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Elissa

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Everything posted by Elissa

  1. there: lala land.
  2. The one I did was 97. Can you find it? Nao se nao, which is a double negative that means I don't know. Which means: I know. Very Brazilian, as the slogan on the flag. Today, after posting, I stopped into a book shop. The 2003 still used some of my work, from the little I saw. Alls I know is Fodor's sends me $50 for each copy of the guide sold eternally so please do, go, rush out, and buy one as soon as you possibly can. Two. Do you only go to Rio? The Best thing to do there is find Liliana Couto at her agency Turismo Classico. Speaks perfect English and can get you anywhere you want to go. In the country, not just Rio.
  3. What is yogurt blue? And yes we make fish in yogurt a lot in India. In fact that is one of the more popular ways of preparing fish. i like to make it that way too, but have a hunch you'd do it better. my friend gita made blue fish: white fish in a yogurt sauce that turned the fish blue when baked. she told me that it was the cinnamon that did that.
  4. Once (i think) I helped an Indian friend make fish in yogurt blue with cinnamon. Was it a dream?
  5. ummm kadhi please! and mishti dhoi. or perhaps just a plane to calcutta.
  6. so you have to just go taste to find one you like?
  7. your favorite: triple creme/juicy camemberties complex goats smokey, sharp, putrid but heavenly or stinky and old cheeses. thanks *for a friend in los angeles.
  8. Likely in a book on Ayurveda I read that one ought to always add at least a few drops of fresh lemon juice to yogurt, so I do. Do you know the reason behind that Suvir?
  9. Elissa

    Roxanne's

    Heed Jinmyo: "Bux, how relevant is cashew cheese? Or coconut noodles? Or terrines made by long long long cooking of vegetables at 118 degrees F? Not very." In Huysmans' (most excellent) novel Against Nature the dandy/flan begins collecting exotic flowers obsessively; then decides he only wants faux exotic blooms. Reminds me of this food: not so much art as artifice. My bland, intellectualized, tortured meal tasted like avocados from a can. However, after reading RS' menu, I remembered liking the seaweed salad, thinking it well plated. And that it was likely from Japan. The melon soup was palateable. If you like food that's not food, but art, and aren't that hungry, then this is a smashing place. As RS said, Roxanne's "seems to exist with the purpose of demonstrating that meals can be built of good quality preparations of raw food." A veiled murder, but to what end?!?their ripping and tearing all your food up before you arrive. Best about sprouts is gnashing the little live things with your teeth, a babies tartare. Here, nothing's much dead or alive. I prefer to kill my food myself.
  10. Elissa

    Roxanne's

    It wouldn't have been that bad if you were in a hot bus that broke down that afternoon, but that's how the food tasted: gloopy. It was the sort of thing a seal in an oil spill might understand: I wondered how much and what kinds of oil I'd consumed. Wouldn't think it was all olives and nuts, but lo, it was bounteous. When we left it was as if we'd eaten three hamburgers each, all made out of hay. Which I must say is a drag because I dig Mary Wigworm: the sprout lady who 'discovered' wheat grass and raw food. Not that I'd eat it, but alledgedly her 'cuisine' helped many beat cancer with the idea that if you ate neither protein nor fat you would consume your own: cancerous cells first. Had a retreat perhaps in FL where people went to get well.
  11. Bars in barcelona: anyone remember Birimbao? Round the corner from Gimlet. and the jazz club down the road.
  12. Elissa

    Champagne under $50

    Jacquart is a weebit less expensive than Taittinger and better imho: a touch sharper yet more expansive. While on the floor at Zachys, I brought home Jacquart and Charles Heidsieck both, for $18 each, for daily drinking. Still, I agree Awbrig: Tait's the best of the easy to find. PJ rose is good. I prefer it to Feuillate: only their fanciest is worth drinking, but by that time it costs real money. Mionetto's Sergio prosecco at $35 is expensive but good. Palateble proseccos at Vino for $10, superiore (?) to Zardetto. Pretty pink Burgundy Sparklers on the cheap too.
  13. Elissa

    Oregon Pinot Noir

    Westrey is quite delicious
  14. Elissa

    Apples: Favorites?

    But I beileve that the Ayurvedic folks say it's not kosher to cook honey, or to heat it. Did Austo-Hungarians use honey in their streudels? Apple sugar? Was there pastry before cane?
  15. the two now flat fleshy ends, head to head and toe to toe, you mean, of two different cukes at a time?
  16. Elissa

    Apples: Favorites?

    I was wondering about baking, with apples as sugar, historically. When did cane overtake markets?
  17. You mean you cut off the ends and rub the roots on the skins? I seed cukes for yogurt dishes but always have the sense something's being lost, so eat them separately. Raita, and/or Tzatziki ?, I like instead of potatoes and toast with scrambled eggs. And everywhere else.
  18. Mostarda's cocktail menu includes the 'Ricardo' : champagne and fresh fruits. Ricardo is the name Brazilian husbands give to the (male) lovers with whom their wives cheat. Everything on Mostarda's menu is titled with some such pun and ideally one ought bring a Carioca to translate. Mistura Fina is the jazz club round the way. While not a 'destination,' if shopping in the area, quite liked Alho & Oleo on the Praca da Paz in Ipanema. Modern, clean, friendly, good. Partridge w. dates and grilled duck w. apricots. Homemade pasta, seafood. Spices was good, a Caribbean place. In their drink 'Nega Sings the Blues' you'll find cachaca w. ginger, lime and honey. Of course upper class Brazilians drink vodka in place of the cheap cane liquor in spite of its distinctive flavor. The number of different Caipiroskas, vodka drinks made with fresh fruit, defies calculation. I dont believe anyone in Brasil knows how many different types of fruit the country has. Maybe my best meal in Rio I found at the Quatro Sete Meia. One hour drive from Copa.; 11 tables on the water's edge. 7 options on the menu including moquecas and curries. Rua Gustavo Sampaio, Leme. Must stop en route to visit the best beach, Prainha, and museum, Museo Caso do Pontal (Estrada do Pontal 3295 021/226-4914 or 226-3540) Shirley was so fun too! Homemade Spanish seafood casseroles and soups. Here they call Bouillabasse Zarzuela and a white wine soup Cazuela. Don't let the downhome decor frighten you, though this is a shack where but a few paintings hang on wood-paneled walls. There's usually a line: wait. Rua Gustavio Sampaio, Leme Do try to be brave. IMHO people are too damn nervous about travel in Brasil. I was there for 4 months and had no incidents: a single woman traveling alone. Do too try to only eat food you're sure you can trust. Avoid eating on the street, no matter now good it looks. As mentioned elsewhere, avoid Dende, when you can but not hysterically. I don't think it's good for you. Also went to Troisgros; the chef was Antonio Costa. Exceptionally light Brazilian fare with, yes, a passion-fruit mousse to make the trip to Rio worthwhile.
  19. Elissa

    Apples: Favorites?

    the trees are in love with the woman who loves the apples but thinks she loves the man. she's one of the stories in that novel: thinks she's in love with a man who lives close (a writer) whose novel is called The Soldier, which is the title of the Binstock's book. A beaute too. dunno the diffrence was asking
  20. Elissa

    Apples: Favorites?

    do you know the difference between heirloom and antique? In RC Binstock's novel The Soldier there is a woman with an arbor enamored of antiques.
  21. favorite apples? i only like the sour ones raw: grannies, not macs. how's antique apple farming in ny? you find different ones at farmers markets in sf. did johnny appleseed die happy?
  22. Elissa

    Egg Science

    Do you think tarragon white wine vinegar would be the best choice then? Rice vinegar? Apple cidre?
  23. After writing a travel guide to Brazil and then staying two months in Bahia, I would suggest avoiding Dende unless necessary and then spare use. Not what I did. Since (98) have had allergic reactions to both shrimp and lobster, though not from use (?) in fish cakes.
  24. read somewhere that you can 'sweat' cukes quicker by placing a bowl/bag with water over the lightly salted chopped vegetables while they chill/drain.
  25. Antiquarius, a 20 year old rest., does flawless Portuguese masterpieces w. a wine list that impresses even Portuguese snobs. The cataplana, Portuguese Bouillabasse, and Perna de Cordeiro (leg of lamb) the stars. Society in Brazil still completmente Portuguese run, and this may well be their favorite haunt. Call me a heathen but I prefer Boulliabasse to Cataplanas whether in Brazil or Portugal. The Cataplanas may be more mild, perhaps I'm just a sucker for the aioli. Satyricon may, on good nights, be presque en par with Le Bernardin. It can also be found in Buzios, 2plus hours N. of Rio, where they make memorable rock salt baked whole fish. Bardot made the 23-beach long curling coastline Buzios famous in the 60's. Last I was there so were loads of Europeans and Argentinians. Though not much English is spoken, a little Spanish and French go a long way. Best meal on the beach in Brazil(?) can be found here on Ferradura, from the old guy on the end. Best place to stay in BuzioS: and please remember all this data several years old,: El Cazar. p/s: DO NOT take one of those tiny little limes and squeeze them on your freshly grilled fish if you are in, or plan to see, the sun for the next week. The acids are so strong that should the zest or spray touch you, your skin, when burned by the sun, will blister and become permanently marred. On the other hand, some scars are sexy
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