KatieLoeb

Bodegas Osborne Solaz - A Tempranillo/Cabernet blend for $6.99. Amazing wine for the price. My favorite grab-and-go to the BYOB restaurant wine since it compliments most food. Domaine St. Michelle Blanc de Blanc sparkling. About $9.00 and surprisingly Champagne like in that price range. Livio Felluga Pinot Grigio. As an aside, I am not normally a big fan of Pinot Grigio, however this one has decent depth and flavor at about $10 and is certainly better than Santa Margherita at twice the price. Hogue Cellars Columbia Valley Fume Blanc. About $7. Nice light cocktail wine, aperitif or with a summer salad. Snoqualmie Winery Cabernet/Merlot $9. Very well balanced for the price. Great wine to accompany grilled dinners. Argyle Chardonnay ~$10. Great elegant chardonnay for the price. Much closer in style to a French or Alsace wine than a big overblown California chard.

A very quick search yielded THIS handy timer that beeps, flashes and vibrates so you can set it any way you'd like. Interestingly, when I was looking at the products for the deaf I realized that there are so many things I don't even think about. For instance, what does a deaf person use for an alarm clock??? They make devices that vibrate the whole bed or smaller ones for under the pillow to awaken folks that can't hear an alarm clock.

Shredded Chicken burritos, rice, chili, corn on the cob.

I have saved one of the grape pictures as the wallpaper on my office computer. Makes me think of beautiful places and wonderful wine whilst I toil in my small windowless office.

Amen Sister. Carman is one of a kind, and in a very good way. And howzabout her being just about the coolest Grandma anyone could hope for? Congratulations Carman! Emma's a lucky little girl!

SCORE!!!! I have at last achieved Asian Pear Nirvana! I had to be in my office for a meeting this morning and the Rittenhouse Farmer's Market is conveniently located right across the street. Only two vendors out in the rain today, but one was North Star Farms. My thanks to proprietress Lisa Kerchner for being brave and not allowing a bit of rain to keep them from market today. I am eating a Hosui pear right now and it is amazing. Unbelievably crisp and juicy and very very sweet. Picked up some pretty peaches too. Hooray!!! Pears for everyone!

The flavor I had was specifically identified as "Black Fig" and was relatively smooth with no big fruit pieces in it. It was delicious and everything a Fig Newton pretends to be.

The obvious choice is any of the ceviche, which is the specialty of the house. If you're a carnivore then the mixed grill is excellent. I haven't seen the latest menu, but when I worked there and ate the food often, it was pretty much all good.

Mike: They were just putting some Trilogy out on the floor at the 11th & Chestnut downtown store tonight. I picked up two bottles on your recommendation. That store has an excellent selection of the Chairman's Selections wines. I'll post later about what I picked up. On my way out to dinner at Nunzio's in Collingswood. I'll probably take one with me and let you know how it was.

Are there Cosi shops in North Jersey? They have decent food and good coffee. There's one around the corner from my office and I often get a bagel for breakfast or a salad/sandwich for lunch from there. We have good coffee here so I don't bother with that.

Oh - a FISH tossing contest. I get it now. When the Mullet Tossing competition was mentioned upthread I thought they were throwing folks with bad haircuts. You know - like Dwarf Tossing.

That's funny. It was on the bottom shelf at the Walgreen's too. Wonder what that means. I think the Fabuloso might be a Latin American product. I'll have to give the label a looksee when I get home. It's funny - they started using it here at the restaurant awhile ago and walked in one day after my office had been mopped and it smelled so good I had to ask what was different. The cleaning guy showed me the bottle and I went and found some straightaway. Even the checkout girl at the Walgreen's said to me, "Oh this stuff is GREAT!! And it smells so good!" It seems everyone loves the stuff.

My favorite new cleanser is Fabuloso. It's deep purple colored and smells like lavender! So much nicer than the bleachy or chemical smells of other cleansers and less gag inducing than Pine-Sol. It's available at Walgreen's, is inexpensive and works like a charm from a spray bottle or mixed into a bucket. Makes the house smell heavenly.

Or run a half block down to Russ & Daughters and buy yourself the best smoked fish you ever had in your life, or a bagel and caviar cream cheese. Yum!!! To witness these wonderful delicacies you can click Russ & Daughters or Yonah Schimmel's and see what looks good to you. I'm predicting you'll want both! edited to add: They make a Pastrami Salmon that is absolutely To Die For at Russ & Daughters. You can have your pastrami too!!!

There had better be full reports with pictures and everything from this event. Some of us are forced to live vicariously! The menu and wine pairings are absolutely sublime. I so wish I could make it down there for this! Bravo to everyone that's had a hand in planning this.

Lou: Sweet Vidalia is quite good. I had dinner there in June and it was definitely a bit nicer than I'd expected. The liquor store is conveniently located right across the street too, so that helps. I've heard good things about Plantation, but not been. It's on the site of the dearly departed Owl Tree. Owners are the same as the Moshulu here in Philly.

And then all sent it back...

Mike: Glad you liked it! I have 1 bottle left and want to call the Franklin Mills shop and 12th & Chestnut and see if there's any left. If there is, I'm going to pick up at least a couple more. Where/when did you pick up the Trilogy? Is that the Flora Springs Trilogy from Napa? Don't think I've tried that and I'm curious. 'Fess up. Another wine that's currently on sale that I had recently and was delicious is the Landmark "Grand Detour" Pinot Noir 2001. It's on sale for $19.99 and is normally $45. Had it at StudioKitchen paired with Ravioli Of Caramelized Onion and Guinea Hen Confit, Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Eggplant Cream and Porcini Emulsion. It was outstanding and was perfect with the dish. Another wine on my reserve list at Rouge that's currently on sale is the Fess Parker Pinot Noir that's currently going for $17.99 as a "Chairman's Selection". Of course I paid $34 and change for it. Why do they keep doing that to me? I'm starting to think it's a conspiracy

The potato pancakes are really good. Cole slaw, potato salad or sides perhaps? The pickles are always good.

Quick stop this afternoon as I had to walk right past (as if) on an errand. A small dish that was half Heiroom Apple sorbetto and half Black Fig sorbetto. Outstanding.

Walt: And this procedure surprises you because.... The fact that their very rating system is geared to the lowest common denominator (or the denominator that's determined by committee of "tasters") make absolutely perfect sense given what they're trying to accomplish.

Yikes! Talk about a bite on the ass You reap what you sow. Usually it takes a bit longer for the Karma Police to catch up with you. What goes around usually takes some time to come around, but I guess this time what went around was attached to a bungee cord! Bet Mr. Salmassi is feeling a little sheepish today. Or a little "vealish"?

Hi Nancy! Welcome to eGullet! Good to see you here... Don, I'm not sure I understand your outrage. How long did we think it would take before the French caught on to the piles of money to be made from oceans of mediocre wine that's well packaged, "value" priced and really well marketed? Does anyone think that Arbor Mist or Woodbridge would sell without TV ads and full page magazine ads? Even if the French didn't catch on themselves, some marketing executive was sure to pitch this idea to them sooner or later. Business as usual. And if there weren't any mediocre wine that came with training wheels on it, there'd be no future consumers to educate about the better stuff. I know of no one that starts their wine tasting with Premier cru. Does "lifestyle wine" suck? Sure it does. Does it serve a purpose? You betcha.

Susan: You're the second person in this thread (Shelly59 being first) to comment on random strangers having the unmitigated gall to presume to tell you what to eat or drink. I find that appalling. Unless I literally saw a very obviously pregant woman lining up shots at the bar (and then I'd tell the manager to fire the bartender and handle it, not me) I'd feel no need to insert myself so rudely into someone else's business. I guess this falls into the same category as perfect strangers who feel it's OK to feel a pregnant woman's belly without asking. Were these people all raised by wolves? What is up with that?

Michael: I certainly wasn't implying that those practices were better, just that women have managed under far more adverse circumstances than the hygenic conditions and excellent pre-natal care that's available nowadays. With higher a level of medical knowledge comes the greater level of paranoia because there's so vast a collection of not yet proven links like allergies, exercise, etc. Yes - those are the resources we have at our disposal, but there's also the danger of overthinking things to the point of making pregnant women practically bedridden invalids that can only eat sterilized foods for the duration of their gestation.