Stone

Perhaps, then, the war drove many Lebanese out of Lebanon. Setting up a restaurant is a time-honored path for immigrant populations.

Amazon has the pre-seasoned 12" skillets back in stock -- here for $12.99.

By height.

Yeah, but what bone is that? A vertebrae? I just can't picture it.

ok. ok, use the old " I bought the discount steak while looking for a good pork butt" excuse..but another thing, the plates are way to 1993's....teal is the dead give away. Hey, I own them to, just trying to warn you.. What's teal?

I looked for something green and leafy. But it was not to be found. Here's a little t-bone information.

A friend of mine ate there recently. Her reaction seemd to be "cute, but why?"

The second smoking begins tomorrow a.m. I bought a 14 pount Boston Butt: Which luckily was cut in half. But I'm figuring that a 7.5 pound pork butt will take at least 8 hours in the smoker. (The other half is in the freezer.) So I rubbed it up well tonight (mixture of paprika, salt, garlic powder, cayenne, chilli powder, cumin seed), and will try to get it in the bullet so it's done at 6:30 -7ish. Since the last smoking took longer than I expected, I'll give myself an hour to spare before people come over at 8 for the 9:00 season premire of Six Feet Under. And I picked up an 8 pound slab o' ribs: I got my trimming instructions from the Virtual Webber Bullet site: here. An excellent resource. The membrane seemed to have been trimmed away by the butcher. You'll see the two rib sections on the bottom, topped by the end flap and the sternum sections. Not many bones in there? Seemed meaty. Up to the right are the two skirts from the underside of the ribs. I'll rub these up and put them in my rib rack. Add 'em to the smoker at about 2:30 or 3. I figure 4.5 hours for the ribs (I'll put the smaller pieces on about an hour after the ribs). Hope everthing fits happy in there. I've got Kingston briquettes this time (my natural charcoal has been outside through a few rain storms. Even though it's dry under the stairs, it probably got moist from the humidity). And some bags of hickory and mesquite. I'll probably use half and half during the day. Butt on the top rack, ribs and scraps in the middle. (Aren't the little cutters on aluminum foil and plastic wrap boxes a bitch?)

Steve -- That's not quite what I'm saying. Yes, the cross-roads of the continents may purport to offer an explanation of why people consider the land so important (I think you're skeptical of that argument, and I agree). But what I was trying to focus on is exactly what you identify as the "cultural, racial and religious diversity". Because it sits at the cross-roads of long-used trade routes, the cuisine is the result of a large, diverse number of cultural influences, thereby developing a more diverse and perhaps ultimately superior cuisine. I think you're right that it's difficult to identify different "races" in the Palestine/Jordan/Syria/Lebanon area. From what little I know, I think you're right that Persians, Turks and Egyptians certainly separate themselves from the blanket generalization "Arab" with which Westerners paint the region. But my understanding is that Arabs from the Arabian peninsula will also deny that Palestinians (except the hashemites who were relocated to Jordan, but that's another topic), Syrians or Mesopotamians are Arabs.

I'm surprised no one mentioned this, but could it simply be because Lebanon sits at the juncture of Africa, Asia and Europe? Combined with its superior climate for agriculture (so said above), coastal location for fish and seafood, perhaps also proximity to the Ottoman rulers(?), political stability and economic success (probably due to all of the above), it was better able to absorb and expand on the influences passing through? (Whereas Mesopotamia/Jordan/Syria suffered from poor soil and poor adminstration by the Ottomans.) Also, I'm curious if there has been an increase in Lebanese restaurants abroad since the civil war began, or if Lebanese food always been ubiquitous?

Okey-dokey. I cooked my t-bone in my Lodge dutch oven. (I know all you Bostonians think it was a really big pot, but that's just the name.) Very non-stick for the first use. Aftewards, very nice black coating. But all that congealed grease? Just rinse it out with hot water? Doesn't do too good. Wet, non-soapy sponge? Put back on the burner to dry out? That's it?

Cute. But once was enough.

(My bad. I purged a bunch of stuff from Sony Imagestation, and, um, of course, . . . .) By the way, I always have trouble picturing what part of the cow a particular cut comes from. What bone is the bone in the t-bone?

I just happened to be at costco. When you're buying a pork shoulder, there's no need for a butcher.

That little nobby in the joint was bone. Or something hard. there's maybe 1/32 oz left. It's in the trash, but I can fish it out for you.

Some friends went to FL last week. They were told that the kitchen did not have peas & carrots that night. Odd. But they praised the kitchen for deftly handling the no pork/no shellfish diner. And, since they only drank water, they won the prize for the lowest check in memory.

Just remember, the more dough a-you got, the more a-dough you a-gonna knead! (From Abbot and Costello, of course.)

I'd expect that the toy-poodles are having a field day.

This is the cow the steak came from: (O.k., not really, but that thing is so freaky I wanted to post it, but I didn't want to go off-topic.)

Yeah, don't know about that.

I've got these which I purchased years ago at BB&Beyond. My friend described them as "festive, yet manly." I've got another stack that I picked up as Fishs Eddy a few years back. They have a higher lip, and aren't as good for knife-work. The steak was 1.5 pounds. I'd say it was about three inches thick, but being a Jewish man, I tend to round up.

Aix -- I'm guessing that you're not cutting the shortening/ghee into the flour well-enough. I'm certainly no baker, but I think that's the way to get the blisters (great description) you're looking for.

The doctor told me that I'm sicker than I feel, so I took the day off. On the way home, I decided to stop by Costco and pick up a pork shoulder and ribs to smoke for Sunday night HBO. The t-bone steak actually sat up and called my name. It was time to use the Lodge cast-iron dutch oven. I know I bought a 10" frying pan, but can't seem to find it. So the dutch oven (seasoned) went on the fire and sat for a good five minute. I got scared, so I poured a tbsn of OO in the pan and dropped on the steak: Sizzled for about 10 minutes -- it was a little over an inch thick, no peeking. And flipped it: Gave it five more and added a pat of butter. Why not: Mmmmm. Steak. A little too much -- just a tad over medium. But still pretty good. Now y'all are telling me to just rinse the pan with water and give it a firm, but gentle scrub?

Sitting in my room, listening to Clapton.

I had a few meals there when I worked in the neighborhood. Always enjoyed it. (In case anyone's curious, the "JU" comes from the old telephone exchange prefix for the area.)