galleygirl

Hey, GG, thanks for the pic, and the tutorial...Those look totally different from what I was seeing...I, no doubt, was seeing the "do not eats"...Mine were curls 4-10" above the ground, yet their papery coatings were still white...The stuff I found said all ferns go thru a fiddle head stage, but the inedible ones can cause stomache cancer with 2-3 years...beyond bitter.

The larger one is Waltham India Market, at around 375 Moody Street. The smaller one is right next door, you can't miss it....try both...I got two jars of lovely pickles at the smaller one, and a few really hot, decadent , salty, crispy bhajia at Waltham India Market...

I think they're usually priced by the pair, not the pound... I've often found fish-mongers who don't touch the stuff, who asked *me* for recipes and what to do with anything I may be buying...

And how much were a pair of these beauties? Perhaps an Atkins-dieter in my aquaintance will get lucky if I get to Haymarket Friday, and make a quick stop there...

Love the clams at the Clam Box, but I always opt for the "big bellies" if the sign is out... If it's for more than clams, I go down the road to Essex Seafood, where the lobsters are about 1/2 the price of Woodmans's (yeah, it *is* just for tourists....), the steamers are sweert, and the fried clams are second only to the Clam Box, it makes it more convenient for a mixed-seafood experience...And, it's BYOB...Also the best lobster roll; make sure you ask them to grill the roll. My favorite place for soft-shells, in season, is Peach Farm Seafood, in Boston's Chinatown...get them spicy salt-fried...they're not whole, but they're fabulous...

I have to tell ya,these looked *way* fresher...Soooooo tempting....

Hiking last weekend, we saw fiddleheads curled near a stream (Eastern Mass)...Of course, I got all excited, and was roundly abused for my notion of finding something to eat *anywhere* we went...now, of course, I read that you can only eat one kind, and that the others are cancer-inducing, so I guess I'll have to pass them by...couldn't find any pictures on the web, and i don't have a "field guide to the ferns", like the rest of you Vermont types do Unless there's a fool proof sign?

I love Arax, my favorite of the markets along there, but their selection of spices is pretty limited, I always end up having to go elsewhere as well...but if you're there, make sure to pick up Bay leaves Massis and Sevan, in the same blocks, might help you fill in, but it's still a very basic selection....

My first stop would be Christina's Spices, in Inman Square, Cambridge...Very good selection, but not *totally* bulk; they're prepackaged in sealed plastic bags, small quantities, tho... For a lot of others, I hit the Indian groceries on my route; two in Waltham (don't know the names, next door to each other on "Foodie Row")...two outside Coolidge Corner, Brookline, on Harvard Ave, Madras Masala, and another (oops!) across from Pho Lemongrass...And, if you can believe this, Amigos International Convenience store, on Harvard Ave in Allston...yep, they're Indian...yep, they've got a ton of stuff...who would have guessed? Of course, on weekends, Madras Masala has a great selection of fried, spicy treats...The places in Waltham have fresh chappatti, tho...

Thanks! I bookmarked your wbsite, BTW....Those Portuguese recipes are on my must-try list...

Have you got a good recipe for Bacalhao a Braz? It was my intro to Portuguese food (at Cafe Carioca, in NY) and I love it!

Here's their website...... O Fado Homepage

They used to have a Fado singer on Friday and Saturday nites, but I'm not sure if they still do...I'll have to ask next time.... There was also a rabbit stew special on the menu that I tried to coerce Mom into ordering, but she had that Bugs Bunny issue...

So, imagine this meal if you will...The epitome of peasantry, but every bite perfectly balanced...Six, fresh, plump sardines, grilled so they were seared crisp on the outside, so juicy inside each fillet just fell away from the bone, and the liver inside was still moist as well...The fish weer drizzled with a little mojo crudo, chopped parsley and vinegar, with very finely minced purple onion...The EVOO and salt brought out the rich flavor of the fish, the acid cut it, and the onion seemed almost sweet... The fish heads? So well-grilled that I tore each one off and ate it before I even began the fish. Crispy crunches of bone that melted in your mouth, around those lovely mouthfuls of tangy bits. Black eyed peas were on the side, and these were crowned with chopped *white* onion...Again, genius...And next to all this was my favorite, the boiled white potatoes that always seem to taste different in Portuguese restaurants.... Mom had the Pork Alentejana; cubes of pork with clams, cooked in a salty wine and pepper sauce..She didn't need a knife for the pork, but couldn't finish the mound of fried potatoes on top of it.. Where? As if ya didn't know...O Fado. The blackmail that my parents use to lure me to Peabody....They only have the sardines at lunch, and the restaurant was empty, so we ate in the bar.... My last visit to O Fado was on a Monday night... FYI, only the bar area is open on Mondays, and I'm talking 'bar' here, in the old sense, with plywood half-way up the walls, Keno game going on, and pool table...Regulars were chowing at said bar, one bellied up right to a caldeirada, so we knew the food was the usual home-cooking...Luckily, I was with such a peripatetic pair of eaters, that they felt right at home in the milieu, despite the fact that it was smoke-free(g).. Our host gracuously spread fresh paper over one of the tables for us, and we were off...I don't know much about Portugese wine (except I usually don't care for it) so I put in an order for a carafe of the house white...The waiter said he had a bottle of Vinho Verde for the same price, which did nothing to excite me, because I detest the sweet fizz of Vinho Verde, too...But this, this was excellent!!! A producer called Alianca(cedilla? under the c) served up a bottle of absolutely dry, crisp effervescence, that brought to mind nothing but an excellent, dry cava...At $11 a bottle, who knows how reasonable this stuff is in one's neighborhood wine store? We had to order right away, because the cook was leaving for the night, but not before he produced my favorite plate of stewed octopus, bathed in a slightly thicker sauce than normal, still mostly red wine, some green peppers for depth, tho not noticeable in the finished product, some tomato, lots of garlic, and that fatty richness that only octopus protein cooking down can give...Lacking salt, for some reason, but that was easily remedied...My only quibble was we were too late for boiled potatoes, my favorite accompaniment with this dish...Their chewy rice made up for that. My companions indulged me in my need to try the Bacalhao a Braz here as well...Chunks of salt cod (strips in other places), tossed with strips of sauteed potato, strips of onion so carmelized that they looked like bacon, and parsley, all tossed with scrambled eggs. In other places, it had been toossed with strips of hard-boiled egg. No matter, this is Portugese comfort food, and a big plate of it (and it's only served in big plates!) would do wonders on a Sunday morning, if ya know what I mean...;) Made me think of a great batch of lox and eggs and onions... The Porkadelphians also shared the Pork and Clams Alentejana, chunks of pork, and some clams in a salty, winey, spicy sauce, topped with so many Portugese potatoes another plate was required... The leftover pork went home with the friends, the leftover bacalhao was my breakfast this morning...The bill? $67, including TWO bottles of the excellent Vinho Verde....

A pub near me (Matt Murphy's, Boston), makes their own ketchup...It comes to the table with cinnamon sticks still intact...Need to go observe and taste more carefully... Basically, their firies are a delivery system for this ambrosia.

Also, the Gauguin show is great, and its huge...allow lots of time.... You *must* buy tickets for specific times in advance, do you have them?

East Coast Grill is fabulous, in fact, I'm going there Saturday nite with a few friends(BF's brother and his wife!)...Their 'que is up there with the best,(they're probably tied for 2nd, or third) but they aren't really a barbeque joint...It's a moderate, funky, sit-down restaurant, great martinis, wonderful fish specials, but I always have the world's best tuna, a house-butchered filet-mignon size hunk, grilled black(on the outside) and blue (on the inside)...Lots of meat specials, and pulled pork, briskit, ect, you can get a whole barbeque plate...I have friends who'll get a single rib as an app when they're ordering something else...They also have great hotter'n hell sausage...Plus raw bar...Plus great tuna tacos... Chris Schlesinger (Thrill of the Grill, et al) does great rubs, salsa, etc with his daily specials. Redbones is a really fun place, great atmospere, lots of micro-brew choices...It hasn't been a the best in Boston-area barbeque for quite awhile, but that doesn't stop them from resting on their laurels...I think their rep was built when they were the *only* game in town, and loyalty and word of mouth still out...And, they pull a great Guinness... East Coast Grill Menu

The two best barbeque spots in Boston are Blue Ribbon, and Uncle Pete's....There are two BR's, luckily, one is on Mass Ave in Arlington, which is in the direction of Lexington, certainly not out of the way..Better at pulled pork, briskit, and burnt ends.....Sides to make a vegetarian weep. make sure you get the champ if they have it, collards sauteed in garlic, and mixed with mashed potatoes...All the ambiance of a roadside stand, BYOB. Number two is Uncle Pete's, about 3 minutes North of the airport, at the Day Square (East Boston)exit off Route 1A....Better for ribs, their sides suck....An actual sit-down restaurant, with beer and wine... Also in Day Square in Rincon Limeno, a Peruvian joint with the best ceviche, on big platters, that I've ever tasted...get the mixed seafood, altho the octopus salad is really good too...Their fried yucca is worth every greasy calorie...Anything fried is good. There's not much good near the museum...Sigh...About 1/2 mile closer into Boston, on Huntington Ave is Boston Shwarma King(or maybe Shwarma King) which has great felafel, kebabs, Middle eastern treats....Dive..... A block away is Moby Dick, more Turkish, more kebabs, but they even have bestilla(?)....Great swordfish kebabs....Still, a dive. Across the Fenway from the museum is Brown Sugar, Thai that is middling, at best...Also, El Pelon, Boston's best (IMHO) taqueria...But, that's not saying much...They do a great (for Boston) fish taco.... When I go to the museum, I stop for snacks in their basement cafeteria, which has a great (really!) salad bar, sandwiches, and cookies, and then go else where before or after for real food... Edited for typos....

Gottah have a say about Pho Pasteur..It's certainly convenient, right in the Square, but the food has been so homogenized I wouldn't bother, if you were looking for anything Vietnamese...best Vietnamese is a short red-line ride away, in Chinatown, at Nam Vang, on beach Street. now, that's off the beaten path ;)

I just bought a case of Bodega Lurton Pinot Gris...The 2003 vintage of this Argentinian white is amazing...It's 2 for $10 at my local packie, but Best Cellars, a chain, offers it for $8 per bottle...If anyone said they bought it for $12, you would think they were a clever shopper, indeed...It's very light for Pinot Gris, not sweet at all, but it still has that bitter-kind-of-sour-kind-of tail...Call around. Stock up.

The best local, off the tourist track, is O Cantinho, a Portuguese cafe-bar-coffee shop in Inman Square...The best thing on the menu is the stewed octopus, for abour $7....If you can do a $26 entree (top price) there's Chris Schlesinger's East Coast Grill, one of the best spots in the city... fabulous seafood, lots of daily specials, but really the best thing on the menu is the white-pepper-crusted tuna, a hand-cut filet-mignon size piece, best done black and blue, with grilled vegetables on the side. Really. This may be my favorite meal. Anywhere.

Groan...Yo're so close to all the best Asian in the city, but you're right, Boston will lose when compared to Vancouver for Hong Kong style seafood, altho, if you like lobster, you may make a point of the twin lobster special in ginger and scallion at Peach Farm Seafood.. Sam LaGrassa's, a block from your hotel, has corned beef and pastrami that comes damned close to NY, according to the meatlovers in my life...You should do a lunch there, if deli floats your boat.. Grotto, on Beacon Hill, does a four course pasta tasting menu that is always changing, and could be important for a carb-loader. $40. Another Bostonian I know is loading her carbs at La Morra, a new Sicilian place in Brookline Village, a two-minute walk from the Brookline Village T-station on the green line(two minutes from your hotel) I don't know how good it is, but she *is* a pasta fanatic... OTOH, if yo're coming into the airport, two stops on the blueline in the *other* direction will yield major treasure, albeit in hole-in-the-wall surrounding...One stop past, on the Blue line, is Rincon Limeo, a Peruvian restaurant that has the best ceviche, in giant platters, that I've ever eaten...Rib-sticking meat things, and wonderful fried fish, too...Same stop is Uncle Pete's, Boston's second best barbecue...A few stops further out, at Revere Beach station, is Floating Rock, for coffee-shop ambiance and authentic Cambodian...If you have Cambodian in Vancouver, this is no big deal...But I have NY friends for whom it is a must-visit every trip.. Of course, if you wannah splurge, you're also amazingly close to No.9 Park, and it is *all that*.... Thanks, Trish!

Where are you staying? Ethnic? Seafood? Preferences? Wheels? All these questions, and more, will yield divine low-end treats....

You're right near my favorite, and among the top three in Boston....Clear Flour bakery, on 178 Thorndike Street in Brookline, right off Commonwealth Ave, just past Nickerson Field...Their baquettes have that "scrape the roof of your mouth" crust, thin yet crisp...Their pain ancienne is even sturdier...They do different special breads each day, and some pastries as well.

No 9 Park also has a three-course prix-fixe lunch everyday for $26....They do not cut corners on it, or treat one like an inferior life-form for ordering it....