slkinsey

Sounds like a great time! The only downside, of course, is that you've now gone into that "pretty good, but not like Peter Luger" steak purgatory until your next visit.

Not to mention that I don't want my humble "latte art" efforts compared to Melkor's.

That's why the class says:

I don't know much about Vulcan ovens nor can I find any info doing a web search, but I have done a substantial amount of research on wood burning ovens. From the pizza cooks that I've spoken with, wood burning ovens can and do reach temperatures exceeding 900 degrees. Yes, this is correct. A wood fired oven can get plenty hot, certainly well within the range of temperatures maintained in the coal-fired establishments. The Neapolitan pizzerie use wood.

I call dibs on a pint of Sconzo Maple Syrup!

Doc, you should help your friend by dipping a few quarts of sap out of that bucket and reducing it down on your stove. After all, if the bucket overflows it will only go to waste.

There are certainly parts of Italy that make fresh semolina pasta with water (usually not oil... fat inhibits the cross-linkang oe gluten strands). Orecchiette, for example. Semolina is not generally used, in my experience, in the soft strand pastas of Emilia-Romagna such as tagliatelle, etc. In general, I would not recommend semolina for fresh pasta because it produces a fairly grainy texture and I am normally going for something smooth. Just for the record, because I think there is often confusion... semolina is a coarse, somewhat sandy-textured milling of Durum wheat. When this wheat is ground to a normal flour consistency, it is no longer semolina but simply Durum wheat flour.

Is it distilled from Colt 45?

Edible sea salt is, AFAIK, 99% pure NaCl, and taste tests have shown that it is very difficult (verging on impossible in some cases) to taste the difference between varieties of edible salt when dissolved in purified water. This would make it all but impossible to taste the difference between dissolved salts in the presence of other masking flavors.

They are fresh baby artichokes. The canned ones taste pickled to me. Well, yes and no. My culinary outlook and kitchen learning experience is mostly regional Italian. However, I wouldn't say that most of the food I make is Italian per se. Which is to say that most of the dishes I make aren't traditional Italian dishes, but rather dishes made with an Italian-influenced approach to ingredients. Nothing in our meal of last night, for example, strikes me as particularly Italian.

Right... But of course if you give that restaurant half the customers, they are going to have to double their prices. This is one of the reasons most of the aforementioned three star single seating restaurants aren't making any money.

Um... Moby? You're supposed to take the varnish off the handle (as well as the copper) before you start using the pan. Just rub some oil on the handle the next time you have it in the oven and it will build up a rust-proof "seasoning."

Debbie, that's all the details there were. It wasn't an article in the Times, just a blurb giving the same facts that I gave. Your friend might try calling Second Avenue Delicatessen for more information.

Fairway @ 74th Street, mostly. Zabar's sometimes. I like Oppenheimer Prime Meats for non-poultry (their poultry is good too, but I also like the Murray's chickens at Fairway and it's more convenient). Union Square Greenmarket during the growing season (soon!). Smattering in Chinatown/Little Italy. Smattering on 9th Avenue.

Inspired by this, had for dinner (among other things): No doubt it isn't the traditional preparation. But it does contain kale, potato and Spanish chorizo.

I guess I am of a similar mind with the others. It's actually quite good in the context of a middlebrow chain place -- similar to Burritoville in that respect. I don't hesitate to eat there during the week. But, part of that has to do with the fact that the choices are limited given a day job in Midtown East and 60 minutes for lunch. I'd certainly pass right by Chipotle to eat at Noche Mexicana, Taqueria Y Fonda or even the W 104th Street taco truck if it were in my neighborhood (that speaks more to the good quality of the three alternatives than it does any deficiencies at Chipotle).

Interesting how much more expensive the Jack Daniels barrel is compared to the cask offer from Bruichladdich. That said, to be fair, it sounds like the JD barrel is already aged and ready to be bottled whereas the owner of a Bruichladdich cask would have to wait at least 10 years to realize the fruits of his investment.

You mean Jeffrey Steingarten?

I should hasten to mention that there are plenty of opera singers out there with relatively pedestrian voices who are nevertheless having huge careers based on their other strengths (acting, networking, looks, whatever). Ferrets are likely to be leagalized in NYC sometime soon, actually. There was already a referendum by the City Counsil back in the Guliani days, but the mayor vetoed it and there were not enough votes to overturn him. Bloomberg has indicated that he would sign off on it if it comes up again. Basically it's a political thing involving the Board of Health -- somewhat lengthy and complicated to explain. Anyway, I doubt that the cops are going to walk past the college kids openly smoking marijuana, not to mention the local crack dealers, to knock down our door and arrest our ferrets. More info at NYCFerrets.com

K will respond, I'm sure... but there are no formal requirements for being an opera singer, per se. You just have to have the right mix of vocal talent, looks, dramatic ability, interpersonal/networking skills, political savvy, luck and in some cases, the willingness to have sex with certain highly connected people in the business. Some people are stronger in some categories than others... but most successful singers have a pretty high aggregate score.

Appreciate your comments, Robert. Any inside look into the kitchen you could give us would be greatly appreciated. Please post your thoughts and impressions (not that you have a ton of time on your hands, I'm sure ).

Upcoming great first-time productions to see at the Met: L'Italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers). Very funny/accessible Rossini opera. All star cast: Olga Borodina, Juan Diego Flórez (probably the #1 light Rossini tenor today), Ferruccio Furlanetto. Performances on March 11 and 17. Rigoletto. Very famous tragic opera. Lots of familiar hit tunes. Very good cast featuring Ruth Ann Swenson as Gilda and Ramón Vargas as the Duke. Performances March 18, 22, 26 and April 1, 6, 9. Salome. The music might be a little freaky and advanced for first-time attendees, but it is a very powerful, dramatic and sexy opera. Chances to see super-hot soprano Karita Mattila dancing around in practically nothing do not come along all that often. Superstar cast featuring Mattila in the title role along with Matthew Polenzani, Siegfried Jerusalem and, starting on March 31, Bryn Terfel. Performances on March 15, 19, 23, 27, 31 and April 3, 7, 10.

Little known opera facts for NYers: 1. You can get a seat at the Met for as little as $25 dollars... standing room for as little as 11 or 12. 2. There is a plot synopsis in every program, as well as on the Metropolitan Opera Company's web site (here is a synopsis of tomorrow evening's performance of L'Italiana in Algeri). 3. In front of every seat (usually affixed to the back of every seat in front of it) is a little LED screen which can be turned on and off. This is the Met's proprietary Met Titles system. When activated, the screen displays a real-time translation of the opera.

Pictures from September, 2003. They are a good bit larger now, and their markings (masks, etc.) have evolved as they matured.

There is a similar thread from a while back on Swiss chard that has some interesting and applicable ideas, like this: