Miss J

Iceberg is too crisp. I think what we call English round lettuce is also referred to as Bibb in North America - although I'm making a guess here, as I grew up calling it Butterhead lettuce. Whatever you choose to call it, you're looking for a small, round lettuce with soft, light green, slightly floppy leaves. Good luck! Ah, found some pics: http://www.foodsubs.com/Greensld.html

Ah, trust Adam to like the purest, schmaltziest bits of schmaltz.

As long as we're talking schmaltz, would rendered goose fat also qualify, or does it have to come from a chicken? I have some goose fat in my fridge right now, and I'd like to know if I can accurately tell my guests that the roast potatoes taste good because they are covered in schmaltz. I feel a change of signature coming on...

Is that recipe in the Roux Brothers on Patisserie? I think I've seen it. And it's pretty amazing-looking...maybe we should try doing some bulk cobnut buying? As a complete aside, I love the word schmaltz . It's just so satisfying to say.

You're all making me fantastically jealous. My closest farmers' market is at Finchley Road on...wait for it...Wednesday mornings. So until I finally land a life of leisure, I'm not going to be attending it for the forseeable future.

Nooo...what did you eat that was wonderful? I'm assuming it wasn't the gold filigree.

I'm starting to really enjoy this thead. Akiko, when you get your stone bowls would you consider running a photo story on how to make bibimbap?

Great sink, Rachel.

Frantically hanging onto summer last night: Rubbed a mixture of hot smoky Spanish paprika, sugar, salt, black pepper, dry mustard, celery salt and garlic granules over a rack of baby back ribs and left in my fridge for around 6 hours. Then got the BBQ going and set it up for indirect grilling (one gas burner on, the other off, drip-pan on the bottom) and put my oven thermometer on the top grill rack. Cooked the ribs as slowly as my silly little BBQ would allow (it was pretty difficult to keep the heat down as low as 300F) and brushed them halfway through with a mop-ish sauce of cider vinegar, sliced shallots, dried chile pepper flakes, salt and black pepper. They turned out okay, but a little chewier than I would have liked. Obviously, I need to either get a bigger BBQ or find a better way of controlling the heat in my little one... I also made a variation of my standby potato salad (new potatoes boiled, sliced into thick coins, tossed with sauteed shallots and red wine vinegar, then finished with a drizzle of olive oil and lots of chopped parsley and thyme), and a sort of cabbage-less coleslaw inspired by a lovely yoghurt-y vegetable dish I had at a Turkish restaurant last week. Finished the whole thing with a few enormous, ripe black figs baked in a bit of red wine, honey, butter and bay leaf and served with a blob of thick Greek yoghurt. These were definitely the most successful part of the whole meal. (Or maybe I'm just a dessert freak.)

You've gotta be QUICK, Basildog.

You can get them at the Spice Shop in Portobello too, which also sells decent (though tinned) refried beans and tomatillo salsa. Cool Chile also does mailorder: www.coolchile.co.uk And I know what you mean about chipotles in adobo - I'm a bit lost without them. Until I discovered Dodi's chile company, I used to exceed my flight weight allowance in chipotle tins every time I went home. Edit disclosure: being a computer geek surrounded by design geeks, I wrote Adobe instead of adobo. Ooops.

Fish-fragrant aubergines Courgette silvers stir-fried with garlic Steamed rice A bottle of Thai lager

Looks like Le Pigalle's new-found success isn't just confined to Saturday nights. I tried to pop in last night (Tuesday) with a couple of friends, and once again it was completely packed. Francoise seemed stressed - not only was he terse and unsmiling, but he actually avoided eye contact. He couldn't have seemed a more different man than if he'd been replaced by the Body Snatchers. Hopefully this was just a one-off bad night (I noticed he had one really large table of around 12, and another reserved for 10 arriving imminently). Still, it was a little worrying. I think I'll hold off Le Pigalle for a few months and see if things calm down. However, if people are as won over as we are, it looks like it'll be reservation-only for the foreseeable future.

Leffe is EVIL.

I usually prefer really spicy, lychee-scented Alsatian gewurztraminer with Indian food. I find it complex enough to bear up to (most of) the flavours happening on my plate. But then, I know nothing about wine so you're probably best not listening to a word I say.

Soba, do you take reservations? I made an altogether simpler meal last night. We both came in late from work, so I threw together a wok of ants-climbing-a-tree. The mung bean noodles were fantastically slippery, and looked great in their red-chili-flecked gold sauce with spring onions. Followed with chilled melon cubes and LOTS of water, as I am still trying to rehydrate in the wake of Saturday's e-gullet outing...

Cheers for the recipe & tips. I found Adam's rosewater-as-damson-enhancer suggestion intriguing...I've a bottle of rosewater that I think to use for baked figs, but I've never used it with plums before. Nina, when you do plum clafloutis do you usually stick to the brandy suggested in the recipe, or have you found a more appropriate flavour match? I have a bottle of armegnac, but I usually just drink it rather than cook with it.

Ooh - I have some damsons at home. How did you make your clafoutis, Adam?

Last night: Cold Chinese egg noodles with sesame sauce - a complete cheat, as the sauce is actually meant to be for bang bang chicken. It was easy though - just sugar, soy, black vinegar, Chinese sesame paste (tommy, take note), homemade chili oil, sesame oil and slivered spring onions. The chili oil gave a nice, slow building heat with no sharp edges. I finished it with a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds and a scattering of roasted Sichuan pepper. Marinated aubergines Sliced aubergines brushed with peanut oil and fried 'til golden, then layered with finely minced ginger, garlic and shallot and left to steep at room temperature in a little dark soy & peanut oil until meltingly soft. Stir-fried pak choi with garlic

I have just enjoyed a mid-afternoon slice of tart au citron, eaten out of a paper napkin at my desk whilst reading egullet and waiting for someone to get back to me about some work I've just sent off. Bliss.

Tsk - what a bunch of wimps. Charlene Leonard hands round deep-fried crickets as pre-dinner munchies. And if Simon M had been there, he'd have dumped the root beer and kept the cricket.

Singles ad in the personals? Good call. Maybe if I'm particularly lucky, I can just get the asparagus.

I once dated a guy whose idea of a decent meal was adding some thawed, frozen vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower) to a plate of rice, then topping it all with a fried egg and a sprinkling of soy sauce. Strangely, things didn't work out.

Yes, that's what we need - let's ALL get involved in whatever past arguments other people have had. I mean, it's not like any of us have anything better to do. So...how bout that Hans & his big asparagus, eh? Anyone know where I can get a big asparagus like that?

I hear you, stellabella. I started off experimenting with tahini, and soon things spiralled out of my control. Lately I've cut back to just two spoonfuls a day, and I'm telling you, it's...it's...difficult.