Mrs. B

The wine we had in Puerto Rico is indeed Finca Antigua of Martinez Bujanda because I kept the cork and it has the website on it and I jotted it down on my palm. The electronic one, not my hand

There is an impressive Parador in the outskirts of Cangas de Onis in Villanueva. The Monasterio de San Pedro from the 12-18 century. Check the rate in their website.

Miguel, where are you staying, at La Toya again? We stayed in Pontevedra at the Parador there which was very nice. The one in Santiago de Compostela is like a movie set for El Cid (Bux's comment) but it is centrally located. Anyway, if you decide to stay at the Paradores, check out their website for specials. You need to become a member. Membership is free. At this time of the year the prices for Galician Paradores must be very reasonable. Just don't eat dinner at any of them

I do that when cooking a goose, because it is a huge wishbone and very sharp at the ends. But I usually don't bother with a chicken. I just wanted to mention the idea of taking off the breast from the carcass in order to slice it nicely. I've never used a thermometer for chicken, usually just pinch the thigh with a knife to see if the juices are running light, not red or pink, then it is done enough for me. I like putting thinly sliced garlic under the skin on the breast and on the thighs and drumstick and a half slice on each "pocket " in the inner thigh. Also, if you have time and plan ahead, brine the chicken for a day or two, then take out of the brine, dry and leave it in the fridge uncovered to dry out a little-you get a really nice crispy skin that way. And if you want it really brown in color, brush it once or twice with soy sauce before roasting.

Humm. I am a little baffled. You said you cooked this chicken for pretty much two hours and the dark meat was not done??? Was the oven on??? I usually roast a 3 1/2 lb chicken at a very high temperature, 500 degrees breast up for 40 minutes, then I turn it upside down and cook the back for 40 minutes and my husband thinks it's overdone. As for carving, the best way I've found to do it so you don't hack away at it is to cut off the wings, then the thighs with the drumsticks ( then separate the drumstick from the thighs). Lastly I carve around the wishbone to take it off then it is easier to take off the breast whole. Put the breast on your board and slice it nicely.

All the classic and fancy patisseries in the city have been mentioned. But if you want a rustic but great tasting tarte tatin,try the apple tart at Pain Quotidien, it is very good. They make the pie crust out of cookie crumbs instead of pastry dough and the apples are cut in large slices with the peel still on. I said rustic, not fancy but lip smacking good. There are lots of them all around the city: Madison Ave and 84th, Lexington Ave. and 63rd, at ABC carpet on 19th street between Bway and Park Ave. A big pie is $18.

We've been in Paris so many times and each time the weather has been different. One can only generalize weather conditions but August is always awful in Paris. September can vary and go one way or the other. And yes, one can forget that it rained or it was cloudy two out of the five days we were there last October. Actually, we expected rain all the time, so the three sunny days were so unexpected they've stayed on my mind.

If I took good notes, I see these as your parameters: Four months: August, September, October and November You don't want to have to use a car everyday You like bicycling Would like to be near markets and good restaurants cooking school facility would be nice House/apt. with one bedroom and a good kitchen a must You are leaning towards Paris August and September can be really awful in Paris, full of tourist, some of the better restaurants are closed in August and most apartments do not have A/C. If it were me, I would go for those two months to the Southwest of France - the Basque area or Gascony. We've travelled throughout all of France at different times of the year and I hated Provence with the millions of tourists, and Sarlat was so overrun you had to park almost outside the city limits. Savoie is great weatherwise but not near a lot of places if you intend to do sidetrips (all winding roads and/or large highways) and not condusive to bicycling. The Loire Valley is great for cycling but hot and humid in August, you could do a side trip from Paris (either by train and they will take bikes or by car with a roof rack). If you decide you'd do these two months in the countryside I will give you suggestions on areas that IMHO would be interesting for bicycling (I used to be travel director of the American Youth Hostels and planned bicycle trips). I would lean towards Lyon and southern Burgundy. October and November would be great in Paris. There are a couple of good companies, which are trustworthy, with apartments for rent there. Depending on the area or arrondissement they will vary in price tremendously. I don't think you will find a very large kitchen in any apartments there. All of our friends kitchens have been small, like small NY apartments. There are markets in all areas and needless to mention, zillions of great restaurants. As for cooking schools, loufood mentioned Cordon Bleu and Bux mentioned the Ritz Escoffier both in Paris. Bux also mentioned a small school in Gascony which we know quite well and if you are interested I can give you more information later.

Make pear breads, they are the batter type of breads and easy to make. Make several, put them in heavy freezer bags and freeze them. You can toast slices for breakfast or for a family dinner for dessert topped with ice cream.

Better late than never. My brother, who still lives in PR and likes to give parties at Xmas time, sent me the recipe he uses: COQUITO - (for 14 persons, 8 oz glass) 4 cans 12 oz. evaporated milk 1 can condensed milk 2 cans 15oz coconut cream (like Coco Lopez) 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. almond extract 1 liter bottle of white rum 1 oz. brandy 1 tbl. cloves 4 cinnamon sticks 1 tsp. ginger powder 2 tsp. cinnamon powder 1/2 cup almonds Procedure: 1-In a saucepan cook on medium heat 1 can of the evaporated milk with the cloves and cinnamon sticks. 2- Use a blender and pulverize the almonds 3- Pour the contents of the saucepan into the blender, using a sieve to prevent the cinnamon and cloves to go into the blender. 4- Add to the blender the rest of the milk, coconut cream, condense milk and all the spices, mix well 5- Lastly, add the rum and brandy. 6- Put into a glass jar or bottle and refrigerate. Just in time for the holidays, and a toast: "Salud, Pesetas Y tiempo para gozarlo"

Coquito is a punch like eggnog but made with rum and coconut milk. Here is a recipe, though in Spanish, easy to follow: Coquito for lazy people by Edda Lopez Basically it is evaporated milk, condensed milk, coconut milk (not cream of Coconut like Coco Lopez because it is too sweet) get Coconut milk at a chinese market or Thai coconut milk; eggyolks, add rum to taste. Put it all in a mixer. My parents made it at Xmas time for big parties. If you start with Coquito they believed , it would coat your stomach somewhat (all the milk) and prepare you for the real heavy drinking that goes on during Xmas.

Actually, he does not know that he could travel with a 22 year old and get the same discount for her, as his traveling companion

I clearly remember the first trip we took to Spain, 1964 and yes, it was very poor. Roads other than the main "red" one on the map was it. If you wandered off that red road you were in donkey lanes. Small hotels were 50 cents a night and hardly any had bathrooms in the room, but for that price you had a washstand and a bidet. And the food was not only heavy but drowning in bad oil. We didn't go back to Spain for a long, long time.

Excuse me, but VIE is the code for Vienna, VCE is Venice. Tommy, I think Craig's itinerary and ideas are very solid. For your first trip do the three major cities Venice, Florence and Rome. At later trips you can expand on other areas. You are still young and I am sure you will be going to Italy more than just this time. The two weeks will give you enough time to relax a bit. In my office we recommend to clients who do not want to do a lot of research for their trips to get the DK Travel Guides (Dorling Kindersley) they used to be called the Eyewitness Guides. There is one for all of Italy and separate ones for Florence, Venice and Rome. They have pictures of each of the cities, buildings, palaces, museums etc so you can choose what appeals to you. Venice DK Guide Books

If you want a TGV ticket, you should be aware that most require advance reservations and purchase of the ticket within a certain amount of time. The advantages of being a senior citizen (the SNCF considers you one at age 60) is that you get tickets for 50% less than the normal rate.

I've had "pulpo a feira" several tmes in Galicia and in other parts of Spain and here in NY and yes, there is a lot of pimenton, or paprika looking red powder, but it never tasted "smoked" or like chorizo. Is the Pimenton de Vera from Caceres the only one that is smoked?

I agree, small portions are great. Specially in Spain when you have dinner so late at night. At our age we don't go clubbing after dinner so it is nice not to leave a restaurant so stuffed you can barely breath. Besides, large portions become boring after a few bites.

There is one flavor prevalent in most Puertorrican cooking (Spanish influenced) chorizo. Excuse my ignorance but I had never heard of "smoked pimenton" until now. Next time we go to Spain I will look for it. So many times I don't have any chorizo handy and the dry pimenton would be great to have around.

Thank you Victor

I happen to have been reading an old copy of Travel and Leisure Magazine (March 2003) where Leslie Brenner has a very sweet article of her travels in that area. It made me want to revisit the Dordogne and go to some of the restaurants she mentioned. She mentions about six different places in the area varying in prices from about $53-147 for dinner for two. She also mentions that on Wednesdays and Saturdays the outdoor market in Sarlat is one of the best in the Dordogne. The two places which sounded fantastic were the Restaurant La Bastide in Monpazier (South of the Dordogne River) and L'Oison in the Chateau de Reynats in Chancelade close to Perigueux. The last time we were in that area was ages ago and we did have an incredible meal at Le Centennaire in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac.

Sorry it took so long in writing down somewhat of a recipe for the Arroz con Gandules. As I said, I have been cooking this for so long I do it with my eyes closed. Basically the rice is Goya short grain and you need 1 1/2 cups of liquid to one cup of rice. I first cook chorizo (cut in thick wheels), panchetta (in small cubes) and tocino (fat back cut in 1/4 inch slices then sliced to open up like a hand but leave the back skin attached) slowly in a caldero (cast aluminum pot) to crisp and render the fat. Then I take them out and leave about 2 tbl. of fat to fry the sofrito (chopped onions, green peppers, garlic aji dulce and tomato which has been peeled and seeded) slowly don't burn it. Add a couple of tbl of alcaparrado (olives and capers) and tomato paste and the chicken stock, a bay leaf and a bunch of cilantro tied. Bring to a slow bubble and cover, you want to let it cook for about 1/2 hour to let the vegetables and meats give the liquid some taste. Take out the cilantro before you add the gandules (I buy them fresh-frozen and thaw them before using) and the rice. Bring to a slow boil and in about 10 mins. the liquid will be almost all gone, turn the rice over and cover, put down the heat. Cook for another 10 minutes, again turn the rice and cover for another 5 minutes. If it is sticking, or if the rice is not done, add a little more liquid (about 1/4 cup) cover and give it another 5 mintues. The rice should be done, but not gummy. Take out of pot and serve with a sprinkling of chopped cilantro and strips of roasted red peppers, slices of avocado would be nice too. Good luch and buen provecho!

White rum, best combination for lemon,sugar, seltzer and chopped ice.

We ate at Oceana last night and had a special tasting menu (they knew it was our 40th anniversary). I think we had almost every item in the menu because we each had different dishes. If you go to Oceana's web site you will see photos of some of the dishes we had. I won't go into details of everything we ate, but I will give you a peek. I was certainly wowed with the Rollettes of Diver Sea Scallops specially the chopped up little vegetables around it which exploded in different parts of your mouth with wonderful flavors. One of my very favorites was the Tartare of Yellowfin Tuna. A cylinder made out of Daikon radishes contained the small cubes of tuna. In between the tuna pieces there were little flavor surprises of cubes of balsamic gelee. On top there were bits of horseradish sorbet which melted in your mouth in a creamy spicyness. The Spanish Mackerel with pickled peppers was not far behind. A lightly smoked square of the fish with its shiny dotted skin was topped by the tiniest zucchini blossom I have ever seen. He must have used a microscrope to stuff it with caviar The Ivory Turban of Pasta "Robuchon" was a cooking feat in itself. The spaghetti was cooked, and formed around the chicken mousseline in a ring! And David Carmichael, whose pastry we've loved in the past, outdid himself with a quad of chocolate desserts. We'll be back, again and again.

I am so hungry right now. Thanks Mrs. B. Do you have a recipe for arroz con gandules? the one I make is never quite right. Not really, I usually just put in the ingredients and the only thing I measure is the water and the rice. So I have never written down the quantities, mostly it is by taste. I use frozen fresh shelled gandules. I'll see if I get a chance and I'll write somewhat of a recipe for you

Vegetarians need not read this When I was very young and living in Puerto Rico the family always spit roasted a pig for any big occassion like Christmas time, New Year's party, weddings, anniversaries, etc. I do remember very distinctly one time when my parents were celebrating an anniversary and for this occassion they were going to have roast pig. A man and several helpers came with the live pig at dawn. One guy made the pit (don't think it was deep, mostly rocks on the bottom and on the sides, then lots of charcoal) the others killed the squeeling animal. With buckets of hot water they took off the hair, brushed his teeth and ears and snout and shaved whatever hairs remained. They gutted him and hung him up to drain the blood, while someone ws making morcillas (blood sausages). When he was ready, they shoved a long pole from the back hole to the front through his mouth, then they nailed the snout to the pole and tied his feet with wire so he would not break a leg, covered with tin foil his ears and tail so it would not burn to a crisp (this was taken off later to give it a chance to cook too). After basting him with a sauce made out of (don't remember this accurately) lard, achiote (anatto to give it color) garlic, salt and pepper the pig was placed over the spit. Yes, a lot of beer was drunk by the guys turning the pole and ocassionally basting it. The pig was ready to eat very late around 9-10PM and it was served with the usual trimmings of rice and pidgeon peas, tostones (fried green plantains) and a sauce made out of limes, garlic and olive oil (aji-li-mojili).