motels". Excellent food! Chef Matt Ito is quite talented with both the raw and the cooked items. There's also a sushi place in Pennsauken called Sagami that is quite popular, but I think Fuji has it all over them. Is this what you were looking for?

As Lurch used to say, (deep voiced) "You rang?" Sunday Brunch at Striped Bass is a great deal. $26.00 prix fixe 3 courses. Same food as dinner and some more "breakfasty" type items. Check the website at Mealticket.org for sample menus. In other neighborhoods, I'd suggest The Standard Tap on North 2nd Street. It's just north of Pigalle which was already suggested. Casual but great food and interesting beers on tap. A short car or cab ride from downtown. Other faves include Monk's, as Holly suggested, any number of great BYOB's in South Philadelphia (Cucina Forte, Dmitri's, Langostino) etc. One of my very favorite neighborhod restaurants is The New Wave Cafe. Equal parts funky bar and stylish restaurant in casual surroundings. Chef Ben McNamara is a wizard and the food is top notch.

I did this once too. Horrific experience. Although an old boyfriend once "chilied his willy' by forgetting to wash his hands before going to the bathroom. That was like watching someone with a live chipmunk in their boxer shorts I agree completely. Even the most dyed in the wool white bread and mayonnaisse eaters can now tolerate a bit of spice in their lives. Salsa is more widely purchased than ketchup. There is a decent selection of spicy and/or ethnic foods even at the grocery store. As Martha would say, "It's a good thing." I'm particularly fond of the Penzey's ground chile powders. They're quite fresh tasting and there's a good variety of them. I make an Ancho Chcolate Bread Pudding that's pretty tasty stuff!

D'oh! My bad. The site I wanted to recommend is: Fabulousfood.com Sorry about that!

Stone: Try Wonderful Food The other option is as Snowangel suggested. Go to Google and type in "Lamb Shanks" +recipe, or whatever the item in question is in quotation marks, space +recipe and see what pops back at 'ya.

Link to Zinfandel Article This is the link to the article that originally ran in the New York Times.

I serve this to guests and call it Tuscan Tea in the summertime! It's delicious drizzled over vanilla ice cream. It's delicious as a frozen shot next to a buttery piece of pound cake topped with raspberries. It's delicious with just a tiny splash added to a margarita for citrusy flavor. It's delicious with a splash at the bottom of a champagne flute and filled up with sparkling wine as a lemony kir royale alternative. It's really easy to make limoncello at home. The secret is to add the peel of ONE lime to the peels of a dozen lemons and soak in a jar to cover with good vodka (I usually use 100 proof Smirnoff to soak in and then dilute with something tastier) for six or eight weeks in a dark place, shaking and checking for strength every few days. When it's as lemony as you like, you dilute with simple syrup and more vodka/water to taste. Voila! Great to give as gifts in pretty bottles.

If you like Zin but don't want to pay the going California freight for it, try some of the incredibly well priced Primitivo wines from Puglia in the heel of Italy's boot. Really delicious at a fraction of the price.

Hi Andrew! My favorite way to store single servings of pesto is to pour the pesto into an ice cube tray sprayed with Pam. Once they're frozen you can pop them out into a big zip-lock freezer bag and they keep very well. One or two cubes in a can of tomato or minestrone soup jazzes it up to almost tasting homemade.

Bux: I actually do like the food. Your other assumption is way off base...Which is what makes accusations of my shameless shilling even more amusing to me. As if... Holly - sorry for the light abuse. I just couldn't resist in light of my scandalous reputation! Cheers!

Hi Holly: Since I already have a reputation as an instigator and a shameless "shill" for my employer, I MUST tell you that the restaurant is ROUGE (as in Red) not ROGUE (as in swashbuckler or whatever). Thanks for outing the DDC above. I hope some folks that aren't familiar will join us. Best regards, Katie