marie-louise

I bought that a few months ago (yes Maggie, I already counted it.) It is such an pretty little book that it was a must-have. PS Her cream biscuits are simply the best biscuits ever. Many, many years ago Marion Cunningham owned a restaurant called the Union Hotel in Benicia CA (Judy Rogers of Zuni Cafe was the chef) and they served these biscuits. I made them a few weeks back-they tasted just like I remembered.

Zuni Cookbook has a great section on how to stock your kitchen, as does The New Way to Cook. Oddly, neither Joy of Cooking or J & J Coooking at Home does.

Tana-What a beautiful picture-you should use that as your avatar. Another Meyer lemon fan here, my last yard had such a prolific tree that I couldn't possibly use or give away all of them. Now I have a baby tree that "only" puts out a dozen or two a year. I treasure them, everything I use them for tastes so good. Memesuze, even if they are not Meyer lemons, chances are they are something good that you will enjoy cooking with. Make some mayonaise, salad dressing, or a buerre blanc sauce, or squeeze it straight over fish or vegetables.

Red meat, ham, turkey. Gravlax, smoked salmon, and Dungeness crab. Cheese logs, crab or salmon mousse. Hearty meals. Festively decorated tables groaning w/ more choices than I can eat. Which to me somehow appeals more than a meal of small tastes this time of year-but you know your audience and I understand that you want to make a special meal part of the present.

I have general advice-go slow and buy the best that you can afford. Myself, I like All-Clad, and my favorites are those curved bottom saucier pans. I also love Le Creuset. Others swear by Calphalon, or copper, or cast iron. Rather than buy several of any of these, buy one and try it out. Most general cookbooks have such a list in the introductory section. I used just such a list myself (mine was from New Basics) when stocking my kitchen many years ago. I customized the list to what I thought I needed that I didn't have, and bought things one at a time over the course of many years. It was fun to bring home something and then keep making dishes that required my new purchase.

To err is human, to forgive is divine. I guess my answer on second chances is, it depends, but probably my answer would be no. I can forgive a lukewarm soup or incorrect entree (within reason) a lot quicker than I can forgive rude or inattentive service. In your case, maybe the lamb was from a bad night in the kitchen, but the staff's reaction to it was the result of bad training by management. In my case, it was clear the owner/ chef had the philosophy that tourists were second class scum who would be served only when he had finished serving-and chatting with-all of his local customers. I saw no evidence of pride in delivering good service or creating good food the night I was there. I don't think it is too much to ask that a $6. green salad is not dressed 15 minutes beforehand and not put on a hot plate. Consistently-every salad, every night-not just for the customers you think will be returning. I wouldn't give either of these establishments another dime of my hard-earned money. There are so many good restaurants around the Bay Area, far more than I have the time to enjoy. I don't understand why I shouldn't just move on to the next one rather than give someone a second chance to disappoint me.

The title of this thread is How Many Cookbooks DO you own? I'm curious. How many cookbooks do you think you SHOULD own? Given what's out there, what's your recommendation for how many books should be in a basic, well-stocked home reference libarary? How many basic books, how many baking / bread, how many books for each cuisine you want to cook? How many is too many? (Maggie, if you think this should be its own thread, please feel free to move it, or ask me to.) One more thing-any idea who has the most? Seems to me someone in the first page or two had 5000, but I don't remember who that was. I don't want to go back and look. I'll just find more cookbooks I have to order.

This site is a bad influence on me!!! I was perfectly happy w/ my flatware (from a restaurant supply store, I think it is Oneida) until I looked at the stuff at the site you posted. I now see the error of my ways, I must upgrade immediately. So, is this correct: if I go look at the flatware at a Crate & Barrel, it will be a WFM pattern that I can choose and then order more cheaply at China Fair?

Another vote for the tilt-head. And definitely, the one the comes in the color you want. They never die, and life is too short to not own a purple/ yellow/ hot pink/ whatever mixer. (I have the red one, myself.)

A variation on the theme of paying or not paying. I'm curious how others would have handled this situation. My husband and I had TERRIBLE service-and not very good food, but that's beside the point-at a restaurant called Cafe Maddelena in Duinsmuir. It was the last night of our vacation, it was late, and we'd hiked a lot that day so we were starving and tired. The restaurant, which had been widely well-reviewed, had recently sold, but the new owner/ chef was the previous owner/ chef of another local place with a good reputation, Trinity Cafe. The owner of the small hotel we were staying at called and made reservations for us, so they knew we were tourists. The place was full, and most people appeared to know each other, and the chef (it has an open kitchen, so we had a ringside seat everytime he stopped service to chat for a while.) We didn't get our appetizers for literally 45 minutes, although people who came in after us were finishing their entrees before we got any food. At one point we asked our server if it was going to be much longer before we were served, as we were just too hungry to wait, and if it was going to be long we'd like to pay for our wine and leave. It was going to be "just a minute"...it was a long time... out came a hot salad that had clearly been dressed about 15 minutes earlier, and a cold appetizer that was supposed to be hot off the grill. We offered to pay at that point if the entrees were going to take much longer... were assured they weren't... everyone in town is now on dessert... finally another hour later (1 hour and 45 minutes after placing our order) comes an absolutely terrible pizza w/ an almost raw crust and barely melted cheese and some almost raw butternut squash ravioli with a greasy, not-browned butter sauce. Hypoglycemic and frustrated beyond belief at the chef passive-agressively undercooking our food, we ate every bite. We wanted to cut our losses and get the hell out of there. When we asked for the check, the waitress came with a bill that said "so sorry-no charge." We decided that we wanted to pay because 1) we ate every bite, even though the food wasn't very good and 2) we still tipped her because she did bring the food and she had no control over how hard the chef felt like working and what order he cooked the food. It would have made all the difference if the chef/ owner, or the hostess who was also not working too hard, had come over to us at some point during the meal and apologized. What would you have done? Would you have paid? In hindsight, I wish I'd followed my instincts and walked out of there before the appetizers came, but I don't regret paying for food we ate.

They also have a book, Gallery of Regrettable Food, which makes an absolutely wonderful present.

It is in the financial interests of the farm to make sure that each and every duck is well-cared for until slaughtered. Every duck that dies otherwise is cutting into their profit margin.

Six more thanks to jschyun, who brought me 4 more Time-Life cookbooks plus 2 recipe books on the plane over Thanksgiving . I love eGullet, where else would you get to meet someone who would schlepp pounds of books through the airport-on a holiday weekend-for a perfect stranger? Four more just because. I decided I needed some books on French Bistro/ Country cooking and I've been meaning to buy Tante Marie's cookbook, so there you have it. Oops, forgot one. Make that 11 cookbooks this month. I am shopping for bookcases!!!

It took me a long time to figure out kale-not chard, just kale. Thanks to the Zuni Cafe Cookbook, I've got it now. I have some collard greens in the fridge at the moment; the only way I know how to cook them is Southern style. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. I recently got some daikon in my CSA box. It had no taste (I roasted it per their suggestions.) As a general rule, any vegetable is improved by sauteeing w/ pancetta, olive oil and garlic.

Well....that is very different! It appears you are right. Sonoma the town has 9,400 people in it, and no duck farms, just a town square surrounded by shops and restaurants and a couple of cool California history museums/ missions. Here's a background piece from last week's Chronicle and a piece from today's Santa Rosa Press Democrat which announces that the city council is not going to rule on the issue: Sigh, there's just never a dull moment out here on the left coast.

Please do. Anyone should feel free to jump in at any time. As you may have noticed, it's not like we are not going in any particular order or anything. How about something sort of light, like Steak Diane, or something not, like Steak au Poivre? A quick but elegant, non-poultry meal would hit the spot this weekend.

A lot (but not all) of California's poultry is raised in Sonoma County, so banning the production of it here will have somewhat of an impact on supplies. This is a very anti-growth (anti-freeway, anti-Indian gaming casino, that sort of thing), pro-environmental (anti-logging; no grading of hillsides for vineyards if it could hurt a nearby river) county. It will be interesting to follow...

It would not surprise me if it passes. Sonoma is a pretty liberal county.

Slackers don't eat Acme Sourdough Batard (or levain, or Acme anything, for that matter). If I lived the few blocks my sister in Berkeley lives from Acme, I would never bake bread. No reason to. It, unfortunately, has set a standard for me that is unachievable in Minneapolis. When I visit my sister, I ususally bring home an entire duffle of this wonderful stuff. You do know it is everywhere in the Bay Area, don't you? Every corner store, even Safeway sells a full line of Acme, SemiFreddi's, Grace and assorted others. Amazingly, people can still adhere to the Aitkin's diet out here; they must have steel willpower. I still do like baking bread every now and again. It's fun and it smells so good.

Hey, I made it last night. And it was delicious-I made it w/ crab & red snapper. Of course I did not follow the recipe but it still feels like we are cooking together anyway. I really like this idea. Yeah, but did you bake any bread? I didn't think so, slacker! Busted. I did, however, serve it w/ a fresh Acme Sourdough Batard, so at least I dined well.

Hey, I made it last night. And it was delicious-I made it w/ crab & red snapper. Of course I did not follow the recipe but it still feels like we are cooking together anyway. I really like this idea.

I've only had them two or three times. Only once was memorable: we each ordered risotto w/ white truffles one Christmas Eve at Boulevard (in SF). They put this dish in front of us and it smelled SO INCREDIBLE! All we wanted to do is keep inhaling instead of eating, and trust me, for us that's saying something. It is an earthy smell, but a rather sensuous one. We went back for Christmas Eve the next year, but alas, no truffles. Truffle oil isn't a bad substitute, and a tiny bottle is about $10. A little goes a long way.

I was there recently as well, and yes, I agree, they probably had the best selection of new cookbooks I've ever seen. All they need is a couple of armchairs and free admission to the store and it would be worth the drive!

I'd forgotten all about that place. They even have a website. You're right-lots of used cookbooks, although no sets of Time Life Foods of the World. One of my favorite bookstores is Cody's on Fourth Street. Decent selection, although for some unexplicable reason the chairs are few and far between in that spacious store-plus they are uncomfortable. Sur La Table down the street has a smaller but choice selection, but has the advantage of a nice table and chairs to pull up and browse. Somewhere in the Bay Area must be cookbook browsing nirvana...

First time ever-I made duck!!! I had some concerns about the recipe in J & J being too greasy for my tastes, so I made the Duck w/ Zinfandel Sauce in Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook. The duck is braised in part Zin, part chicken stock, then the dish is uncovered and the skin allowed to crisp. The sauce has bay leaf, thyme and orange zest in it. It was good, but I have to say, I like the taste of chicken thighs much better. (That is a suggested variation of this dish.) I'm going to give duck one more try in that Mark Bittman Pan-Fried duck that Suzanne described in the duck thread. On to the Mediterranean Soup tonight. This is one of my standards. Seth- I agree, it is a wonderful dish, and perfect for a cold winter night or one of our foggy summer evenings. It lends itself to improvisation to add whatever looks good at the fish market. I like it better w/ only one or two types of fish, and I don't like a lot of flatfish pieces in it; I prefer shellfish. My favorites are all crab or all mussels. I also like it w/ scallops, but they are so expensive out here it seems wasteful to use them instead of a flatfish like snapper. I usually make a large recipe of the base, then freeze it in 1 quart portions without adding the fish. That's just right for the two of us-a perfect quick weeknight dinner. Heat the base, add the fish, make a little rouille or Aioli whiile it is heating and you're eating in ten minutes!