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Sneakeater, I don't recall if I know whether you've been to Casa Mono. Granted that Casa Mono is not Portuguese, but can you compare the taste and presentation of the dishes between these two places? One thing I'd be curious about is how salty the dishes were at Tintol.

What city do you live in? If you tell us, perhaps someone will know a place where you can find them.

Please feel free to mention some of them; I'd be interested to read about them.

What is the English word for khoya?

I'm shocked that there are schools with 15-minute lunches now. What the Hell is that? Everyone needs some time to unwind and socialize in the middle of the day. For many kids, lunch may be their favorite period, and don't underestimate the developmental importance of the social interactions that go on during that period. On no account should lunch be shorter than 30 minutes, and I think I got 40-45 minutes when I was in elementary and high school. Recess should also be at least 30 minutes long, every day. When I was in 8th grade, I went to a ridiculously academically rigorous private school (Rudolph Steiner School on Manhattan's Upper East Side), and I just loved their long recess, which was either 50 minutes or an hour. It was by far my favorite thing about that school. We hung out in Central Park, playing soccer, or in snowy weather running up the hill and riding down on upturned frisbees. In between times, we walked or ran around, talked, and enjoyed the open air. That time was obviously not at the expense of serious classwork, so what are these [uncharitable name deleted] thinking?

Yeah, that really is odd. Rasam is tamarind-based! But the article in general was a very good read.

Do you know what he got her in return?

Linda, please post in separate threads about your favorite places from the Chowhound Guide.

Mark Twain is quoted as having once said that reports of his death were greatly exaggerated. Similarly, not all of the restaurants listed below are defunct. Kiev has had a checkered history recently, and is now a bar. Chanterelle is still operating, but was it formerly on the East Side before moving to its longstanding TriBeCa location? Mitali East is still on 6th St. I am not sure whether Mitali West is still operating, but it was last time I noticed.

I really don't tend to think of foods as manly too often, and I do love mushrooms and cheesecake as well as hunks of protein (though more often fish or fowl than red meat). I don't think that makes me a hermaphrodite. But some of the things I like that perhaps more women than men find disgusting would include chicken feet and many kinds of offal. Does that make them "manly"? For the gross-out factor? That's not why I eat 'em, though. And yes, pig feet are good, especially in Chao Zhou noodle soup.

I suspect that the word "quality" used as a synonym for "good" or "high quality" is of quite long standing in the English language, and I know that cognates (e.g., un prodotto di qualita') are used in various related languages. As for its being meaningless, would you say that the phrase "good product" is also meaningless? The fact that there are loads of synonyms for "good," all of which have somewhat different connotations, enriches the English language. Imagine if we were restricted to "somewhat good," "very good," "extremely good," etc. There are languages like that, and one certainly manages to express one's meaning in them, but I don't think they have the advantage in terms of shades of meaning. (Not in that respect, anyway; they may have many wonderfully colorful proverbs instead.)

Bud, I think of chicken feet as a common dim sum dish.

I don't know, is it? They could start with Kimchi Pa-jun. I'm trying to think what they could have for a main dish. I wonder if they could get a bap dish without meat in it. I think that could be fine as long as they eat eggs. Rice with eggs, vegetables, and gojuchang sounds fine to me. If they aren't strict vegetarians, they could of course have a fish dish, but I know very well that fish aren't vegetables.

Too bad about that, but that's a nice picture, with the lovely city hall in the background, a building which to my eyes is clearly inspired by the Dome des Invalides, one of my favorite buildings in Paris. Pretty spot for a farmer's market -- weather allowing, of course.

Yuck! But the language is subject to change, and that's the way it is.

Yes, definitely rugelach. I didn't mention Black Forest Cake before. That was something my brother and I loved when we were growing up in New York.

Michelle, where does that Persian white rice come from?

Rochelle, I'm glad to hear from you and very sorry you have to deal with this. I think this is the time to have your husband or someone else do the prep work for you. One thought, though, is that you could at least stew fruit for dessert without too much trouble. Just wash the apple or pear, put some brown sugar (and, if you like, wine) on it, and stick it in the over whole. I'm sure you have your own favorite way to do this. I doubt that it's necessary to quarter or core the fruit before cooking it, but I stand to be corrected. If it is necessary, have your husband do it.

That looks fantastic, Adam! Could you post or link a recipe for others who might want to try making this? (Parenthetically, it doesn't seem that having a baby has slowed down your cooking much, and congratulations!)

Don't you think some are terrible stories? Being taken for a child prostitute in a fancy hotel? That's just awful, shocking, and I would think that it constituted criminal activity on the part of both the patron and hotel. But I thought it was sad that it lasted only a month. I guess in the end, I'm a real romantic. For better or worse, I don't have any really amazing stories to tell, though I have had some experiences in speaking with people I met over a meal that were good at the time.

Janet, have you tried that West African food at the "A Taste of Africa" truck? If so, what have you had, and how was it?

Robyn, you make some good points, but do remember that sodium amounts must be included in the "nutrition facts" labels on products for sale in the US, so that at least that information is out there, which is more than I can say for potassium and phospherous amounts. I think I agree with you and the others who've said that a big warning on statin medications about the risk of interaction with grapefruit should be sufficient. It might not be, but I do agree that if someone gets sick from eating grapefruits, that isn't the fault of the grapefruit farmers, distributors, or sellers.

Not a disaster at all, Janet, just something that took too long and didn't end up going exactly as intended or planned but tasted great. That reminds me of the time my brother and I made Neapolitan-style lasagna for our mother when she got out of the hospital a bunch of years ago. We did our best to follow Ada Boni's recipe exactly, but for reasons I'm not sure we understood and I can't remember (oven temperature leakage?), it took four hours for the lasagna to cook properly. But it sure tasted good. That was funny, but no disaster.

Theresa, welcome to the eGullet Society and thanks for clarifying things. Don't feel like the efforts put in at Lupa aren't appreciated here. Look through the rest of the thread and feel the love. For that matter, weinoo also praises the quality of his meals ("Food was outstanding again"). Just for the record, though, I wasn't really pointing anything out, just asking whether there had been any unusual or rare ingredients in those special pastas. You've clearly answered that in the affirmative. Can you describe the taste of chiodini mushrooms? (I realize how hard it is to describe tastes, of course.)

Janet, if you do stop by an eatery, I'd vote for your favorite taqueria, but just because a taqueria is the first place I'd visit after (and possibly before) putting down my bags doesn't mean you have to. I'm sure I'll enjoy whatever you decide to do this week. Sorry about the disastrous morning.