KatieLoeb

You mean Jose GARCES.

Chris: Please let me know when to expect you. I love having diners at the bar. It allows me the opportunity to personally guide your meal. I'd be happy to help you pair some wines with your meal. And mix you a preprandial cocktail as well.

OK. That's some funny stuff. But really. How could the network blame anyone but themselves for not doing the simple fact checking on the resume?? If the references weren't provided, I'd have certainly asked for a number of someone, anyone inside Buckingham Palace walls to corroborate this dude's story. When you're working that closely with high profile folk, there's bound to be a security clearance required. The paper trail exists, you just need to find it. I've seen dishwashers and bussers have to be cleared by Secret Service for a one time catering gig that the president would be attending. If you claim to have been baking the future King's wedding cake, I'm pretty sure you've had a cavity search as well as your report cards from all of your elementary education scanned and analyzed. There's no way that a file with his name on it isn't in somebody's file cabinet if he's not completely fabricating the story.

Ron: When are you leaving? I'd be delighted to mix you up a farewell cocktail, on me. Feel free to PM me your schedule. I'm off until next Wednesday but I'm in Wed-Saturday at Chick's. Let me know if I can help send you off in style.

I've ceased trying to convince you. But I appreciate the backhanded shoutout nonetheless...

Just add a squeese of lemon or lime to dial back the sweetness. It's delicious with gin and tonic or gin and soda.

For fresh casings locally, I'd check with the usual suspects, like D'Angelo's or Fiorella's in the Market, that make a lot of their own living off of sausages. Otherwise, I think Barb has nailed the best online source for anything else you might need. Of course a chat with the butchers at either Krakus Market in Port Richmond or the butchers at Bell's Market in the Northeast probably wouldn't be time poorly spent either. Those are two of the best sources for fresh sausages I've seen and I'm sure they might be of some assistance, if you caught them when they weren't too busy to chat.

What exactly are you looking for? Casings? Seasonings? Chemicals? It'd be easier to direct you if you were a bit more specific.

Dang, the fat is usually the best part! ← One of my dearest friends is an incredibly picky eater. Over the course of our friendship I have widened her horizons tremendously. She now eats Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, yogurt and lots of other things that were previously verboten. Her attitude now is loose enough on occasion to say "Just don't tell me what it is until I've tasted it", which is enormous progress. I took her as my guest earlier this week to a city wide food event I was asked to help judge. Many of the finest restaurants in the city were represented and were serving what they believed to be samples of their best dishes. My friend tried and loved pork belly for the first time. Thought it was fabulous. Another restaurant was also serving pork belly and she had to dissect it to within an inch of it's life and proclaimed it "too fatty" for human consumption. She'd just eaten a similar preparation elsewhere and didn't think twice about it. But this one had to be hacked to bits first and the best parts pushed to the side of the plate. She still won't eat duck in any shape or form, even after Chef Alfred Portale made it his personal mission to get her to like it when she worked with him at Striped Bass. He gave her a taste of half a dozen different duck preparations over time, and not one of them passed muster. Shellfish are the same way. They're "bottom feeders" and "disgusting low forms of life." Yet King Crab legs are fine when dunked in drawn butter. <sigh> I shall never understand her or her strange random irrational aversions. When I was in high school I took the bus to school every day with my best friend that lived down the block and two houses from the bus stop. I'd stop at her house and have breakfast with her occasionally too. She would randomly find cornflakes that somehow didn't please her and remove them from the bowl with great flourish and continue eating. "What was wrong with that one?", I'd ask curiously. "I don't know", she'd say, "I just don't like the looks of it." WTF is that about??? Has to be those control issues some of you mentioned, because there was no rhyme nor reason to the rejected flakes on the side of the bowl. I found this habit of hers maddening, for reasons I can't quite explain. Does that make me crazy too?

Best baking trick I ever learned was from the pastry chef at a former place of employ. Melt (unwrapped) Kraft caramels (light or dark) in the microwave at half power in a lightly oiled pyrex cup measure and then pour them over the bottom crust of your cheesecake. Let cool and then pour the cheesecake batter over the layer of caramel. When you bake the cheesecake the caramel layer gets gooey again. When you cut into the cheesecake with your fork you get a gooey bite of caramel. Delicious and couldn't be easier.

The answer to all this depends on how "formal" you need your lunch to be. Certainly Paradiso or Criniti's or Scannicchio's would do for a regular sit down type luncheon. However, that's not to say that many a business deal hasn't been sealed over a roast pork sammie at Jonh's Roast Pork or Tony Luke's. Depends on what you're after. If you want to make a solid impression that's totally local and totally unrepeatable elsewhere, then one of the sandwich joints will suffice. Otherwise, if the sitdown is required, one of the aforementioned places would do. To me, the happy medium between both worlds would be to take your guests to Shank's & Evelyn's on 10th Street. A little bit South Philly not-to-be-reproduced-elsewhere, and also sit down, if not formal. The place is a real slice of life. And they couldn't be nicer. If you can stand the ladies yelling at each other. But there's no where else like it. And the food is amazing. I defy anyone to find a better chicken cutlet sandwich on this planet. Go ahead. I really mean it. Just try. I'm betting with the house's money now...

Kim: Don't forget to serve a little chocolate with the strawberry shakes. The raspberry flavors of the Rosa Regale will be closely echoed in the strawberry shake, but the Brachetto really needs just a bit of chocolate to make everyone have that "A-ha!" wine pairing moment. There's nothing more delicious than Brachetto with chocolate. A small but sinfully rich truffle on the side of each shake ought to do it. Report back on your preferences after you've had the opportunity to try everything.

Damn! And I was (barely) working. Looks great and I'm so sorry I missed it. I ate some mediocre takeout from JC in South Philly at the end of my shift last night, and this is making me soooooo jealous!

Kim: For the mains, the obvious choice might be an Amontillado sherry, or a Crianza Rioja if you wanted a red. Tough to pair both the jamon and the dates with any one wine. With the strawberry shakes, go for a sparkling dessert wine like Moscato d'Asti or if you could serve some chocolates on the side in addition to the shakes, a Brachetto d'Acqui. Banfi Rosa Regale is fairly readily available and very delicious.

Got it! The cherry ones will have to wait for my next trip. But I'm definitely going to try the butter and vinegar sauce on my next batch of the frozen ones I already have. I'm looking forward to it. Yum!

I had some wings at New Wave on Super Bowl Sunday (part of an excellent $5 food menu they were serving that day) and they were delicious. Chef Todd Bergman is doing a great job with the food at New Wave now that Ben McNamara has moved on to St. Stephen's Green.

Plain and simple. Sharing one's gifts for eating or drinking well is a blessing. Whether or not it's sexy depends on the nature of the relationships of the folks involved. But it's most defintely about sharing and breaking bread in the traditional sense. I feel like I'm sharing of myself whether I show up with Tupperware filled with food I made with my own hands, a nice dessert I purchased at a local bakery, am mixing the cocktails for the evening's enjoyment, or pairing the wines for a dinner in or dinner out at a BYOB. It's about making sure that the repast is well planned and well enjoyed. That the beverage accompaniments are chosen with care and that everyone wants for nothing. It's about acting like host/hostess whether your physical space is part of the plan or not. I can't think of anything I enjoy more than a gathering of like minded individuals sharing a lovely meal, well paired potables and each other's company. That's what makes the times in between, performing the mundane tasks of day to day life tolerable. The anticipation of the next gathering of friend/friends. Amen.

A bit of sour cream and a tablespoon of ______??? I think we're crossing signals here. Tablespoon of butter, or a tablespoon of vinegar with the sour cream and cherry vareniki? Either version sounds like it might be interesting, but I want to make sure I have what I need in the fridge if you don't have time to post the step-by-step instructions with pics. Thanks!

To follow up on my threats to go have a Fish sammie, I did indeed go pick one up on the way to work the other day. Fish was well breaded and crispy. Bun was a bit steamed, not just cold off the counter. Definitely just a half slice of cheese under the fish as well as a decent smear of tartar on top. No discernable onions in the tartar sauce, just pickle relish or well chopped pickles. It was exactly as I remembered it. I hadn't had one in longer than I care to admit I've been alive. It was tasty.

My end-of-shift drink the last couple of nights has been Plymouth gin, homemade lime cordial, a splash of St. Germain and soda. A tall gin gimlet fizz with a splash of floral essence, if you will. Very refreshing, and undoubtedly something I'll be sucking down all summer.

Gruzia: What's the proportion of butter to vinegar for the pelmeni saucing? And what type of vinegar to use? Sounds delicious. They had freshly made cherry vareniki in the prepared foods department. I was intrigued but didn't know how to prepare them. I'll get them next time if you give me some guidance. Just tossed with a little sour cream? Thanks for the offer for translation services. I think I'll plod blindly along for now and be more adventurous. Most of the time I can suss out what they're saying from the diagrams in the directions. Y'know - the pot with the little thermometer next to it that say 100 degrees. I can totally boil water and drop the boil in bags in whether I can read the box or not.

The Pig Snout raviolis need to have two small nostrils drilled into the pasta overcoating. Just so you know they're made with snouts...

Ignore the bad advice and typos and just look over the PA Forum for ideas of where to go and what to eat. Feel free to PM me or stop by my place of employ (easily locate in my signature line) for a glass of wine, a beer or a cocktail and a detailed discussion of what might suit your needs/desires. I'm in Wed-Saturday and would be delighted to help you plan an attack of the eateries in town. There's more than enough places to keep you busy for three squares a day and some snacks!

Now you've done it. Now I have to have one. I always liked these so much better than the burgers. Just so happens I'll be passing a Mickey D's with a drive through enroute to pick up a package at the UPS depot on my way to work this afternoon. I'll report back.

Toby, you are my hero!