Stone

"some seasoning." That's like saying that making a good Indian curry involves meat, tomatoes, onion, yoghurt and "some seasoning." It's all in the seasoning. I find that a dash or two of worcestershestershire sauce is helpful to create complex flavor without being obvious. A bit of molasses or brown sugar may help (i've never tried).

Dude, kick up the exhaust fan a few notches. It's really getting to you. After California's been smoke free for four years or so, I think they should get rid of the law but provide a small tax break (or other incentive) for smoke-free bars. See what the people think. If people really want smoke-free bars, they'll remain smoke free. I'm a life-long non-cigarette smoker, but I personally don't buy the 2nd-hand smoke/protect the worker argument. Anyone think it's a little too convenient and based on some real shakey evidence? There are quite a few bars in SF that allow smoking (and many where you can expect a pipe or two to make the rounds). I find them more enjoyable than the others. Not necessarily because of the presence of the cigarette smoke, but because of the presence of the people who don't whine about the cigarette smoke. (and franky, once the pipe swings by a couple of times, I don't care who's there.) (I just re-read this and realized that I've got to go cold-turkey on Plotnicki posts. Pretty soon I'll be quoting Rand.)

Didn't it come with a second lid? The flat one with the hole in the middle (as opposed to the big feeding tube)? Mine did.

My Dad tried to use my cuisinart to grate the potatoes for latkes. 5 pounds of potatoes and I had to work the lid with every batch. He was utterly incapable of figuring out how to remove and replace the plunger doo-dad.

How big a bowl do y'all think a normal person needs? What blade attachments are necessary? Good to have? (Ooh. I feel like Fat Guy. And not just because I'm fat.)

Discuss your food processors here and help Nina find something she'll be happy with forever. I have a Cuisenart. Very happy with it. I also have a boat motor (Braun) with a food processor attachment, but that's a different thread. Maybe.

Simon -- are you still on this diet? How's going?

Important crab tip -- when you're done, don't just throw all the shells and gunk in the garbage and forget about them for a few days. They will begin to smell. Bad. Very bad. Unlike the binder clip pinching, I think you should just take my word on it for this one. Important crab tip.

In my opinion, it starts with the basic difference between Sechwan/Hunan that predominates in NY and Mandarin/Cantonese that predominates in SF. And the fact that there are Jews in NY.

There's a smile on my face. It's hesitant. Tentative. Nervous. I've been given happiness before, only to have it ripped from me by some . . . well, let's not go there. But it's a smile, and caused by Chinese food.. I've just had good Chinese food. In San Francisco. And it was delivered to me. Not by a friend who was kind enough to pick it up on the way to watch West Wing, but by a man that works for the restaurant. Which means, it can be delivered to me again. Oh sure, the fellow couldn't figure out how to work the buzzer, but in his defense, neither can half of my friends. And this guy doesn't speak English as a first language -- or any language as I could figure. My friend recommended Jasmine Tea House to me. It's at Mission and Valencia. What? Those streets are parallel you say? They don't intersect? Well, what do you say at the intersection of Waverly and Waverly? Perhaps it's just that enigma that resulted in this. Good Chinese food. Delivered. In San Fransisco. Sure, I've been to Shen Hua in Berkeley. But that's in Berkeley. And I've been to Erics. But that doesn't deliver. And let's face it, there's something . . . . eeehh . . . too much about it. Excellent sizzling rice soup. Great sesame beef. But, it's . . . trying too hard. All that mango. Why do San Franciscans put mango in everything? Elizas? Don't make me laugh. The fact that Elizas is often ranked in the top five Chinese restaurants in SF only proves my point that there are no real Jews here. So last night I was at the friends and tried her left-over mince chicken in lettuce cup. My expectation? "Oooh, you put stir fry in lettuce cup." I've had this at Betelnut, the ever disappointing "place to be scene" (by whom?) in the marina. Each time the chicken was not well spiced and, frankly, undercooked. The result was like a not-quite-done steamed dumpling. Pasty undercooked chicken is not pretty. The stuff from Jasmine Tea House -- and it was cold by the time I got to it -- was terrific. The minced chicken was cooked perfectly, not mushy, not dry, not greasy. In fact, there was very little "sauce" whatsoever -- an anomoly in this land of Earthquakes and gloppy sauce. The chicken was flavored with minced scallion, snappy bits of minced wood ears and a hint of vinegar. Very ju shiang. A dollop of plumb sauce on the cup and very very yummy. Tonight, I ordered in. Szechwan Beef and House Fried Rice. Two of my stalwarts (is that a word? is it the proper word?). It was iffy at first. A shudder of fear -- you know, like when your foot just misses the step and you think you're about to tumble down, cracking a few shins and smacking your nose on the hard-wood floor? Opening both styrofoam cartons (I hate styrofoam Chinese cartons. Chinese food should only be delivered in cardboard Chinese food delivery cartons. That's why they call them Chinese food delivery cartons.) Each looked disappointing. House special fried rice -- meant to have egg, diced carrot, peas, diced chicken, ham, shrimp and very light or no soy. That is key. You want the flavor of the stuff. That's why they put all the stuff in there. This was, at first glance, too dark. My heart dropped. Has she done it yet again? But then I tasted it. Happy day. Fluffy rice, with separate grains and -- get this -- not greasy. Not greasy. You don't get that much in this land of fleece, patchouli and greasy rice. Even the soy, although too heavy in color was not too heavy in taste -- perhaps it was just some dark soy for color, not light soy for flavor. The beef and chicken, as usual, don't add much noticeable flavor and the beef strips, though tender, were a little long for my liking. I've always felt that size and shapes in Chinese food should be somewhat uniform (cooking times, visual symmetry, you know) and little grains of rice, little peas, diced carrots, diced ham require diced beef. But no offense was taken. Instead of ham, there were little cubes of bbq'd pork -- tender and sweet. And a few big shrimp hidden underneath. Could have used some more peas and carrots, but I assume that given the rough times in this land of dot-com layoffs and . . . and . . . and . . . that they were minding their Ps & Qs. It was good. Schezwan beef in NY is thin Julian'd strips of flank steak with copious julien'd carrot and a bit of celery and scallion in a dark, thin but tangy sauce. Hot enough to bite, but not cause pain. (ooh.) I opened the container and saw nothing of the sort. Instead, it was breaded and deep fried strips of beef over some juliened carrot and onion. It reminded me of the hot and spicy beef (I think) I had once gotten from U Lee, the horrible Chinese restaurant on Hyde Street (that just happens to have the best damnded potstickers (viz: dumplings) you could ever imagine). Those were tasteless strips of fatty beef, covered in a tasteless thick batter and deep fried in grease so unpleasant that the restaurant felt obligated to include about a cup of it in the food to get it out of the place. I tried one. Oh, happier day. The beef was lightly coated in a spicy batter and fried perfectly so that it was crisp without being greasy. The dish was, for the most part, without sauce, yet not dry at all. Somewhat of a very light version of General Tso's -- obviously a little tomato in there, some chilli. It was served on a bed of onion, scallion and carrot which were very lightly stir-fried and, get this, crisp and flavorful -- not often found in this land of towering redwoods and overcooked veggies. Oh yes, I predict that by the New Year, one recent Chinese immigrant will master the buzzer at my apartment.

Are these like cheat-codes on my Sony PlayStation? Or ordering codes at In-n-Out Burger?

I never realized how many secret codes you need to eat well in a restaurant.

I haven't made a chicken in a while, but when I do, I plan to incorporate Alton Brown's turkey method -- brining, starting off on very high heat (500 degrees) and then dropping to 350. I assume the skin on the chicken will come out as good as the one on my turkey did. By the way -- size always matters (except in garlic, which is one of the few things that are better smaller). Busy, non-chef professional.

Are you implying that my grasp of this language is that poor? What keeps you from making it Stone Man? I am spending my day like so: Do you contend that any defendant "

I wish. I don't know if the word "interrogatory" means anything to you, but beleive me, I wish I were making chutney.

If the recipe doesn't specify I should just use my best judgment?

This may be a silly question, and it should probably be posted somewhere else, but I'm sure I can get an easy answer here: When recipe calls for chopped tomotoes, especially finely chopped, is it assumed that the juice should be drained off? I would expect that, especially with 8 pounds of tomatoes, draining or not draining would have a significant effect on the end product.

It's funny because this scenario seems to come up often. Usually, one person at the table quotes the rule "you know, if it's a hot dish being served, you don't have to wait for everyone to get their food before eating." Yet most people wait anyway because there's something inherently rude about eating when others (especially if there's only one other) haven't been served.

Now I'm a little confused. "Modern" as in their haute cuisine developed within the last 25? 50? years? Is that because they had an affluent class develop during that time which developed haute cuisine? And the Italians, Indians and Chinese didn't? Could/can the affluent Americans develop Italian, Indian or Chinese haute cuisine? If this has been discussed before, you have my permission to ignore.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but is French the only haute cuisine?

Red Hook is great, but bitters just doesn't have the universal appeal of a good pale ale.

To some extent, can't the same thing be said of Chinese, Italian, Indian or other cuisines? Or do they have a more common binding theme/thread that Jewish food doesn't have? Perhaps its a good analogy to the Jewish "nationality" itself, which unlike Chinese, Italian and Indian is not identified by geography.

I drink Ketel One more because it was the first "premium" vodka I tasted. I drink it chilled, straight with a twist. I can't say I've tasted much difference, other than in side by side comparisons, between KO, Grey Goose, Skye Blue (which I recommend just to support the advertising) and Belevedere. I've never really liked Absolut -- I think it feels chalky and tastes oily. It's been forever since I've had Stoli.

I've had gefilte fish made from Chilean Sea Bass. The essence of gefilte fish? Smother it in mucus.