mrbigjas

interesting, thanks--i've checked the specs and a 1/2" gas line is all that's required, in addition to a dedicated grounded circuit. neither of those is a problem. i guess one of the thing that's made me hesitant to go ahead with it is the lack of dealers in my area, which makes me wonder about service. i mean, of course a sales guy is going to be all 'oh yeah, we'll come fix anything if it breaks' but what does that really mean? i mean, it's one thing to do research and decide what's the best product; it's another to figure out what's best for your situation...

just over 3 grand...

OK we're going to be redoing our kitchen and bathroom in the next year or so--they're upstairs and downstairs in the same addition to our small rowhouse here in philadelphia. i'm planning on replacing the range as part of the process. the one we have now is an old caloric that was put in 20 years ago--it's the kind of low-end stove you buy for renters, which is who this house was originally renovated for. so although we haven't done much more than initial discussions with architect friends and that sort of pre-planning, i know that because of the size of the kitchen and my cooking habits, a 30" range is what i'll be getting. and of course because shopping for kitchen stuff is fun, i've done a bunch of research, and i'm pretty sure i want a blue star rnb series. i like the super high powered burners (i have the venting available) i like the large oven, the simmer burner, and the fact that they're made about two hours from here (although i'll probably be ordering it from somewhere out west due to a lack of dealers in the area). well, the old range is starting to go. it's an oven burner or ignitor issue that is relatively easily repairable, i'm sure, for $100 or something. but i've been thinking for the last year or so that if it started to go i would just order the new stove--because why not, i know what i want and there's no reason i have to wait for the rest of the kitchen to be redone for it. but i can't bring myself to take the plunge. i'm not sure why. it feels frivolous or something to be buying something so nice. i mean, i can rationalize/justify this purchase in a million ways--i'm a pretty good cook, i'll use it every single day, we have the money at this point in our lives, i have an installer who will take care of it for free, the seller is of course very reassuring about covering warranty things and whatnot--but making that call and ordering the thing is kind of beyond me. i don't even know why i'm posting really, except to get this out there. anyone else have a problem like this? how do you get past it?

maybe she did! i tend to... well, i forget things.

hey, maybe now that we have jonathan newman and deirdre's ears, you can figure out a way around that problem!

ok i've got another one. sometimes when looking up liquors on the site, i come up with two or more listings for what appears to be the same thing. are those just different batches, or is it just a matter of the way things are named? what brought this to mind was that i was looking for a cheaper cointreau alternative, so i checked out marie brizard on the site. i came up with 010807, which is listed as marie brizard triple sec (50.0 pf), a specialty store item at $15.99, and 072271, which is listed as marie brizard triple sec, an SLO item at $23.79. is it that MB makes a couple of different triple secs at different proofs, or is there something else i'm missing? thanks

Sandy: That Las Brisas white is a kickassed buy from Spain. Bright and refreshing and very light on the wallet. I've been enjoying it all summer too and have turned lots of friends on to it as well. ha, i been doing the same thing with that same wine (and whites from rueda in general)

as it turns out it's called culantro http://www.caribbeanseeds.com/culantro.htm

do tell! i would love to make it.

i've got a bunch; i'll give you some. hmmm... imagining infusing them in vodka for a three-pepper bloody mary! PATENT PENDING PATENT PENDING

ah, it was fine. i yelled at everyone from the hinterlands and all was well. both of these dishes were really good and something really different than many things i've had before. something about temp-based heat vs. pepper-based heat makes them intriguing--the thing is not hot with fire, but is hot with pepper. crazy good. dude really knows his way around a deep fryer. a thin very crisp crust, the eggplant all mooshy and melty like hot eggplant gets, and the ground pork inside providing a meaty base for everything. i wish we could have ordered another one of these, but really i suspect with a dish like this moderation is definitely in order. this WAS great. the pork had been, i'm guessing, sliced thin with a meat slicer and then cut into strips--it almost looked like hand-rolled noodles or something. and it was deeply flavored, and a little spicy, and great. this is true, but it wasn't on purpose. i hadn't realized--the braised beef is completely covered with red pepper like this was, and isn't nearly as hot. the top half of this fish was incendiary, and responsible for me downing two beers more quickly than i had previously downed one--and let's not talk about this morning. as i mentioned to you last night, i think i ran up against the limit of how hot this pepper is, as compared to how much of it is used--if there had been more pepper than this on there (and probably if there had been significantly less) this dish would have been at the same heat level as it was. when my mouth had recovered i picked the bits off the bones and ate the cheeks, and jeff's right--it was a great dish. i suspect they fried the fish and then immersed it in the sauce, which is what made for the slightly slimy, melting texture of the skin, which mrs jas found kinda offputting, but i liked it. i find it interesting that they don't have just a standard fried chinese broccoli or bok choy or yu choy or pea shoots or even spinach. $18 per person is i think what it cost, actually. and maybe there are more unconventional things that aren't on the menu at all, like the fish last night that she just offered us out of the blue. return visits are definitely necessary, gastric distress be damned!

thanks lambretta76! we're totally not limited to prospect park area, in case you or anyone else is wondering.

oh hey, good call stephenc. i keep forgetting about that place, but it is good, and upscale enough to feel celebratory, and they have a bar as well. also a pretty well-considered wine list if i remember right.

things seem to have cooled off in this thread, so a quick question if you don't mind-- i'll be in brooklyn fri-sun this week. i know it's short notice, but does anyone have any recommendations for us? 1. an not-too-expensive but interesting dinner later on friday. we're open to most anything, and from looking around ici looks like it might fit the bill. think we could get in? 2. a decent but quick lunch on saturday while we're wandering around 3. something for saturday evening--we have an open house party starting at 4, and i figure we may get tired of it and head out to eat. but on the other hand, i wouldn't want to make a reservation, because we may not be able to honor it. some sort of smaller, no reservations, but not too crowded place comes to mind. the kind of place that everyone always says on a tuesday evening, yeah i love that! but then saturday rolls around and they want a nicer place or something, so you can roll in and get a meal without too much trouble. know what i mean? we're staying in prospect park, party's in brooklyn heights. thanks for any tips (or if you want to point to other threads that my searches might not have turned up, i'll happily look at them too). edited to clarify: we like everything. i'm always on the lookout for foods from other countries that we can't get in philadelphia--for instance, we don't have south indian restaurants down here. specialty things like dumpling houses and noodle houses and whatnot are fun too. anything good, really.

yeah, if you saw wing bowl two years ago, you got a taste (so to speak) of what she can do. it's really really impressive. really.

i'm afraid you've fallen victim to a common misperception, katie--mistaking my enthusiasm for ability. i can't actually eat all that much. imagine cookie monster, how excited he gets for cookies, but if you watch closely they all go flying everywhere and he doesn't actually get that many in his mouth. it's kinda like that for me. but i'll probably run into you at the festival.

how about that. here's what else i learned at sue's today: the two big boxes of shiro plums they have are the last of the season. and they're INSANELY DELICIOUS. they smell like japanese plum candy they're so sweet. lordy be. i bought about a dozen this morning and shared them with people from work and i'ma buy a bunch more on my way home tonight. i think you were right about this being a great stone fruit season.

here is what i learned today at sue's: the kauffman's that they get their apples, peaches, and plums from? not the same kauffman's as in the terminal, even though they have a lot of the same varieties of everything. also he said he gets his cheese, milk, and yogurt from three different people named stoltzfus, none of whom are related to each other. p.s. for anyone who hasn't been in a while, they're now carrying fresh mozzarella and other products from claudio's.

down in the italian market last week i got some not-so-great-looking squash blossoms for 10 or a dozen for $1 -- i forget the exact price, but it was CHEAP. they'd be hard to stuff, i think, but they were good in soup, or they would have been good in a taco or quesadilla or something.

uh..... whaaa?

thanks percy. i'ma give it a try one of these days.

chanterelles and corn kind of go together in my mind. both summer ingredients. so how much of the tomato water did you end up with? did you end up diluting it at all? with what? how much did you make, and how much tomato did you use to make it? shola said 10 pounds when we were there, but he was cooking for 10 after all... tonight was something that was kind of a mix between one of my favorite dishes at lacroix, and that starter we had at studiokitchen this last time: a piece of red snapper pan-fried and served with a red lentil veloute. using red lentils as a soup base to serve with something came from shola's pork dumpling and lentil soup thingy. straining the lentils and making a veloute with it came from lacroix's dish of sweetbreads and foie gras with a lentil veloute. serving it with fish is because i like fish and lentils together. i took a bite before taking a picture, and i'm not much for more than a snapshot, but here it is:

Inquirer article about it here. (you might have to register to read it)

some of the better wings in town can be found at tangier's, 18th & lombard. my local bar of choice for about 10 years, and still where you can find me now and then. the cook's name is quong and he makes great wings. ask for them well done if you like them crisp. truth be told i don't really understand the whole wing thing--it's not that hard to fry them so the skin is crisp and then toss them in hot sauce and butter--but tangiers does the jawn with the frank's red hot. and they taste good; even if i've already had dinner my mouth waters when a plate goes by on its way to a table.

beats me, but i went over there last year and had the best roast goat and polenta EVAR.