kartoffel

There's a small Mexican place in the Publix shopping plaza (more on the Kmart side, as I recall) in Bonita that was good as of a year ago. Good fresh salsas! Cheap!

Mystery solved! A Chinese friend of mine says that it's jujube, also called the Chinese date: Jujube She also says that she makes a sweet soup out of jujube and red beans--I'll have to get the recipe. Thanks for your responses!

The one I had looked somewhat like this, but yours look like they're sandwiches: two unfilled cookies put together with filling. Is that right? Mine was one cookie, with filling inside stretching almost to the edges. Do you have a picture of the inside of yours? Does it taste smoky?? Such a funny coincidence!

Let's hope not! Any other suggestions?

A colleague just returned from a trip from China and put out some cookies she had bought there. One kind came in a cylindrical container, with about a dozen flat, filled cookies coated in sesame seeds. About 4 inches in diameter, the cookies are made with some kind of wheat flour and filled with a filling I can't identify. It looks like dried fruit paste (?), with the occasional bit of pine nut, and has a decidedly smokey flavor. It is slightly sweet. Could it be a longan-based filling? Another colleague from Japan swears it must contain bonito or some other fish product. Does anyone recognize this item? (I'm sorry I don't have a picture.) Thanks!

Speaking as a Michigander who spent childhood summers in Wisconsin, bluegill and sunfish are the tastiest pan fish, but it's also a huge pain to clean enough for everyone to get full. I concur that a soak in milk followed by a dip in salt-and-pepper-seasoned flour and a shallow fry is the way to go. One of the best meals I know, especially with fresh sweetcorn being shucked on the short drive from the farm to the pot of boiling water...

If any of you are beer fans, I highly recommend Eccentric Cafe, part of Bell's Brewery. Bell's is some of the best beer being brewed in the states these days, and hard to get outside of the midwest. Decent food, too. http://www.bellsbeer.com/ http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/287/?view=beerfly

#140 sounds like Neverending Story to me!

April 7th is the first Saturday of the farmer's market this year. Go go go! It's always great, even early in the season.

I'm thrilled to learn that you, too, enjoy Shalimar! We always make a detour there when we're anywhere in the Bay Area. I try to avoid using their restroom at all costs, but you can't beat the prices (or the free masala chai!).

I highly recommend El Pollo Rico, a Peruvian chicken place, for cheap eats in Arlington: 2917 N. Washington Blvd. Arlington, VA 703-522-3220 Open daily 11 am to 10 pm When I was last there (I moved two years ago to the West Coast), you could get a quarter of a spit-roasted chicken with (frozen) steak fries, cole slaw, and two dipping sauces (including a yummy green chili one) for about $3.75. Well worth a visit, in my opinion, though not necessarily a DC-specific specialty.

Having been in Portland for three years, my advice is to eat all the Indian food you can before arrriving! Portland is a fabulous food town in many ways (Vietnamese, Mexican, Northwest), but the Indian food here is, on the whole, abyssmal. We drive to Seattle every so often to get our fix.

India Direct in Beaverton is good (weirdly located in an industrial complex), and they also have good chaat, all vegetarian.

The Hot Cake House on SE Powell, just east of the Ross Island Bridge, I would highly recommend. Very greasy, open very late (possibly 24 hours, not sure), lots of bad coffee. I'm just finishing my dissertation and kicking myself for not spending more time there...

Pix Patisserie makes an excellent Croquembouche, if you want something non-cake-y. Their more cake-y concoctions won't disappoint, either. http://www.pixpatisserie.com

I am interested in hosting a Bockfest in spring, similar to that hosted by the Schell's brewery in New Ulm, MN. Unfortunately, they have a particular tool that I CANNOT find! It's a long, wooden-handled, cast-iron implement. The iron end is a long, thick, solid cylinder. It gets put into coals until it is redhot, then the beers get "poked" by it, creating a beautiful caramel-y head. I've seen a similar implement on Cooking with Julia: She used it to return a pot of water to boiling almost instantly by first heating the iron over the burner. She calls it a "buffalo iron". Does anyone know where I might get my hands on one of these?