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That was a very positive 2-star review, as it ended on a high note.

My first thought was that you could try adding mint leaves. I wonder whether holy basil would work? It would be stronger for sure!

The last time I was in Seattle (several, maybe 4 years ago), I had very tasty Indian food and a terrific Thai meal. I don't remember the names of the places, but I was impressed. It was a short visit - just 2, 3 days. I was staying with friends who knew where some good places were.

lcdm, I was struck by your remark that it's illegal for you to give out free bottles of wine to customers, so I started a thread about it on the Wine Forum.

In another thread, lcdm wrote the following: I'm guessing lcdm is in some U.S. state, though I don't know for sure. So it's illegal for a liquor store owner to give free bottles of wine where she is. I hope the rationale isn't that that action is similar to a coke or heroin dealer giving free samples to addict a customer. I assume lcdm is not giving out free bottles of Thunderbird. What's the law on giving out free bottles where you live?

Yeah, Nannini. Love that place! They make great panforte, but I was fascinated by all the other cookies and pastries they make at their flagship shop on Banchi di Sopra in Siena. I'm impressed that some of you have sort of reverse-engineered panforte.

Thanks for your responses, everyone.

A salad that includes some watermelon might be delightful. I'd use some dark lettuce in that, I think, but another possibility is to use something bitter in it, like watercress, and maybe something fragrant, like basil. Just brainstorming here...

I agree, Bux. And rooberu, get some square pizza with artichokes and porcini at DiFara's next time you're in New York. If you have any pizza that good in Seattle, I'd be really impressed!

Those Christmas sweets look great, and I love Neapolitan pastries! But so far, I've been in Italy only in the summertime, unfortunately (not that I'm really complaining ). By the way, I love ricciarelli too, but I doubt the recipe is very secret - they're just marzipan cookies.

I'm assuming tipping is something that still is not done in China under normal circumstances (restaurants, taxis, et al.). Am I right?

I'm shocked that there doesn't seem to already be a thread about this place. I was there for dinner again tonight, with a friend who's a regular. It was probably somewhere around my 8th or 9th time there, I guess. I had some terrific Gobdol Bibimbap and my friend got a delicious soup that had Sun Dae and some thin-sliced meat (beef?) and vegetables, plus some fragrant white seeds we couldn't identify (a particularly aromatic variety of sesame?). That soup was the best thing I've tasted at Han Bat so far, a complex and truly Woo Chon-worthy dish. Also provided, as always, was a generous panchan of mostly pretty assertive side dishes which we enjoyed. The cost? $19.45 plus tip for the two of us! I find that in terms of atmosphere, Han Bat feels like an excellent Korean diner, and the prices also reflect that, but the quality of the food is really excellent, making it arguably one of the best values in Manhattan. I know that some of you are big fans of Han Bat (Hi, scamhi . And thanks for being the one to introduce the place to me). Any detractors? Please speak up, pro or/and con.

I spent 35 days in Siena in 1991, 21 in 1994, and returned for a short visit in 1998. I love Siena, and I love panforte! For those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure of tasting (and chewing on) panforte, it is a dense confection of flour, powdered sugar, almonds, candied citron peel, candied melon, I believe honey, and spices. It's so dense that it's sold by the etto (centigram or .100 kilograms). I love almost every type of panforte - margherita, tipo marzapane (in which the almonds are made into a paste instead of kept whole), tipo cioccolato (to which chocolate is added). (There's another type I find less good though certainly acceptable, and I forget its name, but it's spicier [by which I don't mean it has any pepper in it!].) As some of you no doubt know, panforte is made according to a secret formula known only to artisans in Siena and their diehard allies in the wars with Florence in the 14th century, the small walled town of Monteriggioni. All panforti in existence in the world come from either Siena or Monteriggioni. Do you like panforte? What other Italian towns produce unique desserts whose secret formulas have been closely guarded from generation to generation? Please share!

Ore, I just want to again compliment you on your splendid photographs. That food looks so delicious! I'll look forward to looking at further installments.

I had a memorable Restaurant Week lunch a few years ago at the River Cafe, which has breathtaking views across the East River. But that's a topic for another thread...

Lychees are available for $2.50/lb at several locations on the east side of East Broadway between Catherine and Pike and one is giving a discount of scale so that if you buy 5 lb., you pay $9.99. These aren't the tip-top quality Southern Chinese lychees (I think I may have heard the vendor say these are from Israel), but so far, all the ones I've tried have been at least OK (alright, I finally got one bad one, but that can happen in any bunch), and some are great. It's worth checking out if you're going to be in the area. If you pick them yourself, look for fruits with a reddish color (a little brown is OK) that are not super-squishy to a soft touch (I'm not responsible for what happens if any of you squeeze the fruit hard! ) Enjoy! I'm gonna eat some more.

You're kidding? They've relocated to 6th St.? Thanks for letting me know!

Well, one possibility is to take some photos of food made by minority groups like the Afghans, Tibetans - whichever interesting groups are in the areas you'll be travelling to. Any Jains around? Visit their temples. You're going to Goa, right? Maybe the Catholics there have Sunday meals at church? Etc.

We agree there. I really dislike cell phones, 21st century be damned!

That food looks delicious! By the way, not to sidetrack the thread (we could discuss this further in another thread, if people are really interested), but lunch is "lunch" where I come from. Somehow, I think there's been a previous thread about which meal is called "dinner," but I wouldn't be too sure how to search for it.

Well, I would hope that they'd let Texans with 10-gallon hats into their restaurants, and let them check their hats.

It's their property, and they have the right to set whatever dress and conduct code they like, within the limits of the law (that is, they will have to let Sikhs wear turbans in their restaurants, for example). As for the article, I'll apparently never read it, because DallasNews.com has a particularly annoying registration requirement. Is Houston's strictly a Texan chain?

I would indeed correct a mistake in the store's favor, because that's money out of my wallet, but I found it a bit much when I corrected a mistake in my favor and seemed to have gotten the cashier in trouble disproportionate to her error. And it felt to me like I was punishing someone for doing me a good turn. I described the incident earlier in the thread. The cashier was clueless about what had happened, and the manager came over because of my persistent attempts to explain the mistake. If I were ever given more change than I should be, according to the receipt, I would give back the excess, but correcting wrong input in favor of the customer really isn't my job.

Thanks for clarifying. I love dates and would love to try those.

Thanks, Qing!