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Speaking of not starving- One of my friends at Harvard never ate in the dining hall. I personally didn't think the food was terrible, but she hated it, and ordered groceries from Homeruns instead. To get into the Harvard dining hall kitchens you need to swipe your ID card; apparently it not only checks if you are supposed to eat in that specific dining hall (there's a house system instead of standard dorms) but also takes note who never swipes their ID to get food --like my friend. She and her parents received letters of concern that she was anorexic because she hadn't gone into the dining hall more than three times in the past 30 days. I feel sort of ambivalent about this compilation of data, but maybe it has alerted parents of problems before it's too late. The only thing truly dubious at HU, incidentally, was the dish called "Steamship of Beef". I don't know anyone who even tried it.

Martha Stewart also has a rum buttercream for her wedding cake featured in Baking with Julia. It calls for all yolks, I think it's 14 or 16 of them, and no egg whites, so it is a bit of a pain. But it's the best buttercream I've ever had, and the pale yellow color is so nice.

I'm of the very same opinion; I wish I started with these books too. There were so many times as a beginner when I made a recipe and it didn't quite work and I had no idea what I did wrong. Rose usually tells you about a problem (Genoise didn't rise?) and its probable cause (oven insufficiently preheated). Just knowing that next time you won't make that mistake again is priceless. And her pie crust recipe is indeed fantastic.

Heavy cream in a milkshake is really, really wonderful. I like to make a peanut butter milkshake; you'd think the peanut butter would break up into cold globs or pellets or something, but it actually incorporates very well and tastes wonderful with vanilla...

I never liked the Paris Bar - I thought it was a terrible value and the service was cool and distanced. It would be one thing if it were still 1988 and Savignyplatz was the fashionable part of town, but there are better places to go. And speaking of open-air Kneipen... the Prater Biergarten should be open! It is one of the most central Biergärten in the city, and in a young part neighborhood, Prenzlauer Berg. Prater is a whole complex, a restaurant, Biergarten, small performance space, and bar.

Some places I've gone to and liked: abendmahl- muskauer str 9, berlin-kreuzberg. I guess you could call it "funky", a mostly vegetarian spot. hasir- oranienburger str 4, berlin-mitte. Wonderful Turkish food in a too-hip part of the city. salumeria culinario - tucholskystr. 34, berlin-mitte. Small cafe/restaurant/salumeria, low-key, inexpensive, very good value. cafe einstein- kurfuerstenstr. 58, berlin-tiergarten. On a summer day, eating outside here is so splendid. Viennese cafe by day and fairly pricey restaurant by night- so if you want to save money go for breakfast or lunch. monsieur vuong- alte schönhauser str. 46, berlin-mitte. Everyone comes to m. vuong for vietnamese. There are about 3 things on the menu to choose from, but they cost about 6 Euro each and are fresh and well-prepared. Everyone in Mitte is eating here or at Cibo Matto down the street. Have a good time in Berlin!

I just got home from a 7 month stay in Berlin. It is a unique town in that you get much better value for money overall at the cheap joints than just about anywhere else. A good bet is eating a big breakfast, as many cafes offer generous breakfast plates under 10 euros. As for specific places, Habibi's had absolutely transcendent falafel, and Monsieur Vuong is famous for really fantastic, fresh Vietnamese food. All over town and especially in the Turkish neighborhood of Kreuzberg you can buy a Doener Kebab for 3 Euros or so, but look around for a good Imbiss (you'll see the word everywhere; it just means it's a snack/sandwich place) to buy your sandwich at. I agree that you should stop by supermarkets and bakeries if you really are low on cash. A loaf of German bread costs 2 or 3 euros and is more than filling enough to sustain you for an entire day.

I would also recommend American Appetite very highly. And I would add that along with Julia Child, the World's Fair of 1939 brought a lot of culinary talent from France and heightened America's interest in French food. A.A. also highlights the importance of the Immigration act of '68-- explaining all the Vietnamese restaurants that popped up in the 70s -- and does a good job in connecting xenophobia with culinary backwardness. Brenner also mentions that Alice Waters' parents grew a Victory Garden in WWII, which might have made an impression...

Right on!! I had a fabulous German Spaetbergunder at Restaurant Margaux in Berlin. German red wine can be VERY good -- but they make so little of it that it's all slurped up domestically, and you need to know what to look for. (Which is why I left it to the sommelier.) I wish I could name a Weingut that specializes in reds, but I can't. However they are around and are worth asking around for.

There is a Michelin 3-star in Baiersbronn (Black Forest) called Schwarzwaldstube. It might also be Pfifferling (chanterelle) season, and like white asparagus, there are special menus centered around Pfifferlinge all around the country. Both Black Forest Ham and ham from Tirol are excellent, don't miss them.

I think this is the point the author of the article is missing: the act of going to a nice restaurant has, for better or worse, become an activity dependent on a fairly large body of knowledge, with its own particular code.

And Kentucky Derby Pie - try a search on that; there must be lots of recipes floating around.

I fold a little bit of it into whipped cream, instead of vanilla extract, and serve it with berries in the summertime.

But ethnic stores are usually so much cheaper! And there's nothing like that look of delight on an indian shopkeeper's face when a stranger comes in and asks for fresh curry leaves...

i like spoon sweets and water. and haloumi cheese. fried is good, but flambéd is better. beacause you can't resist cheese on fire.

The two best dessert names ever right there: fools and syllabubs. Pick up any book by Claudia Roden, like her books on Middle Eastern and Jewish food, and she'll give you a ton of uses for rose water. I flavored my homemade marzipan with it (that one time i made marzipan by hand). as i remember from her books, it's often paired with mastic.

Paul Lemieux swoon and right here in puddletown. regards, trillium ...and gale gand. and francois payard. and lee napoli is famous in boston.

I tried Rauchbier a few months ago in Germany, and the only way I can describe the difference is that it's akin to the difference between a smoked cheese and a regular cheese. It is a distinct, clear-as-a-bell smokiness. This taste might be obscured by a Bock-type or Dunkel beer, however.