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The fish doesn't sound so bad.

Is she out to convert the heathen in Chicago?

Does she have a pulse?

Late lunch-early dinner combined: corn tortillas filled with chicken grilled under a brick and pulled apart, wilted spinach, fresh tomato and onion and laced with a lot of hot sauce. With the skin left on and using mostly the meat from the thighs and legs, it at least suggested the pork tacos served in the main square in Merida, Mexico.

The ice cream man is alive and well and trolling the streets of Toronto. But it does help to be under the age of 10 to appreciate his wares--principally soft ice cream with lots of choices of sprinkles and dips.

My office is currently in the midst of a microwave popcorn 'debate'. Half of the people here can't get enough, and the other half are extremely verbal about being repulsed by the chemcial-laden fake-butter smell that wafts down the hallway. I'm repulsed, but quietly. It's usually considered good manners to stick to the plain variety.

My son is making noises about sharing an apartment with a couple of his pals in Montreal. From an eating perspective, it's good that it's Montreal--the food possibilities are wide. But few situations seem to evoke more complaints and horror stories than sharing a kitchen--some people help themselves and never replenish, others insist they don't eat much and therefore shouldn't contribute much but in fact eat a lot, some are pigs, some obsessively tidy, etc. etc. Are there any rules or methods for making situations like this workable and pleasant?

Regarding that last item on your list, perhaps you have some pointers for MatthewB: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...ST&f=3&t=25448&

The one item I was expecting to see and didn't was microwavable popcorn, which is huge in any office I've spent time in.

In the dinner thread, Snowangel says that she has just served sweet corn for the ninth straight day, and still can't get enough. I'm like that about asparagus--when it's in season we have it pretty much every night for a few weeks. Strawberries too. And when I'm visiting a coastal area, I'll happily eat fish and shellfish lunch and dinner for days on end. What foods hold this magnetic attraction for you?

Don't think it is just you. One reason I don't do menu planning is a pretty strong suspicion that people around this household would tire of it very quickly--myself include. Posting a menu a week in advance would be a lot like going to a restaurant knowing they only offer one choice. Even if you really like that particular dish, you resent the lack of choice.

Can't say I ever plan menus much more than a day or so ahead. But a few months ago, I did prepare a list of about 50 or so dishes--everything from pizza to paella, vegetarian to roasts--and got my wife and son to rank them all according to how often they'd like to see them served. Their responses, as you might expect, were quite different, but useful in terms of knowing for certain how much of a particular dish to prepare, and when.

I seem to recall that the versions I tried in Spain had garlic, but it may also be that I just naturally add garlic. What I do know for sure is that anything I tried over there had been cooked in a ton of oil and also had enough salt to scare off most North Americans. Think Jason is on the right track in suggesting a bit of a cooling off period--but not too much. You want the potato and onion to still be on the warm side. One other thing does occur: if you first tried this in Spain, you may be doomed to disappointment here no matter what you do. Everything--the potato, egg, onion--has an intensity of flavor that you no longer find in North America.

I just called my fishmonger, who is usually quite knowledgable and asked about pink swordfish. The response: If it is a violent and unnatural pink, probably dye. If it is sort of a peach color, could be cut from close to the belly.

Is the objective of this place to make it completely uneconomical to eat at home?

I've heard about restaurants in Budapest that prey on tourists by presenting a bill for $3,000 or $4,000 for a couple of bottles of champagne and then producing a bevy of heavies who scare them into forking over their credit card. Sounds like they could take some lessons from the new world.

Yep. There's nothing like the smell of onion and garlic being sauted in a good aromatic olive oil. And the roast pork too - slivers of garlic poked in, followed by a liberal coating of rosemary and flour. And salt and fresh ground pepper. When that aroma starts wafting out of the oven on a cold winter Sunday, I start thinking about how good the gravy's going to be. It smells pretty good grilled outside on a wet summer Sunday too--or will in just a few hours.

Is the Bloody Caesar at all popular outside Canada?

What are the most applauded cooking smells that emanate from your kitchen? And are there foods that you never, ever prepare at home because their scent is lingering and off-putting?

Dude, are you being for real? They're not going to know who you are! After his most recent posts, there is probably a likeness of FG in the kitchen of every Taco Bell in the world.

Yeah, and some of those I-talian fellas make decent sandwiches. I could have worded that one better.

Right. I may be willing to accept that Montreal bagels are better, but since bagels are generally considered breakfast food, and since I'm hungry now, and since i live in Brooklyn...I guess I'll just have to suffer the inferior (but quite dense, chewy, and tasty) product at the Brooklyn Bread Co. (And thank the gods I'm no longer waking up in Minnesota). Brooklyn does have its own treasures, though. The best roti I've ever encountered anywhere in my travels was last year in Bed Sty, which also has a cafe that makes a truly amazing red velvet cake. Back to bagels.

If you read the first review in the link below you'll see that it specifies "wood-burning oven" And there are also a ton of non-bagel places that boast of their wood-fired cooking capabilities: http://www.toronto.com/profile/755508/?cr_index=1

Bagels seem to be one of the odd exceptions to the general rule that moving into the mainstream of food necessarily means the quality and integrity get watered down. In the past 10 years in Toronto, bagels have finally become about as popular as a breakfast item as they are in New York and Montreal. That does mean a lot of bad bagels are consumed, but it has also helped to create a market for a superior, Montreal-style bagel produced in wood-fired ovens, etc. In my own case, it means that an edible bagel is now available within a two-minute walk of the house, on a stretch of the high street that has become a major tourist attraction because of its Greek restaurants. On weekends the lineup for bagels is often out to the street.

Have you tried anything from her tapas cookbook? It was a great favorite of mine for a while. Will definitely have to dig it out again--thanks for the reminder.