mrbigjas

spice corner, where sandy got the saffron, is a reputable store--i don't think they'd sell him safflower and call it saffron. they do have a really bad website, though.

so.... considering that the fish tapeworm is nonfatal and treatable, i'm thinking, could this be the next celebrity weightloss trend? i mean, sure it's a parasite living inside you, but unlike pregnancy, you get thinner!

good thinking on your part. i assume you've seen the quest for the ultimate pork martini? see that's where you go ahead and indulge them with the wet food--the crunching of kibble just exacerbates the headache, when you have a brain the size of a walnut. and a little hair of the dog--no seriously, i mean actual hair from an actual dog.

OH MAN. andrew. i.... i'm speechless.

why spend $10 on one, when you can spend $50!

they made a big deal out of those cones when they opened the store--how they were specially special things shipped from spain, i think. so i can see how they wouldn't want to replace them temporarily. besides, the $4.50 isn't a regular basis, right? it's a special situation! there's always justification for gelato! i like cones too, though. so sad when they're out.

the frozen squid at the asian supermarket is generally what i buy. the way i figure, where we live it's all been frozen anyway; i can defrost it myself.

I think bigjas, myself, and probably a few others here prefer Mama's over Philly F, but the latter is open later for dinner and such. ← i do prefer mama's over philly. but it's only a preference in falafel texture--mama's is lighter and softer; philly falafel is denser and heavier. but philly falafel has some kind of herb or spice in there that mama's doesn't do, and that is frickin delicious. and i'm perfectly happy there. last time i mentioned to dude that his falafel had a flavor that no other place had. he said, well, you know, everyone's is different. really it's just a matter of preference. at both places, the staff is unfailingly nice, the salad bar is salty and acidic and free, and ... well, really i'm just happy they both exist here in the western half of center city. oh also philly falafel is open on sundays, which is a bonus.

bumping this one up in case any of you are interested in the blue moon acres stuff: their microgreens are available at sue's produce. i don't think they're carrying any regular size salad greens from them, but if you want a fancy garnish of red amaranth, or cilantro shoots, or itsy bitsy arugula leafies, a whole box will run you five bucks--enough to garnish 25 dinners, probably.

oh man, andrew, that burrata looks great, although different from the ones i've gotten at dibruno's. i made a puglian-esque dinner last night. i started off the sweet and sour onions from that food and wine site i posted: mighty tasty. (that's a tomato salad in the foreground, made with these awesome little tomatoes called peach tomatoes--they're slightly fuzzy like a peach. but that's not keeping with the theme, so it only gets a corner of a cropped shot. also my photos of it were bizarrely lit.) anyway, onward! with franci's focaccia recipe: of all the things in the world that will never cease to amaze me, dough and bready sorts of things are right up on the list. i made it with half AP and half semolina flour, and since it was a hot dry day here yesterday, it took quite a bit of water. beating the dough was a real workout, but as franci said, right about at the 15 minute mark, it just kind of magically came together from a batter-type thing into a slack dough. amazing. i know it's a little dark around the edges, but that was a mistake on my part--i baked it near the bottom of the oven, so the top bits right around the tomatoes weren't getting cooked. i moved it up to the top of the oven for the last five minutes or so, and that cleared things right up. delicious. next time, in the middle of the oven. then a combination of three or four stuffed squid recipes from a book and several websites: stuffed with bread crumbs and the chopped up tentacles, flavored with capers, garlic, pecorino, parsley and anchovy. there were as many ways to cook this as there were recipes--roasting, braising, even frying--i decided to go with a stovetop braise, since my oven was already in use for the focaccia. the tomato sauce wasn't in any of the recipes (although one had tomato in the stuffing), but the squiddies looked lonely and pale there on the plate by themselves, so i threw a tomato in the pan after i took them out and cooked it down with the juices. this was good stuff--i've made lidia's version of it before, in which you braise it with peas--but i think i should have either chopped up the capers or soaked them longer. they were a little big and occasionally you'd get this blast of caperness. also we served peas and onion braised in olive oil with tons of mint and basil, but that's just because they were there--i didn't find an official puglian recipe for that, so i didn't bother taking a picture for the thread. the end, jas.

yeah they closed a while ago. six months maybe. that 'coming soon' sign for rim has been there for a while.

lord knows i have a lot of issues with CI, and sometimes read it just to piss myself off. also sometimes i watch the show just to yell at them for getting on my nerves. but in this case, as far as i'm concerned they're totally right--on a disk-bottomed pan, the disk not coming all the way to the edge of the pan is a major pain and if you ask me, a design flaw. i have a couple of saucepans (that macy's 'tools of the trade' brand) that are made like that, and what it does is force you to use really low heat on all of them, because the second that flame comes around the edge of the disk and hits the stainless steel, there are hot spots--or rather, a hot ring. the 3.3 qt saute pan is 9.5 inches wide, according to what i can see--even on a regular crappy old kitchen stove like mine with 10K btu burners, the flame is nearly that wide. i don't find it odd at all that they got hot spots around the edge. the heat from the flame runs out along the bottom of the pan after all, and will hit the thinner stainless part of the pan and make those hot spots--it's not just a matter of having a giant burner on high.

You could probably learn how to make them. I don't think the sausages themselves would be too hard to make. Getting the smoking down is an art, of course, and you'd have to buy a smoker. But you'd quickly become the most popular kid in school... ← you'd think, but apparently everyone's hot links recipe is a secrety secret. salon did an article about it a while ago--here's a link.

the wonder of the central texas hot links is in part that i've never seen sausages like that anywhere else. they're loosely packed, stand up to hours of smoking and are just generally damn good. good enough that i've actually considered paying the shipping to have them sent up here to philadelphia. i haven't pulled the trigger on that deal yet, but maybe soon...

what was the result? did he ever tell you?

"Pasta with meat sauce" is fancy talk for "spaghetti with meat sauce"... ← and that's just fancy talk for "macaroni with gravy"...

bumping this back up, today's table talk points out that passero's, which i've always recommended, has closed. and that's a damn shame. i'm sorry to see it go.

texnewmex--i am amazed. that's a doozy of a trip, and a heck of a party afterwards. wow.

it's in a big ol' shopping center right at 11th & washington. pho 75 is there, and both nam phuong and huong viet are there as well. there's a big ol parking lot that is always an utter madhouse in the center. the strip (because let's be honest, it's a strip mall bent into a U shape) is anchored by a rockin vietnamese grocery store called hung vuong. quick rundown: pho 75 only sells pho, basically. huong viet has a slightly more extensive menu but still mainly focuses on soup, rolls, noodles, and broken rice platters (and great banh mi). nam phuong is a full-on, full-service vietnamese restaurant, with a liquor license and actual decor and stuff. it's very good. there's also a newish chinese seafood place at the other corner of the center that i haven't been to.

it's totally ringing a bell, perhaps in relation to sarcone's or cacia's. but i can't remember the details and googling isn't turning up much... oh wait here we go, from an AP article in 2003: which of course leads me to cacia's website: http://www.caciabakery.com/specials.cfm

very interesting, thanks for the answer. i just received my ada boni book in the mail (it was only $8 shipped, and even though it was obviously owned by a heavy smoker i'd say that was a damn good deal), so i can't wait to make a few more things...

franci, i have another question: in a lot of italian recipes, fresh marjoram or oregano are called for. but in many of these puglian recipes i've been reading--including the things you've made--dried oregano seems to be the most commonly used thing. is that specific to the area?

that timing is a little funky--between lunch and dinner. so some of these places may not be open. ethnic is your best bet right around there. if you walk down washington avenue, there's a good vietnamese place called nam phuong on 11th street, just south of washington. in that same building is viet huong, also good. across 11th from that is cafe de laos (laotian-thai) and porky and porkie (AYCE korean bbq). on washington just below 10th is a mexican place called plaza garibaldi. across from that is taqueria veracruzana. further down 9th are acapulco and la lupe, both good mexican. next to la lupe is O sandwiches, which makes vietnamese hoagies and summer rolls. on the 900 block of christian is sabrina's, known for its brunch but generally solid all around. on 9th street is villa di roma--check if they're open, and if they are it might be a good choice. old school south philly red gravy italian. if you head up broad street, you could go to the jamaican jerk hut if they're open. weather's going to be perfect for sitting out back.

yes in its grain form, but you can eat the leaves of the plant too. the red variety is very popular as a microgreen garnish or salad nowadays: google image search

what he said. it's a pretty big place, actually. i've eaten at tables twice and at the bar once, on thursdays and tuesdays and saturdays and never had to wait.