Stone

Plouf is my favorite place in the alley. The best mussels you'll find in the city. They come in a number of styles -- my current favorite is coconut. (Basically Tom Kha with mussels. They tried to take it off the menu because it wasn't "French", and too many people complained.) The other stuff I've had there is excellent as well, except they have a tendancy to overcook the halibut. (And there's a lovely Tunisian waitress with long curly black hair . . . .) I've had two meals at Cafe Bastille. Although it's owned by the same people that own Plouf, the mussels were a huge disappointment both times. I thought the rest of the food was mediocre as well. B44 is Spanish. Not sure if it's a tapas place. They're famous for the squid ink paella. "BK" down at the off-end of the alley sells char-broiled burgers with your choice of toppings. Really, the only reason to go there is for the fries.

Yes. I called today and got reservations for 11/9. I picked up the phone at 10:10 on a whim. Got connected by 10:15 and then listened to the recording for 20 minutes for them to pick up. I got the last four-top (no more sixes either).

I'm between the Mikasa Debonaire (recommended by Fat Guy) and the Crate & Barrel Roulette Blue Band. Mikasa is $60 for service for 4, C&B is $135. This is an investment for the long haul, but I'm leaning towards Mikasa. Hell, I'll be much happier if I get tired of $60 dishes than if I get tired of $135 dishes. Thanks for the advice. Still working on the flatware.

Can you give us the recipe for your bbq sauce?

This wont work and for the reason you state. I agree that the bags seem a tad expensive. But I save money buying in bulk and not throwing stuff away. I haven't tried to do the math, but it's good enough for me. And I keep all my cheese in a vaccummed canister (each chunk is well-wrapped in plastic), and they last forever.

Acutally you need to go the other way -- cook it longer. There are a bunch of smoking threads (here's one) that explain the basics of the process. When you pull the shoulder off at 178ish, you've really just got roast pork. You need to get the temp higher (I've read anywhere from 190 to 220) before you get true pulled pork. At the higher temps, the collegen breaks down and the muscle fibers separate more easily. I smoke my shoulders overnight until they're about 200, then wrap them in foil and sit them in the oven (off) until I'm ready to pull. I usually pull with my fingers if I can take the heat, or use forks. Also -- I don't trim any fat before smoking. I usually scrape it off to the side during the pulling.

What does 200 extra cancers mean? That if I keep eating B&J, I'm going to get cancer 200 times more than I otherwise would? That my body would develop 200 more "cancer cells" than it otherwise would (and, of course, kill them like it kills the rest of the cancer cells that our bodies creat), or that out of the millions of b&J eaters, 200 would develop cancer that otherwise would not? I'll take those odds.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Vanilla Ice Cream with Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough My older sister has lived out of the country since about 1982, most of that time in "third world nations." On a visit in the late 80s, she found a pint of chocolate chip cookie dough in our freezer. I still remember the look of joy on her face. "Ice cream," she said, "and cookie dough. Oh my God, these are my two favorite things in the world." I assume that BJ weren't the first to put cookie dough in ice cream (although I think their site said they spent years figuring out how). But it was the first I'd had. It was revolutionary. I'd had mint cookie ice cream before. I'd had cherry ice cream (strawberry actually, but it's not such a leap, is it?). I'd had banana ice cream. But cookie dough? In ice cream? In one fell swoop they not only created a taste catharsis and a visceral explosion, but they legitimatized all those people who, shame on them, ate most of the cookie dough before baking the cookies. Who unpeeled that plastic salami roll of cookie dough, cut it into little quarters, put it on the tray and, realizing that the CBS late night movie was starting in 5 minutes, said, "what the hell," while carrying the tray downstairs to the couch. The cookie dough was perfect. Large chunks of hard, but not frozen dough. Sweet with butter and sugar and sharing space with bits of chocolate. Suspended in luscious vanilla ice cream. You could feel the glorious crystals of sugar bursting as your teeth bit down on the dough. You ate the ice cream around the chunks so that your last taste was pure, unadulatered dough. You decided that tonight you wouldn't finish the entire pint, but then dug down with your spoon to turn over the ice cream and expose any large pieces of dough studding the side for dessert before you put it in the freezer, only to toss it later after you remembered that you selfishly ate all the cookie dough the night before. Heaven in a cup.

Here's the carb count, using numbers from Fendels' blog: Splenda -- 9 g (24 gs/cup, 3/8 cup used) Diabetisweet -- 0 g (Unless I misunderstood Fendel's site) Cream -- 12 g 1/2-1/2 -- 7.5 g. That's about 29 g for an entire batch (1 quart? How much does a delonghi hold?). I could easily have missed something big, of course. Ben & Jerry's Vanilla seems to be about 17 gs for 1/2 cup.

Fendel, I love you. Love. From the heart. This is what I made today: (Yes, I know it's garnished with basil, but I've got no mint handy. And that's not powdered sugar, of course, it's Splenda. And making quenelles is a lot harder than people make it look.) But it tastes like vanilla ice cream. It's creamy, and sweet, and vanilla-y. It's yummmmmy. And it's made with Splenda and Diabetisweet. And I really tried to taste some metallic or chemical aftertaste. Not there. A little alcohol aftertaste, but I think that's from cheap Safeway vanilla (all I had on hand). Tomorrow night I'm just going to serve it to people without telling them anything. That'll be the true test. Here the recipe (basically one of Fendel's): Mix four egg yolks with 3/8 cup Splenda and 3/8 cup Diabetisweet. Add 2 cups whipping cream and 3/4 cup half and half. 1 T glycerine (natural vegetable product). Pinch salt. 2T vanilla. Put it in the fridge at 9:30 a.m. Put it in the ice cream machine at 7:30 p.m. I love you.

Why do you have an "=" sign in front of your name? (I've been waiting years to ask this.)

I think the cold butter is key. I recall that you don't want to add butter to boiling sauce. It will break it down and lose its emulsifying/thickening ability. Whole milk works also, but not was well as cream.

Dude, you're a geek.

Really sick. Here's something that didn't work. I tried to make a cheesecake, substituting 50/50 splenda and diabetisweet for the sugar. I made a cheesecake soufle. And a bad one at that. It puffed up considerably in the oven, and within minutes of coming out, it fell flat: Tasted o.k., but had the consistency of Italian cheesecake (and we know how little Italians know about cooking), but it was too wet: I did at least two things wrong. First, the recipe said to add the sugar early -- after creaming the cream cheese and eggs. I forgot, and added the sugar at the end. But I doubt that could make such a substantial difference. And I used an extra egg. I though the recipe called for three, I used four. Why? Because attention to detail is not my strong suit, o.k. Get off my back. I'm hungry. But it's probably the fault of the fake food. At least it's low carb.

Have you tried DiabetiSweet? I just bought some so that I can try some of Fendel's ice cream recipes. It looks just like sugar, and tastes pretty close. I rarely use plain sugar (I take my coffee black), but I tried some in tea and did not notice any bad tastes. (Other than the tea. ) I just tried a half-teaspoon full. It's pretty close in texture to sugar, but a little softer. Somewhere between regular sugar and confectioners sugar. Not as sweet, i didn't notice any particularly bitter aftertaste. I'm not exactly sure how this fits into a low-fat low carb diet. It's got 9 calories a teaspoon -- which is pretty close to real sugar. And 4.4 grams of carbs -- which I think is also pretty close to real sugar. However, the carbs are all "sugar alcohols". I think that makes a difference.

Man v. Woman effect? I find that there are a surprising number of men on Atkins (compared to other diets, such a Weight Watchers). I also find that most men are successful on Atkins. I'm surprised to hear a number of women claim that they got very sick on Atkins, although I haven't heard about this problem any men. Could just be my limited sample-set.

Can someone list some wines that "take your breath away." I'm really curious. I'd love to try one.

One problem I have thickening sauces and gravies with roux is getting my proportions correct. I either end up with something way too thick that I must keep thinning out with milk/stock (assuming I've got enough) or way too thin. I assume much comes down to experience, but is there any formula for determining what butter/flour/liquid ratio will result in what volume/thickness sauce?

I just bought some Splenda. It's not that bad. It's sweet, but not overly so. The look and texture reminds me of the sugar frosting from Frosted Mini Wheats (or at least what I remember it to be).

Cut the ends off, peel, sit on a plate, top with a pat of butter, microwave 1 minute (ish). Eat.

Indian food? Bread and rice is out, of course. So are most of the good apps (pakora, samosa). There's a lot of tomato based curries. But the vegetable curries should be safe, along with palak paneer, and tandoori stuff?

I stopped by C&B at lunch. I like their Roulette Blue Band, which is about $150 for 5 settings. Then I perused the flatware. Without looking at prices, I managed, of course, to choose perhaps the most expensive (Collins) at $45 per setting. Oddly, I think I do have taste. At least for expensive stuff, not necessarily for tastefull stuff. FL was a vague starting point. I like the sharper lines in the texture, as opposed, say, to the softer lines on the C&B Roullette (there's a link in one of the first responses). I may be able to get up to Napa this weekend -- I'm pretty certain there's a Mikasa outlet up there, a tad north of St. Helenas.

That's what I'm here for. Now if we could work on a girlfriend . . . .

I kind of like this stoneware from C&B -- here. But then I guess I'd have to worry about my food color clashing with my pate color?

Restaurants: I assume most Asian food is out, because they use corn starch and/or sugar in just about everything? Or do they use small enough amounts to make it alright? Even their meats seem to always come with sugar in the marinade and/or stir fry sauce.