Margo

Orange-chipotle salsa, with red onion, red bell pepper, lime juice, and cilantro. Great with pork or beef! And, I have been known to chop a chipotle and mix it into my hot cereal in the morning.

Been there. It's definitely good--my husband and I split a pulled pork sandwich, which was tender, smoky, and tangy. We liked it enough to buy a pound of pulled pork for lunches later in the week. If I recall correctly, he's open Thursdays through Sundays from about 11 am.

Cold risotto formed into cakes, coated in panko, fried in olive oil plus butter to golden brown deliciousness.

I'd love to hear comments on this. We went to Polidor several years ago, on the recommendation of a Calvin Trillin piece I'd read somewhere. He described the ambiance as Jackal10 did, and it sounded really appealing. To him, it was the neighborhood bistro where he always went for his first meal in Paris, because it grounded him and made him feel at home and, well, French. The food was fine and matched our expectations. But, maybe because it was White Nights and the 6th was mobbed, we were disappointed by what struck us as less a neighborhood place than a tourist destination. Everyone seemed to be like us--clutching their Trillin clippings --and looking for the quintessential bistro experience. In the process, crowding out whatever made the place special. Just my thoughts, and like I said, there was a big arts festival going on which undoubtedly contributed to the scene we experienced.

In Allentown: Syb's West End Deli is open for breakfast and lunch. 2151 W. Liberty Street (at 22nd St.) If you're in Allentown Thursday-Saturday, the Farmer's Market at the Fairgrounds (Chew St. and 19th St.) has some decent options for lunch. Danny D and Denise's lunch counter has good burgers and the like. There are also take-out places, like Dan's Bar-B-Que. Tsang's Bistro is an out-of-the-way Chinese restaurant (2730 Walbert Ave.) that we like. Allentown Brew Works makes their own beer and has good burgers, salads, and pasta. Lunch and dinner. (812 W. Hamilton St.) There's also a location in Bethlehem. The Bay Leaf is probably Allentown's most ambitious restaurant. Lunch and Dinner. (935 Hamilton St.) Hope this helps!

I like Schlesinger's rub--I think it would be a delicious addition. Using a rack is a good idea, but not necessary.

Slash it and throw it in the oven. Then pick off the skin and eat it yourself while you make the enchiladas.

I am SO annoyed that the NY Times Magazine is contributing one Sunday per month to this trend.

Too funny. If only you could have immortalized him on YouTube.

I was surprised by this: the contributors page celebrated those responsible for the new design at the expense of some of the content contributors. But besides them, Joanne Weir contributed an article on oranges, Tasha DeSerio (a caterer in Berkeley) on roast pork and its leftovers, Jeffrey Hamelman (bakery director, King Arthur Flour) on croissants, Susie Middleton (editor at large) on creamy soups, and Liz Pearson (recipe developer, Austin) on a menu for entertaining. And as others have noted, Abigail Johnson Dodge (contributing editor) and Jehangir Mehta offered dueling carrot cakes. So I don't think FC is turning to hacks for its recipes. But it does feel over-designed to me. And what was the Martha Stewart-esque featurette on "Bronze is the new Stainless"? Who cares? And the double page spread of cool gadgets always seems like advertisements in another guise. Finally, does anyone here look at the Taunton Press's other publications, like Fine Woodworking? Have they also suffered a design update?

Chicken pot pies.

Horio Extra Virgin from Greece. I used to buy this all the time when I lived in Chicago, and now I've found a local source!

Is goose served medium/rare like duck? What's the internal temperature I'm looking for? I know it can be overdone: I've done that. Would like to avoid that this year.

Thanks for the reminder--the carbonnade is a great recipe. What kind of a starch did you serve with it? I can't decide if I prefer noodles or mashed potatoes.

Yes, you'll find it in all major supermarkets, right with the canned fish and other potted meats. Enjoy!

Not sure if this was the issue with oxtails, but in my experience they need a *lot* of cooking to get fall-off-the-bone tender (and they do retain that gelatinous quality even so). The first time I made them was from a Silver Palate recipe, and following the recommended time I cooked them for something under an hour (?). Whatever it was, they were tough and stringy and had to be gnawed at. With longer cooking, they became palatable (heh). Actually downright delicious, in my view. I love 'em.

The boat has come in here in Allentown, PA. Wegmans is advertising their lobster sale, $6.99/lb. starting Friday. (Salted milk, really?)

You made the world's best tuna melt!

And here's a more expansive blog entry. Apparently the guests were selected for their expertise in high-end restaurants. And WD-50 is a restaurant Bourdain respects and finds "intensely interesting." And in his opinion, he comes off as a drunk John McLaughlin. So maybe it's not a shark-jumping escapade.

Claudia, I saw that too and can't figure out if it's a one-off or a whole season's worth of dinners? And Amy Sacco?

Funny. My husband can't find anything in our kitchen. My college roommate reports the same is true of her husband. But we could still walk into each others' kitchen and find what we need. Why is that? (And we were roommates a looooong time ago.)

Right, now I am confused! My understanding of lobster physiology is this: - The green stuff found inside female lobsters is the unfertilised roe (often called coral). This turns beautiful bright orangey red when cooked, with a waxy texture but nice flavour - This stuff is not to be found in male lobsters (obviously because eggs come from the female right?) - The tomalley is the liver/pancreas and can be found in the head of both sexes and is a pale brown colour that does not change colour when cooked. This stuff is truly delicious. I've only got experience of handling these local homard lobsters and my observations have always followed my understanding above. I've never seen a male lobster with red coral before and the brown stuff never turns bright red. When choosing lobsters I always have this in mind, whether I want more meaty males or corally females. Have mine eyes deceived me all these years? This time it's different in that I've never actually seen the fertilised eggs on the outside of a female lobster before. I'm thinking actually whether this mother should have been thrown back? ← Oh, yup, you're right. Nice picture! I forgot about the darker green roe vs. the lighter tomalley. Clearly it's been too long since I've enjoyed a lobster!

The green stuff inside is tomalley. It's liver-like, and comes in boy and girl lobsters.

From reading this thread, I've noticed at least three blueberry muffin recipes mentioned? For me, the best was one they printed several years ago (when I still subscribed), which was fairly plain. They trumpeted them as more "tea cake" than monster muffin. The negative they were trying to correct was the large, dry and tasteless muffin shop version. In fact, the recipe for those muffins was almost exactly the same as my mother's blueberry muffins, so no surprise I thought they were really good. The streusel topping and even the addition of lemon as an additional flavor seems like gilding the lily, IMHO. So maybe your best bet is to track down that "tea cake" version? (My old issues are still in boxes from moving or I'd find it for you.) Or I can send you mom's recipe.

I don't know, judging from what I saw going on in the livestock pens at the Allentown fair a few weeks ago, those kids will most likely be plenty happy to sell you their rabbits for coin and not as a pet. They know what they're doing. Congratulations on tapping into your area's specialty-raised meat community!