Stone

Is it true that for a wine to be kosher must either 1) not be handled by non-Jews, or 2) be boiled? I believe that a long time ago bread could not be kosher if it was handled by non-Jews. (I'm told that the premise behind this was to make sure that there were Jewish bakers to supply bread so that Jews weren't relying on non-Jews; similar to Japanese bans on rice imports.)

I don't pay enough attention or cook at home enough to determine whether I'm saving money. I don't throw away as much as I used to. Maybe some of the others with a more established household can advise on that.

What else do you want to know? One problem with freezing is defrosting. It ain't gonna be perfect if you defrost in a microwave. But it's not bad, and the bags sure seem to help. I keep my coffee beans in a large swansons chicken broth can (cleaned repeatedly) and vacuum out the air. They seem to last longer. I keep my cheese in a large plastic tilia tub. They seem to keep longer in the fridge. It's easy. Safe.

I'm curious of your thoughts of where Slanted Door ranks as a Vietnamese restaurant. Putting aside the fact that it's much nicer than most VM places, do you think the food is better? And if so, is it better because it's been Americanized or "fused"?

There are some cool looking scales on this site. Which should I buy?

Kit requires "1/2 cup GOOD chile powder -- (Your local supermarket brand tastes like cardboard.) " Is he suggesting that I find a spice mixture and mix my own? Or just something other than McCormicks. Are there decent comercial chili powder brands that folks recommend? And what's with the 4 beef boullioin cubes? I assume the equal amount of "Better than Boullion" or greatly reduced beef stock would be better?

Is Adria worthwhile simply because he is original? Of him being original there can be little doubt based upon descriptions alone. I think the pertinent question is whether he should be canonized for this alone? It depends. This article was not cannonizing him for his cooking. The article was about "originality". And in the annals of originals, one can certainly be cannonized for originality alone. On the other hand, Doc, you seem to be focussing on whether to laud Adria as a chef. In that circumstance, I would agree that originality alone is not sufficient (or perhaps even necessary). Look at the recent thread on Oceana. (I couldn't find it.) I would also agree that the author of such an article should probably have eaten his food. But again, that's not what this article was about.

Who considers Dylan to be original? He evolved from Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Pretty much everything evolves from something. (Unless you're a creationist and then, well, your opinion on the subject matters about as much as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court (sorry, I'm just disgusted).) There is very little, certainly in the world of entertainment, that is truly original. (And I thought the article was a fine social commentary, and I would say that you didn't have to visit the restaurant to discuss Adria's cooking in this manner. You never provide an opinion on the quality of what he's doing -- i.e., whether it's good. You only discuss what he's doing, and there doesn't seem to be any disagreement about that.)

My understanding is that Atkins works because when your body runs out of carbs, it turns to fat for energy. If that's the case, I wouldn't expect that SS's theory would work. Frankly, I don't know if Atkins's theory is any good, but what the hell. I will say that after four days, it's no way to live.

And people like it because it's from Thailand. Perlow's right, it's a fine lager, but nothing special.

Kind of odd that the paper ran the story using Karlinsky as their interview. Although maybe an LA paper was trying to discreetly thumb it's nose at SF. I can understand why Karlinsky, after losing her restaurant, was a little bitter, and I think the paper should have had the decency not to use those quotes.

Breakfast and snacks. If I eat one more egg, I'm gonna start clucking. What else for breaky? A wedge of brie? Snacks. Can't even have a carrot stick. Can't eat beef jerky at 10 a.m. (O.k., I can, but not today.) What's the options? Veggies. Are these o.k.: String beans broccoli cauliflower lettuce I am down 6 pounds in a week. But I have to say that when you think this much about everything you eat or order, it's much easier to control intake. I've eaten about 50% of my normal intake (which, of course, was at least 50% over normal).

I went to one of these places in the Bahamas. It was the best food on the Island, but that's not saying much. "Season it first", I tell my dad. "No, put it on the hottest part first." "Don't keep turning it. Stop pressing it." "Move it to the cooler side to finish so it doesn't burn." "Wait. Wait. It needs to rest." Needless to say, my steak was better than his. But father's never learn, do they? The biggest problem we had was the flames that started shooting up, with no squirt bottle of water to beat them back.

Something like this. And this. Go.

This was a much-discussed issue amongst the knife cut coaches at school. My theory was that, even though a knife may be perfectly sharp, it is "triangular" in cross-section (wider at the spine than at the edge). I'm guessing that's what tends to make it lead to one side or the other when trying to perform a perfectly vertical cut. The solution? Practice, practice, practice, until compensating for the phenomenon is second nature. A mental trick such as Stone describes is often helpful, as well. No kidding? I always thought I was a retard.

Don't know about the price, but Hawthorne Lane is otherwise a good idea. What area of the city are you looking for?

I was being mildly sarcastic. I find San Francisco to be pretty much the Whitest, blandest, least ethnic city I've lived in, the others being NY, Boston and D.C. Therefore, I was surprised that something as "ethnic" as bbq could be considered the best thing to eat in this town -- especially when the obvious choice of Zuni's oysters is available. I guess I shouldn't expand my obersvation to include the East Bay or South Bay (I've certainly noticed that the South Bay has a more varied ethnicity). But this is just my observation, and probably not deserving of argument or discussion on a food board.

Two words: "Oh Toe". (That's "Otto" to you and me.)

Perhaps Pane y Vino, in Cow Hollow. May be more thant $20 though. Near Russian Hill, you can try Antica Trattoria, I Frascati, Baldoria (all Italian) or Zarzuela (Spanish/Tapas). These are more "neighborhood joints", that are crowded, but not a scene.

Stop thinking so much. Eat.

My first trip to FL, I thought the meats were the weak part of the meal. Not so on the second, however. Quite surprising the number of flaws you found. And not just picky ones, but actual flaws.

I wonder if Babbo isn't trying to play the whole, "we're hot, you're lucky to be here" scene. It works with night clubs, and there are many trendy places that seem to train their staff (especially host-folk) to be rude. After all, a nobody in the restaurant is only taking a spot that could have been used by a somebody.

My two Starbucks stories (told previously elsewhere): 1) When walking down 8th Street towards St Marks, a friend and I came upon some post-retro-hippie types protesting Starbucks. My friend, being more obnoxious than me, asked what they were about. He then burst into laughter and said, "how pathetic, are you so desperate to protest something that you need to protest a coffee shop? Too bad you didn't grow up in the '80s when we had Reagan and Apartheid. But by the way, people are still suffering out there, and I'm not talking about an expensive latte." 2) I was surprised to meet a Swiss couple who told me that they and their friends actually like Starbucks. Not because the coffee is so good, but because it was the only coffee shop that would let them sit, read and drink coffee. Others would require them to keep buying food.

Get all three and see which is best.

Is it possible to post photos or perhaps a link to a short video clip showing the actual sharpening motions?