Pan

It was indeed a fun article, but I still am scratching my head trying to figure out why Robb gets thrown out of restaurants as often as he does (I can remember one other time offhand; was it more?). I can't remember any time a critic for the New York Times or any of the other New York papers, for example, told us s/he was thrown out of a restaurant. Do you suppose it happens to them, too, but they don't write about it?

There are a lot of restaurants that would appear, if at all, in the "Under $25" category that are a whole lot better than bland frozen food and canned peaches, and I can fully understand someone not aspiring to cook 1-star food all the time, as defined by the way the Times awards stars. But sure, it's a perfectly reasonable goal for a home cook; why not?

Temple Bar is a bit far (Lafayette just north of Houston St.) but is a really elegant bar that makes excellent though expensive cocktails (~$13 apiece). [Edit: You won't see its name outside. Look for the door on the west side of Lafayatte with the lizard logo.]

It'd be nice if we could all afford to eat like this every night, but most of us cannot.. ← Yeah. That was the only thing in the article that really stood out. In his house, sure. In most people's houses? Nope! The remark about Chef Pepin's relationship with the Canned Food Alliance struck me as good reportage. I think Grimes would probably agree that he's a curmudgeon, but I found the article fun. It's one person's biased viewpoint, and presented as such. He's the retired restaurant critic of the Times and doesn't owe any deference to anyone. Also, keep in mind that while he demands 1-star cooking in his house, he isn't telling non-gourmet home cooks or people who have lesser demands than he what they should do.

Apples in torte blette don't seem right at all. To me, the whole point is that the blette is the star. I love torte blette! Jack, I don't think I've ever seen golden raspberries before. They're beautiful! Do they taste just like red ones?

What about yogurt and whey? How long have those been widely available and consumed in northern parts of China like Beijing?

Indeed. The importance placed on food and use of some version of "Did you eat yet?" as a greeting extend well beyond China. Have a look at this thread.

Thanks for the link. Beautiful presentation of the razor clams, and that lamb looks tasty! Are these restaurant dishes, and is Wenxuecity.com who took the pictures your website?

I frequently eat a delivered meal while browsing eGullet, pausing between bites to write something now and then. I also have often snacked on something while posting. The things I've eaten while browsing and posting are too numerous to mention.

Katie, I have a feeling Romulus and Remus would be more gentlemanly than that...

Another result of Platina's 1465 work De Honesta Voluptate. My mother has a Medieval cookbook, I think Fabulous Feasts [Edit: Confirmed by looking at the photo on the quiz site], if that's the one with a modern edition that has a bunch of information about how people lived, cooked, and ate in those days. A bunch of years ago, I remember her making a Medieval dinner for the family. It was excellent. I particularly remember the elderberry pie.

Is that true of glutamates in tomatoes and cheese, too?

Kristin, you could try making kaya.

I didn't use the word "prejudice" in my last post in this thread, but we could say that people in former years had their prejudices and we have ours. Eating only sterilized food would seem like a modern superstition to me. So we're not fundamentally in disagreement. And the other thing that you're hinting at but not saying right out is that there's such a thing as too much care. I agree, and I think it's abundantly clear that excessive reliance on modern technology and surgery sometimes increases risks in pregnancy and childbirth - notably, through wildly excessive caesarian sections. Having only sterilized food may not be so disconnected from the kind of thinking that results in unnecessary caesarian sections as one might think. The commonality is fear of the risks of natural processes that are usually manageable (feet-first births, etc., which a good midwife can deal with, and eating food that may have some bacteria in it). Consider that the overuse of antibiotics has been unhealthful because it's encouraged the growth and spread of multi-resistant organisms. It's well known that when babies eat dirt, they build up immunity to the local bacteria. It could be hypothesized that the process begins in the womb, but perhaps not if all food is thoroughly sterilized.

How high were infant mortality rates in those days? Let's not forget that they were way higher than nowadays, as were maternal mortality rates. Changes in the amounts of alcohol consumed by pregnant women probably had little to do with that, but who knows for sure? Let's not assume that all practices of the olden days were good. People in days of yore did what they thought best, and what they could, with the knowledge, beliefs, and resources they had. We do the same with the knowledge, beliefs, and resources we have.

Tasty, cheap food, Don! We have taco trucks in New York, too, and I've patronized one of them a few times. But if hotdogs or pretzels are more your thing, that's OK.

I'll be happy to come, too, schedule allowing.

Yetty, what's shrimp floss? Terrific pictures, as always!

They look like the sesame buns on the both halves of the page but are probably wider than the ones on the second half. The ones pictured in the first two links you posted are too small and the wrappers are too dry-looking. The wrappers at the place in Flushing are rather in the character of a moist than a dry bread and aren't that flaky.

As I mentioned before, Rijstaffel was banquet food made for Dutch colonists by their Javanese cooks, not necessarily food Javanese (or other Indonesians) commonly made for one another, even for sumptuous banquets. As was the case with Britain and France, once the Netherlands lost its colonies, part of the population and heritage of the colonies came "home" to the mother country. So Paul, I don't really understand what you mean by minimizing (?) the connection of Rijstaffel with the Netherlands, especially as you understand that it's made to Dutch taste. By somewhat imperfect analogy, someone could make a claim that couscous and merguez have no connection with France other than coming from a former colony, for example. I don't see it. Perhaps we could agree that the cuisine of every country is affected by conquest, trade, and immigration. [Edited in light of Yetty's post.]

Generally speaking, the smell is more important to me than the appearance, but there are things that smell bad but taste good, most of us would probably agree, so taste is really the final arbiter.

Thanks. Looks like that works out to 4 1/2 glasses (27 oz) per person total, or about the equivalent of a bottle apiece. Did I figure that right?

I think it has an English name, but I don't remember it and you won't see it prominently indicated anywhere. The menu items are in Chinese and English, but the name of the store is given only in Chinese on the takeout menu. The closest subway stop is Flushing-Main St. on the 7. 40th Road is one block south of Roosevelt.

I'm always in a rush when I go to this place (off the train, to the sesame bun store, onto the bus with my food!), so I never get any photos, but I want those of you who have a reason to be in Flushing to know about it. It's my standby for sesame buns before work at Queensborough - and I mean, I almost always go there before work - and my regular rotation consists of cabbage (with dried shrimp), spicy chicken, eggs with Chinese chives, and sometimes the mustard green bun that's open on one side like a bulging open sandwich. I tried the spicy beef, but it was rather too spicy for me! I usually get two buns, and that carries me through 6 hours of teaching. The buns are in a patty-like shape of a raised circle and consist of a rather thin but sturdy wrapper and a lot of filling. Each costs between $1 and $1.50, and one or two of them constitute a tasty and very satisfying small meal. I have a takeout menu from them which doesn't list the sesame buns (they have signs up for those just outside and inside the store listing names and prices in Chinese and English) but does list other items, none of which I've tried as of yet. (I keep telling myself that some day, I'll eat in and have larger items, but I have yet to do so.) It also lists a Chinese name only, and I can't type that for you, but I can give you the street address and telephone number of the place: 135-23 40th Road Flushing, NY 11354 (718) 888-7790 If you just walk west down 40th Road from Main St. and look on your right for a storefront about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way down the block (it's closer to Prince) with a display of some food outside the window by the front door, you'll find it. The ladies who serve there speak limited English but are friendly and helpful, and your wallet will thank you! Eating so nicely for such a pittance is a true perk of working so far from my home.

Jack, your first blog was one of the best ever, and I'm happy to see you blogging again! Lovely pictures again. It looks like I'll be visiting England for the first time next June or so, and I hope to see some countryside that looks something like your back yard. Carry on!