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They're meant to look like little gold bars... a play on their name... a snack for the banker who just couldn't get the bullion off his mind. So small rectangles is the answer.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.... pie. http://www.weebl.jolt.co.uk/pie.htm

My Clemens is the one in Harleysville, at the intersection of Rts 63 and 113. There are Clemens markets all over the place... no idea if they all do the knife sharpening service...

I missed them too.... but not for lack of trying. Neither of my walnut trees had any green nuts on them within easy reach of any of the long-handled implements I've got at my disposal.

That sounds like a really fancy Cel-ray... kinda appealing, actually.

Well, they're closely related plants... http://nac.tamu.edu/x075bb/caddo/frameidx.html That means that those of us who are sensitive to the evil weed are vulnerable to unpleasant itchiness from lips and esophagus all the way through to the other end (luckily most of the digestive tract isn't wired with nerves that would let us know it...) It's not a happy occurrence. Fortunately it takes real immoderation on my part to get there.

I love pecans, hazlenuts and black walnuts. Cashews are good, but I must moderate consumption of them since they're a close relative (as are mangos) of poison ivy, and overindugence leads to unpleasantness for me. Brazil nuts can be good... but can also be really bad. They're so oily that they get rancid and solventy tasting sometimes.

Congrats Rich! Excellent news!

A little more info about the paper, which might help if you want to track it down- comes from France, and costs about 20 cents a sheet. That's all I know about it.

I've always thought of Rose's as a thing unto itself. Not lime juice, not an acceptable substitute for lime juice, but a unique and unreplaceable concoction. I've been disgusted by margaritas I've been given that used Rose's... a travesty. A gin and lime and syrup drink might be mighty tasty, and I love the eGimlet moniker, but if I ordered a Gimlet and got an eGimlet without any offers of an upgrade from the mixologist I'd be surprised. As to substitutes for Rose's, I had no idea that anything came close to it other than the baffling set of slightly different Rose's products out there on the market. There is supermarket Rose's Lime Juice... and the 1% alcohol liquor store Rose's, and then there is Rose's Lime Cordial, which appears strangely dark colored... There may even be more. One of my favorite Rose's products is their lime marmalade... which is sadly not readily available in the U.S., but quite delicious on toast... or so I thought while in boarding school in England a long time ago.

Lots of cutesy words ending in -ie or -y sounds get on my nerves. Baby talk more generally does too. Sammiches and sammies are equally bad... the first is baby talk, and the second is lazy baby talk. Same with baby talk contractions like sketty. You couldn't pronounce it when you were 3 and it was cute. You can't pronounce it when you're 23... not so cute any more. Bevvy for a drink? Only if spoken with a thick North of England accent.

For knife sharpening, look to the butcher's counters at your local supermarkets. I'm Philly suburban as well, and have had the butchers at my local Clemens sharpen a whole bunch of knives for free. They have a sign that says Wednesday is knife sharpening day hanging somewhere near the meat counter. Great service... They've gotta keep their own tools sharp so they're good at it... and quick.

Adding a link to a purslane thread from a couple of weeks ago: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=45992&hl=

Steven-- You see Felix Unger, I see Frasier or Niles Crane... same archetype, different show, different generation (though less double entendre in the initials). Anyway, thanks for definitively pronouncing the industrial cheese DOA. Saved me an experiment and the cost of a hunk of parafin. All the sadder for those who are hours and miles from live cheese... As to the affinage issue, I guess I was somewhat suckered by the commercial hype of the concept. The Artisinal cheese center is only the most recent attempt at making affinage a hot marketing concept... the Central Markets down in Texas made rather a big deal of their specially climate controlled cheese caves they've built into their stores back in 1999... Further commentary on this would, of course, be welcome if you've got more to add. Best, Chris

Steven, thanks so much for a great answer to my terroir question. It brings to mind a silly thought, however. It is about the blocks of "cheddar" and "colby" and "swiss" that appear shrink wrapped in plastic in every supermarket, the industrial bulk cheeses that don't have much in the way of character. They seem young and with a fairly high water content, which means they could probably take some aging and develop some character if it were done right. Do you have any thoughts/tips for people stranded far from interesting cheesemongers with only industrial cheese to work with? Could somebody create a space where a block of this sort of cheese could age and develop into something interesting that incorporates the regional slurry of microbeasts and their unique flavor? Any advice for introducing variety into the outcome while starting with the same base material? Any idea what somebody could expect if they waxed a block of the stuff and tossed it into the 65 degree cellar for a few months? What sort of care regimen would be required? Is there any hope of teaching ordinary folks to be successful home affineurs?

Project- I've never been to Trotters... or even to Chicago... but in my experiences with high-end tasting-menu based restaurants in NYC and Phila., I'd venture to say that if you named a couple of wines and gave them a couple of weeks notice, they'd put together a menu designed to go with your wines of choice. There is nothing inherently nouvelle or spa-cuisine about the tasting menu format. You appear to like heavy heavy food-- let them know that in a special request with your reservation and you'll see a tasting menu of braised short ribs, stewed veal cheeks, crispy breaded fried sweetbreads in some sort of sauce, etc. I think the excessive lightness in the menu that you find problematic is a product of market forces, not a imposition of the chef's vision of an ideal cuisine. I'd bet the kitchen would be quite happy to have the chance to cook a full line-up of beefy fatty heavy dishes-- there's a long tradition of them in haute cuisine... just the people with the money today are deathly afraid of fat/salt/carbs/whatever so the public presentation menu must take those irrational phobias into account. Just because they do that doesn't mean that they can't or won't chuck a rack of lamb or a slab of ribs into the oven with the same amount of attention to detail as they lavish on the lobster carpaccio with hyssop oil and baby pea shoots.

What is the story on the beautiful pink tuna that is out there in the markets? Not all tuna is so pretty and pink... more often brown, even when IQF. I've heard that the pinkness is attributable to some sort of immediate carbon monoxide treatment of the fish. Anything to this story?

If you like Alton Brown's kitchen, it is for sale now: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW Wonder what this means for future production of Good Eats...

I recall hearing/reading a story a while ago about a cheesemaking operation that moved from one building to another. In their new quarters they found that the cheese they made just wasn't the same as the cheese that came from the previous facilities. They followed their procedures exactly, used the same ingredients, but couldn't get the cheese to come out the same. The punchline of the story was that they needed to culture the room they were making the cheese in by storing a big batch of the earlier made cheese in there in the open to allow right the microfauna to take up residence. My question to you is-- was that story apocyphal, or is consistent cheesemaking really that subject to environmental conditions. Any similar stories you've run across? How about examples of cheeses that are made from the same recipe but come out totally different?

Looking at the costs of American artisan cheeses, I'm wondering on your thoughts about those of us who wander over to Fairway or Zabars or the Gourmet Garage and buy lots of interesting imported cheeses at the $10 or less per pound, when domestic non-industrial products are always $15+. I like good cheese and am not disappointed by the bargain imports... You'll pry the $8.00 Boucheron and $9.00 Cabrales out of my cold dead hands... but I feel kind of bad about my aversion to paying the premium for American artisan products more often than I do. When I do get them they're good... but I often don't taste the premium (except in certain limited exceptions like Humboldt Fog and certain local producers...) Your thoughts? What American cheeses are really worth it?

Was wondering if you've had any thoughts on the topic of displaying cheese that has been pre-cut for sale but in a more cheese-friendly packaging than the standard plastic wrap? Sure, every cheese counter operator says that plastic wrap is bad for the cheese, but opaque wrapping like foil around paper is bad for business. A local cheesemaker in the countryside outside of Philadelphia brought to my attention a mold resistant paper that they will wrap larger cuts of cheese in that they say will keep the beasties at bay for the lifespan of a pound cut. Has anybody had the thought to put a clear window in that sort of paper and market it to cheese counter operators? I'm sick of getting cheese that has been pushed over the hill by its packaging. Any thoughts?

Where is the border between honestly sampling the wares to determine if they're of the quality you want and theft? Is tasting a grape to see if the bunch is flavorful or watery wrong? How about a cherry? I'd certainly not want to pay $X/lb for tasteless or watery or otherwise suboptimal produce. How about the new batch of olives that you have no idea about what they're like? I agree that snagging candy from the bulk bin is shady, since you know damn well what it tastes like, and that you want it. I'm really grossed out by the chutney story above... which is really theft of value from the store, even if she didn't walk away with any of them... the pop-top is popped, so if somebody did buy one of the opened ones they'd likely realize it wasn't sealed... and if it sat on the shelf long enough opened, it would go bad. The store would certainly have to take the return. Now stores should do tastings of things like the chutneys that are unfamiliar to most shoppers... but I imagine that Typhoid-Chutney-Mary wouldn't be deterred from her top-popping-finger-dipping ways even if the shelf did say that chutneys are offered for tasting every third thursday from 2:00-6:00. Were I a manager of the store and saw that, she'd become persona non grata from that moment forward.

Dear Mario- I really love your work at inspiring Americans to think about cooking in a more Italian way... we all really need it, I think. So... on to the question-- What American purveyors offer ingredients of an Italian level of quality? Pretty broad, I'll admit. I'll give you a few examples of the stuff that raised the question: 1) Your own experiments with curing meats in the basement of your wine shop-- Nothing good enough out there in the NYC market, so you're making your own... or just helping your Dad's salumeria project in Seattle with a little experiment here? 2) Gorgonzola- I've found that that BelGioioso's Wisconsin produced cheese is as good or better than anything that Zabar's or Fairway have in the way of imported offerings.... much unlike fellow Wisconsonian Stella's offerings. 3) Dry pasta- I've not found an American product that can beat imported pastas... probably won't, given how affordable the imports are... unless you have a hint. 4) Specialty stuff, i.e olives and their oil, proscuitto, pancetta, etc. - Being a Philadelphian who spends a lot of time in NYC, I have the benefits of having everywhere from Tallutto's to Di Palo's at my ready disposal... but are there products that are worth getting that don't appear in the Italian shops like I've mentioned? Any domestic stand-outs that do appear in them?

My summer witbier just came out of the fermentor and went into my force carbonating toy yesterday, so by this afternoon it had absorbed enough fizz to give it a try. I brew a not too shabby witbier if I say so myself. Not up to Celis standards yet, but quite tasty. Mine has a little too much in the way of body, I think. Celis (my gold standard) is quite thin, yet very flavorful... This batch has the tart tangy citrus-ness of a wit down, but the mouthfeel is a little too dense, which obscures the tanginess, which is what witbiers are all about. Following quickly on the witbier's heels, a summer dark beer just went into the fermentor today, taking advantage of the leftover belgian wit yeast from the previous brew. This is a modified witbier... modified to be pitch black and with a little denser body to go along with its imposing visage. But this is still a wheat beer at its heart, and should have the tart crispness that all wheats share... I'm looking forward to see how it turns out this year, since I've played with the hops and spices in it since I last brewed it. This time around, there are coriander, orange peel and sweet woodruff in there, in addition to the hops. The hops themselves are a little different as well-- Willamette as the bittering hop and Styrian Goldings as the finishing hop... should make for a nicely spicy flavor profile combined with everything else in there... My recent commercial beer tastings worth talking about have been Unibroue's Trois Pistoles, a dark, fruity belgian style beer from Canada... quite tasty indeed, and a few of the widget cans of Young's Oatmeal Stout, which turns out quite nicely from the widget cans, actually-- chocolatey and rich with chewy mouthfeel and lovely long finish.

Vermouth is good stuff. Nobody takes it seriously except maybe the people who make Vya and King Eider... but that's not a bad thing, as far as I'm concerned. If there were no vermouth there would be no way for people to brag about how dry their martinis are. A dry vermouth over ice is lovely. Add Orange Bitters for a real treat. Does anybody know what sort of wine it is based on? Sweet vermouth, on the other hand, does nothing for me. Always tastes oxidised and musty on its own... I use it solely for mixing.