afoodnut

You sure it wasn't to keep the snow from blowing in the windows? Could you please elaborate on the nadan fish curry?

Just so you know, Oasis is no more. (It closed down at the end of 2002)

Mongo, I was hoping somebody else would chime in; I don't like beer, so I'm definitely not the best person to offer an opinion about brewpubs. My information about the beer is all hearsay. But I don't want you to think you're being ignored, so I'll at least share what I know, and comment about the food at the brewpubs. Mountain Sun and Southern Sun are related. Redfish Brewing boasts of a Cajun style menu. The food is pretty good, but a little expensive for bar food. Friends say the Belgian beers/ales are good. Walnut Brewery also has good food. It's one of the Rock Bottom chain, but definitely has a true Boulder atmosphere. It's usually crowded. Once you're seated, service is incredibly accommodating. Reports I hear on the beer itself are mixed. Rockies Brewing boasts of being Colorado's oldest microbrewery. It's open Monday-Friday for lunch and early dinner (until 8:00 or 9:00, I think, and during the summer, it might be open Saturdays.) Pretty typical, Boulder style bar food-burgers/sandwiches/potato skins/fries/salads. Sorry, have to go now. More if I think about it and no one else offers help...

Mongo- Here's the link to Boulder Wine Merchant. The staff there are extraordinarily knowledgable and helpful. (You can also subscribe to their newsletter at the link.)

I've also not been to The Kitchen, but here's a link to a story that appeared in the Daily Camera last week. (I didn't see the article in the Post, so I don't know if the Post just repeated the Camera story or gives more/different information.) And in This column, Catherine Christiansen reports:

Shiny metal? I'm not an expert about cast iron, so please explain. The only cast iron I've ever seen, whether it's old, long used and loved, or brand new and yet to be seasoned, is dark and dull. As far as I know, I've never seen shiny cast iron. Is cast iron shiny if someone scrubs off the patina?

There's milk delivery available in Boulder/Longmont, CO (I don't know for sure, but probably Denver also) as well. So is it a unique to Colorado phenomenon?

It's too late to edit my earlier post, so a brief footnote: We were sorry we didn't get a chance to try one of the high end restaurants recommended, but we so enjoyed the neighborhood places we were falling into that we just plain ran out of time. I also wish we had managed to eat in at least one Surinamese restaurant, but again, we simply didn't have enough time to do it all. Who knew we would eat so well? I'll just have to get back to Amsterdam soon.

Actually, I recently learned that there is a fleishig egg. I'm not quite sure what it comes from (although I hope to learn that at a later date). So, it's probably more precise to say chicken eggs are pareve. One instance of a fleishig egg: If I remember correctly, I think I learned that if an egg is found in a chicken when the chicken is slaughtered, it is considered fleishig.

During a trip to London with my daughter a few years ago, Pret was also our lunchtime standard. Do the Pret locations in NY have the same menu/food as those in London? Are there locations anywhere else in the U.S.?

Okay. I'm baffled that so many people seem to be of the opinion that you can't find good food in Amsterdam. We had a virtual world tour of cuisines, eating in small, what appeared to be mainly family run restaurants. It might not have been high end, elegant food, but it was definitely food that was carefully prepared, using good ingredients, by someone who cared. We stayed at the Bridge Hotel, on Amstel, right near the Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge). It turned out to be a lovely hotel in a great area for restaurants. We had amazing luck with taking a chance on restaurants that looked interesting, and ended up having most of our dinners right in the neighborhood. The Skinny Bridge Cafe a block away (Amstel and Kerkstraat) was perfect for an afternoon stop for coffee, beer, or wine with a tosti. Our first evening in Amsterdam, we were ready for nothing more than an early dinner and sleep. We walked over the bridge to Ultrechtsestraat, just looking for a restaurant that was open already for dinner (it was only about 5:00 PM). We found Meghna, an Indian restaurant (Ultrechtsestraat 28A). The saag paneer and rogan josh were fragrant and beautifully spiced. The restaurant was small, warm, and friendly. The next night, we wanted to try rijstafel. (Tempo Doeloe was right nearby on Ultrestraacht, but it was busy and we did not have reservations.) We decided to try a restaurant close by we had noticed in our wanderings: Anda Nigraha, on Waterlooplein. It was another small, friendly restaurant. The food was not great, but it was good; we had a very enjoyable meal (and only 21 euro per person for the most elaborate rijstafel). The third night, we ate Thai food at Na Siam (Kerkstraat 332). Once again, it was a small, friendly place, and the food was very good (sorry, I just can't recall what we ate.) By the fourth night, my daughter said she wanted a change from rice and Asian food. We knew that we were eating far better food than we had been led to expect, and felt optimistic about trying almost any international cuisine. She had a craving for Italian, so we went searching. We fell into Ristorante Gusto (Kloveniersburgwal 7), and enjoyed the linguini vongole (with teeny sweet clams in shell) and tagliatere gambere (a nice tangle of shrimp, zucchini, cream, pasta). We had good squid and shrimp tapas at a Spanish restaurant (I'm not sure I recall the name, but it might have been El Huasco, and unfortunately, I don't remember the address). There was an Indonesian restaurant, Flamboyant (Amstel 111), next door to our hotel. Since Indonesian food is not something we find here at home in Colorado, we thought we'd have another Indonesian meal. We did not have rijstafel, rather ordered individual dishes. The food was wonderful, although I have no idea what we actually ate. For our final dinner, our curiosity got the best of us. We decided to try a Mexican restaurant; Because we had eaten so well all week in these neighborhood restaurants, we were feeling brave, and interested in an Amsterdam interpretation of Mexican food (one of the staples in Colorado.) We ate at Alfonso's (Ultrechtsestraat 32). The food wasn't great, but it was pretty good, with some interesting spicing/seasoning, and once again, the restaurant was friendly and warm. As to snacks and street food: Koffie was good everywhere. We were delighted with the custom of always including a little munchie or crunchy something with every cup of coffee or tea. Apple cake with cream was delicious. We returned several times to Puccini Bomboni (Staalstraat 21) for chocolate (both to eat and take home). Vlaamse Frites (without the mayonnaise, than you) were fine. But the raw herring with onions and the stroopwafel are foods I won't go out of my way to eat again.

We've been putting an orange on the seder plate for some years now. Our first seder after I heard the (apocryphal?)story about a rabbi saying "a woman belongs on the bima about as much as an orange belongs on a seder plate," I told the story. Everyone laughed, then clamored for an orange; I went to the kitchen, got an orange, and put it on the seder plate. We've included it ever since.

The seders of my childhood in the '50's and early 60's included both my mother's and father's families; my mother's side of the family always ate the plain hard boiled eggs, and my father's side of the family always ate what we called "egg water," which sounds like what bloviatrix describes. I always thought it not only sounded disgusting, but tasted awful as well. I haven't thought about it in years, but appreciate the memory of it now. I do not serve egg water at our seders. I also have to say that for some of the kids at the seder, the plain hard boiled egg is the favorite food.

We're just back from our week in Amsterdam. What a delightful city. I had not understood just how cosmopolitan and international it really is now. (I was last there almost 35 years ago.) The assortment of restaurants was staggering, and we ate very well indeed. I'll post details once I've recovered a bit more from jet lag and can write coherently, but to be brief, in the one week, we ate Indian, Indonesian, Thai, Spanish, Italian, and Mexican food, as well as enjoying numerous cups of koffie, glasses of beer and wine, tostis, apple cake with cream, chocolate... And I'm chewing on a piece of licorice as I type. But as to the stroopwafels: After reading all those posts over in the pastry/baking forum raving about stroopwafels, I couldn't wait to taste a hot, fresh one. I found the man who makes fresh stroopwafels at Albert Cuyp market. He handed it to me on a piece of parchment. It was about six inches in diameter, filled with dripping caramel syrup. I bit into it, the syrup burning hot. It was hot, gooey, sticky, crispy, and very sweet. I couldn't manage more than two bites of it! Way too sweet and cloying for me. My 17 year old daughter tried it, and she wouldn't even take a second bite. More to come later.

So I've just returned from Amsterdam. After reading all these posts raving about stroopwafels, I couldn't wait to taste a hot, fresh one. I found the man who makes fresh stroopwafels at Albert Cuyp market. He handed it to me on a piece of parchment. It was about six inches in diameter, filled with dripping caramel syrup. I bit into it, the syrup burning hot. It was hot, gooey, sticky, crispy, and very sweet. I couldn't manage more than two bites of it! Way too sweet and cloying for me. My 17 year old daughter tried it, and she wouldn't even take a second bite. I guess it only proves the adage, chacun a son gout.

Todah rabbah Katie, (Thank you so much, with poetic license for spelling and meaning.) The mishboche (family/friends) with whom we always observe Pesach (Passover) at our home, are a truly mixed bunch. We struggle to find the way to read from the mixed messages of the haggadahs where nobody is ever on the same page. The best of the haggadahs we have are the Maxwell House Haggadahs that I have preserved from the early '50's. But we're never on the same page, at the same time, in the same language. And the "modern" ones we've found seem to lose Judaism to Ecumenicalism (is that a real word? If not, I'm sure you know what I mean). While I've not yet had the time to look at the Haggadah from your link with careful scrutiny, I already know that it's better than anything else I've seen!

If you really want "traditional Ashkenazi" for your seder: On your seder plate use a roasted beet, or parsnip in place of the shankbone. The whole seder ritual is vegetarian. (Eggs, maror, charoset, matzoh, salt water, horseradish, etc.) You do drink wine? Assuming fish is not okay, leave out the gefilte fish. Eliminate the brisket ar other meat. Use oil instead of chicken fat in all your dishes. Now serve just about everything else you would have, even if you were eating meat. Serve tomato soup or vegetable broth with matzoh balls. Egg salad, made with sauteed onions. Mock chopped liver. Stuffed cabbage, stuffed with nut/dried fruit filling. Potato kugel, tzimmes (vegetable version), other vegetables are fine. You can make a nut loaf as a "main course." Or eggplant casserole, or roast portabello mushrooms. All of your traditional desserts are fine.

That's for sure...

Drew, Are you concerned about a vegetarian seder, or about eating vegetarian during all of Passover? Either way, you shouldn't have any problem. For Seder ideas, do a google search for "vegetarian passover seder." There are many sites with many suggestions. But there's really no need to worry about getting enough protein. Eggs, nuts, and dairy products are all allowed. And remember, since you're not including meat, even your seder can include dairy products. Simply choose your foods from the dairy and pareve sides of Passover possibilities.

Just to chime in with another regional perspective: Here in Colorado, the breakfast burrito is ubiquitous. The breakfast burrito is exactly as Fifi described I've never heard them called anything other than a burrito here. In Colorado, the convention seems to be: Burritos, breakfast or otherwise, are always rolled, always made with flour tortillas, and may or may not be "smothered" with green chile. Tacos can be either hard (fried & crisp) or soft; they may be rolled, flat, or folded; they're made with corn tortillas. Tostadas are flat, hard (fried & crisp), made with corn tortillas, with the filling piled on top. Edit to add: Enchiladas are usually soft, rolled corn tortillas, enrobed with "enchilada sauce," or some version of chile. Occasionally, there are variations where the enchiladas are stacked, or layered. They still use soft corn tortillas.

And I can report that Edda Servi Machlin's books are wonderful, for recipes, and even more, for her stories and reminiscing.

...You get them everywhere, they're not a particularly fancy item and they keep well so you can buy them in any grocery. If you want them really fresh then I think the place I saw them being made on the street was the Albert Cuyp market, which is quite a nice place to wander around. Amsterdam is a pretty good place for sweet baked stuff. Apart from that apple-pie I mentioned (anyone got a recipe?) you should go to the banketbakkerijs or biscuit shops where you get a whole range of great little cookies and pastries. I've just remembered I particularly liked one type which was called a wellington, but I've quite forgotten what it was like. Vikram Thanks Vikram. I'll know to look for them at the Albert Cuyp market. I figure I should at least try them at their best, freshly made. And I'll try a wellington, too, and apple pie...

Over at the pastry and baking forum, people are raving about Stroopwaffels. I've asked for suggestions of good places in Amsterdam to get them, but so far, no one has had any recommendations. Can anyone tell me the location of food stalls, stands, or restaurants in Amsterdam that have examples of "done just right" stroopwaffels? Dank u wel.

I'm going to Amsterdam soon. Can anyone recommend a specific place or two (in Amsterdam) where we can get good stroopwaffels?

Zum-Zum... Was that the place that had veal bratwurst with onion sauce?