Pan

Jeff: It sounds like you've been having a good time in New York. First of all, to state the obvious, one has home-cooked food in homes, not in restaurants and probably least of all in Little Italy. Particularly given the quality of the places you've already been to, I believe that it would be a mistake for you to go to Little Italy for Italian food. Among the New York eGulleteers' Italian favorites are Lupa and Babbo (neither of which I've been to), but there's probably very slim chance you'd be able to get a reservation to Babbo on short notice. The best Italian meal I've had in New York was at I Coppi on E. 9 St. between A and 1st in the East Village, but not every eGulleteer has been fully satisfied with every meal there. Then again, I don't think any of those are southern Italian-style; certainly, I Coppi is Tuscan. In any case, if your wife is dead-set on going to Little Italy, have a look at this thread: Il Cortile, et al.

I vote for "stupid." Everything in the display case should be available.

"You smelly cheese! You stinky tofu! You thousand-year-old egg!" screamed the sous-chef as he chased after the sommelier with a sharpened spatula. Hmmm...I don't think that's what you were looking for.

Classic line, David. Thanks for the very detailed report. If you feel like, please remind us where you work.

So it's not a foodless, drinkless fast like Yom Kippur, more like Lent for Catholics?

Thanks, EJ.

For what it's worth, I disapprove of random drug testing or drug testing for the purpose of determining eligibility for employment or promotion - except where there's an urgent safety issue (i.e., the safety of people other than just the user can be threatened) that trumps the right to privacy. For example, I believe in random drug testing for pilots but not 3rd-basemen; surgeons but not teachers; and subway conductors but not office workers. I honestly don't know where someone using a knife and handling hot and potentially injurious foodstuffs fits into this continuum. But I think that where there's no urgent safety issue, random drug testing should be forbidden and the employer should be expected to use his/her own judgment to determine whether the employee shows signs of being impaired. If so, s/he could ask the employee to submit to a test for cause or, better yet, not ask for a test at all, but simply have a talk with that employee. If the employee shows no signs of impairment and his/her work is excellent, it's none of the employer's business if the employee is using drugs, as far as I'm concerned. Tim Raines, a great baseball player who probably should be inducted into the Hall of Fame someday but probably won't be, had a terrific season with the Montreal Expos while he was addicted to cocaine. In 1986, he batted .334, with an on-base percentage of .413 (both #1 in the National League), 35 doubles, 10 triples, and 70 stolen bases. At least, I think that was the year he was talking about when he said he was so high all the time that he could barely see, or something. Imagine that! Anyway, I'm glad he's clean, for his sake, but he cheated nobody of anything with fantastic play like that, regardless of what he was taking.

Oh, one question, Louisa: What does a chef's resume look like in France? And does it have the same format as one for American consumption (gee, what a lame unintentional pun)?

Congratulations on your Diplome, Louisa! Now, it's our turn to hardly bear the suspense. As I write, it is 1:45 P.M. in Paris. I'd wish you good luck, and I suppose I can, on general principles, regardless of what response you got from ADPA.

I'm glad you had a good meal, lissome. What's gremolata?

Sure, as long as there's still plenty of room to pass by, as is the case outside of Haveli, for example. There are plenty of sidewalk cafes in the East Village, and on balance, I like them when I'm a pedestrian. My only problem is when people stand on the sidewalk and block it, but that seems to happen more on 1st Av. near 6th St. than anywhere else, and that's not because of sidewalk cafes but, rather, obliviousness on the part of (mostly) tourists.

Egg drop and broth Basil and oregano The above with tomatoes Tomatoes and red wine Salt and pepper Onions and garlic Ginger and garlic Ginger, garlic, and turmeric with or without belacan Corn and beans Chicken and white wine Beef and red wine Stew and ginger Meat and star anise Eggplant, garlic, and hot pepper Broiled fish or seafood (squid, octopus, shrimps) and lime or lemon Lamb and rosemary Meat and potatoes Apple pie and vanilla ice cream Salad and olive oil + lemon juice or vinegar Liver and onions Bread and cheese Duck and orange Magret and cherries

Good luck!

How about chocolate and chocolate?

John: Thank you for so lucidly sharing your experience with us. And what makes me at least as happy as reading about your experience (albeit an unsatisfying one) is seeing your name again as a poster on these boards.

I remember liking their extra-virgin olive oil, and it was priced right.

What's Urfa Pepper?

Thanks for giving us that report, Roz. One of these days, I'd like to go to Blue Hill, but perhaps someone else will pay.

You ain't kidding! I haven't seen the "Meat Dress," but I doubt I'm missing anything.

Perhaps because Pepin isn't pithy. That makes sense, Spencer.

I haven't read the book, but you were glad it wasn't pithy? Why?

Invento...I like you dude. But quoting some Brillat Savarin for this modern quandry is like masturbating with a condom on to me. Bullshit's a word, not skewed logic. I find fault with the intellectualizations not the sentiment. When I smoked weed I made my best food. Lemme get this straight, Spencer. You feel like now that you don't smoke weed, you simply can't duplicate the former quality of your work? Yeah, I know. Like, you no longer smoke weed? I'm a musician, and I teach my students about Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique, which is based on an opium dream the composer had. But you know what? He wrote it as a memory of the dream, not while he was tripping. Charlie Parker was a junkie and a great musician, but the junk killed him at the age of 43. I do think that pot is less malignant or more benign (however you want to think about it) than various other drugs (including alcohol, in the hands of an alcoholic - with Mussorgsky and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach as prime examples of great composers whose career were thus stunted), but though the misjudgement of someone who's high may be less severe than that of a drunk, you will have trouble convincing me that you are able to isolate a comparison of the quality of your work when you are high as opposed to straight from the affect of the drug on your psyche. People have had brilliant insights while high, but they've also had dull-witted thoughts that seemed brilliant at the time - like wow.

hitchmeer: I haven't tried this recipe, but this is a classic Malaysian dish (though on an Indonesian recipe site): Bubur Pulut Hitam

The last time I was at Pho Nha Trang (Centre St.), I got a beef stew pho that I was happy with. It's been a while, though.