Pan

Not ignorant at all (at least I don't think so, because I have no idea what the difference might be). I've been to bakeries in Germany, but never in Vienna (or a Viennese bakery in the US). I'd love to have your recommendation though, so I could at least try it out. Thanks! Something Sweet Inc 177 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10003 (212) 533-9986 Nowhere to sit down. It's an old-fashioned Viennese bakery, though the baker/proprietress does try something new on and old theme from time to time. She's very nice and usually gives me something for free when I go there, but I don't go too often because those pastries are so rich. Great stuff for the soul, though.

Ignorant question: How is a German bakery different from a Viennese one? (I do know an excellent Viennese bakery, if you want a recommendation.)

Sure did! But my main point is that I don't understand what it means, even if <<aliments>> means something more than just produce.

Very well. I just hope she's enjoying herself. We don't need to know the details. And I'm glad you're enjoying your work.

I always thought <<aliments>> were "foodstuffs," and I just checked an online dictionary that confirmed that. But though this passage reads better in French, I still don't know what it means. Is Adria using essences of fruits and vegetables in season, as Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his staff used to do at JoJo in New York (and, for all I know, are still doing in one or more of his other restaurants)?

I've commented on it previously, but I'm too lazy to do a search to find my own posts. I recall posting under the heading "Super Tacos Sobre Ruedas," which is what the taco truck calls itself (? funny phrasing, eh?).

I'd love to hear of any excellent Mexican restaurant in the Lower East Side, but I don't think there is one. A few years ago, I remember having a good meal at Lupe's in sort of west SoHo, but my impression is that the really good Mexican places must be in Jackson Heights, Queens, and they're very downscale and cater to Mexican immigrants and other people in the neighborhood. I haven't tried any yet but would like to some time. You might look into grocery shops that double as taquerias, though. There was a posted link to a New York Times article about them. I just checked to see if I had cut and pasted the article into MSWord, but I didn't. I do recall that one of the recommended shops is on Av. A and 14 St.

Don't child labor laws exist to prevent this possibility?!?!?!? I see you consider college students children, but the law considers people over 18 to be adults. You knew that, didn't you?

Have fun, folks. If it weren't a High Holiday, I'd be working on Saturday.

When I visited China in 1987, Hangzhou was the place where I had the best food, with Wuxi also memorable for the great Wuxi Spareribs I had. If Hangzhou is not a top Chinese city for fine food, which ones are?

Even if you check the bag they're in?

My mother seldom cooks anymore, and when I visit my parents, my father seldom wants any help with any part of the food preparation except finding some spices in the spice cabinet, bringing some Indian ingredients he's running out of up from my terrific local Bangladeshi store (or, at times, bringing Chinese or other types of East/Southeast Asian ingredients from Flushing, Chinatown, etc.), and helping with setting the table, taking stuff off the table, washing dishes and such. But I cherish memories of helping my mother make apple pie when I was a little kid (as young as 4). I helped peel, core, and slice apples and put them on top of the crust. And the only thing that was wrong with the apple pie was that it disappeared too quickly.

I ate dinner at this place on 1 Mott St. tonight. I've noted for some time that this restaurant is quite popular with Chinese people. I had Hong Kong style squid, scallops, shrimps, snow peas, and some scallions, ginger, and little black mushrooms in a casserole. Except for the canned mushrooms, the ingredients were all fresh. Some parts of the squid were very chewy, and I think intentionally so. The dish was pleasant. I also noticed that lots of food other people were having smelled good. Has anyone else checked this place out yet? It seems to me to be another Cantonese banquet restaurant to complement the much larger Congee Village and Super Taste House on Division St.

I had a wonderful lunch last summer at Yasube, an inexpensive Japanese restaurant at 9 rue Sainte Anne, Paris 1. My main was magret de canard yakitori. My father got terrific sashimi - and I had never really liked sashimi before tasting some of his that time.

Sounds like you're thinking of Rasmalai.

I took Meg to ChikaLicious tonight. The front is very understated, and it's hard to even make out the name of the place from across the street. The atmosphere inside is very relaxed and pleasant. We sat at the bar. The pastry chef/owners, Chika and Donna, were friendly, explaining to us what everything was, and it was really interesting to watch them work. I thought of Louisa and her work in France as I watched their technique. We were given a spoonful of very good mango puree topped with a little cube of citrus gelee' as a sort of pre-amuse while we looked over the menu. Donna explained that we would order main courses and we'd be provided with an amuse and petits fours as well. I ordered stewed apricots with what I think was a vanilla glaze and lemon-verbena ice cream (the online menu is behind the times and doesn't list the dish). Meg ordered Warm Chocolate Tart with Pink Peppercorn Ice Cream and Red Wine Sauce. The amuse was Basil Gelee and Peach Sorbet. Both elements of that amuse had a strong flavor, and the herby and unsweet basil gelee was a good counterpoint to the peach sorbet. The apricots were high quality and whatever that caramely glaze was, it was tasty (the dish was made by blow-torching the thing that became the glaze). The lemon-verbena ice cream was very interesting and good. Meg liked the chocolate tart, but I thought it was mainly very buttery, though I agreed that the chocolate was good. (I'm a little uninterested in chocolate tarts lately.) But the pink peppercorn ice cream was really interesting and we both liked it. The petits fours were a tart filled with raspberry whipped cream (or creme fraiche or whatever), which was a tasty morsel; a chocolate chip-ginger cookie, which was a good cookie but had barely a trace of ginger taste; and a coconut marshmallow which was really superior. I had never tried Mas Amiel Maury Cuvee Special 10yr before, so I decided to go for the wine pairing, though it was really for Meg's main course. She had some of the glass too, though. We both liked the wine, which had interesting complexity and a good aftertaste. Mostly, Meg had Saratoga Sparkling Water, which she liked. The whole experience was very pleasant, and I think that the owner/chefs are working under very good conditions and having fun, while at the same time selling fun. The only thing that I think is strange is that, as far as I know, no-one has done this before. I did feel sorry for one waiter who got repeatedly elbowed by me because he picked inopportune times to walk behind me and I unfortunately have no eyes on the back of my head. The bill was $12 for one prix fixe menu plus $19 for one prix fixe plus wine pairing, and $3 for the bottle of sparkling water, plus just under $3 tax - that is, just under $37. I thought they were really nice, so I left an extra dollar for the tip and tipped $7.

Whose song is that, Hollywood?

What does "TN" stand for?

Louisa, I'm really happy to hear that you're not just washing stuff all day, which is what it had sounded to me like you'd be doing, given that you were chosen to be a stagiaire in the restaurant's laundry service. Any update on your sister and the amorous Frenchmen?

"Merde!" Sorry for the late response; I was too busy eating my way through Malaysia to check the other boards.

It might actually have been dodol with durian that I was given. I don't remember, and that isn't because I can't distinguish between bubur and dodol; I definitely can. It was home-made, though.

I'm posting one more report on a Malaysian place. A family I know who live in Ampang took me to Mei Keng Fatt Seafood Restaurant at No. 1, Lorong Awan 6, Kuala Ampang, Selangor. They said the place used to be better, but I thought the food was excellent. We got the following: Udang galah that were absolutely fresh and cooked in a tasty barbecue sauce that was sort of a caramel glaze Ostrich cooked with what they were calling croutons, which was really interesting because I hadn't had ostrich before and it does _not_ taste like chicken but is more like red meat. The dish was good. Asparagus with sambal belacan. I think that was it, and it was more than we could finish. The quantity of udang galah was so great that there was just no way for us to finish it. There were three adults and a 5-year-old child. I don't know what the meal cost because I was never allowed to look at the bill. I'm building up debts to people for the time when they come to New York.

On my just-completed trip to Malaysia, I found that I no longer hate durian, as I did during my previous stint in Malaysia 26-28 years ago. Actually, I can like it when it's super fresh. But I'm still too chicken to get it as anything but fresh fruit off the tree, except that I was also given bubur with durian and found it OK. My folks, who've liked durian ever since they first tried it some 28 years ago, have always hated durian-flavored things. Similarly, I like mint leaves, whether I eat them or have tea from them, but I maintain a strong dislike for anything that's mint-flavored if anything other than fresh or dried leaves are used.

I like that, too. I don't like nut/fruit cakes that have an evident taste of lard, though, let alone ham in them.

Yes, I eat mooncakes. I especially liked the ones with coconut that I bought in Malaysia. I ate at least 6 mooncakes during the last month. I don't love the egg yolks but eat them anyway, in order to get some protein with the prodigious amount of sugar I've eaten.